Alfyrin

Delicately webbed flesh united her long slender fingers and purchased her grasp on the sea, propelling her forward. She inhaled deeply of the brine through feathery gills nestled beneath her ears. Her pale emerald body, stippled with silver flecks, was sleek and slim, cutting through the water like a swift through the Eunerian sky as she frisked in the waves. The sea elf's delicately braided tresses, embellished with tiny corals and shells, radiated behind her in the salted water.

"Wait for me, Alfyrin."

Alfyrin smiled. Elven ears snuggled happily against her hair, a boundless mane imbued with color stolen from a soft golden sunset. She heard him well, but ignored his pleas. Instead, she taunted him further. Rolling to her back, her pace never faltering, she stuck out her tongue. Her large eyes, pale turquoise rifted by a narrow pupil, laughed at him.

His response was to speed up. He could well catch her now. Spinning her body to face forward again, she raced for the surface and broke through the watery facade. She leaped toward the twins, Eustar and Austar, twisted and arched toward the water again. In the midst of her dive her form changed. The sea elf's torso elongated and widened, engulfing her sweeping locks, her limbs becoming fins and flippers and her skull lengthening.

"That's not fair, sea devil. You know I can't catch you when you porpoise." He stopped the pursuit, treading water where he halted, and waited for her to return to him.

She clicked and whined in protest, not wanting the chase to be over so soon, but reluctantly swam toward him, releasing her morph as she did.

"It's not my fault your other form is an otter that can't even keep up with me when I'm in elven form."

"Yes, I'm a slow otter, but you have to admit I'm cute and cuddly."

"Maybe, but you'll have to prove that cuddly claim to me."

When she was near enough, Dae reached for her hand and pulled her closer.

"Look what I found in the wreckage." He held his other hand out and revealed a small intricately carved ring, the color of Alfyrin's hair and embedded with red and white crystals.

Before their chase, the two sea elves had been exploring a ship resting on a jagged crag beneath the surface of their watery world. It had previously been pillaged by surface explorers and denizens of the deep; nothing of any use or interest endured. The remains lay rotting and rusting and gathering the type of inhabitants that tend to attach themselves to stationary objects. Now it served as an undersea amusement park for curious and impetuous young sea elves. The two of them had spent most of the day hiding and seeking throughout the ship's passageways.

Though they still gave in to such child play, Dae and Alfyrin were no longer children. Alas, they were not quite adult either. Alfyrin had seen thirty journeys around the Eunerian suns. Her male companion was not much older. He would be celebrating the Weanwa, or passage to adulthood, in five more journeys. Alfyrin feared he was already losing his sense of whimsy. His responses to her playful flirting were becoming more serious, drifting them toward a current she was not ready to travel. At the Weanwa he would be expected to select a mate, although the custom was not mandatory. She would not be old enough for him to choose, and his father would put pressure on him not to wait. Alfyrin knew Dae's heart well enough by now that if she asked, he would defy his father and delay his decision for her. But she didn't know her own heart yet.

She cupped her hand under his that held the ring and viewed the trinket, gasping when she realized the work that must have gone into the delicate bit of jewelry.

"It's lovely."

"I found it half buried in the sediment at the base of the wreck. Take it. I want you to have it."

Dae carefully slipped the ring over the tip of her slender elven ear until it was comfortably snug.

"This doesn't mean I have to let you catch me." She put her hand to the new ornament decorating her ear.

"No." Dae placed his hand over hers. "Well, not often."

The sea above their heads darkened. Alfyrin's initial thought was a whale or close knit school of dolphins, and her smile widened. She had not seen any of her cetacean friends for weeks; their migration routines kept them gone for lengthy periods of time.

A thunderous boom caused both elves to turn their faces toward the silhouettes above them. At this depth, they could see the bottoms of two enormous vessels, barely more than murky shadows. There was another explosion, and flames burst from the side of the ship nearest them. Billowing smoke spread darkness across the sun, and Alfyrin could already smell and taste sulfur polluting the water.

"Let's go, Alfyrin. Hurry." Dae tugged on her hand to guide her down into the depths and safety, but she was fascinated by the sight she was witnessing. The other ship responded with a blast of its own, and a leaden ball missed its target, falling harmlessly into the sea. Alfyrin watched as it plummeted until it was no longer visible. She heard a second splash and looked toward the surface, expecting another dull metal projectile making its way to the murky bottom.

"Alfyrin, please." Her companion tugged on her again, but this time she pulled her hand free of his.

"No, Dae. It's a surface dweller. We can't leave him." Her shape changed as she cut through the churning water, increasing her gain on the plunging form.

"We don't help pirates, Alfyrin." She didn't turn to look at him, but he could hear the patter she made with her teeth as the distance between them grew. It was her way of showing annoyance when she couldn't voice it.

Her shape shifted once again as she reached her intended target, and without a pause, she wrapped one strong arm around the sailor's torso and propelled him upward. A fair distance from the battle, her head broke the surface of the water, the body still limp in her arms. She could feel the blood pounding in his neck, but he wasn't breathing. When Dae emerged next to her, she was about to give the unconscious human breaths.

"Alfyrin, what are you doing? We don't help pirates." The sounds of explosions, though further away now, drew his attention, and he watched the skies, ready to dive again at the first sign of airborne missiles.

"You don't know he's a pirate." A fit of coughing nearly jerked the young man out of her arms. He settled his head on her shoulder again, and she could feel his warm breath against her skin.

"There. He's alive. Leave him and let's go." Dae's eyes pleaded with her to listen to him; even under normal circumstances she rarely did. But this time what she was doing had serious consequences.

"I can't just let go of him. He's unconscious. He'll drown again." As she argued she scanned the horizon to get her bearings.

"Alfyrin, do you see the small dark cloth above the larger?" Dae pointed to the vessel nearest them. At the highest point of the ship, above the grayed wind-catcher fabric, a small piece of black cloth fluttered in a current of air. "That is the symbol of outlaws and murderers. Our law forbids you to help them. Let him go."

"Dae, what if he was a prisoner? What if he was forced to pirate? What if he made a mistake and regrets what he has done?"

"Sometimes you have to pay for your choices, even if you regret them, Alfyrin." As he spoke, he pulled the sailor from her arms and draped the limp body across his back like a cloak. Dae held the stranger's wrists with one hand, causing his head to lie uncomfortably against the elf's and he visibly shuddered at the intimate contact. He tilted his head away from the direction the pirate ship had gone and rolled his eyes at Alfyrin. "Come on, sea devil. Land is that way."