They are so oblivious to everything.

Like a group of people who strolls into the room filled with jugs of water, but all they can do is look around for a glass to pour it into!

LoG, 422

Radan crouched even lower on the gnarly branch of the crooked tree trunk. He had to admit his eyes were not as sharp as they used to be. Still, even as the unrelenting fog refused to dissolve, the acorn-man could discern four silhouettes entering The River Tebesum.

Everything was going according to plan.

The small circular shape under his hat chimed twice. He raised his arm absentmindedly and placed the object on his palm. Four familiar faces were looking at him, bearing different facial expressions.

The brown-haired boy seemed spirited enough, yet slightly worried. That could not be said for The Queen Tree. She looked debilitated and weary. The bird struck him as amused, which wasn't often true for Malik. Something entertaining must have happened to him and Radan couldn't help himself but smile back. The gigantic pale lizard, with a huge ugly circular Etching on one of his six ears, simply squinted several times.

It reminded Radan of a certain defiant little girl. He felt a bit guilty for leaving her to her own devices. Squinty will be fine. He reassured himself. It was a good decision to make.

Turning to the waiting group, he launched a courteous, conversation-starting question at them: "So? How is everything?"

"Hahaha! Just listen to this guy!" Malik fell on his back and flapped his wings and tiny feet in glee. "Here we are, The Assembly. The five most important people in The Squareworld right about now, making crucial decisions that may or may not affect the lives of every Tom, Dick and Harry who inhabit this wretched plane. And he is all tea-at-five politeness and chivalry. I like you, man."

"Begin? Radan?" the brown-haired youth muttered quietly. The Dog Trainer noticed that he had blue bags under his eyes.

"Yes, please, as far as I'm concerned," The Queen Tree said under her breath. "I don't know how long I will be able to keep this connection a secret."

"Basil?" Radan checked in with the axolotl. 

The old white lizard gave Radan a wide toothless smile. "Don't mind me, sonny. I will adapt. We may start whenever you want. I am looking forward to chatting with you fellas. It is a long time no seen and I have been quite lonely in this cave. Quite, quite lonely ...  Ah, back when The Squareworld was young and when I could ..."

Radan coughed, in order to get his attention, and Basil got the hint. "Ah yes, but I digress, as always. Pardon the senile, sentimental old fool, will you? Let us proceed with the meeting."

"I shall begin, then," Radan started in a pleasant voice. "I will speak slowly so Sobik can pick everything up by lip reading. The group has just entered The Realm of The Reka. They are still to leave, true, but I trust in Squinty."

"Was it wise to entrust it all to that little girl, Radan?" After having said that, Basil flew into a coughing fit and several droplets of thick phlegm peppered the cave flooring.

His interlocutors reacted differently on the pocket ViewWall. Some of them pretended they hadn't seen that, while others openly grimaced in disgust.

"She will be able to fulfil the task, I am certain of it." The enigmatic smile of the acorn man calmed them all down. Radan was known for his plots, schemes and last-minute machinations. Yet in the end, everything would somehow sort itself out.

"Nalina?" the boy inquired, not without angst.

"She is fine." The Queen Tree allowed herself a small smile. "She is sleeping in a Spirit Pod as we speak. We will send her on her way the following Light so be ready."

Radan nodded with relief and fell silent. Thoughts were racing through his mind but he didn't seem to care to share them with The Assembly.

"It's nice that we can catch up on our progress like this, don't ya think, fellas?" Malik was the next one to speak. "This ViewWall thingamajig has proven useful over and over again. And I gotta tell ya one more thing! It's exciting! We are using The Mind's invention against The Mind! How awesome is that!"

"Bloody bird." Basil wheezed, shaking his majestic head and clearing his throat. "Always getting too excited over everything."

"Conspiracy theories are my thing, and ya know it, lizard. After all, I've been a member of The Assembly for quite a long time." Malik's expression became pensive, as much as it could get noted on the bird. "Anyway, here is an update. Nalon is still hanging in there. Wounds not healing though. Same stuff as we saw with Nalina's father, Milen. We are approaching Belka's Grove. The Place of Power. The kid has been a mix of unbearable, dull and gawky as always. The chick is interesting, at least." Malik winked.

Radan grinned and folded his palms, transmitting his satisfaction.

"So everything is going according to plan so far. I am glad."

"What about him, Basil?" He turned to look at the lizard.

"The young Mountaineer hasn't stepped in the cave for a long time. It worries me. Perhaps something had happened to him."

"Is he with the airship fleet?" Radan inquired urgently.

"The last sightings wouldn't suggest so," Basil croaked. "Fox is the one leading them."

"Hmm." Radan's forehead creased. 

The boy worried him. He was always on his own and without a mentor. It seemed he was doing fine before but ... One never knew. Perhaps the power has shifted. 

"After they are told the truth ... We should send them to locate him." he said, stroking his chin.

"I agree." The Queen Tree nodded. "And now I must bid you farewell. The Mind will contact me soon. I don't know for how long I will be able to resist his questionings. He insists on talking about The Etched Ones. He rightfully suspects there are more of them than the ..." her voice broke. "Than the one he already found and brought to his side."

"Be brave, my Queen." Radan bowed to her with deep respect. "Be strong. If we are in luck, everything will be over soon."

The connection broke and each of the five participants remained deep in their own thoughts.

*****

Squinty was moving her body steadily downward, greedily gulping for air. The ice armour, that was now surrounding her entire body, facilitated her breathing and ... sinking.

Squinty never had much chance to learn how to swim properly. She was in contact with water every ninety Lights or so in The Orphanage. Although The Vigils insisted on her bathing every Light before heading for The First Meal, while she lived and trained in Lagad, Squinty never moved much from the shallows of the pond. Being completely immersed in a body of water unnerved her but she forced herself to calm down.

This was just another obstacle she had to surpass.

Squinty remained focused on the horse-like shape that moved steadily downwards, faster and faster, away from her. The faux foal became completely transparent now. The crystal clean see-through water facilitated her job, yet she was angry that she couldn't swim any faster.

This stupid ice armour helps me to breathe, but it sure slows me down. Squinty growled, desperate. She wondered how deep The River Tebesum was but she promptly discarded those thoughts since they led to fear.

Squinty didn't like being afraid.

All of a sudden, four translucent humanoid arms grabbed hers, two from each side, and began pulling her deeper and deeper down. Squinty gasped and thought of resisting.

For some reason, the stories about ruthless man-absorbing folks of Reka from The River Tebesum suddenly popped to her mind. She willed herself to calm down, looking left and right toward the transparent bodies. Then Squinty tried to communicate with them.

"Hey." Her voice came out all as a gurgle and it sounded all wrong. "Wheree aree you taking meee?"

The two creatures simply shook their heads.

"Youu doon't speak the Tongueee?" Squinty tried one more time and then desisted.

How am I going to be able to communicate with these beings? And will there even be time to talk or they will just proceed to absorb the moisture from all of us? Darn it, we should have known that the foal was a trap. It looked too good to be true. There is nothing I can do, so I just might let them drag me downwards. If anything, they will get me where I want to go faster. Orla and others were taken down here on purpose, I am sure of it. Time to find out what it really means, Squinty pondered, adjusting to the newfound assisted speed.

As they were journeying further and further down, the water around Squinty seemed more and more illuminated, which surprised her.

Isn't it supposed to be the other way around? She thought.

At the same time, more and more transparent human-like shapes were catching up with the two that were pulling her downwards.

She was now surrounded by myriads of water beings. They seemed anthropomorphic but they were completely transparent and made out of the water. Her mouth stiffened in a thin line as Squinty determinedly discarded thoughts of running away.

Whatever happens, will happen.

The beings stopped moving all of a sudden, forming a perfect circular shape around Squinty. The way they were positioned, around and upwards, reminded her of The Lagad City Arena. Squinty was yet again judged, scrutinized and placed under a magnifying glass.

Squinty hated that the most, being the centre of attention. Yet now it seemed everyone's heads were turned towards her. A dull rumbling sound was heard and all water beings bowed immediately.

The two that held her tried to force her spine downwards but Squinty barked at them and they stepped back immediately.

I don't bow to no one. Especially not if the person in question still hasn't earned my respect. They might not speak the Tongue but they sure know what a growl means, Squinty concluded, satisfied.

A translucent bivalve that was easily ten times Squinty's size slowly emerged from the river bottom, lifting huge rocks in the process. It consisted of equal shells, closed by two adductor muscles at opposite ends, yet it was wide open now. The clam was balancing itself on a powerful, muscular, burrowing foot. In its centre, a luminescent humanoid shape was radiating pulsating flickers of light.

Four bubble-like forms were now spread evenly around it. Inside each bubble, Squinty could see Orla, Liton and The War Dogs suspended in mid-water, calm and floating as if they were asleep.

She pushed away her two guards as fast as she could and quickly swam towards the four bubbles. They seemed to be filled with air. Her tiny furious fists banged on the ball-like prisons. They didn't budge.

Garbled, distorted laughter was heard all around her, and Squinty thought it was accompanied by several scattered claps as well.

Squinty was now rapidly turning around, feeling impotent.

Who do I talk to? I want to demand their instant release. No one would understand me anyway, Squinty thought, sorely outnumbered.

Still, the armour she wore wasn't disappearing and Squinty was glad that her body recognized she needed to maintain that particular protection.

For breathing, sure, but also, for being out of their reach.

Several smaller watery shapes curiously approached, knocking on the carefully arranged ice shards, but accomplished nothing. It offered a sturdy protection.

Precisely at that moment, the strangest being Squinty had ever seen emerged from the clam and floated into her view. It looked like a fish, a trout, more specifically, yet it swam vertically, as a human, instead of horizontally, like all fish normally do. But the most bizarre thing about that river creature was that it was completely covered with thick white hair that gave it a certain air of elegance.

"A fuurrr bearing trrrout," Squinty snorted, defeated. "Nooow I have seen everything."

"Manners, please, young lady," The Furry Trout spoke up resentfully.

"You speak The Tongue!" Squinty exclaimed with relief.

"I have had the opportunity of learning The Tongue, yes, from a kind and merciful fisherman many Big Ones ago."

"Why are you wearing all that fur around you?" Squinty added, not being able to resist her curiosity.

"It's cold down here, why else!" the trout snapped, seeming rather rattled and disturbed by the question.

He had a refined masculine voice so Squinty supposed he was male. "I demand that you release my friends, at once!" she quickly changed the subject.

"It is up to The River Clam to decide that." His voice became more formal but it didn't make him look less comical. "You shall now be granted an audience with her." Having said that, The Furry Trout opened his mouth and a single, pure-white pearl appeared in it.

"What am I supposed to do with that?" Squinty muttered dejectedly.

"Take it," he instructed her.

Squinty panicked a bit, wondering whether her armour would disappear if she did so. It turned out there was no reason to worry. Squinty's arm passed through the ice armour as easily as a stone knife passes through a freshly made butter. She grabbed the pearl, and then simply came back inside the armour.

"That is quite a trick you are able to perform, human child." The Furry Trout remarked, not without certain admiration. "We have never seen the likes of you down here in The Realm of The Reka."

Squinty shrugged off his awe. "What now?" She wiggled the pearl among her fingers.

"Put it on your forehead," The Furry Trout replied.

She did so, without hesitation. Instantaneously, all the unintelligible gurgles and whispers of river current turned into comprehensible strands of speech. There were so many voices mingling, so many opinions being exchanged.

"She is different ... Unlike the others..."

"She should be Absorbed anyway. That is the law of The Realm ..."

"But perhaps she could ..."

"She is but a weak human child ... What could she do against Her?"

"The Clam should decide her fate!"

"Ugh, I wish I hadn't put this on." Squinty snarled in trout's general direction. "All these voices are giving me a headache."

"It is a Translator Pearl, if you please. It will help you understand everyone down here during your stay in The Realm of Reka." The Furry Trout recited in a slow, elongated fashion, as if he was getting bored. "Not many a human child has been given such an honour of bearing The River Clam's gem."

"Yaaaay," Squinty retorted non-enthusiastically. On the other hand, she was inwardly pleased.

Squinty now seemed capable of speaking fluently with the creatures that brought her there in the first place. She didn't mind that at all if the audience with The River Clam could get both her and her companions out of The Realm of Reka.

"You may approach, human child." The glowing golden light in the centre of The Clam flickered stronger than usual, vibrating.

The voice boomed all around the river bed and Squinty's legs shook inside the ice armour. Still, she swam forward with a resolute expression on her face and stopped mere inches from the gigantic mollusc.