Barnholdt loomed over Arya with a sense of foreboding she couldn't shake off her chest. Clad in the fanciest dress she had—which was unfortunately borrowed from her aunt's old coffer—she blended with the people striding in and out of the museum's wide stairs.

Top hats of different heights and brim width whizzed past her periphery. Glints from the chained monocles slotted in most nobles' eyes filled the immediate bubble near her. Giggles and idle chatter floated in the air, composed of trivial things like the weather or whose son was dating which daughter of a powerful family.

Arya tugged at the dark gloves she had put on at Cornelia's behest. The fingers were wider and longer so the gloves always threatened to fall off. It might have belonged to a bigger woman. Who might be dead. Or something. Cornelia had the propensity of getting her things from the strangest of places.

Arya shook her head, dispelling all the images of a cadaver wearing her gloves from her head. At the foot of the stairs, a carriage pulled by a dark coated horse screeched into a stop. The door opened without the coach even stepping off his place. To a noble eye, opening the carriage doors by oneself was the first sign of being from the common people. The next was the whirlwind of fabric thrown into the person stepping off.

"I told you I'll pick you up at Halway!" Eury furiously dusted her skirts in her attempt to straighten them while stomping up the stairs. Her poor shoes... "Why are you already out here? The exhibit won't start until an hour later."

Arya licked her lips. Immediately, the polymer taste of the balm she swathed on her lips coated her tongue. She did her best to hide her wince at having forgotten she had painted her face. "You said Seven Adiem," she glanced at the only watch she owned. It still worked despite being decades old, belonging to her father. "It's Seven Adiem."

Eury grasped at the air in frustration. "I said Seven Adiem in Halway!" she said. "It's an hour's carriage ride from there. How in Ouine's boxers did you even get here that early?"

Arya adjusted the netted hat she wore. Her hair, for once, cascaded down her shoulders and back in all their fiery glory. It was a special exhibit. Might as well let her special hair for a while. Give it a break, more like.

"I asked my aunt," Arya answered absently, letting her eyes leap from one person to another, noting which of them were of noble descent and which ones were pretending to be...like her. "She told me it's a long way from Beironet so I just woke up and left home a little earlier. Thankfully, there are no problems with the trams."

Eury's eyes widened. She got into Arya's personal space with little regard about how she felt. "You took the tram all the way here?" Her statement echoed in the stairs, making heads turn towards them. With Eury, it's an unavoidable situation.

"Pipe down, will you?" Arya grimaced. The stares they got were nothing short of acidic. "I had to change cars four times. Almost got lost on the final leg. It wasn't that bad. I learned a lot about the city."

Eury looked like she wasn't about to let it go, because first, she was forced to get up early just to catch up to Arya, and second, she was forced to get up early just to catch up to Arya. The woman hated waking up early among most things.

"Let's just go inside, yes?" Arya tilted her head to one side, flashing Eury a placating expression. "We're here anyway. Might as well make the most out of it. Besides, you're the one who brought me out here. I can't have you bailing on me."

Eury rolled her eyes. "I should just leave you on your own and laugh in your misery," she said. She didn't really mean it with the sarcastic tone she used. Then, she lunged and latched at Arya's arm. "Just kidding. Come on. I'll forgive you since you did agree to come with me today."

Arya smiled and let herself be tugged here and there as they followed the traffic of skirts and coattails inside the museum. It was a little dim in the lobby as if the huge chandelier hanging from the domed ceiling wasn't enough. Some sort of an orange film coated the air, giving the whole place a solemn feel.

Eury led her down a wing to the left of a wide, curving staircase carved from wood. A wide corridor greeted them, ushering them to a set of closed doors leading to a dead end room. She tugged at her gloves once more. Her eyes swept through the familiar lines of script printed in a board propped on an easel by the door.

New Exotic Exhibit in Mapergaude Hall - Eight Adiem, Juisevon. Invites-based. Be the first to see and experience.

Arya knitted her eyebrows and swallowed against the building lump in her throat. Experience what? See what? What kind of exhibit was this?

The doors were unbolted. A noble couple passed Arya by and as one, pushed against the handles. The doors swung inside with ease, giving her a good glimpse of rows upon rows of cushioned seats folded down, sloping down towards a semi-circle stage. It looked tiny from her vantage point so high up. It would be a miracle to see anything from the back row.

Like the lobby and everywhere else in the museum, the auditorium's lighting was dimly orange. Arya craned her neck to spot several rods of light parallel to the ground slotted into gaps in the walls. That was new. The most she encountered in terms of illumination were the bulbs with filaments inside. They were used in most of the buildings in Aldermere, including the flat complexes.

Eury strode in with her chin raised. Wasn't she feeling something strange about this whole thing? Why hadn't they announced what they're exhibiting? Why was it only through invites? Why was it done in this prestigious hall inside a well-known museum?

How come most of the audience were of the nobility and the wealthy class?

Arya clenched her fists to keep them from shaking as she followed Eury into one of the seats in the middle rows. It was right for them—never too high up and never too down below. Like their status in life, in retrospect.

She blew a quiet breath, adjusting her butt to get in a comfortable sitting position. The cushions squeaked and whined with her every movement, the sounds ringing across the auditorium in a set of dying but loud echoes. Oh, dear.

She clasped her hands together to pretend those sounds didn't come from her. Eury shook her head and massaged her temples with a hand. Arya was pretty sure her friend muttered, "Hopeless," under her breath.

Arya tried to ignore it. Eury wasn't wrong on that part, at least. She wasn't fit for the noble life so what did Eury get into her head for thinking to bring them here? Also, did that mean that Eury had connections in the nobility? She did procure the invites, after all.

She opened her mouth to ask Eury about it when the lights dimmed so much she thought someone had cut the power. Her hand closed around Eury's arm and she heard a snarky laugh ring beside her. Arya felt like smacking her friend upside the head.

But it was silly, even for Arya's standards. She had become paranoid and twitchy in a span of a few minutes.

The sound of wheels rolling over hollow wood filled the room. From the way it boomed across the room, whatever they were carting onto the stage was huge. And heavy. Suddenly, the noise resembling the waves lapping the shore hummed. At first, it was a weak thrum but as soon as the clunk of wheels stopped, it intensified in such a way Arya felt like they really did bring an ocean with them onstage.

"Ladies, gentlemen, and all people in attendance," a voice rang through the darkness. A few polite clapping and excited titters ensued from the audience. "Kindly hand in your invitations to the marshalls at the end of your rows. If you don't have one, you will have to go out or be escorted out. Either way, you are not allowed here."

Loud, shuffling noises erupted beside Arya. She heard a few muttered curses about the stupid lights as Eury rummaged through her things. Her purse had never been a purse. It was a void Arya could get lost in.

"Miss, if you do not have your invitations, I will ask you to step out or I will have no choice to escort you," a deep baritone of a voice spoke beside Arya. She flinched again.

"No need for that," Eury's flighty tone bled on the other side of Arya's ears as something wafted in front of her. "These are our invites. One for me and one for her. No need to get tense, Officer."

Arya raised an eyebrow. A member of the Maltarci? How come they were present here? What was really going on with this exhibit? A hand snatched whatever was in Eury's hand. The sound of thick paper crunching reached Arya's ears.

She shifted in her seat once again, eliciting more crunches and squeaks from her cushion. The voice boomed from the stage once more.

"Everyone, I present to you the subject of today's exhibit," it announced. "Hailing from the wild waters of Parhallow, see for yourself a beauty, a pearl."

The lights turned on just as the voice rose to a crescendo. "A mermaid!"

Arya's eyes widened, a gasp flitting out of her lips. Her gut twisted into tight, little knots at the sight of the glass box, the murky water sloshing inside, and the woman with dark hair floating in it. Iridescent scales danced over the woman's pallid skin. Slits ran down her neck, flaring in and out as she breathed. Bright yellow eyes stared up in fear at the faces watching her until they landed on Arya, a face singled out of a sea of them.

Terror washed over Arya, too great for her to control the sudden shake it brought to her hands and the shiver down her spine. What Eury was supposed to be feeling didn't occur to Arya. Not anymore when all the thoughts running through her head was that through some cruel machinations of fate, that mermaid could be her.

In a cruel world where her kind was used as entertainment and exhibit subjects, Arya could have been inside that cage.

And, just like the mermaid she's seeing now, she wouldn't be able to do anything about it.