The sound of the tide surged and crashed, the rain pattered down in a fine drizzle, and the campfire crackled and snapped. Her voice vanished, yet somehow left a lingering sense of loss, and the Bella Belindel in Shard's arms had meant to raise her head—only to immediately hear a sound like a huge fish turning over at the surface of the sea, which frightened her back into Shard's embrace, shivering.
But Shard knew that that "Mermaid" tail should have already left, because the bonfire in the little camp was swelling back to its original size, and at the same time the thick fog that had hemmed in the reefs below this Sea Cliff was rapidly dispersing.
In fact, it took only a few dozen seconds for that fog of unknown origin to vanish completely. The rain was still falling; sitting on the reef and looking off into the distance, one saw only the endless stretch of sea and the silhouettes of ships going to and from Moon Bay Harbor.
