There were a lot of colors associated with the ocean. "The wine-dark sea." "The sea of green." "The briny blue." Marina was fond of all of these colors: The brilliant purple of tropical fish, the wavering green-gold of kelp forests, and the endless blue waves you could see from the top of the ocean.
And then they had all vanished.
The Merhams of Es-wish Es-wish were a carefree, fun-loving sort, and the loss of colors had hit them pretty hard. Without beautiful coral and seashell jewelry, what was even the point of living? They were moping around their houses now, moaning about how terrible their lives were without color.
As their princess, Marina felt she had a duty to go seeking color for her people... even if her bodyguard disapproved.