He looked up at the sky for the second time, pain engulfing every single inch of his body; his head swimming with dizziness so that Mikau couldn't comprehend for a moment of where he was or even what he looked at from the flat of his back. The Zoras have very thick skulls. He'd always known that, but somehow this moment reminded him even more of such a fact as he knew without a single doubt that a fall like that would have killed anyone else.

Mikau raised himself into sitting position, the throb somewhat beginning to subside as he gathered his bearings. Slanted eyes, black and shiny as pearls, swept worriedly across the visage of the waterfall, beautiful in its treachery, almost mocking him in its height and antagonism.

Sitting there, he saw that his third attempt to get to the top of it and greet those beavers inside resulted in him on the ground in pain once more. He gotten higher this time; started to believe he would actually make it, but the higher climb just resulted in a greater fall. And though his body ached from the blows, it was his pride that hurt the most. He could be at this all day, the drops getting only the more painful each time. He needed to find a better way.

The Zora came to his feet, feeling the sand beneath him beginning to absorb far too much moisture in his skin. He dusted himself off from the back of the legs and his dorsal fin. Suddenly, he heard from his side,

"What's wrong, Mikau? The waterfall too much for you?"

Kylen stood by his jars, taunting him as always. It never changes. Even when they were adolescents, it was always something with him. Every chance to belittle Mikau and rub his nose in whatever failings he could witness the guitarist endure, even when it came few and far between. If ever he tripped, missed with his double cutters, or bumped his head when propelling through the water onto a surface, Kylen was there to remind Mikau of it, grasping with both fins whatever fragment of imperfection witnessed. Clutching straws perhaps, but clutching all the same.

Mikau squinted hatefully at Kylen before turning his attention to the waterfall. "I was up all night rehearsing with Japas. I'm just beat, is all." That felt like a worthy excuse since it was true. They had even come up with a song together. They wanted more than anything to show the song to Evan, but even the hint that they were trying to create something on the side would have caused far too much tension and argument. So all he could do was write it down in his diary.

"Right," Kylen said before turning to greet the Zora that walked on by. His priorities wouldn't allow him at this moment to put anymore thought into teasing Mikau, as the Carnival of Time was approaching and Kylen planned on opening a market there. Mikau felt relieved that he at least wouldn't have to deal anymore with his hatchling-hood friend's taunting.

"Why don't you just swim up the waterfall, Mikau?"

Mikau turned to the second voice that had just addressed him. It was Ril. He'd been standing there watching the entire thing. Mikau couldn't say they were friends exactly, but they were both close with Evan.

"I can't," Mikau answered, feebly trying to hide his embarrassment. "There's a Like Like at the bottom of the waterfall pool."

Of course he'd considered scaling the waterfall itself, as Zoras were strong enough to swim up any current, but when he'd gotten there, he saw the Like Like waiting for him, it even began to undulate towards him the second it picked up Mikau's essence. It was too far to be able to reach him so long as he remained out of the pool, but Mikau knew that one slip up the waterfall would be the end of him. Like Like loved nothing more than a Zora to snack on. Until then, he had to find another "safer" approach up there. Three falls later, however, and he began to think about taking his chances with the Like Like.

Ril merely shrugged. "So, just use your barrier on it."

"I can't do that either. I need all the energy I can get to even make the swim up the rapids."

Mikau had thought, himself, of using his electric barrier on the Like Like as it had started to ooze towards him, and nearly dived into the pool to do that very thing, but though their barrier was useful to fend off the Like Like, temporarily stunning the creatures to give the Zora enough time to escape, it expended a lot of energy to execute them and Mikau knew he'd have to have all of his energy to make it up the waterfall. It was from that point that he actually tried climbing the cliffs. But he realized all too quickly that Zoras are better swimmers than climbers. His achy back and head were a testament to that.

Then he thought of something. Quickly, Mikau made it back to the waterfall's pool. He looked down, watching the Like Like heaving in anticipation of its meal. The Zora are quite well equipped to handle all of the treachery of the seas, but the Like Like are so eager to eat a Zora that in spite of attack after attack, they still tenaciously slither towards one in the hope of landing it. Slow creatures they were, but it didn't make them any less fearsome to encounter.

Mikau punched the air with his right hand in a quick motion, instantly extending the fins along his arms. They detached like boomerangs and served their own defense purposes. They're known to temporarily freeze the Like Like, though the barrier shield was much more effective, even causing damage to Like Like when successfully executed.

Standing there, his knees knocked and he felt a swirl in the bottom of his guts. From this vantage, Mikau knew his cutters wouldn't make the distance. He knew that the Like Like was much too far away and he needed to be on his feet to throw them. The maneuver was far riskier than his electric barrier, but throwing his fins wouldn't cost him in energy, which was dearer still to make the hard swim up the waterfall.

He swallowed the dry knot that gathered in his throat. This was for Lulu. This was for her eggs…

Their eggs.

Evan wasn't supposed to know about Lulu and him. In fact, no one in the band were to ever know. That was their promise together. It was Lulu that wanted it that way and Mikau would give her the moon if he could somehow pluck it from the sky. He'd always loved her, since they were hatchlings swimming around in the nursery tank. But he knew how Japas felt about her too and didn't want to bring about rivalry between them, his friend and partner in the Indigo Gos. So Mikau and Lulu were "best friends," no fraternizing, no secrets between them, no secrets kept from the band. They managed to break all three of those rules.

Evan wouldn't have stood for it. He'd been against Japas admitting his feelings for Lulu. Even when it had been mentioned lightly, almost as a joke.

"No fraternizing between band members!" he'd lamented throughout Zora Hall. "I'm not going to deal with insolent squabbles and headaches and breaking up, getting back together, and all that insipid drama that would more or less affect the band and our music! So fins off, you understand, Japps!"

Mikau wasn't sure what Japas would do about being told off, but he watched it all with a flush in his cheek and cursory glance towards Lulu that she caught. They both felt worried, bleeding that concern through their mutual gazes. However, Japas just chuckled at Evan.

"Chill, fish gills," he replied to Evan calling him by his favorite nickname. "The only one bringing the drama right now is you. You want me to lay off our girl star, that's all aces with me." Then he smiled his usual crooked smile. "I know how much it would break your heart if I left you for someone else."

The rest of the band laughed, even Mikau himself as the red filled Evan's cheeks. Everyone knew that their band leader was oft too serious about everything, and Japas had chuckled lightly to himself again after the band leader left in a huff and went back to his piano where he vented his rages in the form of music. But Mikau could see the disappointment in Japas eyes that even his lightheartedness couldn't hide. Lulu was off-limits.

And it was why she and Mikau had to keep their affair a secret.

Still, Mikau couldn't shake the strange sense that came over him, even making the scales rise on the back of his neck like spindly fingers when Evan came to him this morning, just before the dawn and told him of the disappearance of the eggs, asking Mikau specifically to look for them. He could only stand there dumbfounded, shocked at the words said to him. When did this happen? How did this happen? And most importantly: Why?

Words left him in the haze of questions and frantic memory scans that investigated at what way this could have happened and who in Termina would do it. And how long did Evan know about this, and why didn't Lulu talk to him about it! He had every right to know that his own children were in danger. He felt angry at Evan as well, asking himself how long he might've known about this. And Lulu and didn't say anything. If he harbored knowledge of what had been transpiring, why wait till now to mention it? It didn't seem like Evan at all. There was no way he could have known about it and not show it. Evan can't keep anything to himself. His temperament wouldn't stand for it.