believe in me
This, Pelagia is aware, is the end game.
She's not sure how James has managed to disable the technology that would ordinarily alert the Technocrats inside to their presence, but all they need to do is get in, set the bomb, and get out. In most circumstances she wouldn't be okay with this plan, but the area around Deepwater is so disturbingly dead that she doesn't know if it makes any difference. Furthermore, if they don't make this quick, she will be disturbingly dead - drowned, in fact. While she has special reinforcements against the glamour-sapping of the Technocrats, and carries blessings and objects from the Nexus around her neck, she doesn't feel like gambling.
She does, however, plan to disguise the explosion with a storm, so she's got to conserve her energy. She looks for James, tail flicking under the water. Down deep is where you can really see how she moves, as one of the Mer - perfectly graceful, perfectly at home. This is her territory, and she's going to kill these destructive invaders who want to take it away from her.
Like slapping a shark, she thinks, but bigger scale.