Page 71 of Citrine

After she finally relents and decides to live, I move us into an underwater cave.

The cave is even darker than normal, though the luminous snails cast a dull light, the skies dark with the violent storm. I can still hear the thundering from above, but it doesn't seem like she can. She was jumping with each booming sound of it before we came into the water.

Even less equipped to survive down here than I initially thought. It has ceased to surprise me.

She's still angry, likely knowing I would've let her drown if she didn't figure out how to use the gills she stole.

How else would she know if she could use them?

"See? You're alive."

Her eyes say so much. It's such a relief that her mouth does not.

She scuttles deeper into the corner of the cave and doesn't look at me. I can still see her clearly, but I know she can barely see me. All that's similar about us are the gills.

I reach out a tentacle to tap at her feet, pleased when she jumps. She can't complain, so she just grumbles, like she wants to killme with just her eyes. I decide to leave her alone and wait for the skies to clear.

It takes a while, so I venture out to find something to eat. Most creatures safely hide during a storm and are alert. The ones who can't are left in a panic and are easier to catch. I take some of those first and keep searching around the nearby ridge to find more.

It's an easy hunt and I come back to the cave soon after.

She's still by the corner in the cave, but she looks curious. I reach a tentacle around her waist and bring her out, swimming around the underwater ridgeline with her in tow.

I don't know why I'm doing it. She could just as easily wait out the storm in the cave, but I want her with me. Want her to see more. Maybe it will make her want to come here more often.

Where she can't speak.

I swim for quite some time, whacking away Many Teeth who try to investigate her long, yellow weeds. For some unexplained reason, I even show her how to chase a school of fish out of their hiding place.

As if she could hunt without me.

Eventually, I bring her up close to the surface and watch the last of the storm clouds move away. She points at the shore, death in her eyes. I let her go and she swims to the surface like she's fleeing from me.

She can't flee from me.

I follow her, and she climbs up among the rocks, coughing. She glares back down at me and her lips part.

"What thehellis wrong with you? You were seriously going to leave me to drown in there, weren't you?"

"You didn't."

"Oh, because I have gills? What is the difference between tossing me intoshark-infested waters and what you just did? And that stupid,smuglook on your face! You're so infuriating!"

I float close to her, noticing she isn't going back to the cove. When she's talking, she seems to focus on delivering her message more than anything else. If she tries to leave, she'll stop talking and I'll follow her.

"Why are you angry?"

Her expression changes again.

"You don't know? You seriously don't know?Wow! I can't believe I'm wasting my time trying to explain basicdecencyto someone like you."

She's saying things I can't understand again and waving her graspers frantically.

I'm not sure why I feel the need to explain, but I do. "It is the way I was taught. It's the way we were all taught."

"Right. Semi-aquaticmammal. Wait, you didn't hatch from an egg, did you?"

I decide not to answer that. She huffs and squats until she's right in front of me again. I want tokissher and feel the warmth of her mouth again.

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