wedding ring. The monster appeared and I saw an undulating tentacle rise up, but it left them unharmed, surfacing only briefly to slap down onto the stone, and scatter the market tables. It ' s all very peculiar. But a strange thought entered my head. The monster seems to be attacking every time I witness some form of golden ring being transferred, and the Ladroncellos seemed intent on moving the giant golden ring from the ball during the attacks. Is there a connection?
Not two stalls further down the street the mayor was valiantly standing on a broken book-cart, coat flapping in the wind, lesser politicians looking at the ground, helping a street vendor pick up his wares. Two men in the Ladroncello livery were posted nearby, carrying an ornate chest, their path barred by the sea-monster attack.
" Why are these kraken attacks allowed to continue?" I asked the Mayor, once he had dismounted the cart. " Surely, Venice has some means of defense e."
" From the Sea?" the Mayor exclaimed." Venice does not need to be protected from the Sea! Venice, she is married to the Sea!"
" Then it does not seem to me," I replied, " that this marriage is very happy."
The handsome young politician then gave me a detailed history of the Bucentaur and the sunken gold in his ridiculous accent.
" The Bucentaur, which you mentioned looking at in a book, was a golden ship that the old Doge used during a ceremony called the Festa della Sensa, or, Marriage of the Sea. The Doge would sail to the Lido and cast a golden ring into the sea as a token of the unity of the sea to Venice."
The Mayor described the sea as being the
woman in this scenario— being obedient and subordinate to Venice— which, in that moment made him look a little less handsome to me. Venice, who here was standing in for the man, knew what was best and was always sensible and correct— it was all I could do to suppress a titter— and was sovereign over the sea, which is why Venice married it.
" I suppose," I began, " that if all those rings and all that gold were brought up, there would be enough to make one perfectly immense ring. Perhaps the Ladroncello family is not being entirely forthcoming about the provenance of their gold ring?" I asked, and the footmen with the treasure chest looked furtive. A strange coincidence then occurred. I saw the British couple from earlier, the ones who had lost their rings, and the woman was berating the husband for having forgotten their anniversary. The tentacles threw things around in the distance. Perhaps the sea was behaving like that angry spouse, as if Venice has forgotten the anniversary one too many times?
I asked the Mayor, " What do you think the sea might do if her husband forgot her anniversary or took back her wedding ring?" I postulated that, " any woman might throw a fit of temperament if neglected for too long."
I indicated the arguing couple as they disappeared around the corner.
" Perhaps all the gold that the Ladroncellos stole from bottom of Venice ' s canals is drawing the sea monster to your town," I said. The two footmen leaned in closer to listen.
" The sea monster appears to be drawn to the ring," said Percy, running down the street with a book. " First, it attacked the ballroom where the ring was displayed, and now again while these