Total pages in book: 82
Estimated words: 76583 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 383(@200wpm)___ 306(@250wpm)___ 255(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 76583 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 383(@200wpm)___ 306(@250wpm)___ 255(@300wpm)
Epilogue
RANAN
Weeks Later
“Are you ready to do this?” I ask Vali as we float in the waters outside our new grotto. The waters here are a bit cloudier than the crystalline waters near the sea dragon’s nest, but the cave here has easier access for my human bride. It’s a large opening hidden behind a tumble of rocks off of a coast of steep, forbidding cliffs. No ship comes near enough to this particular cave because the rocks are too jagged, but those rocks also provide a natural barrier to keep us safe. The interior of our cave is smaller than the last, but cozier, and Vali has been working hard to make it a home.
She floats in the water next to me, a sling-spear in her hand and her new swimming gear on her sun-browned body. Instead of her foolish dresses, we’ve made breast-bands of fish-hide leather and a small loincloth so she has freedom of movement. I’ve crafted her a pair of reinforced feet fins like the ones Balo uses when he swims, but this time there is no retrieval line on her spear. If she tosses it too far, I will get it for her. I’m not about to let my pretty bride get dragged away by another fish.
“I’m ready,” Vali tells me. Her eyes glitter with excitement. “Do you think the shieldfish are still here? Or do you think the school has swam away?”
“They’ll be nearby,” I reassure her. There’s a cool current running through the waters, and the shieldfish like to drift in and out of it, plucking at smaller fish as they do. “You know what to aim for, yes?”
“The face.” She makes a stabbing motion with her spear. “And if it swims away, let it.”
“Exactly. There are many, many fish in the sea, my sweet wife. If you do not catch the perfect one for Lord Vor today, you will tomorrow.”
Vali nods and swims the short distance over to my side. She slides her wet arms around my neck and pulls me in for a kiss. “Let’s do this.”
“I’m going to swim at your side the entire time,” I reassure my too-eager wife. I am the one that is always thinking twice about things, the one that hesitates. Vali loves to fling herself into a task without stopping to think of the consequences. I love that about her, even as it terrifies me. “Remember the signal to make if you have concerns and I will surface immediately—”
She kisses me to stop my lecture. “I know, Ranan. Let’s go.”
“Let us go, then.”
Even so, I watch until my wife dives, swimming deeper, before I follow after her. I’m doing my best to try not to hover over her or to be anxious about her fishing. She’s come so far in the last few weeks. Vali now swims for much longer lengths and can hold her breath for twice as long as before…but she is still my fragile, lovely wife and I fret over her. She does not have the lungs or the strength of one of the seakind. She has to come up for air frequently. But she is very determined that Lord Vor should wait no longer for his fish, so we are seeking one today.
We swim along in the surface waters, and I watch Vali’s movements carefully as we head out away from the cliffs and into the depths. She points out a distant shark, and I’m pleased that she moves like I’ve shown her—with careful, precise strokes and not the flailing of prey that will bring it closer. It swims away, uninterested, and we continue on. Soon enough, I see a shieldfish swim past, and point it out to her. She nods, surfacing to take a big breath, and then dives deeper, towards the beds of coral, so she can truly begin her hunting.
It takes everything I have not to wrestle the spear from her hand and take care of things for her. In the weeks since our marriage, everything has been going smoothly between us, and every day I wake up more besotted with my bride. I cannot imagine life without Vali at my side. I want her with me every hour of every day, and I’m obsessed with making love to her. That, and hearing her talk. Her laugh. Her smile.
I’m obsessed with all of it, truly.
I follow along behind her, giving her enough room so that I don’t chase off her prey, but not so far away that I can’t immediately be at her side if there’s trouble. I’ve deliberately picked shieldfish because they are a fish that is slower to react. They do not dart like a thunderfish does, their heavy, flat bodies making it trickier for them to maneuver. One veers off from the school, gliding over an outcrop of coral, and she signals to me that she’s going after it. I watch her kick with slow, powerful strokes, propelling forward with the help of her fins, and she lifts her spear. She swims overhead then dives down and lets her spear fly.