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The land.
It was still there. She swam alongside the reef, looking for a good place to pass through it. The tides were different from last time, and the reef was closer to the surface. She caught sight of the structures on the land, and renewed her efforts to pass through the reef. She had to get a closer look.
She found a spot where the natural barrier was only sparse, and darted through it, sending dozens of tiny fish fleeing from her approach. The water quickly became too shallow for her to swim fully upright, and she was soon horizontal, her belly almost touching the sand. She floated in the shallows, observing the stone structures from a distance. They were definitely buildings, albeit not very well maintained ones.
But how had they gotten there?
She moved slowly along the shoreline, floating on her belly with her back out of the water. Her hands gripped the sandy floor of the ocean as she used them to pull herself along. It was a strange and pleasant sensation, feeling the coolness of the sand between her fingers at the same time as the warmth of the sun beating on her back. And the water itself was luxuriously warm here, warmer than she’d ever felt before.
Something floated toward her on the surface of the water, and she eyed it warily. She hung back as she studied it, but it didn’t appear to be alive. Hesitantly, she reached out and picked it up. It was round, like a pearl, but much larger, and brown. And although it was hard, it had a rough, almost hairy texture to its surface. She rapped on it with her knuckles, and it made a knocking sound. Taking another look at the land, she noticed a profusion of similar items growing on some of the tall plants that protruded from the sand. This one seemed to have fallen and ended up in the water. She gave it a sniff, her interest piqued. It smelled good…perhaps even edible. She stashed it in her satchel for further examination later, then continued to wander in line with the shore.
Her restriction chafed her the further she went. If only she wasn’t confined to the water. She was sure she’d be able to pull herself along the dry ground in the same way she was pulling herself through the shallows. If only that wouldn’t cause her to dry out, that was.
Looking up, her heart leaped at the sight of a passage of water that jutted into the land up ahead. She hurried toward it, still pulling herself by her hands. The tall green plants hung over it, coming all the way out into the water. The water was slightly deeper at the entrance to this passage, and Merletta dove below again for a moment. The plants continued underwater, and she approached one with interest. It wasn’t green under the surface, but brown. And it was hard and solid, unlike a kelp tower. It was so solid, in fact, that it didn’t even sway with the water.
Merletta frowned as she ran a hand along its rough surface. It was familiar, but it couldn’t be…
She snapped a piece off with an effort, staring at the short section in her hand. It was driftwood. An untreated version of the driftwood staff she’d been using as a weapon in her training for the last two days. But how was that possible? Driftwood was a product of the sea, coming from the deep ocean and floating up to the surface, everyone knew that. It didn’t come from land.
Just like there are no intelligent creatures on land bar dragons, a voice in Merletta’s head said grimly. Just like floating too long on the surface will dry you out.
The thought swirled uncomfortably inside her. She had long ago gotten past her outrage over the lies she’d been told at the charity home. But the Center was a different matter. That was where she was supposed to get answers. And the suspicion growing inside her now—that the inconsistencies between what she’d seen and what she was being taught were not errors but intentional untruths—was much more unsettling. It made her feel adrift in the open sea, like she had no point of foundation.
She opened her kelp satchel, stowing the short length of driftwood—or just wood, she thought dryly, since it hadn’t been adrift at all. Then she once again let her head break the surface, dodging between the wood-plants, which above the waterline were covered with green leaves, as she made her way down the passage. It was taking her away from the structures, but her excitement still grew as the water allowed her to travel further into the land.
The passage soon opened up into a large circular mass of water, lined halfway around with the strange, solid plants. The part that wasn’t overhung with them was lined with rocks below the water, but above the water gave her a clear view into the green heart of the land. To her excitement, she could even see a glimpse of one of the stone structures through the leaves. She swam toward it, her hands pulling her over the rocky surface once the water was too shallow to properly swim through.
“Look at this, Reka. I think there’s a lagoon through here.”
Merletta froze at the sound of the unfamiliar voice, her head whipping back toward the deeper water. Had someone followed her? Her first instinct was to pull herself out of the water, so they couldn’t see her, but she mastered it quickly. She had no desire to dry out.
“There is a lagoon! It’s beautiful.”
Merletta turned her head back toward the rocks, confused at the direction the voice was coming from. It sounded like it was on the land, but of course it couldn’t be. Did the water continue further than she’d realized? She hovered, still frozen on the surface, not sure which direction to flee.
“Do you think it connects to the ocean, or is it just—”
The words came again just as a figure emerged from the green. Merletta’s heart stopped beating at the sight before her, and her eyes grew wide. For a moment she was incapable of moving, her gaze riveted to the creature before her. Her eyes traveled from the ground upward, her heart beginning to beat again, except at double time.
A shudder of half fear half fascination passed over her as she realized that the creature’s strange hide was a covering, and the skin underneath was just like a merman’s, pale like Emil’s, or Jacobi’s. The coverings were rolled up at the arms, and she suspected that if they were removed altogether, his top half would look exactly like a merman’s. That is, if a merman could float upright with no tail and out of the water.
When she reached his face—for the creature was a he, judging by his voice—Merletta started involuntarily. She’d been so lost in her examination of the strange arrival that she hadn’t even realized he’d stopped speaking abruptly. It was evident now that he’d done so because he’d seen her just as she’d seen him. His eyes were latched on to her head and shoulders, which protruded from the water, and he looked almost as startled as she felt.
“Hello,” he said, breaking the silent standoff with a voice that was unexpectedly gentle. “Do you live here?”
Merletta just stared at him, her mind totally incapable of forming any coherent thought. What was she seeing? Was she dreaming, still fast asleep in her hammock at the barracks after all?
“I don’t mean any harm,” the creature said quickly. “My name is Heath. I’m so glad you’re here. I was hoping to meet the people who live on this island.”
Merletta blinked. Island? Is that what this land was called? And he thought she lived here? A strange and unexpected longing rose up in her. It would be a beautiful place to live. She wished she could be like him, free to wander the surface of the land, instead of bound to the water by her scales.
“Heath?” A gravelly voice, altogether different from that of the creature before her, emerged from the green.
Merletta’s eyes darted toward the sound, and she suddenly regained control of her limbs. She had no desire to be seen by yet another strange creature. She started to shuffle quickly backward across the underwater rocks.
“No, wait, please don’t go!” Heath said, extending a hand as he took a few steps toward the water.
Merletta paused for a moment, her eyes finding his. For one long heartbeat she was held in thrall by his eyes. They were so much like hers, as if he was one of her kind, instead of an impossible, mythical creature. But she heard his unseen companion approaching through the trees, and with a last glance at the first creature’s impossible form, she dove below the water, swimming as swiftly as a marlin toward the familiar safety of home.
