Page 110 of Salt in the Seas
As they made their way under an arch of chartreuse skeletal coral, the ocean floor gave way to a bed of seagrass, the blades swaying in the current like they all danced to the same song. Inside the reef’s center, a calmness pervaded the space. The sea life they’d walked among was now replaced by only a few schools of fish among dozens of Sayhleens, all watching the newcomers with wide eyes. Small Sayhleens inside their own training suits were tucked behind fins, left to peek between their parents’ tails.
Even Nori hesitated at the way everyone held back before sheswam forward to sign at the Sayhleens, making a full circle and repeating her gestures a few times for everyone to see. Several smiles and nods came in response, followed by a few of the men coming forward to sign to Velden. He attempted to sign back, but the clumsy suit made it impossible, and he glanced up at the water’s surface in frustration. Finally he held up one finger in some sort of warning, then he pulled off his helmet.
“What are you doing?” Aeliana cried, but her words likely didn’t carry beyond her own glass. She trusted he really could last an hour, but what if they didn’t surface that soon?
Velden pulled down his suit and gestured at the tiny flaps on his neck, lines Aeliana had never noticed before. Maybe they weren’t even visible outside of the water. Their size and sporadic movement proved they weren’t as functional as the Sayhleens’, but they’d give him that hour he’d promised.
Several Sayhleens crowded closer, and some even reached out to touch him. They signed so quickly that laughter made bubbles come from his lips, and his fumbled attempts to sign back were met with understanding as they took turns and slowed their own gestures.
Aeliana felt both privileged and out of place to watch this strange welcoming of Velden. The silence stretched around her, her own breathing the only noise reaching her ears. But it was a misleading calm when the excitement of the Sayhleens, and even Velden, was palpable through the water.
Nori grinned and winked at Aeliana, clearly pleased with the way he was being received.
His gestures shifted to more common ones Aeliana recognized as he pointed the others toward her and Gaeren. She smiled and gave a hesitant wave as the Sayhleens’ attention turned her way. The Sayhleens came closer, almost too close, as they reached out to touch her glass and suit and gain a better view of the strangers in their midst.
Eventually a woman with a tail almost as brilliant a mauve as Rhoda’s had been swam forward, two open clamshells in her hands. She placed them before Aeliana, weighing them out as if Aeliana was to choose.
She glanced at Nori, who nodded, and Aeliana studied the shellsmore closely. The one on the left held a rose pink pearl the size of Aeliana’s smallest nail and the one on the right held a similarly shaped gem, but it was more transparent, its multi-faceted surface taking on the various shades of the bright coral around it like it reflected an entire rainbow.
Aeliana bit her lip, wishing she understood, wishing she could ask questions. Gellen swam beside her and placed a hand on her arm.
Youcanask questions. And no, your questions aren’t rude.
She grinned uncomfortably. “Is this a gift? Am I meant to choose one? I have nothing to offer in return.” The words echoed back at her within her helmet, but she knew Gellen would likely hear them in his mind.
She glanced at Gaeren, but he shrugged, unable to hear her question or offer advice. He was probably used to these sorts of diplomatic affairs, but the choice had been offered to her.
Gifts are given without expecting anything in return. And while asking questions isn’t rude, refusing a gift would be.
She studied the two offerings again, unsure of their value or meaning. Why hadn’t she asked Velden more about Sayhleen culture?
She turned to Nori. “Which would you choose?”
Nori looked to Gellen, who narrowed his eyes but signed the question to Nori.
Her scales flashed in the light as a smile bloomed on her lips. She pointed at the one on the right, with its prism-like surface reflecting the azure of her fins.
Aeliana copied her motion, then bowed in what she hoped was an appreciative gesture to both Nori and the woman before her. The woman bowed back, then swam away with both shells, leaving Aeliana to wonder if it really had been a gift or some sort of test.
Then a small hand gripped her glove, and she kneeled down in the seagrass until she was eye level with someone in a tiny suit. The child couldn’t have been much more than five or six, and when he grinned at her from behind his glass helmet, sharp teeth made her think of Felk. Scales fluttered across his face, as if he had little to no control over which form he took in the water.
“Hello,” she said softly, even though she knew he wouldn’t be able to hear her.
His mouth moved and then his hands. It was a question she couldn’t catch, but she glanced at Nori, who nodded her approval.
Then Aeliana was being pulled through the water toward another archway, where her fear of accidentally harming the coral within its maze made her lose her sense of direction. The boy brought her to a small section that clearly belonged to him, with various toys tied down to a table and a sea turtle in their midst. He reached for the sea turtle and brought its nose against his glass, making kissing faces at it until it licked his glass.
Aeliana laughed, then did the same as he brought the turtle up against her helmet.
For the next hour, she was led from room to room where the people showed off their families and homes, the unique experience giving Aeliana hundreds more questions. Nori stayed with her, but she lost track of Gaeren and Velden until they all wound up back in the reef’s entrance, where Velden signaled that he needed to leave. He and his guard swam to the surface, while Aeliana and Gaeren waved farewell to the submerged Sayhleens.
Before they left, the Sayhleen with the bright mauve tail tugged on Aeliana’s arm, placing a closed clamshell in her free hand. Was this the gift Nori had suggested she pick? She moved to open it, but the Sayhleen shook her head, then pointed to the surface.
“I understand,” Aeliana said, nodding at the woman. “Thank you.”
The woman smiled and swam away, leaving Aeliana and Gaeren to make the trek back to the beach with Nori, Gellen, and Gaeren’s guard. It felt even longer than the first time as Aeliana’s questions swirled inside her. Did those people all live there all the time? Or did they rotate with the villagers? Did they work down there, or did its status as a refuge make it a place for only rest? Was that where they would find Lady Merinnia?
When they rose from the water, Aeliana and Gaeren pulled off their helmets and the clothing that was even heavier now that it was wet. Aeliana wanted nothing more than to flop on the beach and stare up atthe sky while begging Nori for information, but she suspected that wasn’t on the agenda.
