The Undine's Tear

Chapter 1: NIGHTMARES [Part 2]

Thirteen-year-old Calandra kor'Delphine lay on her bed, legs tangled in the sheet, trying to determine what had awakened her. She blinked to let her eyes adjust to the dim light. Nothing seemed out of place in her bedchamber. She smacked at her side table, and her hand wrapped around the broken Tear pendant and chain she had placed there before she went to sleep. She breathed a sigh of relief and sat up, reassured by seeing the broken dark green opal with its slanting, jagged corner still sitting where she'd left it. Her mother's Tear-what remained of it-was safe. So why was her heart filled with a creeping dread?

She worked the silver chain of her most precious possession over her head, gently pulling her waist-length wavy golden hair free, then checked the rest of her room. The small sliver of moonlight leaking onto the floor through the arched window had moved only a short distance since she'd fallen asleep, which meant it was probably still first watch. To her keen eyes, the silvery light easily illuminated her wardrobe on the far wall, her washstand and basin, her tidy desk filled with stoneworking tools and geodes, and her small trunk of belongings. A banana palm near the window was the only seeming sign of luxury in the otherwise spartan room-besides the room itself. Vaulted ceilings in pink marble and intricate copper lattices on the windows conveyed a certain amount of luxury on their own.

Then she remembered the nightmare and a shot of adrenaline brought her fully awake. The strange part was, that was usually how she woke from that nightmare-bolt upright, her nightdress dripping with moisture. But this time when she'd awoken, she'd felt unsettled, but not afraid.

What had been different?

Then she remembered the undine man. Damon. The first male of her kind she had ever seen.

She scowled. He'd called her by name, which no man should ever do. But he'd stopped the nightmare.

She shook her head at herself. It had only been a dream. A foolish dream. Still, it left her too unsettled for sleep. She thought about continuing work on the aquamarine she'd been shaping and imprinting before bed, but decided that what she needed to calm her nerves tonight was a swim. And she didn't want to do it alone.

Rolling out of bed, she padded on bare feet toward her rosewood wardrobe with its door overlaid in elegant brass filigree, not turning on the lightstone on the wall. The palace was on forced blackout to conserve energy, but she didn't mind. She didn't fear the darkness when she was awake. The darkness in her recurring nightmare was a vacuum, a void of chaos yearning to be filled, but the darkness of the real world felt more like a warm blanket she could wrap herself in. Darkness was security.

The blackout was more of a problem for the humans with their limited night vision, anyway. The only time she felt the need to light her oil lamp was when she couldn't sleep and decided to do some stone healing work at her desk to pass the time until morning.

The cool marble under her bare feet was refreshing in the steamy midsummer tropical night. Still, sweat trickled down her temples and dampened her hair, collecting in the hollow of her back. A swim would be welcome, for more reasons than one.

With deft movements, she slipped out of her linen nightdress. She partially pulled her bone-handled diving knife from the woven sheath on her hemp swimming belt to check it. Satisfied that it was clean and sharp, she tied the belt around her waist and wrapped the ends of the cords around a brass button so they wouldn't catch on anything in the water. A sleeveless, natural hemp bodice and white linen sarong completed her swimming outfit. She combed her thick hair with a tortoise-shell comb, then braided it, tying it off with a cotton cord.

Holding her breath, she slowly opened her folding brass-worked chamber door, breathing a silent sigh of relief when she managed to avoid the click. Closing it again behind her, she crept down the hallway on naked feet, past her cousin Narcissa's door, keeping to the shadows to avoid notice by the guards that would be waiting for her at the entrance to the royal wing.