The Fools of Amphidor

The Plural of Shrimp

Claire and I walked out, having more questions than answers. We walked upstairs to search for where Alfie and Max went. We found them horking out at an all-you-can-eat buffet, filled to the brim with shrimp, lobster, crab legs, and any other shellfish you could think of sitting inside of metal tubs on top of ice cubes. Some of the food was deep-fried, sitting instead under some heat lamps.

Max was sitting on the ground, groaning about how much he had eaten, with a napkin tucked into the front of his shirt like a bib. Alfie was rubbing his back while eating fried shrimp off a plate that was balanced on his head. Claire snickered a little.

"What? I'm hungry, too. OH, shoot. I was supposed to go find you guys to tell you when it was dinner, but I was too busy helping this big baby. He ate too many shrimps... Too much shrimp? Too many shrimp?" Alfie cocked an eyebrow.

"I think it's too much shrimp," Claire said, "But that's beside the point. We have something to tell you guys."

"Oh?" Max looked up. He looked pretty pale. He'd definitely gotten sick.

"Probably not here. Let's talk at our table," I murmured.

Max groaned, "I can't get up."

"Oh my god," Alfie murmured, "You're such a baby."

Although his stature may not look like it, he was incredibly strong. He helped Max up with very little effort and supported his weight as they walked to the table and sat down beside each other. Claire and I sat in front of them.

"So what is it you needed to tell us?" Max asked.

Claire and I looked at each other as if we were telepathically trying to decide what to say first. She raised her eyebrows and gestured for me to go first with a flourish of her hands.
"Oh, I'll go first," I looked at Max and Alfie, "We went to explore the ship a little and we realized that these people are... unusually friendly toward us. And they all know about the letters."

"How? I thought only we got the letters?" Alfie asked.

"We did, but I think the man who sent them to us might have had some sort of position of power over these people," I explained.

"What kind of position?" Max was now sitting up, looking much better than before.

"We're... not quite sure," Claire admitted.

"But, we're gonna figure it out," I promised, "We were talking to this otter man who works in the boiler room and he said that we're going to an underwater city, of sorts."

"I don't know..." Alfie murmured, "I still get a kind of eerie feeling from all this... Like... a sense of dread."

"Yeah... me, too," Max nodded.

"Oh, shut up. You're just saying it because I'm saying it," Alfie scoffed.

"Am not!" Max rolled his eyes.

"You know, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery..." Claire murmured, taking a sip out of her drink.

"I don't want to flatter him!" Max hissed.

Max and Alfie glared at each other for a moment, then looked down at their empty plates.

"...Anyway," I coughed, "He said something about Rueben's friends... Apparently, they ruined their chances to get the city on the map or something."

"O...kay? What's that have to do with us?" Alfie asked.

"No idea," I admitted.

"I guess we'll figure it out," Max chuckled.

I chuckled nervously. I didn't like the sound of that.

After we got our menus and ordered our food from someone who looked to be an angelfish of some kind, Octavius, the octopus captain from earlier, walked over to our table and sat down with us.

"Hello, friends!" He smiled a bit.

"Oh-! Hi, Octavius," Claire nodded to him.

"So, how has your day been, on our glorious ship?" He asked.

"We went exploring and talked to a man who told us a couple things about where we were going, but we have a couple of questions," She used one arm to prop her head up on the table.

"Well, I'd be happy to answer!" Octavius nodded, "Go ahead! As the mayor of Amphidor, I am obligated to know all the answers to any questions you might have!"

"We were wondering if you could maybe give us some brief history about your city?" She asked.

Octavious seemed to pause for a moment, "Eh... Why do you ask?"

"We were talking to an otter below the deck and he told us you had some colorful history regarding humans," She shrugged, "We were just wondering."

"Hm..." He thought for a moment, "Don't worry. It's nothing bad. We just haven't been visited by many humans before... that's all. But please, ask me if you have any other questions."

We shared confused looks. Octavius hadn't even answered the question.

"Um... No. I think that's it," She shook her head.

"Alright," Octavius stood and walked away quickly.

Something about the way Octavius spoke to us unsettled us a little, but we didn't want to say anything. We figured that would make him mad. After we got our food, we almost forgot all about it. However, that nervousness still lingered in the back of our minds. Except maybe Max's. Max seemed pretty content with just eating his meal.

We hadn't realized it, but we were all pretty hungry. We hadn't eaten in a while. At least, since this morning. After we'd started eating, it made us realize it. We ate ferociously and went back to our room.