IT HAD not taken much convincing. A sweet smile and a few please? was enough to convince a fisherman to take Andorra and Oberon out on a boat.

She had never been on a boat. Not in California, not in Maine, not in Anlithamy. But now, she could check that box off as she sat on the bow, leaning back on her hands, taking in the city around them.

Oberon sat beside her, tense but slowly relaxing as they traveled down the main drag. Andorra tilted her head back to stare at the city above them, marveling at how many levels there were above them. Districts Ero had called them. She could see people bustling around, some leaning over the railing overlooking the river, some crossing the bridges. It was amazing, how this inner city was built.

"So, you are a guest of the King?" The fisherman asked as he navigated them down the river.

Andorra looked over her shoulder at the fisherman, trying to gauge his reaction. Did he like the King? Did he not?

"Sort of. We're visiting from pretty far away on the hopes that the King will... hear us out."

The fisherman regarded Andorra and Oberon with a serious, thoughtful look. "You're from Anlithamy, yeah?"

Andorra jolted at his words. She sat up straighter, properly turning to face the man. "How did you know?"

The fisherman shrugged. "Everyone knows. Prince Erowillric went to Anlithamy on business, and returned with two guests who wish to speak with the King. Not hard to connect those dots."

Andorra shared a look with Oberon. "That explains all the hostile looks."

"Eh, don't mind them. Folks are curious. It's pretty rare to find anyone who has met a fae from Anlithamy. We've been at odds with Anlithamy for longer than the majority of us have been alive. But you aren't exactly what we were expecting."

"Well, most of us aren't my size," Andorra joked, feeling the tension around them smooth out. This man wasn't mad at them, or hostile.

"But you are their Queen, yes?"

Andorra felt her voice dry up. She swallowed, wondering if it was a great idea to get on the boat of a man who knew who she was. She shook off that thought; she wasn't alone, and she wasn't weak. She could certainly hold her own against a fisherman.

"Yes. A job I take very seriously. Seriously enough to come to Averotho, begging your King to not go to war with us." Andorra felt a shudder run across her skin. "Averotho is not what I was expecting. This place... it's so different. I mean, this city being built over the river is insane."

The fisherman was silent for a moment. It was a brooding type of silence. "The landscape has been like this for a long, long time. It's meant to keep the lower class fae at the bottom, and the rulers on top. Being forced to stay below ground is... it's not what we want. The King makes us feel like rats in a sewer down here."

Andorra's mouth dropped open, but she hadn't a clue what to say. She had assumed people had liked King Kaeberon here, despite him being an ass. She had wrongfully assumed that everyone in Averotho would be as cut throat as he was.

"Do they come down here? The King and his son?"

The fisherman spit out a dry laugh. "The only royal who has ever dared to step foot down here and live like us was the Dark Prince, but he's gone for good. The King loathes any sort of competition." He snorted loudly. Andorra was tempted to ask him what any of that meant. Who was the Dark Prince? Why was he gone for good? What did this Prince have to do with the King?

"But Ero, he seemed to know the layout down here pretty well."

"Prince Erowillric is better than his father. He's curious, and seems to have a heart. King Kaeberon does not like it when his son spends too much time in the slums with us. I think Erowillric breaks the rules, but I wouldn't consider it enough. He's a lot like his uncle, that's for sure."

More riddles, but Andorra didn't know how to ask about them. She wasn't really supposed to know any of this. She watched as the river veered to the right, cutting down a small alleyway. When she looked above, the city seemed to close in over them, the sky disappearing from sight completely. A pinch of anxiety crept into her chest at the thought that this was it; the fisherman was about to kill her.

But, no. The river urged the boat forward until light was at the end of the darkened tunnel. She looked around them at the men bustling through the small throughway, street trading different fish. Lamp posts lit up the covered passage, casting shadows on the faces of the men they passed.

They passed under an arched doorway, and the river spit them out into the fresh air, the city above them falling away completely as they flowed into an open body of water on the outskirts of the city. Not quite the ocean, as there was land across the way, but it was a rather large lake. Other boats bobbed up and down on the water as serpents swam by, fast enough to create waves.

Andorra watched with an open mouth as one serpent swam by, a rider on its back. The rider locked eyes with Andorra, but that was all she could see. Most of her face was covered by a head wrap, save for her eyes and her long flowing hair that streamed behind her.

"Ah, the serpent riders are out. Good, it'll scare the fish into a frenzy." The fisherman seemed to relax, now that they were on open waters.

"What do they do? The serpent riders?"

"Quite a lot of things. Serpent riders are one of the only fae who stay within their lineage. Most of Averotho has moved past that sort of exclusionary sort of living, but not them. The serpent riders are born with the ability to bond to a serpent. They are a sort of water-based guard for the kingdom, but more... rouge. The only reason they obey the King is because-"

There was a loud crash, and all heads swiveled over to look at a serpent that had careened into the side of a boat, taking down the fisherman and his vessel. There were shouts of panic, and Andorra leapt to her feet in shock and surprise.

"Did they-"

"Yes. The serpents have a mind of their own. Sometimes, we can co-exist in harmony, but other times they despise the boats in their water." The fisherman steered their boat towards the sinking boat. "Poor Larson just lost his own form of income. He's about to be one very angry man, so don't take his words to heart, Queen."

Andorra wasn't sure what to expect. Not the surely man who hauled himself onto the back of their boat. He shook the water off of himself, then eyed Andorra and Oberon at the bow. "Who are your stowaways, Yialn?"

Yialn, their fisherman, glanced at Andorra. "This here is the Queen of Anlithamy and her head guard. I'm taking them on a ride."

The man snorted, then shoved his finger in the direction of Andorra. "What are the likes of you doing in Averotho? Here to steal our tech and force us into your ancient ways of living?"

"Ancient ways of living?" Oberon muttered to himself as Andorra's cheeks heated. Was that what happened before? Was that why they were enemies?

"Uh, no. We met with the King regarding something else. I'm really actually hoping we'll be allies." Especially now that she knew not all of these people liked their King, she couldn't fault all of them for their shitty ruler.

"And what if we don't want to be your allies?"

Andorra found herself shrugging. "Then I suppose you'll have to speak with your King."

Those were the wrong words the say to this man who had just lost his livelihood to a serpent that was long gone. "The King would never meet with trash like us," he began to grumble, wringing out his sopping wet shirt. When it was clearly not helping his cause, the man ripped the shirt off completely. Andorra was slightly intrigued by the long scars that ran up and down this man's torso. "The King hasn't taken an audience with one of us since... since before he was king. No, I don't suppose he would care what the lesser fae had to say."

Andorra looked again at Oberon, who had been very silent this entire time. He was looking right back at her, and Andorra silently vowed to never turn anyone away in Anlithamy, no matter their placement in the caste.

Which she was going to demolish, anyway.

"I'm sorry to hear that. I guess I don't understand why he wouldn't want to hear from you. Is it the time constraint? Or, is he just too busy? Why aren't you allowed to visit the castle unless your thumb is approved by the elevator?"

It was Yialn that snorted this time. He was steering their boat back into the river entrance that would bring them back to the heart of the city. "I'm sure he is a busy man, but it's more that he just doesn't care about our opinions. He doesn't care about us at all, actually. He'd have us killed if he could."

Andorra ran her tongue across her teeth, thinking. "He doesn't want to be King. He wants to be a dictator."

"A what?" The other man, Larson, barked at them.

"Nothing, nevermind. Just a human thing."

This isn't your business, Andorra reminded herself. She couldn't fix the inner workings of Averotho, not when Anlithamy needed her. But her brain did spark. "Wait, do either of you know anything about an Asrai living here?"

"An Asrai? Huh?" Larson questioned just as they entered the passageway back to the main street. He waved at a few men on the thin street beside them.

"A uh, mermaid-like fae? They're not from Averotho I don't think."

Yialn made a humming sound. "Yes, actually. They're a sort of water wraith, I believe. But, she's not here. There were rumors of the King having a host of fae working under him at the castle." Yailn looked over at Larson. "Remember Tureea? How he disappeared for years and then was found working for the King in the dungeon water entrance?"

Larson clicked his tongue. "What a shame that he'll never be able to fish again. Not with what the King has done to him." Then, Larson looked over at Andorra. "I don't like your people, but be careful if you're thinking of sniffing around that castle. The King might keep you for himself, and if he wasn't kind to his own, he certainly won't be kind to you."