Chapter 24: Sunny Beaches
Author's note: The wheels of The Literator's creative process now turn more slowly than they once did, but he gets there eventually. And he has now surpassed the 50,000 word mark. The beginning of the chapter will be put on hold while the readers marvel at this accomplishment.
…
Okay, are you done with the marveling?
Then here we go…
Zelos and Elpida winched in their wings obediently. Sure enough, within a handful of minutes, a few Lezareno employees and hotel staff came down the beach. Lloyd recognized the two in the lead. He turned to face them, crossed his arms, and let his face darken.
The two, Jeff and Tom, stood a bit shame-faced. Finally, Jeff said, "Uh…I'm sorry, Sir Knight. I forgot to tell you about the effects of the mermaids' song."
"You oughta be!" Lloyd snarled. "We only won because we got lucky! I almost—" he cut himself off, and glanced guiltily at Sheena.
Jeff coughed uncomfortably. "Ah…we feel we owe you for this so…a few nights' stay at the hotel and, uh, anything else we can do for you?"
"We came here wanting a vacation and a day or two at the beach," Lloyd said in a more reasonable tone.
Jeff looked out at the expanse of the beach. It had an almost festive air to it, with little pieces of red and orange and purple scales scattered here and there…they were certainly hanging around. "Uh…can you give us a day or so to clean up around here?"
Lloyd nodded. "You still owe us," he said flatly.
"Right…just go up to the hotel while we get this cleaned up."
The a storm rolled in with the night. The group passed the time in their own ways—wandering around the hotel, watching the rain and talking, or, in the case of Athan and Elpida, shopping for bathing suit, courtesy of the Lezareno company. The weather cleared by mid-morning of the next day, and the hotel announced that the beach was open for the public again.
Lloyd, Sheena, Zelos, Raine, and stood in their swimwear, waiting for the others. The three had been very surprised when Zelos came down, grinning happily. They'd figured he'd keep away from the beach due to his eye; the swelling had gone down but the lids and surrounding skin were still a terrific shade of blackish-purple. Apparently, the lure of sun, surf, and sand could overcome even the former Chosen's vanity.
Ribs came down first, wearing his full outfit. As he explained, he didn't have anything to tan, he was unable to swim, he wasn't bothered by heat, and, anyway, people would be uneasy with an animated skeleton stretching out with them.
Next was Elpida, humming a cheerful little tune. Her bathing suit was a bright orange two-piece. Zelos gave a wolf whistle at the sight. "Lookin' good, my lady!" he said flamboyantly.
Elpida held out her arms and twirled. Indeed, she looked good. Her time out of the caverns underground was giving her skin some gilt, and it was apparent that Elpida was well-proportioned for her height—like she was somehow scaled-down rather than short. "Thanks, Fred! I got orange so it'd go with your wings." She appeared to notice Zelos' swimwear for the first time. With an appearance of complete innocence, she asked, "Shouldn't you be wearing a boy's swimsuit instead of the bottom half of a girl's?"
Zelos, nonplussed, fumbled for an answer. The others watched with some amusement; they'd noticed that Elpida's mix of almost-certainly-feigned-innocence and bubbly childishness was one of the few things that could throw the man off balance. Lloyd hid a grin, and noticed Athan coming down from the elevator.
The monk, for the first time since Lloyd had met him, was wearing something other than his pants-and-sash. His swimming trunks were bright red, with a print of white tropical flowers. Lloyd heard Sheena say playfully, "Hey! Look, everybody! Athan actually has legs!"
Elpida immediately turned to look. "They're good legs, too," she said critically. "And…what's this…?" She squinted slightly at the monk's legs, then squealed, a sound impossible to describe properly with conventional vowels. "Oaaeeohw! YOU HAVE DIMPLED KNEES!" She hugged the monk, giving him a quick peck on the cheek. He had the grace to look embarrassed.
"Come on!" Lloyd said impatiently. "Let's go!"
The beach held no sign of the slaughter that had occurred on it the previous day—the cleanup crews were professionals. People were on the beach, laughing, swimming, sunning, and doing the other assorted activities appropriate to a beach.
Zelos, noticing a couple of passing beauties, tried a smile out on them. One of them noticed him, then noticed the black eye, then broke out laughing. Zelos' look soured. "Thanks a lot, Lloyd," he grumbled.
"I said I was sorry! Anyway, you were choking me!" Lloyd rubbed at the bruises on his neck; they were already beginning to fade, unlike Zelos's adornment.
"Yeah, but you ruined my face! How can I pick up chicks with my visage marred? I look like a barroom fighter…"
"You're the one who wanted to come on the beach today…Why don't you try soaking your head? Isn't sea water supposed to be good for injuries?"
Zelos brightened. "Hey! That's right! Excuse me, Lloyd, the allure of the great Lady that is the sea is calling me into her healing embrace…" And he was knee-deep in the warm water before he realized that Lloyd's suggestion was possibly not as innocent and helpful as it had sounded. He tried it anyway.
Lloyd was left alone. He surveyed his friends for a while. Ribs had settled against a wall at the back of the beach; Lloyd bet himself that the skeleton's pencil, paper, and slate would be in use within five minutes. Sheena and Athan were talking—Lloyd noticed with a smile that Athan, exotic as he looked, was attracting some female attention from the ladies on the beach. Elpida had gone right up to two young women tanning, stretched out beside them, and started talking to them like she'd known them for years; only she could get away with that, he felt. And Raine…
Lloyd focused on his former teacher. She was standing well away from the water, and casting the occasional nervous glance towards it, like she was concerned that it might creep up on her. Lloyd had an idea. It might be good for Raine to finally learn how to swim…and he could imagine a way to get her out in the water.
He casually walked towards Raine. When he was near her, he cleared his throat. "Nice day, isn't it, Professor?"
She started, having been in some private world. "Oh…well, the sun is rather harsh."
"I bet you the water would feel great."
"Ah…no, thank you, Lloyd…I'll stay up here"
"C'mon, Professor Sage…you don't have to go out deep…just get your feet wet."
She gave him a crooked smile. "If it'll stop you from badgering me, I'll do it."
She walked beside him down into the water. With only a moment's hesitation at the water's edge, she splashed into the sea. Lloyd led her out until they were about knee deep.
She risked a smile. "This does feel nice, Lloyd."
He nodded. "Told you." Now he tried his ploy…"Professor, are you excited about going back to the Monastery?"
Her eyes lit up. The odd thing was how it really was a change in color for the brighter. He knew it happened when she went into Ruin-mode, but now the thought occurred to him that he didn't have the slightest idea how it could happen. For once, he wished he'd paid more attention in school. "Oh, yes," she breathed. "All that knowledge…"
Lloyd risked a step further out into the sea as he said, "It is pretty cool, them having books and stuff from before the Ancient War." Raine unconsciously moved to keep level with him.
"It's more than that, Lloyd, it's marvelous! Think of the things we could learn from there!" Her eyes were practically glowing now.
Lloyd had her hooked now. He took a couple of steps further out. "I wonder what all the orders there study," he said innocently.
"Biology, and medicine, and magic, and who knows what else! We could ask Athan. He's sure to know," Raine said. They were now well into the water. "Why this sudden interest in academics? It's not usually like—" Raine glanced down at the warm sea water she was up to her waist in. She turned an amused look at Lloyd. "Very clever, Lloyd. I assume for your sake that this isn't just a prank?"
Lloyd gulped at the veiled prediction in that statement. He knew he could easily win a fight with Raine, but the idea of seriously fighting his former teacher was unthinkable, whereas she had never shown any hesitation in throwing an eraser at him or dinging him one on the side of the head. He said quickly, "I'm sorry, Professor! I just thought if I could get you out into the water without you thinking about it, maybe you wouldn't be so afraid. I thought…maybe…I could teach you how to swim?"
A laugh escaped Raine. "Sheena's right…you can be sweet."
"Wha…? Sheena talks about me?"
"Of course." Raine gave him an unreadable smile. "So…you want to be the teacher for once? Fine, consider me your student."
It took a moment for Lloyd, still worried by the idea of Sheena talking about him without his knowledge and who-knew-what she was saying, to catch up to that statement. "Wh—okay, uh, Professor, have you ever learned how to float?"
"Ah, a direct question to baldly assess your pupil's grasp of the subject matter. Not a bad technique. And, no, I do not know how to float."
Lloyd had a very strong feeling that this would be more tedious than he'd thought. It was a sensation not unlike sinking.
Lloyd did a decent job of teaching, considering that Raine kept up a running commentary of how he taught. It would have been easier for Lloyd if she had not, certainly. As it was, he taught her to float within a few minutes. She found it a very apt example of buoyancy and comparative density, and had no qualms about letting a good lungful of air keep her afloat.
She was not so enthusiastic about moving through water using muscle power. Within a half-hour, he'd discovered that Raine could not stand to be underwater. She was relatively fine floating on top of it, but the thought all that depth under her distracted her while she tried true swimming. Then she'd lose the rhythm of her stroke, and she'd sink a bit, and that would send her into a panic and would continue flailing until Lloyd pulled her up.
He taught her a basic dogpaddle and, after an hour of her experimenting in shallower water, swam beside her out to where it was almost as deep as Raine was tall. She managed to keep her head until they were heading back to the beach, and when she finally panicked, the water was only up to her chest.
"Professor, you did really great!" Lloyd congratulated her as he pulled her upright.
She pulled her sodden hair out of her face. "Thank you, Lloyd. This has been a very educational experience." With an attempt at some dignity, she spat out some water that had gotten into her mouth. "Now I think I'll go onto the beach until we go back to the hotel."
Feeling oddly proud of himself, he watched her wade to the beach. Unfortunately, he was not looking the way he should have been, and proved an easy target for Sheena and Athan. He felt hands grab his arms, and turned his head--to see Athan grinning at him. "Hey! What are you—blubglubablub…" he said as they picked him up and dunked him. He came up, soaking wet and his hair flopping weirdly. He glared at the two as he blew water out of his nose. "That's not fair!" the swordsman accused when he could talk, "I couldn't see you coming!"
"You weren't supposed to," Sheena said sweetly. "You're not supposed to let your guard down, anyway."
"Want to help me get Zelos?" Athan offered with a grin.
Lloyd's face cracked into a similarly evil expression.
The two left Sheena and began sneaking up on Zelos, who was standing some way out in the water, watching the women on the beach with a morose expression on his face, a hitherto unheard-of combination.
The only warning he got was Athan saying quietly in his ear, "You might want to hold your nose." Then he felt himself being pulled down--then he heard the complicated noises of being underwater.
He came up spluttering and cursing, his long mass of red hair hanging in unattractive straggles. "You bastards! What was that for?"
"You were looking so sad…we had to give you a quick dip to wash that look off," Lloyd said with his idea of an expression of angelic innocence, which made him look like he had an itch he couldn't reach in the middle of his back. "Besides, think of how much good that saltwater did for your eye."
Zelos, profoundly unamused, glared at him. "I ought to choke you…again!"
Lloyd winked at Athan before answering Zelos. "I take it you want a matched set? You could always say that Sheena was beating up on you."
Zelos deflated a bit. "Okay, okay…I'm sorry I said that."
"Speaking of Sheena, want to help me get her?" Lloyd said. He was going slightly insane with the dunking thing.
"Hell yeah!" the ex-Chosen said.
She was floating in the sun-kissed water, apparently not paying any attention to the rest of the beach. They were only a few yards away when she said, "Don't try it."
Unsure, the pair looked at each other. Sheena spoke again. "Yes, I really did know you were coming, and, yes, if you try to dunk me I'll give you both a black eye." Now she opened her eyes and got her legs under her. "But we could all try to get Athan."
Now there was a challenge…Lloyd turned to look along the beach, to where the fighting monk was watching the people on the beach. He nodded.
The three, grinning evilly, advanced on the monk, expecting this to be a quick surprise and an easy mark. As for Athan, he took no notice of them—until they sprang. Then he turned, caught Lloyd, threw him into the water, pushed Zelos over, and dislodged his sister from his shoulder, and likewise ejected her away from his person.
The people on the beach began to take notice of the fight. Athan's sheer strength was more than carrying the battle, as he could toss them away easily.
Up on the beach, Elpida watched with a critical eye. Finally, she said to her two new friends, "Excuse me, Sybil, Sherry…" She stood up, brushed some sand off, adjusted her bathing suit, and then ran down to the water, emitting one long, drawn-out scream, even after she got so deep in the water that she had to wade slowly.
She came down to the battle, and jumped onto Athan's back, one arm around his neck, one under his arm. "GET 'IM! PULL HIS LEGS OUT!"
Athan turned his head to look at her. "Elpida…you're five feet tall and not bigger than a minute. Do you really think you can be that much help to them?"
She said in his ear, "Yep."
"How's that?" he asked smugly.
She bit his shoulder.
"OW! HEY!" He performed a frantic dance, trying to dislodge her. "NOT FAIR!"
…Whereupon, Lloyd and Zelos each took one of his knees and pulled hard, so his legs folded under him.
Everyone on the beach applauded.