Above the ocean, walking alongside Eric, she'd wondered at the clarity and the color of the cities sprawling around them. More than ever, she'd damned the ocean for its dark blue, the way the water only reluctantly bared its contents, piece by piece, as you swam farther and deeper.

She'd been a fool for it. More foolish, even, than killing Eric. She ached for her dark blue oceans, now. The weapons of war threw the sea creatures and sand so that everything was lost to the murk. They huddled in their rock castles that, for so long, had stood strong against firm currents, coming undone as technology out of the grasp of their understanding plummeted beneath the waves.

Her sisters and her father listened to her pleading for their forgiveness and granted it. She could not be sure that they were honest during the onslaught. She could not see their faces, and their voices were lost among the impact of the humans' attacks. The castle stone fractured and fell. The water gradually found itself again, dark blue and secretive, coral thriving on a pile of strangely shaped rock.