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"Aunt Agatha, where are we going?"

Two creatures streaked through the open waters, swimming fast. Their upper halves mostly resembled humans, though their colorations were somewhat odd. Below the waist, however, the body of the one leading ended in eight tentacles in place of legs, while the one following behind had a dark and gleaming shark's tail. The latter looked to be a youth, no older than thirteen or fourteen. He had been the one to pose the question.

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"Where, Demi?" said the woman with the octopus limbs. She flipped over so she was swimming belly-up, angled so she could look back at him as she did. "You should know, silly fish! Where are we?"

Demetrius sighed. This wasn't what he meant, but he knew she wouldn't let up if he left her question unanswered. "The Rewhister Ocean," he said.

"Very good!" said Agatha, clapping her hands together, a pleased smile on her face. "And how did you figure that out, love?"

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Demetrius resisted the urge to sigh again. It wouldn't have done him any good. Still, he wished Aunt Agatha wouldn't treat him like he was still a child; when she spoke like this, he wondered if she still thought he was a baby. He'd been fondest of her when he was young, since she was always doing something fun, but now...

"Because of the scent of the water," he said. "And the temperature--- it's warm in the shallows, since it's the tropics."

"And when we get to deeper ocean?" said Agatha, nodding along with his words.

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"Then the currents change. There's glacial run-off, and volcanic geysers in the west; and you can sense the Waking Stream flowing from south to north."

It was all basics, things he'd been taught since he was a child. It had been exciting for maybe two or three years, when his aunts first began to actually take him around to the places they were always telling him about, but as he became familiar with them, the drills became monotonous again. "Aunt Agatha, will you please tell me why we're here?"[/i] he said, letting a little of his impatience color his voice.

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"Oh, hmm. Well. Since you know your regions so well," she said. "What can you tell me about where we are?"

More of this...? Demetrius frowned, and tried not to think about what he was probably missing. Last time they'd met, Evander had said something about going on a hunt in the countryside... No, no. Aunt Agatha might get cross if he ignored her question. Or, well, not 'cross', but...

"This is... Oh," he said, suddenly remembering. "This is near the Graveyard Reef, isn't it?"

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Agatha beamed at him. "Good! I knew you had it in you! So, why do you think we're here today, then?"

Demetrius had to think about that one. The Graveyard Reef wasn't really a reef, though given a few more decades, it might become one. What it was for the moment, however, was merely an expanse of ocean floor riddled with shipwrecks, accumulated over the years. For whatever reason, ships had an unusually hard time navigating this particular stretch of ocean, despite the fact that the currents hadn't become wild yet, as they did in the Rewhister's deeper parts.

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At the time, when she had been teaching him about it, Aunt Griselda had only mentioned that the humans thought it was due to whirlpools, or perhaps the prominence of tropical cyclones. Back then, he hadn't thought anything of it.

Now, however, he realized what the wording had implied. "It isn't whirlpools or cyclones at all, is it?" he said. "If it were, you would have told me. So you're going to show me the real reason why the Graveyard is here, aren't you?"

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"Clever, clever," said Aunt Agatha. "Though I'd prefer to say I'm taking you to visit an old friend, myself." That piqued Demetrius's curiosity; he hadn't expected her to say that.

"You mean there's someone responsible for it?" he said. The idea that a single someone could be responsible for that number of shipwrecks... He began to wonder if he wanted to meet this 'friend' that Agatha was bringing him to. He couldn't imagine it was anyone he would want to meet.

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"Well, she doesn't really mean to," said Agatha, frowning slightly. "It's just that she can't help herself. We're working on it." Demetrius knew from her tone that she meant for this to be reassuring, but he didn't feel the least bit reassured. If anything, he just felt more apprehensive. If the Graveyard was the result of this 'friend's' lack of control, then...

Any further ruminations he might have made, however, were abruptly jettisoned when a call broke through the waters. "Agathaaaaaaa! Oh, it's been so looooooong!"

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What... What in the gods' names was that? Demetrius stopped where he was in the water, grimacing against the sound. It wasn't that its quality was particularly unpleasant; in fact, the voice was quite melodic. Unfortunately it was also incredibly loud.

Aunt Agatha didn't look bothered in the least. Either her hearing wasn't as sensitive as his own--- which wasn't an entirely unfounded assumption, given how loud Aunt Agatha herself was on a regular basis--- or she'd gotten used to it. Unperturbed, she was calling out with a greeting of her own.

"Scylla! Hasn't it just? And look who I brought with me!"