Roots? A great, massive tangle of roots! Iionii had never before seen anything like it. No plant in any of Haven's lakes had roots like these. For that matter, there were no aquatic plants even close to the size of these roots. There were dozens of them, each larger than the next, the largest more than meter in diameter.
From the look of it, roots had entered the Lake from the cavern ceiling, some sixty meters above. A few of the largest roots exited the cavern through the rock of the lakebed.
Iionii slowed her descent and marveled. Nearly stationary, she could feel an ascending stream of micro bubbles fizzing pleasantly over her supple skin.
The water around the root-encrusted column was alive, teaming with life; with things that (bloomed), things that swam, and things that crawled. The higher oxygen level produced by the yawning vents no doubt contributed to the thriving underwater community. There were identical vents scattered throughout the Lake, however, this hyper-concentration of life had to have something to do with the roots. Staring at the mysterious plant life, several things came together in Iionii's mind, like pieces of a puzzle falling unexpectedly into place.
The first piece of the puzzle: the recent epidemic in the Lake District that had spawned fears among the Norm majority; fear of dying from the mysterious disease; fear of their favorite scapegoats, the alts. As a result, the Norms had instituted the curfew for all alts in the District.
The second piece of the puzzle: The recent quakes that had rattled every Lake District township from Sil'berg to Clarion. Iionii shared the view held by her fellow alts that the quakes had released some unknown pathogen into the environment, possibly into the Lake itself.
And now, a new, third piece seemed to fit into place; these mysterious roots. Were they somehow related to the quakes? To the epidemic? If so, how?
The plant to which the roots belonged might well be the source of the illness. It was a chilling thought. And to be this close to it. She held a hand to her gills. Was she infected? She felt fine, even though she was in the Lake every day, while people who did nothing more than drink and bathe in the water were dying. Then another thought, even more unsettling in its own way… what if she was immune precisely because she was an alt? If true, some norms could devise fates far worse than death and disease for her and her kind.
Propelled by a dreadful need for answers, Iionii swam downward.