Dawn and dusk continued their waltz across the sky as life went on and with the passage of time came a change in season as Spring transitioned to summer. Warm rays of sunlight bathed the island in light as crashing waves created a peaceful ambiance that was unceremoniously disturbed by a hand reaching from the waters.

Olivia pulled herself into the diving boat and flopped to lay on her back as she quickly moved to take off her mask and held her face as she started to laugh. "Ooooh my gosh. Professor, I have so many questions." She mused aloud to the robot floating next to her boat.

The boat sprang to life in response taking Olivia back to shore. As soon as it docked She quickly got off, changed and hurried into town, making a B-Line for the Lab.

"Professor Ling!" Olivia called as she closed the door to the lab behind her.

"Yes yes, I'm here." Ling hurried over to the front door.

"Holy crap!" Olivia replied as she held the side of her head though an ear to ear grin was undeniably present.

"Yeah," She patiently waited for Olivia to find her words before glancing over to a young man standing nearby. "Surya Could you give us a couple minutes?"

"Uh, yeah sure. I'll just, go take my lunch break," He replied and cautiously slipped past the two.

Once he was gone Olivia finally found her voice. "I saw Merfolk?"

"You did! I haven't seen them in so long…" Ling happily cooed as her own grin formed. "I saw everything. Oooh I haven't heard that language in years."

"Where they talking?" Olivia asked while trying to remember. It was so hard to hear under water.

"You don't understand them, do you," Ling asked before moving over to her desk to start poking at the screen. "Don't worry, I can fix that."

"How?" Olivia asked before starting to pace around. This meant, oh gosh there were people living under water. They were living In that oil covered mess that she'd been cleaning up for months…. They must really hate humans.

"Well, I need your diving suit." Ling instructed but quickly waved her hand for Olivia to stop once she noticed her taking the suit from her bag. "Nono I changed my mind. Then you won't be able to dive. Never mind that, I have a spare. I'll work on that one instead and once it's done, we can trade."

"Wait, really? Are you sure that you're okay doing that?"

"Of course! You're going to need to be able to communicate if you run into them again." Ling insisted before walking over to Olivia to hold her shoulders. "For now, take the day, go home and rest a little. You can keep diving if you want but it will take me a few days to fix up this new suit."

"Alright then, yeah. I guess I'll do that… You think I'll see them again?" Olivia asked while thinking over the memory. The whole thing felt like a once in a life time event. To think it could happen again. Well, maybe she shouldn't be surprised about such a notion considering her unique situation. At least she was handling this revelation better then the giants.

"I'm sure of it," Ling replied before making a shooing motion. "I have much to do to make sure that next time, you're ready."

Olivia chuckled to herself as she allowed herself to be ushered out of the lab. She looked up at the sky. It was maybe 2 in the afternoon? She'd only barely started her second dive when everything happened. Her gaze slowly dropped in the direction of the lake. She had time.

She tried to walk at a normal pace and bridal her flurry of emotions. While there was a portion of her that was a bit salty about being kept in the dark, the rest of her had gotten used to this unusual realm of discovery where anything seemed to be possible.

As she walked she took deep calming breaths. There was nothing wrong with curiosity with the unknown but, the place she was heading deserved a calm presence. Her regulated gate fell to a slower natural pace by the time she took her first step onto the lake's sunken pathway.

Peace and serenity eased the tension her chaotic mindscape previously brought and allowed for more thoughtful introspection as she approached the second floor of the lake's temple. While approaching the left most shrine she shifted to reach into her bag, retrieving a freshly harvested turnip, carrot and daisy along with foraged wasabi and mushrooms.

"Sorry it took so long," She whispered while gently placing the offering on the alter. "May this help ease your affliction. I'm doing what I can to help the Island. I'm not sure if it's enough, but I'm trying."

While she heard no response a comforting feeling washed over her causing her to close her eyes and let herself soak in the reassurance it offered. When she opened her eyes the offering was gone.

"I'll keep doing my best. I'll try and have another offering for you soon," With that promise made she excused herself from the temple. Leaving with a similar level of respect and care with each step until she made her way back to town.

Any hope of holding on to that peaceful mindset disappeared as Olivia rounded a corner and bumped into someone, causing her to stumble back."Yikes, sorry about tha-"

"Why do you look like that?" asked an irritating voice.

"huh," Olivia finally looked to see who she'd run into only to find Mark.

"I startled you huh? Tch. Jumpy farmer, aren't you?" Mark questioned as he shifted to fold his arms.

"I think it's pretty normal to be surprised if you walk head first into someone," Olivia countered as her expression soured.

"Not my fault you're walking around at this time of day like you got nothing to do," He shrugged.

"You're walking around too!"

Again he just shrugged. "At least I'm heading to work. Don't you have a field to tend to, garden rake?"

Olivia squinted. "Garden rake?" She repeated while sneering.

"Figured it's better then Garden hoe," Mark replied.

"Has anyone ever told you that you're insufferable." Olivia hissed while debating if it was worth it to keep arguing or if she should storm off. "If not, I feel you've been done a disservice."

"Are you always this chatty?" Mark asked, electing to ignore the attempted insult.

Good heavens she needed to leave before she broke her hand trying to punch him. "Have a nice day!" She shouted through her irritation. As she stormed off she found herself heading towards the Museum. Maybe listening to Scott talk about the Pickstarter would help put her in a better mood.

She entered the well-lit building that was slowly feeling more complete as roughly thirty or so donations filled the various tanks and pedestals. "Hey Scott?" She called as she passed the employee's only sign and entered the private research area. Only to find a woman wearing a green blazer standing by herself.

"Olivia, Good to see you," the woman greeted.

"Hey Eleanor, Is Scott not around today?" That was just her luck.

"I believe he's doing some research in the library. Did you have another donation to drop off? If so I could take it off your hands." She happily offered.

"Ah um." Olivia paused. Right, usually she had a reason to be back here besides talking. "Actually I had a couple questions for him about the Pickstarter and what kind of donations I should focus on finding." Olivia replied through a forced smile.

"I see, I see," Eleanor did her best to hide her amusement. "In that case your best bet is to head across the street to the town hall. Once you're inside, the library is the second door on your right."

"Thanks," With that Olivia quickly made her exit in an effort to avoid any further questioning.

She made her way across the street, into townhall and entered the second door on the right to find a rather small library. Even then every wall was packed with shelves full of books and several computer desks were set up in the middle of the room. Sitting at one of them was a wide eyed and pale faced Scott.

"Ugh… This thing." He grumbled as he moved to hold his face.

"What's the problem?" Olivia whispered as she walked over. Trying to keep standard library curtesy in mind.

"I don't know," Scott admitted before gesturing to a blue screen with white text.

"Err… Are you allowed to be using that?" Olivia hesitantly pressed. It was no small feat to get a blue screen of doom in this day and age. What did he do?

The question was taken with some level of offense as Scott moved his hand away to glare at her. "What do you mean? Of course."

"Sorry. What happened?" Olivia corrected.

"I was using the computer and it crashed. I restarted the whole thing but," He glanced at the error message.

"Restarted the whole thi- you didn't delete the operating system, did you?" Olivia shifted to look over Scott's shoulder in an effort to read the error message more fully.

"Er, I don't know, Okay? Not everything is messed up." He insisted. "That being said, I can't tell Millie about this… Even though I work in her department, I'm technically not allowed to use certain things."

Hearing that caused Olivia to slowly turn her head to stare at Scott. Did he really just say that after he gave her a hard time when she asked if he was allowed to use the computer?

"Stop looking at me. The point is that the computer crashed." He breathed a defeated sigh as he moved to hold his face again. "What do we do now?!"

We?! Olivia fought back the urge to point out that he was making his problem plural again. Instead she looked back at the screen. It would be a pain for the other citizens too if they couldn't use the library computer any more. "I have a brother who's good with techy stuff but he's in New Frisco. With timezones, I don't think he's awake right now…" She paused to think of a better answer. "Have you tried asking for help from Lily? She does cybersecurity stuff, right?"

Scott's face instantly lit up. "Great idea! Let's go find her." He agreed as he got up and gathered his things. "Let's hope Millie doesn't use the computer until it's fixed."

"Is today her day off or something?" Olivia asked as she followed Scott out of the building.

"Lunch break. So we're working on a short deadline,"

"How long do we have?"

"Maybe 30 minutes?" Scott answered through a wincing smile.

"Scott You're going to have to tell her that you broke it," Olivia chided as they made their way up the road.

"Yeah, yeah, don't worry. I will tell Millie about it." He agreed though Olivia waited for the asterisks for that statement. She didn't have to wait long. "It's just gonna be easier for her to forgive me if I have the thing that I broke, fixed and functional."

"Scott," her scolding tone remained.

"Eyes on the goal, Olivia. Let's go." He insisted before continuing to lead the search.

With a bit of luck, they managed to find Lily waiting by the lake after only 10 minutes of searching. The techie woman sported a somewhat over sized hoodie and black rim glasses that were partially obscured by long silky black hair.

"Hey Lils.. Looking good," Scott greeted with a nervous grin as he slowed his step.

"Ugh, What is it?" Lily asked seemingly having little interest in hiding her disgust with the greeting.

"The computer at the library is broken and we don't know anything about computers. Can you help?" Olivia asked while making some effort to try not to laugh at how quickly Lily seemed to be done with Scott. Poor guy barely got one sentence out…

"I broke it. Olivia is trying to cover for me." Scott reluctantly admitted before giving Olivia a slight nudge. "Thanks Olivia."

Lily looked between the two with a quizzical expression. "Um, sure. No promises, but I will take a look and see what I can do."

"You're a life saver," Scott praised through a breath of relief.

"Thanks." She looked at Scott more directly this time. "I charge $400 an hour. So where should I send the bill?"

Hearing this caused Scott to howl with laughter. "Hahahaha, ha very funny."

Lily stayed quiet while glancing over to Olivia. "I am not kidding."

Scott's face instantly grew pale. "Er… Well, I uh."

Seeing Scott squirm caused the techie to laugh. "I am kidding. No charge." She admitted, seeing that was payment enough. "It's probably nothing anyways. Lets go."

Lily led the way back to the library where the broken computer continued to display it's blue screened warning.

"Oh, is that all that's wrong?" Lily asked as she shifted to take a seat. "You must have held down the power button for too long while resetting it." She turned the computer off again. Waited a few seconds then turned it back on. "Hang on." She said while holding up a hand to signal for the others to be patient.

The black screen began to glow as the computer's start up tone chimed a happy 8-bit tune.

"OH! It works, OH! OOOH! It's baaaaack!" He cheered as he started to do a small victory dance.

"What are you guys doing here?," asked a less then thrilled voice causing all three to look over to find a woman with wavy brown hair, pulled back by a yellow head band. Red glasses partially obscured her staring at them with a less then thrilled expression.

Scott immediately froze before correcting himself to stand properly, albeit stiffly. "Okay Millie, don't freak out. I have to tell you something..." he took a deep breath to steel up his nerves. "I used the computer. I was opening my emails but then I got curious and snooped into other folders. I was looking for my annual review. I was nervous about what you thought of my work."

The confession caused Lily and Olivia to turn and stare at Scott, mouths agape. Those were important details he left out when asking for help in the first place!

"I know I shouldn't have. I am so sorry and I won't ever do that again," Scott insisted before clamming up and waiting for what ever judgement came.

"Oh wow… Okay. Yeah, you really shouldn't have, Scott. That's a breach of privacy." Millie took a moment to think and breathe. "I appreciate you telling me the truth, though… For what it's worth, you have nothing to worry about. It's a glowing review, nothing else. Well, it was before all this snooping around happened anyway."

Scott grimaced. Yeah, he kinda deserved that. Karma is, as karma does.

Millie looked away from Scott to focus on Lily and Olivia. "But, why are you guys here? I don't have a reason to write a review for either of you."

"The computer crashed when he snooped around and I'm here to fix it. Not sure why Olivia is here," Lily answered first.

Olivia raised a hand. "As a member of team metropolitan, I'm here as Scott's emotional support."

"Oh, I see… Thank goodness it's all fixed. One less thing to worry about." Millie nodded before gesturing to the door. "but for now, all of you get out of my library and go home."

"Yes ma'am" "understood" "got it"

The trio walked out to go their separate ways. After Olivia broke off from the group to head to the farm, Scott reached out to take Lily's hand. " Hey Lils. What about I take you out for-"

"No!" Lily cut him off and shut him down as she pulled her hand away and stormed of. She was going to be sending him that bill after all.

More then a month had passed since then. Summer was well underway now. Olivia's routine of Watering crops with her sprinklers continued to allow her to dive multiple times a day. Her suit was upgraded with in a matter of days yet with all the time that passed after, she'd yet to see another merfolk.

Somehow that lack of activity just drove her to work harder. She saw them once. Were there really so few? Was it because of the oil and trash? Regardless. Humans made this mess, a human should clean it up.

"Okay kible one more sweep and we're calling it a night," Olivia announced thanks to the upgraded suit.

"Warning, Low stamina detected." The robot replied though it's voice sounded muddled thanks to the water.

"Yeah, yeah, I know. I'm tired." She muttered before looking up. She couldn't see the sun anymore… What time was it? Olivia shifted to check her oxygen tank. She still had 2 hours of oxygen left. It was her third dive for the day so it was probably close to 9pm? Maybe 10? She was fine.

Despite the robot's repeated warnings she continued to use her sickle to cut and pull at piles of trash. Bagging up what she could before attaching it to the anchor to pull it back to the surface. As she did this the soft watery chime of a sun orb came to ear. "There you are. I was starting to think I'd never find you." She muttered as she reached to pick up the device crafted of agate and marble.

Just like the last 39 times she'd done this, it sprang to life and floated away from her to attach to a larger shrine that slowly opened. Brilliant yellow light snaked around the ground in an effort to find it's target and once it had, a gold and marble spire lifted from the sands. The spire created pulsing waves of healing light that pushed back the disease ridden roots and oil, allowing the coral to quickly recover.

She watched the root's retreat with a content sense of accomplishment before a glint of metal caught her eye. As the disease dissipated large decorative stone and metal gates became visible. "More ruins?" Olivia asked under her breath as she cautiously swam over.

"Warning, Low stamina."

"I'm just going to take a peek," she insisted. As she stopped in front of the gate, the ground began to glow.

Maybe she should have listened, "Kible, drop the anchor." Olivia ordered but the instructions came too late. The gates opened on their own and two rather large merfolk, a man and a woman, swam out. Each of them brandished an equally large spear.

"Stop right there!" the silver haired man demanded. "Identify yourself, Land-dweller."

Olivia held her hands up in surrender and dropped her sickle. "No harm intended, sir. My name is Olivia."

He looked her over with a distrusting eye, though it seemed particularly interested in the sickle that clattered on the ground. "No harm, Huh? A likely story. Land-dwellers don't bring peace."

"It's the truth," Olivia replied as she continued to stay put, though she fought the urge to check on her oxygen. This could go south very quickly…

"Deno, call for backup. I'll keep an eye on this one." he ordered without looking away from Olivia.

"Got it," the other merfolk agreed, though before she could swim away, a third merfolk joined them.

"Oh dear, oh dear," She said as she moved to stand between Olivia and the more hostile pair. "Lower your spears, Semeru! Semeru, sir."

Semeru's gaze stayed trained on Olivia. "This is a land-dweller, a threat to the kingdom." The Sharklike merfolk hissed.

"Yes, sir. This one, however, speaks our language. Doesn't that make you curious?" She argued on Olivia's behalf.

An argument Olivia was more than willing to allow this third person to handle.

"This one possesses something other land-dwellers do not," the passive merfolk insisted before turning to look at Olivia. "We've met before. Yes?"

It took her a moment but realization set in. "You're one of the merfolk from before. Back in the bronze kelp forest. You were with another last time."

Her protector nodded in agreement before looking to the shark-like man. "Sir, as you can see, this land-dweller has managed a full blown conversation with me. Intriguing, wouldn't you agree?"

There was a moment of hesitation but he slowly and cautiously lowered his spear. "Understood."

Seeing this caused Olivia to breathe a sigh of relief, causing her mask to create a stream of bubbles.

"Warning, Low stamina. Oxygen at 19%" Kible reminded.

"Thank you," Olivia said to the robot causing her protector to smile.

"I just realized, I haven't shared my name yet. My name is Denali," She greeted though she moved to join the other two and kept a safe enough distance from Olivia. "That's Deno and Semeru." She repeated, just in case. "And unfortunately, your visit to our realm counts as a bit of a crisis."

Olivia allowed herself to finally lower her hands. "How so? If you need me to, I can just go." Please let me leave, I don't want to drown…

"We'll need to take this matter to King Krakatoa," Denali said instead causing Olivia to internally scream. "He'll decide what to do."

Oh boy. "Of course, It would be an honor to meet him, and apologize for any upset I've caused." Olivia nervously agreed as she slowly moved to pick up her tool once more.

This was not well accepted as the shark-man quickly scooped it up first. "You'll have your weapon back when I see fit."

"Fine, just lead the way then," Olivia agreed, the sooner she finished this the better.

"Are you absolutely certain about this Denali?" Semeru asked while looking over the sickle. Letting a previously armed land-dweller near the king seemed like a fools mistake. "Land-dwellers have a notorious reputation." He pointed out as the three led Olivia towards the castle.

"With all due respect, sir, we don't know anything conclusively," Denali once more insisted. "What we know so far has simply been an ocean of myth and hearsay."

"Myth, or precautionary advice?" Semeru countered as Deno swam ahead of them to open the palace doors.

Denali, however, remained resolute. "We should give Olivia the benefit of the doubt. I bet my fin on it."

Hearing this caused Semeru to grumble and roll his eyes as he gave a frustrated grunt. "Alright then."

The four swam into the castle and entered the throne room shortly after were assumedly the king and queen sat atop a raised platform with two other merfolk to their right.

Semeru, Denali and Deno bowed to the two sitting on the thrones and Olivia cautiously copied them.

"Warning, Low stamina. Oxygen at 18%"

Denali was the first to look up. "Your Royal Highness, may I present to you the land-dweller Agung and I stumbled upon during our rounds several moons ago. This intriguing character who knows our language goes by the name, Olivia."

The king looked down from the throne with a mixture of confusion, curiosity and concern. "Olivia… Quite the peculiar handle, wouldn't you say?" he then shifted his attention back to Denali. "You claim this, Olivia? She can converse in our tongue?"

"Indeed," Denali confirmed. "It seems like the tide has turned, sir. We engaged in a fluent conversation earlier."

The new male merfolk to the king's right crossed his arms and looked between Denali and Olivia with a skeptical eye. "I must admit, this is news to me too, your Royal Highness."

Denali nervously turned to face Olivia before gesturing to the two on the thrones. "Before you is the eminent King Krakatoa and the gracious Queen Nanda Devi." Denali waited expectantly before nudging Olivia with her tail. "Psst. Say something."

Oh gosh. Right, Words. She was good at that. "It's a true privilege to make your acquaintance, your royal highnesses. I'm Olivia."

"Oxygen at 17%"

The king's eyebrows raised as Olivia spoke. "So it's true. This land dweller can converse in our dialect and with striking clarity, I might add."

"Wait, wait, wait, wait," the merman from before interjected. "How can this be? She could not speak when we saw her before."

"I recommend caution," The queen quietly but firmly insisted. "Should we not consider the implications of welcoming a land-dweller into our kingdom? The legends of their kind are unsettling. Are we ready to risk history repeating?"

"Indeed, my queen, your concerns are not without merit. Every merling here grows up hearing ominous tales of land-dwellers. I previously dismissed them as cautionary tales, but recent events imply they might be more fact than fiction," the King cautiously agreed causing Olivia to nervously glance around the room. She was pretty heavily outnumbered. If they locked her up, she was a goner.

"May Cho Oyu Contribute to the discussion, your majesty?" asked the merwoman who was also standing to the king's right.

The king nodded. "We value your wisdom."

"Cho Oyu can feel the coral tree clinging onto life, and with it, the survival of our kingdom." The manta ray-esque merwoman spoke. "Whenever one of those coral mechanisms are activated in the shallow waters, we observe partial healing of the coral tree. But it's not yet enough… Cho Oyu's visions reveal this land-dweller to be key to our tree's full revival."

The court room grew quiet as Cho Oyu swam over to float in front of Olivia.

"Why not allow our new two-legged friend to venture into the Deep Sea and activate more coral mechanisms?" she suggested with a warm knowing smile.

"Casually granting access to the Deep Sea is a step too far!" The queen quickly balked in horror. "It's sacred. Can't we send on of our own to trigger these corals? We're not devoid of Competence, Cho Oyu."

The advisor turned to face the royal couple and gently held up a hand to motion for the queen to bridal her anger. "The currents speak, your majesty, and they speak of this land-dweller. The Ocean has made its choice." She then looked over her shoulder back at Olivia. "I am just it's messanger, with no power to alter the future."

"This is outrageous," The queen's frown remained. "We're clueless about the origins of these coral mechanisms. We know, Nothing."

"Indeed my queen," the king more quietly agreed.

The advisor bowed to her king and queen. "I beg your forgiveness, your majesty."

"I've decided. The uncertainty and mystery surrounding all this leaves us vulnerable. Until we know more, it is simply too dangerous to align ourselves with this land-dweller. My decision stands firm. The land-dweller must be escorted out of our kingdom Immediately," The king announced.

Oh thank heavens, Olivia thought as she allowed herself to breathe a sigh of relief. If she was escorted out she'd be able to get back to the boat with no problem.

"Oxygen at 16%"

"Your Royal Highness, If I-" Cho Oyu started only to get cut off as another merwoman entered the room.

"Father, please reconsider!" she pleaded. "The Land-dweller deserves to be here!"

Hearing this caused Olivia to scream internally. She was so close to freedom!

"Miranjani! Have you been eavesdropping?!" the king scolded.

"Yes, father, and I will apologize for my rudeness later, but please father…" the princess looked over to Olivia and smiled. "You must let this land-dweller stay!"

"Miranjani, my darling, don't let your fascination with the land-dwellers cloud your judgement," The queen warned as Olivia quietly waited for her turn to speak, fearing one wrong step would change her 'escort out' sentance, to an 'off with her head'.

"You're wrong mother! The answer lies in the barrier surrounding our kingdom!" the princess insisted. "Aunt Liang, She used to tell me that the goddess didn't place the barrier to keep land-dwellers out."

Sorry Aunt who? Olivia thought as her jaw dropped slightly, not that the others would notice thanks to her equipment.

"No! She made it to ensure only those carrying her mark could breach it, be they merfolk or land-dweller." the princess further argued unaware of their visitor's mental turmoil. "That implies that Olivia is here in our kingdom because Olivia has the goddess's blessing. We can't afford to overlook that!"

King Krakatoa hesitantly looked over to his wife. "My queen, our young Mira raises a point we cannot disregard."

Hearing this caused the queen's expression to sour slightly though she remained quiet.

"Reviving the coral tree takes precedence over all. If it means granting a stranger free rein in our waters, so be it." King Krakatoa conceded. "However! I will not let you run about with out some sort of safeguard. Denali, Semeru, Agung, I command you to be vigilant. Miranjani, Spread the word of this arrangement among our people. We must prevent further unease. Interaction with the land-dweller will be a privilege bestowed on a select few. Namely those in this room at present." With that said the king stared down Olivia. "Olivia, abide by our laws or prepare for expulsion. Semeru, As the captain of my guard I trust that you in particular will keep a close eye on her and make sure my orders are upheld."

"Yes, sir," Olivia quietly replied while silently praying she'd soon get permission to leave.

Semeru bowed as well. "As per your command, your royal Highness."

"Land-dweller, you are granted access to the deep sea," The King announced before gaveling the end of his trident against the floor of his throne.

"Your wisdom prevails, father." Miranjani bowed before leaving to do as she was told.

"Understood, your Royal Highness," The queen remarked as well.

"Denali, Agung. Escort Olivia to the barracks and have a room assigned to her. We may be suspicious, but we will not be uncivil. She may rest for the night before beginning her work in the deep sea." The king added causing Olivia's eyes to widen at the unintended death sentence. "Dismissed."

"Low Stamina detected. Oxygen at 15%"

Olivia quietly followed behind her two escorts as she felt the sharp sting of eyes glaring at her from behind. She had a feeling she knew who that was.

As they made their way through the Merfolk city a thin, lantern like marble pillar caught her attention. It was the same as the ones she used on the surface. A bright pink glow pulled her eyes towards it. As if it was calling to her, trying to tell her that there was a way out.

"Keep moving land dweller," Semeru warned.

"She's a guest not a prisoner, sir," Denali reminded, but despite the scolding, the captain's suspicious glare remained. "Come on, I'm sure you'll like your new room. The barracks are quite comfortable."

"Thank you," Olivia replied keeping any speaking to a minimum to preserve her oxygen. She listened as the three talked, nodding now and again to make sure they knew she heard and patiently waited for them to leave. 5 minutes passed. Then 10. Then 30.

"Low stamina detected. Oxygen at 5%"

Olivia moved to get up. It was now or never. She cautiously peeked out of the room to find no one in the hallway. She moved as quietly as she could through the barracks then out to the town. A small sliver of hope welled up inside her as she slowly bounced her way along the ocean floor. She was just about in arms reach of it when a strong hand grabbed her arm.

"And what the hell do you think you're doing?" Semeru asked while glaring at her. "Do land-dwellers treachery know such little boundaries."

"Warning! Oxygen at 4%"

Panic set in as Olivia struggled to get away and reached for the goddess's shrine. Normally she'd avoid trying to use it when people were watching. She'd explain her situation and ask to leave, but air was limited and she couldn't risk it getting any lower.

Semeru winced as a small whirlpool picked up around them. Her form contorted and shifted out of his grasp no matter how hard he tried to keep a hold of her. As the vortex calmed Olivia was gone. Semeru sneered as he looked at his hand that held a collection of soft pink petals where her arm had once been. He cast them to the side an stared down the shrine.

He could wait.