Elsewhere...
Alexandria quietly spat upon breaking the surface.
"That was much stronger than I anticipated." She mumbled, brushing and sweeping her long hair.
When she finally opened her eyes, however, she froze.
"Oh no...this is not where I wanted to be!" She gasped, her hands clutching her hair as she green eyes scanned a large seamless stone wall spanning across the river. Fortunately, there was nobody at the top of that wall, but the mermaid sensed faint rumbling at the base of the wall underwater.
"What in the name of the Gods is that noise?" She uttered. "I might be too faraway to study the wall any further, but whatever is over there, I'm not risking it. That better not be what I think it is..."
Nonetheless, she waddled closer to the leftward shore, crawling-stumbling upon the rocks and into the foliage.
"You're late, slow poke." Alice purred, the mermaid narrowly withholding a yelp.
She had no words to say lest somehow heard them, but she swiftly spun around to find the sunny wisteria haired catgirl perched in a short tree.
"Why do you always keep doing that?" The mermaid pouted-hushed, easily seeing the catgirl's shit-eating smirk. "One of these days, you're going to get everyone killed, including me. But I guess your kind haven't lost that sadist nature from your ancestors."
"Aw, that was cute." Alice sarcastically said. "I never get bored from listening to your lovely voice."
"Oh please," Alexandria scoffed, albeit miserably. "Like I'll never notice."
"Ara, like trying to remember your way back?"
The mermaid simply ignored her, brushing the last remaining leaves from her hair.
"You felt what I felt, didn't you?" She asked the catgirl without facing her.
"Felt what?" She purred slowly.
The mermaid sighed before resting her hair across her right shoulder and said. "The river has a strong current. Only much larger rivers and peninsulas have such noticeable strength. But this one...it's like there's something sucking everything in."
"Hmm." Alice hummed inquisitively, leaping down and said. "Yes, I think I know why. Firstly, that's not a wall."
"No?" She turned and uttered.
"Nope, more than that. Apparently, it's like a fortress in there. Sneaking past the guards was easy, but the doors...mmm, that was much harder than I expected."
"Why? Keys, locks, or something?"
"Nope."
"Ugh, I hate when you say that word."
"No keys, no locks, AND no guards. To get in or out, they simply stand near it and it opens for them, then it closes by itself. I took the liberty to study those doors and there is no way I can get past them without waiting for someone to open it for me."
"Magical doors."
"Nope, not even that. I felt no hint of mana in that entire place."
"Wait...you infiltrated that entire wall?"
"Ah, ah, correction: 'Tis a dam, not a wall, sweetie."
Rolling her eyes, the mermaid almost sniggered before the catgirl said. "Of course, I studied the whole thing. To answer your question, that sucking you felt seems to be coming from a bunch of giant watermills inside the dam."
"Watermills? Why would they put watermills inside the dam?"
"Beats me." Alice shrugged nonchalantly. "They're all vertical and shielded, but they're not connected to any shafts, never mind any other machinery."
"And there's obviously no quarries nearby."
"Oh?" Alice tilted her head leftwards.
Alexandria pointed to the river and said. "The water is too clean. Not to mention, I didn't smell or taste any iron, copper, limestone, nothing."
"Yes, I was aware of that." The catgirl purred sedately but dryly.
The mermaid frowned and paused, thinking before beginning to turn. "Don't tell me you knew that already."
But when she looked behind her, Alice was gone.
"Alice?" The mermaid uttered, mildly jolting to her friend's absence. "Alice?"
Hurriedly, she stood up and looked around again. She dared not to say her friend's name again, especially within unknown territory. Though unarmed, her ears and tail fidgeted, sensing the slightest danger; however, her forearms, otherwise hovering under her breasts, briefly relented to fasten her twisted-bandeau bikini before swivelling around again.
"Come on now...I'm in no mood for your games, you royal thief." Alexandria muttered, her bare legs and feet open to the warm midday elements.
There were pine bushes not far from the mildly rocky shore, which she gone to investigate. Fortunately, nobody was hiding behind them, but Alice was nowhere to be found. So, she looked up, squinting and eying tardily.
"Okay...nowhere there." She muttered, but when she looked down, a pair of clothed hands clamped behind her. A left hand behind her neck, and another pushing against her sacrum...or at least that's where the human thought it should be. Her eyes widened and her back slacked forward, albeit mildly, but the mermaid quickly swung her tail leftward, her body turning rightward.
An upward whoosh of air belonged to a backflip before Alexandria completely turned and saw a brown haired female land fully erected with a slight knee bounce. Retaining equally long flowing hair, the human and demi-human stared at each other, the latter deceptively breathing heavily, and the former unnervingly relaxed and steady.
"I gotta get outta here!" The mermaid stammered, visibly shuttering the unwarranted relief from her back. "But she's standing between me and the river."
Desperately, Alexandria, having eyed the featureless camouflage bodysuit covering the human neck to toe, kicked some mud as hard as she could, but the human had already sidestepped, swiftly whooshing for Alexandria's right. The mermaid spun herself, hoping her tail would disorientate the human; however, the human had seamlessly leaned and somersaulted over her tail. Seeing her opening, Alexandria dashed ahead, but a dozen steps later, she felt a rightward neck pinch and her legs immediately limped.
Sleepily, she stumbled into the ground.