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From the shadows of his own private realm Kx'trz'xth watched all the happenings in the mortal realms. He did not consider himself truly evil, as such. You couldn't have evil in someone without the capacity to do good, which was a trait no demon or devil possessed. HE was merely doing a job. His chains rattled gently as he moved to enter the human worlds. He had watched the suilogians for too long. Hell could use some sushi. Commanding his chains to form a circle he stepped through the resulting portal, the chains going through behind him in a way that conjured up images of a snake eating its own tail. Kx'trz'xth, or Kicks as he was known in the human world, was back and ready to roar. "j'kad'rrrn'vaaa..." In his own tongue Kicks was saying, "It's good to be back. Now for some mayhem. ..." At the last word every tree for a half mile around withered instantly and half the small mammals died or spontaneously combusted. G... no, Sata... well, someone bless the powers of Hell, whoever's listening at the moment. That was the tricky thing about being a demon. You couldn't even mention the G-word, and the Prince of Earth and Air didn't like you mentioning him. It made it hard to blaspheme.

Caralei trilled back in reply, and her smile widened a little. Then she turned to Nezik and addressed him for a few minutes, during which there were many hand gestures and much head-shaking. At last, she turned back to Joshua with that small smile still in place. "Hello, Joshua," she greeted, switching to English with no apparent difficulty. "You startled me a little, I'm afraid. I wasn't expecting more visitors."

"That's all right," Caralei reassured him with a smile. "I should have heard you coming - I suppose I was just off in my own little world. It tends to happen. Now," she added, frowning slightly, "where's Sorry gotten to? I suppose my nieces took her off again. They love her better than they do their own mother, I'm prepared to swear it."

Their questions were answered when Katalina came around the side with a smile - and two little mergirls clinging to her hands. They were peeping at her, something like the way small birds would do to their mother. But upon seeing Joshua, they both fell silent.

"Sorry," she said with a grin. "I got stolen by the little gremlins here." The two little girls squeaked their protests and started to giggle. "Did I miss anything?"

The older of the two children cautiously let go of Katalina's hand and inched towards Joshua. Suddenly plucking up her courage, she sped towards him, stopping right in front of him. Then she poked his face and sped back to Katalina again, giggling madly.

Katalina merely lifted a brow at Joshua, still smiling.

The two little mergirls stared at him for a few minutes, then turned and squeaked at each other and at Katalina. Katalina smiled and made a few soft, reassuring sounds. Then the older - and presumably bolder - of the two girls made her way towards Joshua again. She swam around him once, perhaps looking for a tail. Then she sat back a little and made a warbly, wavery version of the greeting back to him.

The other child cautiously approached now, clinging to Katalina's hand. She also made a nervous, warbly version of the greeting. The older one, however, appeared fascinated. She tugged curiously at Joshua's scuba equipment, perhaps trying to guess what it was for.

Kicks walked down a path. A signpost by the side of the road read, "Beach-1 Mile" He grinned, causing ash and rust to flake off his face and the chains, and walked on. When he reached the water he didn't even bother changing his pace. He simply walked into the surf, the waves seeming to slow him down no more than had the air or the unfortunate highwayman lying in pieces between a half and a quarter mile up the road. As he waded through the water and under the surf his chains, against all logic, started to float. By the time he'd reached depths of a hundred feet and more he seemed to be surrounded by smoke made of metal. He looked around at his chains and said something in the Demon Tongue. The chains instantly obeyed the call of gravity and sank down to the sea bed. Kx'trz'xth continued to walk towards the voices. Under his breath he whispered an old tune, a tune he'd penned years ago for a group of nine old buggers who'd wanted to try and seal away a goddess. He rather liked the words. "Heave ho, thieves and beggars, never shall we die." Yes, he was very proud of that one. The two voices in the distance began to grow louder. He was getting closer. The time for watching was done, and his infernal masters commanded action. Hell was dry, so desiccated it made a desert look like a lake. The souls of watery beings were always a good source of screams.