My mouth is closed and I hold my breath by instinct.
Everything is muffled and blurry underwater, but I can see Llywelyn's outline in front of me, his grip strong on my hand. He swims with a quick, powerful stroke, and the next thing I know we're... diving. Deeper and deeper into the ocean. The light from above fades, and everything becomes darker. I can barely see anything, but I can feel the pressure building in my ears, and the cold water around me.
My lungs start to burn, and I panic a little. I can't breathe. I need to breathe. I'm going to drown. I'm going to-
Llywelyn's hand suddenly covers my mouth, and his face is inches from mine. His eyes glow faintly in the darkness, and I can see the blue of his veins pulsing. "Relax, Sarah."
He just! Speaks. Underwater. I see bubbles from his mouth, and I can hear his voice, muffled through the water. I stare at him. His golden eyes are earnest and the soft pulsing of his veins in the dim light is soothing somehow.
I close my eyes and force my panic down, force my shoulders to relax.
Llywelyn won't drown me.
I know how fast he can swim. He could have me on the shore in an instant if he wanted to. He could breathe for me if he wanted to.
This isn't going to kill me. Just. Keep trusting him. It's fine.
After a moment, I peek an eye back open.
I'm still holding my breath, of course. It's not the best experience. But the panic has backed off. I still have... plenty of air.
His expression is sardonic. "You're so dramatic."
I open my mouth to reply without thinking, and he slaps his hand over it again, shaking his head.
Ah.
Right.
He then turns and tugs me forward, deeper.
Mira is off to our left. She's as bright as a beacon down here, her crystal body gathering together each little reflection and bit of light. She glows like a star. I've never seen her look so vibrant. She turns toward us and smiles. She looks excited. She holds a finger up to her lips and then runs off.
It's a weird sight still, seeing someone just run underwater.
Llywelyn's hand grabs my face and he turns it back forward.
There's... a light. Up ahead. I can see it, faintly. It's... blue. And getting brighter as we get closer. I squint, trying to see what it is. Obviously it's not Mira. Nor any other Kolumer. Not only because I can't imagine Llywelyn would go through the trouble of showing me that when Mira's right there, but because the light is different. It's not refracted sparkling, it's some kind of glow.
Then I see it.
The source of the light.
My eyes widen. It's... a creature. A big one. It looks like a whale, but it has huge fins that are almost like wings, and a tail that's long and thin, with a glowing tip. Its skin is a deep blue, and there are patterns of light that run along its sides, pulsing in a rhythm. Its face is... almost dolphin-like, but with a longer snout, and bigger eyes. It's beautiful.
It's... it's so big.
I don't know how I didn't see it before. It's huge, bigger than our ship, and just... floating there, in the middle of the ocean. It doesn't move, it doesn't make a sound. It just glows, and exists.
Llywelyn swims up to it, and I follow. He takes my hand and pulls it up to press against the creature's skin. It's smooth and warm. I can feel a faint vibration, like a heartbeat, under my fingers. It's alive.
I look at him, and he smiles at me, his eyes glowing. "Aegol." He mouths.
I blink and turn toward the creature again.
Its turned its head toward us, but it's just looking, nothing more.
That little... rock-sized pearl?
That's an egg from something this big?
How...
Llywelyn holds up a finger and grins at me. His hair floats around his head like some kind of halo of sea weeds. His soft glow and this Aegol are basically the only thing providing me light at all, but despite that...
I don't think I've ever seen him so earnestly happy before.
He suddenly grabs my hand and pulls me again, swimming around the Aegol, tugging me up and around it to its other side. On this side, it's... darker. I can't see anything except...
Wait.
There.
I squint. In the faint light, I see a shape. It's... smaller. A smaller Aegol, but... not a baby. A child, maybe. It's curled up against the bigger Aegol, its fins tucked in, its eyes closed. Its light is dim, barely there. It's sleeping.
My heart melts.
That's...
So cute. It's so cute.
I look at Llywelyn, and he nods. He lets go of my hand and swims over to the sleeping Aegol, gently brushing his fingers over its face. Its eyes twitch, but don't open.
His fingers pry the little creature away from its mother, cradle it in his arms, and then he brings it over to me. I hesitate, but I hold out my hands. He places the baby in them, and it's... lighter than I expected. It's still heavy, but not as much as I thought.
It's warm and soft, and its light flickers a little. I hold it close to my chest, and it nuzzles into me, its fins wrapping around my arm.
It's... precious.
Then after a moment, I feel a soft vibration from the little thing in my arms. And a stronger one inside of me. It's hard to explain, exactly, what I feel. It's as if... my bones are vibrating, making a sound in my head that isn't a sound. Or at least, it's not what I'd recognize as a sound.
And yet I can hear it still. A song. A beautiful, melodic, haunting song.
My eyes widen and I look at Llywelyn. He's smiling and there are flickers of light coming from him that match the rhythm of the baby's song. He must be able to hear it too.
He reaches out and touches the baby's head, and it trills softly. The sound resonates through my whole body, and I can't help but smile.
I have no idea how long we stay there, listening to the baby Aegol sing. But eventually, Llywelyn takes it from me, and returns it to its mother. It makes a soft, sad sound, but it settles back down to sleep soon enough.
All at once, my body rudely reminds me.
That I am not aquatic. And that I am out of air.
My lungs burn and I look up toward...
A very.
Far surface.
I start to swim up toward it, but that only makes my lungs burn more. I can't afford to call for Llywelyn, that idiot. He's always forgetting that not everyone is a damn fish.
I try, though. To swim upward, clawing at the water, trying to pull myself upward with enough speed that, even if I can't make it, my stupid roommate will notice and rescue me. But, for whatever reason, that vibration seemed to really...
I should not be this deep. I shouldn't have held my breath this long.
My chest hurts. It's burning. My eyes are stinging. My head is spinning.
I need air.
I can't see the surface anymore.
I can't really make anything out, because my vision is dark and my stupid fish-
Something violently crashes into me. A moment later, air. A lot of air. Fills my lungs. My vision snaps into focus and I see-
Llywelyn.
He's pressing his mouth to mine, forcing air into my lungs. An arm of his is around me, his other hand on my jaw. His eyes are closed, his veins glowing brightly.
He pulls away just a little, and my hand moves, grabbing his face, and I pull him back down. I need more air. My lungs still hurt. I'm not full yet. He makes a surprised sound, precious bubbles going into the water and not my lungs.
His mouth is soft.
I don't know why I think such a stupid thing.
We're moving. Upward. So fast the water is rushing past me. My hand slides down from his face to around his neck. Holding on.
And then I feel my head break the surface of the water.
I gasp, coughing, and he lets me go. I don't really register it because I'm too busy trying to breathe again. My head is pounding and my eyes are watering, but I'm alive. I'm above water and I'm breathing.
I wipe my eyes and look around. We're far from the shore. I can barely see it. The waves are bigger here, and there's more wind. The sun is bright, and the sky is clear.
Llywelyn floats next to me, his hair a mess, his eyes wide. He's staring at me, his chest glowing so brightly it's almost white.
"You- you were-" He stammers, and then he stops and shakes his head. "You-! You! You-!"
"Stupid!" I cough, struggling to speak through wheezing gasps of air. "You're stupid!"
"Me?!" His voice pitches into an indignant squawk. "I can't! Be expected to know when a human is reaching their limits! I can't get you back up for air if you don't tell me until you faint, you stupid mau'reh!" He snaps, and his collar flashes brightly.
I glare back at him and...
And oh.
I'm dizzy.
For just a moment, everything lurches and I'm underwater again.
Then there are strong arms around me and I'm pressed against a firm chest. His chest is vibrating, not with a song, but with a growl.
"You're an idiot." He grumbles, and his hand strokes my hair. "Make me look like a nishi'an fool..."
He grumbles, and then he's swimming us toward the shore. I cling to him, my eyes closed, my head on his shoulder. I'm tired. And dizzy. And overwhelmed. And I don't think I can swim anymore, even if I wanted to.
I can hear him muttering to himself as he swims, and I can feel his heart beating under my ear. It's a fast, but steady rhythm. It's comforting.
"Llywelyn..."
"S'nilia." He growls at my side. "What do you want you fis'iakahn hetchki?"
"S'... beautiful." I murmur. "Thank you." I don't even know if my words are making sense. But it's true. The Aegol were beautiful. And he... showed them to me. For me. Because he thought I'd like them.
He doesn't say anything for a long time. Finally, I feel his cheek against my head. "You're... the stupidest woman I've ever met." He murmurs.
I smile, and let myself drift off, still clinging to him. I know he won't let me drown.