[Luna POV]

Another few days passed without much happening.  There were times when some massive creatures swam above us, but for the most part they ignored us.  A few times we ran into some playful creatures that were curious about us.  Right now we were walking in what could be considered a shallow part of the sea.  The sunlight that was shining through the ripples above us was beautiful.  All in all, it’s been rather peaceful, though for some reason Skadi has been vigilant for most of today.

 

“Skadi, is something wrong?” (Ophidia)

 

“No, if anything I’m a bit excited.  While I didn’t say this earlier, I’ve been leading us on a little detour since I though you would all like to see this.  Anyway, we’re almost there and the timing is perfect.  All we have to do is climb over that ridge and we’ll be there.” (Skadi)

 

We did as Skadi said and climbed over the ridge in front of us.  When we made it to the top, my eyes widened in surprise.  For miles in front of us spread giant turtles.  When I say giant, I mean big enough that the back of their shells could be considered an island.  Some of them even had trees growing on them, which was surreal since we were underwater but they looked perfectly healthy.  Some of the turtles that were floating around slowly had long beards of sea plants hanging from them while others had lots of remora type fish attached to them.

 

“What are they?” (Soleil)

 

“Lopigos turtles.  Creatures that can be said to be some of the most ancient being in this world that I know of.” (Skadi)

 

{They live about five times as long as the longest lived demons.}

 

“They’re beautiful nya.” (Mio)

 

“I agree.” (Luna)

 

“This isn’t even the best part.  See, two times a year Lopigos turtles do what I call the dance of islands.  It’s not really a dance, but it looks like one.  Anyway, what they do is they swim around in large groups like this while simultaneously using magic.  This then causes a change in the currents which, in turn, causes the migrations of uncountable numbers of sea creatures big and small around the world.” (Skadi)

 

“How many times have you seen this happen, Skadi?” (Velvet)

 

“Surprisingly, not many.  I’m normally too busy doing other stuff to come this far into the sea to watch it regularly.  But that’s not the point.  The point is, we all get to experience it this time.  Though I do kind of wish it was night right now since it’s even more spectacular at night.” (Skadi)

 

“Really?” (Luna)

 

“Yeah.  For some reason, the patterns on the turtles glow when they do this, but it’s only really noticeable at night.” (Skadi)

 

“Lunya, would you be able to do something about that nya?” (Mio)

 

“Not really.  It’s moments like this where, if I set up a domain, it would actually backfire.  And, while Tamamo could do something about that, do you really want to her to risk getting in trouble just so we could see some spectacle that we can watch again at any time in the future?” (Luna)

 

“I…I didn’t think that far nya.” (Mio)

 

Mio’s ears and tail drooped in dejection.  I walked over to her and patted her on the head.

 

“Don’t feel bad, Mio.  It’s only natural to want to see something that’s described as wonderous AND when you know people that can actually make it possible to see it.  But you also need to remember that you can’t have everything.” (Luna)

 

“You’re right nya.  I guess I’ve just become so used to things like that working out in our favor that I lost touch with reality a bit nya.” (Mio)

 

“In your defense, we can all say that we feel the same.  It’s very rare for things to not work out for us, whether that be because of Luna, or we’re just lucky, though it’s mostly due to Luna.” (Velvet)

 

“While I do agree, don’t treat me like some crux of fate.” (Luna)

 

“Anyway, they should start in a few hours, so how about we rest here for the day?” (Skadi)

 

“Let’s do that.  With you hyping the event up like this, it’d be a crime to not see it.” (Luna)

 

We got to setting up our camp as we have been for the past while.  I set up a domain around the area we were in and then drained out all the water.  After everything was set up, I placed a large blanket on the ground at the edge of the ridge where we could watch the turtles.  We all sat there and chatted for a while before the event started.

 

All of the turtles started to swim closer together before they started to swim in a circle.  It was slow at first but gradually started to get faster as time went on.  At times some turtles would break away from the circle and start spiraling or swimming in large vertical circles before going back to the main group.  It was then that I started to notice that the water around the turtles started to get turbulent.  It was then that the group changed the way they were swimming.  They broke into two groups that started to swim in diagonal circles.  Others then swam through these circles.  At some point a dim blue glow could be seen coming from the place in the center of the group that followed along what I assumed were the currents in this area of the sea.

 

“This is wonderful nya.” (Mio)

 

“Mm-hmm.” (Ophidia)

 

The glow steadily became brighter until it was nearly blinding.  At that point was when the biggest two turtles of the whole group broke away from the main groups and began to swim around the glowing ball in a spiral in the direction of the surface.  Just before they broke out of the water, they changed direction and swam until their bellies were touching and, while still spiraling, swam back down to the glowing ball and piercing it.  When they came out of the bottom of the sphere, it warped and then exploded in a beautiful light that sent waves down the currents.  After that the turtles went back to the slow swimming they were doing when we got here.

 

“That was amazing.” (Soleil)

 

“Yeah.  Well worth coming here.” (Velvet)

 

“Skadi, do these turtles just swim around this spot until it’s time for them to do this again?” (Luna)

 

“Some of them will stay here, but most will go wherever.” (Skadi)

 

“I see.  Though now I’m wondering something else.” (Luna)

 

“What’s up?” (Skadi)

 

“If these turtles manage the currents, then what exactly does your mother do?” (Luna)

 

“A lot of things.  Also, you’re a bit wrong.  The turtles DO mess with the currents, but it’s only something they do to get migrations started to where they normally live or wander.  They have to eat somehow, you know.” (Skadi)

 

“Oh.  I thought this was way more complicated than it was then.” (Luna)

 

“Yeah.  Mom still manages everything to do with the sea, but she doesn’t mess with how the creatures themselves use it to their benefit.  If that makes any sense.” (Skadi)

 

“Since this has happened, does that mean we’ll be running into more things before we get to the merfolk?” (Velvet)

 

“Most likely.” (Skadi)

 

“Yay, that means I get to hopefully level up more.  I kind of want to hit level 80 before we get to the merfolk.” (Luna)

 

With the dance of islands over, we prepared something to eat while we watched the peacefully swimming turtles for the rest of the day.

 

Chaos Realm:

Astraea: Pretty.

Evelyn: Astraea is better.

Astraea: Hehehe.

We really need to talk to Crisis.  She's teaching her daughter weird things.

Order: Leave her be.  She doesn't barge into here and tell us how to parent, so you should leave parenting their daughter to her and Mordred.

Fine.  I just don't want Astraea to learn something weird.

Order: If anything, Astraea will balance out whatever In-chan teaches Evelyn.  Her main Authority is balance after all, so she should balance out the craziness a bit.

True.  Though I say that then next time, it's their turn to babysit the two of them.

Order: I agree.  I love Astraea with all my being, but we need a break.

Yeah.  I've seen how tiring it is for mortals to raise a child, but I didn't think it'd be this tiring.  It makes me wonder how they manage to handle more than one at a time.

Order: Well, at least we have the advantage that our child grows faster than a mortal child does to a point.

Also true.