Avalyn swam faster and watched as the water turned from dusky blues to a soft blue-green. Every inch of her was alert. All of this was uncharted territory for her. But through it all, there was an overwhelming sense that she was supposed to be here. Fate had set her on this path.
After what felt like hours, the water around her gave wake to air. Avalyn cautiously raised her head above the water and took a small breath. It was unlike any breath she had ever taken before. She was filled with wonder at how the air filled her lungs. She slapped at the water with her fish tail and watched as the drops fell around her like rain. The sky was almost as dark as the ocean below.
Suddenly, a new noise filled her ears. A deep rumbling that came from the sky itself. She had heard it before, but never this close. She ducked under the water again, then resurfaced when she thought the danger had passed.
“Phew,” Avalyn muttered as she wiped her hand across her forehead, then startled as a sharp cry shattered the song of the sea.
“Woman overboard!” an older man bellowed, and the heavy splashing sound that followed marked his words as true.
Remembering the human body on the castle, Avalyn dove under the water and swam towards the call. Maybe she could at least move the human away from the castle and towards some distant coral reef.
Tameria could hardly remember the moment when she had fallen overboard; she just had. The water had been colder than she was expecting, but it was in a nice way. She felt nothing as she drifted through the ocean.
Swimming wasn’t something that Princesses were usually taught. Why swim when you could just fetch a ride on a boat? Tameria hadn’t learned how, and now she regretted it. Sure, life was boring, but it was still life. What she was really going to miss was dancing. But this was like a dance, wasn’t it? This drifting into the water?
She wished that she could enjoy the dance for longer, but everything was already growing black around her. She felt a hand touch her arm, but didn’t see it as the black took over everything. Ah, now I have a partner for my dance…
Avalyn grabbed the hand of the human and pulled her through the water. The human was surprisingly pretty. Her hair was a dark blond, and it billowed around her head like a coral leaf. Small bubbles came from her mouth and spiraled around them.
“I’ll get you to the shore,” Avalyn told the senseless human as she swam further. “Maybe you will be able to tell the other humans to stay away from here, yes?”
It was a long swim, and it wasn’t her original destination, but she felt deep within her heart that it was right. She could feel the human pulling at her heart in a way that she hadn’t ever felt before. A burning desire to get her to safety.
Seeing Tameria’s paling face, Avalyn picked up the pace. She had never seen a human drown, and she didn’t exactly want to see one. In fact, it was a surprise to see a human that was alive.
The water became warmer and lighter as they reached the shore. Avalyn had never gone this far from home before, but this felt important. People would notice that she was missing, but at the moment, she didn’t care. They would ask why she had stayed so long at the surface, but how would she explain this tugging on her heart? If she tried, they would laugh her off.
“This can’t happen!” they would exclaim. “A mermaid cannot have feelings towards a human.”
Avalyn pushed all the traitorous thoughts aside as she approached a large clump of rocks that protruded from the water. The human was sagging in her arms, and she knew that she didn’t have much time. She pulled her head from the waves once more and pushed the beautiful human onto the rocks.
Avalyn stared at the human and committed her appearance to memory. More likely than not, this would be the last time she ever saw this human again. A smile smile came to the corners of her mouth, and she sang. Not any particular words, just a tune that she knew was the tune of her own life; her own life-song.
She was just getting to the story of her life right now when she heard approaching footsteps. Avalyn pulled back and hid beneath a rock.
Strong arms bent down and picked up the human lying on the rocks. “Tameria, what are you doing here?” the masculine sounding voice rumbled.
The man who the voice belonged to had the beautiful human in his arms, and he was carrying her away. She memorized the appearance of the man as well, not wanting to forget a single detail of this moment.
Avalyn dove back under the sea. Her heart throbbed like she had just lost a piece of it, but she knew that she had done the right thing. Right…?
Underwater Rescue~
Feel free to give any feedback or comments! I will always appreciate it!
Awww! I'm loving this! Wonderful writing as always and the music was very touching, word choices wonderful.
(I shall now apologize for not seeing this sooner. I can't believe it has been out for so long and I am only now finding out about its existence.)
As always, I love how you paired music with the story. It adds a lot of depth of emotion and wraps me into the story that much.
I found the love to be a little sudden, but that's the way love at first sight is, right?
The description of Avalyn's emotions themselves were very touching and now I'm rooting for her!