Jameson
"Violet." I swam to meet her when I saw her coming toward the deserted boat where she had left me. I had travelled far and had gone through many trials and tribulations that I never would have in my safe cocoon of the Isle. I looked at my tattered diary that had been almost ripped completely to shreds on my journey to find her. I hugged it protectively. "What was that all about?" I needed to know more about her husband. I hadn't expected her to have one when I got here but if he wasn't treating her right then I didn't care about taking her away from him."Don't worry about Louie. I have that taken care of." She assured me. She looked stressed and I wondered what was causing her to be that way. I wanted to take away her pain and stress and If I needed to take away her husband to do that, then I would. "Then why do you still look so solemn?" I let my hand satisfy its need of touching her face and her cheeks burned under my touch.
"What's that?" She gestured toward the diary. "It's what helped me find you." I looked down at it affectionately. "I'm confused." She narrowed her eyes at the tattered book. "I will tell you all about it when you're ready." I smiled down at her, but she seemed to be lost in thoughts of her own. "You can tell me now." She sat on the sand cradling her belly. "We have plenty of time. We have forever." I put a hand on hers as I sat next to her, but I felt her pull away. "Let's just talk about it now so that I can help you make your journey worth the travel." she said. Confused, I opened the book and traced the first map with my finger, "This is where the author of this book first traveled to when he left the Isle." I pointed to the destination, which was pretty close to here. "Why was he in the ocean?" She sounded both annoyed and confused and I couldn't help but feel like I was wasting her time. "He wanted a change and this is where he found the love of his life." I looked at her, with hope that she would get the comparison. "They had a daughter together. He even left a tombstone down here so that he could once again join them and live out the remainder of his life here."
"Who was he?" she shook her head, beyond perplexed. I showed her the name that had been inscripted in the inside of the front of the book, Emerald Masters. She ran her hand along the cursive, "I have never heard of him. Word travels fast around here . I'd think that if anyone had an outsider for a husband, we would have known about it. "They weren't married." I bit the inside of my cheek. The blushing of her cheeks, showed her true feelings as her embarrassment spread down her body and she clutched at her now folded arms. "Perhaps that's why he never came back."
"I think he left because he didn't know how to survive with her down here. It was a very judgemental time. Interspecies relationships were not acceptable."
She looked horrified at my suggestion, "They aren't now either."
"Agh." I was starting to understand her resistance to us. "Why didn't he come back to spend the rest of his life with her, if he was so adamant on setting a tombstone down here?"
"He was executed back in the Isle for his indiscretions." I said and Violet screwed up her face in protest. "He was married with children back in the Isle." I continued. "Who were they?" She asked. "They were hierarchy members." She nodded, understanding the gravity of the situation.
"What a love story." She sighed and I nodded along with her. He wanted more than anything to be back with her." I sighed, looking down. "I would love to pay him my respects, in the place that he actually wanted to be. Can you take me here?" I flipped through the book, searching for the
map of his tombstone. She leaned into me to see where I was pointing, and though she was cool, the connection of our bodies brought me warmth. "Of Course I can." She smiled up at me. "It's the least I can do."
I swam behind Violet, still amazed that I was able to swim and breathe underwater. Her tail shimmered in the light as it flicked in motion with the water. Seeing her in this form, I couldn't believe I didn't take the leap to be with her when she wanted me. She saw a future with me. Now it was me that wanted this future, and she didn't seem to be very interested. "This is where the coordinates bring us." She stopped short, looking around. I scanned the area but didn't see a tombstone. Hmm. Could it have been a figment of the author's imagination? She moved sand off rocks and looked behind seaweed. "I don't want you to waste your time." She whispered and I was sick of hearing it. I rubbed my eyes and started looking too. I shuffled around, kicking up sand in puffs. It all felt smooth underneath. "Are you sure this is the right place? Could it be a bit further over?" I asked. "Perhaps, but that is what it said on the map." She began floating slowly over to the right of her, the opposite way to what we had come. Dusting rocks as she went. "This ones a bit different..." She kept dusting, fingering what seemed to be indents. I rushed over to inspect the rock. As the sand wore away, letters came into view - Emerald Masters, husband to Suki and father to Isla. "That's it!" I beamed, both in shock and excitement as I ran my fingers through my hair. It was all real. He was real and this was a journey I was meant to be on.
"Father to Isla?" Violet mumbled, looking very confused before having a realization. "Who was this man?" She turned to face me. "Would you like to see his diary?" I pulled it out from my clothing, where it hid in a secret pocket against my chest. She eyed my chest ferociously as it tore away from my shirt, looking away when she saw me watching her. I smirked. So it wasn't that she wasn't attracted to me... first she kissed me, and then this. "Thanks." She took it, our hands brushing against one another. I didn't make any effort to stop it from happening either. "Do you mind if I take this home to inspect it further?" She ran her fingers over the front engraving of the leather bound book. "Of Course. Just get it back to me, please. It's very important to me." "Of Course." she uttered, fixated on it, eyes narrowing, like she had a piece of the puzzle that I didn't. "Do you know Isla?" I watched her, wanting to know every missing piece to this puzzle. "Maybe, yes, I don't know." She said, still not taking her eyes off the book. "Do you think I could meet her when I come back with you?" I was bursting with excitement to know the real live people in this book. In the life of this man who I had come so close to knowing. Who perhaps I did know once when I was younger, but didn't have any significant memories of.
