Chapter twenty-four: Tern

~Stop laughing,~ Serena muttered a few minutes later. ~You can turn around now.~

It was lucky that Regati had felt like dressing up that day; the sash that he had worn around his waist was now tied as securely as she could make it around her bottom half. With the wrap she was still wearing from that morning around her torso, all the important parts were covered, but she still felt exposed, and besides, it was cold.

Regati kept a reasonably straight face, but his dark eyes still sparkled with amusement as he looked over her outfit. ~Very… interesting, Siren-nah.~

~Be quiet.~

~No, really, it has a nice effect. I wonder what your Goblin King will think of--~

~Ack, don't remind me!~ Serena sat down and buried her face in her knees. ~I feel like enough of a fool already. I didn't even think about… this.~ She peeked out at him; he was grinning fit to bust. ~Out of curiosity, what happened to my other clothes when the Sireni first changed me?~

~Well, that… thing… that you wore on bottom?~

"Pants."

~The pants tore apart when your fins grew. And the… top thing?~

"Shirt."

~It was completely twisted around you. Melnone almost had to cut it off. As it is she ruined some of the—little round things?~

"Buttons."

~Buh-tonz. That is a strange word. Buh-ton-zuh… What is a buh-tonz for?~

~Button. Just one is called a button. It's a way to fasten clothing instead of tying it.~

~I… see…~

~No you don't.~ Serena smiled faintly.

~You're right, I don't,~ he admitted with a rueful grin. ~But that's all right. So what will you do now, little Siren?~

~Well, last time I got out of this cavern by crawling up a drain pipe…~

~A what?~

~A… a tunnel through the rock, but small and narrow, for garbage and filth. That's what makes the water at this side of the lake so disgusting.~

~Oh.~

~But it was a long climb, and the smell was awful, and I couldn't even get out at the end without help, and aside from all that, it came up in the middle of the Goblin King's castle. So I'd rather find another way out, if I can.~ Serena stood and looked along the shore; it was hard to see anything, because her Siren light had gone out when she changed, but she could clearly see the small triangle of glowing crystals that marked the end of the drainpipe. ~I'll start looking there.~

~Then we have to part ways now, don't we?~ Regati shuffled awkwardly toward her, and Serena hastily closed the distance between them lest he hurt himself dragging his body over the rock.

~Yes. Thank you so much. I—have never been so happy as I was here.~ She wrapped her arms around him, and Regati returned the embrace.

~I'll miss you, Siren-nah… but there's something that might make your absence easier.~ He grinned up at her. ~You should open your present now.~

~Oh!~ Serena had entirely forgotten the cloth-wrapped bundle so carefully stowed in her bag. She dug it out and tugged at the knot, exposing an orb of polished black stone. She stared at it, transfixed. ~This looks like…~

~There are two. I have the other, at home.~ Regati was almost bursting with that particular brand of mischief that made him seem decades younger. ~I found them in the deep rooms of the Keep, when I was a child.~

~And what were you doing in the Keep?~ Serena asked, returning his grin.

~Ah, well, I can't recall exactly—me being so old and senile and all-- but I might have been there on a dare…. Anyway, if you hold the stone in your hands and sing into it, whoever has the other one can see your face and hear your song, and can answer you back.~ He took on an expression of mock sternness. ~Now, you must promise to speak to me every day.~

~Only if I feel like it,~ she retorted jokingly, before bending to give him another hug. ~Thank you, Regati. Even with this, I'll miss you. I'll come back as soon as I can, I promise.~

~Good luck, Siren-nah. Go teach those goblins a lesson!~

Serena nodded and stepped away; she set off down the shoreline as Regati pulled himself into the water behind her. She didn't dare look back, for fear she would lose her resolve, but she heard the light splash and the slap of waves as he slipped into the water and vanished.

There was no need for light at first; she had already examined every foot of wall from here to the drainpipe. So she followed the faint, glowing curve at the edge of the water, walking steadily into the darkness. The only noises were those of her own breathing and the motion of her bare feet, and beneath them, barely audible, the hiss of water rippling against the stone.

There was no way of measuring time here; it could have been minutes or hours or days that she walked, endlessly putting one foot ahead of the other. It wouldn't have been so bad, now, to slip into the Peace, as she would have when she was a Merremin and was set with a monotonous task. But she dismissed that thought. If she were in the Peace, then the dream would come on her, and she was in no mood for that.

Eventually, she came closer to the triangle mark and then drew even with it. It glowed sickly, covered with a thin coat of slime. Serena pulled a scrap of cloth from her bag—the one that the miniature seerstone had been wrapped in—and wiped away the muck so that the crystals shone brightly once more—they would be no good to her in the future if she couldn't see them. Then she dug once more in her bag and produced a small crystal fish, one of the figurines Regati had given her. It was the best she had at the moment for making light; she poured her power into it.

It turned out better than she expected; such smooth, flawless crystal easily gave a clear, steady light. Interestingly, though, it gave no heat at all. Serena wondered about that, whether it was because of the crystal itself or because she was getting better with her magic.

Holding it out ahead of her, Serena continued, this time scanning the walls for any opening. She passed the drainpipe quickly, trying not to step in the muck or linger too long in the nauseating smell; but it faded behind her as she moved on.

The walls were as smooth as ever, broken only by the starlike scattering of crystals. Serena walked until the mark of the sewer pipe began to fade with distance; then she lit another crystal, a dull reddish one that reminded her faintly of Mars in the night sky.

The silence was unnerving, but she hesitated to break it; it held her almost spellbound. She was growing tired, too; if she didn't find something soon, she was going to need to lie down and sleep. That was a depressing thought; she didn't want to spend the night here with the darkness pressing around, a rock for her bed, and only fish for food. At least she could cook it this time, though. That thought cheered her. Next time she came to the lake, she was going to bring landwalker food with her, that was certain.

The red crystal dimmed behind her, and she marked another, then sat with a sigh. She could go no further tonight. She dug in her bag for a fish, carefully gutted and wrapped in seaweed, and then placed her hands on the stone and willed it to heat. Soon her meal was sizzling merrily as she lounged idly nearby, as comfortable as she could make herself on the rough stone. After eating, she laid down with magically warmed stone beneath her and her pack for a pillow, and slept.

There was no way of telling morning or night here, away from sun and moon and the strangely constant schedules of her friends in the lake. Serena slept until she was not tired, then ate until she was not hungry, then walked again into the darkness with her crystal fish in her hand.

She made another mark, then another before she stopped to eat and rest a bit; after that, she continued. The journey seemed endless, timeless. Her thoughts ranged far, flitting as lightly as a bird from one topic to the next, with little meaning to be found in any of it. Never was there a break in the wall. She marked yet another crystal. How many was that now? Five since the drainpipe, and two before it, plus the pipe itself: that made eight tiny stars in the black cavern, seven stretches of unbroken night. It would be the worst sort of irony if she came full-circle; if she found herself suddenly staring at a tiny point of blue, far ahead. She shrugged off that thought. At least then she'd know where she was, know what was to be found in the wide cavern. Besides, there was always the drainpipe.

Such thoughts disappeared as her light fell on a break in the wall. She squinted ahead, hurrying a little. That shadow might be a stain, or a shallow depression, or perhaps…

…a doorway. She stood before it, looking up in awe. It was perhaps ten feet tall, and nearly as wide, a sharply rectangular opening hung with a faded red-brown curtain of a very coarse weave. The stone of the doorway itself was as smooth as silk, outlined simply and cleanly against the rough rock wall. A path was worn in the floor, a slight depression that led from the door to the edge of the water, suggesting many years of use.

Serena eagerly went to the wall and reached to touch a crystal, but paused, feeling suddenly self-conscious. Would whoever had made the doorway object to her marking it?

She was still debating with herself when she heard heavy, shuffling footsteps from the other side of the curtain.