| Lustrous Seas |

} Prologue {

"Get uppp-! You're gonna be late for the festival, moron!" 

Lochi nudged Pearl awake. The bone sat up from his bed of soft seagrass and kelp to see the flesh leaning over his bed, hands gripping the edge.

She continued to yell, "You overslept again this year! Hurry up and get dressed, Pearl! You're gonna miss it!" Lochi panicked and swam to the other side of the room to floof up her hair. She spun in the mirror a couple of times before looking back at Pearl, who wasn't in much of a rush to get up.

Pearl climbed out of bed, running a hand through his hair, "Mmn, isn't the festival at midday? Why the rushh." He whined.

"It's morning this year and we only have ten minutes to get to the center! Get something fancy on, darnit!" Lochi squawked at him.

The gem simply chuckled and walked to his closet, sliding the door open. He spotted a new dress at the end of the closet and picked it out, holding it up. Pearl studied it carefully and smiled, "Jorunna made this, didn't he?"

Lochi looked up, "Yeah, he delivered it here while you were hibernating over winter. How could you tell he made it, though?" 

Pearl shrugged with the small smile still and put on the dress. It was a mostly white dress that faded to light purple at the ends, and had an open back. He moved around in it, pleased to find that Jorunna got even better at making clothes for another species. He has to thank him later. 

"You ready to go?" Pearl asked Lochi, who was still across the room admiring herself in the mirror. Pearl noticed how tidy the apartment was just then, must've been hard taking care of the mess all winter..

Lochi perked up "I've been ready! Come on, we've got to go!" She swam over and grabbed Pearl's hand. She pushed the door open and swam out and up. 

He looked up at Lochi "Be a little more careful! My arm might fall off if you dangle me like this." Pearl joked, but was actually pretty worried he'd crash into the sand.

The admirabilis simply shook her head, "No you won't. I am being careful, but we need to hurry as well!" 

Pearl simply looked down at all the other admirabilis who were walking normally to the festival, in no rush. He sighed with a smile and looked ahead at the bustling village center. Jellyfish vibrantly lit up the area, decorating it. Different delicacies too, Pearl could smell them from up here. And they did not smell pleasant at all, but tasted surprisingly good. Maybe this year there'd be some new foods..