Firefly Fish

Chapter 10

I woke where I had been left. The shore trees, backlit, cast long afternoon shadows. The water had receded to my feet, leaving me covered in mud and leaves.

"Marin Goranich?" A soft tenor called to me from the water. No. I curled into myself at the octave. No. It meant the water. That note meant suffocating. Meant dying. Claws wrenched through my skin as I curled tighter against the rock and wrapped my arm around my head protectively.

"Saeesar? I do not understand what is wrong with the Kraken child. He is Kraken. Púca's child. Half-human like I told you," Taigre explained.

"I see that, Taigre. Patience. You've scared him badly. Let's see what we can do." A different voice, lower, chastised the dynllyr.

"No more than he did in trapping me and having a human operate on my tail," he hissed at the comment. I turned numbly to the sound. At a logical level, I could accept that accusation. I probably had scared him. Finding the broad expanse of water at sunset did nothing to set the stutter in my chest at ease. Awareness of the baser needs prickled. I scurried away from the creek edge and clambered up the gully away from the pair of dynllyr. I had spent the day numb to my need for a bathroom. The woods would suffice.

"He's terrified of me." Taigre sounded dejected as I scuttled for somewhere out of sight.

"I don't exactly blame him. At the moment, he is seeking relief, though, not running away from us outright. Now, tell me why you forced him to use his gills when he was not even aware of them. You are no calf, Taigre," the new voice, Saeesar, bit back at Taigre.

I found myself a place far enough for privacy and yet close enough to catch their conversation.

"As dynllyr and son of territory holder, it is my duty. I need to bring him to the Antumnos so he can meet his father. He can't be left in the night. He glows like Púca Kraken. The other humans would hunt him. He needs to be safe." Taigre's voice reminded me of a petulant child who thinks they've found the perfect validation for their actions.

"You should have left him and come got me before trying that, not after. What if his gills were not fully developed? Kraken children born to land creatures do not always have mature gills for our waters," Saeesar chastised.

"Will they mature?" A note of terror inched into Taigre's voice.

"That entirely depends on the creature. For his sake, if he is a Kraken child of Púca, I would hope so. He will be noticeable more so than many of the others," Saeesar answered.

Finished, and put back together, I returned to the creek side, wary. Taigre blended into the dark colours of the water. The merman next to him was a different colouration from Taigre's chalk grey and navy blue upper half that twisted in swirling colorful spots. Saeesar was broader in the shoulder and thicker banded with muscle. His fins were a midnight black from his long hair to his tail. Stark white, his skin could have been titanium powder.

"I see what you mean by him using emotion words. He is neither calf nor fry. Not by way of the humans I have seen. He's full grown, at least by height and appearance. He has not been taught how the Antumnos talk properly, is all." Saeesar flicked his fingers in emphasis, black nails glistening.

"You're not going to drag me back in, are you?" I called down to them.

"It would do you no good, Kraken child," Saeesar returned my call. "I do appreciate the compliments, but it would be good to restrain yourself a bit with the admiration."

"What compliments?" I slipped on one of the slick rocks and scattered stones on my way down to the edge of the creek.

"You speak with both the human tongue and the Antumnos tongue. If you keep your mouth shut, we hear your emotion words. If you speak with your human tongue, your emotion words weave into your speech," Saeesar explained.