It was enough, and it was almost to be done over again. When Merevaika came close to toppling out a second time, Ashka had to bite her lip not to laugh or cry, or both. For a moment, the longing to be back in a real pod, among people who knew the water, was overwhelming. She bit down harder on her lip, and groped for her paddle with one hand. The other she slipped over the side of the canoe into the water, her fingers shaping a Fratavan sign of gratitude for the answered prayer. Laviku saw everything in the sea, he would see this too.
Merevaika gave the credit for the fish to Chaya, but before Ashka could say anything, Chaya piped up, "We did it together! You helped!" Scales glimmered on all of them, as if they had dressed up as Konti for some reason, and Ashka noticed the tightness in the hand clinging to the side of the canoe and the loss of certainty in the woman's voice.
She said, "It's a good fish. We should pull up on the beach somewhere and clean it - with something that isn't our faces." Her smile was a touch crooked with the lingering ache underneath but it was there. She looked around, trying to get her bearings after the fish had pulled them all over the place. The beach was - there, and Syna was - there. The canoe was pointing away from the beach, almost turned back the way they had come. She dipped her paddle into the water to get a feel for the currents. Onward, or homeward, or just a pause to dry off? Getting dry wouldn't take long in Syka's heat, at least. She flicked another glance at Merevaika's soaked figure, and remembered her own unwanted dunkings from various pranks. "Next stream I see, I will pull up beside it," she said, beginning to paddle the canoe round to get a better view of the shore. "I want to clean myself up too. Unless you'd rather head back across the bay? You're the one that fell in."
Merevaika gave the credit for the fish to Chaya, but before Ashka could say anything, Chaya piped up, "We did it together! You helped!" Scales glimmered on all of them, as if they had dressed up as Konti for some reason, and Ashka noticed the tightness in the hand clinging to the side of the canoe and the loss of certainty in the woman's voice.
She said, "It's a good fish. We should pull up on the beach somewhere and clean it - with something that isn't our faces." Her smile was a touch crooked with the lingering ache underneath but it was there. She looked around, trying to get her bearings after the fish had pulled them all over the place. The beach was - there, and Syna was - there. The canoe was pointing away from the beach, almost turned back the way they had come. She dipped her paddle into the water to get a feel for the currents. Onward, or homeward, or just a pause to dry off? Getting dry wouldn't take long in Syka's heat, at least. She flicked another glance at Merevaika's soaked figure, and remembered her own unwanted dunkings from various pranks. "Next stream I see, I will pull up beside it," she said, beginning to paddle the canoe round to get a better view of the shore. "I want to clean myself up too. Unless you'd rather head back across the bay? You're the one that fell in."
Common, Pavi, Fratava
