Chapter Four

First Contact

The island was even closer tonight, it seemed to be moving at an accelerated rate, though right now it appeared perfectly still. It was full of mysteries, and I longed to find them out even though I knew I shouldn't. I didn't belong there, I never could.

The beach was dark, desolate, there were no lights on in the castle windows, nothing stirred in the trees, or the thick sand reed patches that sprang up like the hair of half-buried heads. The wind made a haunting noise, moaning through the trees like lost souls. Fear and excitement mingled together in my gut, driving me to drift a little closer to the floating landmass.

I didn't want to get close enough to make the change, just close enough to watch for...for what? I shook my head, chasing away those nagging uncomfortable thoughts. There was nothing on the beach, nothing but the crash of the waves, and the eerie sound of the wind in the trees, I should go home, call it a night, reject the surface and every inhabitant thereof.

But I stayed, and I waited.

A light flickered to life somewhere in the thick shadow of the trees, a single luminous eye opening in the darkness. It came closer, growing bigger and brighter, until it emerged from the forest, held in the hand of a boy. He moved quickly and quietly, picking his way along the shoreline, casting a furtive glance behind him every few steps.

I didn't bother hiding, his weak landfolk eyes wouldn't be able to see me this far out in the surf, and I wanted to be able to see him clearly. Our kinds were so similar, and so different, even down to the way we moved. His body, while slender was far more solid than my own, less sinuous and flexible, he walked with quick, self assured steps, his knees bent, his calves flexed. What would it be like, I wondered, to have legs like those, knobby and strange though they were.

'You could find out,' said a small, treacherous voice in my head, 'just a little further now, and you'll know exactly what it's like,' I pushed it away, stifling a groan, my mind was being much too noisy today.

The boy began to slow from a trot, to a walk, to a stagger, his shoulders began to sag, his chest hitched up and down with shallow, uneven breaths. I squinted through the darkness, trying to see his face. I knew he was one of the boys I had seen before, but I didn't know which. I was reluctant to have those malevolent eyes turned on me again. He stopped and sank to his knees, hand fisted against his chest, I could hear him, a faint desperate wheezing sound carried on the wind. I dipped under the water and swam closer to shore, when I came up again, the boy had collapsed. He lie there, face down, not moving. My heart pounded in my chest and my tail lashed the water. I just wanted to see the island before it was gone! I hadn't asked for this!

"He-hey!" I called over the boom of the waves. He didn't answer, wind tousled his shaggy black hair. "Heeeeey!" his faced turned towards me, his eyes were closed and shadowed, his lips parted, but he didn't call back.

'Go back home, Nene,' a voice that sounded like Aoi's echoed in my head, 'swim as fast as you can.' even though this was very sound advice I swam even closer, feeling a disconcerting prickle along my skin. The tide was rising steadily, and if he stayed where he was he would be sucked underneath the water and drown. 'what business is it of yours?' that gentle, sensible voice asked, 'it's his own fault if he dies.' Even if that was true though, it wouldn't help me sleep at night. My hips began to hurt, a deep, drilling bone ache, I sucked in a lungful of air, breathing through my mouth rather than through my gills, which were sealing themselves shut. This was bad, potentially really, REALLY bad. I had come to the threshold that would decide the rest of my life. Turn around, leave the boy to die, return to life as I knew it, boring, but safe, predictable. Or, did I make the change, and save his life at great risk to my own life? This landboy who meant nothing to me, who I didn't know anything about, who's face would haunt my dreams every night for the rest of my life if I abandoned him.

My conscience won out in the end.

The tip of my fin brushed the sand, and pain bloomed from my pelvis and arched like lightning through my tail, I bit back a moan and struggled forwards, the waves overpowered me, crushing me against the shore, filling my mouth with sand. The salt water stung my throat and I coughed and spluttered, I found my self crawling on my hands and my...knees, only my fin remained, my tail had been cleaved neatly in half, and now my fin was crumpling into landfolk feet. I scraped over the sand until I finally reached the boy, scratched up and freezing. I collapsed, catching my breath, the boy turned his face towards mine and opened his eyes. As clear and golden as the dawn, there was no mistaking this boy for the one from before. It took him a moment to focus, he started at the sight of me and struggled into a sitting position, then sunk back down with a groan. I got to my knees, and leaned over him, tentatively brushing his wild hair out of his face.

"Wh-who?" he croaked, and then dissolved into a fit of coughing.

"I can go get help!" I said, sitting back on my heels, "where-where do I go? The castle?" The boy struggled onto his elbows, then bent over and spat a mouth full of grit out onto the sand.

"Who are you?" He asked, his voice was husky, broken up by the rattling sound in his chest as he breathed. I opened and closed my mouth like a stranded fish, trying to come up with some clever alias, or some way to slither out of the question, in the end I decided just to tell him the truth.

"I'm Yashiro Nene," I said with an impatient huff, "are you dying?"

He sat up a little more, wincing, but his peculiar golden eyes never left mine, "no," his voice was getting stronger, his breathing less labored, the color started to return to his face, his expression was sharp and inquisitive. He eyed me up and down, stopped, and covered his face with his hands.

"Why aren't you wearing any clothes!?"

"Clothes?" I looked down, I wore a woven linen shirt, salt-stiff and dripping, and a beaded band of leather around my hips, but other than that I was completely bare. I looked back at the strange boy, who was peeking through the slats of his fingers at me. "I don't need them," I said with a shrug, "you're strange," I said when he didn't respond, "looks like you aren't dying."

"Of course I'm…" he broke off, coughing into a closed fist, "of course I'm not." he refused to look at me, instead looking down at his hands resting palms up in his lap, "besides, you have no business calling ME strange, at least I'm properly dressed."

"And at least I'M not in danger of being drowned by high tide," I said, motioning over my shoulder at the waves that were slowly creeping closer and closer. He staggered to his feet, still breathing heavily and offered me his hand. I took it, it was warm, his long fingers wrapped around mine and he pulled me to my feet, my legs shook as I tried to support my weight, gravity pressed down on me like a living thing, and I fell back down into the sand. "I can't stand," I said, my voice shaking. He took a cautious look down at my legs and gave a little start.

"Your ankles are horribly swollen!"

"Oh, that's lovely," I said, deadpan.

"Were you shipwrecked?" he asked, "where are you from?" he stripped off his heavy outer clothing and held it out to me, "here, cover yourself with this." I took it from him, and tied the sleeves loosely around my waist.

"Can I hold on to you?" I asked, horribly embarrassed.

"Of course," he said, offering me his hand again, "come with me, I'll get you fixed up."