Moonlight danced across the rippling waters of the Western Docks, silver strands weaving through the dark currents as the tide ebbed and flowed. The scent of salt and damp wood lingered in the air, mingling with the quiet creak of moored ships rocking in their berths.

Vaelion Atianna stood at the edge of the worn wooden planks, the faint glow of lantern light catching in his midnight soaked hair, still damp from the sea. His usual coat was cast aside, leaving bronzed skin kissed by moonlight, broad shoulders relaxed in the crisp night air. The silver-blue bioluminescent veins running faintly along his arms pulsed like the tide—subtle, yet ever present, a reminder of the abyssal depths he called home.

A cool breeze swept through the docks, tracing the taut lines of his chest, lingering over old scars that whispered stories of battles beneath the waves. He absently rolled his shoulders, muscles flexing with the effortless strength of a man accustomed to the unpredictable rhythm of the sea. A driftwood pendant, carved with the symbol of House Atianna, rested against his chest, cool against his skin—a token of where he stood now, of the family that had claimed him from the tide.

The wooden planks groaned beneath his weight as he stepped forward, his movements slow, deliberate, unburdened by urgency. When his bare feet met the water, the cold kissed up his legs, familiar and inviting. He did not hesitate as he stepped deeper, the tide welcoming him home.

Submerged, the world above faded into a rippling dream, moonlight breaking apart into scattered beams that drifted through the depths. Here, where the currents whispered secrets only he could hear, there was no house to serve, no orders to follow, no rivalries to balance—only the sea, and the silence it offered.

For a moment, he let himself drift. The cool water wrapped around him like an embrace, his hair floating in the weightless expanse. His lungs burned, but not from lack of air, it was from a yearning he couldn't quite name.

Breaking the surface with a slow, steady exhale, water cascaded down his chest, catching the dim glow of dockside lanterns. He ran a hand through his dark locks, slicking them back, his teal eyes reflecting the fractured light of the waves. They were sharp, restless, filled with unspoken thoughts, with something just beyond reach.

The docks were silent save for the lull of the water, but had anyone been watching, they might have seen him for what he truly was in that fleeting, unguarded moment. Not an Atianna enforcer. Not a Silver Rain noble. Not a beast lurking beneath a charming mask. Just a man alone with the sea, lost in thought, and for once… free.

Vanessa also takes the time to swim the waters in the harbour, feeling her cares flow away with the tide. Here she can be herself, an Aventi free of House demands. She floats, gazing up at the moon and stars for a while before turning back to the seacave under House Kraken she calls home.

Vaelion lingered just beneath the surface, allowing the cool embrace of the water to settle over him like a second skin. His eyes remained open, watching the way the moonlight fractured through the waves, shifting in patterns known only to the deep. He hadn’t expected to see another silhouette moving through the harbor, but the water carried every motion like a whisper.

His keen eyes followed the distant figure, Vanessa Kraken. Even beneath the waves, there was no mistaking her. She moved through the tide with the same effortless grace as any Aventi, untethered by the weight of noble houses and rival names. Here, in the darkened sea, there were no family lines, no politics just the tide.

For a moment, he simply watched, observing the way she floated beneath the sky, gazing at the moon and stars with the quiet reverence of someone lost in thought. It was a rare thing, to see a Kraken without the sharp edge of their house bearing down on them. A reminder that, once, they had all been the same, Aventi, children of the deep, before the land’s ambitions had drawn lines where the water never had.

He didn’t call out, did he make his presence unknown. This was her moment, as this was his. Instead, he let the tide pull him back, descending once more into the cool silence of the harbor’s depths. When she turned toward her seacave beneath House Kraken, he remained.