"Inventing the Future"
Author's Note: Another Jaming/Meredith chapter up ahead. Pau and the Shigura are coming up soon!
"Chapter 41: Afternoon Swim"
"Here!"
Something soft and red sailed through the air, and Jaming caught it easily.
He held the bright red pair of swimming trunks that Meredith had just tossed him at arm's length, looking at her as if she had just suggested that they run naked through a crowded shopping mall. "What am I supposed to do with these?"
"Put them on your head." She rolled her eyes. "What do you think you're supposed to do with them?"
Jaming hastily set the garment down on the table beside him and turned back to the blueprints, waving her over. "Here, tell me what you think of this. I thought we might have a frosted glass skylight in the bathroom, and...what are you giggling at?"
Meredith dutifully approached him and peered over his shoulder at the paper. "How evasive you're being. I do like the skylight idea, though. Are you sure there's enough time to finish the house, though?"
"Oh, yes," he nodded, "We can move in before it's completed, if it comes to that. Unless you don't want to, then there's always the garage. I practically live in my garage as it is, so...Oh, wait, you probably won't want to spend too many nights in here. You're so sensitive to smells these days, and it always smells like oil in here. So, moving into the house before it's finished might be the way to go."
He didn't say it in a judgmental way, and she didn't take it as such. He frequently voiced his thoughts aloud as they came to him when he was with her, and she was used to it. She settled her hands on his shoulders as she stood behind him. "You're thinking in circles again, Jaming. I actually like it in here," she sat on the neighboring stool. "The oil smell doesn't bother me. If it smelled like apples, on the other hand..."
Jaming had learned that the hard way. Meredith had come in a few days ago when he was drinking some apple juice, and she'd had to run out again. "Well...the plans are almost finished. I can begin work on the house this week."
"You mean 'we'?" she asked pointedly.
He was afraid she would say something like that. Sighing, he shook his head. "We had some minor close calls when we built the garage. Construction sites are dangerous, and now...I don't want to take the risk of having something happen."
He expected Meredith to argue, but she didn't. Instead, she picked up the pair of swimming trunks and held them up by the waistband. "I'm pretty sure these are your size. What do you think?"
Jaming bit his lip as he scrutinized the garment. "Yes, they'll fit, but what if someone sees me?"
"They'll assume you're going for a swim," she told him as he reluctantly took the trunks from her.
"Meredith, I don't mind when you see me wearing less than I usually do, but I don't want anyone else to..." he blushed and looked away. It would be different if he wasn't the same shade of blue as a piece of turquoise! Meredith didn't usually pressure him to do things he didn't want to do, so he found it odd and rather annoying that she was doing it now!
"Ah, but that's the thing," Meredith gave him a rather secretive smile. "No one else will see you. Not where we're going."
"We are?" he raised an eyebrow. He couldn't deny that he was becoming intrigued, though. It occurred to him to wonder exactly where she went on the days he didn't see her. Those days were few and far between now, but there was the occasional odd afternoon when she would tell him she planned to go off for a while.
"If you're open to it. Remember when you once asked me where I find the Luna Stone shards I sometimes make jewelry out of?"
"Yes...why?"
"Well, I thought you might like to see it." she shrugged.
"What is 'it'?" Jaming was almost laughing now. "And why do I need a swimsuit?"
"It's an underwater cave. Luna Stone shards occasionally wash into it, and I like to go there to be alone. No one else knows about it. Nothing goes in there. Well, except for me and the occasional fish."
"You're not going to tell me you can sprout gills at the drop of a hat, are you?" he lightly swatted her shoulder with his swimming trunks. The fact that he was being playful meant that he was actually considering it.
"No, you'll see. If you're in, that is." she took the trunks from him and tried to put them on his head, but he gently batted her hands away.
"All right, all right," he finally agreed. "I suppose I could take a break. For a little while."
"That's why I suggested it. We might not be able to find much time to go there later on. You can wear that underneath your clothes, and no one will even know you have it on."
Jaming raised an eyebrow as she pulled the collar of her shirt to one side, showing him the strap of her own swimsuit, and he burst out laughing. "How did you know I'd agree to this hare-brained scheme of yours?"
"I didn't."
"Hm. Well, lock the door and I'll draw the curtains. The last thing I want is for someone to walk in while I'm changing..."
She grinned as she went to lock the door, and she couldn't pass up the opportunity to tease him. "Cool, a free show!"
"Oh, stop..." He tried to sound annoyed, but he was grinning too.
Meredith led Jaming to the stretch of beach that lay to the left of the docks, and he saw that she was bringing him to the tunnel of rock that was rumored to be haunted by the ghost of a soldier who had died protecting the place. As always, he felt a chill as he and Meredith walked through the tunnel, one that had nothing to do with the constant shade.
People tended to avoid that place, not because they thought it was dangerous, but because they found it to be so damned eery. Meredith didn't mind it, and Jaming had seen so much in the past few years that a haunted cave hardly bothered him at all. He was actually relieved, because the odds of someone coming along and spotting them had just dropped considerably.
"How far do we have to walk?" he asked her as they emerged on the other side, adjusting the half-empty pack he carried. Inside were two towels for drying off, two pairs of diving goggles, and a lot of empty space for clothing storage.
"Not far," she told him, "Half a mile or so."
"And you're sure no one knows about this place? Just because people usually don't go in the tunnel, that doesn't mean they never do." he pointed out, squinting as the Veniccio sun beat mercilessly down on them.
"People occasionally do come this far, but it's rare. And I'm positive no one knows about the cave." She shielded her eyes with her hand.
"Unless someone's nearby and listening in," he said dryly.
"Not if they have a life and things to do."
Jaming saw that they were approaching an area with a lot of enormous rocks, many of which were out in the water, and some of them would have made the Death Ark look like a child's toy boat. "Is it one of these?" He asked, and when she nodded he went on, "How far will we have to swim?"
"Not far. If you can hold your breath for thirty seconds or so, you'll be fine. I've seen you hold it for longer when we had that stupid little contest," she nudged his arm and pulled her shirt off over her head, revealing the bright green one-piece bathing suit she had on under her clothes. "Okay, we're here. Ready?"
Jaming tore his eyes away from her to scan the area, and when he was satisfied that they were alone he set down his pack and began to strip, rolling up his clothes for easy packing. "As ready as I'll ever be. Let's hurry, before someone comes by and sees us..."
Meredith took the pack when he had closed it, and hid it in the ferns before turning back to Jaming. He stood with his arms folded primly over his bare chest, looking extremely uncomfortable. She held out a hand to him, and he took it without hesitation. His goggles pinched a little, but at least he would be able to see where he was going when the time came. They waded into the ocean, swam several yards out, and when Meredith nodded to him they dove beneath the surface.
Since Meredith knew where they were going, Jaming let her lead the way. The water was incredibly clear, and if they hadn't already had a goal in mind, he wouldn't have minded lingering where he was to admire the view.
Not more than ten feet beneath the surface, he could see a large hole in the nearest rock, and Meredith was frog-kicking her way into it. He followed her, trying to ignore the slight feeling of claustrophobia as he entered the cave. His lungs were beginning to burn. Sunlight from outside lit their way for the first several feet, and then another kind of blue glow took its place.
'What is that?'
All along the bottom of the underwater tunnel, tiny specks of Luna Stone dust winked back at him. He followed Meredith along this strange path, and the next thing he knew the cave banked sharply upward and widened so that he could no longer touch the walls. Before he had registered this, he had broken the surface and drawn in a whooping gasp of cool, salt-smelling air.
Meredith removed her goggles and hung them on one of the dull spurs that jutted from the inside of the cave. "You okay?"
"Fine," he panted, taking off his own goggles and looking down. The blue glow from the Luna Stone dust illuminated the strange cave like the light of a candle, and he could clearly see their feet as the two of them, lazily treading water, caught their breath. "I'm fine..."
"Good," she smiled, "Look up."
Jaming did as he was asked, and his breath caught at what he saw. Dim as it was, the light still reached all the way to the roof of the cave. The movement of the water's surface caused it to shift and distort, throwing light and shadow here and there in a vivid display. He could see why Meredith liked to come here sometimes. This place was beautiful.
She trailed the backs of her fingers down the angular plane of his cheek, and pressed her forehead against his when he lowered his head to look at her. "Like it?"
"You've been holding out on me!" he playfully accused. "It's lovely. But...how is it that the air is still breathable if you come here as often as you say? Shouldn't you have used up the oxygen supply by now?"
"Oh, that's easy. The tide's in at the moment. When the tide goes out again, the water level goes down, and a bit of the cave is visible from the outside. That's how the air gets in, and that's how I found it in the first place. It's not visible from the land, only from the ocean. I wasn't holding out on you, though." she kissed him, then vaulted up onto a rocky shelf that made a pretty good seat. "I was just waiting for a good time to tell you."
He vaulted up beside her, dangling his feet in the water, and chuckled. "You know, if I knew there was a place this cool around here...temperature-wise, that is...I would probably spend most of my time in here!"
"Nah, you'd get bored too quickly." Meredith saw that he was staring at her, and she began to feel self-conscious. "What?"
With almost childlike amusement, Jaming smiled and took her hand. "Look."
Meredith blinked as he held up his hand beside hers to compare them. With the light from the Luna Stone dust, there was no distinction at all between the colors of his skin and hers.
He grinned, trailing his fingers up the bare skin of her arm, leaving goosebumps in his wake. "We're the same."
"So we are..." She was going to say something else, but when she met his eyes she forgot exactly what it was. That was the last thing either of them said for quite some time.
The water level was beginning to drop when Jaming and Meredith emerged from the cave and found the beach still deserted.
"What was that you said about me getting bored too quickly?" Jaming asked with a sly grin. "I found our little outing to be quite stimulating."
"Shh!" Meredith slapped his shoulder as she glanced around. She smiled as she wondered where his concern about getting caught had gone.
"Now who's looking around to make sure we aren't being watched?" he laughed as he retrieved their pack and handed her a towel. The two of them dried off and dressed, chatting and joking the whole time, and for a while Jaming was able to forget about the immense amount of pressure he had been under during the past month.