Greatwater Lake with a warmth inside, i walk into the dark

“Physical pain is only superficial,” Psamathe began, but when Junior introduced herself and Akantha replied, the nymph fell silent. What she'd been about to say was that emotional pain was tenfold worse than any physical pain, and that Junior shouldn't feel she was unharmed merely because she bore no scars... But she trailed off and warmly smiled at her Amazonian sister instead.

“Not at all, sister,” she said before glancing back at Junior. That the youth had met Aktaiê was simultaneously surprising and not, if only because Aktaiê had ventured out alone and had always had a knack for finding lost girls to bring into their fold. Junior's origins made no difference to the Nereides, who believed all came from the Mother Sea and eventually returned to Her.

“Come, Junior,” she implored, though she would have understood if the youth hesitated. The Sea Nymph was unproven as far as strangers went. “Come to the waters. The Mothers will soothe you.” Psamathe was a secretive siren, and kept closely guarded all the secrets of the Nereides' way of life, but she openly invited any female to glimpse the Mother Sea and Mother Moon. She believed that merely stepping into the lake and feeling for Her would show all females the truth of their origin and smooth away all their past concerns.