She has not felt joy like this in years. Not since before Helovia, when she was still herself. When the water truly was her home, and not just the place she longed to go back to. Here, finally, her heart could soar. With the seaweed, she doesn’t need to surface even to breathe. It is the longest she has ever been submerged in the sea. The deepest she has ever been able to travel. Kis’s horn (that is not really a horn at all) began to glow as the light from the surface faded, guiding their way further into the sea.

The water is cold, and her body turns from gray to swirls of purple, blue, and green all fading in and out of one another. She doesn’t feel out of place here – for once, the scales on her underside, and the fins on her hooves actually belong. Soon enough, the reef come into view. She’s not actually sure how much time has passed, and perhaps it is not all that soon. But to her, time below the waves flies, and if she could keep diving into it’s depths, she would. Not that she can dive forever. Eventually the pressure would crush her, she knows. But she likes to dream of it, of the endless sea that lies all around her.

If only it were completely hers to explore.

But it’s not, and such a wish is a pipe dream. So instead she returns her thoughts to Kisamoa and the reef. Some of the fish and coral is familiar too her, but there are new species here as well. Their reef is alive in warm colors, a stark contrast to her cool colored skin. Still though, she finds a smile playing at her lips, though she’s careful to keep the seaweed contained in her mouth.

Kisamoa’s voice comes in her mind now and she refrains from shuttering, though she blinks a few times with a bit of shake. She’s never been a fan of the mind speaking nonsense, though she can understand the necessity of it here. Still, it has always felt invasive to her, and she will never like it. But she keeps her face calm and collected, her eyes sparkling. How strange for her – to show actual happiness. She already dreaded the return to the surface, but she tried not to dwell on that.

He tells them to think of a word to describe the surface. In truth, she doesn’t know why they would miss the surface when they have this. What else could they want? Then again, what brought her back to the land? Power, but that’s probably not what these creatures cared about. Magic, but again, she wonders if they would care about that either. Both those things could exist below the sea as well. What did she like about the surface that she couldn’t find down here?

The sun.

“Aureate,” she thinks, focusing on that one particular word. Thinking not just of the sun itself, but of the golden light that washes the world above. Thinking of that hour of the day before the sun begins to set. Of the soft winter light that turns bright against the snow. Of the harsher summer sun that burns the earth. Somehow, through it all, the earth very often seems golden. Golden in the way the sea is blue. She loves the difference between the two, the earth and the sea. She will always love the sea more, but at least, there are a few good things at the surface as well.


les words "chat chat"

Syrena

let the water take me