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Her hungry eye, her ancient soul
THE TIDE POOLS were lit up by the sun, shimmering clear water rippling over Althea’s skin and scales. It was her favorite spot, back leaned against the rocks, tail lazily floating in the cooling pool, head tilted back with her eyes closed. It was a clear day, cloud having parted to let the sun kiss the sea and earth while the wind was calm but present. Althea breathed in deeply, letting the smell of salt and faint earthiness fill her lungs.
It was perfect to her, faint memories of her splashing in these tides with her mother and siblings. Memories of the other pods of her family visiting and relishing within each others company. It was safe, the memories and tide pools. Until an oddly faint shrieking sound cut through her peace.
Althea cracked an eye open, brows furrowed in mild annoyance. She didn’t see anything directly above her, but either way, she opened her other eye and sat up. “I swear to Valys, if that’s a damned dragon..” She muttered under her breath, tilting her head back to look around. She saw two shadows in the distant sky, her eyes narrowing to make it out more; unfortunately, it seemed to be two dragons. Fighting perhaps, although one of them seemed to be fleeing.
A muttered curse came from her as she moved, swimming to the edge of the pools, her body sinking a bit further into the water instinctively. It wasn’t often that dragons would target sea folk but it was common enough to be a threat to her perfect day. The shadow of one of the dragons came quickly but the other was hot on it’s tail, before it rammed into the other, messing with its balance.
A screech came from the tumbling dragon, its wings fumbling to flap but it had been flying far too low to recover. Its wings curled around its body, as if shielding it, right as it dove into the sea. Althea blinked, a tad shocked as she faintly felt the sprays of water from the splash. Her eyes watched the other dragon, it circled for a few moments before turning and continuing away.
Althea took a moment before she looked back at the spot the dragon had fallen into. She couldn’t see it, her body moving before her mind could decide. She dove into the water, leaving the shallow waters behind for the depth of the ocean. Her tail moved quickly, her eyes narrowed and scanning for the dragon but.. she couldn’t see it. Where could it have gone? There was no way-
She froze, her eyes widening a bit as she saw a figure trying to swim up. Her brows furrowed slightly as she watched the man try to push up with the water, his cheeks puffed from holding his breath. Quickly, Althea swam over, her curiosity outweighing her usual reluctance to help humans. “Stop paddling like a dog.” She spoke quickly, her gills flaring slightly as her clawed hands grasped at the front of his tunic.
A slight smirk formed on her face at the bewildered look, air bubbles spilling from his lips as he flailed slightly at the startling sight of her. Althea rolled her eyes, her arm moving to cradle his back, her tail pushing against the water as hard as she could. The water rushed against her face, her hair weighed down and her eyes narrowing. Within a few seconds, they broke to the surface, sputtering gasps and coughs coming from him.
His hands grasped at her a bit tighter, the faint indent of his nails left on her waist. “I- Uh-” His lips sucked in air, his eyes gazing at her confused and a little wide eyed. His dark curls stuck to his forehead and face, slick and swirling into the water a bit, “Thank you-” He forced the words out, swallowing thickly.
Althea didn’t look very amused. One of her brows raised at him, her body swimming a tad back to put the smallest of distance between them. “The name is Althea,” She rolled her eyes before continuing, “You’re welcome, dragon.” She continued swimming to the edge of her tidal pools, her grip on him lessoning; she hoped he might just let go and continue to pathetically find his own way to solid ground.
He flinched a bit as she started moving again, the feeling of the current fighting against his body made him wrap his arms around her. “Vaelen.” He muttered, brows furrowing a bit, “Why did you help me? I- Thank you-” He winced a little at the fact he had already said that, cursing himself internally for making such a fool of himself. Althea seemed a bit amused by that, the faintest smile on her lips.
The coarse rocks dug into the flesh and scales on her stomach, her spare hand gripping it for leverage. She let go of him, the shallow waters lapping at his thighs as he rose to stand within the pool. He looked like a wet rat, his right hand pushing through the soaked black strands of his hair, pushing it out of his face, “Well, uh..”
Awkward was an understatement as Althea watched him try to come up with something else to say. He was blocking the sun, standing over her, dripping in salt water, “Do you mind?” She mutters, waving her hand at him lazily, “I’m trying to sunbathe, you’ve already interrupted my day by trying to drown, dragon-boy, I would like to enjoy the rest of it without you hovering.” She leaned back into the rocks, assuming her relaxed position of earlier.
Vaelen looked a little starstruck, blinking at her confused before awkwardly glancing away, shuffling closer to the shoreline. His boots were soaked, sinking into the sand as he departed from the tidal pools and back to the forest edge. He deemed Althea is peculiar but also strong and overly confident. She had saved him with no care of who he actually was, and then discarded him like he hadn’t even existed. It was odd and yet, a part of him was hooked.
Unbeknownst to him, this was the start of a story far bigger than him or her.
Rushing to shore to meet her