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always fought.”
    “It’s worse now. Mother says Sualwets are coming ashore to
attack and the Erdlanders are poisoning the sea.”
    Five other small fires flared in the distance, burning the
ocean surface. More deaths of people I would never know, cultures I would never
belong to. Their war meant nothing to me, yet I mourned for them.
    The black sky offset the hue of the bright ruby moon.
Tonight the smaller moon hung low, barely a crescent. The day after, it wouldn’t
be visible at all. As a child, I imagined fire blazed on the surface of the
moon, and that made it red. Mother told me, No, the moon is made of nothing
but broken dreams; its color is the blood she’s seen spilt.
    A small ripple in the water caught my attention. A splash at
the coral reef.
    I scanned the dark water of the cove, searching for what
disrupted its calm. The small fish that swam there did not break the surface,
and dolphins stayed out in deeper waters.
    Our fire made it difficult for me to focus, so I stole
toward the shoreline.
    Tor followed me. “Sera?”
    “Did you see that?”
    “See what?”
    “That,” I whispered, pointing to another disturbance in the
calm water. A dark silhouette floated above the surface, something was on the
coral reef. “I’m going to look.”
    I stepped into the water, my skin relaxing as moisture
seeped into my pores.
    “It might not be safe.”
    I turned, expecting him to protest, but instead he had taken
off his shirt and joined me at the water’s edge.
    I ran into the gentle surf and dove beneath the surface as
soon as the water was deep enough. Tor splashed behind me, wading deeper before
jumping in. Swimming out to the reef, I heard the distant Sualwet song. Their
voices carried farther underwater. This was a warning cry. Carried from one
group to the next like a single voice. All who heard it joined the song:
    ~We’ve been attacked. They knew where the Domed City was.
We’ve destroyed their ships. Kill all Erdlanders you see!~
    I suppressed my fear for my mother, who was out there
foraging for supplies, and swam harder toward the reef. Beneath the surface,
the blackness of night was complete. No stars lit the way, no fire brightened
the air. Instead, I retracted the membrane protecting my eyes and relied on my
senses to show me the world.
    The cove was empty. No fish darted through the water, no
crabs scurried along the ocean floor. Farther out, I sensed the warmth of a
body. Sualwet or Erdlander, I couldn’t be sure. It wasn’t moving. In the
distance the rumbling of displaced water and a submerged engine told me a large
ship was cutting its way through the sea.
    At the reef, I emerged to breathe. Tor was behind me,
swimming with powerful strokes, but his need to surface for breath slowed him
down. With caution I approached the warmth I had detected earlier, not waiting
for Tor.
    Ahead I saw the outline of a Sualwet woman face down in the
water. Were she an Erdlander, she’d be dead, but floating this way meant
nothing for a sea-dweller. I stepped closer, a shroud of dread wrapping around
my wet shoulders.
    ~ Mother? ~
    No response.
    As I reached out to her, Tor came up behind me. He said
nothing as I placed a hand on the woman’s shoulder and rolled her over in the
water.
    ~ Mother! ~ I screamed, falling to my knees, pulling
her limp body to my chest.
    ~ Serafay ...,~ she whispered, opening blackened eyes.
~ They’re... coming. You... have to run ....~
    ~ What? Mother, stop. What happened? ~
    “Sera.” Tor pointed to a broken spear embedded in her
abdomen. The wound bled into the water, staining the dark, churning sea.
    ~ Please! What happened? ~
    ~ They... attacked. I was... alone .~ Her hoarse voice
ripped into my heart. Every word was so weak, so unlike her.
    My mother’s eyes drifted closed, and I tightened my grip on
her. If I let go, I might lose her forever. Her skin was cool, but that was
normal. I told myself she was fine. She would heal.
    “Help me get her to shore.”
    Mother