Alder was frowning at the hippocampus even before Neri's voice answered his thoughts, but as soon as she did he whirled back around in the water, staring at her. It took her a second too, to catch up with what was happening. He shook his head, clearing his thoughts. They could worry about it later, but now... now they had a task in front of them. He slid closer to the hippocampus; it thrashed, panicked from its confinement and the nearness of a strange fairy.
Shhhh, he projected, unsure if it would even reach an animal as it had Neri. He reached out slowly, stroking a gentle hand over the hippocampus' nose. The creature quietly, sides heaving from exertion. He sank deeper into the water, kneeling on the ocean floor and pulling a knife from his pack. The creature startled again, its front hooves flashing inches from his head as he dodged it.
Neri, he called. Keep it calm, can you?
He bent to his task, hacking at the seaweed chains tangled around the creature. The plants were stronger than he'd expected, thick and resilient like metal bands, and he bent his magic towards them, ignoring the burning in his chest. He couldn't keep this up for long; he rarely used his magics, let alone two - sometimes three - at once. He was chewing up his supply faster than he liked, but he had no other choice... The plants reluctantly retracted from the hippocampus' leg, exposing thick, bloodied bands. He tsked in sympathy. If they could get it to land, he had something he could use on it, but how to convince it to follow them?
He frowned, noticing something gleaming in the water beneath the hippocampus. He bent down, rustling through the sand until he could claim the item beneath - a flat metal disk, copper, and... He went deathly still as his Past Objects power activated on its own. His bubble collapsed, his air magic giving out, but he barely noticed, lost in the blur of sound, color, and sensation flooding his senses. It lasted only a moment and he gasped, swallowing a mouthful of seawater. He thrashed, instinctual panic overtaking him for a long moment before he could restore his bubble.
There's more, Neri, he said, gesturing to another dark blur in the distance. Someone's doing this on purpose, rounding them up. This isn't natural behavior for this seaweed, someone's enchanted it with these. He held up the disk, silent now that it had shared its tale. If only he'd seen the fairy's face!
Ignoring the burning in his throat, and the weariness already setting in from overuse of his magic, he set out for the next hippocampus, glancing over his shoulder at Neri to make sure she followed; behind her the other hippocampus drifted after them shyly.
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