The Non-Human Society

Chapter Sixty Six - Vim - To Sea A Smile

      Renn walked a few feet away from me, happily splashing in the ocean waters.

"It's warm Vim," she said, enjoying herself.

"Warm enough, I'm sure," I said. More like it was simply not freezing.

She smirked, and I wondered if she wanted to splash me. She was looking at me as if I was something to hunt.

We were walking along a rather large beach. The sky was clear of clouds and storms, and the wind wasn't bad at all... in fact she was probably right that it was warmer than usual. It was still winter, the tail end of it, and this sea was always cold. Had been for hundreds of years... and probably would be for many hundreds more. But the world seemed... generally calm and warm today. The wind didn't chill at all, what little there was of it.

"Oh!" Renn hurried away, farther out to sea. I kept an eye on her as she went deep enough that the water reached her rolled up pants.

She bent down, and half a moment later hefted up out of the water a massive green turtle.

"Look!" she laughed, turning and heading back to me.

The turtle made noises as it tried to flap its flippers, but it couldn't do anything as Renn showed it off to me. "It's huge!" she said, turning it so its large head could glare at me.

"Be gentle with it, that thing is almost as old as you," I said.

"Think so?" Renn asked, tilting her head at it. Water was still pouring off it, splashing both me and her. I took a step back, not because I feared it or the water... but because I carried her stuff. I had her backpack, which I had stuffed full since she had taken off some clothes. Her socks and her hat and jacket. I held her shoes in my left hand, as well.

I nodded. That was a sea turtle... and honestly, seeing her carry it around so easily made me second guess my assessment of her capabilities.

That thing had thrice or more weight to it than she did... and she held it with outstretched arms, turning and moving it around as if it were a toy.

Her appearance betrayed her strength. She looked scrawny and young, especially with the way she had rolled up her pants and sleeves.

Renn slowly put it down, and it released a bunch of bubbles as she put it back into the water. It was pissed.

She had a huge smirk as she watched it splash away from us, heading back to the deep.

"I love the ocean," she said as she watched it go.

"You did mention you lived in a port city," I said, remembering one of our first real conversations.

"More of a small coastal village. Pryti... it was far north, where ice formed over the rivers and inlets around it. The waters there were far colder than here," she said, and bent down to wipe her hands off in the water. The turtle had probably been covered in moss or grime.

"I see," I said. I hadn't recognized the town name, but it wasn't that big of a surprise. I didn't go far north very often. The few members of our society up there didn't like me visiting too often.

Plus depending on how long ago she had lived there, that village could be long gone by now.

"It was... a nice place. A few hundred people lived there," she added as she shook her hands to try and dry them.

An ocean wave splashed behind her, and rolled along the sand. It hit her in the shins, and then after a moment almost reached my feet.

I stood just outside of its reach however, and planned to keep it that way.