There was no concept of night and day in the basin, but it was a miserable existence for the period of time that Qell endured it. Her rest was broken and draining with so many new scents and bodies and the distress over her situation and her children. It did not help that three more times, water was rained down on them from above. It was cold and the intervals between were no relief either. With so many of them crammed together and so little water to soak in, the room was hot and stagnant and Qell’s breathing grew laboured quickly.

At her back, Ging did not seem to be struggling quite as much, but she was getting little rest either. She had just seemed a bit more adjusted to it so that she was not wheezing. Qell was not so fortunate. She was too warm and her throat felt dry enough that each breath burned. She wanted to be deep in the ocean where the water was cool and enveloping, and her children would cuddle up to share warmth while resting.

“It gets easier,” Ging whispered. Qell had not realized she was awake.

“Does it?”

It took Ging a moment to respond. “No…but you will adapt, it will not be as hard to catch your breath. You should lie on your back.”

“What?” Qell could not fathom that. Lying on her back exposed her belly. At least her back was protected by the rigid armour plating, but her underside was less protected and she was not keen on the notion. No miernes would be.

“It will not be comfortable on your sails, but it will allow you to submerge your gills. You will feel better. It is not like you will be attacked here.”

Qellsala supposed that was true. Still, it was unnerving as she twisted herself onto her back and lowered herself down into the water. It stung as her dorsal fins bent awkwardly, but the pain dulled rapidly, and despite her unease, as soon as Qell lowered her neck down into the water, she felt a little better. She could not submerge properly to breathe the water, but she could open her gills enough to soothe the irritation in her throat. “Thank you.”

“Cover your face,” Gingalrin suggested.

Qell grimaced as she was reminded of the awful downpour that kept coming from above. It would not be pleasant to catch it in the face, so she draped one arm over her eyes and tried to relax into a deeper state of rest than she had managed thus far.

***

Unfortunately, her rest ended far sooner than she would have liked as an awful screech echoed off the surrounding walls. It was followed by light flooding the small space as the entrance opened to reveal two humans. Around her, mierne began to shuffle and sit up and a few bowed their heads, but none spoke.

From at her side, Gingalrin sat up and nudged Qell. She placed her hand on Qellsala’s shoulder and pushed her back down to the ground. When she spoke, her voice came in such a low whisper that Qell could barely hear her. “Stay down and tilt your head so that they can see the mark on your neck. Do not speak, not a sound until they leave.”

Immediately after she finished speaking, Ging pulled away and lowered herself down to the ground as well. Indignation swelled in Qellsala as she watched all the mierne in the room do the same. So many proud, strong people had been reduced to little more than tamed animals and it was sickening. It made her want to rage, but she was exhausted still and did not have a solution to the brace. So, for now, she laid still and observed the situation. One of the two humans stepped down into the water, while the other hovered in the entryway and fiddled with a handheld device. He tapped on it and Qell’s brace beeped loudly before flashing with a bright red light that blinked at an even interval.

Hers was not the only one. When she scanned the other mierne with her gaze, she saw several blinking red lights. However, most of the harnesses were not lit up, including Gingalrin’s. Ging was gazing at her with a strange mix of sorrow and pity that confused Qell, but she felt unease settle in her gut as one of the humans approached her and crouched down to examine her neck. The area was still tender, but thankfully he did not touch it. “So, you’re our newest recruit. Not sure why the General wants you today, but it’s best we don’t question her. Brilliant woman. The real question is, are you going to behave and come along or am I going to have to haul you by the tail?”

Qellsala hissed in frustration and slapped her tailfin on the surface of the water. She favoured neither of those options and openly loathed the notion of obeying any of the humans’ commands, but she also recognized that sitting trapped in this dark, cramped space was not going to help her get a sense of her situation or formulate a plan. The unease etched on Gingalrin’s face and permeating the air from the other meirne was not easing the tension either. But after a moment, Qell reluctantly swallowed her pride and pushed herself up and gestured for the human to lead the way.

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When she finished hauling herself up out of the entryway, a heavy boot came down on Qellsala’s tailfin. It was likely to stop her from bolting, which Qell had been inclined to do, but the pain made her snarl and instinctively whirl on her assailant. Unsurprisingly, the brace seized before she could do anything about the assault, and she was forced to back off with another hiss. The human paid her no mind through any of it, and why would he? She was harmless no matter what he did, there was no need for him to even glance at her, much less care about her aggression level. It once again sent Qell’s heart hammering her chest at the sheer callousness of it all. Being helpless in a situation was one of the worst feelings a miernes could experience, and that was all her people felt here, all the time. No wonder so many of them seemed to have broken wills.

The boot on her fin was merely a means of holding her down while the human clipped a tether to the back of her brace. Within heartbeats, Qellsala found herself perched on a low-to-the-ground ledge with the tether secured to it. She was not going anywhere under her own power at the moment, so she hunkered down and stared at her claws, at a loss for what to do.

The humans brought out several more mierne, ten of them, including herself, were loaded up onto the ledge, pressed together. Once they were all secured, the ledge lurched into motion, carrying them away from the dark room they had been pulled from.

The ledge did not stop moving until they were down on a lower deck of the ship, and Qellsala stared longingly out over the water. There was another human waiting for them there, and she began securing strange, flat panels to the front of each miernes’ brace, just over their chests. When she reached Qell, she grimaced. “I don’t love that you haven’t been tamed or trained, but this is low stakes. Just do your best.”

The human nodded at her peer, who began unclipping the leads from one miernes at a time. All it took was one gesture to have the newly freed diving over the edge of the boat and into the water through a large gap in the metal rail running the length of the deck. Qell could only stare after them. None of the humans tried to stop the mierne from leaving the boat, but she could not fathom why they would let them go. Sure, the harnesses prevented the miernes wearing it from removing it or attacking, but she saw no reason why any of these mierne would choose to return.

It was a trap. It had to be. They would not just set them free. Especially not Qellsala herself, with all the effort they went through the day prior. If freedom could be earned here, she had definitely not accomplished that. So, when they got to her lead, Qell hesitated. Her scales screamed for the water and her heart yearned for her children, but her brain held her back. If this was a trap, she might put her family at risk, so she needed to proceed very cautiously.

“Well, well, I’m surprised.”

A shiver raced up Qellsala’s spine and she glanced over at the new voice. Her gaze narrowed as she watched the General approach with a lazy smirk on her lips and her arms hanging freely at her sides. She knew the reason why, but it still bothered Qell that humans could be so relaxed in the presence of the mierne. Without the brace, Qellsala could have ripped all three of them apart if she needed to, and she could have done it faster than she would need to draw a second breath if necessary. But with the brace, none of that mattered.

The General approached and crouched in front of her, her grin growing smug as she did. “I wouldn’t have imagined that our newest recruit would hesitate. Not with how reluctant you were to stay on the ship yesterday. Have a change of heart over a good night’s sleep?”

Qell growled at her and her claws dug into the metal of the mobile ledge she was still perched on. This woman was callous and cruel, and Qell could taste the satisfaction rolling off her. It clogged her gills like rancid fish stink.

“Maybe we still have some learning to do. No matter, there’s nothing difficult about this task. All you have to do is get in the water and obey. It’s going to wound your pride, but your pride won’t last long here anyway. You’re all expendable, but I do offer a few rewards to any of you monsters who impress me, so I suggest you fall in line swiftly. Anything less will be met with more misery than necessary, and that’s the only choice you get to make aboard this vessel. So, what’s it going to be?”

Qell huffed and shifted her weight to stare past the woman. She had no intention of caving to their desires, but longing did swell in her gut at the sight of the ocean. Her skin was tight and screamed for the cool embrace of the salt water. The only thing keeping her grounded to the deck of the boat was the uncertainty of another trick.

“I know you want to go,” the woman prompted. “What’s wrong? Worried about a trap?”

Qellsala curled her lip at the human leader.

“What purpose would laying a trap do? You’ve already been caught and you’ll never taste freedom again. All you have to do is get in the water and swim where we tell you to. Then, you’ll come back when you’re done. There’s hardly anything complex about that or any need for a trap. All you’re doing by lingering is baking in the sun. Or would you rather return to the holding pen and I’ll send another siren in your place.”

Qellsala had no idea how the human anticipated giving her commands on where to swim once in the water, but she had no intention of following orders anyway. She imagined that there was a way for them to find her in the water, especially with the brace, but that didn’t mean they could force her back onto the boat. She would dive deeper than their nets could reach and move her children someplace deeper and safer, to buy herself some time to get free of the restrictive brace or at least ensure their survival if she could not.

And she was no good to her children locked in that little room. She regretted leaving Ging behind, but if she could find a way out of the brace, she could always come back for the other mierne aboard the ship, and she had to put her children first, no matter what. So, without sparing the General another glance, Qellsala launched herself forward off the deck and into the water below.