SUMMARY

Felix invents anthropology

Felix stretched his shoulders, stiff from the long convening of the court.

What a waste of my time , he thought to himself as he swam through the grounds to meet up with Tikki again.

He found her chatting with one of the palace guards near the edge of the royal gardens. Tikki quickly wrapped up the conversation as Felix approached, probably not wanting to explain where they were about to go.

"Felix, how was court?" Tikki asked as she zipped over to his side.

Felix let out an exaggerated sigh. "My father has surrounded himself with puppets and lackeys as nobles and advisors, making any discussion of political matters little more than a charade in which a chorus of voices sing the praises of King Fathom, ignoring any real issues the kingdom might face."

Tikki gave him a supportive smile. "So the usual?"

"The usual," Felix confirmed.

They swam at a leisurely pace, not wanting to draw attention to themselves, until they reached the rock formation they had been searching earlier that morning. Felix had a moment of panic when the object was no longer in the crevice, but he quickly found it wedged between a crevice of the rocks, likely carried there by the subtly shifting current.

"Great! You found it!" Tikki exclaimed. "Now we can go back home!"

"Nice try, Tikki," Felix replied. "But we still have more to search. Where there's one human artifact, there are likely others."

Tikki ruffled her gills in frustration but offered no other protest, following Felix as he swam onwards toward another spot of interest. Felix brushed away some seaweed, but found it was only the glistening sand that had caught his eye.

"You know, I heard some interesting news from Armand," Tikki interjected, clearly bored with the current proceedings. "He said there is a concert tonight at the Grand Reef, and I think one of your old school friends is in the band."

"Tikki, is this you trying to convince me to socialize?"

"Well," Tikki flapped her fins dramatically. " If we have time. And I think it would be good to–"

Tikki trailed off, her wide eyes locked on something behind Felix.

He spun around quickly, reading her expression as fear. But what he found was not a shark, but a small brown object with sharp corners, perched at the top of the rocks, near the surface. It looked unnatural, with its smooth sides and crisp edges, and Felix instantly knew it must be of human origin.

He rushed toward it, scooping Tikki into his hand so she didn't fall behind. When he reached the ledge, he ran his fingers over the seams, confirming that it certainly was not from the sea.

"It's a treasure chest?" Tikki asked.

"I think it's a trunk," Felix corrected. "I found a broken one before, remember, with all the clothes inside? This one is smaller, but if it's the same design, this one should open like this…"

Felix lifted the top of the trunk, opening the lid at its hinge. However, he was surprised to find it not full of fabric, but… dishes?

Felix carefully pulled out what he recognized as plates and cups, which he knew humans used to assist them in eating. But these were a different material than he had seen before, feeling more like seashells than metal or wood dishes. The items looked exquisite, with intricate designs around their rims. They were in excellent condition, the best specimen he'd found in months. He needed to be extremely careful not to damage them.

"Look out!" Tikki called, a moment too late, as a black mass of wet feathers dove at Felix from the surface.

"Plagg!" Felix complained as he regained his composure. Luckily, he had not lost his grip on the plate he had been holding.

"Sorry, kid," Plagg apologized as he treaded just below the water. "Saw something shiny and I went for it! Thought I could take something back to you but look! You're already here."

"Plagg, you should be more careful," Tikki advised.

"I'm always careful, sugarcube!"

"It's lucky you're here, Plagg," Felix told him.

"Well, that's not something I hear often!" Plagg squawked back, using his wings to spin himself in the water.

"We just found this trunk of dishes," Felix explained. "I recognize the plates and cups, but there are these strange sticks I haven't seen before. Do you know what they're called?"

Felix held up what looked like a small spade and a miniature trident. If they had been larger, he might have thought they were weapons. But they were so small and delicate, he couldn't imagine their purpose.

"You bet kid," Plagg answered, "That right there is a spoog and a dingle-hop!"

"And what are they used for?" Felix pressed, eager to learn as much as he could.

"Well, they use them for grooming, of course!" Plagg provided with confidence. "The round one is for smoothing out the skin, and the pointy one for styling their hair!"

Felix turned the spoog over in his hand, examining it. How strange that humans store these items together , he thought. There must be some connection between grooming and eating in human culture, especially to design the tools in such similar patterns and materials.

He set the spoog down and examined the dingle-hop. On an impulse, he ran the spikes through his thin blond hair, trying to imagine how humans might style it.

"Look at you! You're just like the humans!" Plagg exclaimed.

Felix immediately put down the tool, frowning.

"I'm not trying to be like them," he corrected. "I'm studying them. Information is power, and the more we know, the more power we have."

"Uh huh, so I assume you're sharing all this power with the king?" Plagg asked facetiously.

Felix bit his lip. Plagg was more observant of him than he realized. He always thought of the bird in the context of providing Felix with intel on humans. Perhaps he should be worried about the information going both ways.

"It's good to see you, Plagg, but we have a concert to get to, so we'll have to go," Felix told him, snapping the trunk closed again with all the items safely inside.

Plagg didn't seem suspicious of his quick departure, and merely winked at Tikki before taking off back into the sky.

Felix lifted the trunk, holding it close to his chest as they swam back to his secret cave where he stored all his research. When they reached it, Tikki let out a small gulp.

"Wow, I didn't realize how much you've collected," Tikki admitted, staring in awe at the carefully balanced piles of human artifacts that were stacked around the underwater cave.

Felix glanced over it, feeling a bit of pride at his accomplishment. He had collected quite a lot. And all right under his father's nose as well. A small part of him almost wanted the king to find his treasure trove, if only to see how little control he really had over Felix. But he knew that was a fantasy. If his father ever found out about this research, he was sure he would be banned from continuing it, and might even be confined to the castle.

Felix felt his chest tightening and pushed away the thought. No good catastrophizing. The cave was well hidden, and had a second exit through a narrow opening at the top that could allow for escape in an emergency.

"Do you hear something?" Tikki asked, flitting toward him nervously.

Felix tilted his head, listening. He heard it too. Voices. A distant conversation echoed around them, the muffled words not quite decipherable.

"Someone's found the cave!" Tikki whispered, swimming in quick spirals.

But Felix wasn't so sure. He swam upwards toward the second exit, listening closely. As the voices became more clear, he smiled. It wasn't merfolk.

Before Tikki could talk him out of it, he darted upward, slipping out of the cave and emerging right below the surface. The sun had not quite set, and in the red light of early evening he saw the outline of a boat.

"Felix!" Tikki called out from far below him, struggling to keep up.

But Felix wasn't listening. This was his opportunity. To see real live humans interacting in their natural environment! Well, his environment, he supposed. Did a boat count as an environment?

He slowly flapped his fin, pushing his head through the waves. His eyes stung when they hit the open air, but he kept them open. He wanted to see every moment he could. He was closer to the boat than he had realized before surfacing, but watching the humans scuttle around on its deck, he was sure they were far too preoccupied to notice him.

They all seemed to know exactly where they were going, what ropes to pull, which levers to turn. Like a complex choreographed dance, they moved around each other smoothly, communicating in quick commands and hand signals.

With all the movement on deck, Felix's eyes were drawn to the one person who was standing still. He didn't realize at first, but when the person shifted their weight, he could clearly see she was a woman. She seemed to be wearing the same clothes as the other sailors, although now that he looked closer, he could tell that her garments were much cleaner. Her short black hair was tied behind her head, but the wind had caught some of the smaller pieces and they fluttered around her face.

Who was she? And why were they here? Felix watched as one of the sailors approached the woman, giving a small bow before speaking with her. Over the noise of the wind and the waves, he couldn't make out what they were talking about, but it certainly seemed like the woman was the superior in this conversation.

She turned away to face the opposite side of the ship and pointed, giving some kind of instruction. The sailor quickly bowed again, but this time Felix caught the end of his sentence.

"Yes, Your Highness."

Your Highness? So she was royalty. Possibly a princess? Felix seemed surprised that she was allowed so far from the castle. Not only that, but she seemed to be commanding her own ship, a crew of men following her orders.

A twinge of jealousy twisted in his stomach. He was royalty. Supposedly a leader by birth. And yet, he had never led anyone, never even had the chance.

Felix continued to watch as a group of sailors gathered on the opposite side of the ship, some peering over the edge. What were they looking at? A flash of red caught his eye, and he glanced down to see Tikki flapping beside him. He ignored her in favor of focusing on the humans, not wanting to receive a lecture from a tiny guppy 1/50th his size.

The humans were talking louder now, but all at once, which didn't help with understanding them. Were they talking about their feet? He thought he heard one of them say "fifteen feet," and he wondered how the group ended up with an odd number of feet.

Tikki, clearly fed up, rammed her tiny body into his stomach, trying to get his attention. He moved his arm to brush her away, but stopped himself. He heard another word from the humans he recognized.

"Shark!"