Argon sat, fishing rod in hand. Well, it was in lap, held by his tail. In his hands he was beating a tune on a drum, enjoying the dying twilight. The scaly lather was taut over the drum, making a satisfying noise.

“Y’know Lenny, I wouldn’t settle for any life other than this.” As Argon spoke, he reached over into one of his two buckets of fish, pulling out a live one. He stabbed his claws into it to prevent it from slipping his grasp— it still bucked and flopped— and bit off its head. He chewed, long and slow, enjoying the flavor of raw, live fish, before releasing a contented sigh. “Catch!”

Lenny swiveled his head around, opening his mouth high above the water, and Argon threw the fish inside. Lenny spoke while still chewing.

“How mush longer we stayin out?” The great turtle asked, swimming in place.

“Guess we can call it fo’ today. It was a good haul. How much longer you reckon we got ‘fore the water drains again?” Argon asked as the great turtle he was riding on began to paddle away.

The noise of the waterfall distantly crashing into the lake faded into the ambiance as they headed back towards their town. Lenny raised his head to answer.

“Not mush longer. Few months a’ most. The islands are almost underwater. Then the Low Tide begins.”

“We got more fish than we know what to do with anyways.”

Lenny pushed them forward through the dim twilight and still water. The sound of croaking and ribbiting grew louder as they waded through towering reeds. Only a few feet of the reed stretched above the water this late into high tide.

The reed was kept standing by the air filled grain in it, bobbing the stalks in the water. During the low tide, they would fall low and be harvested. Lenny waded through dozens of feet of reed, the cavern disappearing around them. Bugs, frogs, and lizards went quiet as they moved through the reed, hiding from potential predators, but some were still visible clinging to the end of plants, or on top of lily pads.

When Lenny finally broke through the reed, a barge was waiting on the other side. A mix of lizard kin— in white and blue and green and tans— hoisted a net out of the water. Hand over hand, they cranked it up, full of fish, and via a crane, moved it over their barge. They dumped into a giant tub sitting on top of it.

“Aye!” Argon called out as Lenny swam up to the barge, grabbing one of the two buckets of fish. “For the tithe!”

There was a mix of their names shouted, the men on the boat greeting them. Argon hopped from Lenny’s back and onto the gigantic barge. It moved perilously as he stepped down from its side. He dumped his bucket of fish into their haul for the day.

“Shiiit. Looks like a good ass day.” Argon spoke, leaning over the tub full of fish. There was hardly any water left inside the tub, the fish inside piling to the top.

“We’ll be able to buy enough wood to afford a few new lodges after this high tides haul. Niiiiice and long.” Han, the barges captain, and a true-blooded Draken spoke, limping forward on his cane. Even limping, his presence was imperial. His remaining left wing wrapped around the side of his body. Though it was dimming with his age, it was still a powerful gold, contrasting heavily with his red eyes.

“Haha, I bet you can. Not many barges operating round the Deep these days.”

“Less than a dozen, now.” Han spoke, stepping forward and searching the fish they had collected. He reached out his left hand deftly, stabbing into one and biting its head off. He turned and looked at his crew. “That was the last fisher of the day! Get paddling! Lets deliver these fish before lights out.”

“Any plans for Lowtide?”

Han released a deep chuckle, stepping towards the front of his boat. “I’m much too old to help harvest the crop anymore. No, I think I’ll spend time relaxing. Maybe work on my wood carving. I think I’ll retire from leading this barge, soon, too.” Han turned, sizing up Argon. “You interested in taking over?”

“Naw. I prefer riding with Lenny. Speaking of which, its time for us to head out. Tomorrow, old man.” Argon jumped off the ship, back onto Lenny’s back.

“Where to?” Lenny asked, looking up and chewing on reed.

“Lets head home buddy.” Argon started beating on his drum, relaxing as they winded towards their home. The Deep wasn’t one connected area, instead winding between several wide rivers that connected caverns, now filled with lakes. Every cavern was filled with glowing, bulbous lights that started dim and made the water shimmer by mid day. Though the organs were dimming by the hour, fading to a harsher orange that reflected off the water.

River to chamber, chamber to river, Lenny swam for the better part of an hour, through areas completely filled with reeds, passed boats covered in lumber returning to the city— though much slower than Lenny could swim. They paddled hand over hand. Argon waved at them as they passed, beating a tune on his drum. Eventually he was joined by other groups of small fisherman, also heading home. They held different instruments, a string instrument thrumming a tune alongside Argons own.

Eventually, the three groups of fisherman became five as more and more of the little rivers converged into bigger and bigger caverns, sliding over lakes, moving through caverns that were darkened by their lights having died. They were guided by plants that glowed under the water, pushing forward as the orangish lights dimmed to dark blues, the motley and spontaneous band making a more raucous and confused tune as the little two person boats around them played back and forth at each other.

Now the caverns that they passed occasionally had buildings; warehouses, storage, and even houses, built on towering wooden splints that hovered above the water, pressed against the wall of various caverns. Soon the caverns were more dock and buildings than water, the open waterways always having a boat or two, and the spontaneous band of boats splitting in every direction, heading to their homes. It wasn’t long until Argon and Lenny reached theirs, a large, wide hut with a huge ramp dipping into the water.

Lenny swam onto it, flopping up, and Argon jumped off, carrying his basket of fish.

“Baby! I’m home!” He shouted into the foyer of his wooden home. The ground was adorned in dozens of mismatched, haphazardly laid out rugs. He stepped through the open doorway, Lenny behind—

And was met with a tackle into the wall. His girlfriend assaulted him full force, licking the side of his reptilian face.

“Get a room.” Lenny said, slowly stepping past them and curling up on himself.

A tall, newt like lizard man dove into the water again, searching for discarded goods that could be salvaged. Much was lost to the currents of the third strata, including goods from the second strata— the rare bit of metal, even.

He swam in circles, surveying the bottom of the caverns floor— one that was rarely searched, due to it being in constant darkness. The only light came from the glowing flora in the water, dimly illuminating the ground.

He saw a sparkle in the water, moving towards it, pushing aside the filth and dirt that covered it, and raising it to his eyes. It was a piece of jagged metal. A rare find indeed, but worth more than a few days haul that could be made fishing. He would feed himself for months with this, even though it wasn’t even enough to make a knife. He swam up, putting the jagged piece of metal on his solo boat. Just big enough to raft him around the caverns.

A good haul for the day— but why not search one more time?

The newt man dove back into the water, searching with his hands in the dark. He had cut himself more than once this way— but its not like there were any predators here in the water to hunt him for it.

He searched, and poked, and prodded, and found— a hole? Thats weird. He had searched this cavern before and never seen anything like that. Curious, he leaned down, and poked his head in.

He was met with the sight of a gleaming gem, sided wit ha dozen spikes. It was pure blue, and seemed to glow of its own light. He reached for it, but paused as a glowing rainbow of light appeared to emerge from the ground before it. He struggled to understand what it was, a shifting shape of rainbow light that seemed to pop out of the ground.

The newt man reached out and touched it, feeling the weight of an alien mind push against his own.