Page 83 of Ruby
33
Szhe’ka
The water takes me, and not gently.
One moment I am bracing for impact against stone, the next, water detonates beneath me and something vast coils through the surf. The force rips the air from my lungs, but instead of smashing me into the cliff, the current folds around my body.
I am pulled under.
Instinct screams to fight it, but I don’t. The pressure wrapping around me is controlled, immense, but deliberate. Each time my chest begins to burn, the current shifts, angling my face briefly toward air before drawing me down again.
Wroahk is towing me. A shadow larger than any creature has a right to be moves beside me in the deep. Scarred hide. White lines along a mass of limbs.
A sound rolls through the water. Low. Resonant. Layered. If I had lungs full of air, I would laugh. He is speaking.
The tones are not identical to my own people’s resonance, but they are close enough. Structured pulses, harmonic meaning beneath vibration.
“Too loud,” he grumbles, the sound thrumming through my bones. “Always too loud. Communities gather and then make noise. Noise and more noise.”
Even submerged, I manage a responding pulse, rough but enthusiastic. I adjust my throat, shape the vibration the way my brood taught me.
“Your acoustics are so close to perfect,” I offer. “If they harmonized—”
He cuts across me with a dismissive wave of sound. “My small one is excited, so I will not crush you, but you may not speak in my voice.”
I cannot help it. I must know more about this language.
“Your tonal range is impressive,” I try again. “Do you modulate intentionally or…?”
He ignores me completely. Instead, he rises.
The surface breaks above us and he shoves me upward in a smooth, controlled surge. I stagger as my feet find sand instead of open current. The massive body angles beneath me one final time, ensuring I do not collapse face-first onto the shore.
Then he releases me.
I turn, dripping, ready to attempt conversation again. He is already rotating away.
“Communities,” he mutters one last time in a deep, rolling complaint. “Always gathering. Always more and more words.”
And then he is gone beneath the surface.
I am left standing beside a small hut built of woven plant fiber and driftwood, water streaming from my feathers, exhilaration of the encounter buzzing in my chest. I was understood, even if he chose not to answer.
Footsteps move against sand. I turn.
Ree breaks from the tree line first, riding the large creature she favors before sliding down from its back mid-stride. Her eyes lock onto me and something bright and relieved explodes across her face.
“Szhe’ka!”
She closes the distance quickly, hands hovering near my lower limbs as if she is not certain if I might be injured. Behind her, the others spill onto the shore.
A purple male hangs back slightly, posture tight. An excitable yellow one bounces in the water. The winged female watches everything at once.
And Ani—
Ani looks like a storm barely contained in skin. She moves toward me, but Ree waves her back. “He will need to wash before you get close or you will pick up a wider range of traits. I mean, you can choose to, like Kira and Olivia did, but you should think it over first.”
Ani stops in a huff. “What were you thinking?” she demands, but not at me.
