“Anna.” Maanta shook her gently as he whispered to her. “Wake up, it’s time for the daylight’s rising.”
“What?” she mumbled, still sleepy eyed. “There’s no sun. It’s so dark.”
“We have to go now if we want to catch the lights as they arrive.”
“Ok,” Anna whispered, a little more awake now. “Should we wake Sift and Illala?”
“Let them rest. We’ll come back for them.” Maanta dove below to where the molten stream wove across the cavern floor and plucked a few leftover crustaceans from the cooking net. Anna wove a comb Sift had taken from her room through her hair while Maanta munched on the first of the crunchy morsels. “Want some?” He held them out to her as she took two and ate them.
Anna and Maanta swam and wove their bodies through the dark pathway connecting the cavern to the outer waters. They searched for the entrance hole with their fingertips and together swept away the sands and seaweed concealing the opening. Maanta dove up and out first with a swift spin, happy to be in open waters once more and to see that the light had not yet risen.
Not a word was spoken as the companions perched themselves upon the stone mound waiting for the sun to rise. Maanta stretched his back and arms out along the cool stone, resting his head upon a patch of moss. Anna’s arms splayed back while her eyes looked wonderingly at the ocean surface above.
A wash of cool purple and then maroon blossomed upon the waters above before rippling to peach-apricot hues. Pure yellow and cool orange then danced a paralleling ballet through the waters, a vision formed while shimmering across the waves above.
A sigh slipped from Anna’s lips. “It’s so pure.”
The two watched the colors glisten and dance above them in silence for lingering moments, the kind of moments a person remembers their whole life as crisp as if they were just then living them.
Then Maanta spoke, breaking from his trance.
“I’ve never shared this with someone before. Often I would stay out beyond Meridia’s walls to see the morning rise but I’ve never shared this with anyone but Archa.”
A pure light blue shimmered down; settling in the depths as the sun fully rose above.
Anna scooped upwards and spun, whipping the currents about her sleek blue form. “We should watch the sunrise together wherever we go. I wonder if it’s different in all the world’s waters.”
“I can think of no better companion to do that with.” Maanta smiled as he lay on the stone, watching her swim and spin above him. He got to thinking then of how this good moment had come from the last days’ disaster. How many more good experiences will come out of that tragedy? He pondered. And what horrors are still to befall us in its wake?
He realized then, as he lay there basking in the sunrise and pondering life, that they had both missed something. His features flushed to a stone chill. “Where’s Lola? I haven’t sighted her since we exited the cavern.”
“Nor have I.” Anna swam around the stone mound and spun up sands upon the ocean floor while searching for the large fish.
Maanta darted beside her. “Surely if the single-finned ones had found and killed her we would have heard them. Maybe something spooked her so she swept off to hide.”
“We should awaken Sift,” Anna said as she swam within the stone cavern, Maanta closely following.
“UH!” Sift moaned and shook violently, as if in shock as the pair woke him. And as his milky eyes opened to look upon them he realized where he was.
Illala awoke silently because of the commotion across the cavern.
“Lola’s gone.” Anna shook Sift, rousing him further to his senses. “We awoke to watch the sun rise and she’s nowhere to be seen.”
“Lola would not leave the closeness of these cavern walls unless trouble was near. We need to be watchful and search for her swiftly.” Sift moved quickly, stuffing belongings in their seaweed and whale-hide pouches and collecting the remaining crustaceans from the prior night’s dusk meal to replenish the group’s bodies with later. “Come. We must move,” he spoke as the others finished their own readying. Sift’s legs moved upward and downward while darting toward the cavern exit hole. His body, so thick and muscular, barely fit through. The others with their companions scuttled out one by one.
“Lola!” Sift bellowed forth. “Lola!” He swirled and swept to the stone mound’s opposite side. “LOOOOOLAAAAAA!”
Sure enough the shimmering fish appeared in the distance from behind a stone outcropping, hovering close to the ocean floor while approaching them.
“What is bothering you, friend?” Sift questioned as Lola arrived. A look of fear hung upon her eyes.
“Wrongness has found us here,” Sift spoke as he harnessed Lola and floated up and upon her. “Maanta, what is the distance from here to Orion’s Birth?”
“We’re a half day away if the waters are calm.” He caressed Archa’s smooth head while sitting upon her. Illala swept upon Lisaly and Anna sat upon Lola behind Sift.
“We must move swiftly,” Sift looked to Maanta as he spoke. The boy thought he recognized more than a hint of worry in him.