Poella

Watching the line - part 1

It was annoyingly warm, even in the water. Poella pulled her braided cords up, the tips dripping water onto her skin. She laid her arms on the boat behind her, exposing her tattooed arms and chest, right up to the grey scales that ran up her torso and over her breasts from the water.

"How do you do that?"

"The hair?"

Poella looked up at the fisherman, smiling. She flipped her tail up, which was almost as long as her with fins that spanned just under the length of her tail. "Clan secret."

"You say that every time."

"Cause it's true." Poella shrugged, "and yet you still ask." She quickly ducked underwater - in this form even her torso had to stay wet otherwise breathing became uncomfortable. Even her eyes changed when she transformed; her pupils enlarged and she gained her third eyelid. And it was true - it was a clan secret how she transformed into a water creature. But it wasn't completely unusual. Each clan had their own transformation creature and their own transformation ritual. Her clan, living on an island abundant with waterfalls, rivers, lakes and pools, were given the ability to change into water creatures.

"Alright then. Can you choose the color?"

It was going to be like this until something was spotted at the line. "No. I have no control over the aesthetics of my...transformation. Always been grey."

"Are they? Look almost like the water color to me."

"Well...its a type of grey that reflects the light so I blend in well."

"Makes your job easier I suppose." The fisherman had a point, and Poella was glad he didn't tiptoe around what her "job" was.

"Certainly does."

"What about at night?"

Please let something show up. "Well, if there's not much light, it doesn't reflect as much. It's not as seamless as the daytime, but I make it work." She dipped underwater again.

The fisherman nodded and went back to fixing his nets. As much as he wanted to drop a line into the depths and relax for a while, you couldn't do that with a Haligwae warrior nearby. Especially one that was a water creature too. Wouldn't do well to accidentally catch her tail in a line; not that she wouldn't be able to cut herself loose, but it was extra work to do in case something was spotted. He eyed her cords as she dipped underwater again. They looked like hair, but obviously weren't. They repelled water and were tubular. Musing to himself, the fisherman wondered how she was able to hollow out a few of them. He had seen her produce a thin, flexible dagger from one once when she was defending close to his boat. But he didn't want to ask - he imagined it was either a part of the transformation or she had to go through a long and painful process, and he wasn't interested in finding out which it was.

There was a shriek that was horn like. Something had been spotted. Poella already had her torso down, leaning forward in anticipation, and the fisherman stopped working. Another horn and Poella was under the water, speeding toward the line. Her tail and fin were designed by destiny it seemed to help her move quickly and deftly through water. She reached the line before the guards in boats and surveyed the area.

They were back.

The fisherman barely saw her go, but the rocking boat told him she had pushed quite hard to get going. "Must have needed to get there in a hurry." He returned to his net but was distracted by erratic splashes and shouts from the line. The guards had reached the area and were shouting, it seemed, in worry. Straining his eyes, the fisherman thought he saw a grey tail fly above the water and he dropped his net. He wasn't remotely close to the Haligwae, but he enjoyed her presence. No nonsense, but sometimes teasingly sarcastic. Finding his looking glass, he found the line - it didn't look good. The guards were trying to shoot down into the water, but seemed to be afraid to hit the wrong creature.