From the world above, the place where the compass led looked like any ordinary stretch of endless open ocean. Nothing in particular marked these waters as being the Merrowlands, the home of the mother of all sirens—or at least, a good deal of them, if Elodie were to guess based on their encounters with them.

Elodie leaned over the railing—as many of the sailors were, Captain Jennings included. "When will we know if we're in the right place? Or where to go from here?"

Ventus shrugged beside her. "The sirens aren't exactly subtle. I suspect we'll know soon enough."

He glanced down at his compass, and then back out at the waves.

Perhaps right on cue, that was when a pale-haired siren appeared, emerging from the waves.

With a spray of sea-water like a whale exhaling through its blowhole, the siren leapt out of the sea, and as her sister had done, perched on the railing of the main deck of the Albatross.

"Brother!" The siren cried in joy. "You came, and quickly too! Mother will like that."

"It's good to see you again, Lyra." The edges of Ventus's mouth quirked up in a smile. "I hope you've been staying away from fishing vessels, yes?"

"Yes." Lyra pouted. "Although they take all the best fish, these days."

She then looked up at the deck of the Albatross and frowned. "You can't take all of these people with you, Ventus."

"What do you mean?" Ventus tilted his head. "I was told that my entire party would have safe passage."

"I can see our sister left out details." Lyra sighed. "Cadence is so dramatic. But that's beside the point—Mother wouldn't like so many people to see the secrets of Lady Corisande the Merrowlands. Just knowing this location is bad enough."

"Then I'll take a smaller party." Ventus glanced over his shoulder, shooting a significant look at Elodie.

She nodded—she understood immediately. "I might not be your man, Ventus. But I can be your gentlewoman."

Ventus's lips quirked up in the ghost of a smile once more.

Then he looked to Carina. "You too. If she's going to help us, you should be there."

"Thank you." Carina stepped up with him, and he took both of their hands into his.

"Besides, there's no one better I can think of to be by my side." He smiled, then looked to Lyra. "Alright, we're ready."

----------------------------------------

The siren Lyra led them through the waters in a bubble that allowed them to breathe underwater, and to safely descend into the depths. Elodie could only marvel as they descended past schools of brightly-colored fish, to ruined cities that resembled the Manoan ones, now sunk and with the pillars overgrown in barnacles, and filled with the sirens. The sirens dressed in pearls and iridescent silks, their pale hair styled in elaborate structures that would put all of the women at Mrs. Hawkins's party to shame.

Truly, Elodie had never seen so many of them in one place. All eyes were on them as they continued through the waters, through more and more of the ruins coalescing into a city—all leading to a palace that looked to be made entirely of pearl.

Elodie could only take all of it in with wide eyes, trying to commit to memory every detail, so that she might be able to convey it to a painter or illustrator someday.

Lyra led them through the golden gates outside of the pearl palace, guarded by a fearsome-looking pair of sirens with shining blades of their own.

The inside of the palace was beautiful in its own right, filled with Cartagenan treasures sunk to the bottom of the sea, arranged into a room of mismatched opulence with many lanterns and chandeliers anchored to the floor rather than dangling from the ceilings.

Lyra led them into a throne room, painted the same green as copper that was left to rust, and in the center of a coral throne was a lady more beautiful than any Elodie had ever seen.

"Mother, I have brought to you Ventus, as requested." Lyra bowed her head. "Ventus, our mother—the Lady Corisande."

She was clearly a siren, with white hair, pearls, and an iridescent gown. But her gown was so much bigger, with so many frills, and her eyes were a deep, piercing blue, like the fathoms of the ocean. Among the pearls and jewels in her hair was an elaborate diadem, with chains of gold and diamonds dripping across her brow. Her expression carried tranquility and mischief and wrath alike, all in one frightening smirk.

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

She carried the air of the divine.

In fact, the appearance of the siren in front of them, the lady who claimed to be Corisande, Ventus's mother, reminded Elodie of a stained-glass window she had once seen in one of the sailors' cathedrals dedicated to the gods and goddesses of the sea.

"Lady of the Sunlit Shallows!" Carina gasped. "I had no idea—"

"That I, the mother of all sirens, have called you here today?" There was mischief in the siren's smile. "Or perhaps that I am the mother of your dear friend—Ventus?"

Carina said nothing, and she looked to barely be breathing. "My people revere you. I had never thought any of us—much less myself—would be so lucky as to meet you."

Corisande only smirked as her eyes fell across Ventus. "My boy. My treasure. You came."

With that, she rose from her throne, sending her shimmering gown fanning out like the fins of a jewel-fish. She approached Ventus, as her expression shifted into one so similar to the one Ventus wore, indecipherable and as mysterious as the sea.

"Oh, how you've grown." Corisande reached to caress Ventus's face. He remained stoic, unflinching—except for his eyes. His teal-gray eyes, the very same as his father's, revealed a fear, a vulnerability at meeting his siren mother. "You were so very small, the last time I saw you."

She then patted his cheek, and withdrew. "Your sisters and I have been proud to watch you grow up. You resemble your father greatly."

"So I've been told."

Corisande laughed, a beautiful thing. But like all things to do with sirens and the sea, great beauty belied great danger. And so Elodie began to feel uneasy.

"A fearsome pirate you will make," she continued. "Perhaps more fearsome still with my help."

"My sister—the one you sent to give me the compass—she said that you know what I'm doing now, that you want to help." Elodie watched as Ventus struggled to put the thoughts to words, to give them shape. "Why? How?"

Corisande was silent as she regarded him. When she spoke again, it was with great deliberation. "I have great love for those who love the sea and seek to live in harmony with it. I do not share that love for those who wish to subjugate it. Your kings and queens, and the Emperors of Manoa especially."

Carina flinched at this. "Lady of the Sunlit Shallows, I can only apologize on behalf of my people and my father's family."

"Do not apologize, Carina Eldora." Her sterner expression gave way to fondness, with a glimmer of mischief in her deep blue eyes. "You are not your father, or the ones who conquered the seas, who stole my creatures and bound them to the protection of the keys to a kingdom that was better left destroyed."

"Oh." Carina blinked. "Then. . . you want us to get the keys too because there are other leviathans like at the temple in Cartagena—"

"Among my other reasons." Corisande examined the back of her pale, pearl-clad hand. "As I have said, the return of the Eldora dynasty would spell disaster for my seas and my children."

Carina nodded with a wide-eyed reverence.

"As for how I can help, to answer your question. . ." Corisande turned back to Ventus. "Time is not on our side, is it?"

"It really isn't."

"It never is, no matter how long one might live." Corisande smiled sadly, and reached out for Ventus once more, only to halt halfway through, and have her hand retreat back to her side. She instead reached into the folds of her voluminous iridescent gown.

From some sort of hidden pocket, she revealed a ring with a black pearl on the top.

"Take this." She placed it into Ventus's hands. "I cannot teach you all you might need right now, and indeed, you run a close race. But we contain many of our secrets in devices such as these. I made it for you when you were born, prepared it for the day that you might seek me out."

This time, she did touch Ventus's face again. "It contains all of my songs, all of the craft I have learned. Just turn the ring three times and think of your great wish, and it will call to your mind a song that might help."

Ventus looked down at the ring, and then back up at Corisande. Something cracked, more of that vulnerability pouring through. "Thank you."

"Of course." Corisande ran a hand through his hair. "I simply wish we had more time. Perhaps when all of the keys are accounted for, we can meet again, and I can show you your true birthright."

She glanced around the palace. Her eyes caught Elodie's and she frowned. "You have the mark of greatness upon you, and the favor of the sea. But not a favor that I granted."

"Perhaps it was because my parents were Felix Vance and Keira Fleetwood?" Elodie offered softly.

Corisande was not impressed.

"Perhaps," she said in a tone that indicated that she did not believe her theory. "Still, with that kind of destiny around you—watch out for my son, Elodie Fleetwood."

"I will." Elodie looked to Ventus, meeting his eyes. "We watch out for each other."

They both then looked to Carina.

"All of us do."

Corisande nodded, satisfied.

"You may leave now, and you will have safe passage as promised." Corisande sank into her coral throne. "And know that no matter where you travel among the high seas, you carry my love and protection with you."

Ventus managed a smile. "I know."

There were so many sentiments lingering under those two words, not all of which Elodie knew. It was as close to thanks and reciprocation as he could manage.

Maybe for how the siren smiled like the sunlit shallows, she knew it too.

And the way that the siren smiled, it reminded Elodie of her own mother, the way she would smile at Elodie.

Maybe both Corisande and Keira had made difficult choices, with their children who were born between worlds and could be so foreign, so alien to the woman who had created them. And yet, in their own ways, they'd looked out for their children and were trying to help them, save them even.

And the Duchess of Silvershire, Kas's mother—hadn't she done the same, in a way? And Captain Jennings for Jade, and Carina's mother for her?

The thought haunted Elodie for as long as the siren's smile did, as they left the Merrowlands and returned to the world above.