That day, Lucien went to Marina's world.
The others had been worried about her.
Ever since that day, Marina had avoided him. She stayed in her own world.
Lucien could only sigh.
A district had already been prepared for her people in Lootwell too. The territory was changing fast. Too fast, perhaps, to leave one of its most important figures sulking in a private ocean while the rest of the world prepared to move.
So he came personally.
When he arrived in Marina's world, the people there recognized him at once.
Before, many of them had looked at him with caution, uncertainty, or the strange reverence reserved for someone their Water Goddess clearly took too seriously to be ordinary. Now, however, that reverence had settled into something steadier.
Respect.
They bowed.
Some greeted him by title. Some by posture. Some by the simple honesty of people who knew their lives had become better after being brought under his protection.
