Another day, another hunt.

The group were on a different island this time, garden island turned up nothing. But this island was a bit further out and had a few more natural resources, it seemed like a good place to look. They'd swum around the whole place, seeing nothing in the water but were yet to check on land. So they crawled out of the ocean onto the shore and dried off to look around.

"You think it could be it?" Pandora asked.

"Looks promising" Aries replied.

"Which one is this again, I'm loosing track" Icarus said.

"Trigg. The island not the beach back on the mainland"

"Ah, right"

Looking at the horizon and over the land, they figured they could probably walk around the whole thing before afternoon. It was a small island, big enough to have plants and maybe some animals here and there. But definitely not big enough to have a whole civilisation on, camps though? That could be possible.

"Let's go around the shoreline, Merfolk are more likely to stay by the water than inland" Aries said.

Agreeing they all began to head east and intended to loop around to where they started. Remembering where they started by keeping the big broken tree lying on the sand in mind. It seemed most of the animals here were bugs and birds, mainly seabirds that could fly here from other places. The vegetation was quite healthy and there must be a fresh water source somewhere judging from some of the plant growth.

"Islands are kind of a vibe thought imagine having an entire island to yourself" Icarus pondered.

"Become a lighthouse keeper. There's a ton of small islands with nothing but a lighthouse on them if you wanna live the island life" Zagreus replied.

"That could be nice... although you'd have to sail back to the mainland just to go shopping"

"You know what I wanna know about islands?" Pandora jumped in.

They all looked at her for the answer.

"How the hell Rottnest is one of the only place in the world with quokkas. Like they're on Rottnest, Bald island and there's a tiny population on the mainland. How did they get to the islands?" Pandora pondered.

"Probably when all the land was still connected millions of years ago. Then it broke off and only some were left on the mainland" Zagreus pointed out.

"Oohhh of course. They're thriving over on those islands though, not many predators to eat them"

If Western Australia was known for one thing it was quokkas, often called the worlds happiest animals. Because they were small, fluffy and not scared of humans at all, they always looked like they were smiling and were very photogenic. The group has ruled out Rottnest as a potential pod hiding spot before they even started hunting islands. It was a massive tourist spot so there would be nowhere to hide. But man, living with the quokkas would be so much fun.

As they walked along the beach chatting and keeping an eye out for any clues, something caught Zagreus' eye just up the beach where the sand turned to grass.

"Hey, what's that?" He pointed out.

They all turned to look, approaching for a closer inspection. Upon getting near the mound, they found charred remains of wood and vegetation, arranged in some rocks like a campfire.

"That's a campfire! Or... was one" Pandora said.

Immediately they began to look around the area, evidence of someone having camped here obvious. Weather it was a human or mer person they were yet to figure out, hopefully there were more clues. They found some footprints in the dirt, as well as a pile of sticks that was probably for firewood.

"Someone was definitely here" Icarus said.

"No doubt" Pandora replied.

Aries gasped, catching everyone's attention. They ducked down to pick something up and revealed a half burnt piece of paper, on said paper was ink that was part of an elaborate pattern.

"It's a sigil. Someone tried to burn it to activate a spell... this is definitely Izroulian magic" they said.

Looking down at the paper they all stood in a circle trying to make out what the sigil could have been, but it was too burnt to understand.

"So the pod was definitely here then?" Pandora asked.

"Definitely. It's recent too... clearly they're not here now they must have moved to the next island. But this confirms it, we're on their trail" Aries said.

With one massive win, they kept looking around for anything else. Unfortunately there wasn't anything other than the obvious previous campsite, but that didn't matter to them. They had one big clue and that was enough to tell them they were getting closer. When they'd searched the whole small island, they headed back to the mainland and decided to meet up again next weekend to hunt the next island.

Motivation and morale restored, they went home happy. Pandora needed to stop by her dads boat before she headed home though, she'd been asked to bring in the crab nets while her dad was out for the day. She headed up the docks on the way back, climbing onto the boat and putting on some gloves so she didn't get wet pulling the chain to the nets up.

As she was pulling them up, just down the docks was a very familiar person who was doing the almost the exact same thing. Although she was tossing OUT the crab nets for her mother who owned a boat for more recreational use.

Willow tossed one of the nets out, making sure the chain was secure before going to the other side of the boat to do the next one. She tossed it over board and as she did she spotted Pandora a few boats down pulling up her nets.

"No... is that..." she muttered.

She watched the brunette pull up a net with two crabs in it, her hands in gloves to make sure she didn't get wet and to not get nipped by a crab. One was much too small to eat, so she tossed it back. But the other was a big boy full of juicy meat. She put it in the fish cooler for her dad to come and handle later that day.

Willow noticed that her hair was a bit messed up on the way it would be after swimming in salt water, and she wore the same top that the mermaid wore, just under a button up.

Immediately she jumped off the boat onto the dock and rushed over to Pandoras boat, climbing on to approach her.

"It's you! You have legs too?" She spoke up.

Pandora jumped, almost dropping the crab she was holding. When she turned she was stunned to see the same girl from the other day.

"Holy- you-" she stammered.

"Ok I promise I'm not stalking you or anything. My mums boat is just over there, sea skimmer" willow assured.

Pandora looked over, sure enough there was the boat. She'd seen that boat many times but never met the people that owned it, what a coincidence it was willow.

"Oh, uh... yeah I have legs too. When I'm dry" Pandora replied.

"Oh that's how it works! Hence the gloves then" Willow said.

"That's and getting nipped hurts"

Pandora put the crab into the cooler and tossed the net aside into the pile of other equipment. She found it a bit strange how she should be kind of worried the human who saw her had her right next to the water and could easily push her in with people around... but she was oddly calm. Willow seemed to have this... aura to her.

"Can confirm, got nipped as a kid and screamed" Willow snickered.

"Same, that shit hurts" Pandora replied.

Willow took a look in the cooler, several crabs chilling in the water inside it.

"Whew, big ones. This is a fishing boat right?" She asked.

"Yeah my dads a fisher, my mums a diving instructor" Pandora replied.

"Are they merpeople too?"

"No, just me. And my grandmother when she was still alive, I get it from her"

"It's genetic? Wait so there's half mermaid people just walking around among humans?"

"Not exactly... kinda?"

Willow sensed that Pandora was still a big hesitant about reaching too much, but she was so curious and genuinely didn't want to hurt her. She leaned against the wall off the cabin and made sure to put on a serious tone to convey her intentions.

"Listen... I seriously don't want to expose you. It's just so cool you know? I loved mermaids as a kid so meeting one is like a childhood dream come true. And I've been surfing my whole life so I know a decent amount about the ocean, it's interesting! I promise I won't tell anyone, you can even get your siren buddy to threaten me if you want. It's just... I can't stop thinking about you. I mean it's not every day you get off work and see a beautiful mermaid" Willow explained.

Pandora froze up for a moment, beautiful... did she just say beautiful? She felt her cheeks go red, hopefully it just looked like sunburn.

"I... get it. I was pretty exited to get my tail because I also really loved mermaids. Maybe I can talk to my mini pod and we can sort out some kind of... trust thing. Like they can confirm your safe? It'd actually be useful to have a human help us out with uh... the thing we're doing" Pandora replied.

Willow smiled, Pandora felt her heart skip a beat seeing that smile.

"I'd like that. I'm just genuinely curious, plus having a secret is fun sometimes" she said.

"I'll talk to them then" Pandora replied.

"I swear on my life I'm trustworthy"

For some reason Pandora felt like she was right, and she was actually a genuinely trustworthy person with pure intentions. She'd trust her for now, see how things go. And of course keep close tabs on her just in case. Willow could be helpful to the hunt, and it was a nice bonus she was a pretty cool person.

And a pretty one too... fuck, it was people like Willow that reminded Pandora how gay she was.