Stolen Scales

Chapter 39

She glances back for a moment to see Lyss barreling after her, speeding through the water far faster than Kyma could swim, likely even faster than Alai. As a last ditch effort, Kyma pushes herself up just as Lyss reaches her, soaring out of the water in a jump similar to that of a dolphin. She sees Alai gaping at her out of the corner of her eye and twists to look at her, confused.

"What is it, Alai?"

"How'd you jump like that? It's supposed to be really difficult."

Kyma frowns. "I just jumped."

Alai nods thoughtfully but doesn't say anything. As Kyma floats there in front of her, waiting, she spies a glint of light in Alai's eye. Only a few seconds pass before she realizes that it is a glint of mischievousness, and she spins around in the water. She is too late, and Lyss taps her shoulder before she can swim away. Kyma turns back around to Alai.

"That wasn't fair!"

Alai shrugs, smirking. "You're the one who didn't clarify the rules."

Kyma gapes at her in indignation, but Alai just laughs brightly. So Kyma sighs, already formulating a plan in her head. She darts forward, and brushes her fins against Alai's tricolor tail before spinning off through the water towards Lyss. As expected, Lyss spirals away from her, still thinking that Kyma is the tagger. Kyma shakes her head before shooting ahead of Lyss, waving back at her. Lyss is promptly tagged by Alai, and she just turns back around and tags Alai back before she can get away. They do that for awhile before Lyss manages to get away from Alai and starts swimming out to Kyma, grinning.

They are all breathing hard by the time they end the game, even Lyss. Alai flops onto the stone at the edge of the water with everything below her waist submerged and lies back, grinning.

"That was fun."

The other two girls nod in agreement, and Lyss lies beside Alai on the stone, her chin perched on the palm of her hand as she cranes her head back to watch Kyma exit the water. Kyma returns to the others quickly, now carrying her bag in her hand. She sits down on the other side of Lyss and stretches her legs out, letting the water caress her toes as it moves by on its wandering course to the cliff. She reaches into the bag and bulls out a handful of limoncillo before passing the bag to Lyss, who takes the same amount before passing the bag on to Alai. Kyma frowns at the berries in her hand before popping one into her mouth. She swallows before looking over at Alai.

"I know that Lyss is a guard, but what do you do, Alai?"

"I'm a scout. I help alert the Borderguards to any possible dangers outside our borders that are headed our way, and I also help the hunters find schools of fish as they pass by."

"Does that profession have a bracelet or something else?"

In answer, Alai reaches back to pull something out of her hair and passes it over, her hair now tumbling down from its pinned state. The object is a set of curved hairpins that almost appear to be strips of a shell. Kyma examines the red and white pattern before handing the pins back to Alai, who swiftly pulls her hair back up.

"I have two questions. Why do the hairpins have this pattern, and why is the scout token a hairpin?"

Alai smiles. "The pin is a strip of nautilus shell. The reason the token is a hairpin is because all scouts need to have long hair. Even the boys."

Kyma frowns in confusion. "Why?"

"It's for in case we run into other sea predators. Our hair being long means that if need be, we can let it float around us in order to make us appear larger than we are."

Kyma nods and her head tilts slightly to the side as she puzzles over that comment. "That makes sense, but why use the hairpins then?"

"It's easier for us to look around if hair isn't in our face, so the hairpins allow us to keep our hair out of the way but also swiftly let it make a cloud around us if needed. Now on a different scale, the limoncello has all been consumed and it is getting dark. We should probably head back soon, or the Queen might not let me take you out to have fun anymore."

Kyma frowns. "I don't think she would do that just because we got back late. Besides, Lyss is here too, so I'm not going to get into any trouble."

Lyss shakes her head, a tiny bit of amusement showing in her eyes. "She is new to this, and she is still worried about you disappearing from her life again, no matter how much she is trying to hide it. Besides, Queen Lahira would not believe that you wouldn't get into trouble just because I was with you."

Kyma frowns. "Why?"

"It might surprise you, but your mother was a troublemaker before she became Queen. It would stand to reason that that ability would pass on to you. Alai is right, we should probably head back now. I wouldn't want to cross the river in the dark, no matter how safe it is."

Kyma nods, conceding that point, and pushes herself to her feet before grabbing her bag from the stone beside Alai. She slings it over her shoulder and reaches down to help Alai to her feet, now that she has shifted back and has repinned her tunic into a top and pants. Once Alai is on her feet, Kyma turns to help Lyss as well, only to find that Lyss is already in her feet.
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What did you think of the river picnic? Was it fun to read about? Tell me your thoughts!

Happy reading, and I'll see you next chapter!

~Goddess of Fate, signing out.