"N-No, Gwynnie, I don't want to!" Ysbail screamed as she ran away with her hands protecting her nose.

"Ysbail, you coward. Didn't you say you wanted to hug fwish gembins with me?" Agwyn shouted at Ysbail’s retreating back, even though she also eyed the bulky abominations warily. Her lisp returned without her knowing.

"No!" The night-coloured toddler with the cutest tail in all of Uoris Diosca cried, "They no fishie gremlin. They monsters."

"Gwynnie, t-those teeth are sharper than mister Alleigh's…." Cati, also shaking like a scared goldfish, hid behind Howell as she pointed her trembling finger towards the heap of ominous yet fluffy darkness devouring the waste parts of the butchered gheists.

Elrhain gulped in shock too; cold sweat streaked down his back.

The fish gremlins he saw in other fishing villages and Lochuir proper were cute furry little things. They were basically puffballs with two beady eyes, four tiny paws that always made Elrhain wonder how they even walked with them, and a kitten-like mouth.

An adorable entity that reminded Elrhain of a mascot character from a children's cartoon on Earth, something that definitely should not exist in real life but only in imagination.

But fish gremlins did, and they were cute as hell. So, he didn't mind when grandpa Thundham gave him that moniker.

…. Though Thundham probably called him a fish gremlin because of his prodigious appetite and not his cuteness.

As he learned some time ago, Fish gremlins loved everything that dhionne didn’t from fish and other aquatic catch. A sort of symbiotic creature that had adapted to live with dhionne like the cats and dogs of earth.

They were also the waste cleaners of the river and lakeside communities, gobbling up the intestines, bile, rotten flesh, and other dirty things as though they were Michelin rated delicacies.

And with each bite, they would balloon up before bursting into a sprinkle of black crystals.

Elrhain, and even the shamans and mages of Earthloch, did not know how their biology worked. Probably some magicial evolutionary mishap.

He only knew that the black crystals were rich in rot aspected manna and were one of the staple tools for farmhand servants.

That's why Earthlochians valued fish-gremlins so much, bordering worship. For their cuteness and for their usefulness.

'But what the hell is that?!' Elrhain could not look at them any longer.

Bulging muscles under their furry coat, bloodshot eyes like a vampire’s with pupils as big as watermelons, and a gaping mouth full of fangs far more jagged than a deep-sea horror's.

They moved in formation like a squad of mafioso. Their eyes glowering at dhionne and gheist alike, terrifying Alleigh into hiding his enormous mass behind the tiny Agwyn. Every few seconds, their barbed tongue would fling out, licking their bloodstained teeth.

Other fish-gremlins would whimper around areas where the villagers processed aquatic gheists like cute foxy kits, then rush in all at once for their happy meal.

Not these. These fish gremlins were organized; they were disciplined.

The dhionne did not give them treats. The dhionne offered them tributes.

One by one, in a strict line of hierarchy, starting from the largest and most menacing fish gremlin of all to the least scary one with only eight jutting fangs rather than eighteen, they devoured their allocation of filth set aside respectfully by the village folks.

Afterwards, like an army of Lovecraftian shoggoths, they would warble their way to a designated area isolated off with a fence of glowing runes. Their skin would split open like many maws of darkness, and tens of tendrils would slither out, each holding a crystal the colour of hatred.

"…. On second thought, I think I am good." Agwyn scrunched up her nose, then carefully led the whimpering red husky out of harm's way.

"Haha! There is nothing to fear, princess Agwyn. The fish gremlins of our village may look heroic, but at heart, they are just as ravenous as a bloodthirsty Racadger!"

"…. Old man. I don't think you understand what kids like." Elrhain muttered under his breath. Captain Anouk and Vesiphis nodded in unison.

"Hahaha! My daughter-in-law and son say the same things. As expected of the prince, so keen at such a young age. Though, my granddaughter seems to revel in their company."

"Of these fish gremlins?"

Randuman thumped his chest in agreement. "She even learnt to eat like them! Even the cruellest beast of the dark forest cannot equal how she feeds. Only someone as noble and brave as the chieftain, only someone so ruthless as the watch commander, can contest that appetite!"

"…"

"But enough of that. Why talk of Ruba here when you can meet her directly? The princess would assuredly make pleasant companions with her!"

"Yeah, poor girl," Elrhain said. He didn't deign Randuman with an explanation when the old man looked at him with a bewildered expression.

***

The lake water was amazingly blue, like the Aegean seas but far more transparent. But Elrhain knew it wasn't salty.

A few dhionne tribesmen of the Haragol Onthoakty were arranging their boats and equipment by the half-circle barrier. The fierce rays of the Sohwl cast their shadows long. The lack of dark clouds in the sky, despite being monsoon, made today a fine day for a fun adventure on the lake.

The cultivators agreed.

They checked their fishing spears, thick manna infused ropes, medicinal paste sacks and gheist repelling powder pots one last time.

After which, they would push the parked boats into the lake waters. When the boat was stably afloat, they would jump on before rowing to a section of the lake where their target gheists frequented.

Though Elrhain called them boats, that was only a rough translation of the Uorian word to Earth Common. They were more like canoes, made from hollowed-out trees and processed by the mages and shamans in magical ways.

These primitive vehicles were yacht-like in size, with large areas to store the catch within. It wasn't surprising, considering how mind-bogglingly massive the trees of the primordial forests of Earthloch could grow.

"Arf! Awrooo!"

Elrhain turned his eyes towards the yelping husky and groaned.

"So, you don't want to be friends with her?”

"I-I do too!" Agwyn denied, but her tiny legs didn't take one step towards the 'cute wittle sister' she was so thrilled to meet.

Ruba Earthloch Haragol, the girl in question, was gnawing into Alleigh's tail as the towering red Pengyte ran around the area in horror.

"Come to think of it, the girl was drooling like crazy when we met her last, right?"

Agwyn wanted to deny again, but she involuntarily nodded.

"Gwynnie, this is the cute big sister?" Ysbail tugged Agwyn's sleeves and asked with a smug smile. "Didn’t you say she was cuter than me?”

Agwyn didn’t reply. She picked Ysbail up despite her screams and, with a “Teach you to be smart with me!”, cannonballed into the lake, raising squeals from kids and adults alike.

The village children watched the two drenched dumplings in wonder, stopping their game of tag in the semi-circle barrier.

It took only a minute for Agwyn to take the helm. And thus, the first-ever competition of Splash Meister Supreme of Fanas Diosca started.

Before long, Cati and Howell also joined in on the fun, raising cries of discontent as they shamelessly backed up their princess.

“Well,” Elrhain cracked his neck, “We did come for a water picnic. Wait for me!”

Vesiphis, who was debating if he should go or not, saw a black shadow move from the corner of his eyes.

It was Cadfael.

“Y-You. You want to play water-splash too?” The winged boy spoke with a shocked face. He looked at the kids who were having the time of their lives, then towards this gloomy cousin of his who looked haughtier than the grand elder himself.

“Play? This is why you are still a whelp.”

“What did you say?!”

“Whelp with bad ears. So naïve trusting a mere Onthoakt house’s barrier to be enough for the princess’s safety.”

“Says the guy who can’t wait to lick her footsteps. You’re the bigger threat!”

Cadfael shot his head around and grasped the hilt of his sword.

“What, wanna fight?”, Vesiphis smirked.

“Awoooo!”

But before the conflict could break out, the terrified husky along with Ruba, who chewed the end of his tail with unbroken concentration, rushed past them with the velocity of a rampaging Kaloxen.

Alleigh yelped one last time and plunged into the water, splashing a massive wave ten meters high and twenty out.

“Alleigh! Bad!” Agwyn shrieked.

“Does this mean Alleigh wins the splashing competition?” Elrhain exclaimed in indignation

“Ahhh! Lady Ysbail got tackled by a flying Ruba!” While the village kids watched in dread as Ysbail got whacked on the head by Ruba, who flew in like a torpedo.

Agwyn scolded the Red Pengyte with mean eyes. But Alleigh didn’t care. The husky finally looked at ease, even though his forehead was constantly thwacked by two tiny fists.

Elrhain and Howell were more concerned about who won the contest. And Cati, along with the village children, hurriedly grabbed onto the wailing Ysbail and stunned Ruba before the subsiding waves created by Alleigh could sweep them away.

Though the adults didn’t look worried.

Perhaps the water wasn’t that deep inside the barrier, even many meters out, or maybe there was more magic to the barrier than Randuman had described.

Cadfael and Vesiphis, now soaked head to toe as collateral damage, were no longer in the mood for their nth conflict these few months.

Vesiphis wanted to say some more, but Cadfael simply ignored him, going down into the lake while speaking with a concerned tone, “Princess Agwyn, are you hurt?”

… only to have a ball of mud flung to his face with a screech from said princess, “Go away, creep!”

With an outstretched hand frozen in the air, Cadfael was dumbfounded. The boy then lowered his hand and scooped up some water to wash the dirt off.

Soon, after Ysbail insisted she wasn’t hurt with both tears in her eyes and a toothy grin on her face, the kids started playing water games again. Vesiphis, too, at last, threw his doubts away and officially entered as an adversary in Elrhain, Howell, and the village boys’ multi-way war to become the greatest water flinger in all of Uoris Diosca.