Ever since they passed by that boat, Aries couldn't stop thinking about it.

The fact it was in the wider area around the spirit pool, the mysterious circumstances it sunk under, the crew skipping town... it all seemed strangely convenient.

After looking into the necklace some more, they found it wasn't anything too special. Not enchanted or anything, likely just someone's lost necklace. But from the wear and scuffs on the gem and chain Aries could tell it wasn't that old. Meaning all their theories about the pod having left the coast in at least the last decade must be true.

So as soon as the sun went up, they were in the water and down to that wreck. The water was clear now the hurricane had passed and the sand had settled, and the morning light shining through the water lit everything up. The fish were out, the local dolphins were starting their day and the coral that had started growing around the wreck seemed healthy.

Aries approached the boat, circling it and inspecting the exterior. On the front faded paint was visible saying the vessels name, as the girls thought it was indeed the liberty. Aries couldn't see any cracks, dents or damages other than natural erosion from the salt water. So how did the boat sink?

They swam up to the windows, it was a bit hard to see inside thanks to the algae growing on it, but they could make out some of the things left inside it. It seemed that when the boat was going down, the crew couldn't save everything and bunch of stuff was still inside. They swam over to the door, trying to force it open. It was stuck, maybe from the rust after sitting in the water for so long, maybe it was locked. But it wasn't going to open with arm strength alone. They thought for a moment, trying to find a way in. They may not be able to get the doors open, but maybe they could break the window open.

They swam over to the window, lined up their tail to the glass and smacked it hard. The glass cracked, prompting them to hit it again. Once, twice, three times. It finally shattered and carefully they snapped any remaining glass off the window. The opening was just enough for them to fit inside, and in the went for look around.

There were still shoes, fishing gear, old radios and CDs inside. The cabin wasn't that big, but big enough a few people could fit inside. The curtains on the windows were covered in algae, the metal was starting to rust in places and when they looked down the cause of the sinking became apparent.

There was a hole in the floor, a big one too. The boat would have taken on water rather quickly and the crew would have had to get off fast. How the hell a hole that big could break through the bottom of the boat Aries didn't know, but it was definitely mysterious.

Looking around some more, they opened cupboards and lifted lids odd containers. Most things were fairly normal boat gear. Life vests, fishing and swimming stuff, empty food containers. Nothing that remarkable, anything valuable must have been saved when the boat was going down. Curios if there were any storage compartments under seats, Aries pulled on one and sure enough, it opened up.

Inside it was a locked box, although the lock had rusted and could easily be pulled off with a hard yank. Opening the box, there were some books and a bag inside it. The small drawstring bag felt like it had something inside it, so they pulled it open and reached inside.

What they pulled out, confirmed all their suspicions. It was a signet ring, who it belonged to Aries had no idea. But there was no mistaking that this was Izroulian in origin. It was hand made, had a sea themed bead as the charm and hadn't rusted. They slipped it on their finger to not loose it, and went for the books next. They'd been in the ocean for years now, so they didn't expect them to be in perfect condition. Most pages were blurred and tearing, they couldn't make anything out. But the final book was a photo album, and when they opened it they found the pictures mostly intact thanks to the plastic sleeves they were kept in.

All of them dated in the 90s, there were several pictures of the crew, seemingly family and friends as well. Some photos of things they'd found in the sea, some fish, some shells and fossils. In the bottom corner of one page was a photo of a man and a baby, the baby no older than a year old and wearing a flowery sun hat and frilly bathers. She sat on what was presumably her fathers lap on the boat, both of them smiling at the camera.

When Aries flipped the page, they almost got whiplash. The writing on the back of that photo, faded but legible.

Echo and Icarus. Summer holiday 94.

Their eyes just about popped out of their head, and they flipped the page back to see the picture again. Sure enough, that was Icarus. Baby Icarus with her tanned skin, curly hair and bright blue eyes. Her father looked similar to her, and shared her bright eyes.

Immediately Aries turned on their fins and zoomed out of the boat, taking the album with them and as fast as they could got back to the shore and shot a message to the group telling them to drop everything and meet up at their place. They rushed home, laid out the album on the back patio table and very carefully used their powers to dry any moisture left on the photos. Slipping the one of Icarus and her dad out of the sleeve to get a better look.

One by one the gang showed up, quick and bursting through the back gate knowing something was up.

"What's up? Find something?" Pandora asked.

"What's that? A photo album?" Zagreus added.

Aries looked up, grabbed Icarus and pulled her over.

"I found this on the liberty. It felt weird that it sank around the same time the pod vanished from the spirit pool, so I went snooping and look. It's you! And your dad!" Aries said.

"What? No fucking way..." Icarus muttered, grabbing the picture.

She looked at it, read the back and looked at it again. It was a bit water damaged but it was absolutely her.

"Oh my god... that IS me! I was 2 at the time, no wonder I don't remember this at all" she said.

"That means your dad knew the crew of the boat. But there's no other pictures of him in the album so he must have only been aquatinted with them rather than actually in the crew. It seems like this was just a one off thing they did for a holiday" Aries replied.

The other two looked over her shoulder at the picture, never having seen Echo before.

"Wow he does look like you..." Pandora said.

"He even looks mer-ish" Zagreus added.

"That's not all" Aries jumped in.

They took off the ring, holding it up for the others to look at.

"It's a signet ring, no idea who's it is but it was in the box with the pictures. I think... I think the crew of the boat had something to do with the pod vanishing"

While the story was shrouded in mystery, if there was Izroulian items on the boat AND Icarus and her dad were on it at one point, it had to be connected.

"Well the boat did sink under mysterious circumstances... did maybe the pod sink it?" Pandora asked.

"I didn't think those stories of Merfolk sinking ships were true?" Icarus replied.

"They are, only under extreme circumstances though. If you pose a threat to Merfolk they'll sink you ship in self defence, and there's a big hole in the bottom of the boat too... big enough that someone might have used their powers to burn through it..." Aries said.

Things were starting to fall together, it seemed that somehow this crew found out about the existence of Merfolk, maybe from Echo accidentally being exposed, and went after them. The Merfolk fought back and sunk the boat, and when the crew were found out for not having a licensed boat, they skipped town. The pod leaving the coast for safety.

Which meant they absolutely must be somewhere in the wider surrounding area of the coast. Somewhere close enough to travel by fin, somewhere that had resources to live and somewhere relatively hidden. Perhaps one of the islands off the coast? It couldn't be Rottnest, that was full of tourists. And not the nature preserve either, there were constantly marine biologists monitoring the fairy penguins there.

But there were quite the a few scattered further out, most of them untouched since they were too small to have a permanent human inhabitants on.

"We should tell Haru, we're definitely onto something here" Aries said.

"Maybe he can give us some resources to help the hunt now we have a lead" Icarus replied.

"You guys gotta be anywhere? Or are you coming with?"

Pandora and Icarus decided to stay back, having to crunch for their last few tests of the year. Graduation was right around the corner, slightly off schedule because of the hurricane but soon. Leaving Aries and Zagreus to head into Izroulia and pass on the new information.

In the time they'd been back in the human realm, the castle had been getting some upgrades. When they approached it they noticed a new paint job on some of the walls, the flags cleaned and put back up, some gardening done in the courtyard and the stained glass window that once showed Agnemetra had been smashed and was actively being replaced.

In the halls several of the staff were hard and work cleaning, and the closer they got to the archives the more stuff was lying around. They found Micha sitting on the floor looking through a box, surrounded by books and artefacts.

"Goddamn, what even is half this stuff?" Zagreus said, poking a statue of some kind.

"That's what I'm trying to figure out. Looks like the record keeping went to shit when Agnemetra was on the throne. So much of this stuff is unrecorded and I bet some of it was tampered with to try and erase Merfolk history" Micha replied.

There was so much stuff, just bits and bobs from a time long gone lying around. Micha looked invested, his glasses secured on with chains so they didn't fall as he was digging through boxes.

"Oh but this is pretty cool!" He said, picking up a solid gold object and handing it to the Merfolk.

When they got a better look, it turned out to be a disk like thing. A cat carved into it and several other glyphs surrounding it. It was heavy, looked a bit scuffed up with age and had gemstones in the eyes of the cat. It looked very Ancient Egypt.

"What is this? It looks like it came out if a tomb or something" Aries asked.

"Absolutely no idea. Dunno if it's magic, if it's just a decoration or where it came from. If I had to guess I'd say Pharonium, since ya know... looks very Egypt" Micha replied.

"Where?" Zagreus questioned.

"Pharaonium. It's the realm where ancient Egyptian myth comes from, we haven't been in contact for years though"

Handing the artefact back, Micha put it back in its little case to keep it safe. It seems like there was all kind of undocumented things just shoved away in storage.

"I'm trying to go through everything and make sure it's all documented. See what needs to be repaired or studied. Some of it could probably go to the museum" Micha explained.

"I didn't even know we had all this stuff, some of it doesn't even look Izroulian" Aries replied.

"Some of it isn't. Some of it are gifts from other realms we've made peace with. There's an entire torri gate in several pieces in the store room"

How the fuck did a whole torri gate fit in a store room? Clearly it was gifted from Tsuki no shimajima, or the lunar isles in English. They were on very good terms with Izroulia for thousands of years up until the war. Haru had made sure he can reconnect Izroulia with them asap as there's a population of yokai originally from there living in Izroulia.

As interesting as all this was, the were here to see Haru. They'd have to dig through boxes with Micha another day.

"Where's your boy toy?" Aries asked.

"Upstairs, he's drafting new laws"

Good to know he was taking things seriously. The two left Micha to keep being a historian on the floor and headed up to the kings office where they found Haru in deep thought looking down at the parchment before him. A massive quill was dipped in enchanted ink beside him.

"Hey flappy mcspookster" Aries said.

"Ok one, that's moth man. I am not a moth. And two, you're back! The hurricane didn't kill you I see" Haru replied, looking up from his work.

"Apart from some damage to the coast everything's still in tact. But that hurricane lead us to a lead"

Aries put the photo on Haru's desk, he picked it up and flipped it over to read the back.

"Oh damn, that's Icarus? She's so tiny!" He said.

"I found it on a shipwreck off the coast. Along with this"

Slipping off the signet ring they handed it to Haru who took one look at it and immediately figured it out.

"The pod have something to do with the shipwreck huh?" Haru asked.

"Definitely. We think they somehow accidentally got exposed and the crew of the boat went after them, causing them to sink it in self defence. The ship was sketchy though" Aries replied.

"Wasn't licensed or up to code, the crew skipped town when it sunk to avoid the slammer. We think Echo, Icarus' dad knew the crew but wasn't part of it. Hence the picture, seems like they went on a boat day for a holiday break or something. Something happened that lead to him or someone in the pod getting exposed. The crew went after them, they sunk the boat and went into hiding. Then the crew skipped town and it was all left a mystery" Zagreus replied.

Haru looked at the picture, then at the ring. It seemed like the gang were right. It was the most likely answer that something along those lines went down.

"I think you're onto something here" he said.

"Same. I think now is a good time to start planning for accommodation for the pod coming back. We know what happened now we just need to find them" Aries replied.

"I've been thinking about that already, once I'm done with this. Hopefully it won't take long. The coast is pretty clear so I'm thinking some beach huts, raised houses on stilts and maybe some over the water connected to jetties would be a good place for Merfolk to live. Since most of the places they lived before the war have either been destroyed or renovated into something new. And we can start an artificial reef under the jetties and stilts to encourage wildlife to thrive in the area" Haru explained.

It sounded perfect. All the Merfolk back in Izroulia living by the sea or along the river, the wildlife population healthy and booming. Shallow waters were a good spot to raise aquatic children for all the parents. It was close to the kingdom so all land based activities were easily accessible.

"Man that sounds so good, I bet my parents will call first dibs on one of the riverside homes" Zagreus said.

"If they wanna help out they can, we could use extra hands. They'd get to pick the land they want if they did" Haru replied.

Zagreus lit up, his parents had been talking about moving back to Izroulia now it was safe. And he was all for it because he wanted to be here too. Both because that's were he was always meant to be, and because he wanted to be near Styxx.

"I'll talk to them about it. I'm sure they'll be down to help. So will Styxx probably" Zagreus said.

"I bet Momo will be down to help too, I'll ask her" Aries added.

Things were looking good. They had a lead, the kingdom was doing well and the new royalty had settled in good. This could be the final stretch in finding the pod.

"Alright, give me your plans and I'll see if there's any resources I can give you" Haru said.

"I knew we could count on you" Aries smiled.