Marielle
The waves lapped at her thighs, teasing, tempting her to enter their gentle embrace. Marielle examined the surface
carefully before plunging in and taking several powerful strokes, which carried her forward many feet. Again, she glanced quickly around.
No fins or breaks marred the ocean’s calm glassy surface this morning.
Blinking hard, her clear, protective eyelid slid softly into place, only then did she dip her face into the slightly
cool water. She hated the sting of salty water in her eyes. Although her inner eyelids would automatically glide into place once she
dove beneath the waves, Marielle always engaged them beforehand. Some of her friends chuckled at her cringing in this one area, when
she was fearless in so many others.
She peered beneath the watery veil, searching for large bodies moving below, especially those of the fierce sharks.
Her long hair spread around her, floating gracefully like the silkiest of seaweed. Tiny, brilliantly colored fish caught her attention,
but they swam lazily by, no alarm moved amongst their ranks. A lobster scuTitleed slowly, not nervously, along the sandy bottoms depths.
All clear.
Marielle dove deep, exhilarated by the deeper water’s refreshing chill. She swam near a long-fronded plant and
tickled a sea horse that curled its tail around the fibrous leaf. It eyed her with Little interest. These tiny creatures knew the Mer
people were not counted among their predatory enemies. A passing puffer fish caught her eye, and she paddled around him in fast circles,
until he tired of the game and swelled up in self-defense or ire. She chuckled inwardly and swam nonchalantly away. Let the Little fellow
think he’d won a victory over her.
She locked her long, slender fingers and toes into position, and then powered herself through the dark blue depths in a
speedy underwater dance that outraced the darting fish around her. Then, stiffening her legs and tightening her arms firmly next to her
body, Marielle shot forward with even more speed, as she moved her frame in the motion used by her friends, the dolphins.
She loved to swim this way, but couldn’t maintain it for extremely long periods of time—it was tiring. She
maneuvered into a joyful flip, then headed toward the surface, breaking the calm in one abrupt movement. Her leap into the air was not
nearly as effective as a dolphin’s, but was just as fun.
Kark’s comical face greeted her immediately when she surfaced, and the dolphin completed an enthusiastic jump of
her own. Marielle was happy to see her dear friend. She was the most fun to play games with, even though her other clan members were all
high-spirited. Kark’s presence always reassured her. Dolphins were also much better at spotting dangerous predators, or even the
huge misshapen monsters that occasionally swam up from the ocean’s bottomless depths.
“Fish!” The dolphin flipped her head for emphasis.
“You’re always hungry,” she giggled, then waved her hand at her friend, who plunged beneath the
surface several times. Marielle knew that each time Kark dove, she’d catch a tasty morsel, and consume it swiftly before she
reappeared nearby. The merrily smiling mouth and twinkling eyes splashed next to her. This time Kark held a brightly yellow fish.
“You know I don’t eat raw fish.” Marielle repeated their ritual. After every meal, Kark always offered
her the last succulent catch.
The dolphin gave a flip of her long nose, her way of shrugging. She flung the fish upward and caught it efficiently,
gulping it down in one mouthful.
The water around and beneath them churned suddenly. Kark’s clan had gathered round to greet her. She exclaimed
over a new pup, which shyly kept its distance. The proud mother, usually shy herself, chatted some minutes with Marielle about her new
baby. She and Kark spent an hour playing and swimming with her friend’s relatives, then swam off for some private time.
“When island?”
She gazed into the dolphin’s keen eyes, then turned her attention to that far off temptation. She
shrugged. “One day.”
“One day too old.” Kark ended with a dolphin laugh.
“Don’t be silly, it’ll be many years before I find a mate and have children.”
She dove beneath the jewel-toned waves to escape her friend’s inquisitive look. Marielle dug an oyster
from the sand’s sucking clutch, her mind on Kark’s remark. The dolphin was young. Soon she’d mate, while Marielle
had not yet even met a boy who stirred her interest.
