Vahri brushed past the veined cocoons around her as she checked on the state of her now vulnerable kin. Hibernation was a difficult time for the merfolk in the long lake. They lost sirens every year to the cold and food was scarce in these waters. The men of Laketown took the slowest, fattest fish and the foam nymphs were lucky to catch more than a few mouthfuls. This made it difficult to store up food reserves in their bodies to survive the winter.

These cocoons were spun by the merfolk themselves in the days leading up to their long sleep. Gels and slimes were secreted through glands beneath their gills which then hardened in the cold water. The merfolk could then climb inside their cocoons and then sleep until the waters warmed again and they could venture out to feed.

Vahri, however, had not begun to spin her own cocoon nor would she anytime soon. She had been selected this year to stand guard over her family that needed protecting from predators of the deep. Over the centuries of breeding in this lake they had grown smaller than their sea-faring kin, in order to reduce the amount of food needed to sustain them. This, unfortunately, made them prime targets for freshwater sharks and larger fish that saw them as easy prey. Vahri often considered what her life would have been like had she been as big and as beautiful as her grandmother swore their ancestors had once been. She caught her reflection in the crystal growths her family cultivated at the bottom of the lake as she passed them. All Vahri saw was the same milky white eyes and translucent skin of her kin around her. Her tail was the same pitch black as everybody else's and her frame was stunted and warped, her gills and limbs being paper thin and dangerously delicate.

"Getting a little vain, aren't we?" The owner of the voice came slinking out from behind her, his fin swishing backwards playfully

"Narius" Vahri sighed "What do you want?"

The boy floated forward, swirling around Vahri with a grin on his face "To play of course. Or we could go hunting. Or maybe…"

"Enough" Vahri snapped "I have a job to do. And besides, you don't need an excuse to prove you're faster than me. I already know. So go and hunt by yourself because I'm not interested. Or better yet, go into hibernation. It's where you're supposed to be"

"Oh sweetheart, will you let me finish?" Narius put on that voice that he knew Vahri couldn't resist and leant forward, taking her hands "What I was going to say was that we could swim…up"

Vahri sighed "We're not supposed to go into shallow water unless we absolutely have to. Go to sleep" she said sadly "I'll be here when you wake up in a few months…"

Narius raised another brow "I don't think so. I'm staying awake with you. I'm not leaving you…alone. So that's decided"

There was an awkward pause. Narius had never been good at emotion. He didn't tell people he cared and he didn't show it. This declaration of slight affection was the most uncomfortable that Vahri had ever seen him look and it wasn't a surprise when he moved the topic on quickly

"Besides…" he regained his momentum, grasping hold of Vahri's hands and pulling her upwards, towards lighter water "I didn't mean that kind of 'up'. I meant all the way up…"

Vahri ripped her hands away from his "To the surface? No! No Narius. We're not going up there"

"Well I am" he shrugged "With or without you; I'm going to go up there. I'm going to be the first foam-nymph to break the surface in hundreds, maybe even thousands of years and I won't be stopped"

Vahri was furious "Do it! I don't care. I'm staying here and protecting my family, like I should"

Narius just shrugged and laughed boyishly as he swam upwards, only glancing down at Vahri once on his way up "If we all did exactly as we should, the world would be a very dull place"

And then he was gone. Narius had reached the top of the crevice to shallower water and had begun to swim towards laketown.

Vahri settled down in the crystal formations to wait for his return.

But Narius did not return. Even as the water quietened and night fell, Narius had not yet come back home and Vahri began to get worried…