Stolen Scales

Chapter 19

Alai turns to look at Kyma. "Are you ready?"

Kyma grins. "Of course!"

With a laugh, Alai dives beneath the surface, and Kyma follows giddily. Once her eyes open beneath the surface, she stops swimming and stares in amazement. She is no longer distracted by the thought of escaping Dr. James as she had on the way to the island, permitting her to now see the beauty of the undersea world. Left and right were schools of brightly colored fish, with some of the larger schooling fish being chased by merrows with sharp-looking spears. Kyma watches in fascination as one of the spear bearers impales a fish and stops swimming, pumping his free arm in jubilation. Kyma laughs before quickly closing her mouth to keep from swallowing any water. She keeps swimming, and almost immediately swims through a school of tiny yellow fish.

Their tails and fins brush against her cheeks and arms, causing her to squirm slightly as she swims due to the ticklish sensation. She finally breaks through the other side of the fishcloud, only to see Alai floating there. Her hand is held over her mouth and she is trembling slightly. It only takes Kyma a moment to realise that Alai is desperately trying to hold in laughter. She narrows her eyes at Alai, but that only prompts her to laugh harder. Kyma sees a trail of bubbles leave Alai's mouth and trail up to the surface, followed only a moment later by Alai herself. Kyma follows after Alai, confused, only to find Alai sputtering on the surface.

"Alai, are you all right?"

Alai holds up a hand, still sputtering and coughing. She finally takes a breath of air, inhaling deeply. She nods shakily at Kyma.

"Yeah, I'm fine. I just inhaled some water while I was laughing. Not fun."

Kyma grins. "It serves you right for laughing at me!"

Alai sticks out her tongue at Kyma. "You're the one who swam through a school of Yellowtail Snappers!"

Kyma grimaces. "It's isn't like I did it on purpose, I didn't know they were there! How could I?"

Alai stares at her, dumbfounded, before bursting into cackling laughter. She manages to fit words in between her fits of laughter. "How . . . did you . . . not . . . see . . . a school . . . of . . . bright yellow . . . fish?!" She finishes her sentence with a gasp and finally stops laughing, tears pouring down her face.

Kyma frowns at her. "I was watching some merrows hunt. One of them was particularly excited about his catch."

Alai grins. "Ooh! I hope it's a Hogfish! They are absolutely delicious!"

Kyma laughs. "What are we actually going to see? You never told me, and as far as I know, I can't speak underwater."

Alai's grins grows even wider, if that were possible. "We are heading towards the underwater city, we are currently in the reefs."

Kyma nods. "Then lead the way."

Alai dives beneath the waves and Kyma grins broadly before following her down. She spirals down to the bottom of the reef and skims her fingers along the sand before giddily shooting back up to Alai. Alai grins at her and shakes her head in amusement, causing Kyma to grin back and leap out of the water before diving back down. She darts around excitedly for a few more moments before falling into pace beside Alai. Alai grins mischievously at her before darting off, twisting around in the water to give a beckoning motion. Kyma grins and laughs to herself before following with Nami and Fala on her fins. She spirals around and between schools of fish and groups of merrows, the latter of which shake their heads in amusement at the group's antics.

As Kyma swims through the turquoise waters and gazes down at the sand and coral below, she spies something glinting in the sand. She swims down to it curious, and picks it up with caution due to it being half buried in the sand. Once it emerges from the pale gold sands, she realises that it is a silvery knife, inlaid with mother of pearl on its hilt. In the pocket left behind by the knife as it emerges from the sand, Kyma spies a glimpse of something dark. Before it can be buried, she reaches her free hand in and pulls out a palm-sized charcoal gray pouch. She reaches her hand in again and pulls out another object, this one a sheath, likely for the original blade. Kyma darts back up to her friends, who have stopped in curiosity. Alai looks quizzically at Kyma's hand until she opens them to reveal her find.

Once Alai sees the knife, let alone the pouch, she starts moving her hands rapidly. Kyma stares at her in confusion, Alai not yet realizing that Kyma doesn't know much, if any, of the silent merrow language. Finally, Alai notices Kyma's expression of confusion and does another movement, this one much slower. She is motioning to her side, and Kyma realizes that she wants her to stow the objects away in her bag. Kyma quickly pries open the bag and tucks the objects inside before closing it again. Alai nods in satisfaction when Kyma finishes stowing them away and holds a finger to her lips for Kyma to stay silent. Of course, they are underwater, so Kyma suspects it is partly so that she doesn't speak about it on land and partly so that she doesn't show anyone else. Kyma nods to show that she understands the message and Alai flicks her tail, starting the swim once more. Kyma follows, still confused as to why she has to hide the knife, but willing to trust Alai's judgement on the matter for the moment.

________________________________________________________________________________

Why do you think Alai wanted Kyma to hide the knife? What's in the pouch? Tell me your thoughts! One of you just may be right! Happy reading, and I'll see you next chapter!

~Goddess of Fate, signing out.