The main cohort would be a day or two behind them, along with the royal court. And Finnivus. How could I have been so blinded by my loyalty to his father? Whalem thought, remembering his friend King Romulus. Mari was with him. Hold, she signaled. It was a full thirty seconds before Whalem’s far poorer eyes picked up the patrol-in-force swimming downward from the surface. Indi scouts did this to catch others by surprise. It was Whalem himself who’d observed years ago that most sharkkind didn’t look for danger from above after they ate. When sharkkind hunted, they would scan for prey everywhere, including above themselves. But when their bellies were full, those same sharks would go days without an upward glance. And now that technique is old and obsolete. Like me, he thought. Whalem froze, allowing the tide to push him, as he’d seen Mari do. He drifted, carefully sliding past the greenie, so he didn’t make too much of a disturbance even though his tail jerked involuntarily once as a phantom pain struck him.
