21.

So, little ones, my story is nearly at an end. Now you know what happened on that ranging long ago, and what came of the great Bastions that once made the southern and northern pod-shoals such a force to be reckoned with in the greater Atlan'tik brine.

My mother, the Queen, perished in the chaos that followed. It was Qi'tik herself who told me what happened, many long seasons later; long after the Eur'opan had fully joined with the Nam'bia and come south, and Qi'tik by then an old matron, blind and infirm. Already the dauphin had begun to dwindle in power, their authority lessened without the computational might that the Bastion-nets gave the dauphin to wield power and control.

Within a few seasons of returning south, it became clear that in its final moments, the Kr'aken had released some fell poison - those small, fast objects that moved with purpose - which meant the end for Bastion-kind. Despite numerous envoys sent to the far brines of the Indi and Pacif'ik, nothing has been seen or heard of Bastions since. All had disappeared. The hu'man had got its revenge anyway, even though Qi'tik and Wesafricanezsong had bested the hu'man in the end.

The hu'man, little ones... You recall that it told Qi'tik that our kind forget who we are and do not remember? It is true; for all life in the brine, memory is indeed a finite thing. So it is necessary that such tales as these are retold to new generations. It is necessary that we do not forget what happened, and why.

What was that, little one? Did the hu'man self have a name? Ah, yes... A peculiar thing I forgot to tell. It named itself, you see, which is a strange thing to do indeed. Secci it was that told the tale of the Eur'opan's first contact with the hu'man to Qi'tik some brights later, when the brine had calmed and settled, and time came for reckoning all of the things that had happened.

It was what the hu'man spake, on first meeting the Eur'opan, but curiously, never afterwards did it name itself again. I must get it right, for It carries a ghost of meaning, something no self has ever been able to define. It spake its name thus to the Eur'opan; 'Call me Ish'mael', it had said. 'Call me the orphan of the seas. Call me the bringer of wondrous things.'

If only we had remembered, then, and not fallen for the lies.

If only we could have recalled it all.

That burden is yours now, little ones. For one day, they will return once more from the stars.

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