Water wraps around naked skin, wrapping around Purity's exposed form. It is a shocking cold, coupled with the suddenness of her being bodily thrown into the sea without her recollection or her consent.
The sun shimmers through the water, casting bending rays that caress Purity's body. She reaches up toward that surface, attempting to break through. It is instinct, after all.
But when the looming form of the judicator steps up to the water's edge, it breaks the serene illusion.
They shove their mancatcher through the water, the spiked collar driving itself towards her exposed throat. She instinctively opens her mouth to scream, but only bubbles rush out.
That's when strong, scaled arms press around her tummy, yanking her deeper through the darkness, where the sight of the guard dissipates through the haze of the sea.
Alda swims around Purity, hands on the woman's shoulders. The mermaid's tail has returned to her, majestic and powerful as it swims in the water, allowing her to face the awkwardly floating Purity.
The way Alda's hair flows in the water is a majestic sight that is so different from the hardened warrior who traveled to the surface, and the concern that wavers in her expression is so out-of-character as well.
But can Purity really know what that character actually is?
The question continues as Alda presses her lips to Purity's. Instead of the firm and dominating tongue, she is greeted with a pocket of air slipping into her mouth.
Greedily, the human gulps it down, and a headache she didn't know she had disappears as her mind clears up.
Now, she is carried by the mermaid, a hand upon her back and another bundling her legs underneath her knees.
Purity blushes, glancing away towards the abyss they find themselves going to.
The magical girl clings closer to the mermaid, kicking her legs and shaking her head, that cloying, clawing fear beating in the pit of her heart.
Alda parts her lips again, but instead of hot-tonguing action, the mournful and haunting song of the sea emerges from her lips. The soft sounds caress the magical girl's ears, bouncing around in her brain and soothing her in such ways that only sailors dread to love.
The human's grasp relaxes, and she holds tenderly to the neck of the mermaid, leaning in and nuzzling against her.
But Alda nudges her away, letting go of her and pointing to the flapping gills on her neck.
Purity shrugs and blushes, nodding in response.
So instead, she's carried below without holding too much deeper onto her, towards a cliff with an opening.
The sun still breaks through the surface, so it is not too deep, and the song that escapes Alda's lips is accompanied by other parts. The chorus fills Purity's chest with warmth, and she crosses her legs as they proceed into the cave.
Alda's masterful strokes through the tunnels leave Purity's head spinning, or perhaps the lack of air again. No matter because Alda springs up from the water. The two break the surface into a cave, shimmering with light piercing through a tiny hole in the ceiling and reflecting upon the crystals lining the walls. Purity's first breath is filled with wonder at the whole spectacle.
Now shoulder-deep in the water, Alda reaches back and untangles her hair. "Well, here we are, Purity. I have upheld my end of the bargain."
"Your end of…" Purity asks, spinning around in the water, only to gasp and instinctively cover her chest at the sight before her, her eyes widening.
Sitting in the cave, in stone-cut furniture, are women, each in various states of dress, from naked to swimsuits and coverings of seaweed to a full gown.
"So, they are safe…" Purity says, whirling around, “So, shall we bring them back?"
Alda shrugs. "I can arrange for them to return home, but I can't force the ones who want to stay to stay."
Purity frowns. "W… what do you mean?"
Alda pushes herself up, sitting her tail on the pool’s edge. "Ladies, would someone like to explain to your guardian here?"
One of the swimmers stands up, adjusting her suit and approaching the pool's edge. "You're Purity? Surely, you understand what living up there in Anteronia is like. The contradictions and the lies of a city of requited love."
Purity squeezes as she forces herself to maintain eye contact with the woman. "W-well, yeah."
"I was stuck up there… stuck with no idea how to unstick myself. But the people down here… they've shown me the error of my ways. They've shown me that I can have a life here."
"Stuck as a prisoner?"
"No!" The woman says, turning and walking back to her seat. She picks up a pile of seaweed, grasping it in her hand. "No, not like that at all. With this, we can return to the sea—the cradle of life, and be free of the things the air and land has brought us."
"I would very much like to go home," says the woman in the gown.
There is a collective murmuring with a few women while the others remain quiet.
Alda sighs. "Anteronia is the city of Requited love. So why not give love to our sisters up above? That's what my kin tried when your former protector wiped them out. They wanted to save your people from the life they were living up above by stopping something terrible that would soon happen. Now, we can only save what we can through conquest."
Purity pushes herself up, getting face-to-face again with Alda, a seriousness in her face and gaze unlike before.
"What terrible thing is happening? Tell me!"
Alda takes a deep breath and holds tightly to Purity. "Have you ever asked what those sailors were bringing to your city?"