Triton's Destiny

Part Thirteen

After lighting the beacons on the patio, Tristan went back inside and lit the tower beacon as well. When he was coming back down to make himself some dinner, though, something white on the stairs caught his eye. Picking it up, he gasped, his gaze darting toward the front door. "Oh no. It fell off." Before the practical side of his brain could catch up, his impulsive emotion sent him sprinting out the door, the feather he'd given Maki clutched tightly in his fist.

He ran down the beach toward the cliffs, aiming straight for the narrow passageway he'd seen Maki use just a bit ago. There was just enough twilight left for him to see where he was going, so he followed the winding path through the towering rock formations, hoping like hell he didn't get lost. It was difficult to believe that anyone would want to live in this environment, but he had to admit that it was a great place to hide.

The path finally ended at the mouth of a cave and Tristan's heart thudded against his ribs as he stepped inside. It felt wrong to trespass, especially if this was Maki's home, but he didn't see any way to alert anyone to his presence except to just walk in. "Maki?" he called softly. Too softly, as the cavern swallowed up the sound and drowned it beneath the unmistakable noise of waves. There was water in here, and suddenly Tristan felt his throat seize with panic. If this was some antechamber or something that was flooding, then he could get trapped in a matter of seconds. He started backing away, deciding that he could wait until he saw Maki again to return the feather to him. He didn't know why he'd given into this ridiculous impulse in the first place. But when he heard someone in the cave humming a quiet tune, he stopped in his tracks. Listening harder, he heard something scrape over the floor and the distinct sound of footsteps.

Gathering his courage, Tristan approached the cave again, ducking inside and blinking rapidly to acclimate to the dim light. The cavern wasn't very large and it didn't look to be furnished or outfitted in any way for habitation, so maybe it really was an antechamber. But as he crept farther, he saw the last rays of sunlight beaming through the opening on the other side, glittering across the rippling surface of the water which met the cave's rocky ledge. It was a sea cave, and poised on that stone border was Maki, wearing nothing–not even his hat–gazing out to sea with the fire of the dying sunset lighting his eyes. From where Tristan stood, the top of Maki's hair looked like a different color than the rest of it, and something about it tugged at his memory.

Maki curled his toes over the edge of the rock and then Tristan had to clamp his hand over his mouth to stifle his gasp of surprise when Maki executed a perfect dive into the water. Tristan leaned out from behind the edge of the wall to stare down at the waves, fascinated and wondering what on earth Maki was doing. He startled, though, when Maki unexpectedly splashed back above the surface, spraying droplets in all directions as he shook the water from his hair.

Nothing in the world could have made Tristan tear his eyes away. Because Maki had become someone, something else. His human skin had faded into a mottled grey color. There were fins on his arms and back. Green stripes stretched across his sides and they glowed. A huge tail with blue and silver scales curled out of the water and smacked back down, sending a spectacular splash into the air. A couple of long, thin tentacles curled around Maki's body as he stretched his arms. The ends were tipped with arrow-like heads which also glowed green. With a sharp, loud gasp that echoed off the walls, Tristan stumbled back from the wall, dropping the feather from his trembling fingers.

The sound drew Maki's attention and he whipped around in the water, his blue eyes wide. "What...?"

Tristan just stared at him for an agonizing eternity of seconds before his feet finally caught up with the rest of him and skidded on the wet rock floor as he began to run.

"Tristan!" The water churned and splashed behind him as Maki tried to get to him. "Tristan, wait!" There was more splashing and the sound chased Tristan from the cave. "Damn it!" Maki swore. "Tristan!"

He ran as fast as the fading light and uneven terrain would let him. He didn't care if he got lost; he just wanted to get out of that cave and away from the water. Maki. Maki was... not human. Tristan wasn't sure what he was, exactly, but he recognized those glowing arrow points and the blue hair. Maki was the one who'd saved his life.

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Author's Note:

Since this part is short, I did a piece of art to go with it. It doesn't depict anything in particular from the story, just a pretty picture of Maki in his triton form. Enjoy!