The Ocean's Song (pt. 1) (Going through edits)

~13~

She swam with schools of brightly colored fish, paraded through elaborate coral structures, and danced among the swaying seaweed and dappled light filtering through the waves above.

Lionfish puffed his chest out proudly. "Why thank you." He bowed with an unnecessarily long and complicated hand flourish.

"Naida, Naida!" Ray called happily and swam up to her; he had something in his hand. He showed her a small flyspeck cerith shell that had a crack on one end. He fingered a section of her hair and asked, "May I?"

She didn't know what she was going to do, but she nodded. He slipped the cracked part over her hair and tucked it behind her ear, pinning it there.

"There." He said happily, but the longer he looked at her, the more uncomfortable and dissatisfied he looked. "Stay here, I'll be right back." He said and swam away. A minute or two passed until he came back with an assortment of trinkets, shells, and plants. "May I do your hair?" He asked, blushing faintly.

"Oh, s-sure," Naida replied, a little taken aback. She turned around and let his hands weave and twist her hair. She couldn't see what he was doing, but it felt professional.

"Ok, stay in the reef, I remember seeing a mirror on our way here." He told her and as he left she could hear him mumble. "I guess sometimes litter can be helpful."

Ray returned with the mirror and scrubbed the algae off the reflective part with the side of his fist, then held it up to her.

Naida gasped with amazement at the expert level of work put into her hair. She moved her head from side to side to view the beautiful style her hair was put up in; a thick braid started on either side of her head, just in front of her ears, then continued to the back of her head, where it was tied up in a tight bun with a fishtail braid hanging under it. Small shells, sea glass, sand crystals, and other cute and tiny items were strategically placed in her hair to give it just the right look.

"Oh, Ray! It's so- so... ah, I don't have the words to describe its beauty!" She praised gleefully and giggled. "Thank you!" She gave him a quick hug and looked bashfully to the ground.

"Aww, how come you're warming up to him? He literally kisses you without your permission." Lionfish wined and folded his arms.