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“I’m not asking as a brother. You’re doing as your king commands.” His skin flushed the same color as mine and he thought at me hard, before looking to his mate. “Syl,” he said, and she swam to be between us quickly.
Sylinda was an amplifier—but she was also capable of sensing other krakens on the ’qa at great distances. “We are alone,” she thought out to the both of us.
My brother’s red tone only increased. “They want you to guard a human scientist at a research facility they’ve created on the bottom of the ocean, inside the Kalish Trench.”
I’d swum over it before, of course, but all krakens knew that past the first few thousand feet down, trenches were desolate and deadly places, suitable only for creatures that could sense prey in the dark. I couldn’t imagine humans managing to live there—but I’d also interacted with enough humans to know I shouldn’t put anything past them.
And in the end, it was my curiosity that doomed me. “The very bottom?”
Balesur nodded solemnly.
“Why?”
“I do not know. They asked permission before doing so, of course, and I granted it, with strict limitations—no mining, no nets, none of their ridiculous pipes or cables—thinking that would scare them off. But it didn’t, and they decided to build it anyways. We watched them to make sure they were honoring their word, and they have been, but they are clearly up to something. We haven’t been able to figure out what it is they’re doing, or if it is important to us. But now—we have this opportunity.”
As did I, I realized—to free myself for good. “And I must be the one to help?” I pressed, cornering him as much as myself.
“The two-legged asked for you in person. He’s been floating on a boat above us, waiting for you to return for the past two weeks.”
“And what were you going to tell him if I didn’t show up?”
My brother shrugged. “I would’ve sent someone else up there. We all look alike to them.” I could feel Balesur’s dark humor on the ’qa between us. “You haven’t been home in years, Cepharius.”
“And all this time, you’ve just been looking for an excuse to recall me.”
“To bring you back to your family, and your duties.”
“Which include sending me away, again? To the bottom of a trench, to touch a human?” I gave him a mad laugh.
“Because I trust no one else.” His colors shifted to a deepwater blue, trying to soothe me. “You have the skills, you’ll have the opportunity, and I know you will come through.”
Sylinda hovered nearby, listening to our thoughts no doubt. I felt a wave of her sorrow over Cayoni’s death pass over me, as she felt me think of her, and I had a dreadful realization before I returned my attention to my brother. “But mostly because I have no one else here that I care about. No one I would be tempted to leave my post for. And I am used to living without the ’qa.”
Balesur reached out to me with an arm and tentacle both, and I swam further back. “Those are your thoughts, brother,” he protested. “Not mine.”
“It doesn’t matter, when I know them to be true.” I looked up through one of the many holes that allowed light to shine into the cavern. It would be night soon, when the crystalkrill dove, and the amberdines rose to take their place, participating in the circle of life that happened again and again in the sea.
I wanted out of it entirely.
“As you wish, brother,” I said, making the colors of my skin match his own. “But after this, promise me you will not call for me again. I will go back to the Upper Ocean and do as I please and I will never rejoin the ’qa.”
“Cepharius!” Sylinda said, swooping as close as she could without touching me. “You do not mean that!”
I stared over her shoulder at my brother. “Do you swear?”
If whatever the two-legged were doing at the bottom of the trench was this important to him, it was the least he could do for me—to promise me the freedom to feel my pain alone.
“I do,” Balesur said.
“No!” Sylinda shouted at the two of us, but it was too late. Both of our thoughts were on the ’qa and there would be no taking them back. I would do this onerous task and then be free of my obligations forever after.
Sylinda shot away, propelling herself out of the room in a purple streak of pain and frustration.
“The two-legged expects you near the air at noon tomorrow. Your old bedroom is free; be sure to get up early enough to rise safely.”
“You already sent messengers ahead?” I was surprised and then irritated, that he had been so sure of me.
“I already told you. If not you, I would’ve sent someone else up to pretend,” Balesur said with a snort, before coming carefully closer. “How are you, Ceph?”
