Song of the Ocean: Daughter of the Crestian Sea - Book One

Chapter Seven: A Night with a Human

The stretch of sand that Pelagius was leading us along began to drop into deeper waters, pushing Brunar and I farther from Grayson. He had to walk the darkened sandy shoals and rocky stretches behind Pelagius while we swept along through the waves. At least for me, it felt good to have deeper water beneath me so that I could actually stretch my fins and move with better ease. This meant, however, that I moved much quicker than Grayson's human legs could keep up with.

"Rinnaria?!" his questioning shout surprised me and I turned over my shoulder, floating vertical in the waters. "Rinnaria?! Where are you?!"

"Oh, jellyfish," I turned and swam back a little ways, bobbing up from the water again by some large rocks. "I'm here!" I waved my right arm in the rainy air.

Grayson appeared behind the rocks, looking over at me as Pelagius continued to waddle swiftly by. The pelican squawked at us both and hurried on with his wings out to his sides.

"I thought I'd lost you," Grayson confessed in relief as he looked down at me.

"The waters opened up," I explained, lowering my arm back to my submerged side. "It's much deeper and I can move easier. I'm sorry, I guess it's easy for me to go faster when I'm not being slowed down by sandbars."

"It's okay," he assured me, staggering over the rocks. He nearly slipped. "Whoa!"

"Careful!" I cried out, throwing my hands forward in some vain attempt to stop him from so far away.

He steadied himself. "I'm fine. The rocks are slippery."

"Humans aren't very graceful, huh?" I observed, lowering my arms and placing my hands on my swaying hips.

"Not in the wet," he agreed, then shrugged. "Some not ever. Is the shelter far? This storm's getting worse."

"I can see the opening," I pointed at the cave with my left hand. "But there's water all the way through it."

He shrugged and sighed as he turned his emerald gaze towards the cave. "Ah, well. I'm wet anyway. What's jumping back in for a little while going to hurt?"

I giggled. "You're kind of funny for a human."

"I'll take that as a compliment, beautiful mermaid," he grinned and winked at me.

I blushed at his words. "Beautiful? Really?"

He just laughed. "As if you didn't know. Now come on. Before the winds rip us into the waves."

Thunder cracked and lightning struck new purple light across the dark sky as he continued to navigate his way towards the cave opening. I followed on a little more slowly, being completely conscious to move my fins beneath me at an angle rather than behind me. Letting my arms stroke the waters out from my chest made it easier to be leisurely.

I watched my strange new human companion as I followed him. I still couldn't help noticing that resonance I'd felt when my voice touched his essence; that strange fire within that spoke of a magic far deeper than I had felt in a human before. And his compliments... I blushed again as I swept up beside him.

We paused together just outside the cave as Pelagius took flight inside. The pelican flapped his wings and vanished into the darkness as Brunar followed by the waterway flowing beneath.

"It's awful dark in there," Grayson noted as he - what is that word humans use again? As he lowered himself with bending legs to sort of stand and sort of sit, but not really do either.

"It really is," I agreed nervously, grasping onto the rocky ledge he was on, my shoulder up like a guard towards the dark. "I'm not really fond of darkness."