Winter of Yggdrasil

Chapter 15

The waves were pure fire, sparking on the sand as they crashed at his feet. He reached into the water and watched as his skin seemed to catch fire. But the water that rushed through his fingers was refreshingly cold. He grinned at Kenna. She ran to a large outcropping of rocks and climbed up slowly. He held a hand over his eyes and watched her.

She grinned down at him and waved. "Come on!"

He shook his head, content to watch. Neither Jotun nor Aesir were particular strong swimmers and he certainly wasn't about to be as rash as she was. She pulled her shirt off, wearing a thin undershirt and tight knee-length trousers. Her wrist braces shone in the sunlight. She tied her hair up, smiling down at him again. Rowan felt his breath catch in his chest as he stared up at her. She certainly was a goddess. He tried to gauge the height of the drop as she looked out over the beach and water. He wasn't sure if he was nervous or excited to see her do it

He stepped out into the water and waded in as she stepped back. She ran forward and jumped as high as she could. His breath caught, for a moment the thought of rocks flashing into his mind. But she turned gracefully in the air and dove in with a loud splash. She popped back up, laughing. "Coming in?" She called. He smiled and walked along the solid shore until it began to slope away and the water reached his hips. She swam to him.

"I love how much of a chicken you are." She grinned.

"I'm sensible. And the responsible one."

"Debatable. I like this view too."

"It's amazing." He squinted into the sky, grinning.

"Sun's nice too." Frowning, he glanced back at her, wondering which view she meant. She was grinning at him.

"Me?" She nodded. "Oh." He glanced down at himself. "Thank you?"

"You're supposed to return the compliment, jerk. But it's okay, I caught you staring."

"Oh."

"Stop blushing and get in!" She laughed, tugging on his wrist with one hand and trying to swim backwards with the other. He relented finally, dipping under to get used to the cold quickly. They swam across to the shore and then raced towards the horizon. Rowan had suggested it, though it made him nervous to get too far. She swam easily beside him, seemingly just keeping up before she evidently got bored and rushed ahead.

"Where did you learn to swim?" He asked when she doubled back.

"Mom loves it here. She brought me and Garik all the time."

Rowan frowned, feeling bad for forgetting her brother again. "We should have brought him."

"Yeeeaaaah no. I still wouldn't be able to do this." She swam closer to plant a kiss on his lips. He caught her hips but she slipped away, smiling.

"And I quite like that."

"I'm sure you do!" She laughed, turning to swim out again. "You'll have to catch me though!"

"You can turn into a fish and get away, why should I try?"

"Too late, already tried it when I was little! Gills are weird, algae tastes bad, didn't like it... Are you judging me?!"

He was covering his mouth, his shoulders shaking. He shook his head but as she came closer he was still laughing. "Why are you like this?"

"I'm a scientist at heart, stop laughing!" She batted his hands away and smacked his chest, her outrage dissolving into giggles. "Stop judging me, it was a perfectly reasonable experiment! I thought fish were cool! I don't appreciate this. I did not come here to be laughed at. You're a bad friend."