11-17-2016, 04:57 PM
She had transformed before his eyes in such a way that he couldn’t help himself. He laughed. And Ashley laughing is almost as monumental as what had happened during the Reckoning. It was something that absolutely, positively never happened. And yet, here he was, a shadow of his former self, under the water, laughing with a near perfect stranger who was now dangling from his hair like some little lemming, looking to him to keep her safe from the currents that were swooping around them. Trusting a stranger to shelter her.
The audacity that she felt she could trust him…she must not know who he was.
Ashley moved himself into a the lee of the stone structures that were anchored to the bottom of the ocean, and as his eyes went from amber to green, he flexed his pectoral fins, and colored himself to match her; except that down his dorsal, he was spotted with bright yellow. Being able to use his magic away from the fairies eyes; it was glorious. He had not felt so free as the last time he had gone into the Amazons to take it over—and had succeeded.
He continued swimming, slowly so as not to dislodge the perfect little thing that was clinging to him with everything she had. When he came to an opening in the bedrock, he swam right through into an underwater cave, that came up to a patch of dry land—his home just off the shores of the island of Ischia. It was where he congregated, and kept himself apart from the rest of them. He floated to the surface, allowing his gills to sew themselves shut while he depressurized from the sealevel, and found a patch of kelp for Marlyn to reattach to, should she choose to stay in the form as she was. Here the waters were calm, and the cave was entirely surrounded in water. This last airbubble—held together by Ashley’s magic—was all that he could find that remained of the old Forbidden Dale. The part of the land that he could not—would not—let go of.
His head comes ashore, and he looks back at the little seadragon, speaking into her head once more since she be still underwater. “I do not know why I brought you here. But you’re probably the only other one who could venture here.”
The audacity that she felt she could trust him…she must not know who he was.
Ashley moved himself into a the lee of the stone structures that were anchored to the bottom of the ocean, and as his eyes went from amber to green, he flexed his pectoral fins, and colored himself to match her; except that down his dorsal, he was spotted with bright yellow. Being able to use his magic away from the fairies eyes; it was glorious. He had not felt so free as the last time he had gone into the Amazons to take it over—and had succeeded.
He continued swimming, slowly so as not to dislodge the perfect little thing that was clinging to him with everything she had. When he came to an opening in the bedrock, he swam right through into an underwater cave, that came up to a patch of dry land—his home just off the shores of the island of Ischia. It was where he congregated, and kept himself apart from the rest of them. He floated to the surface, allowing his gills to sew themselves shut while he depressurized from the sealevel, and found a patch of kelp for Marlyn to reattach to, should she choose to stay in the form as she was. Here the waters were calm, and the cave was entirely surrounded in water. This last airbubble—held together by Ashley’s magic—was all that he could find that remained of the old Forbidden Dale. The part of the land that he could not—would not—let go of.
His head comes ashore, and he looks back at the little seadragon, speaking into her head once more since she be still underwater. “I do not know why I brought you here. But you’re probably the only other one who could venture here.”
ashley
I walked the path, it led me to the end.