A small songfic inspired by a song I heard recently, The Old Ways, by Loreena McKennit - but due to account removal threats, I'm forced to remove the lyrics, but, to ensure you know which lines are inspiring each section, I'll put line numbers at the top.

I know, I've been completely lazy and not updated anything recently, but I'm having a R&R month after my exams and college interviews, and I've spent a wonderful time simply reading and doing a teeny bit of writing when my brain would've exploded otherwise :P

This story could happen inside or outside my Found Out storyline, doesn't matter. But a context point in this is that Jennie (Saph's mum) remembers her and Saph's spirit-dream, so knows about Ingo for this story.

So, enjoy :)

Lines 1 & 2

The music pounds in my ears, entrancing and unbearable. Why does Ingo continue to mock me, now that I'm trapped on dry land? Why did Mum have to do this, though she knows the allure of the sea just as well as I do?

"I'm doing this for you Sapphy," she had said "you've got to give the Air a chance. Stay till you have some qualifications, so you've something to fall back on if, well, if you go, and for whatever reason want to come back later."

When I'd calmed down, I had understood the logic, but at times like this – with the sirens of the waves singing so beautifully, so enchantingly – reason crumbled away, leaving me unprotected from the call of the waves. I whimper a little at the whispers of freedom the waters gives me, shivering as the sea air washes over me, lifting my hair from my shoulders and trying to tug the Mer blood in my body in the direction of the shore.

I shake my head and stand my ground, folding my arms resolutely and resolve to only gaze at the ocean, not dive into its depths.

Lies 3 - 8

"You miss it, don't you?" I ask him, watching that handsome figure flinch a little in surprise where he sits on my bed, looking out of my window.

"Of course I do, I miss everything about it," his eyes glaze over with memories and a small smile lights his face "the plants, the seals, the dolphins, singing with the water making every note perfect – I sound terrible in Air – and more than anything I miss Elvira."

A stab of jealousy courses through me, threatening to choke me, Elvira, it's always Mer women that men put first, before Mum, before Rainbow, before me.

"Come away to Ingo, where love no care ne'er trouble thee." the seas of the world whisper seductively, the breath of cold air sending a shiver down my spine.

"It's calling you." He states with utter surety, but still I nod in answer. "Ingo never sings to me anymore…" he continues sadly, wavy hair falling over his face, masking the pain in his eyes "Moryow hates me for shunning it."

"Go back, see Elvira, you're not trapped here like I am."

He snaps his head up, eyes flashing angrily "No, I'm not, but I promised I wouldn't leave you."

"I'm giving you permission."

He shakes his head "Regardless, I'm staying here – Saldowr told me to until you'd made up your own mind, otherwise I might influence you."

"You've already influenced me." I answer, standing to close the window, for a moment I pause, captured by the hypnotic rise and fall of the waves and my longing to be in amongst it all.

I hear him sigh at the same time as I do, and it strikes me just how in sync we are, perhaps even beyond the bonds we've formed after all our adventures together.

Lines 9 - 12

"Congratulations Sapphy!" Mum exclaims upon glancing over my exam results, B's (or its equivalent) all around, except for my Photography course, in which I received Distinction* for my project on coastlines.

"Mum…" I say slowly, readying myself for disappointment.

"Yes?" she answers hesitantly, studying me with water brimming in her eyes.

"Can I go down to the cove? To say goodbye I mean, cos he's leaving today, to find Elvira."

"Sapphy, I'm not so sure that's a good idea, I know we'll all miss him to bits once he's gone, but you know he wouldn't want you tempted like that."

"But Mum! Please!" the Mer blood in my veins is storming through me, roaring like the waves in a tsunami, demanding I go to Ingo, now. The sensation of urgency drags the breath from my lungs too fast, causing me to feel ore than a little light-headed and forcing Mum to lay a hand on my shoulder to steady me.

"Shhh, Sapphy-darling, calm down. I know how much he means to you, and how close you are – like brother and sister." Mum grins at the joke, whereas I frown because she's wrong. He and I are more than siblings, more than anything my simple human mind can grasp, we are bound to one another forever – he told me so.

"Mama," I beg "please, what more do you want me to do?"

Mum freezes at the title, I'd stopped calling her that the day Dad left "Take Sadie with you." she pleads "If she cannot keep you here, nothing can." but her words carry the hidden meaning that she will not come herself, because she's almost certain of what the outcome will be regardless of whatever she sends after me to keep me here.

I turn my gaze to where Sadie sleeps on the living room rug, she's getting old now, over nine years old, which is quite good for a Labrador – I know it will destroy me when she's gone, which is just another factor into what makes my choice so hard. Do I hurt her by leaving, or let her hurt me by doing the same, if in a far more permanent way…?

I hug Mum and rush over to whisper a few Earthen words – that Conor taught me – into Sadie's dozy ear, telling her of my eternal love, and how I will miss her, and how sorry I am, and lastly the reason I must go.

With a quick kiss to Mum's already tear-soaked cheek, I flee the house and race down to the cove, moving so fast to catch up with him, for I can no longer enter Ingo alone.

I scream his name from the clifftop, see his lithe body twist in the water to glance up at me and wave in sad farewell, wiping – my heart skips at the idea – tears from his face.

Lines 13 - 16

He was going to leave me without saying goodbye. The thought burned my heart, how could he do that to me, when he promised never to leave me, to always come back?

I scramble down the clifface and across the large stretch of sand in a flash, faster than ever before, not able to bear the idea of letting him get any further from me than he already has.

"Don't you dare!" I yell furiously, rage making me ignore my body's lack of breath.

He winces, those gorgeous eyes hidden but perfect teeth revealed in a grimace "Sapphire." he ventures, trying to reason with me.

"No! Don't 'Sapphire' me! It's not going to work this time!" breathing past my fury, I replace it with disappointment "You can do puppy-dog eyes all you wanna, but you are not leaving me behind."

"Sapphy, you belong on land, you'd be miserable if you were in Ingo forever."

"I'll be moreso without you here." I murmur, forcing him to come closer so as to hear me.

"You'll be fine without me, you've got family, your friends, Sadie, a whole hoard of admirers from college – what more could you want, what can Ingo give you that Air cannot now?"

I didn't even need to think about that answer. Once upon a time I might've said the freedom, or the music, or the finding reason for myself – but now? Now it is none of those things, yet all of them, because they all sum up into one answer, of one word. "You."

"Sapphire." he whispers, reaching out a hand to cup my cheek as I wade towards him, my legs tingling in the chilly water.

Lines 17 - 24

A volley of harsh barks break into the moment. I turn to see the shape of Sadie stood atop the cliff leading down to the cove.

"Sadie!" a female voice comes from behind the exhausted golden dog, promptly becoming the panting form of my mother, who, upon seeing me in the water beside him, bursts into cascades of tears, flopping to her knees.

I watch her in sympathy, only sad that I must continue to be a disappointment to her, but almost as if reading my mind, my mum shakes her head and cups her hands to her mouth so that I can hear her, although her tone is gentle as a lullaby "I'm proud of you Sapphy, love you baby."

With that, Mum stands, taking Sadie's collar and leads her away, stroking the old dog's head soothingly.

Tears finally begin to drip across my face as my loved-ones disappear from sight. I can't understand why I'm crying, I'm getting something so much better, I'm getting the whole ocean, all the seas across the world are mine to explore – with him at my side.

"Sapphire, it's not going to be the same, I won't be able to call you 'little sister' anymore, your father's gone to Limina, there's nothing for you here. You should go home."

Lines 25 - 28 (repetitions of 1 and 2)

I smile weakly at the loving concern in his green eyes, embracing him and feeling the cool non-humanness of his newly-returned tail against my now-aching shins. He holds me tight, but not so much that I struggle to breathe, a consideration not many think of when distressed.

I kiss his cheek, feeling the wet brush of his hair trail across my nose in a calming coolness that inspires the strength to answer him. "That's what I'm doing Faro." I murmur, entwining our hands and diving into the never-ending song of Ingo, becoming just another voice in the sea of thousands of Mer.

But, as long as Faro's and my voices are together, I am home.

Maybe if I get some love I might work on the next Found Out chapter faster (wink wink nudge nudge hint hint :D)
But, just to inspire you, here's a teaser!

He's – I'm fairly certain it's a he, since it's bare-chested – holding the item like it's fragile, and that is exactly how he should be treating such a beautiful thing! The petite shape's curves and angles catch the light in the cave (where is it coming from anyway?) and flash brilliantly in a halo, just as one of my dreams deserves when it becomes a faintly possible reality.

He's wandering away to a human (is that even the right term for any of us?) man, who's holding another of my fantasies made real…

"Rainbow." I interject into whatever she's saying.

"Shush! No names remember!"

"Okay, Seven Colours, I need to go, a higher force is calling me."

She turns to try and spot what I'm speaking of "'Higher force'?" she asks in confusion.

"Yes, truly, it is one of the highest powers in the world to me." I whisper, trying to stop my voice growing weepy from both happiness and the tint of grief the object brings to mind.