Strawberry's Descent

Arista found excuses for the better part of a week.

She told herself she needed to finish other visits first, the Elven Court, a few remaining vendors from Nettle's network, a handful of players she'd worked alongside over the years who deserved proper notice too. All of it true. None of it, she knew honestly, the actual reason she kept putting off the trip to the Drowned Court.

Squishy had waited centuries, alone, for his own people to return. Selen had spent her entire life inheriting a role she'd never chosen, only to finally make it her own. Both of them had only just gotten something neither had ever truly had before: genuine connection, restored community, an entire pilgrimage finally underway.

And now Arista had to walk into that hard-won happiness and tell them she was leaving too.

She caught herself, more than once that week, opening the tunnel's ski lift schedule and then closing it again, unable to actually commit to the trip. Bram found her mid-hesitation one evening, gently, without pressing, simply sitting with her for a while.

"...You don't have to do this alone, if that helps," he offered.

"...I think I need to go alone," Arista said. "If you're there, I'll want to lean on you. And I don't think I'll be able to stop crying once I start."

She finally made herself go, riding the familiar tunnel down, the hexagonal lights sweeping past in their patient, practiced rhythm, doing nothing to settle her nerves.

She found the Drowned Court quiet, Squishy drifting beyond the glass, and a moment later Selen drifted into view beside him, raising her golden trident. Her familiar voice reached Arista across the glass a heartbeat later.

"...Strawberry," Selen said, warm. "It has been some time. Is everything well?"

Arista opened her mouth, and found that she couldn't actually say it at all.

She sat down instead, near the glass, watching Squishy drift closer, rings pulsing curious and welcoming.

"...I need to tell you both something," she said finally, voice unsteady despite every rehearsal she'd given herself over the past week. "And I've been putting it off because I didn't know how to say it without it hurting."

Selen's expression shifted. "...What is it?"

"...I'm leaving," Arista said. "In a few months. And I won't be coming back."

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Silence settled over the water.

Squishy went very still. His rings dimmed, one massive eye fixed on her.

"...He wants to know why," Selen relayed.

"Nothing here drove me away," Arista said. "I wanted you both to know that. Everything we built, everyone you've gotten back, none of that changes because I'm leaving."

"...He does not fully understand why something must end," Selen said, watching Squishy press a tentacle flat against the glass, where Arista's own hand rested on the other side. "He will miss you. That is all he knows how to say."

Arista pressed her palm harder against the glass, tears breaking free. "...I'll miss him too. More than I know how to say either."

"...He says," Selen continued, her own voice thick now too, "that you gave him more than you are taking. His people. A way back to them. A pillow larger than his own home."

Arista laughed, wiping her cheek with the heel of her hand. "...His people, and a pillow. I've kept him busy."

"You have," Selen said. "He wants you to stay, Strawberry. That doesn't mean he wishes you had never come."

Squishy pulled back from the glass without warning, turning and vanishing into the deeper water with a few powerful pulls of his tentacles.

"...Squishy?"

He returned a few minutes later, one tentacle curled carefully around the old Rubik's cube, no longer solved, its colors scrambled across every face.

"He wanted you to know he has been practicing," Selen said, laughing softly. "He has gotten quite good at it. His personal best is now one day."

Arista let out a wet, unsteady laugh despite herself. "...One day? Squishy, that's incredible. The first time took you weeks."

Squishy's rings pulsed once, slow and warm, and he pressed closer against the glass.

"...The first pilgrimage is almost over," Selen said. "I had hoped you might witness one of the later schools arrive, before you go, not just the first. And there will be a celebration, once it ends."

"I'd like that," Arista said. "I'll make sure I see both."

"...And I'll come back properly too," Arista promised. "Before I leave. One final goodbye."

"...We will hold you to it," Selen said. "Go, for now. Finish whatever else needs finishing. But return to us, when the time comes."

Arista had already started to rise when she stopped herself. "Hold on, celebration? You never told me about that."

Selen looked at Squishy for a moment, then back at Arista. "When the pilgrimage ends, we are going to hold a great celebration. Dryva will show off his favorite treasures. He will select one mermaid to receive a gift from him personally. And we will sacrifice a couple of mermaids."

"...Wait, what?!"

Squishy turned, tentacles spreading wide, giving her a full view of his mouth opening and closing with surprising force.

Arista's mouth dropped open.

Selen held her expression for another second. Then she burst out laughing. "Got you."

Squishy's rings began pulsing very fast, his entire massive body bobbing in the water, clearly thrilled with himself.

Arista started laughing too, despite everything. "...You told him to play along, didn't you."

"I did," Selen admitted. "I learned more about the history of pilgrimages from Colm. Not all of it was reassuring, so I decided we should have a tradition of our own. The celebration is real. Dryva will show off his treasures, and choose someone to receive a gift. I simply added the sacrificing part myself."

Arista nodded, unable to manage words, simply resting her hand against the glass as Squishy's tentacle mirrored the gesture on the other side.