She smoothly emerged from the sea. Tonia looked more beautiful than I had ever seen her, naked from the waist up, the tail from the waist down, hair reaching her shoulders and beyond. She did, however, have a deadliness in her gaze that was as icy as ice. I shuddered when I saw them and refrained from calling her name. She had a golden rod in her hand with inscriptions on it and a circular ball at the end on which the ring lay. The ring had become an integral part of the staff. Only a part of her tail stayed in the water when she emerged out of it. She was the very definition of terror, yet she was also the river's beauty.
There was a sizzling sound like rushing water on hot stones as she extended out the staff. The foliage and detritus all around us came to life all of a sudden. They twi
