Octolae constantly surprised Adella anew. First there had been Shayan, whom she had mistaken for Mazu himself, then Ashera, whom she had hastily mistaken for Morgana, and now this. The two native sea creatures had led her around the city for some time until they had finally arrived here in front of this sign, which the princess would never have expected to see in a city of faith. "Kanzlei Achtfuß" it read in matter-of-factly straightforward letters. Uncertain whether they were not joking with her, she looked around at them, but they seemed to be serious.

"What is a law firm doing here in Octolae?" she voiced her concerns.

"Not all of them indulge in divine assistance, Adella. Some like to hedge their bets that way too," Shayan explained.

"As you say, I would still have chosen a different place. It just doesn't fit," the princess argued.

"He would have had a hard time catching fin in another place. That will certainly have been the deciding factor in the choice of location," Ashera now added.

"Good lawyers are sought after in all seven kingdoms, after all. If he can't make a go of it there, he doesn't seem to know his trade," Adella mused.

"Oh, he very much does, believe me. In fact, he's probably the best at what he does. His contracts are rock solid," Ashera assured her.

"If you say so, priestess. But I still don't see how a lawyer is going to help us find Morgana. Legal texts and bureaucratic back-doors don't seem to me to be purposeful in this problem structure," Adella remarked.

"Hearing you talk like that, Princess, it seems to me he might as well have started afresh in Atlantica. How can you have never heard of him? His skills are widely known. After all, he wielded the bone handle in all of Ursula's gagging contracts during her lifetime," Shayan now rejoined the conversation, voicing his disbelief at Adella's ignorance.

"Excuse me? It can't be, someone like that would never be allowed on free flipper. You are pulling my fin," she couldn't believe it.

"No way. You try putting a lawyer of his calibre behind bars. He has the right answer to every charge against his person. Everyone knows he was Ursula's right-hand man and yet no one manages to pull a fast one on him," Shayan explained, sounding a little too admiring for Adella's taste.

"I'm not sure I still want to meet him now. Surely it's better if I confide in Mazu after all," Adella tried a retreat.

"Are you scared?" Shayan teased her immediately and even if it was so, the proud princess of course did not want to admit it.

"Of course I'm not! Why should I be? I'm just pretty sure we're wasting my precious time here," she talked herself out of it.

"Give it a chance, Adella. You'll be surprised," the other kept talking at her.

"Honestly, I've had more than enough surprises here for my taste, but fine. Fine by me. Let's finally get this over with so I can still secure Mazu's assistance if need be, should this turn out to be a bust after all. Any last words?", Adella deflected a little and half-heartedly joked.

"First of all, you shouldn't always be so critical. We are in the city of faith here. Take a cue from that and believe in our success. Oh, and keep the constant questions to yourself. That could reduce his willingness to cooperate," Ashera advised her and then swam past her towards the entrance of the office.

Shayan gave her a meaningful look and then followed the blind octopede.

"Oh great," Adella was still muttering to herself, but then joined the two.

The three of them landed shortly afterwards in an entrance area in front of a coral counter.

"Welcome to the law firm for contracts of all kinds. We provide expert advice on legal issues and provide sound legal representation in the event of a dispute. Tell me your concerns, then take a number and go to the waiting area. Mr Eightfoot will see you as soon as he has time for you," came a voice from behind the counter. Adella and Shayan gave each other an irritated look before the Octolaer leaned over the piece of furniture curiously.

"I ask for discretion, sir. There is sensitive data of other clients on my desk," he was rebuked for this by a small orange sea slug, he now realised. She wore a pair of rectangular glasses with a pearl neck strap that looked far too big, perfectly rounding off the image of a miniature secretary.

Adella could not help giggling. Shayan, who also recognised the comedy in the situation himself, as expected, did not take offence and joined in for a moment.

"Sorry, that was not my intention," he quickly assured the secretary and retreated again.

"So? What brings you here? A marriage contract?" the slug wanted to know.

Caught off guard, Adella exchanged a glance with Shayan, who winked at her pertly.

"No, we have a personal matter with Mr Eightfoot," Adella hastily corrected.

"In that case, you should come back after hours. The boss is busy," the secretary replied, and for her part seemed to have done all that was asked of her.

"But there's no one here but us at the moment," Ashera then remarked, "surely he can take a moment for us."

"Mr. Eightfoot does not wish to be disturbed in his work by such things," the sea slug clarified in a stern tone.

At that, the priestess seemed to lose her composure for the first time since Adella had met her.

"He's sitting in his much too big office chair, twiddling his thumbs bored as usual. Announce us right now or I'll do it myself," the priestess demanded steadfastly.

How she seemed to know exactly what the other was doing at that very moment and that they were indeed the only ones in the office was beyond Adella's comprehension, but she had no doubt that Ashera was right.

She may be blind, but when she put her mind to it, she certainly had her ways of seeing more than was revealed to the eye. This assumption was only further solidified when the secretary seemed to be caught coaxing.

"Take a number. You will be called," the other relented after a low groan at this persistence.

"What's the racket out here, Elisabeth? Didn't I make it clear I didn't want to be disturbed?" suddenly came from the direction of the office.

Adella couldn't say for certain how exactly she had imagined the lawyer, but the one who had just come out of the office certainly wasn't. The octopede seemed to be only a few years older than herself, if that. Judging by the dark circles around his eyes, he probably didn't sleep much, or at least not well. Despite this fact, Adella couldn't quite decide whether he was just tired or rather completely unmotivated and disinterested. At least he seemed to pay enough attention to his appearance. Considering his style of dress, which was quite rustic for a sea dweller. He wore a violet frilled shirt under a formal yet flamboyant jacket, which skilfully echoed the colour of the occasional strands in his masterfully draped light grey head of hair.

"Joseph, be so kind as to listen to this mermaid's request. I promise you will get your benefit from this," Adella snapped the priestess' voice from its stare.

The princess registered how the person addressed momentarily contorted his face when his full firstname was mentioned. However, she was pretty sure by now that the unwanted disturbance that drifted along with Ashera's request also contributed a great deal to his begrudging gesticulation.

"Don't call me that!" he urged his conspecific.

"Is Mr. Eightfoot more agreeable?" Ashera asked, and Adella wondered about the way she was talking to the other. Hadn't she herself given her the advice not to upset him unnecessarily?

"Yes, old mantis," the lawyer also dealt a blow as expected, "have you come just to annoy me or is there actually a valid reason?"

"Can we possibly discuss this amongst ourselves?" asked Adella, drawing the other's attention for the first time, causing his eyelids to pull up a tiny bit in surprise.

"Follow me," the lawyer replied after a brief pause and then swam ahead to his office.

Adella complied and swam through the office door as well. However, Shayan and Ashera who were about to swim through the opening behind her were stopped by a black tentacle.

"I only meant her. You two laughing figures stay outside!" the lawyer ordered. Shayan was about to protest but was held back by Ashera.

With a nasty grin, the octopede closed the door between himself and the merman.

He casually settled down on his comfortable office chair and crossed his tentacles. Invitingly, he offered Adella a seat opposite him.

"Well then, tell me, sweetheart. What was it that flushed you into my office?" he asked, not breaking eye contact for a second.

Once again Adella felt as if she had swum blindly into a trap.

"I... Well I don't know if you can help me, Mr. Eightfoot, but..." she started searching for the right words.

"Oh, just call me Joe," he interrupted her, "In fact, I'm pretty sure I can help you. Helping poor souls in need is my hobby horse you know."

"Well, I was told..." she continued to find the right entry point into the conversation.

"Asherah told you, didn't she?" he corrected her with a mischievous grin, "the accurate presentation of the facts is essential in a negotiation, you must know."

"But this is not a negotiation," Adella remarked.

"Everything is a negotiation, believe me," he retorted with conviction.

"However. You are supposed to have knowledge that could be of help to me and my family," Adella skipped over his banter, which she assumed was probably meant to lull her into a deceptive sense of security.

"We shall see. Of course, it's also a question of payment, but I'm sure you're aware of that. However, I'm pretty sure that you and your family can come up with an appropriate fee. But before we get down to business, tell me, how is your sister? Is she still happy with her Prince Charming?" he replied.

Adella couldn't believe it. Was it really so obvious who she was?

She had neither a crown on her head, nor her royally sprawling luggage, nor even a bodyguard with her, and yet it had taken neither Shayan nor the lawyer now before her long to realise who they were dealing with.

"Cat got your tongue, Princess?" he teased her with amusement.

"What do you care if she's happy! It was you who drew up that damned gagging contract for Ursula!" she went on the attack.

"A drawn-up contract like any other for a client like any other. What are you going to hold against me. I was just doing my job, nothing more," he defended himself.

"A contract written with only one of the parties in mind. Deceitful and devious!", Adella countered.

"That doesn't eat right, both had a fair chance to get what they wanted. All the terms were openly stated and put forward. Your sister knew exactly what she was getting into," the lawyer submitted.

"She had three days. Three days! How could she have done that in three days?!" she burst out angrily, forgetting all cheerfulness towards him.

"In this case, three days would have been an eternity. She would have been able to get that fool to kiss her in the first one. Especially if she could have used her magic voice," Joe argued.

"Don't make me laugh. Are you going to tell me that you had her best interests at heart when you wrote that document?", Adella inquired sharply.

There was a brief pause before Joe spoke up again after a short, collecting breath.

"I must admit that I didn't have a happy ending with Prince Fantastic in mind, but I certainly didn't mean any harm to your sister. Truth be told, her little vote was an essential part, of the get-out clause I devised in the contract, but even Ursula probably didn't study the fine print and so set herself up for failure by stealing from your sister what would have bound her to us forever."

"I don't understand. How would that not have hurt her, please?!" she continued to snarl at him.

"You really aren't the brightest, are you? She would still be here, here in the sea. Where she belongs. With her own kind. With us," he explained.

Again there was a weighty pause.

"With you," the scales finally fell from Adella's eyes.

That was what Ashera had meant.

That was why HE, the right-hand man of the powerful and ruthless sea witch, would help HER, a princess of Atlantica.

That was the reason Ursula had wanted to keep him out of everything as much as possible.

"Exactly," he confirmed.

"She's in danger, Joe. You've got to help me. Otherwise she'll probably never be able to have contact with either of us again," she now pleaded hopefully to his obviously actual goodwill.

"How do you imagine that?" he actually asked with serious interest.

"Ariel recently had a baby daughter. Her name is Melody," Adella began to explain the circumstances to him.

"She has a daughter," the other repeated in amazement, breaking eye contact momentarily.

"Yes, an adorable little thing. But that's where the problem lies. Morgana has threatened to take revenge and tried to grab little Melody, but luckily didn't succeed in her first attempt. We are trying to catch her by all means, but so far we haven't got the slightest hint of a trace. Ashera said you could tell me Ursula's old retreats, as Morgana probably hid in one of them," the desperate aunt continued.

"The priestess is right, it would look like that magically untalented trulla. How dare she? To be so brazen as to nestle in one of Ursula's grottos!" the lawyer vented about his former client's sister.

"So you'll help us?" asked Adella with anticipation.

"You bet I will. Morgana is going to be in for a surprise. You'll get the safe houses from me," he agreed, holding out his outstretched hand to her to seal their deal.

Adella hesitated briefly before finally slamming her hand into his.

"What is the price?" she asked suspiciously.

The lawyer laughed.

"So you're smarter than you thought after all," he praised her mockingly and withdrew his hand for now, "My prize? How about a reunion with your sister?"

Adelle thought hard, but in the end could see no real catch in this request, and finally slipped in the hand offered to her once more.

"It's a deal. Thank you, Joe," Adella confirmed both their trades verbally as well.