25

There's a crowd of jostling merfolk that thickens the closer you get to the Orb's chamber. The narrowest parts of the passageway are so thick that it's impossible to kick your tail and you can only inch forward by crawling through the water with your hands. You arm paddle forward slowly until you reach the inner chamber itself.

Two guards are holding the crowd back, and mostly everyone's maintaining a respectful distance. You catch several different merfolk saying their thanks, staring wistfully, and a few just shaking their heads. Few stay more than a minute before turning and leaving. But a sudden worry strikes you: What if this Orb is fake? Cinza had it for a long time up there on land. Maybe she had time to make a replacement. You look nervously at the flow of other merfolk coming and going. You should probably just leave, satisfied, like everyone else, and not make a scene.