The Water Temple || Group A Sea Thread
☆ — when the water settles again, cynthia nods enthusiastically. she might have been surprised by their new enemies, but she’d been lucky enough to escape without any bumps or bruises to really be spoken of. that’s obviously thanks to the help of tana and the professor, but she’s a little embarrassed to say that she hadn’t noticed when she’d started swimming towards the current that the others didn’t know and then, well, slammed into the wall. yanking her lance out, she swims over towards tana and gently rests her hand on the other pegasus knight’s shoulder with an easy smile. she must be really worried. cynthia was pretty worried about her friends, but she knows it must be different if it had been someone she was related to.
she’d traveled through time and space to protect hers.
“don’t worry, i’m sure innes is fine!” she chirps. he’d held his own that last time pretty well and all the other times where their paths had inevitably crossed. turning her head to look to the crystalline turtle and the professor, she frowns. “we gotta worry about gettin’ outta here ourselves, right now.” wherever here was. now that she’s got a minute to look at it proper, this must be the castle right? this is where they’d been staying for a while now. she wonders how the castle came underwater. it hadn’t rained the entire time they were here, save for in that odd, foggy part of brigid. it couldn’t have been instantaneous flooding. releasing her hand from tana’s shoulder, she follows after the turtle and azelle through the window.
“are you okay, mr. turtle? you’re not —” she gestures at its eyes. “— glowing anymore. they didn’t rough you up too bad, right?” she wishes she knew more healing magic. or any healing magic. it would have been more useful, cynthia thinks with quiet disappointment. the turtle answers, patiently. ’ I AM FINE, LITTLE ONE. ’ and she smiles. ’ I RECOGNIZE THAT I HAVE NOT DONE MUCH … I ONLY WISH I COULD HELP MORE. HAD I THE NECESSARY PERMISSIONS … ’ and she nearly stops swimming then and there, cynthia pausing for a second as she tries to understand. permissions? it said that there’d been, something. they were interlopers, but mr. turtle was supposed to be here …
she’s given no time to think on it when they enter the castle, overtaken by any manner of sea life. while the turtle and azelle venture off elsewhere, her eyes fall upon a similarly crystalline shark and her hand goes to her lance almost immediately but stops when it neither approaches or glows in the same menacing way the dolphins had. “hey?” and the shark’s voice booms back. ’ AHAHA! I WAS WONDERING WHEN I WOULD COME ACROSS AN INTERLOPER! FINALLY, WE MEET! YOUR NAME, QUICKLY NOW.’ cynthia startles, blinking wide-eyed as she stares back at the creature. her hands fall back to her sides. so, it was a nice one! not one she had to fight! ( good, because she’s had enough shark-related incidents for one lifetime in the last month alone. )
“oh, i’m! i’m cynthia, mr. shark, sir! and that’s proffy azzy and then that’s tana and that’s morgan —” a pause as tactician whispers in her ear. “— oh, i mean the cooler morgan and i’m cynthia and! wait, i think i already said th —” the shark interjects again, cheerfully. ’ HUH! WEIRD NAMES, BUT I’LL GO WITH IT! ’ “right? i was tellin’ my mom i think i should have been named something that suits me more and —” oh, this wasn’t a conversation. ’ NOW I WON’T BORE YOU WITH THE SAME SPIEL THAT GRANDPA HERE GAVE YOU. MY ROLE IS TO HELP YOU ALL, I GO BY MANY NAMES, THE OCEAN IS A DANGEROUS PLACE, YADDA YADDA … ’ and cynthia claps cheerfully. “great! we could use all the help we can. um, do you know? how the uh, other interlopers got shot out of the water? we got seperated from them and —”
’ IF THIS HAPPENS, THEN THAT HAPPENS, ELSE THE OTHER THING HAPPENS…. LOTSA MUMBO JUMBO IF YOU ASK ME, BUT POINT IS: EVERYTHING HERE IS CONNECTED, SOME WAY OR ANOTHER. THE OCEAN TO THE NECKLACES, US TO THE SHIP, US TO YOU… IT’S LIKE A NET, BUT YOU’RE NOT REALLY CATCHING ANYTHING, IT’S JUST LIKE ALL TANGLED AND STUFF. NO, LIKE ALL THE ROPES ARE KNOTTED TOGETHER, BECAUSE THAT’S WHAT MAKES A NET… ARGH! ’ the shark thrashes its head. ’ DON’T ASK ME SUCH COMPLICATED QUESTIONS. ’
jeez, this shark was much chattier than mr. turtle.
“wait, so is this a real net or a metaphorical net? or is … is the ocean a metaphorical net? or the ship is a metaphorical ship?” and cynthia shakes her head too. “aaaaAAAGH, I’M NOT SMART ENOUGH FOR THIS!”
The princess returns a small smile and nod. She could only hope, wherever Innes was, he was okay. He was plenty capable of holding his own, wit and strength alike. Right now, she should be more concerned over her own group’s well-being. Thank the stones Mr. Turtle is alright though. She is able to get back up and follow the others into the castle to another crystal shark. One much more friendly and enthusiastic.
“Alright let's not lose our heads,” she puts a hand on Cynthia’s shoulder and another extended in Mr. Shark’s direction, with a glance over at said shark, she continues, “or tails.”
Tana, being the level-headed one? More likely than you think! At least when her teammate and one of the aquatic friends kept yelling at each other. “Now, if you say you're here to help, what are you helping us with? Maybe use that net of yours to launch us back? Or maybe elaborate on what you know regarding us ‘interlopers’?”
“Like grandpa said, there's somethin' special being made here. Something that's gotta be protected until it's done baking. Naturally, being the interlopers that you are, you're here to make sure that doesn't happen, right?” A pause as the shark looks at her. Or maybe not her, but the proverbial her. Did sharks see in front of them with their eyes to the sides of their head? “You're here to disrupt the process, and destroy whatever precious thing that is.”
“Baking?” She wants to make a joke about how fire doesn’t work underwater, but given the company, that might be touchy. Much less appropriate (joking about cake, get it together Tana!). Did this have to do with the relic? Those were to be protected, but then why would they destroy it? She shakes her head. “Okay... If you want us to destroy it, where is it?”
Mr. Turtle interjects, “The architects of this network are very protective of whatever is being made. Everything around you is under the same code: that you are to be destroyed at all costs, lest you ruin the hard work of our creators. That we are here at all represents a quirk that the architects had to build around. An ocean cannot be devoid of empathy and generosity.”
Tana opens her mouth to question what in the stones did that mean. Code, creators. Sure, there had to be creators, turtles and sharks didn’t just look like that, neither did those dolphins they encountered earlier. However, the shark’s and turtle’s eyes began glowing, no, flashing, almost like silent sirens. Her stomach turns, was this insider information, something they weren’t supposed to be doing?
Mr. Turtle continues, “I have memories. Entering a ship, watching as a wall was destroyed. I could not see what was beyond it. I believe it was a 7. 2. 6. 5. 6. C. 6. 9. 6. 3.”
She nods like she understands, but the numbers had already left her head. It had a few sixes and a three. Just to be on the safe side, she asks, hesitantly, “Will you be able to come with us...?”
“Hell yeah!” Mr. Shark answers and if he could curl his fin to a triumphant fist, she was sure he would have.
“Shell yeah!” She raises a fist in the air—water—on her own.
