Of the Sea

Chapter Eight

She woke up with the smell of skin in her nose, and the taste of salt on her lips. It took her a moment to gather where she was and whose arm was wrapped around her. She could feel her fingers moving, but she wasn't the one moving them. She opened her eyes, and in the faint light of dawn she could see Morgan holding one of her hands up to his face, examining them. He parted them, folded them, bent them from side to side, inspected her nails.

"What are you doing?" Her voice was husky, her throat raw from crying.

"You and I are very different." He whispered as he pressed his palm up to hers. Where her knuckles parted, his were webbed, and his nails extended half and inch from the tip of his finger.

"Well...yeah." She murmured.

"Have you ever heard the story of the morven and the siren?" He asked unexpectedly.

"So sirens are real, too, now?" She smirked.

"Of course. There are many things that exist within this world that humans cannot see simply because they do not believe. But the tale of the morven and the siren is just a tale of creation." His thumb traced across her knuckles.

"Well, do go on."

Morgan took in a deep breath. "It was love that brought them together, the siren and the morven. They could see each other, one from the water, the other from the sky, but they could never be one because of their vast differences. As you know, one possessed wings and the other possessed fins, and there was no way for them to enter into each other's realm."

"How does this involve creation?" Astrid interrupted and was quickly shushed by Morgan.

"So the two met where the sea and the sky could rest on an outcrop called earth, and there they thought they could be together. But the morven had no legs to walk or run, and the siren had no arms to gather or defend. So they presented their problem to the All Maker, who took pity on them. Do you know what he did?"

"Made it so they could be together?"

Morgan shook his head. "The All Maker makes no mistakes in his creation, and he did not like how they each wanted to change. So he promised them that from their love he would create a new species so that their love could spread."

He cut his eyes over to her, waiting for her to guess.

"Us? Humans?"

Morgan nodded. "Yes. The siren and the morven sacrificed their limbs for this new species, and thus humans were created."

She knitted her brow together. "That wasn't the happy ending I was expecting."

"It's not about happy endings. It's about sacrificing for each other." Morgan said.

Astrid was about to ask him what he would sacrifice for a loved one, but her thought was cut short but a distant howling. She suddenly sat up, aware that dawn was upon them, and a stranger had arrived at her home.

"I have to go." She said, slipping out of Morgan's embrace and heading for the door, her mind in a panic.

"Astrid." Morgan's voice caused her to whirl around and stop. His eyes that had once been a roaring tide were now but a ripple, almost begging her not to go. "I hope you have a better day." His words seemed to be a way of releasing her, and then he slipped back into the water and didn't resurface for a reply.

Astrid tried her best to fix her hair and rub away the puffiness of her eyes as she came up the path from the dock. Who could possibly be here at the crack of dawn on a Saturday? Her answer was the girl with the best dreadlocks, and the boy one who almost threw her off a cliff. Buoy had greeted them with suspicious sniffs and a wagging tail, but Astrid was afraid her greeting wouldn't be so friendly.