I Go Willingly To Face The Spray

The magic lingered in the air as she stood, surrounding her face.  “I cannot leave the oceans for long,” she whispered.  “I only take this form to see your world.  It is a world I have spoken to myself of in the middle of the night.”  She shook her head.  I reached out to take her hand, quieting my heart as I did so.

“Our words are only powerful when others hear them.  In the quiet of the night, when we whisper to ourselves… there is naught there.”  I bowed to her then, and she smiled at me.  She released my hand.  “I release you to the sea… there you belong.”  I smiled at her as I turned away, but she did not return to the sea.  She followed me.

“And yet, for now I will walk willingly among the land-dwellers,” she said.  I looked at her with an amused sort of half-grin.  She smiled at me, placing her arm around my shoulders.  A shiver went down my spine; I did not feel uncomfortable, as the shiver was not a cold or uncaring one.  “After all, you’re a curious bunch,” she said.

I laughed; that had to have been the most unusual thing she had ever said.  Then again, she was an Oceanid; they spoke strangely and of many things.  Always wise in the ways of the world, always curious, always ready to show a poor mortal how things were in the realm of the gods, provided they like the mortal.  I had been one of the fortunate; overturned in my boat, she kept me safe until I could return to the surface.  Now was the time for me to repay her, by giving her sanctuary in the Mortal World.

For several days, she explored the city, always at night returning to the ocean she called home.  Every sunrise, I would wait for her, and as she showed I would go with her, showing her the cities and the orchards, the fields and the marketplaces, the smithies and laborers’.  I saw her, in her land-dwelling form, as naught more than a companion.  Her true beauty lay in transition, and in the waves.  That was her true self, the person who had found me when I was stranded, who had saved me when my boat capsized and I thought all lost.

One day, as I walked the beach, a dryad of the palms, who I knew to be her friend, came running up to me.  “Mimikles, Mimikles,” she said, “I have a question for you.”  She looked up at me.  “What do you think?” she asked me, a slight tease in her voice.

“Of what?” I asked.  “Of the mountains?”

“No, of the ocean, and of her spirit,” said the Dryad.  “What do you think of them?”

“She is a kind, beautiful soul, and I am not ashamed to admit it,” I said, smiling.

“Mimikles, you’re avoiding the question,” said the Dryad, as though I was teasing her.  “What do you think of her?”

I could not speak; words had abandoned me.  “I’m… not sure,” I finally whispered.  The Dryad grinned slyly at me.

“I see,” she said.  “I won’t ask further.”  And with that, the Dryad walked away, leaving me to ponder.

The next day, after a long day spent searching (and finding) many things, a cat I knew quite well came to talk with me.  “Hello, Mimikles,” he said.  “How are you this fine night?”

“I’m doing well,” I said, looking up at the moon and the stars in the sky.  “Just looking at the sky, Lunekos.  And you?”

“I’m fine.  Listen, Mimikles, the Oceanid has been looking for you,” he said.  I turned to look at him.

“Truly?” I asked.  “Why?”  Lunekos shrugged, as best as a cat can.  I noticed his tail fidgeting, and so I said, “Lunekos, why is your tail twitching?”

“…I can’t say,” said Lunekos.  “I want to say why, but I can’t.  The Oceanid made me promise… and I always keep my word.”  I smiled.

“As cats always do, I know.  I was just curious, no need to worry.”  I scratched his ears.  “Not even a little hint?” I asked.  Lunekos shook his head.  I sighed, but stayed up a little while with him, talking about planets, magic, and the power of words.  Soon, however, I had to sleep.

I woke late that afternoon, wondering where I was.  I had forgotten that I had gone home, instead of falling asleep at the lakeside – a habit I had gotten into many times.  As I walked into town, a form walked beside me.  “Greetings, Mustelikos,” I said, and he grinned at me.  “How are you today?”

Mustelikos laughed.  “Just fine, Mimikles, just fine.  Say, the Oceanid was looking for you.”  I stopped dead in my tracks.  Mustelikos looked back at me.  “Mimikles?”

“That’s strange…  That makes, you, the Dryad, and Lunekos,” I said.  “Is there something going on?”  Mustelikos grinned slyly.

“I could tell you… but I won’t.  I told her I wouldn’t say anything.”  I sighed in frustration.  “Don’t worry, Mimikles, it’s only good, I feel it.”  I nodded.  The day continued without event, though I kept looking for the Oceanid, not seeing her around.

The next day, I finally saw her.  I was on the beach, gathering dragon teeth lest some foolish adventurer decide to plant them and grow and army.  As I looked up, there she stood, facing the sea, standing on the beach in human form.  I walked over and tapped her shoulder.  She spun around nervously, and I smiled comfortingly.  “It’s only me,” I said.  “I heard that you were seeking me?”

She nodded.  “Yes…  how are you, Mimikles?” she asked.  I smiled at her.

“I’m fine, and yourself?”

“Fine,” she said.  “Just fine.”  She looked down for a moment.  “Mimikles, I…  I have something I want to say…  But I’m afraid.”

“You can say anything,” I said, not realizing the power of the words I’d chosen.

“I… well, that is, I… and you… um… and emotion…”  She looked away.  “Do you understand?”

My brain stopped for a moment.  “You… and I?” I asked.  “As in…”  She nodded, and I took in a breath.  “…I’m not sure yet,” I said, “but I think… but…”  I hugged her.  “At least this much.”  I smiled at her nervously.

“You know that if you agree, you must enter the sea… for I cannot always be on land,” she said.  I nodded.  For a moment, my mind could not tell…

Finally, after what seemed an eternity, I knew.  Slowly, hesitantly, I took a step toward the water.  Then another step, and another after that.  She looked at me curiously, walking alongside me as I continued to make my way into the ocean.  Finally, I was waist-deep in the ocean.  I turned to her, catching her in an embrace.  “I go willingly to face the spray,” I said, “and I shall not look back.”  She smiled, and as she did, we were pulled out, far out to sea, and then underwater.  As always, she turned into a shape reminiscent of a grand and beauteous eel.  I, however, felt the magic of the water change me for the first time – and I changed in a different manner.

My form shifted, my lower body elongating, slimming, and remolding itself until somehow it was entirely smooth and scaly.  My arms became more willowy, and my skin was entirely replaced by black-and-white striped scales.  My tail – no use in insisting there had ever been legs there – was a paddle at the end, and two small, but noticeable, fangs had grown into my mouth.  I smiled at her nervously.  “I love you,” I said, in the language that only the creatures of the water can speak.

She smiled at me.  “And I you,” she said, and her tail entwined around mine as we embraced, the both of us smiling all the while.