Chapter -96: Brine of the Sapphire Sea
"Aquamoria. Ain't any other place I'd rather be than fishin' 'ere on the bright, blue sea!"
It was the middle of the afternoon. The sea sparkled and the fish were bitin'. Brine had plopped himself down deep along the dock with a few other fishing chums and spent time reeling in a few slimy catches.
It was mating season and the fish were flowing inward to lay their eggs. He was thinking about what'd it taste like to eat a few of those eggs all wrapped up in grilled kelp, and the salivating expressions he made nearly cost him a couple bites.
He was doing well. Could be better, but he didn't whine about it aloud.
Larger biters were still a wee bit troublesome and required a few jousts of his trident to get them to settle down when they hit the dock.
Sometimes...they jousted back.
"Oi! Oi!" Brine hopped around on both feet to get away from a nasty silverfish with a huge, blade-like nose and thrust his trident to keep it away.
The fish got away by bouncing off the side of the dock, but not without a scar above the eye. Brine ran to the edge and any good fishermen worth their salt would've dove right in to catch their prey.
He couldn't though. The sea was as deadly as it was beautiful to him. He dropped his trident to the ground despondent and let out a sigh.
"Lettin' another one escape?" One of the fishermen a few feet away remarked.
Another beside him stood up with a harpoon in their hand and teased him, "Don't worry mate, I'll catch 'em!"
As he dove straight into the water the other fisherman and Brine both laughed in different tones with Brine quickly throwing his hand out and saying, "Ye ye, laugh it up. Ya couldn't spear a clam stuck under a rock let alone that feisty fella!"
He dropped on his butt with a smile and picked up his rod to resume fishing. A few minutes later he was reeling in a different, less resilient catch while the cocky fisherman came back empty-handed.
"Heh, told ya, chum!" Brine said, being playful over rubbing it in his face.
The fisherman spit out a tooth and then sat back down to fish himself, "C'mon mate, ya ain't a child anymore, get over yer fears already."
"Ha!" Brine patted the special lure attached to his vest, "I ain't gotta prove my sea legs to be a better fisherman than the both of ya."
The two fishermen looked at one another and started whispering, then turned back to Brine with a snickering look on their faces.
"Ya thought about challengin' yer teach yet?"
"What?" Brine sputtered, but upon giving it a little thought could confidently say, "Eh, I'd probably give her a good run for her pearls."
He was unaware of her shadow looming overhead as he said all this.
"Is dat so, boy?" Lulu's cocksure tone sent a shiver down his spine.
She pinched her hand down atop his shoulder and held him until she was visible out the corner of his eye and giving him the coldest tone he's heard in his life, "We could go right now if yer done feelin' yerself."
Brine looked to his bucket to affirm his confidence and with none of his catches being close to his size he had to give her a very deflated, "Nooooo thank you."
She patted him twice and loosened her grip, "Atta boy."
She then stood between him and his chums and looked out towards the sea with her arms crossed and a distraught look on her face.
Brine reeled his line in and murmured, "Somethin' up, teach?"
Lulu glanced at him briefly then pulled back to shake her head, "Eh, forget it..."
She threw her hand down then turned and walked away. Brine saw her off and then rolled his eyes back to think.
"Her spirit's been dampened ever since the Fire guys attacked a month back," Brine then wiggled his shoulders and smiled, "I know, I'll cook 'er up a meal tonight. That oughta put her spirit back on the burner!"
As the sun was beginning to set he made his way back to shore with his bucket on one shoulder and all his other tools in the other. The tools jiggled around and slipped out too many times to count...
He eventually arrived over at his parent's shop and plopped everything done in one spot. They were closing up for the day and his mom, bless her soul, was handling all the work herself cause his dad had a bad back from an incident involving an anchor and a bag of clams.
"Evening guys!" Brine shouted.
"Ah there's my boy!" His mom shouted.
"And look at all that fish!" His father followed, trying to get out of his seat only for his back to deliver swift and sharp vengeance, "Oooh...!"
"Dear, quit being so chipper to move." His mom said.
His dad rubbed his back and slipped out the side entrance with a chuckle, "I'm gonna be a crusty old man before that ever happens!"
He then slowly stiffened upright and joined his son in looking over the catches of the day.
"Wow, yer getting better every day, son!" His father squeezed him up against his body and patted him on the back.
"Aw shucks. This is hardly a pittance, dad." Brine said, mildly embarrassed.
The two's little father-son bonding ended and Brine looked him in the eyes to ask, "Hey, can I borrow the flint rod tonight?"
"Gonna cook these up?" His father said excitedly.
His mom popped up behind the stand and shouted with more excitement, "OH! Didja finally find yer soul matey?"
Brine blushed and let out a dry chuckle, "No mom. I'm doin' this for teach."
After stashing the rods in the back of the store his mom turned around, clapped her hands clean and then said, "You should just marry her already. Yer old enough for her now."
"I-I couldn't do that, she's my teach." Brine said with sincerity.
His father turned around and propped his knuckles on his hips, "The two've been at each other's hip since he was a wee skipper, dear. She's practically his big sister!"
His mom slapped down on the stand and announced, "That just makes it better! She's already part of the family!"
"Mom..." Brine groaned.
"Look," His father came to his defense, "Our boy'll reel in a fine catch when it's time. He's a good fisherman, he's witty, charming..."
He made a brief glance his son's way and remarked, "And he's got his old man's good looks."
"Heh," Brine chuckled, "Hopefully that don't come with yer back problems."
His father slapped him on the shoulder and burst into laughter while presenting him proudly, "See?! That's our boy!"
But while his parents were chattin' up a seastorm Brine's thoughts were already drifting away towards the subject of love.
"I ain't got it in me to tell 'em...My heart already belongs to a special kinda gal."
Brine went and chopped up the sealife into chunks, fried them in the big fire and then wrapped them in dried kelp with a scrape of sea salt for flavor.
It was a tasty treat for him and his family but his best effort to cheer Lulu up floundered at the goal line.
"That's the best I can do for her," He later thought to himself as he ventured out for his nightly dock trip, "Can't be lettin' myself get too down in the drips. A little late night seagazin' should perk me back up."
He took only a fishing rod and his bare essentials to the very end of the docks and sat down, the full moon shining sapphire in the night sky with the sea accommodating it's presence with a sparkling display of lights.
It was just him and the calm evening tides, what else could a man ask for?
He wasn't a greedy man but on nights like these he wished for a little more, and knew it'd be delivered.
He gave a little lean and gripped the edge of the dock, the sole audience in what'd be another captivating show.
Moving with such grace the water could not pull her down was a figure with long, glistening green hair with strands twirled at the sides of their face.
They seemed to be wearing a swimsuit with a parted ruffled skirt fit for dancing. And dance she would.
Under the spectacle of the stage she'd been given, she'd move like the water at her feet, fluid and flexible.
She could dash across the sea and twirl dozens of feet into the sky, spreading the glittering droplets through the air, only to land and turn back around to do it all over again.
She made use of the sea in her every movement and it spiraled around her frame out of respect for her beauty.
And Brine never stopped to look away. She was the envy of his eye, a true beauty spoken of only in the childhood tales of mermaids.
"Yer hair's like a glimmerin' algae pearl, and the way yer skin shimmers with the moon's light..." He sighed, wishing for his thoughts to be spoken.
He stood up and took his fishing rod out, casting the line all the way towards the figure on the sea as they reached a final pirouette.
His hook landed on the strap of their clothes and he reeled them right in. They twirled along the way, leaping off onto the docks with a shimmering geyser splash in their wake.
Brine took his hands out and caught the dancer and held onto them tight...
But alas, it was but a dream.
"A great dream..." He smiled and sat back down with the rod plopped down at his hip, pressing his hands upon his cheeks.
"Maybe...that's all it needs to be." He said, a simple but effective lie to himself.
He took one look down at the sea, then bridged the gap between himself and the dancing beauty. He then closed his eyes and sank into a brief fit of depression, letting out a sigh.
"I'd give up all the fish in the world just fer one chance to meet her eye-to-eye and tell her how much I appreciate her."
He wanted to ask for help. Surely someone else besides Sarajin would believe him.
"But it'd ruin the magic." He told himself.
This was for him to enjoy. Spoiling it outta greed would just be selfish.
He was already damaging it by thinking over this in the first place. He clammed up, and watched over the rest of the proceedings.
The dancer finished with a new flourish, rising up atop a geyser surrounded by smaller fountains. Then they leaped up and dove head first into the geyser, splitting it down the middle into a pair of shimmering wings.
Brine stood right up and his expression was floored greater than when he first saw them dance.
As the show ended and the sea was silent, Brine found himself smirking and getting nostalgic, "Has it been over ten years already?"
It was deserving of a celebration but the best Brine could do was pretend he had a salty malt in his hand and gesture it towards the sea with a smile.
"To ten more, my lovely lass."
He then picked up his things and headed back to the shore ready to tuck into bed for the night. He stretched his arms up high and worked out the kinks.
But one foot off the docks and he felt a little itchy around his chin, "Mmm, beard's gettin' a wee long again. Gonna need to give a good shave!"
So he detoured east towards a rock formation shaped like their Titan breaching the water's surface. It had plenty of pools of water riding up the back but more importantly, it was the habitat of the sharp-shelled clams.
With any luck he'd find half a shell lying around in the sand to shave his beard with.
He hummed a sea shanty while minding his own business near the ebbing tides, being careful to avoid their snare.
"Hmm?" He suddenly found himself enticed by a peculiar dark blue glint in the sand a few feet away.
When he went to pick it up he saw it was made of thick glass but only as big as his thumbnail.
"Ain't ever seen a pearl like this before," He moved it around and with a smile said, "It's pretty though."
He tucked it away in his vest and as he began to stand back up, he heard the splashing of a figure coming ashore but unbeknownst to him, would find himself directly in front of them.
...Or rather, in front of her.
Long, glimmering algae hair. Skin perfect for reflecting the moon's light. A swimsuit and a skirt of light-blue frills.
As he was staring into her silver-clad eyes he lost his voice in the moment and looked like a guppy taking in air.
She was real. Very real. And her beauty was even grander than a dream could imagine.
She had a lean-build and long, slender legs with dried seaweed covering the space between her knee and ankles, and a pair of light-blue sandals.
A pair of green belts crossed her splendid waist pointing more towards her left hip. She wore four light-blue bracelets, one near the shoulders and the others on her wrists.
Beneath her modest chest was a row of dark blue beads with one clearly missing.
But her eyes. He had to keep going back to her eyes. Any gem, any pearl had the right to be green with envy if they looked upon those beauties.
They hosted a timid and stunned look that fit the cautious demeanor they were slowly taking in his presence. They brought their hand before their chest and wormed their fingers around, taking a couple steps back into the water.
By the time the sea had swallowed up her ankles, Brine snapped back to attention and extended his hand out to shout, "W-Wait...!"
In the blink of an eye the lady turned and threw herself into the sea, speeding away with trails in her wake.
Her brief expression of panic before she turned would be one that'd haunt Brine's thoughts that night as he'd go to bed.
But first, he stuck there for a few minutes after with his hand in the air, wondering if that was even real...
He didn't get a good night's sleep for the next week or so from staying up late with that lady's pretty eyes stuck in his head.
He'd go out to that same spot late at night and sit down waiting for her to pop out of the water again, but she never came.
His fishing skill floundered a little but everyone passed it off as him having a bad day. How badly they'd envy him if they knew the truth...
He soon stopped his bad habits and figured it must've been a little late night insomnia affecting his mind.
Yet...it felt so real, so intimate. Even if it was all a dream, would it be so bad to repeat it again and again, and enjoy it for all it's worth?
And that little gem. Wasn't it proof enough he wasn't crazy?
He had no one to turn to for help. His parents would tease him a little and his teach would tease him a lot. Not that she didn't have enough things on her plate as is...
At least that'd change soon. Thanks to him and his new buddy from Tanglefae, Carmine, they were able to solve a pending crisis involving the subtle poisoning of both their homes.
Since then the two Tribes have been working to straighten things out and hopefully, give them a better chance of survival.
This put a lot of pressure off of Lulu's shoulders at least, so Brine felt comfortable worrying about himself for once.
One morning he sat in his leafy hammock with the pearl in his fingers and his mind still adrift in that beautiful dream.
With a heavy sigh he curled the pearl into his palm and laid it against his chest, then pulled himself out of the bed.
"Mmm, I wonder if Carmine'd be able to help." His stray thought led to him breaking off his usual routine to go to the west side of the shoreline.
Carmine was on his knees atop a bed of leaves and shade over his head in the form of a bigger leaf. He had his weird habits for sure.
Right now he is helping new palm trees to grow. The two leaders had decided to make a miniature forest, and the once emptied creek now flowed like a river from the sea.
It'd take a few years for this all to flourish but it'd lead to far more productivity in the fishing department.
Brine walked up to Carmine and shouted a pleasant, "Mornin' chum!"
Carmine flinched and then laid a hand over his chest with a shake of the head. He then stood up with a smile and remarked, "A good morning to you too, Brine."
"Hey, ya know anythin' about dreams?" Brine threw out.
Carmine brushed his fingers out and said, "A little bit. There's plenty of plants that can affect the subconscious' influence on our perce-"
Brine was blinking rapidly and thus with a kind gesture Carmine smiled and said, "We can make ourselves dream."
"Oh really?" Brine perked back up with interest, "Do they only work on yer people?"
"I think a nose is the minimum requirement." Carmine said with a straight-faced look in his eyes.
The two paused and looked at one another in silence before Carmine spoke up with a more perky smile, "That was a joke."
"O-Oh, sorry," Brine said, "I'm more of a pun guy."
"A fungi?" Carmine replied.
"No, a pun g-" Brine looked at Carmine blushing a little and then snapped his fingers at him, "Ah, that was a good one, mate!"
He then shook his head to get back on track with a sense of desperation to his voice, "Anyways, think ya could help me dream?"
"What for?" Carmine said, grabbing his chin.
"Ehhh..." Brine clammed up, realizing that in the heat of the moment, he was getting a little too antsy to jump right in.
After a bit of flapping his fingers around like a beached trout he gestured them all at Carmine and asked, "Swear ya'll believe what I have to tell you."
"It's not in my nature to not believe a friend." Carmine responded cheerfully.
After raising his spirits back up Brine decided to tell Carmine about his history with the mysterious dancer and their brief encounter some time back.
Carmine held a great deal of interest and motioned to the vine on his shoulder, "Ividae, has Coralcea ever mentioned a figure like that?"
The vine wiggling around caused Brine to utter a puzzled, "Yes? No?"
Carmine shrugged, "They haven't discussed her."
Brine rubbed the back of his head and felt a little faint as he looked up at the sky, "So was I just dreamin' them up this whole time?"
"Hmmm," Carmine was doing his thinking thing again, "I don't think so."
"Oh? How come?" Brine wondered.
Carmine gestured towards his vest and Brine took it as a hint to pull out the pearl he picked up and keep it pinched between his fingers.
His expression then twisted up in confusion, "This pearl?"
"Yes. You picked it up, that means the person is rooted in reality."
"So it's not possible to bring stuff back from dreams?" Brine received Carmine's shaking head as an answer. With a spat of disbelief Brine then crossed his arms and muttered, "Well drat, and here I dreamt of a tasty grilled shark last week..."
"Ha ha ha." Went Carmine, his laughter as quiet as the leaves on his body.
Brine then whisked his hands out and muttered, "So just to be sure, I'm NOT going crazy?"
"No. The girl you've been watching is real."
It was a sentence that punched Brine in the heart and slowly took the wind out of him, "Wow..."
His body trembled a little as his heartbeat resumed, fluttering against his hand as he laid it upon his chest, "She's real...S-She's...actually real."
"So what do you plan to do now?" Carmine wondered.
Brine looked at him with a cheeky smile and whispered, "Has yer heart ever felt a certain way when ya look at someone?"
Carmine stared blankly and Brine looked at his chest with a weightless feeling inside of him, "Yeah..."
He squeezed his fist then walked up and gave Carmine a couple pats on the shoulder, "Thanks a bunch, chum."
Carmine silently smiled and saw Brine walk off with his spirits high.
"Now I know what I gotta do. I gotta try and see her again. Even if it's just one more time. I wanna look her in her pearly eyes and tell her what I feel."
His elevated heart rate carried him through the rest of the day, where he did some of his very best fishing, much to the pride and delight of his teach.
He was steadily approaching the time of the month where the lady would dance to her heart's content out on the sea.
And he would be there...Waiting, hoping that she would make another appearance.
His anticipation was at a peak as he sat upon the docks the destined night. Moon shining bright, the fresh sea air at it's best.
The stage was set. All it needed was it's dancer to take the stage.
There was a bit of nervousness setting in when some time passed without them making an appearance. But Brine stuck to his hunch and rested his hands on his knees, gripping them tighter and tighter.
And then...she arrived.
Still beautiful, like a figure straight out of his dreams. She stood in the middle of the water and the moon shone down on her hair, making it glisten with a radiant sheen.
She waited for a pronounced span of time before she made her first move. But when she did, there was no stopping her.
She was in constant motion, gliding along the water's surface in loops to cause water to erupt in a brief but sparkling display.
She then hopped through the droplets and landed upon each center, whipping her leg around to splash water throughout the sea.
She was weightless to the whims of gravity and her body breathed new life into the night sky. She was to create a work of art through dance, and make it all her own.
How could anyone not be inspired watching her?
But it went much further than that for Brine. In no unspoken terms he felt they were tethered together by fate.
So curse his weak guts for not stepping out onto the sea right this instance and saying what he wanted to say.
But her dance was so beautiful, it didn't bother him for long. He sat there until the end, and then the lady disappeared into the sea upon taking a final bow.
Brine's heart skipped a beat and he hopped onto his feet and made a run for the beach without a second thought towards the stuff he left behind.
Panting, heavy breathing, all for the sake of fulfilling this dream of his...
He ran onto the shore with only the sounds of the ebbing tide able to eclipse his heartbeat. And there, he waited once more, in the exact same spot they had their fateful encounter.
Seconds become minutes, but while the waters swayed his body did not. Yet there were no signs of the lady with the silver eyes.
Was this one more trick of the mind? Did he ever have that conversation with Carmine about this? Maybe he was just a hopeless fool...
The only thing holding him up was the tiny pearl in his hand, and if that's all it'd take to give him hope then he'd clutch it like it was his last precious breath of air.
But there was a limit to anyone's patience, and the further out the tides subsided the more he began to have his doubts.
His head and arms went limp and with a heavy sigh he started to drag his feet back home for the night...
"E-Excuse me...!" Cried out a voice delicate in tone.
Brine shivered and turned around, standing within distance of the lady of his dreams, fresh from the water.
The moon's rays were guided towards her presence, giving her silver eyes a lovely but timid sheen. She had a hand down behind her and another extended part way towards him.
Brine's pupils shrank and he was caught floundering on what to say. The lady averted her eyes and turned away, then slowly looked back. She too was at a loss for words.
Eventually someone had to speak up and the lady took it upon herself to be the braver of the two.
"Ummm...Were you waiting here for me?" She asked.
Brine hopped in place and then tossed his head around all over the place. With a couple clicks of the tongue he looked at his right hand and got a spark of inspiration.
"O-Oh right!" He extended his open hand towards her to reveal the pearl, "I wanted to give this little beauty back to ya."
"Oh!" The lady gasped and then hastily ran on over, grabbing the pearl out of his hand and clutching it close to the chest. She then glanced at him from out of the corner of her eyes and murmured in a barely audible tone, "T-Thank you..."
A sudden flush of pink in her cheeks made Brine's heart tie up in a knot.
She pulled away like a slippery eel and latched the pearl back onto her dress using her body as cover. She then turned back around and with a meager smile she whispered, "Well...goodbye!"
And thus history repeated itself, as Brine said nothing while she ran towards the sea and dove right in.
Only when her body splashed down did he snap back to reality and shout "W-Wait!" yet again.
He was left throwing his hand down and grumbling in frustration, "What were ya thinkin', Brine? AUGH!"
It was enough. He had his chance and flopped harder than a shark on the docks.
He was about ready to just drag himself into bed and fall into a deep slumber...
"W-Wait a minute!"
He stopped right there and turned back around, and there she was. Not a dream, but his reality...
Her whole face was flushed pink and she was breathing steadily like it was a strain for her to come back.
But she held herself steady and grinned with her eyes shut. It looked difficult for her to hold it down but it was the prettiest smile Brine had ever laid eyes on.
"I-I'm sorry for running off like that." She said, her voice soft like the sea at night.
Brine shook his head and sputtered out, "T-That's alright. You looked like...you were in a rush."
"N-No, I'm just..." The lady threw her hands down before her waist and fidgeted in place, barely managing to speak up to him, "Not...very good around strangers."
"R-Really?" This came as an utter shock to him, but the best cure he knew for a little timidness...
Was to hold out his hand and greet them like a friend, "Well. The name's Brine Aqua."
With a natural smile he saw the lady's eyes light up and it made him want to grin, "See? Now we ain't strangers no more."
The lady's smile grew and she extended her hand out as well to whisper, "Tor-"
"Mmm?" Brine murmured.
She raised her head a little higher and said, "Torren. My name is...Torren."
Her smile stayed together all the way as she said with the utmost sincerity, "I'm happy to meet you...Brine."
Next Time: Like Ships in the Night