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Katalina paused when she came in. She looked between Tianara and Joshua, seemed to think about asking something, then thought better of it. Acadya, hovering just behind, looked mildly annoyed.

Tianara, impervious to the looks she was receiving from both of the mermaids, gestured them all on. "This way," she said softly, looking in the direction of the entrance. She went first, guiding them through the steadily darkening and narrowing caverns with a kind of weary resignation - Tianara alone of all the group knew what they were going to see when they got there.

Once they came into the room, it was evident that nothing had changed. Rokshiden looked up, pale and shaky, and relief was evident in his eyes when Acadya quickly came forward to take silent charge of the situation.

Tianara could only look at Adamantia once before closing her eyes and turning away, staring at the door. She couldn't look anymore.

Tianara turned to him, grateful for his comfort. Adamantia was her sister in every way that mattered. They had been raised side by side. Seeing her like this...it would easily have been too much without someone there with her.

Acadya and Rokshiden spoke very briefly in their bubbly tongue. Tianara's mother listened silently for a few minutes, then turned away and gestured to the rest of them to come out with her. "They need the room emptied," said Tianara softly, her voice expressionless as she translated what her mother was saying for Joshua. "Too many conflicting energies might throw things off."

Katalina was already gone from the cavern - she had stayed only long enough to make sure Acadya went in. Evidently, she had seen serious healings before, and knew to stay out of the way.

Reluctantly, Tianara followed her mother out the entryway.

((OOC: Bump.))

((OOC: Is cool. biggrin ))

Tianara felt the loss of Joshua's arm, but was too focused on her worries for her 'sister' to think too much about it. Adamantia, like Nezik, was deeply loved by many of her clan. She was one of their babies, sheltered and protected. If Adamantia died...

She shuddered and pushed that thought out of her mind. Adamantia would not die. What would her mother, her sister, Tianara herself do without the lively, free-spirited little blonde? It didn't bear thinking about. Adamantia would not die.

Noticing Joshua fall back, she hesitated briefly before doing the same. "I'm sorry," she offered softly, tentative. Was he angry that she had brought him along? "I didn't mean to...to worry you."

Tianara looked at him steadily for several long seconds, trying to discern if he really meant it or not. She wanted to think he did, but wanting to think and being sure were two separate things. It had to be the latter.

Eventually, she lowered her eyes. "All right," she said softly, hating the nervousness in her own voice. Why was she such a weakling? Why couldn't she ever seem to be as strong as she wanted to be? "Okay. I..." She what?

"Never mind," she muttered. "Let's...talk about something. Anything. Is there anything you want to know? Anything I can tell you about? I just..." She gestured towards the cavern they had left. I just can't think about that anymore. Help me distract myself, Joshua.

Tianara felt a little uncomfortable at first. She wondered if he was annoyed with her for being so hesitant to believe. Strictly, she told herself to shut up. If he was he was, and whatever. She'd just deal with it. It was too hard for her to just take what was said as it was said, and that wasn't wrong. It wasn't wrong to not give all her trust right away. Right?

In the meantime, he most certainly did have questions. She considered them for a second, and eventually smiled briefly. "There are lots of caverns - enough that I haven't even been in them all. Each few caverns belongs to a different family - it's really more like a human...neighbourhood?...than like a house, even though everyone can pretty much go everywhere. Your average family gets two or three caverns that are theirs to sleep in and keep their things in, sometimes four depending on the size of the clan, the size of the caverns, how many of them there are, and so on. There are some larger ones in the back that are used for storage, for medicines and such." She warmed to her explanation as she spoke, her hands beginning to describe flourishes in the air. "There are the caverns where the ill or injured," here she lost some enthusiasm, "are cared for - that's generally where the healer lives."

She paused. "Of course, that's mostly just the clans around this area. It works differently depending on where you go and who you ask."

Tianara had to think about his next question. Eventually, she concluded, "Well, there are very few deaths..." here again she went quiet for a moment, "and not usually a lot of births or other additions. A merfolk clan tends to stay in the same general pop...popul...amount of people range. Our clan has about...say two hundred fifty folk in it. It might be closer to two hundred sixty, but that's a pretty close guess."

"Oh," murmured Tianara, a little embarrassed. "I knew that." She noticed Joshua's glance at the walls, and curiously looked over at them herself. Despite the glowing moss dripping down the sides here and there - they provided light, which was nice - Tianara saw nothing particularly special about them. What was Joshua looking at?

All the same, she did her best to answer his question. "Well, normally the number is a bit smaller," she said shyly. "We're a pretty large clan - we have the space to accommodate the numbers, though, so it's okay. Clans can have lots of folk or almost no one - I know there's one clan that's surviving pretty well on about twenty-five members."

She looked at the walls again, as though hoping to catch a glimpse of whatever Joshua was seeing. "But mostly the normal population," she used the word Joshua had reminded her of, "is about a hundred to a hundred and fifty. There are more of us - them - than you might think," she added, looking slightly distant all of a sudden. That thought had brought back worries for Adamantia.

Looking back, she noticed that her mother and Katalina were gone. "Come on, we'd better go catch up."

Mac wondered for a second, and spotted a basket with lollipops. He wondered if Aria would like one. He quickly went over and grabbed 2, still knowing they're mostly for kids. He had a smile on the whole time as he walked towards Aria with eagerness, "Would you like one?" he asked holding them out.