The wind billowed into my sail and I sped away, accelerating quickly, leaning hard into the wind, letting the dinghy keel over so I was leaning high over the other side to keep her out of the water, spray splashing up, flying across the water, skipping fish doing what they did best: skipping out over the bouncing bow.
As we got closer to the spaceport, I could see men and women gathering about, Serpuls greeting Farians, likely my father and escort apologizing for my absence. Honestly, I had forgotten that the Farians were coming to fetch me today. One man stood apart, hands on his hips, his black hair whipping in the fresh Seawind, shoulders square and strong from swimming in the sea, chest broad and straight toward my approaching dinghy. It looked like he was taking deep breaths of a sea air that surely smelled a little different than his own; but not too different; after all, Serpul had been terraformed to be similar to Farian's own waters.
I began to take in a little of the sail, bringing down the speed a bit, but still keeping up a healthy pace. I pointed the bow right toward the black-haired man where he stood at the edge of the port, the wind allowing me to bring my boat in right toward him, as if I were going to hit him.
Right at the last moment, I tightened the sail, swung it to the side, and slid the boat into the right to bring it slipping to a halt at his side, coasting it gently in, so my held up hand barely kissed the dock. The anger in my ears had faded a little, as I focused on my excellence, but as I looked up at the gorgeous man framed by the melting sun, who was bending down to offer me a helping hand, my blood boiled again.
“Expertly done, Princess Ceritha,” the man said. “Toss me the line.”
“I won’t be staying long.” My words were clipped and harsh.
“I see.”
“Are you Commander Axis?” I asked the question but I had seen a picture of him just the day before and knew it to be so. He was quite beautiful. Darkly tanned, black, piercing eyes to match his black hair. The signs of tattoos beneath his long maroon sleeves. A sword at his hip and a bandolier across his chest armed with throwing knives that I was sure he was skilled with through telekinesis.
“I am.”
“Then I supposed I am to be your bride. When do you expect we shall leave to Farian?”
“I believe we are to have a celebratory dinner tonight, then leave in the morning.” He had withdrawn his offered hand and was standing straight up again. I had not moved from my seated spot in the back of the dinghy, one hand gently holding my boat to the dock, the other holding the sail’s line in.
“Fine. Then I shall see you tomorrow morning at the spaceship. Enjoy your evening.” I pushed off the dock with a whiff of telekinetic Will and pulled the sail around to luff it into the wind and was quickly pulling away from him, my heart beating quickly. I aimed the sail and dinghy into the wind and took off, back toward one of my favorite coves where I knew I could stay the night, collect more samples, and sneak back into the City at some point to gather my things and consult with my scientists.
When I looked back to the quickly disappearing dock, hearing voices calling after me, my heart still beating in time with the anger thudding in my ears, I was disappointed to see that the Commander wasn’t even standing there watching me go. My heart sank a little. What had I expected? That he would be the one calling after me?
No matter. Thanks to the Worlds, I could be alone.
Other people were calling after me, though, including my father’s contingent, and pointing into the waters. I squinted to look at what they were pointing toward…
There was something swimming after me! Quite quickly, too.
I reached out with my telepathy and made a call into the ocean waters, reaching out for any nearby animals. Serpuls could only communicate with higher sentient ones. It would only be by luck if one of them were nearby to tell me who was swimming, and as luck would have it, a firefin spun out of the water, his long, flowing red fins sprinkling droplets of water into the air as he arced over the object acing through the water behind me, his barbed tail flicking.
“Who is that…?” I asked the firefin.
The firefin Willed the image of Commander Axis, shirtless, shoeless, and absolutely rippling with muscles and finely tuned swimming technique as he tore through the turquoise waters, into my mind.
Goodness sakes…
I loosened the sail to catch a little more wind and angled into a more strategic flow, capturing a more wayward course, but a swifter path toward my hidden inlet. The little dinghy accelerated with my commands, and I began to leave Axis further behind.
I can’t believe he is following me! Swimming behind me, no less! What is he thinking? How can he possibly think he can catch me?
There was part of me that thrilled at this little chase. My anger was melting and a slight smile was tugging at my lips as I looked back behind me to see him still swimming back there, then I turned to look back at my course.
A raceboat flashed by in front of me, careening out from one of the coves without looking, two teenagers cheering and jumping around at the steering wheel. “Sorry!” They yelled over to me, as the jet engine’s wake nearly capsized my boat. I quickly made adjustments to avoid spilling over with the dinghy, and the raceboat sprinted onward.
“Fools!” I yelled after them. They were some of the ignorant assholes that ignored right-of-way rules, slashed scars across the backs of my beloved dolgons and firefins, and in general
