Dark Water

Chapter 5

Mihris ended up having to have her nose splinted, the left side of her face extremely bruised. She had a busted lip and was lucky she didn't have a chipped tooth.

She undid the ties to her boat, pushing it out before climbing in. She was simply going on a nighttime ride, wanting to get out of her house for the first time in a week. It was nearly February, the temperature rising ever so slightly, bringing a few of the warmer water fish up towards the bay.

She sat in the dark and the fog, lowing her anchor as she was near the cove. There was a slight breeze as the snow fell, causing the flurries to fly around in the gusts. She tossed a fish into the freezing water and sat back and waited. She had a headache from her bruises, her dark purple bruising having turned a greenish-yellow hue. The cut on her lip was nearly healed, and her nose was out of a splint finally. She closed her eyes for a few seconds, exhaling into the frigid air, a white puff of her warm breath rising upwards. She looked back at the fish, noticing they were all gone already. She leaned back against the boat, closing her eyes once again.

she felt the gentle rock of something against the boat, opening her eyes and having to stifle a scream of surprise as Orliantha was right next to her. She had her arms resting on the starboard of the boat, and she quickly pulled herself in and flopped down next to Mihris. in an instant she had her face in those webbed hands, looking her over closely with her black eyes. before Mihris could stop her, she was licking the wounds on her face, leaving a tingling feeling on her skin. The pain quickly subsided, her scabbed wounds feeling as though they were never there. She picked up the small mirror she kept in the boat, studying her face. Her cuts were completely healed, her bruising now minimal. She looked over at Orliantha, a shocked look on her face, mixed with confusion.

"How, how did you." She stumbled over her words, as Orliantha laid her head in her lap, and she exhaled a cold breath with a small whistle from her gills. Mihris slowly and cautiously reached down, stroking Orliantha' s short, dark hair. it felt coarser than regular human hair, and she had to be careful to not get her fingers caught in the messy locks. She felt the humming very soon, Orliantha seeming to enjoy her touch and not as confused as before.

"Orliantha, what a beautiful name." She sighed as she spoke in a quiet voice, and Orliantha sat up and looked at her. She slowly reached out and touched her hand webbed to Mihris's chest, her long claws right below her chin.

"Blue." Mihris's eyes widened, Orliantha saying her nickname. Her voice had an unsure tone to it, sounding much higher pitched than hers, much more feminine. before she could respond to her, Orliantha' s fins on her ears stood up, and she let out a small hiss before diving over the edge of the boat and into the water. She accidentally rocked the boat from the force of her exit, and she could feel her tail hit against the bottom of the boat as she swam under it. She had to steady herself as she stood up, water spilling over the edge of the boat as she tried to steady the rocking. it slowly stopped, and all there was was the silence of the night along with the winter breeze.

"She said my name." Mr. Gulliver passed a coffee to Mihris as she spoke. He had closed up the bar early so that the two could talk for the first time in a few days.

"Really?"

"Well, my nickname to be exact. I was talking about how I liked her name and all of a sudden she called me blue."

"And then she just left?"

"Yeah. She seemed on guard about something right before she left, like she heard something strange." He stopped polishing the glasses as she spoke.

"There's probably a herd nearby. Probably thought something was too close to the bay for her to be fine with it," He looked up at her, furrowing his brows. "When did your face get better? I could have sworn this morning you were still black and blue."