Shoreline

1

It was smooth on the sea today. The sun was high in the sky. Ava's boat paused over a coral reef, she was monitoring a pod of dolphins who came and went. She had an app on her iPad that showed her where they were, she had tagged most of them and saw them heading straight for the boat. She had nicknamed one Mikey, he was the biggest male in the pod. "They're here!" She squealed excitedly and watched them swim under the boat.

Suddenly something caught her eye under the boat as it had a glass floor. "Can you get my diving equipment ready?" she asked glancing over her shoulder.

"I thought you weren't diving today, not after your last encounter," one of the scientists said.

"It's okay but there's something unusual down there, and I don't think I can leave it," she said.

"If you're sure," he said and began to get all her gear ready while she pulled herself into a wet suit and someone zipped her up. The oxygen tanks were clipped onto her back, she sat on the side, placed the breathing apparatus into her mouth and fell back into the water. Once in, she began the descent to the coral reef. She was being careful looking for Mako sharks in case she startled one again. But there in front of her sat the shining shard she had seen glinting from the surface of the boat, she glanced up and saw her team watching her, making sure she was safe. 

She turned back to the shard and moved some rocks to access it, it was made of metal and it had a point on the end. She pulled it out of the mud more and noticed it was quite long, she thought it looked like one of the prongs from a trident. She returned to the surface with her find in her grip. She swam to the back of the ship where there was a step which she pulled herself on and back onto the boat. "What is that?" one of her team asked, a young man with glasses and dressed in casual clothes but with their research team's shirt on asked.

"I'm not sure. It looks like a prong of a folk," she said turning it around in her gloved hand, she put it on the side as she to took her oxygen tanks off. The team spent a little while longer out on the water before heading back in as they were beginning to lose the light.

"Perhaps we should let the science team take a look?" one man suggested.

"Nah it's okay, it's our find and I don't want them taking credit for it," she replied and collected her things up. "I'll see you tomorrow yes?"

"Yes, six am on the dock?" he smiled.

"See ya then," she said hugging him and walking off to her motorcycle parked on the pier and chained to the wall. As she drove she glanced at the light house, it was the one thing that made her smile as it helped her find her way home when they had got lost once returning from a night of jellyfish monitoring. She drove to the bar not far from the harbor. As per usual it was noisy, and she could hear male voices. She kept her bag close and walked in, she pushed the door open and pulled out her hair tie from her long brunette hair, the left side had been cropped short, most of the men glanced at her before going back to her drinks. 

Ava walked to the bar, she stood at the bar ordered her drink and sat in the corner. She glanced up for a second as she heard a commotion. It was men taking selfies, but she didn't say anything.  She took the artefact out of her pocket and examined it in the low light, as she looked at it, she began to play with the whale bone pendant around her neck. If only she could identify it properly. The man with the long hair tied back and tattoos turned his head as he was now sitting at the bar, almost like the artefact was calling to him, his father noticed his distraction. 

"What's wrong?" he asked.

"I'm not sure," he replied, he got up and walked over to Ava, she heard his boot steps and lifted her head slowly,  her face flushed red. 

"C... Can I help you?" she squeaked shyly.

"Where did you get that?" he asked looking down at the shard in her hand.

"I... I found it in a coral reef," she answered. The man's father came over breaking up the awkwardness between them.

"Hi sorry about my son," he said.

"Son?" she asked a little confused.

"Sorry where are our manners, I am Tom Curry, and this is my son Arthur. I own the lighthouse," he said introducing the both.

"Ava Sanders," she smiled and offered her hand out and they both shook it.

"That's an interesting artefact," Tom said.

"Artefact? How do you know what this is, can you tell me what it is?" she asked, her eyes lighting up with excitement. They both exchanged glances.

"Let's go back to the lighthouse, let's not do this here," Arthur said.