Page 21 of Adrift in Currents Clean and Clear

Nadya blinked at him, then blinked again as Burian’s great head pushed its way under her right hand, lifting it up.

“The river chose her, fox,” he said. “The world chose her and then the river chose her, and she’ll go where she wishes to go, and I’ll go with her, as I am her companion and you are not.”

Artem slitted his eyes in what could have been amusement and could have been annoyance, regarding Burian for a long, silent moment before he leapt to his feet and went bounding off, stopping at the edge of both the wood and Nadya’s hearing to look back at her and say ominously, “Go back below, where you’ve already drowned, and leave the dry world to its own devices.”

Then he was gone, darting off into the trees. Burian walked ponderously forward, nudging the brush at the edge of the wood with his nose.

“What are you doing?” Nadya asked.

“We have to cross the wood somehow,” said Burian.

“I thought you didn’t think you’d fit between the trees.”

“I didn’t. I still don’t, but if that fox wants to tell you that we can’t be here, we’re going to be here all the more.” Burian twisted his neck, looking back at her. “The river chose you.Ichose you. No one else gets to tell you where you’re meant to be.”

Nadya frowned, not quite sure of the logic, but she allowed Burian to lead her along the forest’s edge until the sky started to darken with a coming storm. Then she coaxed him back to the river, and they returned to the depths, following the fleet of fishing boats that also raced ahead of the rain. Perhaps the forest would be easier to travel when it was actually flooded, and not simply haunted by the ghosts of past rainfall.

Burian grumbled during the first part of their descent, but by the time they leveled out into their final approach to the city, he was happy again, proud of the journey they had taken together. He came to a stop in front of Inna’s house, and Nadya slid down from his back onto the dock. “Do you want me to remove the saddle?” she asked.

“Anna will do it,” he replied, nudging her with his head. “She prefers to remove the saddles herself, to be sure there’s no tangle in the cords or breakage in the knots.”

“I’ll have to learn to do it eventually.”

“Not today. Today is for celebrating what we’ve done.” Burian bumped her with his head again. “I’ll have my saddle off and be given the finest greens and fish, and it will be a beautiful night. Your family will be ready to feast with you. I know Inna will have asked Alexi to join you, and if you’re not there, he won’t be able to enjoy the splendor of a welcome feast. So go. Go, and tomorrow, we’ll go up to the surface again. We’ll find our way through that wood, and we’ll see the Winsome.”

“All right,” said Nadya, and kissed the top of his head before turning and going into the house, which was low and bright and filled with laughter. Inna met her in the front room, grabbing her by the waist and spinning her around before leading her to the table, where Galina and her husband and their children were waiting. Places had been set forNadya and another for Alexi. She looked at the empty chair and blinked.

“Inna?”

“He’s coming,” said Inna warmly. “He’ll be here soon, I’m sure of that if nothing else.”

“I’m glad,” said Nadya.

“How did you enjoy the surface?”

Nadya hesitated before saying, “It was very… dry. I know everything of Belyyreka is under the great lake, and the water extends above the river’s surface, but it felt so much like the air from the world where we were born. It was thin and dry and I didn’t like it.”

“The different forms of water can seem very strange when you move between them,” said Inna kindly. “If you touch your arm, does it feel wet?”

“Yes,” said Nadya hesitantly, and pressed her fingers against the surface of her right arm, letting them dip just below the surface. And it did feel wet, in a way the world around her didn’t. She pulled her hand back. “I know we’re under the river, and everything around us is water, but my arm still feels like water. It’s wet, like the world isn’t.”

“The water of your arm is from the bottom of the river,” said Galina’s husband, a broad, amiable man who worked the farms downriver during the days, gathering greens and fresh fruit for the city below. His boat went up with the fishermen, and came down at the same time, delivering their wares to market along with the fish and crabs. Many things would grow above the river but not below.

“The water there is heavier,” said Nadya hesitantly. “That’s why it sinks to the bottom.”

“The water above the river is lighter, which is why it staysthere,” said Galina’s husband. “And the lighter water becomes, the drier it seems against the skin.”

Nadya frowned. “We went to the edge of the forest where you found me, Inna. The fox who led me through wasn’t there. He died. But his grandson was there, and he told us to stay away, that the forest wasn’t for humans. Can he do that? Can a fox tell us to stay out of a whole forest?”

“Of course he can,” said Inna. “He did, didn’t he? Whether he has any authority to make saying it mean anything more than sounds is another question.”

“Well, does he?”

“Foxes do not control the forests, but there are other things than foxes in the trees. Burian is a fine, strong young turtle, but he would be unable to defend you from a bear, if one took a liking to the smell of you, or a wolf, if it hungered.”

Nadya swallowed. She was about to ask how many wolves and bears there were in the forest, and whether it was really a good idea for her and Burian to go scouting alone—not that she wanted to give up her newfound freedom, but she was even less eager to be eaten by a bear—when Alexi came rushing in.

“I was at the market,” he said. He had been working one of the stalls there for the past year, selling vegetables during shopping times, sweeping and helping with the inventory when crowds were thin. He might, if he liked, take an apprenticeship with one of the farming boats in the next year, to begin heading above-river to the fields. They had discussed it, in the halting, awkward way teens talked about the future when they didn’t want to face it directly, out of fear that it would come swooping down and gobble them up; he had no interest in fishing and, with no turtle of his own, couldn’t bea scout. He did well enough at the market, and might choose to be a merchant instead of a farmer.

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