Shiro took the necklace with care and held it up to look at it. His eyesight, it would seem, was not as poor as it had been in the water and the work was indeed some kind of mer-craft. The dried seaweed that had been used to make the string was tied in typical mer-fashion. It was an intricate knot that worked tightly underwater. Water had its way of untangling knots, so these were tight and strong. Shiro turned the necklace over and ran his hand over the beads and shells that hung from it. He narrowed his eyes, recognising the colours and the meanings of the shells woven into it. He lifted his head and looked to Keith curiously. These shells were gifts often given from mothers to their children. He turned the shells over in his hand and looked down to the bag he had.

He reached down and untied the looping knot that held it against him, then pulled it up to show Keith. He frowned slightly and placed the bag and the necklace next to each other. Shiro's bag was made from the shell of a horn-shark egg. It was a spiralling shape roughly as big as his hand and it was strung to a tightly woven strap made of seaweed and old ship ropes. Stitched onto the bag with a thinly woven string made of seaweed, like the string in Keith's necklace, was a collection of tiny shells and trinkets. Some of which matched Keith's.

Shiro made sure Keith was looking and he pointed to his bag and the shells stitched onto it, then he pointed to the shells that matched on Keith's necklace. The shells he was pointing to had been given to Shiro by his mother and father many years ago and his collection had grown with additions from friends and extended family too. He looked into Keith's eyes and he cradled his arms, as though he was holding a baby, then pointed to the shells again. Finally he pointed to himself, then the invisible baby he was holding and pretended to pick up one of the shells and gave it to the invisible baby. He wasn't sure what this meant. Perhaps Keith had merely found the shells and had made the necklace himself. He didn't think it was possible for the reason to be something as sinister as Keith had stolen the necklace. But then that left the only other possibility to be that Keith's mother had given them to him. Or his mother figure at least.