“I spy with my little eye… something blue,” Estella said monotonously. She had her eyes half closed while lazing about on deck within the shade cast by the sails.

“The sea…” Julia yammered, sounding just as bored out of her mind as Estella was. She was sitting opposite Estella, leaning against the cabin.

“Your turn…” Estella said with a deep sigh.

“I spy with my little eye… something blue,” Julia said.

“The,” “sky...” Zexa and Xeza said. Of course, they were sitting on either side of Julia.

“Your turn…” Julia said.

“Some vacation this is turning out to be…” Estella muttered.

“Can you imagine,” “what these sailors must,” “go through, spending weeks,” “on end like this?” the twins said in unison.

“I don’t even wanna think about that,” Julia grunted.

Estella gave a deep sigh. She felt that they’d had this exact same conversation at least four times already the past hour alone. She stood up and stretched her limbs. She wanted to do something, anything other than loaf around for much longer. She was never going to complain again about being bored during one of mom’s lessons… 

A little off to the side, Bridget and Lavini were engaged in what appeared to be much the same conversation with one another. Even her mother, who usually carried herself with calm dignity looked to be at her wits’ end. Three whole days of nothing but ocean and boredom… and this was only the trip towards Listanta. She was not looking forward to the trip back home…

Groaning, Estella turned around to look out across the ocean surface. Perhaps she could spot a rock jutting out of the water or something. That would be exciting…

“What’s that, Estella?” Julia asked.

“Hmm?” Estella asked without even looking back.

“Don’t tell us you,” “brought the letter with you,” the twins asked.

“Oh… I guess I did…” Estella muttered as she retrieved it from her pocket. It was the letter sent to her by whoever she used to be first. She hadn’t realized that it was poking out of her pocket.

“Why? Wouldn’t it feel kinda nice to not feel an urge to open it?” Julia asked.

“I just… I kinda didn’t even really think about it,” Estella admitted.

The twins and Julia exchanged some worried glances. “We were talking,” “a lot about it and,” “we think it might be,” “best for you to destroy it,” the twins said.

“Destroy it?!” Estella gasped as she looked back at them. “But… it’s the only way for me to find out who I was!”

“But you don’t want to know that, right?” Julia pointed out.

“Well… I…” Estella stammered. It was true too. She just sat back down with her head in her hands. “I just don’t know what I want to do with it… that’s why I always bring it with me.”

“It must be a painful,” “and heavy burden on you,” Zexa and Xeza said.

Estella sighed. They weren’t wrong. Sometimes it felt like the letter was actually, physically heavy.

Julia stood up and extended her hand. “Okay, how’s this then. Rather than destroying it, why not give it to us?”

“Give it… to you?” Estella asked.

“Yeah. We won’t destroy it, nor will we read it. We’ll just keep it safe so you don’t have to carry it around anymore,” Julia explained.

The twins stood up as well. “That’s a very,” “good idea, Julia,” they said.

“But… mother gave me this letter for me to hold onto myself…” Estella said.

“Which means that you get to decide what you do with it. You don’t HAVE to keep it,” Julia said.

Estella looked at them all, the letter clutched in her hands. She had never really considered giving the letter away. Perhaps, if she couldn’t immediately reach for the letter, then she wouldn’t feel that constant drive to want to read it. On the other hand, could she really trust Julia and the twins with this?

“I’m not sure about this…” Estella said. “Will you just have it at all times then?”

“You can have it,” “back whenever you want, but,” “only if you intend,” “on reading it,” Zexa and Xeza stated.

“Or to destroy it,” Julia added.

“But… but…” Estella stammered. She’d not have the letter on her at all anymore? This deal was becoming less and less appealing to her the more she thought about it.

“Think about it this way, Estella. With that letter in your hand right now, you’re at constant war in your head about wanting to open it and wanting to keep it closed. If we hold onto the letter for you, then you won’t be able to open it unless you ask us about it,” Julia said.

Estella thought about it a moment longer. What they said was true of course. So many times, she’d gotten so close to opening the letter, only to change her mind at the very last second. It had always scared her when she’d get that close and still it kept on happening. Carefully, she placed the letter in Julia’s hand. She was incredibly uncertain about all of this. The burden would be relieved but her sense of curiosity and anxiety about the letter’s contents would only grow…

As she finally let go of the letter, Xeza stepped forwards and gave Estella a hug. “We’ll take good,” “care,” “of it,” she said.

Julia nodded. “I’ll hide it in our room somewhere,” she said and she walked off with it.

As Julia left the scene, Estella couldn’t help but keep an eye on the letter. She felt extremely uneasy about all this. How could a simple piece of paper be the source of so many emotions?

She felt Zexa’s hand on her shoulder. “You’re not going to,” “try and,” “look for it, are you?” she asked. It was honestly quite surprising to hear the twins speak mostly individually for once but it seemed that even then they could not prevent themselves from alternating a few words here and there.

Estella frowned. “Of course not… but…” she murmured.

Zexa just let out a sigh.

“This is for your,” “own,” “good, you know,” Xeza said.

As Julia vanished below deck, Estella could feel the absence of the letter. It was incredibly odd. She’d had this letter for so long that it had become a sort of treasured possession. One that she hated. “I know,” she muttered.

Xeza nodded with a satisfied smile. However, Zexa did not look convinced quite yet. She squinted her eyes and then made a motion with her hands that seemed to say ‘I’m watching you’.

Estella couldn’t help but start giggling in embarrassment. “Stop it!” she yelled and gave Zexa a slight shove, to which both twins started laughing.

“What’s going on here?” Bridget asked, having wandered a little closer now together with Lavini.

“Nothing. Just Estella,” “being stubborn,” Zexa and Xeza said together with a hint of amusement in their voices.

“Am not!” Estella protested.

“Estella has given us,” “something and,” “she instantly wants it back,” Zexa said.

“And what is that something?” Lavini asked.

Wait… this could be bad. If her mother finds out that she’s been bringing the letter with her everywhere she goes, she might start worrying too much and that was the last thing Estella wanted.

Xeza was about to open her mouth to say something but Estella quickly butted in. “Seashells!” she blurted out, causing both twins to give her a funny look.

“Seashells…?” Bridget repeated.

“Yeah. I gave them some pretty looking seashells!” Estella said.

“That’s… right! Julia is,” “putting them...,” “into our luggage right now because,” “they?” “were just so pretty,” Xeza said. It seemed that she had gotten the hint. Judging by the uncertain way Zexa spoke her own parts of the dialogue though, it seemed that she was still a little confused.

“Why give them seashells from New Stepolis when we are going to the merfolk capital?” Lavini pondered out loud, placing a finger on her chin.

Estella blushed a little. Were seashells really the first thing she thought about here?! This flimsy lie was falling apart fast…

“So… that we can compare,” “them to,” “the seashells in Listanta,” Zexa said, finally joining in on the excuses.

Bridget raised an eyebrow and shrugged. “I guess that makes sense,” she said.

Estella put up the widest grin she could muster, thankful to Zexa and Xeza for helping her in this matter. She’d have to give them actual seashells when they were in Listanta later. That’s when she noticed something from the corner of her eye. “Whoah, look!” she shouted, pointing down to the sea just as Julia re-entered the deck.

Everybody looked out over the railing as well to see what was going on and were equally amazed. Sprawling out across the ocean floor as far as the eye could see was a city. The biggest city that any of them had ever seen before. The water was crystal clear, giving them a very good view of it all. It almost felt as if the ship they were on was floating through the sky.

“Listanta…” Julia mused.

“We’re finally,” “here,” Zexa and Xeza said.

“It’s so big!” Estella said in amazement. The worries about her letter had drifted off to the back of her mind again for now.

“Listanta is the capital city of the merfolk empire,” Lavini explained. “It is also the biggest city in the whole world.”

“Wow! That’s amazing,” Estella said.

“Incredible!” Bridget said. She was almost looking like a little kid in a candy store given the way she was excitedly looking around everywhere. “I wish Akita was here to see this.”

The group of six simply did not have enough eyes to look at everything that was going on. They spotted at least three different shopping districts already. There was a kelp park, there was a large stadium of sorts (which made Estella wonder what sort of sports merfolk would play), there was a large array of differently coloured houses modeled after shells, coral, and other manner of sea creatures. And of course, there were mermaids and mermen swimming around absolutely everywhere. Most of them were just going about their day but some appeared to look up curiously as the shadow cast down by the ship passed over them. Estella even spotted one younger mermaid girl curiously swimming upwards but she quickly dashed down again when her gaze locked with that of Estella.

“LAND AHOY!” came a shout sounding from the crow’s nest.

“At long last,” Lavini mused. There, looming up over the horizon was what looked to be the top of a large mountain. The destination of their journey was finally upon them.