Listen to the Water | FULL SERIES | Wattys 2022 Shortlist | ✔

(15) Message and Messenger

Diving Sami. Taiki doesn't say more, probably because Seiko is here, and you never know how much children are following your conversation. I am struck by a sudden, intense desire to protect this child. It's irrational, and untenable, but something about being the only one they go to strikes a chord in me. Maybe I just want to feel special again. Or maybe it's something else. I don't care.

Seiko must have been swimming hard just before this, or maybe they just woke up. Either way, they're tired, and gradually drift off to sleep in my lap. I risk another glance at Taiki. For the first time, I notice a smudge on his cheek. An injury? I catch his attention and mimic it. His hand rises to his face, finds the spot, and wipes it off with a vague thanks. It's mud. Heavy, clay mud of the type found compacted beneath silt seafloors.

He went back to somewhere that has silt?

My mind jumps to the drop-off we stayed on while I recovered from the shark attack. Unless my sense of direction and knowledge of island-chain geography have abandoned me, that is the only silty place he could visit and return from in the day's time he was away from the tribe.

What was he doing back at Telu?

I tighten my arms around Seiko. A hundred options spring to mind, but I try to give him the benefit of the doubt. Maybe he forgot something there, or went back to scout the place himself. If he's so keen to help me, I wouldn't put it past him. And the rest of the tribe didn't seem concerned that he was gone. Either he was up to something shifty and just gave them a good excuse, or they trust him enough not to be concerned.

I look up as my tail registers a flick in the water. Taiki stiffens. He's in front of us in a heartbeat, and my hand goes to my dagger as something ahead glints in the light of Taiki's suddenly-blazing hands. The head of a giant fish emerges from the darkness. It's as tall as my torso, flattened from the sides, with low-set eyes and a small, downturned mouth. Taiki gasps.

"Don't hurt it!" he signs.

The fish twitches sideways. Past its head, a silver, grey-freckled body like a thick strip of fish-hide circles us, propelled only by the mesmerizing ripple of an orange fin running the length of its back. Its head is dressed with regalia fit for a sun-dancer: a tall, orange plume, and thin streamers that start behind its chin and trail away into the water. Even when it has swum a full ring around us, its tail is still emerging from the darkness. I have a distinct feeling that the fish is watching me. For a moment, we lock eyes, brown on silver. Then its head turns back into the darkness. Its tail continues to circle us, growing gradually smaller, until its tip opens the ring and peels away like the last strip of skin off an overripe fruit.

Taiki drops an arm's length in the water when it's gone. He struggles to recover, breathless with reverence and hands already stumbling. I have to reach out and grab his wrist to make him slow down and sign legibly.

The first word off his hands is a mystery to me. Great start.

"The Seers' messenger!" His face is shining. "It was huge, too! Why did it visit us? They only visit when they have something to bring!"

"Taiki, I don't understand a word you're saying."

He bounces on the spot. Mystery-sign makes a second appearance, emphasized. "The fish that the eel Kels of the First Days appointed as their messenger with the Seers in the"—Shalda something-something. "They almost disappeared when the eel Kels did, but the stories say there are still some roaming the Shalda-sana, looking for the ones who appointed them. And sometimes they carry messages for Andalua. A"—mystery sign—"was there when"—Rashi only knows—"fell, to warn the eel Kels, but they didn't listen—"

I rest my forehead on the top of Seiko's head. Rashi help me. "Taiki."

He's progressed beyond his ability to make sense. Instead, he grabs my arm and attempts to drag me back towards the rest of his tribe. I resist long enough for him to realize I've still got Seiko on my lap. He jets circles around me instead as I gather up the child. Then he blasts away. He's in the middle of the tribe by the time I arrive, his hands tumbling over themselves. I pass Seiko off to a tribe Kel as Taiki shoots over to seize me again.