Water

Wave Sixty

Leira turned to face her friends. She moved in time to see their tails flashing in the inky waters as they retreated toward the Citadel. She raced after them, too breathless to project. Caverns sped by in a blur as they flew across the Nest. They stopped when they reached the meadow. A field of seagrass lay between Leira and her friends. The current had whipped it into a frenzy and the fronds moved quickly in the streaming orblight. Hali span to face Leira. Her face shone with tears and her thought was full of passion.
(So, Guardian, you’ve been lying to us all this time!)
(No, Hali, please – it’s not like that. Darya’s the one who’s lying. I-)
(Oh please! She showed us her memories. You’ve been planning to go back to the Guardians since you met us!) Hali turned to Nerida and Tal, who tried to comfort her.
         
Leira wanted to swim across the meadow, to bridge the distance between them. Before she could, Hali raised her head from Nerida’s shoulder.
(We asked for you, you know. To be put on our team. Firth and Kai didn’t know what to do with you, but we knew you’d be lonely. So we asked for you. We wanted you with us.) Leira was stunned. She’d always assumed Hali and the others had been forced to accept her into their team. She chose her next words carefully.
(I made that deal on one of the first tides after I came to you. I didn’t even know you then – not really.) Leira’s thought broke as her emotions overcame her. She continued quietly. (Tal, I thought you said once a Scout, always a Scout?)
Tal raised his huge eyes to her. They were full of sadness.
(Perhaps you never really were a Scout, Leira,) he thought softly. Tal’s words sank in and Leira was stunned by how much they hurt. Without hesitating, she lifted her tail and brought it crashing down. She sped up and out of the meadow, knowing her friends wouldn’t be able to follow her out of the Nest. Unsure they would even want to.