Daughter of the Sea

by Mira Zamin

  * * *

  After what seemed like hours of drudging through the sand, Hadrian found the outcropping of rocks described by Calista and then the subsequent hollow in the hill, in which, he noted to his satisfaction, Claudius and Calista were huddled uncomfortably. He was gratified to note that her face brightened when she spotted him.

  “Well, what did you discover?” she asked eagerly.

  “More than you could possibly believe for a handful of hours in town. I think I may have found where your family is.”

  Calista’s face could have outshone the sun. “Really? How? Where?”

  Hadrian related the entire scene of the tavern to Calista and Claudius.

  “It could be a trap,” Claudius said flatly, clapping his hands like a vise.

  “No, I do not think so,” said Calista. “For one thing, no one is expecting us. Why go so far as to make a ruse? We must go.” Observing the height of the sun, Calista sighed morosely. “This will be the longest dozen hours of my life.”

  Hadrian’s dark eyes grew distant, debating whether or not to relate to Calista the whole of what he had heard at the tavern when Calista asked sharply, “Hadrian, what is the matter?”

  Startled, he responded, “Oh, nothing.”

  She furrowed her brow. “You were thinking of something…unpleasant.”

  “It is something that can be left for later,” he said, looking away from her.

  “Hmm.” She paused. “Well, what is that in your hand then?”

  Hadrian glanced up, surprised, and then saw the packages he carried. “Oh, food! Here!” He dealt a packet apiece to Claudius and Calista and they fell upon it ravenously. Claudius ate the whole lot of it but Calista saved a portion.

  “Half a day is a long time,” she pointed out. “And I like to snack.” Delicately, she wiped her mouth on the edge of the cloth and Hadrian, for a brief moment, was transported to the sort of life she had led previously: here and in Atlantis.

  As if reading his thoughts, Calista asked, “Do you think we will ever see Atlantis again?”

  Hadrian chuckled. “And you were so eager to leave that place Calista! Don’t tell me you are feeling homesick.”

  Smiling slightly, Calista replied, “No but I did find some…family there, despite some disloyalty all around.” She carefully avoided looking at Hadrian. “Perhaps I am being a nostalgic fool but some parts of it were nice.” Looking at the sand, she continued more firmly, “Evadne was a most loving mother and I hope she is well. I hope they all survived. I hope no one was hurt.”

  “You are being a nostalgic fool.” He brushed the hair aside from Calista’s temple fondly and Hadrian wanted to swipe his hand away. “But I feel the same away.”

  Hadrian silently listened, losing himself in the cadence of the ocean waves and the rhythm of their speech. He wondered where his mother was and how his home was. They recalled a place they had been only a few months. Atlantis had been his home, where he had been born, where he had lived for more than a thousand years. Conceived on land, the first child of Atlantis, being away from there was like having an ache echo every heartbeat.

  “I shall return,” he said, interrupting Calista’s and Claudius’ playful banter.

  Calista blanched. “Return where? Not Atlantis? How would you?”

  Shrugging, he answered, “I would find a way.”

  Her lips tightened but she merely nodded, thinking of what Hadrian had said that night about being a sort of god. After a tight moment, she announced, “I think I will go for a little walk. I will not stray far.” Carefully, she wrapped her food and laid it on the gravel.

  Her sandals waded uncomfortably through the rocky sand and every so often Calista halted to dislodge a stubborn pebble from near her still delicate skin. A stray breeze gusted, tossing her golden hair, now past her hips, like a banner behind her and suddenly that, the rushing of waves, and the overwhelming strong salty scent reminded her of the very beginning, when Pyp had given her the pendant. She snorted to think of that no doubt priceless artifact in some nameless, uncivilized village.

  What did not please her though was the thought of Hadrian leaving, although she could not precisely pinpoint why. It is his companionship, she decided. When I have so few upon whom I can rely each and every one becomes precious. However, if she were to be perfectly honest with herself, she would recognize that such an announcement from Claudius would not prompt such discomfort, or, if she were to be closer to the truth, a distinct throb, centered around her breastbone. Indeed, she would be pleased that Claudius would be able to regain some vestiges of his life and she hoped that he would become a captain again. As soon as she won Portus Tarrus she would ensure that he had the resources to do that very thing.

  Soft footsteps thudding behind her should have warned her but she was too engrossed in her own thoughts to be aware of much else. When a hand was lain on her shoulder, she leapt up, startled, the name “Avaritus” running through her mind illogically. Turning around and seeing a familiar pair of laughing grey eyes, she gasped in relief. “Oh Hadrian! Do not surprise me like that. I thought you were my former fiancé.”

  “Which one?” he smirked.

  “Oh very droll,” she rejoined. “I am pleased to see that you and Claudius are getting along so well together.”

  “Necessity makes comrades of us all,” Hadrian said.

  She laughed. She did not bear him a serious grudge for what he had attempted in Atlantis. His willingness to help her rescue her family was more than enough to wipe away the petty debt of bruised pride. She understood his motivation to serve Thetis, his mother. It was that same familial loyalty that drove her to return to Portus Tarrus to rescue her family and settle the score with Avaritus.

  His thumb caught Calista’s temple, and rubbed it gently, as if he were erasing the mark of Claudius’ touch. Calista was certain that only she felt the spark of lightning that flashed upon their skin contact.

  Turning her face up, she asked, more jovially than was natural, “So, when do you plan on taking your leave of us?”

  “So eager to see my back?”

  Calista looked away, but said nothing.

  Gently, he took her chin between his fingers, raised her mouth, and kissed her lips softly. Blood rushed from the tips of her fingers to arch of her cheeks. She broke away, abruptly feeling too much, far too much, for this man whose heart would always be tied to a land beneath the sea.

  “If you do not want me to leave, I won’t,” he whispered.

  Her head spun. She could not handle this as well as everything else. She shook the grimy wool of her peplos and lengthened her steps through the shifting sand. Her sandals crunched angrily as she strode over remnants of shells and stones. She took vicious pleasure in each crush.

  When he touched her shoulder again, she whipped around, and with furious bluntness, said, “I’m confused right now. I don’t understand a damn thing I’m feeling and all I know is that you are irritating me to Hades so let me alone!” As she spoke, her voice grew louder until she was screaming, until not even the waves dashing against the beach or the cawing of seagulls could drown it out.

  Then, a voice came from above, cutting through Calista’s confused anger with icy sharpness. “Why, it is Calista, my bride-to-be! A voice like a siren. Look, she has returned to us!”

  Avaritus.