Looking out over the ocean and its riotous waves below, shivers course through me, not only because of the chaotic waters but the dawning knowledge that there are huge, terrifying beasts that could be swimming just beneath. I always knew serpents, krakens, and giant sharks existed, but they rarely come near my home… and during the odd instance when something large passed through, the mermaids always warned us in advance.
Seeing my home now, below me, lower still with the large jungle trees shielding it, my heart squeezes.
Seeking out Kaos meant leaving them longer than I meant to. A strange feeling hits me, hoping my tribe—my future responsibility and pride—are okay.
They will be mourning Leith’s loss. They will be celebrating for his future too.
I glance at Kaos. What will they think of him? Will they trust him?
Will they accept him? Let me keep him as he keeps me? Or will they deny him—deny us?
The branches below shake madly, like everything else. The crystal lagoon stirs in the middle, but the waves of the ocean come nowhere near, having been blocked by the many isles and large boulders in the sea in front of me. Love fills me looking at my perfect home.
Leaving it will hurt greatly. I squeeze Kaos’s hand, so massive that mine doesn’t even wrap around. But if Leith can leave it, I can too.I will always watch them and protect them from afar.I would never abandon them.
And once again, just once, I tell myself Leith is okay. Aida is okay. If a dragon attacks Sand’s Hunters, even one such as this Zaeyr, Aida will destroy him. Knowing her, she will pull out all weapons and rush him head-first to protect her tribe.
“Down there?” he asks, directly behind me, shielding me from the wind as much as he can, pulling my thoughts away from Aida.
“Yes, I live down there.”
He growls. “How do we get down? Do you have wings I do not know of? If you kept such a thing from me…”
“No. Come, I’ll show you.” Following the cliff’s edge to a rocky inlay, reaching down where branches hide it, I reveal two thick ropes and a ladder between. It’s wet but solid. “We climb down here.”
Kaos hisses, and I hear the frustration in it even through the distant thunder. “I cannot believe your kind still exists.”
“Your kind now, dragon,” I mutter.
He pushes me aside and tests the rope. “I will go first, and you,” he fumes, looking at me, “will follow between my arms.”
“I’ve done this climb many times.”
“I do not care!” Without waiting, dropping himself over the ledge, his angry face finds mine again. Wind musses his hair all around as he grips the ropes, and I see his huge muscles bulge. “I will see you safely home, or I will die and fall to my death trying,” he announces through gritted teeth.
Holding back another smile, I turn and drop over the ledge between his arms. We begin our slow descent home. And when Kaos reaches the ground, he grabs my hips and helps me the rest of the way. Turning around, I embrace him with all my strength, not wanting this time together to end. His arms wrap around me, holding me in return.
We’re home. Finally home. And I can barely believe it. For a few minutes, holding him, pressing my face to his chest, relief floods me. The same relief that filled me when Leith walked away from me to go to Delina. The kind of relief of finality, of surviving something worrying. Of coming out the other end, discovering I’m still alive.
With Kaos. This time, my relief is shared. And it makes it all the better.
When I pull away a few minutes later, after sucking in his comforting scent, I take his hand anew and lead him through the trees to the village.
It’s quiet. The windows are shuttered tight. Everyone is inside bracing the storm from their tree huts. Even the animals we keep are inside their stables. The coming of a male to a tribe is not like this, but I’m happy no one is out to greet us.
They will not believe Kaos is real. He’s mine, alone, for a little longer.
Lightning flashes in the distance, far less than before, but when the lagoon lightens up, I note how late in the day it already is. Tugging Kaos along behind me, I head for my home—suddenly excited—it’s back, deeper in the trees on the other side of the blue body of water. Approaching the tree my hut is built around, I find someone has come along and closed it up for me.
Opening the door, I lead Kaos inside, hoping he likes it. Finally in my territory, not his, for the first time.
My place is built between two trees and is round like most of the structures in Shell Rock. There’s a fire pit in the middle, old hides covering the floor, and windows throughout, currently shuttered.
It’s divided into several sections by walls spreading away from the trees in a circular pattern. My stores are in the back and to the left, while my cot and possessions are to the right. Clay vessels and baskets line the walls on built-in shelves. Trophies and shells decorate throughout, placed in patterns I admire. Hides and nets hang from the branches that are within, and there’s a ladder that leads to the roof and the higher parts of my trees, creating a vantage point where I can look out to the lagoon.
Moving to the middle, I start a fire, nervous and happy to be back within my space. But when I turn back to Kaos, I find he hasn’t moved from the door.
“This is your territory?” he asks curiously as I study him over the flames, waiting for some reaction.Curious is better than disappointment,I note. I don’t know what I’d do if he was disappointed, or worse, disgusted.
