Sea Lion Shores From my mouth I could sing you another brick that I laid

The Omicron didn't know how Jinx would react to this solicitation. She could see it going one of two ways: either Jinx would jump at the opportunity to talk about her religion or else she would take great offense at Pied's presumptions. She nibbled on the inside of her cheek as she waited, feeling the ribbon of tension winding through her chest loosen slightly when the Kappa picked up on the subject and gave her a bit of background on Atka.

Although the topic didn't intrigue her like it once had, Pied tipped her head and asked, "Why is she weak? And how do you know?" She wondered if and when they would approach Jinx's threshold for spiritual discussion, since it was pretty much established that she thought of Pied as some sort of heathen now and herself as some sort of enlightened authority on the subject.

Before Jinx could reply, an outburst of noise made Pied jerk her head back toward the clusters of sea lions roaming the coastline. A swath of movement drew her eye toward the southernmost edge of beach within view and she watched, riveted, as a great black fish writhed around in the surf, a sea lion clasped in its great jaws. The wiggling motion eventually allowed it to ease back into the shallows and disappear, though a stiff fin along its back cut through the water like a knife as it headed back out to sea.

To Pied's amazement, other such fins appeared beyond the breakers, moving back and forth, parallel to the beach. She tried to imagine how many gigantic black fish must be gathering there and turned to Jinx, wondering if she had anything to say about what they'd just witnessed.