The water was chilly, but not unbearable. The change in season was noticeable though, the fish had changed. Those who stayed in warmer waters had started migrating, and those who liked the cold were coming in. Luckily for the Merfolk all the swimming was keeping them relatively warm. It was one of those days the wind was freezing but the water wasn't too bad.

"I don't want to get out and feel that breeze" Icarus complained, looking over at the island shore.

This was their next hunting ground, shoul island a bit further away from pointbreak but still swimming distance. It was too small for permanent inhabitants but big enough for wildlife.

"We have to if we want to find something, come on I'll heat dry us" Aries replied.

Swimming up to the shore, the Merfolk dragged themselves out of the water, shivering at the breeze hitting their wet skin.

"Oh my GOD that breeze-" Pandora said.

"Aren't you meant to be used to to cold? You freeze stuff" Zagreus asked.

"Not this bloody sea breeze while I'm soaking wet cold"

Once they were fully out of the water, Aries dried them off with their powers and they were back to their leg having form. They got up, brushed the sand from themselves and looked around.

"Nothing underwater?" Aries asked.

"Nope, then again the sea is a bit rough today. The sand has been a bit tossed up" Zagreus replied.

"I think we'll only have a few more weeks before it gets too cold and rough to hunt" Icarus sighed.

"Hopefully we find something then, but at least Pandora has a hot tub"

As long as her parents weren't home to see, that hot tub was the saving grace of water deprived merperson in winter. They used it a lot last winter, although they noticed this upcoming winter seemed to be colder. It wasn't even fully winter yet, it was March, autumn. And yet the wind had picked up and bought the cold air in already. The sun was still pretty warm, but that wind... it was like ice.

It was that stupid part of the year where you can't decide if it's hot or cold. One day you'll be wearing nothing but a bikini and the next you're wrapped up in a blanket.

"Alright enough standing around. Zag you go around the coast west, Pandora you go inland west and Icarus inland east. I'll go around the coast east" Aries directed.

"Got it, meet back here?" Pandora said.

"Yep, by afternoon at least"

Planned out, they all parted ways toward their destinations. Aries trudged along the sand, having to climb over a rock or two on their path. The beach looked pretty untouched, but that could be the wind blowing sand and covering tracks. The conditions weren't ideal to he hunting but they weren't going to stop until they physically couldn't go any further.

They'd been working so hard for this Damnit, they weren't stopping now.

Deciding to make things a little easier, they moved a little further inland where he sand became dirt and grass, much easier to walk on. Still able to see out along the ocean and beach but less of a leg strain. This island has a lot of foliage, and birds seemed to be all over the place. Mainly seagulls and bin chickens as the Aussies called them. Ibis, their actual name was. Bloody bin chickens, always getting into your bins and tossing the rubbish all over your front lawn. Aries had to put a brick on the lid to stop them getting inside it.

Looking around they weren't seeing much, just the usual deserted island stuff. Or at least that's what they thought until they spotted something in the slightly damp dirt. Not wet enough to transform them, but enough to leave behind foot prints. And that's exactly what they found, foot prints.

Getting a closer look, they immediately knew it couldn't be any of the group. They were all wearing shoes. This was barefoot footprints. Aries put their own foot next to it to estimate the size and it was much bigger than theirs. Messing it definitely couldn't be either of the girls. Zagreus had the biggest shoe size, and Aries second biggest. But this was too big to be Zagreus as well.

Someone had been here, recently it seemed.

Following the prints, it lead through some of the shrubbery and out to another part of the beach. As the dirt turned to loose sand the prints faded, but it wasn't hard to guess where they were heading. There were some rocks up ahead and whoever left the print most have climbed over them. Aries looked up at the rocks to make sure they were stable, and with cautious feet they stepped onto them and carefully hopped from rock to rock. They stood atop the formation looking out at the sea, it looked calmer on this side of the island, the wind was blowing out in this direction rather than in.

When they turned to look along the shoreline, their heart jumped in slight fright when they saw moment. At first they thought it was one of the group, but when they looked for longer they found it was indeed a person, but a complete stranger.

Someone was here, and they didn't see any boats nearby. Could it be?

A man, looking middle aged stood at the shoreline. He was slightly tanned, had frizzy hair in a dark reddish brown and wore long pants and a tank top. That hair and tan... it was so familiar.

"No way..." Aries muttered.

He looked so familiar, it couldn't be him could it? The eyes were the same, the tan, the slight curl to the hair...

The man seemed to be looking for something on the coast line, using binoculars to look out on the horizon. But there was no one else or anything else around, so what was he looking for? Aries didn't have a doubt in their mind this was a merman. He had all the hallmark features of an Izroulian. They had to approach him. They'd finally found someone.

Aries stood up from their hiding spot, carefully climbing down from the rocks approaching from behind. They'd admit they were slightly worried to be approaching a stranger on an empty island but they were sure this was a merman.

"Hey" they spoke up.

The man jumped, turning to face Aries very confused.

"Wh- hello? I didn't think there were other people here" he replied.

"There's not. It's just us, and I think we have something in common"

It took a moment for him to realise, but after taking a longer look at the siren it clicked in his mind. This was an Izroulian.

"You... you're not from the pod" he said.

The pod. He said it, this was absolutely who Aries through it was. They felt adrenaline rush through their veins.

"I'm not, I'm from Izroulia. It's safe again now, long story I'll explain that in a moment. But are you by any chance Echo Perri?"

He stood in stunned silence for a moment. Absolutely not expecting this stranger to know his name.

"How did you..?" He muttered.

"You are? Holy shit I was right. Hang on" Aries replied.

They reached into their pocket and pulled out their phone, immediately going into the photo album to get a picture of Icarus up.

"I'm friends with your daughter, look" they said, pointing the screen at him.

He looked down at the picture in awe. That was his child, all grown up. There was no mistaking it, the hair, the tan, the eyes. She was posed with Aries in a shopping centre mirror, the two having found funny matching shirts that day and took a photo in the dressing room mirror.

"Icarus... wait if you're... then she-" he stammered.

"Ended up a mermaid? Yeah. She's involved in the whole retaking Izroulia thing. Look I'll explain everything from start to finish, but first please tell me you're not the only one left" Aries said.

"I'm not. I'm a drone, I watch for any humans or danger before we move to another location. We've been hopping from island to island for years now"

"How many are there?"

"Last headcount was 143. But a few kids have been born in the last few years"

143... there were 143 survivors? That was a lot! Well... a very small number compared to those who died. But 143 was still a big pod that likely had a ton of diversity in it.

"One hundred and- holy shit. Holy shit I need to tell Haru we'll definitely need more accommodation. Ok there's literally so much to explain and I promise I'll do that. But... I think Icarus would want to see you first" Aries said.

"Yes, please. Please take me to her wherever she is. I need to see her"
Echo replied.

The two of them were buzzing with excitement. Aries because they'd just found the key to the pod, and Echo because not only was Izroulia safe again but his daughter was looking for him. They needed to meet up with the other three, fast.

Leading the much older merman down the coast of the island, Echo had a million thoughts going through his head. He had no idea where to start, he was NOT expecting to find a random siren who knows his daughter while out scouting.

"When you say Izroulia is safe again..?" He spoke up.

"Agnemetra is gone. We removed her soul from her body and banished her into another realm, my buddy is king now and he's actually cool" Aries replied, way too casually.

"You remove- oh my... excuse me?"

"Long story. But Haru, the new king is ten times better. I've known him since I was a kid so I knew he'd be a good choice. He helped with everything and is currently having volunteers build more accommodations by the coast for the return of the pod. This has been a massive project, we've been looking for you guys for over a year now" Aries explained.

There was so much to take in, he kind of just froze up. Izroulia was safe, Agnemetra was gone, there was a new king actively helping the pod and a random siren knew his daughter? How do you even process that?

"How long has he been king?" Echo asked.

"Only like 5 months, he's the youngest king on record too. He and his boyfriend have been amazing so far, although the castle is a bit of a wreck at the moment with renovations and Micha digging through the archives" Aries explained.

"5 MONTHS? And all this has already happened?"

"Yep, he's efficient"

Just up ahead Aries could see Zagreus who'd stopped to catch his breath and drink half his water bottle in one go.

"ZAG!" They called out.

The blonde perked up and looked over, immediately spotting the new person. At first he didn't realise who it was, but as they got closer it clicked.

"Is that Icarus' fucking dad?" He said, shocked.

"Better believe it" Aries replied.

He looked up at the taller man, speechless to see him in person. He'd only ever heard stories from Icarus and seen the picture from the wreck.

"Dude... he DOES look like her" Zagreus said.

"She got a lot of my genes" Echo replied.

"This is Zagreus, he's part of the whole hunt thing. Zag where's Icarus?" Aries explained.

"I passed her further inland like 10 minutes ago. Pandora was with her"

Wasting no time they turned their course to inland, the island wasn't as dense as the others so traversing through the trees and bushes wasn't a hard hike. Echo was more amazed that there were other survivors and that they were so young than anything else. Unsurprised in the slightest they all had Greek myth names, and the close he looked at them the more Izroulian features he could see.

Just up ahead amongst the trees, they spotted the reminding two of the group. Including the daughter in question.

"ICARUS!" Aries called out.

She turned to face them, froze for a moment seeing the extra person and when it processed in her mind who she was looking at, her expression turned stunned.

"Dad?" She questioned.

Hearing his daughters voice after all these years and seeing how much she'd grown made him want to break down and cry. She looked so much like him, had his eyes and his curly hair. Her mothers tanned skin and slim build. A spitting image of the two of them.

"Icarus..." he muttered.

She hasn't seen him since she was a child, and she could hardly believe her eyes. It was him, her dad. They'd found him.

She turned on her feet, running up to him and throwing herself at him. Almost knocking him over in the process, she clung to him like there was no tomorrow and practically crushed his bones with the force of the hug. Echo held her tightly, she was so much taller than the last time he'd held her. It felt different, but so right.

"I missed you..." Icarus said, voice quivering.

"I missed you too guppy" he replied.

She hadn't been called that in so long, it was specifically her dads name for her and no one else's.

Pandora caught up with the others, watching the scene unfold in disbelief.

"How the fuck did you find her dad? The first person we find from the pod is the exact guy we're looking for?" Pandora asked.

"The gods have smiled upon us I guess" Zagreus replied.

"Talk about luck" Aries added.

Icarus reused to let go, threatening to cry if she did. Echo felt this overwhelming sense of relief to know his daughter was still alive and well, that she has friends and looked to be healthy and happy.

"You got so tall! Look at you! And you'd be 19 now right? Gods you're so... grown up!" Echo fussed, doing the dad thing where you squeeze your child's cheeks and ruffle their hair.

"19 and officially a graduate! Somehow..." Icarus smiled.

"Honey I... I wish I could have been there for all your birthdays, graduations, awards, hula performances... I never wanted to leave, I promise I've always loved you and worried about how you were doing. Please, please forgive me guppy... I've never stopped loving you" Echo sighed, guilt in his tone.

"I know why you had to leave dad, it was better that then us potentially getting hurt. I don't care as long as you can go back home to Izroulia and I can see you again now"

Even with the understanding of his daughter, he'd still be carrying the guilt he'd had for the past decade. But what's done was done, you can't change the past, the only way to go from now on was forward. Even with the years they'd spent apart, they'd been looking up at the same stars this whole time. They could at least take comfort in the fact they were never truly alone.