Some time has passed since Envoy was attacked by the Devourer in the shallows around the Crimson Archipelago. She has had ample time to heal up from her injuries, thanks to her regenerative powers, though she still has a memento of the incident in the form of a conspicuous bite out of the left leg of her wetsuit – and some gifts from the parents of Riusha.

Prince-Captain Rashad has remained in Marinopolis for the time being, occasionally showing up to check on Envoy and to shower her with Khattan flattery, and then going off to do whatever it is he does when he has nothing better to occupy himself.

Arina – the mer-cat father of Riusha – weaves his way through the water ahead of Envoy, making his way toward a particularly large cluster of jelly-domes and bio-lights on a coral-crusted outcropping hanging over the abyss.

Trying not to overwork her breathing mask, the jelly-goggled Aeolun does her best to keep up. This involves trying to use her wings underwater; at the moment she's attempting to use them as oars without flipping herself over.

Arina turns to check on Envoy, and nods approval at her progress, as less-than-graceful as it might be. The complex draws closer, and Envoy gets a close look at a mottled urgan – far larger than the Coy Mermaid – passing by underneath. Arina dips down into a recess in the coral growths, conveniently encircled by a ring of blue-glowing orbs, or else Envoy might not have been able to pick out the opening herself.

Envoy pulls her wings in close to her sides, and uses her legs to kick downwards towards the hole.

Through the hole, Envoy finds herself going along, then back up, to break the surface of the water as she enters the air again, at the bottom of a vast, water-floored chamber, divided into sections by artificially aligned corrals, perches and walkways formed of coral and shell.

An urgan of moderate size rests in one of the bays described by the dividers, crusted with barnacles and shells. It lacks the translucent canopy that normally covers the bridge of an urgan, and many portions of it are swathed in wraps of seaweed and other materials that Envoy has come to associate with the Abyssinian version of bandaging.

Arina perches on a nearby rocky protrusion rising slightly above the water, and smiles when he sees Envoy surface.

Once she can keep her head above the surface, Envoy peels off the breather and returns it to a pouch on her belt, so that it remains underwater. Pointing to the urgan, she asks, "Siren attack?"

Arina nods. "The shell cannot heal, so has to be replaced," he explains, gesturing to the urgan.

Envoy moves closer to the corral to watch the process. "Does it hurt?" she asks, trying to figure out if the urgan is conscious or not.

"Yes," Arina says. "The urgan is sedated, but it is impossible to completely negate the pain without risking that it may die from the treatment."

"Where will the replacement shell come from?" Envoy asks. This is the first time she's seen such an operation.

"The shell is the upper plate of a versad," Arina says, though a Rephidimization of the word 'versad' does little justice to the strange way in which the Abyssinians pronounce their native words and names. "It is like an oyster or clam, only much larger, as you see. For one to grow to this side, there is often a pearl of remarkable proportion. Your Emir purchased one to take back to his island."

Envoy blinks at this. "I hadn't realized the parts came from different organisms. I assumed the attributes were blended to create a new species."

"It is said that is how it was in the days of the Firstborn," Arina answers. "But there are many beasts of the sea who are born but cannot live – They were sculpted as parts of a whole, and apart, they die. We raise them, shape them, put them together, in as best we know the ways that the Mother taught Her Firstborn of the waters."

The Aeolun ponders this. It's possible that the Wandering Roams aliens responsible for the Goliaths and other odd animals on Sinai worked with Ashtoreth species as well, she supposes. "Can you tell me more about the Mother?"

Arina smiles in what Envoy might interpret as slight embarrassment. "It would be for Triesa to instruct you on such things. For our people, every woman is a priestess for the Mother. Our name for Her, there have been many attempts to translate into your languages, but all of them seem degradations. You may call Her 'Ashtoreth', using the word of your people for Her name."

Envoy nods to the mer-cat. "I'll talk to her about it then, thank you." She then goes back to watching the shell replacement, and wondering how many other elements of an urgan are symbiotic grafts.

"They make many things here," Arina says. "Sometimes, we shape new things. There is even a Shaper who believes that she can make it so that a walker will be able to ply the ocean like us. And there have been Shapers who have been able to give some of our people gills … though it is not something that the Mother has smiled upon."

"Because the Sirens have gills?" Envoy guesses, and realizes splicing is very different than what Barabbas has accomplished, if it can be applied to any life form. "Is it possible for me to meet the Mother?" she asks.

"To meet the Mother?" Arina echoes. "You speak of holy things, and for that I am ashamed that it is beyond my ken. Triesa would have answered many more of your questions, but the reason I am your guide today is that she is also very busy what with the latest attacks of the Sirenae, for she is a healer."

"Is splicing a special talent?" the Aeolun asks, changing the subject. "Or can anyone learn it?"

"It is part craft," Arina answers, "so many of the men help with the more rugged work, but the process of binding life to life is beyond something that your machines could ever produce. It is only with the blessing of the Mother that Her children may follow in Her paths of creation and forming of new life. It is … ah, I am searching for words … a miracle."

Envoy ahs. "I'm somewhat familiar with miracles," she admits, and leaves it at that. She'll need to talk to a priestess, apparently. "What do the urgans sing about?"

"Ah, that I do not know," Arina says. "The urgan keepers, they will tell you that they listen and understand, and there are those who sing with them, mimicking their sounds, but they sing a tongue apart from ours. We know enough to hear when they are happy, when they are sad, when they call to others, when there is danger … but we know no more of their speech, I am sure, than they know of ours, though we have lived together, for as long as any of us have swam the waters."

Envoy recalls the song the Coy Mermaid sang before the Devourer attacked. "I saw a giant flying creature on the way here. Have you ever spliced something like that to carry people?"

Arina shakes his head. "Your people have dubbed that a kite dragon. It is not truly one of the Mother's children, and cannot be melded like the others."

The Aeolun's curiosity grows even more. "I definitely would like to learn more. Are there priestesses other than Triesa who would meet with me?" she asks.

"I am sure it could be arranged," Arina says. "We could go to the Trade Hall, where the visiting walkers come to do business with us. There are others like you who wish to know of the Mother, so there are always priestesses there – that is, in the sense of 'priestess' that I think your use of the word implies. Though all of our womenfolk commune with the Mother, some devote more of their time to matters of … religion … than others."

Envoy smiles, and nods. "Yes, I would like to visit the Trade Hall then, when possible."