He murmured, “Turn it sideways.”
She rotated the screen, and there was the sound of water in the microphone, and the image of her fingers a centimetre away from the swish of his tail.She stopped the playback there.“See?I didn’t make it.”
He asked her, “What happened after that?”
She looked at him and then handed him the phone.She covered her ears.She didn’t need to hear the impact and her laboured grunting as she fought to come up with a plan of attack as his tail disappeared into the darkness.
Crimson surrounded her in ribbons as she pressed the wounds closed and began to swim for the surface.At that point, she heard the ragged sound of water wheezing through laboured lungs.The little sound she made when she saw Akervel was embarrassing but proof of how she hadn’t thought she would make it.
That was the end of the video.
He forwarded it to himself and did the same with the other videos.
“Just today’s stuff.”
“Of course.I rarely get to see my beast from head to tail.”
“Oh, there should be a shot of me swimming along your length, almost.I had to go back to the boat.”
He smiled and handed her phone back.“I am going to have a chat with that shark.”
“He was just following instinct.I was flapping more than swimming, so it would have been natural to think I had been a wounded animal.”
“He will learn that you are not on the menu.”He stroked her hair with his fingers.“And now that your wounds are closed, we can rinse off the salt.”
She smiled and looked down at where the tentacles were slowly stroking, but her skin just had small white marks where the teeth had been.“Wow.I forgot they were touching me.”
He nodded.“That’s good.It is encouraging, actually.”
She smiled.“The shower is—oh wait, you were here earlier.”
“I was.”He walked over to the freshwater shower and stood with her as he rinsed her off.He slowly let her feet touch the cobblestones and washed the slime off her body.His hands were gentle and careful.When they were done, he lifted her again, walked over to where the robes and wraps were, and carefully dressed her before putting on his own wrap.
“How is it that you have a wrap when you get out of the water and then you don’t again?”
He grinned.“It’s part of me, like the tentacles.If I need it, it’s there, but this way, you get used to me, and I become used to restraining myself around you.”
She blushed.“Thanks for the restraint.”
“It isn’t easy.”
She laughed and balanced carefully, making her way over to the table, where a pitcher of juice was waiting.It took intense focus, but she poured herself a cup.
Meeda sat down.“This started out to be such a fun day.”
He sat next to her, and when she drank the first glass of juice, he poured another.The next was water, and they sat quietly, and she drank to replace what was lost.
Mia came out with food and said, “So, what the hell happened after you left?”
Meeda smiled and explained about meeting with the others, spending time chatting and plotting.And then the emergency call.
Mia turned to Akervel.“I thought you guys could all teleport.”
“No, it is ten percent of our population that can open gateways.Just like it is only one percent of your population to gain enhancements.”He smiled.“They just appear to be concentrating in specific places, like the city and here.”
“Oh, delightful.”Mia smiled.
“Miss, why are you not with a pack?”
