by EJ Altbacker
The betta hovered, swishing his gauzy fins before answering. “He is not as slow as he seems to be at this precise moment.”
Kaleth nodded. “Gray, I know everything is crashing onto you at once, and I am sorry. But there are things happening around this Big Blue that I’m dealing with aside from this. If there were any other way, believe me, I would explore those options. I need you to try harder. The orcas and Hideg Shiver are near war because of an ancient dispute and that needs to be stopped.”
“I have heard that their leader, Palink, can be fairly chowderheaded on most days,” Takiza remarked.
The Seazarein swished her massive tail. “Apparently so. He wants to pick a fight with Tik-Tun and his orca battle pods. And meanwhile, suddenly AuzyAuzy and Hammer Shivers are also in dispute.”
Gray looked at Barkley. They were both shocked. Tik-Tun was ready to go to war? And AuzyAuzy and Hammer were fighting each other? All three had been allies against Finnivus and his Black Wave armada barely a month ago! How could this be?
Before Gray or Barkley could ask anything, the oarfish swished her slender body and used her tail to point at him. “Let’s proceed with a speed round.”
“Right,” Gray answered. “Let’s do this.”
“What was the fifteenth Seazarein’s name?” Judijoan asked.
“Um, don’t tell me, I know this one—Johnny . . . big . . . tail?”
“Johannes Longflanks,” Barkley said.
The Seazarein slapped her massive tail against the wall before either Takiza or Judijoan could reprimand Barkley. “Quiet! No helping, especially from you!”
“What does that mean?” asked the dogfish.
“Silence!” Takiza told him. Barkley closed his mouth with an audible click.
Judijoan cracked her tail into Gray’s flank to get his attention as she asked another question. “In order of distance away from the continent, what shivers are closest to the prime meridian underneath the African landmass?”
Gray twitched his fins up and down. “Let’s see, Kelpengreenie Shiver, Deep Rush, and then, um . . . Barkley?”
“Corallis.”
“Silence!” yelled the Seazarein.
“But if I know the answers, I can help Gray.”
The Seazarein slammed her tail against the throne. “No, you won’t! I can’t have a dogfish solving problems when my Aquasidor meets the other ancient shivers for the first time as my Aquasidor. It’s ridiculous!”
Barkley looked at the Seazarein, genuinely perplexed. “How is that ridiculous?”
Kaleth didn’t seem to understand Barkley’s confusion. She answered, “Because you’re a dogfish. You’re not even sharkkind.”
“Oh, really?” Barkley huffed.
“Yes, really,” the Seazarein said with disdain. “Look at you.”
Barkley was so shocked he didn’t say anything. Gray couldn’t let this drift off, though. “Kaleth, Barkley has been extremely helpful to me and Riptide Shiver and—”
“Silence!” shouted Takiza, cutting Gray off. “You dare correct the Seazarein?”
“I’m not correcting her!”
Barkley tried to get a word in. “You’re blaming this on Gray?”
Before either could say anything else, Takiza swept them out of the room. “I believe it’s time for you two to take a swim,” the betta ordered.
Once they were out of the audience chamber, Takiza stared first at Barkley and then at Gray. It was one of those long and imperious stares he was so good at. “I understand that Kaleth’s manners can be off-putting, but she is not from here and has much on her mind. You cannot take any of it personally. Neither of you.” And without another word, the betta left.
“That could have gone better,” Gray said.
“What’s up with her, though?” asked Barkley. “Did you hear what she said to me?”
Gray gave his friend a nudge on the flank, trying to cheer him up. “Look, Kaleth was probably tired because of all my mistakes and got short-tempered. Takiza does it all the time to me. I’m sure it was nothing.”
“Maybe so, maybe so,” his friend answered.
But Barkley didn’t say it like he thought Gray was right. Not at all.
CHAPTER 4
THE NEXT DAY, GRAY WAS SENT WITH BARKLEY and a cohort of twenty Aquasidor guardian finja to settle the territorial dispute on the edges of the Arktik Ocean between the orcas of Icingholme Shiver and Hideg Shiver, the sharkkind in the area. Apparently it was an age-old fight, and it was Gray’s job to make sure it didn’t erupt into full-blown war.
Since they were in the open ocean, the greenie and coral grew far below them. The water was cold and deep blue for most of the way, and now there were giant, floating masses of ice everywhere. The ice could be blinding white, deep blue, or so clear you could see right through it perfectly. Sometimes it even magnified things, causing them to appear much nearer than they actually were. Gray couldn’t fully enjoy the amazing wonders they swam past the way Barkley did.
Before they left, Takiza had told him, “This assignment should be easy, even for you, so do not make chowder from it.” Gray hoped he would do well but was unsure in this new leadership position, which relied less on battle skills and more on brainpower. Barkley would have been a better fit for this, but Kaleth wouldn’t hear of that. She had let his friend come along, but told him to keep his mouth shut. The Seazarein’s ongoing dismissive words and actions toward Barkley made Gray uneasy.
Why was she like that?
Barkley had put whatever feelings he had about Kaleth behind him. He was excited to be in the Arktik, an ocean he had studied but never visited. “Wow, it’s cold here!” he remarked. “Look at that! More white ice! Does it get much colder?”
“Nah, once there’s this much ice, it can’t get too much colder,” Gray answered. “At least not that we’ll feel the difference.”
“I like it,” his friend answered. “Kind of refreshing.”
The finja led them warily through the iceberg field, keeping an eye out for the attack they always thought was just a tail stroke away. They were led by the prehistore-size tiger shark captain Shear, who never seemed to relax. Gray supposed it was a good trait for those protecting him. Most of the main types of sharkkind were represented in the finja: hammerheads, blues, tigers, great whites, bulls.
Most, but not all.
Gray learned that the mako finja, led by Hokuu, had betrayed the Seazarein on the day the passage between the Big Blue and the under-waters closed. Kaleth almost died in that sneak attack, but Hokuu and the renegade makos were beaten away. In the years after that, he tried to send her to the Sparkle Blue twice when she swam out to visit the ancient shivers. Since the last time, the Seazarein rarely left her fortified throne cavern within Fathomir.
“On the left, one thousand yards!” said one of the advance guard, a huge hammerhead. None of the guardians had been in their invisibility mode, but now they quickly altered their coloring. All of these finja sharkkind, in addition to being massive, had other abilities. The power to shift their coloring like some starfish and anemones in the Big Blue was one of them. They were tough to see unless you were looking straight at them when they moved. And if they stopped, the guardians were almost invisible.
“Oh, I wish I could do that,” Barkley said in wonder.
“Stay sharp,” Gray told his friend. His own lateral line buzzed, mostly from the tension he felt coming off Shear and the others. It took Gray anxious seconds to spot why the scout had raised the alarm. “To the left by that big ice block,” he told Barkley.
“I got them,” the dogfish answered. “Five, and ten more behind those.”
Gray didn’t say anything, but Barkley’s sharp eyes had seen the other ten sharks before he did. Missing this increased his nervousness about the mission. The fifteen fins swam to t
hem, unconcerned. A few did flinch when the guardians appeared from nowhere.
These were a mixed group of sharkkind. Pretty tough, but not tougher than the finja, and they knew it. The blue shark leader acted as if he wasn’t surprised at all. Instead, he smiled broadly.
“Hallo there!” he said. “You must be Aquasidor Graynoldus. I’ve heard that your friends call you Gray and I’d like to be your friend, so hallo, Gray! My name is Palink, and I’m the leader of Hideg Shiver, also first negotiator in the dispute with Icingholme.”
“Uh-oh,” whispered Barkley under his breath.
Uh-oh, indeed.
Gray had a good idea why Palink had intercepted them before the meeting but would give the blue the benefit of the doubt. “We’re heading toward the meeting area,” Gray said. “Shouldn’t you already be there?”
Palink laughed. “We like to be fashionably late. Besides, hovering with those flippers isn’t our idea of a good time. They’re such grumps, don’t you think? Come on, we’ll show you the way.”
Shear cleared his throat. “We will set the path through these waters to the meeting area. It’s protocol.”
The blue shark dipped his snout in amused agreement. “Well, if it’s protocol, by all means lead the way, my good fin.” He turned to Gray. “So, was your journey pleasant? Smooth currents, I hope?”
“It was good. No problems,” Gray answered.
“I’m glad we bumped into you like this,” Palink told him as he swam closer so he could speak with Gray. They were almost touching flanks.
“Yeah, totally by chance,” said Barkley.
Palink ignored that completely and kept smiling at Gray. It looked like the grin would split the blue’s face down to his tail. “We’ve all heard the story of your heroic actions against that crazed flipper Finnivus and wanted to thank you personally. In fact, all the sharkkind leaders of the Arktik want you to know they’re behind you one hundred percent.” Palink gave him a friendly tap to the belly.
Gray adjusted his position so he was a little farther away from the blue shark. “Well, it wasn’t as if we had a choice. Finnivus was coming to wipe us out. We had to win.”
Palink swam in close again. “Interesting selection of words, that you didn’t have a choice. Kind of like the situation we have here. If I may summarize the series of events, none of which were our fault, that have brought you here—”
Barkley cleared his throat, but Gray understood even without the warning. To negotiate with only one party in the present dispute would guarantee he would fail. “Palink, let’s go to the meeting area separately,” Gray told him. “If that isn’t protocol, it should be. I don’t want Tik-Tun feeling that we’ve been talking behind his tail.”
Palink’s smile remained, but his eyes changed, becoming hard. “By all means, Aquasidor Graynoldus. I only thought that since you’re already such pals with Tik-Tun, we could get to know each other, at least a little bit, so he wouldn’t have such a huge advantage. Because as it is now, I don’t know if you’ve already decided things in his favor because he’s your battle brother.”
Palink turned sharply and bumped him as he led his group away. Though the blue shark leader would swear up and down it was an accident, Gray knew it wasn’t. This wasn’t a good start.
Gray and his fins got to the meeting place a few minutes later, and both Palink and his fins and Tik-Tun and his orcas were there. The water was cold and crystal clear. The two groups eyed each other mistrustfully about ten tail strokes apart in a disputed stretch of water about a half hour from the Arktik ice pack itself. Immense blocks of white ice floated over their heads and blocked out the sun every few minutes.
Gray wanted to go bump flanks with Tik-Tun, but as Aquasidor, that wouldn’t have been the right move. Especially with what I’ve seen from Palink so far, he thought. Instead, Gray began with words that Judijoan had taught him for the occasion. “I am Graynoldus, Aquasidor of the Seazarein Emprex, Kaleth, and I greet you both. I understand there is a dispute between you, and I am here to listen and offer advice. Speak now and be heard.”
“It is good to see you, Gray,” rumbled Tik-Tun. “It is a shame you had to swim so far for this fool’s errand.”
“If it’s a fool’s errand, there’s only one fool here and that’s you!” yelled Palink. “You’re also a liar! There is no rival orca pod around here!”
The Hideg Shiver leader and Tik-Tun gnashed their teeth at each other. Their guards became tense, twitching fins and slashing their tails through the icy water.
Tik-Tun growled, low and deep in his throat, as he ground his teeth, which sounded like coral breaking apart. “Just because you didn’t see members of our rivals, Glacier Shiver, swim through the waters doesn’t mean they didn’t! And call me a liar again, fin, and it’ll be the last time.”
Tik-Tun said “fin” like a curse word. It was odd and Gray had never heard that. To him being a fin meant you were cool or a good shark. But Tik-Tun didn’t mean it like that at all.
Gray swam between the two. “That’s enough!” He shook his head at Palink. “You really think that’s the best way to begin?”
“Oh, sure, take your friend’s side!” the blue shark sputtered.
Gray swung his head toward the orca leader. “And Tik-Tun, I expect better from you. If there’s a problem with Glacier Shiver, you should tell Palink!”
“Flippers always stick together,” Palink accused. “This whole thing might be a plan to attack Hideg Shiver.”
“Do you see? Do you see his mistrust?” the great orca said to Gray. “You ask me to treat with him in an orca matter? When he doesn’t believe a word I say?”
“That isn’t helpful, Palink,” Gray told the big blue shark. “If it wasn’t for Tik-Tun and his battle pod, we would have lost to Finnivus.”
“Yes, yes.” Palink waved his tail dismissively, causing the giant orca to grind his teeth once more. “We’ve all heard the story of how brave Tik-Tun and the mighty orcas of Icingholme Shiver finally got involved in the affairs of the Big Blue. I’d like to know why. Why now, Tik-Tun? What advantage are you flippers looking for?”
“Are you going to let him insult me like that?” Tik-Tun asked.
“Look, he only wants to hear how you made the decision to help us,” Gray began. He couldn’t just avoid Palink’s question, no matter how stupid it was. That would only make the Hideg Shiver leader more paranoid.
But Tik-Tun stiffened. “Perhaps I made a mistake speaking up for you when you sharkkind needed help. I see now that fins will always stick together. Unless you need us to fight for you.” With that, Tik-Tun and his orcas turned to leave.
“Where are you going?” asked Gray.
“Yes, where indeed?” Palink added. “I’m here to negotiate and solve the problem. But if you prefer war—”
Gray slashed his tail through the water. “Palink! Let him speak.”
“I do not owe him an explanation, but for you, Gray, I will tell you,” Tik-Tun said. “Icingholme Shiver must go to our southern feeding grounds. If we do not go, another group of orcas, such as Glacier Shiver, can claim them. We will be gone for two weeks. I will return if you think it is worthwhile.”
“Peace is always worthwhile, wouldn’t you say?”
Tik-Tun nodded. Gray turned to Palink, who was glaring at the orca leader. “I asked, wouldn’t you say?”
“Yes, yes, of course,” Palink answered. “Give peace a chance. We’ll be here. You flippers can count on it. We won’t be the reason this negotiation failed!”
Tik-Tun and his orcas swam away.
“Okay, good start,” yelled Gray, trying to rescue the situation. “Let’s build on this in a couple weeks!”
Palink swam over, getting too close again. Didn’t sharks know about personal space in the Arktik? The big blue got close enough to slap Gray’s flank.
“Once again we see why you should always be a fin, never a flipper.” And with that, Palink left with his guards.
That old saying got Gray thinking. He had said “Always be a fin, never a flipper” a thousand times in his life. When he was growing up in Coral Shiver, all the pups said it. Even the grown-ups did, for that matter. But he never actually thought about what it meant. When he was with Coral, and then with Goblin Shiver after that, Gray didn’t even know any flippers, which included dolphins, whales, orcas, and a few others. It was easy to think sharks were better than everyone else when he didn’t really know any flippers.
But now he did.
Gray owed Olph the AuzyAuzy battle dolph his life, or at least his dorsal fin, many times over. The same with Tik-Tun and Icingholme Shiver. And the whales he met were usually smart and could sing so sweetly it would make you cry. So why was being a flipper looked down upon? Gray puzzled on this and found he didn’t know. But he did realize one thing. He probably wouldn’t be saying “Always be a fin, never a flipper” ever again.
CHAPTER 5
MARI SWAM DOWN THE SHIMMERING LAVA TUBE toward Velenka’s prison in the Riptide homewaters. It was gleaming because Mari had ordered lumos to take up position every fin length, one every two feet or so, on both sides of the passage. You could swim down to the cells much faster now since you could see where you were going. The effect was weird. If you accelerated, the lumos blurred into a multi-colored stripe that flashed past you: green, light blue, pink, red, dark blue, green, orange, and so on. The sight should have been pretty, but the lower Mari descended, the more stale the water tasted. She felt sad for anyone kept in the prison, but Velenka had earned her place there.
Previously there had been only a few glowing anemones placed at areas where the lava tube bent and turned. It saved the sharks going down from scrapes and bruises from brushing against the sharp walls. None of the anemones who were there when the intruder breached the defenses of the Riptide homewaters had seen anything. But three had mysteriously died that night.
