by Anthology
“I think its eerie here. Let’s go back.”
“Oh come on. You’ve never even climbed on top.”
Adaltan narrowed his eyes at her before lifting himself out of the water and onto the lilies. It took a moment for them to redistribute and accommodate his weight. Though he swam with graceful ease, his long limbs and lithe body moved awkwardly above the lilies. “It’s so weird to feel them move under you.”
“They’ll stop as soon as you lie still.”
“You do realize you’re using a living creature as a cot.”
“If it were a problem, they’d have developed stingers to keep us off.”
“What about the Erdlanders? Don’t you worry about them seeing you?”
“We’re too far from the shore. And even if they did see me, I could dive back underwater and swim home before they could even do anything. They’re so painfully slow. It’s hard to believe we haven’t won the war yet.”
“You don’t know much about war.” Adaltan tightened his jaw and closed his eyes. When he looked back at her, his luminous black irises sparkled with moisture.
“I miss Alkatan, too.” She placed a hand on his arm.
This time he didn’t pull away. The memory of his brother, fallen in battle with the land-crawling Erdlanders, must have weakened his defenses. As much as Nilafay didn’t want to overstep, she was glad for the contact.
“If he were here, you’d be marrying him instead of me.” Adaltan’s voice carried an unexpected sadness.
“Only if they made me. If Father asked, I’d have chosen you.”
“Sometimes I’m glad he’s gone, just so I could have you.”
She squeezed his arm. “You’re glad to be marrying me; you aren’t glad your brother died. They are different things.”
“Are they?”
“If Father had told me to marry Alkatan, I would have come straight to tell you and we would have run away together. We could swim out beyond the coral reef and follow the narwhals to faraway continents not yet swallowed by the sea.”
“We could raid Erdlander ships for supplies and build a home out of a giant squid’s cave.” His smile spread as they contemplated adventure.
“You’d battle him for the territory, earning me as your bride.”
He reached for her, and it was as if the star lilies floated closer, bringing their bodies within reach. “I love you, Nilafay.”
“And I you.”
He placed a tentative hand on her hip and pulled her closer. His fingers against the tight material of her bodysuit cooled the sun-heated flesh beneath. “When we marry, you’ll be Nilatan.”
His breath fanned over her lips, and she inhaled the taste of him. Salty and dark.
“But you shall call me Nila,” she whispered.
He sucked in a breath and his full black eyes dipped to her lips.
“And I shall call you Adal.”
As his name fell from her tongue, he reached forward, pulling her tight against the length of his body, and pressed his lips against hers.
The intimate names and forbidden kiss sent shockwaves through Nilafay’s nerves. The movement of the living creatures below them seemed to dance with their unspent passion. They kissed, and Adaltan wrapped his long, lithe arms around her, bringing her flush against his chest. She’d never been kissed before, never been held so close and precious.
He pulled away, and Nilafay whined, wrapping a hand around the back of his smooth skull. “Not yet.”
“We have to go, sweet Nila.”
“I just want to stay here.” She rolled away from him onto her back and stared up at the sky. “The clouds move together like schools of fish. They dance in and out of patterns that make my mind dream of distant shores.”
Adaltan laughed. “My mother warned me you were a poet.” He took her hand and rolled into the water, dragging her beneath the surface.
Nilafay squealed as the long-reaching tentacles of the star lilies swept across her face, wrapping their silken fingers around her ears.
Underwater, Adaltan was even more beautiful, his dark eyes unusual even for a Sualwet, his long, lean body fluid as he moved through the water. He drifted away from her backwards, barely appearing to move as he flowed with the slight current.
“Time to get back to reality,” he said. “You have a party to prepare for.” His voice sang across the distance between them, carried to her ears on a channel of warm water. He winked, his pale skin appearing to shimmer in the sunlight before he darted away, back toward the Domed City.
Despite her delight over their impending marriage, she dreaded the evening’s engagement party. Her mother had arranged for other despotic families from outside the Domed City to attend. Even her distant cousin, Rustifay, who currently held the highest position in the Sualwet Parliament below the prime minister, would be there.
Her idea of a celebration differed greatly from her mother’s.
Nilafay would rather dance on the seafloor and swim with the narwhals. She’d rather go on an expedition journey for her honeymoon than be sequestered until her next egg-laying to see if any would hatch. As much as she fantasized about her time alone with Adaltan, the idea that she’d be locked away from the world until she produced a viable hatchling felt old fashioned and unfair.
The low numbers of children among the Sualwet had led the despotic class to cling even harder to the old ways. But instead of what used to be only a few weeks of confinement that should produce multiple children, she had friends who had been sequestered for months with no results. A worm of worry wriggled in her belly. What if her eggs never hatched? Would Adaltan leave her to find another wife?
The water cooled as she sank farther from the surface. Her thoughts and body weighted down with fear. Soon she had dropped to the depth of her home. She lifted the thin membrane that protected her sensitive eyes from the dryness of the surface world. The darkness of the deep came into sharp, spectacular focus. The music of the creatures that dwelled there alongside the Sualwet washed over her and called her home.
She swam along the outer homesteads, weaving through the tall seaweed. A sea slug jumped from its perch and wriggled after her for a moment before dropping back into the stalks. Eels in the distance had gathered near the entrance of the Domed City. Their bright electric sparks beckoning those who sought her home. They swam along the seeded path through the outer dwellings, a living aisle of light and welcoming.
At the entrance, she passed through the main gates and entered the airlock. The glass walls showed her the floating world outside and the gravity oriented world within. While she found passing from land to water delightful, entrance to the Domed City always left her disoriented. As the water drained away and pumped back out to the sea, she took a deep breath, pulling oxygen in through her lungs instead of through osmosis via her skin. Warm, stale air blew over her, drying her skin and clothing.
As soon as she stepped into the dryness of the city, she heard her housefille calling out.
“Nilafay,” the hushed voice carried across the air. “Where have you been? Your mother has been worried sick!” The young girl hurried over, her long skirts a symbol of her low status and servitude.
“Serishee, calm yourself.” Even though they were only a year apart, the housefille’s demeanor seemed so young. “I’m here now. Come, tell me what I’ve missed while we walk.”
“There’s no time for that!” Serishee hailed a rickshaw and climbed in the back, motioning for Nilafay to join her. “To Fay Manor,” she ordered before settling back into the seat.
“Why are we in such a rush?”
The younger woman eyed Nilafay sideways and stifled a laugh behind her hand.
They traveled in silence, sitting together but with the customary space between them that all Sualwets maintained except with family. It was so rare to be touched. Perhaps that was why so many of her people loved being out in the sea so much: the feel of the water against flesh was like an embrace.
Nilafay closed her eyes. Th
e artificial atmosphere of the Domed City dried her out, and already she longed to be back in the water. The smooth rocking of the rickshaw almost reminded her of floating on the surface, but the bumps in the artificial road jolted her out of her fantasy.
She clasped her hands together and tried to recall each touch she and Adaltan had shared. They were so few, and she longed for each moment they would share together once they were married. It seemed an eternity between when they’d been betrothed and when their wedding would finally occur.
The rickshaw passed by the fountain in the center of the city before weaving its way back through the residential area. At the end of a long drive, Nilafay’s home shimmered against the nearly black sea that resided behind the south wall. Having a property at the edge of the wall elevated her family’s status. Not only did her father run the Domed City’s government, but her home backed up to the best view.
From her bedroom the view extended past the drop-off and into the deep. Fish and other creatures whose ancestors hadn’t seen the surface in hundreds of years flashed in the darkness. It reminded her of the night sky far above.
As soon as the girls stepped inside the grand hall, Nilafay’s mother swept out from the back rooms. She wore the ceremonial dress for the mother of the bride. A low-slung belt with links of pearls draped around her hips and dangled to the floor. On top, draped across her breasts, she wore a tight band of cloth decorated with matching pearls and quartz from the Sualwet mines.
“You’re late.” Her mother’s scowl struck Nilafay like a slap in the face.
“There’s time. It’s not like I have to do much to get ready.”
Her mother’s face darkened, and the corners of her lips dipped impossibly low, making her look like grouper or a ladyfish.
Nilafay bowed her head and hurried up the curved marble staircase to her rooms. She’d grown up in this house, but she hated it. Her parents maintained all the trappings of above-water status—trinkets and decorations that would be stolen by the tide if they lived outside the walls of the city—and yet they never used any of it. As a child she had to be careful with everything she touched, every movement she made. Those possessions were more precious than her childhood.
This was one of the many reasons she couldn’t wait to leave home. Adaltan already secured a place for them within the city walls but nearer to the entrance. Her parents disliked the lower status of the location, but she imagined they secretly expected they would move back in with them before too long and were simply humoring their youth.
In her room, she stripped off her bodysuit and stepped into the shower. It felt so strange to bathe after being in the water, but residual sea salt speckled her pale skin. She rinsed quickly, running her hands over her smooth head and hairless body to wash away the outside world.
Once she’d bathed and dried, she sat at the dressing table in her room and reached for the powder her mother had given her. The container of finely crushed pearls reeked of decadence and waste, but Nilafay knew better than to fight back over her appearance. Soon she’d be married and out from under her parents’ thumb, able to come and go as she pleased.
Her lips tingled as she remembered the exhilarating press of Adaltan’s mouth against hers.
She opened the powder and applied it to her head, lips, and face until she glowed like the bioluminescent algae that danced near the shoreline. Once the crushed pearls blended down to her neckline, she looked like she were rising out of the sea, her face shining in the moonlight. She applied black ink harvested from the octopus farm around her eyes, making sure to get it on the tables of her eyes so the large black irises loomed, threatening to take over her entire face.
The effect was stunning. Even she couldn’t deny the otherworldly effect the makeup had on her appearance as she stared at her reflection. She truly felt like the lady her mother had always tried to shape her to be.
Naked and painted, she removed her traditional jewels from the drawer and stood up. The long chains wrapped over her right shoulder and hung down to the opposite hip where they attached to a belt, much like her mother’s. However where her mother’s had been decorated with pearls, Nilafay’s were covered in rare obsidian. The effect of her pale, naked flesh beneath the links of silver and black completed her transformation from girl to bride.
As she looked at her reflection, her mother opened her door. “You look quite lovely, Nilafay.”
Her mother’s formal voice pulled her attention. When had she stopped being “Nila” to her family? When had she stopped being a child? The withdrawal of affection had happened so slowly that now she had difficulty remembering it ever having been there.
“Thank you, Mother. As do you.”
“Come then, if you’re ready. Your father is already at the square.”
They walked side by side, but not touching, down the stairs and out to the waiting rickshaw.
Serishee hovered nearby, her excitement barely contained. “Exquisite!” she squealed, hands fluttering at her sides. The long skirts flowed around her in ripples.
Nilafay smiled, but her mother ignored the girl completely, stepping up into the waiting seat and beckoning her daughter to join her.
Once Nilafay climbed inside, Serishee draped a dark cloth over the passenger part of the vehicle, and the driver pedaled them away.
Nilafay wiggled her toes, the thin webbing between them pulling gently with her movement, grounding her in this body. Otherwise she feared she would float away and swim through the air of the city as she did in the sea. She felt like a pufferfish, swelling with excitement until its body expanded to its limit.
“Try to stay calm tonight,” her mother said as the rickshaw stopped.
Nilafay’s heart dropped.
The cloth covering them was removed from the outside, and when she stepped out of the seat, the world glittered around her. The fountain at the center of town had been completely redecorated since she’d been there earlier in the day. Lights trailed in the air between the buildings, sparkling and reflecting her elation.
Her mother wouldn’t ruin tonight for her. No Sualwet dictum of sedate behavior would dampen her joy. The street was filled with people she’d known all her life and many she didn’t recognize, dressed in all manner of styles. Tables lining the edges were filled with succulent foods and wine. Even musicians were setting up to play. Soon perhaps there would be dancing. Nilafay felt like the princess in her childhood tales. She was Misula spinning in the whirlpools with Tritan. She was the Goddess of the Deep birthing all life from the bottom of the sea.
Just as she imagined she couldn’t rise any higher, Adaltan stepped toward her from the other side of the carriage. His gaze washed over her, and she gravitated toward him with the undertow of his adoration. His black eyes blazed behind the ink painted around them. His chest and head had been powdered to match hers, and black fabric decorated with pearls covered his waist.
As soon as she came within reach, he took her fingers in his own. “Nila. My gods, you are beautiful.”
His whispered words soothed the angry pounding of her heart, making her lightheaded at the sound of her private name on his lips. She wanted to reach up and kiss him, feel the skin of his bare chest against her, and wrap herself around him until they were one.
Her father’s low grunt broke the spell, and she dropped his fingers from hers.
They wouldn’t touch again until the end of the evening, until after her father had given his speech and the dancers had performed. Not until the food had been eaten and the wine was almost gone. Only then would the couple be presented to the crowd together, to stand side by side and be announced. For the purposes of the public, this would be their wedding, the official joining of the Fay and Tan households. For Nilafay and Adaltan, though, tomorrow would be the real day of their nuptials.
At the end of the night, Nilafay sneaked away from her parents and met Adaltan in an alley behind the musicians.
“You could not be more radiant if the ruby moon shone down directl
y on you.” He whispered, winding an arm around her waist. The skin of his palm pressed against the small of her back, and her strength wavered. For a moment the world spun as if she were caught in a riptide, tumbling head over feet out into the deep.
She closed her eyes and let her body drift toward his cool touch. When their chests touched, the chains draping her torso the only thing separating them, his grip tightened.
She placed her hands on his cheeks and stared at all the unimaginable love he gave her so freely. “My beloved, Adal. Tomorrow I’ll be completely yours.”
She placed a chaste kiss on his lips and pulled away. The magnetic pull between them drew her back, but she knew that if she stayed, she’d never leave his embrace.
“Tomorrow,” he growled, his voice lower than usual.
***
Nilafay always woke before anyone else in her house. She wondered if Adaltan woke early or if he’d sleep through her morning antics once they lived together. Her wedding was coming that very night, and after the touch they’d shared, she couldn’t be more ready.
That morning, instead of listening to music on the tonifier or rushing to eat so she could get to classes, she pulled on a bodysuit and sneaked out of the house before anyone could notice. She needed to feel the sun on her face. No one else understood her fascination with the world above. All they thought of when they imagined the land were Erdlanders.
Nilafay had no interest in the hair-covered hominids who lived above the surface. She’d never seen one and never wanted to. Her only interest was in the sky and the air. Sound carried completely different in the uncontained world above—none of the vibrating song of speaking in the water and not the flat, dead sound of the city.
Above, the wind breathed with life. Animals and birds filled her senses, and the warmth of the sun felt unlike anything she’d ever experienced beneath the water. Sualwets were cold in body and soul, and when the sun shone down on her, working its way into her body, into her very cells, she felt like it was putting her back together. As if something had been missing until it kissed her face.