Page 14 of Homecoming

Aeryn grinned. It was going to be a fun day.

Aeryn saw the island on a horizon where there shouldn’t be an island. “What the hell?”

Thera stood next to her. “That is amazing.”

A half-oval arched up, the surface looked to be made of obsidian, and there was a crystal ridge down the centre. It looked deadly to touch and was glittering in the slow lightening of the sky.

Aeryn had her wetsuit on and discussed her plan of attack with the island in and out of the background.

Kayak smiled. “Do you mind orcas?”

“No. Nothing under the surface freaks me out.”

Thera nodded. “Good. I am going to be using Kayak as a platform so I can get some good action shots to start with.”

“Fine with me. The light is starting. So, let’s get this over and done with, and we can move on to windsurfing.”

Aeryn looked down at the water near the jet ski, and a curious small shark was circling. She focused and whispered, “Shoo!”

The shark turned and wiggled off. Thera and Kayak got into the water, and Thera wedged a tripod onto the orca as he swam toward the island.

Aeryn powered up the jet ski, throttled it high, and became the performing seal that was required for this project.

She did slaloms, whirled and jumped her own track, and then watched the waves. When one was large enough, she did a barrel roll in midair.

She cruised toward Thera slowly and asked, “Did you get enough?”

“Can you teach me how to ride that way?”

“Probably not. I am cheating with wind and waves. Besides, you can do all the flippy stuff with your mates. I wouldn’t go near one of their beaky noses.” She grinned at the narrowed eye beneath the water.

“I am going to get my sailboard. Back in a minute and will be wearing my first change.”

She circled around the boat, tied up the jet ski, then peeled off the wetsuit, and flopped it over the edge of the railing.

Skaay said, “Change your hair so it looks like a different day.”

“Nice catch.”

“How did you learn to use all this equipment?”

“My parents researched the birds of the islands and were on an endless migratory cycle of their own. I am not reallyinto ornithology, so I played in the water by whatever means available.”

“Have you always been tall?”

“No. I was blissfully normal.” She raised her arms and pulled her annoying length of hair into a bound tail that was just below her shoulders.

“What happened?”

“You know the story. The wrong alpha at the right time, and six months later, I was six inches taller.” She lifted the board and sail. “I went into this kind of activity as a way of learning what my new body could do. It can do a lot.”

She was wearing the sporty swimwear and used her own wind control to move her sail, and again, she did cruising, hung by one arm as she touched the surface of the waves, and then did more flips and called a halt as she tacked back toward the boat.

While she was loading her stuff up with Skaay’s help, Thera handed off her camera and tripod and then was off to do some of the acrobatics with an orca that they had talked about earlier.

Skaay and Orc watched closely. Aeryn kept an eye on the water beneath the two in the water and kept them in a bubble of predator-free waves. They were all so busy with the whale-watching that it was only when Orc lifted his head and saw the vessel gliding toward them he whistled. The whale in the water nudged their mate. She nodded, stiffened her body, and he dove under her and then pushed her up and out of the water to land on the deck in a low crouch.

Thera grinned. “That worked out well.”

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