Feferi was back at her own house for once, enjoying the saline buoyancy of the filtered seawater that filled her main pool. If any of her neighbors had lived close enough to hear her they would have been rather irritated as she imitated whale song while floating peacefully on her back. Given her propensity for venturing from pool by the house then down to the ocean and then back, Feferi rarely indulged in skinny dipping even in the relative privacy of her own pool (fortunately, as she would soon see).

The pool was clear ocean water, still chock full of salt, but cleaned of sand and creatures. The walls were dark stone and there were no steps or ladders in or out of the main section which plunged down ten feet from edge to edge so Fef could practice her freediving. To escape you had to climb out using the side, or swim toward the house and under the wall and emerge in any number of interior rooms. She had invited the sea into her home.

Private beaches, after all, nestled beside other ones and building high walls was nothing if not impractical.

With her ears submerged as she floated on her back, paddling lazily, she missed the sneeze, but the yelp and the splash caught her attention.

Feferi popped upright, treading water as she looked around in surprise as the sloshing ripples rocked her. "Glub??" she said aloud, trying to figure out what had happened.