“Because they who dwell there are her people, mypeople. The Oannes. Or what you from the land call merfolk.”
“What?” Aurora felt her head spin and was glad to have the solidity of the bed beneath her.
“Those in the catacombs are their failures. Those the Atlanteans couldn’t tame, or who didn’t develop into a creation like me.”
“Create? You?” it was all too much, and Aurora shook her head. “I-I don’t understand.”
“This.” Tsillah rolled up her skirt and now Aurora saw why, unlike the others, she wore hers long.
Where her legs should be was something more like a fish’s tail which split into rudimentary legs halfway down what could be called thighs and ended in wide, flat feet. Allowing the skirt to fall again, Tsillah unwrapped the collar she wore to reveal gills.