The Frituals

Shauna

3

Shauna

I break the water’s surface coughing and sputtering, for effect more than anything. I am about twenty feet from the boat. Miss Edward whips her head around when she hears me and yells at the elf to get me. “Are you okay?” she asks as she helps pull me into the boat. “How could you hold your breath that long?”

“I go swimming a lot,” I say shrugging one of the fluffy white towels around my shoulders.

I glance around the edge of the lake, looking for the bright sun from earlier that now hides behind a cloud. I catch Philippe’s eye. He is on the shore where I had been a short while ago waiting to board his boat so he can go next. Oh, Philippe, I think, I don’t know how I am going to explain any of this to you. All I can picture is his face crinkled up in confusion. Best not to tell him for now, not till I understand it myself.

I hop off the boat and watch the others that were in the boat with me head up the path towards the gates to the city. Philippe and I never actually established where we would meet, so rather than lose him in the city I decide to stay on the shore where I can keep an eye on him. I walk along the water a little way and notice a small pool of water were three rocks meet and the water collects within. Small fish dart around in their enclosure, dancing away from my fingers as I swirl them slowly around. I climb up on one of the rocks and slip off my sopping wet slippers, lying them on the warm stone to dry. Slowly I dip my toes into the fresh water and flinch away, a laugh spilling from my lips when I feel little fish nibble at my toes. I slip my feet back into the water, watching the scales flash as they weave around my feet.

I start trying to digest the information I just received. I am the chosen one of Cabineral Lake. I am the one who will be able to control water. It seems too unreal. I touch my neck where the skin had parted to reveal gills. Nothing. The skin is smooth. Did they disappear as soon as I surfaced or just before? If I am the chosen one, what can I do? What can’t I do? Is it why I feel so calm near the water? Questions buzz in my head like bees. They swirl and swirl without end. My thoughts turn now to the actual test, for years, we have been making seventeen-year-olds just jump into the lake in the hope that they would somehow reveal themselves. I can’t help but feel like that plan was flawed. There had to be a better way to show the powers a person possessed. Then again mine hadn’t appeared till now.

I watch as Philippe executes a graceful dive into the water, slightly splashing his companion on the boat. After a short time, he emerges and climbs back into the boat. He looks disappointed, but of course, he would. Everyone will be disappointed. He shakes the water from his hair sending ripples scattering away from his boat. It’s then that he spots me, and he breaks out into a broad grin.

I rise nonchalantly, struggling for a moment to slip the damp slippers back onto my feet, and tilt my head indicating where to meet. I see him nod in affirmation and my heart skips a beat. I move through the trees careful to hold my dress away from the branches and thorns that snag and pull. I look to my left and can just see the shimmer of the lake, while on my right there is a fallen tree. The sun has come back out, but its rays are softer here, the leaves dappling the beams. I hop up onto the tree, testing my weight before sitting and combing through my hair with my fingers. Once I have detangled it as much as I can with my fingers, I twist the strands into a braid and toss it over my shoulder.

When Philippe comes striding up the trail, I am lying down on the tree looking up through the leaves at the bright blue sky. His hair still shimmers with the droplets that won’t let go. “Hello, Shauna.” he says in his low, rough voice.

“Hello,” I reply. He steps closer, our fingers interlocking before he raises a hand to brush away a tendril of hair away from my face. I’m shorter than him, only coming up to his chest, so I have to look up at him; it’s something he says he likes about me. To look at him, he has to see my whole face. But here on my perch, I am almost eye to eye with him. The curl comes loose again, and he tucks it behind my ear, but, this time, he brushes his hand along my jaw as he does so, cupping my chin. Slowly he bends his head and kisses me.

My hands slide up his arms, his shoulders, and rest on his neck, my fingers lacing in his hair at the base of his skull. I swing my legs carefully off the fallen tree and slide down his chest until I am standing. He lays a gentle, fleeting kiss on my lips, then my nose and finally he comes to rest on my forehead pausing there before I sink my head on his chest and he hugs me close.

I can hear the thubump, thubump, thubump of his heart through the coarse linen of his shirt. “Shauna, I have missed you so much,” he whispers, and I can feel the heat of his breath on my ear.

“You’re the one who went away,” I mumble back inhaling his comforting scent.

“You knew I had to go; I needed to trade those goods for Father,” he says running a finger over my damp hair. “But I am back now.” He pauses, his hand coming down to cup mine. “Look at me Shauna; there is something I need to say.”

Quickly I glance up at him, searching his face for signs of a problem. Carefully he reaches into his pocket and pulls out a small pouch. He had tied it with a piece of neat black cord. From the pouch, he pulls out a delicate silver ring, inlaid with blue stones. I just stare at the beautiful ring, enraptured by its many shining facets. “Leaving did give me a chance to find this, so it brought some good. Shauna, will you take it, will you take me and be with me forever as my bride?”

I glance from him to the ring, and back again as my sluggish brain puts the pieces together. “Yes! Yes! Absolutely!” I squeal throwing my arms around his neck, hugging him tightly.

Before I can take another breath, he is kissing me again more fiercely this time, and when we break apart, my lips feel slightly numb.

I touch my lips, still feeling the phantom pressure of his. It is almost like the phantom feeling of the gills that had been on my neck.

“Why what’s wrong?” he asks his voice instantly softening. I shake my head.

“Nothing, absolutely nothing. I was just thinking how much I love you,” I lie.