Page 82 of Call of the Fathoms

“I won’t take no for an answer,” Alexia called out. “Your people deserve to choose on their own. They should help us if they want to. That’s how this works. You don’t get to make the final decision, and you don’t get to tell them how to live their lives. If that’s how you run your people, then you are no better than Tau.”

Fortis’s hand came around her waist, that broad palm bracketing her waist and nearly spanning her entire stomach. He tugged her back to him, his arm around her a clear warning to everyone who surrounded them. Alexia had never been more proud. She knew it wasn’t easy to make this show of claiming, but he had done it. Even though he likely didn’t want them all to think that they were... whatever they were.

“This woman has earned my respect,” he said, his voice thunderous and loud. “And I trust what she says. Tau can be defeated. We can overtake that kingdom of people who haveplagued our lands. But I will not accept help from you if you are unwilling to see the future as it is meant to be. We will work together with the humans to create a better home for all of us, not just ourselves.”

A voice came from the crowd, and Alexia looked over to see a pale female depthstrider pushing through the others. She was lovely in the way that many of them were, graceful with tiny filaments spreading off all her fins with tiny glowing lights. But this female was delicate where many of the undine were not that at all. “She’s going to kill you, Fortis. Why should we trust her at all?”

Fortis merely pressed his hand to her spine, rubbing his thumb along her hip. “Because I know she is going to kill me. I have known for many years. I knew almost the first moment I met her who she was. My wife saw my future, as many of you know. I recognized this woman for the person she would become, and I still trust her. I still believe she is the key to bringing about a new age where we are all safe. Not just the People of Water, but the humans as well.”

Another murmur rose through the crowd. Perhaps some of them were surprised he had called them humans, because that was not the way of things with their people. But she knew Fortis would not back down. This was important. He would not change his words or mince them to make others more comfortable.

“We must move forward,” he said, his tone softening into something most of these people had likely never heard before. “We need to acknowledge that the future cannot be the same as we have always planned it to be. Yes, that will be difficult. No, I don’t think we will always choose the right current to buffer us through the sea. But I do believe with both my hearts, mind and spirit, that the sea wants us to do this. She has chosen our safety to meld with theirs.”

They deserved to make this choice on their own. Alexia wanted to tell them that. She had been the person who had all of her agency taken away her entire life, and having someone make decisions for her had never been easy. Even when she’d been told that was the only way to live.

Mitera’s colors kept rioting through all the rainbow, as though she had no idea what to do or say. Perhaps she wasn’t used to people challenging her world views. This would be difficult for her to accept.

Especially considering the depthstriders seemed to mostly agree with Fortis. There were plenty of them looking around at each other and nodding. They wanted to help. She could see it. But there were too many people waiting for Mitera’s decision.

And then Alexia realized she had to do what she had always done in Tau. She had to put her own safety aside and take the risk of a lifetime.

She pushed out of Fortis’s grip and moved so everyone could see her. Kicking her feet to stay floating, she raised her arms and struggled to stay floating before them. “You can see me for what I am. I’m sure some of you look at me and think I am very weak. But Tau took me and changed me. They didn’t even let me be birthed by a real mother. I am not the same as the humans you have come across before, and there are more like me. I am begging you to help all those who are still trapped in that city. I am begging you to see reason.”

“Begging will get you nowhere,” Mitera said, hissing out the sound as though she needed to convince other depthstriders that she was right. “You have no place here and never will.”

But the pale, beautiful creature who had spoken before moved a little closer. “Wait, Mitera. Perhaps we should hear her. Fortis trusts her.”

Fortis leaned down and quietly murmured, “She is the sister of my wife. At her death, she watched Aulax for many monthsuntil I could take my son back again. I mourned my wife, and she took care of my family.”

So she was compassionate. Alexia nodded before addressing that woman directly. “There are a lot of people you can save in that city. So many who have never breathed on their own. Tanks of people who were created just to be a bandage for wounds. I know that doesn’t make sense to you, but they’re killing innocents in there so that they can live unnaturally long.”

A man pushed forward in front of the others. The massive creature was covered in scars, and far larger than the others. Perhaps even as large as Fortis himself. “You ask us to save this city that has done nothing but threaten our lives and kill our people? Some of us have no mercy for them.”

“I’m not asking you to save the city,” she argued. “I want you to destroy it. Two cities are more than enough. We can rebuild in places where you agree we can go, not where it is most convenient for my people. But Tau is filled with evil. That darkness seeps into the sea and taints it. I ask you to have pity on the weak, but to destroy all those who have harmed so many. I want to see the ocean run red with their blood just as much as you do.

“Tau has always been a fortress. First, you could not find it. Those who did would soon find there is a shield around it. I will tear that down for you. Then it is just like any other city. You’ve already destroyed two of them. I want you to come in through the doors I will open, and kill everyone inside.”

Voices lifted, arguing with each other. She could only pick out a few snippets of what they were saying. Quite a few of the depthstriders wanted death. Offering them a chance to get into the city that had plagued them for years and to kill all who stood in their way? It was a battle they had been asking for. Others were more interested in saving those who could be saved.

She heard some people mentioning that if they saved people in that city, then many achromos would be indebted to them. And though she didn’t want to argue that point, they weren’t wrong. She could use that to her advantage.

“My people would owe you their lives!” she shouted, and everyone quieted again. Even Fortis seemed to hold his breath as he waited for what she would say. “I cannot control them. But I can promise you, they will not forget that you saved them, or that you granted them a chance. There is so much here that you do not understand, but I want you to see it. I want you to make connections with my people, and I desperately need there to still be good people in this world who still want to fight for what is right. I believe we all need to remember that.”

More rumblings, more arguing, but she kept her eyes on Mitera. The woman was looking at all her people and Alexia knew what was going through her mind. She was going to lose them if she didn’t side with the humans. They would rebel against her, just as Arges and his people did. She was making choices that her people did not like, and if she didn’t change and move with this new path, then she would be left behind.

A flash of dusty grey turned her billowing hair into something ghostly.

“What does that color mean?” she asked Fortis.

His voice was quiet and hesitant as he replied, “She is afraid.”

Alexia knew that feeling. “Can you bring me closer to her?”

“Of course, virago.”

He flicked his tail, and they glided closer to Mitera. The woman’s eyes widened even further as they approached, and that fear was so prominent even Alexia could see it now.

Quietly, so they wouldn’t be overheard but by the closest depthstriders, she said, “I know you want to keep your people safe. But I will give all the information I know, and it is a lot. Everything that has ever protected that city, every exit, everyentrance, every weapon that Tau has — I know almost all of it. There is very little that would surprise me and, therefore, little that would threaten your people that they were not prepared for in advance.”

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