Number 1

Chapter 1 - Dylan

Lady of the Lake

"Do you think she's going to be okay?"

Dylan shook his head. "She should not be here." It felt wrong having someone like her in their infirmary. It just wasn't right. She wasn't like them. But he knew it was his fault. It was his fault she was there in the first place.

"You're the one that pulled her from the sea. Don't you think it's only right that she sees the man that saved her?" The man beside him, Bade, was one of the only people Dylan trusted. He was his mentor and friend, but now he didn't seem to see the situation quite like Dylan did.

"I do not care to seek a reward from the woman. She should not have been there in the first place. They are so simple minded to think that drowning themselves would be able to solve anything. Likely, the woman will not be thankful to awake alive." Dylan had saved people from the Sea before, it was something he had been born to do, but he had never found one to be thankful. Often, it had happened that they would regret trying to end their life in such a way that it would be possible to save them, and then they'd try again in a way that Dylan had no jurisdiction over, and could do nothing about.

Bade shook his head. "But you heard the Call."

Hearing a Call is a rare thing, but Dylan seemed to have a knack for it. No one had heard a Call as many times as he had. "So the sea thought she should live. That is all it means. The sea Called me, not her. She is not one of us."

There had been a few times that Dylan had heard the Call and it had been from another like him that had tried too hard to control what they were not yet taught to control. Those were the time that Dylan appreciated being able to hear the ocean, and other forms of water, communicate with him.

Those were the times that Dylan actually wanted to save those in the water.

"There must be a reason why the sea thought she should live. Perhaps she was fighting to live. Perhaps it was not her fault she was in the water beneath the bridge in the first place."

Dylan snorted, not believing that could be possible for a second. "Bade, you and I both know the positioning of that bridge. No one walks across it. It is in the middle of nowhere. The only person that would enter the bridge without a vehicle is someone that does not wish to be returning anywhere. She was not forced to jump from the bridge."

There had been a slight moment that Dylan had hoped the same thing his mentor was hoping for, but there were no signs of struggle on the woman. She had simply been drowning and without having heard the Call, even Dylan wouldn't have known she was there.

"Is it not possible that someone threw her over the edge?"

"Had that happened, there would either be a sign of a struggle between the woman and whoever it was wanting to be rid of her, or she would have been unconscious and unable to fight for her life as much as the sea seems to think she did."

A light seemed to appear in Bade's eyes. "You didn't mention the sea said she fought for her life. If she fought for her life then she must've wanted to live. And it must've been more than just the fear of realizing what she was actually doing to herself. There must be a reason. There's got to be something-"

The woman groaned, making them both go silent and turn toward her. She was awakening, that much was obvious to the both of them.

"I should go." Dylan whispered the words. "Do not tell her it was I that saved her." He quickly exited the words before Bade could argue with him, for he knew he would, but something stopped him and he stood just outside of the room's door.

"What happened?" The voice was soft, but slightly hoarse.

"Here, have some water." After a moment Dylan heard the distinct sound of a cup being set on a metal surface. "Do you remember anything that happened?"

Dylan didn't know why he was listening. Did he want to be able to prove Bade that he was right, or did he want the woman to prove that he was wrong?

After a moment Bade spoke again. "That's okay. Don't force yourself to remember. It will return with time." The woman must have shook her head. "I will tell you what I know of what happened, if you wish to know." There was a pause and then he continued. "You were drowning. I'm not sure how you got to be in the sea beneath the bridge, but you were there. My friend saved you. He pulled you out and performed the necessary procedure to save your life."

Many would assume it had been CPR; that was all they knew that would be able to save them, but in fact it had been something much different.

Dylan had had to use much of his strength to be able to save the woman, she had been in the water longer than he had thought when he reached her. To be able to save her, he had had to call the water from her lungs, but that was no easy feat to accomplish, especially with as much as she had managed to swallow.

Had he not been Number 1 in his group, he didn't know if the woman would be alive. Even then, it had taken more out of him than he could've imagined.

"Do you have a name?" Bade spoke softly, almost as if he were speaking to a scared animal.

"I... I don't remember." Dylan found himself worrying that the amount of water she had swallowed, accompanied by the amount of time the woman she had been unconscious under water before he pulled her out, had left lasting damage on her mind.

"Then, if you don't mind, I will give you a name to be known by until you can remember your own."

There was a long pause before Dylan heard her quietly say, "I would like that."

"Then, until you can remember your name, you shall be known by the name Nineve."

Dylan immediately wanted to hit Bade forchoosing that name, but he knew why he had done it. Just as all their namescame from their area, he seemed to give her one as well. Nineve meant the Ladyof the Lake.