Chapter 34

Fey ended up carrying Squishy in her pouch, putting the tiny jellyfish in an empty potion bottle. She made a mental note to acquire a larger container before Squishy outgrew the current one.Fey and company swam back to Pearlview, the trip so long that Fey and Blade each gained a stamina point. Since they were moving (pathetically) slowly by mermaid standards, Sirena failed to increase her stamina. By night, Pearlview glowed beautifully with bioluminescent corals. Fey looked around with admiration. :Pwetty: she said again (à la Chapter 30).Amethyst, who was glowing (cutely) purple in the dark, squeaked questioningly from her position dangling off of Fey’s neck.:Yes, yes, you’re pretty, too: said Fey, giving the slime a pat. Amethyst smiled (cutely), easily pleased. Before they had entered far into town, Sirena paused and cocked her head in a listening pose. :Do you hear that?: she asked.Fey and Blade also paused. Faint telepathic singing could be heard, the voice male and the song a pop love ballad that was currently on the top music charts.:Nice. A bard?: said Fey. Controlling telepathy was as challenging as controlling sound through vocal cords, and the voice was smooth and well-trained, perfectly on pitch."Probably" Blade agreed.:Let’s go see!: Without waiting for agreement, Sirena swam off in the direction of the telepathic sound.As the party drew near to the source of the singing, it became more clear and distinct. Fey rather liked the music. The song was one that sounded good even without instrumental accompaniment, and the singer’s performance was as good as the original artist’s. They came across a large gathering of mermaids. Unlike on land, where onlookers were restricted to a two-dimensional ring around a street performer, the mermaids formed more of a globe shape as they all tried to get a good view.“That must be it,” said Blade. With the crowd of mermaids, it was impossible to see the singer, but his voice came through easily.:I’m going to try to get a better look: said Sirena. She swam around to the other side of the crowd, looking for a gap. :You go ahead: said Fey. She hung back with Blade. Fey had an aversion to finding out the appearances of singers she liked. In her imagination, their faces and bodies were as attractive as their voices, but this was almost never the case, leading to strong feelings of disappointment whenever she was faced with the reality of their looks. Blade had a much simpler reason for staying behind. He much preferred looking at all the attractive mermaids (and their ‘upper tail sections’) over some random male bard. The song ended after several minutes.