Re: lake, by the shore
Conversations with her parents were like talking to the fishes in the murky lake. It was a onesided affair, and she'd stopped long ago. Or maybe she'd never begun. Either was possible, and they were both the same, and she was who she was without guidance of any sort that mattered. Chaos in sodden pink, she didn't think about nature and nurture, but she'd spent the vast majority of her little life fighting her way through silt, low on her belly and like a kind snake in a storied garden. Now she was here, and here meant taking care of herself, even if the fish smiled nicely on her and sang pretty songs about kissing boys. Not that the girl needed those songs. She didn't need songs about forgiveness either. She could sing those with her eyes closed and ribs cracked to reveal clement heart.
She wasn't trying to incite terror. She was proving something to herself in the way that only the very mad and very young could manage. Risks taken fearlessly, and the chaotic girl knew no fear. She transposed that feeling to the man in the water with her, and there was liberation in the flap of her arms. Liberation and guilt, but the latter had nothing to do with any potentially devouring undertow for the redwine man. It was her own realization, once she surfaced, that the island was attainable.
She watched him go down as she surfaced after revealing baptism. Realization was slow for the girl that heard the night in lightsong, but realization did come. He was having trouble. He choked, and she paddled back to him. There was no panic in the face of the girl that saw halos in smiles, and she reached for his arms with her own. She dipped beneath the water, and if she managed to close her fingers around his wrists, then he would be fine. She was a warm reach of long fingers that were strong and lacking in femininity. She kicked legs that were tangled in wrecked tulle, but the movement was habit and not necessity. Her touch was warm, if she managed it, and it was all that was required for him to float, to fly, to feel no pain in the murky gravewater depths. If he fought, then she would fight harder. It was quiet now and the fish didn't speak, but the ship waited offshore. "There's no new passenger for you," she informed it.