Iridae, now a full-grown adult syrin, waited in waters somewhat more shallow than he was used to. He could see where the sunlight penetrated the ocean waves above, but he tried not to look at them too often.
As a creature of the deep, Iridae was used to heavy pressures and dim-to-no light, his pale complexion and eyes best suited for the dark atmosphere of the ocean bottom. Even at 10 feet from the surface, the water was much warmer than he was used to and the syrin began to worry that his nearly albino skin might invite bad sunburn at this rate.
Come on, Maverick, where are you? he wondered anxiously, his thoughts kept to himself. Though usually a creature of solitude and isolation, the naga had been one of the syrin's few friends as a child. It had been a while since he had last seen his fellow scaled companion. He pondered idly if the snake boy would recognize him now that he was grown, or vice-versa.
It was a few minutes more before Iridae spotted a dark, serpentine shape swimming toward him, cutting through the waters with some difficulty as the force from the ways above churned the currents surrounding the figure.
However, with a sinuous body made of almost pure muscle, it wasn't long before said being had penetrated the seawater deep enough to swim with more ease. He was finally able to direct his body wherever he wanted to go without worrying about being pushed away by the waves crashing down and the currents they created.
"What took you so long?" Iridae demanded. "Do you know how far I've had to come, and how long ago just to make sure I got here on time?"
"Not nearly as far nor as long as I,"
Maverick gasped, a little out of breath. He seemed unused to speaking underwater and paused to get used to the sensation. "...A sorcerer I know cast a spell that allowed me to be able to breath and speak under water, but only for a few hours. It wasn't a cheap spell, either," the naga informed Iridae irritably.
"On top of that, do you know how vast the ocean is? Even if I was going to meet you off-shore, you didn't come nearly as close to land as I thought you'd be. I nearly swam half the island's perimeter before remembering you were always too much a coward to come close to the surface."
Iridae crossed his arms over his chest and replied resentfully, "I'll have you recall that I've good reason to avoid the sun and land, with unpleasent experiences to back it up. Anyway, I thought you wanted to avoid the land taur at all costs. The farther from land, the better, don't you think?" he asked, smirking. It was the first sign of friendliness he's shown toward the naga since their encounter. The other didn't seemed surprised, however, as he returned it with a crooked smile of his own and a clap of their hands.
"It's good to see you again, Maverick," the pale syrin said.
"And you, Iridae," the purple naga acknowledged.
"Come on. There are others farther below," Iridae told him, leading the way. "We probably won't need to go so far as the bottom of the sea, but I hope you can stand a little more cold. The pressure gets more intense as well."
"Are you serious?" Maverick asked incredulously, swimming after in an effortless, sideways motion. "Cold and pressure are all I get from the elders back home."
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