Bery and Valerie landed on the next island, finally finding some semblance of normalcy it seemed like. At least, that was what Bery thought, but there were no people living on the island. Several animals lived there, and it had a thriving ecosystem. Yet there was a lack of structures.

They saw no humanoids, until Bery spotted on sitting on a rock at the water's edge. The kitten realized quickly that this girl was abnormal. A fish's tail covered her lower body rather than legs, and she seemed to be basking in the sunlight.

The kitten and her dragon walked over towards the girl.

She yelped and jumped into the water, swimming away from the two right away.

Bery sighed as she watched her swim away. "I didn't expect that she would be so jumpy."

"Don't be too surprised. You were the same way at first as well. It's natural for those that still live in the wild to be easily startled. She probably saw an excited kitten as a vicious predator."

Bery's ears wiggled, and her head tilted. She looked at the deep blue water's surface. "You said she lived in the water, but don't they have their own civilization down there?"

Valerie nodded. "They do, but it's not the same thing. Structures aren't as easy to build underwater, so they have to rely on the environment for defense." The dragoness pointed where the girl disappeared to. "Should we go down there?"

Bery's eyes sparkled and she nodded emphatically. "Can we?"

Valerie chuckled and reached into her space. "But first, I will need you to change into a certain outfit." The dragoness held out an outfit with very little fabric for the kitten to cover herself. "Don't worry, these clothes are very good for swimming in the water."

The kitten sighed and looked around, her face reddening. "Is this really necessary? What if someone sees me changing?"

Valerie looked around as well. "You know as well as I do that there are no people nearby. Even that girl's people will be deep down there somewhere, so take off your clothes. Don't worry, I also got one of these for myself."

"Must you word it in such a way…"

Bery frowned as she took the outfit, but she was not really angry at all. She recognized a certain cuteness in its design. Both pieces of the bikini were blue. On the front of the bottom piece, there was a cute paw print. On the front of the top piece, there were two fluffy white ears.

"Seriously, how did you come up with something like this?"

The dragoness chuckled. "Yuri is even more competent than I could have expected. After I saw what she did with the vases, I got this idea for the finer detailed clothing, and you are the best test subject."

Bery rolled her eyes at being called a test subject and stripped her clothes. Though, she also got a good view of the dragoness stripping herself, and the kitten grinned at the dragon's own swimming attire.

Valerie's had the same taste as Bery's, but they were red. Rather than a paw print, she had a black claw on the bottom, and the top piece had two black horns, reminiscent of her own.

Bery slipped on her outfit and laughed. "I didn't think you would want to wear something like this too."

"Of course, sometimes I would like to match my kitten's silliness after all. Alright, darling, let's hurry after that fish lady. I have the perfect way to follow her."

The two walked into the water, and Valerie started channeling her magic. She started erasing parts of the water all around the two, which allowed them to keep walking, even after the water went over their heads.

Bery found herself walking on the floor of the water as if it was normal dry land. She frowned at the phenomenon happening in front of her. "Is this really necessary? What is the point of wearing swimming wear if we are just going to walk?"

"Well, that was mostly because I wanted to see you in this outfit, and it worked well."

Bery didn't even question it any further. She simply latched onto Valerie's hand and decided that all of her questions would be postponed for later. For now, she could admire what it looked like to be underwater while not having to swim around. Moreover, her eyes didn't have to adjust to a wavy atmosphere, so she felt as if she could see things more clearly.

Fishes swam around in a colorful array around reef structures, and further out, Bery could see the reef's drop off. But it didn't drop off to open sea. It became even more impressive structures. She could see the beginnings of an underwater civilization, and she started to understand what Valerie meant before.

There were tall weeds of kelp around the place, but that wasn't enough to ward off predators. And it looked like the buildings were without doors. It was hard for Bery to tell what the structures were made of, even as they got closer. They were white, but the texture of them looked like many of the red corals she saw on the reef.

Though, the two of them did not need to step all the way into the city to be ambushed by awaiting fish people.

Multiple mermaids swam out from behind kelp with long tridents. The long three-pronged spears were pointed directly at the two, and Bery found herself surprised when one of them started speaking.

"Foreigners, you are not welcome here."

Valerie raised an eyebrow at the man's demeanor. "Do you not allow any guests to visit?"

The man shook his head. "You should be aware of the state of affairs, so we have completely closed off our city."

Bery wanted to laugh at the expression, considering there were no doors to be seen. Yet she swallowed that feeling and let Valerie speak for the both of them. The kitten found that when it came to affairs of governments or people, it was often better to let the dragoness handle it.

"So you have some kind of problem in the region? I have already heard. Come on, I am sure you don't get visitors like us often anyway. What's the harm in letting us peek inside?"

The man frowned and thrust his trident forwards slightly. "You should not try to convince me with words of a serpent. We have seen many of those come and go. Please, we ask you outsiders to leave. Otherwise, we will be forced to harm you."

Bery tugged on Valerie's hand, and the dragoness nodded.

The two of them walked away from the group and back towards the shore. The group of mermaids watched them leave and made sure that the both of them didn't come back.

Once they were back on dry land, the kitten sighed and slumped slightly deflated. "I guess what that Myriam said was true. I wonder what's happened around here."

Valerie frowned. "I think that a certain other dragon is going to need to explain why she sent me on this journey in the midst of all of this. If she knew about this…"

Bery imagined it. Was it possible that the other dragon sent Valerie up this way because she knew of these problems? Or was it all happenstance? Was there even any way for her to know about this ahead of time?

If that other dragon lived far to the north, how could she have known about a random conflict in the sea? It made no sense to Bery, unless she had some ability to predict the future, and that possibility only made the kitten worry more. If she had some fortunetelling ability, then everything else started making more sense.

It meant that Myriam's presence was even more alarming.

Valerie shook her head and picked Bery up into a princess carry once more. "You don't need to worry your kitten head about anything. The conflicts in this place are their own to deal with."

"Still, did you not find it aggravating that those mermaids didn't let you in?"

"It's fine. We are going to be spending eternity together, so we can come anytime. And no matter how you slice it, our fates are going to entwine once more. I think it's about time we headed directly to the water elves. I know that you're getting curious about all of this, and we still haven't solved the mystery of the ghost ship."

Bery's ears wiggled and she nodded. "Of course, we can't call ourselves the greatest detectives until we unravel the whole thing! Also, I am curious what these water elves look like. How are they different from Emary?"

Valerie grinned and pulled Bery closer to her chest. She leaned down and planted a kiss on the kitten's lips. "After all, it's exactly like that saying. The curious cat always wins in the end. Let's hope those elves live up to your expectations."

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