Both of them slashed and fought and wrestled with whatever beast had called the ship its home, its tentacles hooked and rough, pulling them down further into the darkened water. Their skin burned with the contact of it, as if rubbed by an electrified rope or caught by the metal end of a cruel whip. Every time one of their blades hit home on the dark flesh, a flash of blue light would illuminate the water, freezing the tentacles. The light would remain until darkness swarmed around them again and the monster's movements snapped back to its cruel work.

Shiar knew Nerini would be soon out of air as the seconds ticked by and he struggled first and foremost to get to her but the creature was vast and every time the light flashed he would see her in the distance, fighting ever-further  away from him. Once she began drowning, the creature would have her, as the only thing that was keeping her from its giant mouth was her ability to struggle and slash against the tentacles as a way of delaying the inevitable pull.

Shiar was grabbed around the waist by a large tentacle and jerked downwards, hitting the bottom of the ship that had disintegrated into seabed with damage and wood rot over the centuries. 

The force stunned him for a moment, causing him to lose his blade as he felt himself being dragged along the rocky silt, closer to the mass of tentacles in the darkness. His dagger was lost from the impact, his hands now uselessly empty against the monster that had him in its grasp. Another flash of light from the fight above and he saw its beaked mouth, open and snapping hungrily at him as he slid closer.

He yelled in fury, knowing it a useless thing to do underwater and scrambled along the ground with his hands, trying to find something to grip. He needed something, anything to use as a weapon or to pull him away from the creature.

 Finally, his hand found purchase on a rock and he gripped it desperately, trying to get himself free. 

As his fingers gripped the stone, Shiar was suspended, halting the slow march towards the hungry mouth of the monster. His shoulder and arm strained, the pull of the beast cutting into his waist as it tried to pull him onwards. He was given a moment of stillness in that pain before his grip moved with a jerk, the stone coming loose from the ground in his hand. He almost let it drop, until he felt it vibrate and the silt around it fell away, exposing a hot, blue heat that engulfed first his hand, and then his whole body.

Shiar was blinded by the sudden blue light that came from the stone, eyes snapping shut as he felt the tentacle's pull weaken, then retreat. Suddenly free, he began to float in the darkness of the ship bowels as the creature escaped through the damaged hull with brilliant flashes of light, his mind overwhelmed in pain, even as the flashing blue light tried to burn its way through his eyelids.

***

Nerini felt the creature fleeing, pulling her with it through the side of the ship, her lungs burning for air, her vision dimming as she cut frantically at the tentacles holding her feet. She was certain she was doomed to drown, lost in the darkness with the sea monster. As she felt the ship pass her by, the tentacles slipped away and her body was free-floating in the cold dark that was trying its best to smother her. 

She saw the glowing blue light of the ship, feeling her body rising away from it, holding on to that urge to breath for as long as she could as she began to float toward the surface. She couldn't convince her brain which way was the correct way to swim and felt her daggers drop from her hands as she began to lose consciousness, her head pounding as she continued to fight the fatal desire to inhale.

As her mouth trembled with the effort of keeping closed and her vision blurred further, Shiar appeared next to her. Even as her vision narrowed, she realized that he was surrounded in the blue light that had led them to the ship.

 Desperate, Nerini's arms wrapped around him, knowing that she was drowning and barely able to restrain her panic. He grabbed her face and kissed her, forcing air into her lungs as they continued to rise to the surface. She didn't stop to think, taking deep breaths through him and clinging to his shoulders until they reached the surface. 

The ascent took ages  to allow their lungs to settle as the pressure slowly faded. But the entire time, she breathed through him, through whatever ability he had that allowed him to use water like air, their bodies pressed together.

When they hit the open air, Nerini finally let him go, turning her face up towards the sky as they treaded at the surface, both gasping in the fresh air.

"What was that?" she croaked, pedalling to keep her body on the surface of the water, watching him with a confused expression on her features. Even she didn't know what she wanted to know.

"The diamond, you stupid, crazy woman!" He laughed, holding the diamond out into the air, a dazzling blue stone that fit perfectly in his palm and shone in the soft light of the moon. The air around them vibrated and soothed them, washing away the pains and tension from the fight that had almost killed them both.  

She laughed, hitting his shoulder with her hand. "I told you! I told you it was there!"

"Among other things, yeah." He grumbled, shifting to put the stone in a pocket inside his breeches.

"Yeah, that... Squid? It was giant!" Nerini laughed, exhilarated from the fight and the success of their endeavour. They had achieved the mission she had been waiting twenty years to complete, unable to wipe the grin from her face, despite the burning pain lashing across every inch of her skin.

"You seem excited about the fact that it was trying to eat both of us." Shiar tried his best to sound unimpressed, but his grin shone through and belied his own exhilaration. 

They laughed beside one another feeling unbelievably invincible in the cool waters, so far from any safe shore. It didn't matter in that moment that they still had a couple hours of swimming left to accomplish, for she felt that together, they could take on the entire world.

She gave him a shove. "You said you didn't have a gift."

"I implied it, really," He shrugged at that, pushing his hair out of his eyes, his expression showing his returning calm. That thoughtful, pragmatic mask that he rarely let go of sliding back over his features. "Breathing underwater never seemed like much of useful thing, unless someone was trying to drown me. Not even my family knows about it, I've barely ever used it until now."

"You were meant to be chosen for this, Shiar. Meant to be the Champion of the Alliance, to be here in this water right now, with the diamond, right now." Nerini shook her head, grinning to him fervently, feeling the rightness of her words. "The world works like that. It's called purpose."

"If I was, then so were you. We did this together, we were meant to be here together by whatever strange forces you believe in. Even if I had decided to go for a swim tonight I would never have somehow wanted to chase a tiny speck of blue down to the bottom of the ocean. And I don't think I would have been able to fight that thing by myself. We both did this, together, as a team. This diamond was meant to be found by you, just as much as me." Shiar retorted, watching her, though he pulled back when the joy of the moment began to truly fade and he seemed to realize that they were being more intimate than their relationship allowed for.

"If we don't start swimming back, we won't be there when the Council calls us back in." Nerini murmured softly, turning and starting back towards the island, which was barely visible as specks of light from the city and palace dancing in the distance.

***

Rael yawned, opening her eyes with a start when she realized that she had drifted off at some point during the night while sitting on the beach, leaning into Kannein. Her body was cold and stiff from being there for so long and she could tell that he was also half asleep. 

She sighed, noticing the moon had set as they all dozed and the sky was starting to lighten with the first edges of dawn. And though the warmth of the summer had returned with it, the relief didn't outweigh the worry at the fact that their friends still had not returned.

She winced and stood, stretching her cold, stiff body and brushing the sand off her clothing. She  gently woke Kannein and Wyn before leaning over to wake up Lyana. The woman was curled up on the sand, using her brother's boots as a pillow and shirt as a meagre blanket. "It's almost morning, guys."

Lyana sat up and looked around blearily before she stood suddenly and looked out into the water. "They're coming back."

Kannein nodded slowly, watching the young woman with a serious expression, as if he didn't share in her faith. Rael wondered if he also had the sinking fear that Nerini had finally found something to kill her. "Of course, I'm going to go get some boats out into the bay, we'll see if we can find them."

"No, Lord Kannein, there, they're coming back." Lyana pointed at the two figures making their way towards shore, just now becoming visible in the growing morning light. They were swimming, slowly, through the waves and towards the beach.

Wyn yelled and jumped up, rushing out into the water to meet them along with Rael, in the chest deep water. The two women gripped Nerini and helped her walk back on shore as Kannein offered a shoulder to Shiar and half carried him out of the water, one arm around his waist.  

Kannein put Shiar down beside Nerini on the log they had deposited her onto. Both looked half drowned, covered in bruises and friction burns, and large circular welts that seemed to cover every inch of visible skin, both shivering violently. They sat for a moment, catching their breath and looking at the four who had waited for them on the beach without speaking.

Rael finally broke the silence, when it was apparent that their two adventurers would not. "Well?"

Shiar broke out laughing and Nerini nodded, starting to laugh herself, her grin wicked. "Well. You'll see."

Rael looked to Wyn, who shrugged, it was clear they were giddy with exhaustion and not making as much sense as they thought. "See what."

"Well, there was a giant squid, living in the bottom of the ocean, in a boat with a perfectly dry deck. And the squid wanted to eat us and every time we hit it, there was a flash of lightning." Nerini said in her characteristically unhelpful manner laughing and giving Shiar a nudge, sending both of them into peals of laughter. They were definitely half delirious and Rael hoped that the story was over exaggerated.

Lyana gasped, looking between the two idiots on the log. "But?"

"But we found what we were looking for." Shiar answered his sister, winking to Nerini before looking to Rael. "We'll see the council before midday?"

"I'll make sure they're ready for you." Rael let out an undignified curse, rolling her eyes and giving her friend a hug before she started up the beach. She was followed by Kannein, who she didn't doubt would have something to say to his sister later, when they could get some sense out of her.

***

Wyn grinned and hugged Nerini tightly as Lyana handed her brother his boots and shirt back, kissing his cheek. Nerini watched as Wyn turned to look at Shiar curiously and Nerini saw the wheels working in Wyn's mind, as if the woman was figuring something out that she herself didn't know.

"I'm glad you're ok." Lyana smiled to her brother, watching him struggle back into his clothing with numb fingers and still violent shivers.

Shiar smiled tiredly.  "Always, little bird. I'll be right up. I'll see you at home."

Wyn pulled back from Rini, smiling for a moment then squeezing her shoulders. "You should probably get more clothing on... I'll see you back at the villa?" 

Nerini nodded and watched Wyn grab Lyana's arm to lead the young woman up off the beach. Lyana didn't take much convincing and followed Wyn after a gentle tug, talking quietly with the other woman as they disappeared over the sand dunes and through the manicured gardens that enclosed the beach.

Slowly Nerini looked back to Shiar, who was pulling his boots on, still shirtless. She hadn't noticed that he was shirtless until just this moment, having been distracted by everything else that was going on. She watched him curiously, her eyes running over his muscles and scars, until he straightened, catching her eyes with his own, one brow raising.

She blushed and stood, turning to her pile of clothing and quickly pulled on her boots, over shirt, and cloak, hands shaking with cold as she struggled to manage even those small movements. Nerini tried to tell herself that he had not just caught her staring at him, she hadn't been watching his body in stunned silence, she had just been thinking.

"Do you think they believed a word we said?" Shiar murmured finally, tucking his shirt into his breeches, pulling out the diamond to balance it in his palm. If he did notice, he was being nice enough not to mention anything.

"I think they have just come to a conclusion that if it's unlikely, I'll find a way to do it." She looked at him again, now that it was safe. She smiled and let her eyes shift to the diamond in his hand. "Besides, they will believe any story we want to tell them, when you show them that."

He moved his hand towards her, offering her the stone. Shiar's eyes searched out hers, his expression earnest. "I meant what I said, that this is yours as much as it is mine."

She reached out, brushing her fingers over its faceted surface and feeling the thrum of energy go through her hand at the contact. The stone sent a sudden rush of peace and then the shock of power up through her arm. 

Nerini paused for a moment, contemplating its depths before folding his fingers around it and shaking her head. "It's for the Alliance. They can put it on a staff, or plaque or whatever they do to make themselves feel official."

Shiar chuckled and put it away once more, though he still watched her.  "We'll present it to them together, this morning." 

"Alright." She was too tired to debate the fact, or even decide if she wanted to debate it with him, watching him in bleary eyed exhaustion. She had just started wondering if she had decided to agree to the whole Champion thing when he broached the subject himself.

Shiar didn't seem to miss a lot, his expression growing firm. "And you're going to accept the honour of being their Champion, after we do that." 

Nerini had been leaning away from that possibility, until that moment, his words forcing her to contemplate giving it a chance.

She winced slightly, looking up to him. "You know we'll be expected to work together, right? Share responsibilities. Probably travel together and all that, that you'll have to put up with this kind of stuff, all the time. It doesn't stop, something else will come up and if we're supposed to be a team, you're going to have to do all this over again."

"So?" He shrugged, turning away from her, walking up and away from the beach. His confidence was frustrating, the man clearly didn't seem to think that she would do anything other than agree to working with him.

"I'm just saying, you have the chance of doing it on your own, not seeing me again for years!" She laughed, jogging to keep up with him. "You get all the honour and accolades, and I disappear. You get to sit around and get fat on your accomplishments. And me well, I'll do wht I do best..."

"You're too crazy to be left on your own, Lady Nerini." Shiar broke into more laughter as they walked back toward their homes. He smirked to her thoughtfully, something left unspoken in that gaze of his that she couldn't quite figure out.