"Three... two... one." The countdown finished and the merman raised his head, looking slowly around to be certain that everyone had made good on their head start. When he saw no one in his immediate vicinity he widened his search, looking further out across the canals and nearby streets.
As it turned out, hide and seek was made significantly harder when he wasn't familiar with two thirds of the hiders. There had been a human girl-child and a human woman of soldier-ish dress, and there had been Flora.
The child would be the hardest to find; there were too many who could fit her description (and her had no idea that she could turn into a weasel), while Flora would be the easiest for him to recognize.
But the stranger who walked like a soldier would stand out the most in a crowd of Torchers, he decided, and so Hadama began to look in earnest for Lisbeth first, scanning sea and land for the unusually petite woman (and her now-waterlogged notebook).
As it turned out, hide and seek was made significantly harder when he wasn't familiar with two thirds of the hiders. There had been a human girl-child and a human woman of soldier-ish dress, and there had been Flora.
The child would be the hardest to find; there were too many who could fit her description (and her had no idea that she could turn into a weasel), while Flora would be the easiest for him to recognize.
But the stranger who walked like a soldier would stand out the most in a crowd of Torchers, he decided, and so Hadama began to look in earnest for Lisbeth first, scanning sea and land for the unusually petite woman (and her now-waterlogged notebook).
