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((OOC: Bumpeh?))

((OOC: Short post just to prove I'm still alive. >.<))

Tianara also glanced Mac's way, although she still looked dubious. She didn't understand how he could remember a past life, but she still accepted it as best she could. She was worried about her family, and to save them, she would accept pretty well anything.

A splash interrupted her thoughts, and she glanced over. "They're back," she muttered in surprise. "Sorry?" she called. Strangely, Nezik was the one to surface. He looked uncomfortable, and Tianara wondered what was wrong. Where was Katalina?

Nezik came in to them on the wave until he was sitting in the very shallow waters just below the shore. "You can't possibly have told everyone yet," Tianara said, crossing down to him.

The boy shrugged. "We told everyone within a two-mile range, and they're all going to pass it on to everyone within their two-mile range, and so on. Everyone will know by sundown, I guarantee you." He shifted and muttered, "We stopped by the Siren cave last - Narcis saw Sorry and wouldn't let her leave. He said she has to go home and get her hurts looked at. She got really mad, but he wouldn't listen to her."

Tianara frowned. "He's not intending to keep her at the cave, is he? Riiya wouldn't like that."

Nezik shook his head. "No, it's worse. He's taking her home." He glanced over when Joshua asked if something was wrong. "Well, Narcis is making my sister go home to be healed, which means she won't be coming back for a while." He made a sour face. "Our cavern's healer is a quack. So we're down to five until she can escape from Narcis's watchful eye."

((OOC: Oh. Whoops. Why did I think five? XD Oh well, good chance to introduce the new character I've been wanting. Also, I'm working on a profile for Tianara, and trying to decide whether Riiya and/or Korai matter enough for their own profiles. I don't think so.))

"Hmm?" asked Nezik, looking confused. "Oh." He flushed. "I...I forgot to mention it. Uhm. Narcis thought we might need help, what with both him and Sorry being out until either she escapes from the healer or he thinks she's ready to come back and help. So he, well..."

"He sent me instead," a cool, sinuous voice inserted. A young female rose from the water, not far behind Nezik. At first, she could have been taken for a mermaid, but when those sharp teeth flashed, it was obvious she was a Siren. It wasn't Riiya or Korai - most likely Narcis had enlisted them to help him keep an eye on Katalina. This one was younger, almost ethereally lovely - until one got a good look at the sharp silver teeth.

From Nezik's nervous glance in her direction, it was obvious he didn't know quite what to think of her. "Um," he began shyly, "she's Jinx. She's Narcis's little sister."

"Actually, I'm Jianixiliesa," the young Siren said. The name flowed off her tongue in a way that would be very difficult to copy. "But most folk can't pronounce that, so Jinx is fine. So." Settling back in the water, she tilted her head and addressed the group. "What can I do for you?

"Well, you've already decided enough to warn us all to go into hiding," mused Jinx, smiling a little. She noticed - and was highly entertained by - Joshua's nervous glance at the other two before he replied to her. Leaning back, she examined the three of them. "So tell me, is war really imminent, or are we just being alarmist?"

Nezik shot Jinx a look. They seemed to be of an age - or at least, very close to one another. "Jinx," he said wearily. "Do you really think they'd go to all the trouble of warning all the seafolk if they weren't sure?"

Jinx listened, almost soberly. She waited for a few minutes after he was finished, as though to ensure he was done speaking, and then said softly, "It won't work. It's a noble ideal, but it won't work. When war is coming, it's like a boulder rolling down a cliff. It gathers its pace, and by the time you see it coming, anyone who tries to get in the way is bound to get flattened. You can't stop it with just a handful of people." She tilted her head. "If they can't find the seafolk, they'll merely turn their anger on each other. It's their way."

Her smile flashed briefly. "And while I don't think that would be so bad, I doubt you want that either. So what you'll most likely have to do is find a way to...redirect it, towards some other target." Her eyes were serious again as she spoke. "Either way, people will die. Things will change. You just have to decide which way is the lesser of two evils."

Nezik smiled weakly. "That's why Narcis sent her," he said quietly. "Jinx can be smart when she puts her mind to it." Jinx batted his shoulder lightly, but didn't seem too irritated.

"Well, I don't know," said Jinx with a shrug. "Why not turn it back on those that want to use it to destroy the seafolk? Nezik mentioned something about a...creature in chains?" She glanced at Nezik, as though confirming that that was indeed what he had said - and one could hardly blame her. It sounded crazy. "Anyway, he was the one who planted this idea of the war among you all in the first place, wasn't he?"

Tianara nodded slowly, catching on. "So you think we should find out what his interest in it is, and who else is planting these ideas, and try to turn the tide back on them?" she asked.

"I wouldn't say I think that," Jinx defended. "I don't think anything in particular. It's just a thought."