“Always give your subordinates their just desserts” was the latest addition to the foxling’s notebook of Piri’s Pearls of Perspicacity. It was the sentence I uttered right before my friends ran across the beach and splashed into the warm, turquoise waters of the Western Sea.

Steelfang, whose reward this was for pacifying Flying Fish Village’s demonic neighbors, led the pack. Bunching his hindquarters, he sprang up, sailed through the air, and crashed into the water far from shore. The rest of the wolves, including One Ear, followed suit.

Not to be outdone, Dusty charged in until the water was too deep for his hooves to touch the bottom before he switched to swimming. “Come on! Stop drawing and come in!” he neighed back at Floridiana.

The mage reluctantly set her sketchbook on a large rock and fell in step next to Lodia. The girl was picking her way over the rocks with the speed of an earthworm, possibly because she worried about spraining an ankle, probably because she was afraid of the ocean.

“You’re really not coming in?” Floridiana called over her shoulder at Den, who hung back at the edge of the village.

He shook his head. “It will be a breach of the Dragon King of the Western Sea’s border if I enter his fief without permission. But if I request permission, he’ll know that I left my fief without permission. That would be…bad.”

Floridiana must have known or guessed his logic already, because she didn’t look surprised, only regretful. “That’s too bad. Your pond is too small for me to go swimming with you.”

“You could always shrink yourself, you know.” He perked up all of a sudden. “Then you could see all my caltrops! From below, I mean! The effect is completely different.”

“Yep yep! It really is!” Bobo chimed in. Rocks clattered as she surged the final few feet into the waves.

I can attest to that, added Stripey. He strode in regally on his tall crane legs, while I glided in circles overhead, low enough for the surf to splatter my belly. That was as close to swimming in the ocean as I was willing to get.

Bobo’s bright green body flashed just below the surface of the water, making loops and squiggles. Her head popped back up, and she grinned at Stripey and me. “Wheeeeee! This is ssso fun! I wisssh you could come in, Rosssie!”

It’s okay. I’m having fun watching you have fun.

I didn’t think sparrows could swim, and while I was getting tired of this body, there was still too much to do to risk a premature end.

She dove again, exploring the bottom this time. “Lots of fisssh, crabs, and pretty rocks down there!” she reported. “Sssphaera! Your Imperial Majesssty! Are you sssure you don’t want to come in?”

Ensconced on her litter under a palm tree, the foxling sipped at a coconut, reviewed her notebook of my sayings, and declined to answer.

Just leave her, I advised. If she doesn’t want to have fun, no need to force her.

Stripey’s long neck suddenly darted forward. His head re-emerged from the water with a small fish in his beak. He tipped his head back, opened his beak, and gulped down the fish. A little queasily, I watched the bulge progress down his throat.

Are you sure you should be eating that? It’s dirty. It still has all its scales. And the fins are sharp. They could have cut up the inside of your throat. And –

Piri. Relax. It’s fine. I’m a crane, remember? I grew up with my parents feeding me fish. His eyes glinted wickedly. And since I grew old enough to feed myself, I’ve even eaten…frogs.

Frogs? Raw frogs??? Ew! Gross, Stripey!

He chortled, flipped his black tail feathers, and speared his neck down for another fish.

Bobo’s head popped up again further out, and she called, “I found sssome…uh, I’m not really sssure what they are, but sssome kind of ssseassshell. Clams? Oysssters?”

Her discovery piqued my interest. If she’d found shoal of oysters, maybe they were pearl oysters. During the previous Empire – hmm, let’s call it the Old Empire – western Serica had been known for its large, high-quality pearls. The Dragon King of the Western Sea presented the best ones to the Dragon Commander, who redistributed them to lesser dragon kings to wear under their chins.

Or so the merchants claimed, anyway. It might have been true, or it might have been their attempt to acquire some luster by association. I hadn’t cared, so long as their pearls were large, round, and well-matched in size and color.

Speaking of pearls, once we built a new Temple to the Kitchen God here, we could use them to adorn the altar and the statue of the Kitchen God.

Hey, Bobo! I called. Do those shellfish look like pearl oysters?

“Dunno! What do pearl oysssters look like?”

Frankly, I was at a loss. I’d never seen the oyster itself, only its product. Does it look big enough to fit a pearl inside?

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After a moment to check, Bobo answered, “Depends on the sssize of the pearl!”

Sigh. But I had only myself to blame for not being more specific.

What size of pearl? Like the size of Den’s? Or the size of Yulus’? Or even bigger?

She checked again. “There are lots of sssizes! Sssome can fit Den’s pearl, sssome can fit the Dragon King of Black Sssand Creek’s pearl, sssome can fit even bigger pearls, and there’s a really ginormous one too!”

Naturally, our conversation had caught the foxling’s attention. “I want that pearl! That pearl is mine! I shall have it set in the center of my crown. No, I’ll have it set as a pendant. Actually, check if there’s a second one. If there are two, I’ll have them set as earrings.”

I’d once owned a full of set of tiara, necklace, earrings, and ring all set with black pearls. I wondered what happened to them after I fled the palace. Had they burned in Cassius’ funeral pyre? Had a servant stolen them? Regardless, I wasn’t going to see them again. And even if I did, I couldn’t wear any of them on this tiny sparrow body.

Don’t get carried away, I scolded the foxling. We don’t even know if any of those oysters contain pearls.

She heaved a crestfallen sigh before she perked up again. “Steelfang! Oh, Steeeeelfang!”

Far out in the open sea, a grey furry head turned towards shore. “Yes, my liege?”

“Steelfang dear, the snake has found a shoal of what might be pearl oysters. Do be a dear and harvest them for me, will you?”

“As my liege commands.”

From the beach, Den called anxiously, “Oh, I don’t know if that’s a good idea. If those are pearl oysters, they belong to the Dragon King of the Western Sea. I really don’t think we should – ”

“Nonsense! They might not even contain pearls at all. Steelfang is just going to check.”

Ignoring Den, the wolves disappeared to play pearl diver.

“Sphaera,” Den appealed, “I strongly urge you to call them back. This really, really is not a good idea. Speaking as a dragon king, I can tell you that we do not appreciate anyone robbing us of anything that is rightfully ours.”

Stripey snorted. For my ears only, he muttered, “Speaking as someone who used to rob a dragon king, I can tell you that while they might not appreciate it, their opinion means nothing without military strength to back it up.”

Yeah, I answered drily. I remember. I watched you steal freshwater pearl oysters in Black Sand Creek once.

Oh? You did? When was this?

During the Dragon Boat Festival. While everyone was watching the boat race, you raided the oyster farm.

Oh yeah! That time. Poor old Nacre. He never did figure out how to keep us out.

“Rosie!” Den’s voice came from much closer this time. I found him hovering over the beach, at eye level with me but making sure to stay behind the line of wet sand. Floridiana and Lodia had followed him over. “Rosie, you have to stop her. You’re the only one who can. We are not going to like the consequences when – not if, but when – the Dragon King of the Western Sea finds out that we robbed him.”

Taking professional interest, Stripey inquired, What security measures does he deploy? I imagine he doesn’t have time to scan all corners of the ocean himself using his pearl. Does he employ a guard force? Send out regular patrols?

Den’s already-bulging eyes nearly flew out of his skull. “A guard force? He’s the ruler of the Western Sea! He commands an army! Sharks and octopi and cuttlefish and jellyfish – no, don’t snicker, Rosie, I’m not talking about the kind of jellyfish you eat. I’m talking about vicious jellyfish spirits who can curtain off a whole area with their tentacles and sting spirits to death!”

“That’s impressive,” commented Floridiana. “He sounds much more powerful than the Dragon King of Black Sand Creek.”

“Yes! He is! That’s why you have to get Sphaera to call Steelfang back!”

I hesitated. A war would be disastrous for Flying Fish Village and other coastal settlements, since they’d be hardest hit by tidal waves and typhoons and whatever else the Dragon King brought to bear. However, we could evacuate the villagers into the mountains, and having a common foe would go a long way towards unifying the fractious demon clans. Just how powerful was the Dragon King of the Western Sea? I opened my beak to ask Den, but before I could start the sentence, Bobo interjected.

“What’s taking them ssso long? The oysssters weren’t ssso far down.”

“They’re probably collecting as many as they can,” Floridiana answered absently, while Lodia adjusted the lenses over her eyes and peered at the stretch of open water where the wolves had vanished.

She ventured to suggest, “Maybe – maybe Bobo could swim down and check? Just in case something went wrong...?”

“On it!”

Bobo flipped and dove, her tail disappearing without a splash. Lodia took one wary step after her, letting a wave wash up to her ankles.

“The water’s warm,” she said, surprised. When the next wave swept up, she wiggled her toes. “This feels nice!”

“Don’t go too far in,” Floridiana warned. “You don’t know how to swim, do you?”

At the girl’s headshake, Stripey and I traded dread-filled glances. As one, we moved to flank her.

How can you not know how to swim? I asked. Your house is literally built over the river!

Lodia shrugged guiltily. “I don’t know…. I just never learned. I guess I always preferred to stay indoors…?”

Bobo’s head reappeared, the sunlight flashing on her wet scales so brightly that it blinded me. “Make way! We’re coming back to shore!”

All around her, furry grey heads emerged and began to cut through the water towards the beach.

Wait.

Were they actually furry? Or were those…scales? I couldn’t seem to get a good look. The scene never fully resolved. Did that mean I was getting near-sighted, like Lodia? Was that even a thing that happened to sparrows?

Lodia, can you see them clearly? I checked.

She pushed the lenses closer to her eyes, squinted, and frowned again. “It’s strange…. It’s like...they don’t get any clearer, no matter what I do. But they’re getting closer, so they should be getting sharper….”

She splashed further into the ocean, until the waves lapped just below her kneecaps. Floridiana was already stamping her forehead and commanding, “See!”

You really need to stop doing that, I scolded. Weren’t you the one who told me that seal paste contains cinnabar and is toxic to humans?

“Something’s off, something’s wrong,” Den fretted, twisting and roiling along the line he dared not cross. “I can feel it. Something’s wrong.”

Bobo was slicing through the water like a spear, swimming more determinedly – no, aggressively – than I’d ever seen her move. And earlier, she’d sounded off too –

That’s not Bobo, Stripey announced.

At the same time, Floridiana exclaimed, “That’s not Steelfang or One Ear or any of our wolves!”

I still couldn’t get a good look at any of them. It was as Lodia said – no matter how close they came, they stayed blurry.

The forms in the water wavered. No, not just the forms. The water itself wavered.

All of a sudden, Den’s tail shot over the line he’d been so afraid to cross, looped twice around Floridiana’s waist, yanked her out of the water, and flung her up the beach. She landed with a grunt and a clatter of rocks.

“It’s a mirage!” Den shouted. “It’s an oystragon! Prepare for an attack!”