Old One

The muffled sounds of the rest of the world reached my ears, but I was too lost in thought to notice.  I lay on an outcropping , deeper in the water than I usually go . Momma always reminds me to never go farther than fifty lengths from town, but no one there gets me. Not even Momma, really.

None of them look like me either, with their dark red, blue, and green tails. They all call me "Whitetail", although it's actually quite a nice silver tone, with streaks of light blue like the color of the water just before dawn - and there. That is why no one likes me. Oh, and the fact that I have to take weird medicine that no one else does.

Right! The medicine! I had almost forgotten. I reach for the bag hanging from my neck with string, but hesitate a moment. Maybe I can live without it for a few more moon cycles. Maybe, for just a little moment longer, I can keep pretending that I fit in.

Suddenly tight pain shoots through me, sending colors across my vision. Okay, maybe I can't wait. I quickly open the bag, and clutch the strange droplets in my hand. I feel them seeping into my scaled skin, as an unearthly song reaches my ears. It sounds like Momma's voice.

"The oceantail, she screamed in fury / cried a tear of red / racing to the depths with worry / from a sea urchin's bed / Her tear of green like sea- / grass wept in times of light / falls endless in the morning / to glow bright in the night / The last tear of the ocean friend / as clear as sea itself / slid down her cheek to find its end / as old as timeless Delph."

As the last line echoed in my mind, a mix of bright colors enveloped my vision, only disappearing when I could no longer feel the tears melting into me. I sighed with relief as the pain resided, and the familiar weight of my tail grow heavier as it solidified.

With a second, deeper sigh, I slide off the ledge and began to swim towards the room Clamina would be waiting for me in. I could already imagine her screaming my name, scolding me for being late.

It wasn't like she would care if she knew the reason I was late to lessons sometimes, and anyway, Momma said I couldn't tell anyone about my "tail issues." Although it's annoying to have to hide who I am, I know that revealing my true identity would just make me even more of a target to the other oceantails. Even my best friend Gea, second slowest in the class, can keep up with those guys.

When I finally came upon the lessons room, I saw that the opening had already been covered by a curtain of shells and string; I was late. Again.

Rushing into the lessons room, I quickly swum into my usual seat, right next to Gea. She grimaced at me, twitching her tail anxiously as I hurried into the seat, careful not to interrupt the lesson.

"I can hear you, you know, Miss Pearl." Mistress Clamina turned with a swish of her tail to face me, her stern face scrunched up angrily. "Late for, what is this, the 27th time in a row?" I winced, but she kept glaring. Finally she looked away, and pointed a finger at Laeda, an oceantail in the back row. "What was I talking about before we were so rudely interrupted, Laeda?"

"Not to go into the Garden," Laeda gulped.

"That's correct!" Mistress Clamina turned her attention back to me. "And can you tell me, Miss 'Whitetail' why you should never go into the Garden?"

I curled my fingers into a fist at her use of my dreadful nickname, but answered anyway, if through clenched teeth. "Because only the Old Ones can enter the Garden. And none of us here have Grown yet." I caught a few of the others shift uncomfortably, but they all knew what would happen if they acted the least bit squeamish in front of Mistress Clamina. She was quite a believer in Young Ones being unafraid to talk about Growing Up.

Mistress Clamina nodded, and turned to look outside the doorway. "I know that some of you girls might be excited because Growing Time is close, but remember, not all of you will be chosen to dance with the Old Ones."

Her calculating gaze swept the room and landed on me. It lingered there a second, and then flicked away with a ringing of the Great Bell. Finally - finally - the lesson was over.

* * *

I was swimming back home when the gate to the Garden swung open. A beautiful Old One stepped out, hair swinging in a flowy golden braid. She was not old in looks, but her spirit had been through the "wages of time" as the Council of the Old said. She started, stopping in her tracks and gave me a once over. "You are... different," she said.

I hung my head, tail swishing slowly below me, and nodded. I was used to people judging me for my medicine, or the strange white color of my tail. Yet, this Old One seemed different, too - different from the oceantails who usually called me that.

"You belong in the Garden," the oceantail said. I was so startled I almost smacked my tail into hers. She smiled and reached her hand out to me. I stared, my placed mine in hers. Her hand was warm, interestingly. I smiled back. The gate to the Garden swung open again, almost as if by itself. I swam in, taking in the glorious Garden. I clapped my hands to my mouth, gazing in wonder at the millions of beautiful starlike plants hanging just below the Garden Walls - away from prying eyes. I suddenly noticed that other Old Ones were watching me, humming a certain tune. With surprise, I recognized it as the one Momma used to sing to me. They all knew it, too.

I face split into a grin, and my tail seemed to swish with excitement as well. Here I was, among the Old Ones, the oceantails I never thought I'd get to meet, and they're singing my song.

Slowly, along with the Old Ones, my tail moved faster and faster until we had created a whirlpool full of peace and song. We were dancing - dancing to the song that was so intrinsically a part of me. Abruptly, a realization struck me, and my grin spread even wider. I was dancing with the Old Ones. I was an Old One. And I was finally in the place I belonged.