Rita woke to a new sigh.
Staring out at the river of time beyond the window, she felt a little dazed. Her mind was still full of music.
And she was now certain of one thing. Hippie truly was ruled by the Skycrab.
At first, the relationship between the shore dwelling merfolk and the Skycrab had been relatively peaceful. Just as Skycrab claimed, the merfolk held awe for beings capable of controlling the sea.
But that awe was rooted in mystery. Once Skycrab began going ashore frequently to play, that mystery slowly faded, and many things began to disappear.
The merfolk started causing trouble. After Skycrab noticed, they directly collapsed the merfolk economy, driving it into chaos. This was followed by decades of peace.
Then, the merfolk forgot the lesson, caused trouble again, had their economy crushed again, and peace returned for another few decades.
Rita decided that when she returned, she would set rules to restrain the Skycrab a little.
