“Are you all right?”
I nodded, unable to form a complete thought. The sea had always been my home away from home. In many ways, it had been more my home than anywhere else. In all my time in the ocean, I’d never seen anything like this. In all its pristine beauty, never any sight that compared to the wonder around me. The dark water pulsed with life, nearly shattering in its brilliant beauty. The mirrored landscape of the sky made the rest of the earth stand still. Only this spot, in this moment, existed. Here was my immortality. For the first time, the notion of eternity was not a terror to be outsmarted. If I was to be a fixture throughout time, it should be here, frozen in this instant, in this place. Suspended on both sides of the looking glass. An intruder in the magic, yet the center of it all.
Even Lelas’s voice didn’t shatter the reverie. She was a part of it, the brilliance shimmering from her skin and scales no less than the world around her.“Lovely, is it not?”
Again, I nodded.
“It has been so long, I had forgotten this sensation. I shall not wait this long again. This is worth every danger.”
Her reminder nearly made me turn my head and search the dark waters, past the gleaming radiance, to search for the death that could be seeking us. Nearly. Even that thought was not enough to distract from the brilliance around us. Is this what God lives in? Surrounded by such dark and radiant beauty? No wonder he’d forgotten his creations. I would too.
Side by side, we slowly made our way through this otherworld, letting the last meters wash over us until we broke the surface.
A different beauty enveloped us, the crystalline moon and stars above, the endless black surrounding, only the hint of light reflected across the ripples of the mercury sea. The breeze gently flowed over our faces and shoulders, cool yet soothing.
I turned to Lelas, the sound of displaced water strange to my ears.
Her smile echoed the stars framing her silhouette.
“You’re lovely.”I closed the few inches between us and took her hand.“In all that my life has brought to me over the past months, you are the most magical creature I’ve encountered.”
I expected her to blush or point out that she wasn’t magical. She did neither. Her smile only broadened.
“I feel the same. I love my family, but part of me has always felt alone until you joined the tribe. I have always longed for a sibling, and I feel as if my brother has finally arrived.”
The thought made me pull back. I’d never met Lelas’s parents, never even thought about them.“Maybe your brother has. Do you know your parents? Maybe we are siblings.”At the thought, my words quickened.“Could Therin be your dad? You have similar coloring. You’re both blond. Both good-looking. Maybe we’re—”
Her laughter cut me off.“I am aware of my mother and father. Both are still alive and part of the tribe. Both very dear and kind souls. I will introduce you to them if you desire.”
I guess most people don’t go through life not knowing who their father and mother are. I was one of the lucky ones. For an instant, a flash of resentment shot through me. I let it go, determined to not let this moment be ruined by more of my disillusionment.“That’s good. I’m glad you have them. It was a nice thought, though. I’d like to meet them, when they’re ready.”
She nodded and offered another smile, one with more sympathy than I cared for.“It is a nice thought. A brother by birth, you are not, but a brother nonetheless.”
I gave her hand a squeeze and let go, once again captivated by the beauty around me.
Feeling my lungs expanding then releasing, the night air nearly left me dizzy. It felt like a foreign presence entering my body. Having my skin absorb the oxygen from the water was an undetectable sensation. To my surprise, I found I preferred my original method of breathing. It felt more cleansing, renewing. Whether it was or not, I had no idea. Either way, I filled my lungs over and over again, feeling oxygen travel from my lungs and course through my blood. In the coolness of the evening, it was even more noticeable than my panicked journey during the day.
“It always takes me a long time to remember how to pull air from the sky.”
I turned to find Lelas staring at me, head cocked to one side, eyes narrowed.
I hadn’t even considered the option.“You all have lungs? Mers, I mean?”
“The air pockets in our cage?”She motioned toward her chest.
“Yeah. I thought you wouldn’t need them, since you were always in the water.”
She gave a shrug.“We have them. Just like the dolphin and whale. They have air pockets as well. As do many other animals in our world, ones that never leave the sea.”
The difference being, those animals needed to return frequently to the surface to breathe. Mers didn’t. Another evolutionary trait I didn’t understand. I didn’t know how to ask Lelas without a lengthy explanation, so I let it go.“How do you know what other animals have lungs, er… air pockets?”
This time, a withering smile accompanied her laugh.“I assume the same way you learned of such truths on land. We have seen inside ourselves. Even though they are not food, we also have seen inside of those who share our world.”
It was my turn to cock my head.“You don’t eat any animal with air pockets?”
She shook her head, her face contorting as if I’d suggested she might eat a puppy.“No! They are related to us. They are family. We do not eat ourselves.”
I knew Therin didn’t kill animals, but I thought that was just his own sense of morality. He was always harping on being careful of not harming any creature, even crabs and urchins and such, when we practiced my fire.Therin…
