Due to this being the last page of the chapter, I have some extra art! It’s a bit of work I’ve been meaning to draw for ages, but wouldn’t be able to without spoilers. I’ve also received some questions about Kat and Akila and the nature of their relationship as well, so I felt I may as well answer those below as well.

Q: What’s the nature of their relationship? Is it a casual thing, are they a couple, or is it somewhere in the middle?
A: They’re as close to being a couple as you can get. Akila, and likely nereids as a whole, don’t tend to form romantic relationships with humans very often, and a devotion to the level Akila has towards Kat is more or less unheard of.  While it’s minor nereid spoiler territory for why exactly this is, to put it in simple terms, nereids naturally being somewhat isolationist, combined with their immortality, makes even living alongside a human long enough for something like their bond to occur very unlikely. As for Kat, she doesn’t see Akila’s habits as a lack of devotion, and feels it’s not really her place to try and change them.

Q: Do they consider it a same-sex relationship, even though Akila’s not human?
A: Kat does, Akila doesn’t. …Not that Akila even really cares about that sort of thing.

Q: Does that mean Kat is bi?
A: Honestly? I’m not sure. In my mind, Akila, and Kat developing feelings for her, was largely a matter of the circumstances they were in, and the role Akila played as a close confidant, rather than it being because of anything related to romantic desires. To put it simply, I don’t think it really matters to Kat – she likes Akila, not women as a whole. That said, I feel Akila’s realization of that she wanted to spend her life with this human girl, in addition to finding her attractive, was ironically enough probably much closer to someone traditionally having a moment of questioning their tastes in men/women than Kat did.

Q: Does Akila have any feelings towards Theo?
A: To the degree of Kat? No. Same goes for any character, really. Akila is attracted to many people, but Kat is special. Theo and Akila don’t really have any proper relationship dynamic beyond Theo feeling she’s good looking, and Akila… being her default self.

Q: Why was Kat so reluctant to tell Theo about being attracted to Akila, and that she was dating her?
A: Because Theo is, similar to Akila, too selfless for his own good, and she was worried he’d lose interest – not because he dislikes Kat dating Akila, but because he’d want Akila to date her, because he’d want her – both Kat and Akila – to be happy.

Q: Is the artwork above canon? (e.g. did it happen in-universe?)
A: Yes.