Silver Waves

Sixteen

Three weeks passed in much the same fashion as the previous few days had. The new, waterlogged lifestyle of the Tribe became nearly commonplace, so comfortable were the girls with the sea that it was almost as if they'd never known anything else, and had been Mek all along. Maybe we were always meant to be, Nami thought more than once, watching her Tribe dart through the ocean, completely at home. Even Nami was falling in love with her form, and, though she could remember the feeling of her leg muscles burning while she ran, her bare feet against soft grass or sand, she found that she didn't really miss it. Her human form seemed somehow clumsy in her memories, compared to her streamlined Mek body.

She reclaimed some of her human rituals, though. Every day, she watched the sun sink, giving the island a golden halo as it disappeared over the horizon. She still asked Eana, goddess of life, to protect her while she hunted. She thanked Eana and Nyt, the god of death, for her kills and the sustenance they would provide for her people. Although she and her friends could no longer walk upon land, she thanked Pasi, goddess of the earth, for the gifts of the usually land-locked resources that sometimes blew into the sea for the Gatherers to pick up, and thanked Unol, deity of air, for delivering them. Above all, the Tribe thanked Ame, for their new forms and abilities, for the chance to avenge themselves and their stolen sisters.

The life of the Tribe was nearly perfect; days full of sunshine and deep water, play and laughter. Even their chores were fun. There was never any real fighting, never any fear.

Life was perfect, really, despite the impending deadline where the Tribe would begin their journey to find the Silver Wave. It was perfect until, one day, a ship appeared on the horizon.

Oona spotted it first. She had been practicing her camouflage, becoming the shifting seabed sand, or hiding in tall bunches of kelp with her skin tinted deep green, while Lena tried to find her using echolocation, Nami tagging along to watch over the little group. She insisted that one of the older girls accompany any of the younger Mek that left the cave. Oona was floating on the surface, looking much like the rolling waves, giggling as she watched her friends search for her on the ocean floor below.

She gasped suddenly, sitting up, her camouflage slipping away. Lena and Nami shot up towards the surface from below, grabbing their friend, giggling, before they registered the look of fear on Oona's face. The young girl pointed to the east, where a ship could just be discerned, cutting through the waves towards the island.

Oona and Lena looked up at Nami, and the older girl schooled her expression from anxiety into calm.

"Back to the cave, now. Take a deep breath. Stay underwater all the way."

The trio dove, slipping under the waves, racing back to their submerged home. When they got close, Nami waved Oona and Lena ahead of herself, ushering them into the cave. She looked back, making sure they weren't seen, and ducked into the tunnel, swimming fast for the chamber at the end. When she emerged from the water, she glanced around the cave, quickly counting heads.

Seven, eight, nine... Where's Sprigg? Panic surged through Nami's body, and she almost turned to dash back outside and look for her missing friend, when Sprigg's head poked up from behind a large rock that had hidden her from view. Ten. Nami sighed in relief.

Dalma raised an eyebrow. "What's going on?"

Nami gestured for everyone to gather in the pool. "There's a ship on the horizon."

-

After the initial shock had worn off, Nami gestured to Sen. "We're going to go scout it out and see if it's the Silver Wave. If it isn't and it's just passing through, I'll send Sen back here and stay to watch it until it passes the island."

Kaia spoke up. "And if it is Jerrick and his crew?"

Nami folded her arms. "Then Sen and I will both be back, and we'll all come up with a plan."

"We should take the ship down now," a young voice said. Raina swam to the middle of the pool, and raised her arms. "We shouldn't take a chance if it is them. We have the element of surprise right now, but we might not later. We should attack right away."

Fil shook her head, sitting in the water on the outskirts of the pool. "If it isn't the Silver Wave, attacking would only cost innocent lives."

Nami nodded. "I agree with Fil." She gestured to Sen. "Come on. We'll be back with information either way." She met Raina's eyes. "Stay. Here," She told the girl, emphasizing the words.

Nami lashed her tail and sped out of the tunnel into the open sea, with Sen close behind. The two Mek stayed deep in the water, swimming fast, and they came upon the ship within minutes. Nami swam around the side of the vessel, searching for it's nameplate, and finally found it. Dawn's Steed, it read. Nami sighed in relief, and gestured to Sen, who nodded, and turned to speed back to the cave, to relay the good news.

Nami stayed low in the water, staring up at the ship. As she watched, a young man leaned over the side, his long brown hair blowing in the wind. He took a deep breath of ocean air, and looked down, straight at Nami.

Their gazes met, and the man's eyes went wide. Nami panicked and ducked under the water as the human dashed away to gather his crewmates. When the group of sailors peeked back into the water, Nami was gone from their sight, hiding under the ship.

"No, I swear, I saw a girl! A girl in the water!" The speaker's voice took on a reverent, almost lovestruck tone. "She was beautiful..."

"Hah! Sounds like yeh've had too much son, kid."

"No! She was real! I saw her. I saw her."

There was more laughter from the crew, and the ship didn't stop sailing. Nami dove deeper into the water, and watched it until it was past the island, heading west. Only when the craft was but a speck in the distance did she return to the cave.

-

When Nami surfaced in the pool, she was greeted by the sight of Kaia shaking Raina, her hands on the younger girl's shoulders. The rest of the Tribe was gathered in a semicircle around the two, anxiety etched on their faces. Ren sighed in relief when she spotted Nami, and waved her over.

"Raina tried to sneak away to find the ship," the young girl whispered. "She was going to sink it all on her own."

Nami caught the tail end of the argument.

"It wouldn't be right. They are not pirates! They are not the ones who harmed us!" Kaia shook Raina's shoulders. "Would you steal those men away from their families, as we were stolen from ours?" She paused for a moment, then shifted her hands from the girl's shoulders to cradle her face.

"I know your rage, Raina. I know your hate. I feel it. We all," Kaia gestured at the group around her, "feel it. But killing those men, sinking that ship, when they have done nothing to deserve it... it would be wrong. It would make you no better than Jerrick, no better than the man who killed Fae."

Raina flinched at the mention of her friend's murderer, and the angry fire in her eyes seemed to die out. She nodded, and swam slowly away from the group, silently going to lie on the beach.

Nami worried for her friend, so full of anger that she would harm a random ship just because it might have been the Silver Wave. The mood in the cave was tense, and mostly silent, for the rest of the night.