Post by Akatala on Apr 13, 2009 21:08:33 GMT -5
Suiko Tokoshima 床島水子
It was the beginning of that magickal hour between night and day that made Suiko tingle as she stood at the end of the pier. Her hair loose, her body clad in a wetsuit, she stared as the glow of the dawning horizon upon the sea in front of her. Soon the sea would give birth to the sun to shine over the worth for the day. She panned her ocean blue eyes to stare into the shimmering sea stretching forever beyond the edge of the dock. She idly recalled her sea-boat captain grandfather telling her a story long ago about what happened to those who died at sea. It was her grandfather's Shinto belief that the sea changed those it swallowed into the creatures that now dwelled within it. Her eyes flicked to the pod of dolphins she had been waiting on. What if they were souls lost to the waves reborn?
Suiko decided that if she were to die in the sea, she would wish to become a dolphin too. Graceful and elegant, silly yet intelligent. With a fluid leap, she swan dove into the water, relishing the rush of cold for just as it bit, it reminded her she was here alive, vital and unrelenting to that which might want to steal her life. Down, she swam until she could touch the shallow floor of the bay. She had done it so many times by now it was nothing to her to swim 20.. 25.. 30 feet down on one breath. She had trained herself over many years to swim well.
Twisting in the water like the dancer she was, she just as smoothly and gracefully swam back up to greet the arriving dolphins with slap of her own hands on the top of the water. The playful creatures raced around her, tagging her with their noses, then daring her to follow. Twisting around again with ease, the Japanese girl dove to follow, tagging tails, stroking sides and bellies, then catching a ride by gently gripping the dorsal fin of one of the dolphins. They all knew her by now. They knew when and where to come to find her each morning. Then they would all spend an hour or two playing in the water, perhaps a little more if it was warm.
When at last the dolphins and the girl both were tired, they parted ways, the dolphins heading for sea, the girl swimming for the pier. Once there, she heaved herself out of the water to sit on the pier catching her breath for the moment. She may shine like a star on the stage in the evenings, but at heart, she was her name. Water Child.