Welcome to Gaia! ::

Naqenni’s hands cut through choppy surf with a swift confidence built upon a foundation of years of experience. Yael’s coast — while rough with rocks and cliffs, battered by storm waves and littered with powerful currents which laced the uneven shoreline — was almost as much home to her as the land, and as a youngling, she had been cautioned endlessly. It’s dangerous. The sea is unpredictable. The jungle is our element, do not test the tides.

But those were the words of her cousins, so used to a much larger island and a mainland that stretched further than any eye could see a hundred times over. Her world and her sisters’ world, so far as she saw it, included the sea—or, at least the surf. All of Yael and all the ocean she could see when standing upon its shore was her territory, and she still intended to master it. It hadn’t killed her as a child, and it wouldn’t now.

As a particularly powerful surge rolled inward, Naqenni followed with the swell, kicking back only at the end to avoid being bashed against the rocks before swimming the last bit forward herself. Upon arrival she reached, finding fingerholds despite the slickness and hoisting herself up. Her bare toes curled against wet rock, body and hair dripping, soaked as she came to as stand and leaving a trail as she picked her way inward, towards more even land.

Her weapons and other belongings she’d tucked safely into a crevice between a rock and a trunk further in, and most ought to have sensibly been eager to dry and return to them. It was winter, after all, and the sea was as blisteringly cold as the wind. But Naq was accustomed to swimming in all varieties of weather including (once) an ill-advised attempt while there was frozen precipitation dusting down from the heavens on other more inner portions of the island.

By comparison, today was brisk.

She took a moment to appreciate the view, wringing her soaked burgundy dreads as she did.

Naqenni hadn’t been anticipating company. While she hadn’t traveled a great distance from camp, it was enough of a trek that for the most part, she enjoyed her swims to herself. Private time and space to think. But she didn’t mind the alternative either, and turned at the voice to eye her sister. Younger than her, of course, but not by that much. One of the prentices. She tipped her head, gaze skimming down her as she attempted to determine whether or not she knew her by name.

Prasha? Pruya?

“Prada?” she guessed aloud, all but certain it wasn’t correct. It would at least get her the answer. “The Matron is old and hasn’t felt the salt sea on her tits in decades. It’s cold enough now her heart might stop if she tried, so it’s natural for her to warn.” Naqenni stretched her arms above her head, folding one behind her and crimping her toes before stepping forward. “But. This island is ours and our skin should know the water as well as the land. I’ve swam here since my arms had the strength to keep me afloat and spare me the rocks. You should join me sometime.”

Pruu.

Naqenni made mental note, and snorted at the first return question. The girl knew who she was and she knew Pruu knew. So she saw no reason to bother confirming. Instead, she focused on the more interesting portions of inquiry.

“There are rivers inland,” she said. “And underground streams. If you’ve begun to do scouting trips you’ll see them. When I was small, my mothers exposed me. There are some safer, still waters. This, though…” She gestured out towards the ocean, “…is part of our birthright. It surrounds all the land we call ours. None of us should fear it.”

She stepped past Pruu, patting a wet hand to her shoulder on the way by before angling towards her supplies and weaponry. “I could show you stiller waters to practice in.”

Naq tipped her head, giving her sister a quick, assessing glance. “Now?”

She was already wet, and though she had other things to do, none of them were immediately pressing. Training the fellow warriors who would fight at her side one day, however, was always a priority and she never minded more swimming. Besides, if Pruu was out here wandering about, she didn’t evidently have anything better to do—and Naq did appreciate showing off.

Naqenni eyed her sister, the tendrils at her throat tapping with idle curiosity before she shrugged. “‘Now’ is the only time we are guaranteed,” she said, and tipped her head. “Come with me.”

She stooped, gathering her arrow and quiver to strap over her shoulder, then draping the rest over her arm for the moment. Without looking to see if Pruu would follow, she stepped off. She assumed her sister would come after in but a moment, and her focus was on the surrounding trees. It wasn’t actually all that far to the nearest caverns which provided stiller pools—more ideal for grappling with the inexperienced.

The jungle floor was dank and leafy under her bare feet, and initially, she lead in silence. When she heard the first telltale trickles weaving in amidst the myriad other jungle sounds, though, the corner of her mouth pinched up. “Who raised you?”

Some of the Elaria she knew of in their entirety. Pruu was familiar as was unavoidable in such reasonably confined social circles, but not so much so as others, and often, much could be learned about a sister based on who their alkidike caretaker mother (or mothers) were.

Kou and Fassala.

Naqenni nodded, listening as Pruu spoke of her family and sisters and making mental note. All the while, the trickling sounds of water increased—audible, but still not visible. She slowed her pace, though, as they drew in, and glanced over her shoulder when she paused. “Watch your feet…the rocks become wet and slick here quickly, even some covered in green.”

Before them, the rock formations had shaped into a looming overhang, lined with ribbons of vine and hanging moss and peppered with moisture. Upon progressing forward, though, where the gap between the larger walls of rock narrowed, a crevice came into view. Guiding aside some of the overgrowth, she stepped in, and held her hand to rock on one side as she made her way down. It was a narrow tunnel, but only for a short period before it ballooned, as though the makers of the land had blown an air bubble into stone, crafting an underground pocket beneath the earth, and then tunneled threads of water from pocket to pocket throughout the island.

This one was cool and dank, and the water that moved through it had only a gentle current, with some areas almost completely stagnant, which made for ideal learning conditions.

“Mm.” Naqenni nodded, setting her things down before stepping up beside Pruu, and then past her to wade in.

She couldn’t count how many times she’d been now, but to this day she remembered her first experiences with water, both with her caretaker mothers when they had brought her, and the several (many) occasions where she had run off on her own as she’d grown with her first sisters. She and Ku, and she and Ceylinae had both had their fair share of adventures as younglings testing themselves against the land—or playing, depending on one’s perspective, running and splashing in caverns and at the seaside.

Of the many on Yael, however, this was one of the best suited in her opinion for learning to swim. The first she had found with Ceylinae had swift, rushing current despite being underground, and had in fact nearly swept her away at the time. The one she’d explored with Ku suited them well as children, but the water had been too shallow for the most part for proper swimming even then, and would not have given Pruu much practice.

This one, though, had both calm water and an initially gradual slope that deepened significantly towards the middle, enough so that in some parts, the water looked simply black and bottomless. After wading to her hips, she glanced over her shoulder.

When Pruu made it to her side, Naq smirked, and dove. Like a needle she cut through the water, first in a straight pierce and then spinning just under the surface to feel the cool rush of it roll around her, long legs propelling her forward. She went out, to the middle and then all the way to the far side before lapping back. As she returned though, she pivoted under, making a turn around Pruu’s legs before standing at her back, chest to Pruu’s shoulders with little space between them.

She put a hand at the small of her sister’s back. “Lay.” Holding out her spare hand to one side, she added. “Hold, if you like. First, you are going to learn to float. I’ll keep you up until you can maintain it yourself. Once you are on your back, keep breath in you. And relax.”