Elea got off work a little later than normal, driving herself home. She was still thinking about Tristan. He seemed to know more than a human should know, and she was feeling extra paranoid.

"Lotus?" she called as she entered the house. "You around?"

Lotus was out in the water when she heard the car pull in, and poked her head up through the trapdoor just in time to hear Elea.

"Over here," she called. "In the water."

Elea nodded and headed down to the trapdoor, looking at her. "Well, clearly I'm home. You want me to start dinner?" She grinned briefly. She'd done some swimming earlier, although like her favorite kind of swimming, so she was still pretty relaxed.

"Up to you," Lotus replied. "I'm good for now." She hung on to the edge of the little pool so that everything below her shoulders was submerged. She tilted her head to the side. Elea looked relaxed, but her expression still seemed the slightest bit troubled. "Everything alright?"

"Yeah," Elea said after a minute. "Just... that guy earlier, the one who came over and asked for directions? I saw him again later, and it seemed... I don't know. It seemed like he knew too much. He knew the seals were gossiping."

Lotus blinked.

"Knew too much like how?" she asked. "Because there was this guy, he was with your guy, and he seemed to know a little too much about the area past human bounds."

"He just knew too much. He kept almost insinuating things about selkies." Elea shivered briefly. "Lotus... what if they weren't human? I've never met another selkie besides my mom. I don't know if I'd be able to tell."

"I'm thinking they weren't," Lotus said cautiously. "The other one, he was saying how he and his buddy always swim out to the cove, but no human would make that swim if they didn't have to. It's a haul out there." She went quiet for a moment. "I've never met another selkie besides you... But it's been ages since I've even seen another person like me, as well."

"Yeah, I don't know. I don't think I'd be able to tell." Elea frowned, looking worried still. "It worries me."

"I know," Lotus said softly. "It worries me, too." She was quiet for a moment. "Do you want to come for a swim? Or stay inside tonight?"

"Maybe I'll come swimming," Elea said after a moment. "It'll feel good after today. I'll be down in just a minute." She headed back to her room to get her skin.

"I'll be waiting here," Lotus said. She knew how paranoid Elea was about hiding her skin.

Elea nodded and headed upstairs again to get her skin, heading back downstairs and getting in the water before she changed. Since it was bloody hard to try to flop over the side as a seal. Then she blinked at Lotus and swam off for open water again.

Lotus did a quick flip in the water and followed Elea. Tonight wasn't so much a game of chase as it was a chance to relax. Lotus drifted down to the bottom and stretched herself out, looking up at the sky through the water.

Elea bobbed back up to the top and just floated along there, quite happy to just bob there for a while. It was nice and relaxing, and she forgot about the odd men for a while.

Kato was lounging about not too far away. He'd managed to slip away on his own, today (although if his brother did, too, that was on Leto) and was enjoying the warm, shallow waters. His attention was caught by a shape bobbing on the surface, and he was surprised to see the selkie from a couple days before. That was interesting.

Elea didn't notice him, instead flipping over and rolling in the water. Clearly she was having too much fun, just kind of lolling about. She needed the relaxation time after today.

Slowly, Kato came out of his lounging spot and into open water, watching her. He was sure she was the same selkie.

Elea paused when she noticed someone else in the water, and for a minute she thought it was just Lotus, so she didn't pay too much attention, just starting to look lazily.

And then she saw Kato and froze, panicking briefly.

Kato blinked when he realized she'd seen him, and slowly came out from where he was hiding. He was still mostly in human form, although there were some teal scales glimmering along his shoulders, hips, and on his forehead along his hairline.

"Sorry," he said. "Didn't mean to scare you."

Elea tilted her head to the side, examining him carefully. He might be a mermaid... but the scale placement wasn't right. Lotus didn't have any along her hairline. Besides, Lotus didn't really do a partial change. So she figured that wasn't the case.

Very carefully, she drifted closer to him to investigate.

Kato stayed still as she came closer to investigate. She seemed curious about him.

"I'm Kato," he said simply as she got closer.

Elea bobbed her head. She couldn't speak while she was a seal, not really, but she knew that if she tried she could make Lotus understand her.

I'm Elea. She wasn't sure if he'd understand, since she'd never tried with anyone besides Lotus, but she figured she could try.

Kato grinned a bit.

"Nice to meet you, Elea," he replied. "It's rare I meet one of your kind."

I don't know of any others in the area, Elea said, a little surprised that it actually worked. You live in the area?