Up and down. Up and down. Up and down. Phil's job in the ranks of the Atlantean Guard was mostly very monotonous. He swam back and forth and back and forth. Always keeping an eye on the entrance portal behind him. But tedious as it was, he was proud to serve his ruler in this way. He knew that his work was valued and that it was important. Even in times of peace, the guarding of the palace and the royal family living in it could not be handled less carefully.

But he did not fool himself, of course there were thousands of tasks that were truly more glorious and of course a lot more exciting than swimming up and down here. Just think of the select mermen the captain had sent out to search for the sea witch. Some of them he knew well, others only by hearsay. But one thing was certain. If he compared himself to these men, Phil knew why he was here and not there. He had never really stood out, even though he had always tried hard. Well, not everyone could have extraordinary talents and abilities. He was probably one of the many average sea people, even if he would have liked to change that in his younger years. But he quickly had to admit that some things could not be achieved through diligence and perseverance. Some things simply required a certain innate talent. So he was content with the task assigned to him. In the years that he had been patrolling in front of the main portal, he had also learned to appreciate the positive aspects of this work. He liked to talk to all kinds of people who wanted to enter the palace. He always managed to elicit all kinds of information and stories about himself from them. A talent he was not even aware of himself and yet made him exactly the right person for the job. He was by no means the most muscular soldier in Triton's ranks, but he still posed an enormous hurdle to any hostile sea creatures who wanted to infiltrate the palace. Without really intending to, the brief conversations he always enjoyed having with guests became mature and informed interrogations.

Today, however, apart from the conversation with little Anaya, he had not yet had the opportunity to satisfy his curiosity. The morning was extremely quiet, even though they were in such a critical situation at the moment. A situation that contributed to the fact that Phil was now guarding the portal alone and thus did not even have the opportunity to pass the time with a conversation with his colleague, as he had been withdrawn to occupy a position that had become open due to the deployment of the search party. It did not occur to him that this was precisely why his actual strength had become an equally great weakness and thus a gap in security.

Phil's gaze wandered off into the distance. Atlantica was slowly but surely awakening. More and more sea dwellers roamed the city, going about their day's work as he did. The hustle and bustle grew larger with each swim up and down until it finally returned to the usual colourful picture. The portal guard could never get enough of the many different sea creatures that had settled in this realm. Due to its central location, Atlantica had always been the main port of call for those who, for whatever reason, no longer wanted to stay in their original home. Nowhere else did one see such a great diversity.

Phil was watching a school of dolphins chattering loudly as they passed through the city. As they disappeared from sight, he stopped at a shop run by a successful artist, who was, of course, once from Liones. His works were breathtaking and Phil was always curious to see which paintings and sculptures made it into the window. Others were also magically attracted by the works of art and gathered in a cluster in front of the shop. A young mermaid tugged excitedly at her boyfriend, pointing again and again at a piece that seemed to appeal to her in particular. The blond merman, whose roots were apparently to be found in Orcanus, finally gave in and bought the desired piece for his beloved. She thanked him profusely and they both left happily. Phil was about to turn his attention to something else when he flinched.

An enormous shadow had just passed over him and now continued to flow across the seabed in front of him. Searchingly, he turned his gaze towards the surface of the sea. Had a ship dared to sail the forbidden waters above the territory of Atlantica?

He regretted his reflexive change of gaze as he stared straight into the blinding sun, which was now almost directly above him. Despite the fact that it had to fight its way through the masses of water, it had enough power to rob him of his vision for a few seconds. Seconds that, as he had to realise afterwards in annoyance, had been enough time to make the unknown shadow cast disappear.

Phil had the feeling that he had missed something. He knew that this was the case when he saw a raging princess swimming towards him from the palace. Her Olympian husband was swimming close behind her and seemed to be talking to her in a regrettably unsuccessful manner.

Phil swallowed hard. This was looking anything but good for him.

"Did you let her in?" was the first question directed at him, and he tried convulsively to come up with the right answer.

"Your Highness, I..." he began, but was immediately interrupted again by Attina.

"If I find out that you let that ray into the palace, you'll lose your job, I swear!" Attina continued to thunder.

Ray?

Phil didn't know what to make of it at first. The only encounter this morning had been with Anaya. It was well known that the little friend of the crown prince swam in and out of the palace as she pleased. There had never been any problems about it. But now that he was thinking about it, he remembered the unusually long conversation she had had with him early this morning. Again he had the feeling that he had missed something.

"So?" the princess probed, arms on her hips.

"I...I'm not sure. It could be that he swam past me while I was talking to Anaya," Phil confessed meekly, earning a pitying look from Orpheus.

"You've got to be kidding me!" exclaimed Attina, shaking her head and throwing her hands towards the surface before swimming past Phil.

"Don't worry about this, Phil. I'll handle it," he assured the distraught guard with an apologetic look and then quickly followed his wife.

"Attina stay calm. Nothing will happen. They can't have come far. We'll swim into town and look for the three of them," Orpheus talked at her.

"Nothing will happen! Ares isn't supposed to leave his bed and now he's swimming around out here in the company of a ray!" she was indignant.

"The ray we owe his life to, Attina. Give him a chance. If he, Ares wanted to do something bad, he could have done it long ago. I trust him," Orpheus argued for Phobos.

"Why am I not surprised that you say that? Oh that's right, you keep sharks as pet fish," Attina accused Orpheus origin.

With that she had dealt a nasty blow. Hurt, he stayed a few metres behind her and just looked sadly after her.

Attina only realised after a few moments that she was no longer being followed. She looked around in amazement and only realised what she had said when her eyes fell on Orpheus' bent form. Remorse arose in her and she hurried back.

"I'm sorry, Orpheus. I didn't mean to say that. Please forgive me. I don't know either, I'm so scared. Please forgive," it gushed out of her.

Orpheus said nothing, he just took her in his arms and silenced her.

After a while he raised his voice and said to her: "I know, darling. But you have to calm down now. We need a clear head and to pull together. Let's look for her and bring her back to the palace. Then we'll see."

Attina nodded her agreement and so the two set off in search of the three runaways.

The runaways were congratulating themselves on their smooth escape from the palace. It had been far too easy to weave their way through the thinned-out posts of the palace guards. Ares made a mental note to remedy this grievance during his reign at the latest. For the moment, however, he gratefully accepted the opportunity thus presented to Anaya, Phobos and himself. Anaya's Plan B had led them out of the ballroom window of his room. After that, they had headed straight for the surface and then, with the protection of the glaringly bright celestial body at their backs, had put as much distance as possible between themselves and the palace. Briefly, their hearts had sunk to the tips of their fins as they did so, when Phil's attention was drawn to Phobo's shadow looking directly in their direction. But Anaya's plan seemed to have come to full fruition, for the palace guard narrowed his eyes and turned away again in a flash.

"Faster, Phobos," Ares had cheered at the ray and they had disappeared from view. The crown prince was enjoying every single second of his regained freedom. Even though his tail fin ached fiercely with every little movement, this did nothing to diminish his joy at their joint excursion.

"Done," Anaya cheered as they arrived at one of their favourite spots.

The three of them laughed together, Phobo's relief evident in the process.

"Take it easy, Phobos. After all, this isn't the first time we've done something like this. You'll get used to the thrill," Ares intoned confidently. However, he ignored the fact that his own adrenaline level would probably remain constantly high for some time to come.

Again they fell into a loud laugh.

"And now? What do we do now?", Phobos asked the two sea children, curious to see what else they would cook up.

"Market?" suggested Ares monosyllabically.

The little mermaid thought for a moment and then lapsed into an eager nod of agreement.

"Do you think it's a good idea if I just swim around Atlantica like this?" remarked Phobos gently, not wanting to be the killjoy again.

"First of all, there are so many different sea creatures swimming around here, you won't attract much attention...", Anaya began to argue and then looked further at Ares, who was only too happy to use the template and join in, "...and secondly, you'll be accompanying the Crown Prince. No one will dare even look at you foolishly."

Phobos was not as sure about this as Ares but he wanted to prove his trust and so immediately turned towards the busy alleys.

"Off to new adventures!" shouted Ares from his back, which elicited a slight smirk from the rays.

Mindful to spare Ares, Phobos now floated through the water again at a shallow pace.

"Are you running out of breath already? Am I too heavy?" asked Ares, casting him an apologetic look.

"No, no, you're light as a feather," Phobos hastened to assure him, "I just don't want you to be in pain."

Ares waved a hand lightly before replying, "Oh, don't worry, the painkiller from the doctor is great. I feel almost nothing."

That Ares was telling more than a little fib just now, however, was immediately apparent to both friends as soon as they eyed his tense face.

"I think Phobos is right. Let's not overdo it, Ares. Let's slow down," Anaya suggested.

"No. Come on, swim faster, the sea slugs are already overtaking us," however, Ares could not be convinced.

Anaya didn't like this at all, but she knew better than to start a discussion with her friend when he had apparently just switched to his "spoilt crown prince" mode. She knew from the start that this would only end in absurd arguments to which she had nothing more to offer. So she followed the two boys without comment, while they now set a good pace.

It was not long before they found themselves in the hustle and bustle of the Atlantica market. In spite of the arguments given before, Phobos noticed the usual suspicion at all corners. However, it was only expressed through whispered words and critical glances that were thrown at them as soon as they were far enough away. That, he decided, he could live with. He had, after all, experienced quite different treatments.

Anaya and Ares talked animatedly about all the goods on offer. The young mermaid constantly swam back and forth between them and the stalls, bringing a wide variety of things within reach for Ares to examine more closely if they caught the crown prince's interest.

While the two sea children were discussing something again, Phobos' good ears picked up one of the whispered conversations.

"Thank the gods, the crown prince seems to be well again. What would we have done if he hadn't returned?" a market woman whispered to a vendor to her right.

"Yes, that is really good news. But it worries me that he is in the company of a Ray. Why didn't they find him some other means of transport than one of those dodgy things. After all, history has shown so often that associations with rays are not a good omen. They corrupt character," the salesman replied quietly, giving Phobos a suspicious look every now and then.

Phobos tried to ignore it as best he could and swam slowly past the two. But the words did not let him go. He was not only unwelcome here, he also cast a bad light on Ares. The inhabitants of Atlantica might be numerous and diverse, but he still didn't fit in here and in the eyes of all the others even less at the side of their beloved crown prince. Phobos knew the stories about the sea people who preferred to surround themselves with their own kind. All of them were delicate, dangerous personalities and probably often enough mentally disturbed or worse. But looking at Ares, he could not imagine that he would ever drift into threefold ways, and certainly not because he would whisper anything to him about it. No, Phobos knew better, rays were not the cause of all the negative examples. His species had simply been excluded from the community for far too long. An offer to cooperate with a sea person probably sounded profitable to everyone's ears. The fact that these sea people turned to them out of pure calculation, in order to have the same intimidating effect on the others and not the other way around, was something the other sea dwellers were happy to disregard.

The best example at the moment was probably his two cousins, who had made a deal with the sea witch. They weren't stupid, but they weren't really bright either. Just the right thing for the cunning witch. Henchmen who did what they were told, made no demands of their own and terrified their surroundings by their mere presence.

"...,Phobos?", Ares' voice snapped him out of his thoughts.

"Oh, I beg your pardon? What did you just say?" he responded delayed.

"I asked if everything was alright with you because you've been quiet for so long," the prince explained.

"I had to think about something. I'm sorry if I haven't paid you any attention because of it," he apologised.

"Have you come to any conclusions then?" interjected Anaya.

Phobos thought for a moment. Was he?

After another brief pause for thought, he nodded.

"Yes, I have come to a conclusion. We are going to prove it to everyone!" he said firmly.

"Prove what?" asked Ares, somewhat perplexed, tilting his head.

"That we can very well be friends. We will prove to everyone that not all rays are bad!" he answered, this time loud enough for everyone to hear, especially the two stall holders. A quick sideways glance told Phobos that the two felt caught, and they gave him an embarrassed smile.