Water Games

by Juliann Whicker

  It was difficult not to get distracted from my work by Sean, straining against the massive animal, holding it in place like the gladiator he was. I forced myself to focus, moving my hands over the mucous slick skin, over and over until I felt the slight give and heard a tinkling in the bottle. I’d done it! Finally, we had the requisite bottle full and Anul led me away before Sean released the brogge and gave it a good pat before coming over to me.

  He shook his head as he took the bottle, shaking it and hearing how much, or rather, how little I’d gotten. “And that was the easiest custom.” He took my hand, kissed it in spite of the fact that it tasted like brogge, and we swam back to the house where he sent me off to go through the car wash.

  It was like Sean said, a room where jets whirred until my skin was clean and sparkly. When the jets hit the back of my neck, I shivered and wrapped my arms around myself. It had been so nice to sleep with my gladiator.

  “Congratulations,” Fraun said in Soremni after my shower. I was getting so good, I could almost understand basics like that. She smiled pleasantly and offered to fix my hair. I nodded and then she created this elaborate princess Leia job that did nothing for me. I didn’t care.

  When Madame Claria prodded between my shoulder blades so my spine had the perfect arc for singing, I didn’t care. When Housekeeper Mirta made me wash a gadzillion dishes in sand until my hands were rough, I didn’t care. When Abott tied me in a pretzel, floating in the training room, I didn’t mind even a little bit. The only problem with being immobilized is that it was the wrong chest that I needed to crush the rest of the world.

  He was so beautiful. At the end of that first week we had dinner with a bunch of people, Petra and her husband, to name a few. I gazed at Sean and barely needed any of Petra’s hints.

  “Anul mentioned that you milked a brogge,” she said in English.

  I laughed and spoke in my most demure Soremni, “I was terrible. Poor thing. Poor Takeo.”

  Her eyes went soft along with her smile. “You are really going to perform the Soremni marriage customs, not just the Vashni ones? I thought that was just for show.”

  Is that why Sean had agreed to milk a brogge with me, because of marketing? I’d have to talk about it tonight. When he was in my bed cuddling me. I beamed at her. “Of course I’m performing the Soremni marriage customs. All of them. I don’t want Takeo to feel like he’s missing anything in choosing me.”

  She studied me for a second too long before she blinked and smiled, going back to staring at her husband like a proper Soremni wife. I looked at Sean and he was watching me, one eyebrow raised as if asking a question. Could he hear my conversation with Petra? We hadn’t been quiet, and come to think of it, everyone else in the room was. Oh. I gave him a demure smile and proceeded to eat my cooked and stuffed meat bread while staring at him. I didn’t bite myself once.

  That night he came in through the roof, a shadow passing the curve of the bulb until he slipped inside, approaching my cocoon bed like a thief. I swam quickly, jumping on his back and hanging on while he stopped moving, put a hand on my leg and continued towards my bed like it wasn’t weird to swim with me on his back.

  “What are you doing?” he asked.

  I pressed my face against his slick skin between his shoulder blades. “Soremni customs Petra told me about.”

  He entered my cocoon and pulled me off his back, swinging me around him in the dark water. “Mmm. Why do you want to do the Soremni marriage customs?”

  “I was going to ask you that.”

  “You are too slow. Well?”

  I slid my hand over his stomach, up his bare chest. “Why not?”

  “Because it’s difficult, boring, tortuous, and of dubious merit.”

  “What about you?”

  He wrapped his arms around me and pulled me tight, his heart pounding. “I’m half Soremni. It’s good press. Mostly, I don’t hate the idea of being Soremni married to you.”

  He felt so good wrapped around me. Much better than Abott. “You don’t?”

  He bumped my head with his chin. “I want to chew on your neck again. If it’s too hard, bite my arm.”

  “Soremni females are allowed to bite arms?” I asked while he shifted until he was behind me, brushing my hair away from my neck.

  “No, just you.” He didn’t bite me, just kissed and nibbled until I was all shivers and quivers. So delicious. For a moment he gripped my skin with his teeth, a little bit harder and I tensed up. He pulled back, tucked me under his chin. “Sweet dreams, Watergirl.”

  Ah, the life of a Soremni maiden. Everything made sense as long as you had a male to make the center of your universe. If you didn’t have a male, you were lost, bitter, out to get every fake Vashni well-born you knew. Fraun needed a man. Yep, she did. The man she wanted was obviously Takeo, but he only liked strange girls like me. Poor Fraun. Snuggling with Sean every night made everything kind of beaming and glowy, contented and peaceful. It wasn’t a fluke. Madame Claria probably needed a man too. Not that I would ever tell Junie. Flop would get it. Wouldn’t she? Maybe I was losing my mind, not only understanding and adapting but becoming Soremni. I probably would have worried about it more, but everything was so perfect. The golden moments of Sean, holding me close and burying his face in my neck, spilled into the rest of the world until there was nothing but beaming, beautiful brilliance.

  After that first week, Housekeeper Mirta introduced me to the art of Soremni cooking. She started with the simplest things, how to cook underwater, boiling, baking, all completely new to me, but I hadn’t ever been a very good human cook anyway. Somehow, it made more sense to me, the logic of underwater food preparation whether an egg or a sea vegetable. My skills grew until I tackled the delicious breaded fish rolls with the crunchy crusty outside and the soft and tender inside. I worked with focus I usually only saved for my music because someday I would be able to cook the perfect Soremni meal for my Takeo.

  The days passed quickly, broken up by outings with Sean when he could get away. We visited the town of Terramore, going through the brightly colored market, and eating weird sea fruit while Sean bought me flowers and a goo scarf. We also went to visit Petra and Anul in their small, charming home filled to the brim with five children. They were all beautiful and innocent, charming and sweet. I sang for them, and they clapped then taught me a song with shocking lyrics, about milking brogge cows and dealing with their waste. It was hilarious, maybe because Sean was there, smiling and laughing like a proper Soremni mate.

  Harvest came for a particularly delicious fruit called Yurba and the entire community went out into the grow fields. I spent the day with Petra and her children, floating along, gathering the glistening red tubes and tying the stems to my mesh pack. No Madame Claria poking me, no passive-aggressive Frauns, just the women gathering while the men went behind, ripping out plants and replenishing the soil. Sean was working behind me, so I couldn’t watch him very often, but sometimes I’d catch a glimpse of him and my heart quivered.

  The temple day after that was our next Soremni marriage custom. We went to the temple, which was more like a set of caves dug into the base of the mountain than anything fancy. They led me into a little room all by myself with very strict instructions. I floated in the center with my eyes closed, praying for Sean. All day. A current flowed through the room making staying in the middle difficult, and also forcing you to stay awake, otherwise you’d crash into the wall. After fifteen minutes or so of listing all the ways he was awesome and how much I hoped his life was great, I started to blend the words with a song that flowed with the current and the crash of water against the wall before it recirculated. Me and the water kind of got into it before the day was over. It was different to manipulate moving water, more fun, more exciting. By the time the bells rolled through the water, rich, low sound that went through my bones, I almost felt reluctant to leave my little room of Sean song.

  And then I saw him floating towards me, a radiant smile on his face. I thought he was
going to kiss me like a human for a second, but he took my hands and kissed my skin, up and down, over my wrists, teeth nibbling for a second before he put his arm around my back and we floated back to the house. We floated lazily over the fields, through the kelp mardu, surrounded by darting fish, until we reached the rows of dim afrateau that led to the house. Sean kissed my hand one last time before releasing me to go change for our musical evening.

  We were going to sing a duet. I’d practiced with another Soremni male under Madame Claria’s tutelage. I wasn’t supposed to actually look at him, which made the whole thing more difficult, but Sean wasn’t about to practice with Madame Claria. Ever. He had agreed to perform with me. It was part of the Soremni marriage ritual, but no practicing.

  I was ridiculously excited. How long had we been in Terramore? Two months? I almost knew what people were talking about when they went off in Soremni. I’d finally hear Sean sing. Finally. It was going to be good. I could tell by the way he kissed my neck. Good neck kissers were the best singers.

  My gown was new, layers and layers of filmy fabric that came from blue kelp, their version of silk. The buyer had outdone herself with layers and layers of filmy curls around my ankles. The top was pale blue then deeper, richer hues around my legs. I spun around in the water to check the twirl, my movement easy, natural, like I’d been born in the ocean. Fraun did my hair and makeup, not doing anything to risk the use of my lips. We had a kind of pleasant stand-off. Would I miss her when we left Terramore?

  My heart pounded. I didn’t want to leave this world and the beautiful cocoon where I belonged to beautiful Takeo. It would be okay. He’d be with me wherever we went.

  I smiled at Fraun and thanked her for the beautiful work she’d done on my hair and face before I floated gracefully out of the bulb room and down the stem, staring out at the fire fountains and magnificent phosphorescent flowers as I went. I had to stay calm.

  We were performing in the enormous hall with the pulsing chandelier. It was actually the power core to the entire house and grow fields. And it looked pretty. Why didn’t human technology look pretty? I entered the hall beneath the pulsing chandelier. For a moment I was overwhelmed by the sheer amount of people.

  Everyone wore ridiculously fancy clothes, the men in midnight blue, the women in blues to purple pink. Where was Sean? I searched the crowd until I felt his hand in mine. I turned towards him, gazing adoringly. He smiled but there was something off. The way he looked at me wasn’t entirely consumed and he didn’t immediately kiss my fingers, just squeezed them.

  “What’s wrong?” I asked, moving closer to brush against him.

  His eyebrow quirked and he smiled languid and sweet while he raised my hand and brushed his lips over my skin. “You, me, water. What could go wrong? Don’t worry. I’ve prepared for every eventuality. Try to relax. Try to not feel too much.” He raised my other hand and kissed it, his eyes and that connection between his soft lips and my skin the only thing I needed, the only thing I’d ever need.

  I smiled and followed him through the crowds, my arm tucked in his, his strong hand covering mine. A platform rose along one side. Musicians were arranged in their places, wires for sound in a loose grid between people. They stopped talking, turning to us.

  Takeo smiled brilliantly at them while I gazed at him. I understood every Soremni word. “Welcome friends. I’m grateful for this opportunity to share with you my most exquisite possession. My betrothed and I will sing the traditional Ballad of Gyre with a few modern adaptations.” He winked and everyone laughed and clapped politely.

  I looked away from Sean and was momentarily unbalanced at the intensity of the gazes directed at me. It wasn’t just jealous women, these people wouldn’t be an easy crowd. They would applaud politely no matter how we did, but if I sucked they would say how Takeo deserved so much better behind my back.

  I tightened my core and focused on Sean while I waited for the bass lines. They hummed through my skin until they were throbbing in my bones. I sang the first lines, keeping my voice perfect, but lacking in emotion. I had to be careful. What they thought about me didn’t matter so long as I didn’t lose control.

  Everything was fine until Sean sang.

  His voice was weirdly sweet. Sean was a lot of things, strong, just, good, kind on a deep level, but sweet, not really. His honey baritone had an almost limitless range. I almost missed my cue to come in, I was so busy absorbing every nuance of his voice. He captured the words of the legend, the myth so much better than what’s-his-face, Gyre. Perfect. He was the man searching for his love, the ocean who seduced him in the form of a woman and dragged him beneath the waves, transforming him into the current that ceaselessly wandered, searching for his love.

  He looked at me, expressing emotions I’d never imagined he could have. It was just a show, but it didn’t feel like it. My heart pounded and ached. His love for me was as endless and aching as Gyre’s for his traitorous ocean.

  We stepped closer and he pulled my hands to his chest. I sang, but the words felt too close to my heart. He was so much of my everything, but I was going to drown him and I couldn’t stop because he was the most beautiful thing I’d ever seen in the world, and I was as selfish and consuming as the ocean. My body shook as I struggled to hold back the aching, the emotion that pushed and pounded beneath my skin.

  He sang with me, sliding his fingers over my skin, gripping me tightly like I might break apart otherwise. Could he feel the song the way I did? Only it was a different song. I would never hurt him. I would never rip him apart so he could be part of me. I would always, always protect and love and care for him.

  Before I knew it, I was weaving a canticle around the next verse he sang, a song I’d been working on a long time, Sean’s chest, his heart. The counterpoint was poignant, the musicians adapting to my improvisation, drums and strings echoing my song, making it more beautiful and alive than the carefully rehearsed version.

  The music swelled and swelled and swelled inside and outside in the perfect balance. The water stayed still, absorbing the sound until the very last note where my voice mingled with Sean’s in the perfect, precise blend. It was the most satisfying moment of my entire life. I could have died happy in that moment of complete harmony, musically and personally as full as possible. More than was possible.

  After the last note died silence filled the hall. The water was still vibrating. Could they feel that? I could feel it. The whole hall was charged with energy that was waiting for me.

  Applause struck me, the sound an almost physical blow, so much intensity in their response, and so much, so much, so much.

  Sean gripped my hands as he stared at me, emotion in his ice blue eyes that made me quiver from the tips of my toes to the ends of my hair. I needed more air. I was drowning for a taste of him. I needed his lips. His skin.

  He turned and bowed to the audience. They kept clapping, their faces rapt with expression I’d never seen on Soremni before. So much emotion. I could feel it, their emotion, their ecstatic approval. They would rip me apart with their fervor if I didn’t have Sean to protect me. I gripped his arm and slipped behind him, pressing my cheek against his slick suit coat as I tried to distance myself from their intensity. It was hard enough for me to be balanced.

  “Are you all right?” Sean asked, his voice a delicious rumble.

  Just then a small buzzing came from his wrist.

  He pulled the sleeve of his perfectly tailored midnight goo suit and there was a watch. Not a watch. A hologram bloomed up showing a weird scene. There was a man in front of what looked like a field of beige crabs. The man signed rapidly, too rapidly for me to catch. There was a quick change of scenes, another field of what looked like liquid darkness with glowing red eyes. What were those?

  “What’s going on?”

  Sean faced me, the audience behind him, blocked out by the intensity in his searing eyes. He took my waist and turned me so my back was fitted against his chest. He pulled my hair to the side and then bit
me on the back of my neck harder than ever before. I inhaled water as my neck shattered, crystals rupturing and scattering around in a dazzling golden beams that lit everything while I drowned in warmth and incomprehensible bliss.

  He wasn’t quick. He held me in his arms and worked on my neck sending wave after wave of happiness through me. I was in another world, limp and buzzing when he finally pulled me around and slid his hand roughly up the side of my neck and my face. He pressed his forehead against mine while his ice blue eyes burned into me.

  “Watch. Wait. I will come. I will protect you. You will stay with Madame Claria. I will be there soon. Stay with her.”

  I nodded, but I would have held onto him if my fingers had any bones left after that bite. Madame Claria gripped my arm and guided me through the crowd. I turned my head, staring after Sean who signed and spoke at the same time. His words didn’t make any sense. Monsters were attacking? Why? We had to evacuate? I must be misreading his sign. Terramore was my paradise. Nothing would ever touch it.

  Chapter 11

  We left the house through the front entry and there above the kelp mardu, blocking out the mesh lights, was a ship. It looked endless. I froze up when I saw the gray metal studded with pale green lights, making the whole world look alien for the first time in a long time.

  Madame Claria tugged me up, towards the ship. We were soon joined by everyone from the packed hall. They swam up briskly, businesslike, making the whole thing slightly less weird. If Sean had been with me, it would have been okay, but he had to take care of the evacuation. He’d told me he’d come. He’d be there soon. I stopped tugging away from Madame Claria, instead letting her pull me still boneless through the water. Sean. Takeo. He was so perfect, caring for his people with the dedication of a shepherd. And his song.