Page 78 of Call of the Fathoms

“Which means?” He turned them, twisting them in a spiral down into a current that would help propel them deeper into the water.

She could feel their speed pick up. He seemed to have successfully pushed them deeper and deeper into the ocean, and she was already feeling the pressure change squeezing her. The suit seemed to hold, though, and she would take that as a win. Even if it meant she did have to explain her thoughts to him.

Alexia licked her lips and hoped she was explaining this well enough. “I don’t think either of us is necessarily good or bad. I think that answer is a lot more complicated for someone who has fought their entire life for people who have pointed them at an enemy and fired. Whether you believe that you are the same as me or not, I see it in you.”

His arms tightened around her. Carefully, he took her feet and tucked them against the warmer hip gills that would help keep her from freezing. “I do not think we are that different, virago.”

“Why do you call me that, anyway?”

“It is customary to give names to those you respect.” He obviously didn’t want to say anything to her about this. Every word was ground out through his teeth, like he was embarrassed to admit it. But perhaps they both needed this moment.

Even if she couldn’t help but joke with him. “Like a pet?”

“No, not like a pet,” he replied, perhaps a little harshly. “It is a gift. A name that means something. A respect that is shown as a way to tell you that I see into your soul. I see who you are and I have named you from what I saw.”

“Ah.” Another long silence that was only broken by the sound of his fins slicing through the water. Then, very quietly, she said, “Are you going to tell me what virago means, then?”

He took a long time to reply. “It is a warrior woman. A fighter who is recognized by another fighter, and a woman with... heroic qualities.”

She slapped her hands on his chest. “But you’ve been calling me that for a very long time.”

“I have.”

“Before you even realized I was going to help you.”

“Yes, virago. I knew even before you agreed to help our people what kind of person you were. It is not such a strange thing to admit.” His lights flickered on, some of the yellowilluminating his face in ghostly light. “The depthstriders you are about to meet might frighten you. They will touch you, most likely. Do not fight them. They are only glimpsing your future.”

“You’re changing the subject because you’re uncomfortable, aren’t you?” she asked.

“Yes.”

“Why?”

His arms tightened a little more around her before she felt him sigh out of his rib gills. “Because I do not know how to have this conversation with someone I admire, Alexia. I haven’t had to do this in a very long time, and I will admit, I am suffering because of that.”

He... admired her?

That made parts of her light up that she hadn’t even realized could glow. She wanted to grab onto his stupid face and kiss him. She wanted to tell him that she felt the same. She’d never met someone so admirable, and that he’d taught her what that even meant.

But then she felt a hand on her ankle. Flinching, she tried to stay still like he said, but it was hard when a hand reached out of the darkness and grabbed onto her.

“Don’t,” he growled. “It is an insult to deny them.”

“An insult?” she grumbled in response. “It is my future. Should I not get to tell them whether or not they see it?”

“You will never know what they see unless you ask them to reveal it to you. They are in control here, and always will be. You are in their home.”

Another clawed hand passed down her back, smoothing over her shoulders in a caress before darting away. Another toyed with the edges of her helmet, as though threatening her that at any point, they could pull it loose. Another hand, this time touching the spots on her thigh where the squid had woundedher. Another hand, this time slipping between her and Fortis and moving along her belly.

Fortis growled at that, and the hand immediately retreated.

“You are doing well,” he said, though his voice was pinched. “Just let them keep doing this. We’re nearly at the center of their home.”

“Their home? Not yours?” She flinched again when another hand came out of nowhere and trailed down her spine in such a delicate touch that every muscle in her body twitched.

“I haven’t lived here in a very long time.” He cupped the back of her head and drew her tighter to him, almost as though he was afraid one of them would grab her and rip her out of his arms. “Most of these depthstriders have never seen a human in their life. They have spent countless years down here, living in the deep while seeking out the future. It is a difficult life, and I chose a different current when I was very young. I chose adventure rather than future seeking, although I am very good at that as well.”

“Ah.”

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