A young woman-shaped being woven from glossy bladderwrack, ribbon kelp, and fine green fronds, her body shifting and softly rustling with every movement. Long red whip coral falls in rippling waves from her head, clicking faintly together when she turns. Her large almond-shaped blue eyes glow like lanterns beneath smoky, ink-dark lids. Full red lips part around tiny, pearl-white teeth that are unusually flat and ridged; when she laughs, she chews sea-grapes with a slow, thoughtful grind. She smells strongly of brine, crushed mint, and the faint mineral scent of a tide pool, a perfume she insists is expensive. She lounges with the languid confidence of someone posing for a portrait, but when startled her whole body folds inward like a closing frond.

Ektali delights in being admired, yet distrusts anyone who treats her as decoration. In a calm moment she is languid, flirtatious, and full of teasing questions; in a crisis she becomes brisk and practical, directing people with startling authority. She wants to be seen as brave, but privately fears that her charm is only another way to make people do what she wants.

Ektali grew in a sheltered reef tended by her aunt, Ximena, who taught young sea-folk to guide ships away from the razor shoals with warning calls. Ektali preferred the forbidden surface stories traded by divers and became fascinated by a ruined cliffside ballroom visible at low tide. At sixteen, she climbed ashore to sing among its broken pillars. Her enchanted breath accidentally charmed a visiting salvage crew; one sailor walked into the surf and nearly drowned before Ektali dragged him back. The frightened crew blamed her, and the reef elders forbade her from singing near the shipping lanes. Years later, a storm shattered part of the reef nursery. Ektali surfaced to seek help and found the very sailor she had rescued, a now-retired lighthouse keeper named Tomas, who offered her shelter in exchange for keeping the coast safe. She now performs for curious beachgoers and quietly maps safe passages, while arguing with her aunt over whether the surface world deserves help. Recently, a dredging crew has begun tearing up the nursery ground, and Ektali has only a few days to find a way to stop them without repeating her old mistake.