In his own rambly, bashful way, Uriel told his story to the other four. They all listened eagerly, although Pitch and Azor pretended otherwise.

At the beginning of his life, he had actually been one of the merfolk who lived in the sea: people with human heads and torsos, but with the tails of various sea creatures. They lived in their own lands deep underwater, and had very few dealings with normal human beings.

But one day, during a particularly rough storm, Uriel found a drowning sea captain, and saved his life by carrying him to shore. He was too shy to stick around, but later on, as he hid and watched the waking captain from the shoal, he decided then and there that he was in love.

The captain eventually left the shore and walked off into the distant land, and Uriel knew he might never find him again unless he could follow.

So he went to an ancient sea witch, who was infamous for her cunning and cruelty, and asked her to grant him legs, offering to give her absolutely anything in return.

But to his surprise, she said she wanted nothing, and would give him what he desired free of charge. And so—

“…She changed you from a h-human with a fish tail to a fish with human legs…!” Lucy wailed. “Oh, that’s so mean, that’s so awful! That’s the saddest story I’ve ever heard!!”

“So you gave up after that?” Dreadlilocks asked. “I mean, maybe the captain might still have…liked you…it’s not impossible…”

“Judgin’ by most humans’ reaction to seein’ me, I didn’t have much reason to hope for that,” Uriel sighed. “In any case, I never did see him again. Now that I think about it, I’m not sure I was ever even in love, not really. Just—”

“Smitten, I suppose,” Pitch finished. “It’s not uncommon; everyone gets irrational when they fall in love for the first time. I knew a prince who once carried a shoe all over his kingdom, trying to find a girl he saw at a party…he didn’t even know her name, but he insisted she was his soulmate...”

“It’s all just foolishness, plain and simple,” said Azor. “I don’t think there’s a person on earth who is worth all that bother. ‘Soulmates’…pure folly….”

“Yeah, well…some things you end up learnin’ the hard way,” said Uriel. “I just hope you don’t think too little of me now that I’ve told ya. I wouldn’t blame ya…”

“Oh, no. Everyone makes mistakes…and you couldn’t have known it would all go as wrong as it did,” Dreadli replied. “Besides, it was an interesting backstory.”

“And now that it’s been told, could we get back to the matter at hand?” Azor asked, glowering. “You all really are the most easily-sidetracked people I’ve ever met. Did we really come all the way out here just to listen to stories…?”

“In that case, I believe the floor is yours,” said Pitch. “The first thing we’ll have to decide is whether to approach the moon as it rises or as it sets, and that really depends on you alone.”

Azor seemed genuinely embarrassed by that statement. “…I don’t need any special considerations,” he said. “Either way, the journey will take at least one full day, right? So we might as well approach as it rises and get it over with…”

“The usual, then,” said Uriel. “I’ve made that trip a great many times, y’know. Sometimes it’s dangerous, sometimes it isn’t…it’s all a matter of luck. But even when it ain’t dangerous, there’s still the Odsplut to worry about in the end…”

“What’s the Odsplut…?” asked Dreadli.

“The Odsplut is…well he’s like the guardian of the Margins. The king of the phantasms; an all-powerful bein’ who holds life and death in the palm of his hand…if he wants to let you pass, you won’t have any issues gettin’ to the moon. But if he doesn’t…well, what happens after that usually ain’t pretty.”