Water

Wave Twenty Nine

The tides that followed were a blur for Leira. She trained with her team and they treated her as what she was: an outsider. During their sessions with Kai, they interacted with her when they needed to. Otherwise they left her alone. It became routine for Leira to wake up and find them bathing in the sandbasin. They’d wait just long enough for her to lower herself into the basin before leaving. She’d invariably have to quickly scrub her tail and dash after them, so they arrived in the main chamber together. Hali wanted them to look like a team. Then they’d swim out beyond the Nest wall and wait for Kai to instruct them.

          Together, they were taught the intricacies of map making, and how to chart foreign waters. Kai would send them out a short way beyond the Nest, and have them navigate their way back. They’d map everything they’d seen. They soon discovered this worked best when they operated together, as they had on their first day. One of them would scout ahead, one would remember landmarks, another would track sea temperatures and currents, then they’d draw all of their information together at the end to create maps and mission reports. Leira hated mission reports. Everything about them bored her. Sometimes, the team were made to stay in the Scout caverns and listen as other Scouts dictated their missions to them. They’d have to listen carefully, etching every word into wafer-thin sheets of rock made by Carvers. Then they’d scurry off to file the report before beginning the process again with another Scout.

          Other times, they’d have to track something, or someone, often through the bustling Mer city. Leira enjoyed this the most. It was when the others let their guards down as they raced around the buildings and rock. They’d dart in and out of other Mer, constantly connected – the four of them – and trace whatever they sought. They’d pick up tokens and trinkets they found along the way. Leira revelled at seeing the different sections of the Nest and exploring the different caverns and passageways she hadn’t known existed. She realised Scouts were far more than the glorified news seekers and messengers she’d always judged them to be. They tracked other herds, explored new surroundings, sought out dangers and either reported back about them, or dealt with them. It was this last part that intimidated Leira. As a Guardian, she’d been trained to fight using her mind, but the other Mer didn’t work that way. They weren’t as strong and couldn’t disconnect their minds from the underlying whine of the Herd for long enough to form mental attacks. Instead they used brute strength.

          After many tides had ebbed and flowed, the day Leira had been secretly dreading arrived. Kai had taught them everything they needed to know to become Scouts. Almost. Leira and her team arrived at the edge of the Nest to find Kai, as usual. With him were four other Scouts Leira had seen around, but not interacted with. And Firth.
(Firth!) Hali swore. (Why is he here? We’re not, they wouldn’t -)
(They aren’t Testing us Hal, relax.) Nerida interrupted. She flicked her blonde hair out of her face and faced the other three. (We haven’t finished training.)
(She’s right,) thought Kai at them, a look of amusement crossing his face. (Today, we fight,) he continued simply.
Leira looked across at her teammates. Tal was smiling, the others looked neutral - unfazed. Fighting must be natural to them, Leira supposed.

        They swam in to the Citadel, and made for a small meadow of lush seagrass. Taller rushes grew unchecked around the edges. The meadow was surrounded by a ring of high thin boulders that swayed in the current. A bright orb was nestled upon each boulder, shining down on to the meadow. They cast long shadows over them. Kai made the gathered Mer, with the exception of Firth who looked stoically on, form a circle around him. He began to show them a series of intricate tail manoeuvres, some of them defensive, others attacking. His body twisted and the water around him was filled with bubbles as his tail sliced through it.

          After demonstrating each move, Kai made them practise it. He swam among them, correcting their posture or technique until they could all do it. The four Scouts Kai had brought completed the moves with ease. Leira watched as the other trainees, her team, performed the movements in sequences. She marvelled at how graceful they were. They looked as though they were dancing through the waters, carving through the weightless waves with a delicacy that betrayed the strength in their tails. She felt painfully self-conscious as she tried the moves out herself, and blushed under the heat of Firth’s appraising gaze.