Kia jumped out of the water—both of us taking in the fresh air—then she dove under the surface of water going ahead a few metres, and jumped out of the water for the second time. She again dove under the surface. She did it again. And again. And again.

"Sttopppp now!" The words mingled with my giggle, as I tried to balance myself.

I heard Ryan chuckle at my protest. Kia whistled. I patted Kia on the side telling her to go faster so that we could be beside Ryan. Kia obeyed and with a few clicks increased her speed. In no time we were beside Ryan. He was floating peacefully, taking in the surroundings and probably not noticing us.

I smacked him on the arm. "I have lost counts of how many times you chuckled at my suffering."

Ryan looked taken aback for a moment, but was swift to cloak his surprise. "I did not know you kept tabs," he said.

"I don't anymore," I declared. Then added, somewhat dramatically, "My hopes in you have been lost."

Ryan smirked and swam upwards. Kia followed him, and I gripped her as firmly as possible so as not to fall from her back. But at the same time, I welcomed the rush of energy propagating through me, and the trail of bubbles that was left in our wake. As we rose to the surface, the water became warmer and lighter and somehow it became saltier. Underwater, the feeling of saltiness was there, but much mild— here, at the surface, that feeling could not be dismissed. Maybe it was the salt in the air that struck on my skin.

Air— I welcomed it with an open heart and open arms. Literally. I released my grip on Kia and let my arms soar to my side. My head fell back and a soft laughter aroused from me as the winds crashed on my face. I took in the cool, salt-tinted sea-breeze and closed my eyes. In the highs and lows of the waves, I temporarily forgot the highs and lows of my life. I was glad Ryan had decided to bring us here and not to some beautiful but dingy place under the sea.

"Ryan?" I called him to ask the reason that had kept him occupied at the library, but my voice came out disrupted.

Ryan laughed. "It was only a wave, Spark."

"I was not bothered by the wave, Ryan." I was, however, caught off guard by the sudden arrival of the wave— a particularly large one—and my voice had sounded shaken. 

Ryan shook his head, smile still lingering on his face; then he dove underwater. He surfaced beside me and Kia before starting to swim again. "What had you wanted to ask me?"

"What were you—" I started but was cut off by my own interruption.

"Oh is that where we are going?" I turned to Ryan and pointed towards the shore, the yellow sand extending till infinity, sparkling in the sun. The shore resembled molten gold and looked like it was floating on the sea.

Ryan nodded and I urged Kia to go faster towards. The sand, the sunlight—everything seemed so inviting after spending so many days in the Kingdom of Water; and the radiance emanating from the reflecting sand did not fail to entice me either. Seeing the land, an overpowering feeling of tiredness engulfed me— all I wanted then, was to lie down on the beach and enjoy the warm rays of sun on my skin.

***

"So, this beach is not part of the Kingdom of Land?" I sat up and faced Ryan. I had been lying on the beach and looking at the vast stretch of sand while Ryan was telling me something. The only words I heard were, 'not Kingdom of Land'.

"No," he grinned. "Were you not listening?"

I stared at his grinning face. Ryan's sleeves were rolled up to his forearm—he looked like an angel in his white shirt. The sunrays highlighting his honey-brown hair made him look even more attractive. A corner of my mouth rose up slightly.

"Okay," I said.

Ryan's brows rose up. "You still are not listening."

"Uh—you said this beach is not part of the Kingdom of Land," I said, remembering his words.

Ryan looked at me with furrowed brows for sometime but then went on to say, "Originally, it was. But after my father married my mother, the King of Land gave this beach to our kingdom. Mother wanted to come to the surface sometimes and feel the air—previously that was not possible."

This time I listened to what he said. "That was thoughtful," I admitted, then gawked at him some more.

"I suppose," Ryan said looking downwards. He scowled at his failed attempt to make a sand-castle. I was glad he did not notice me checking out the angle at which the sunrays struck his hair strands making them appear like they were glowing.

Mentally chastising myself, I turned my attention to more relevant things, like the sand-castle I had made— it was as bad as Ryan's.

"I suppose it was thoughtful," Ryan looked up. "Those of us originally belonging from Water do not really need to come out in the air—we are just as comfortable in the water. Though I shall admit that in the one hundred and seventy-ish years of my parents' marriage, a lot more faeries from the other kingdoms have come to our kingdom to work in the cities. Before that, not many fae wanted to come to Water in the fear of never being able to enjoy land like they were used to."

On the silence succeeding after his words, I looked up and found Ryan regarding me with an I-am-worried-about-you face. "Your mind is someplace else today," he noted.

I shrugged. I was also not liking that I was unable to concentrate.

Every time, I had to ask Ryan for information about the kingdoms of Odalis, and today he was going on about how his maternal grandfather gifted a beach to his mother, need I mention, without me even asking for it, and I was not even listening properly. Rolling eyes at myself, I decided to be a little more serious and respectful towards the former King of Land.

"Uhh..." I started, "I was only thinking that their fears were justified. Underwater can be a little suffocating sometimes—for those of us who are not used to it."

Ryan nodded his head in understanding. I added, breathing in the fresh air, "You know, coming here today—I feel good. A nice deviation from the constant thoughts of the past few weeks." I muttered the last sentence more to myself.

"You can talk to me if you want," Ryan quipped.

"I know."

"I would prefer you talk to me instead of keeping everything bottled up inside you," he paused weighing his words. Then, "I saw how tense you got today in front of the small mermaid."

I looked up at Ryan. I did not want to say what I felt, out loud. If I did, everything would go haywire—the little control I had gained over myself since coming to Odalis—everything. Maybe I would be able to talk after assessing the situation of my family, maybe when I would not feel so helpless.

I realized Ryan was waiting for me to say something. I did not say anything.

"Venus..."

"What?" I attempted to build another sand castle.

"You know what."

"I don't." I dug up some sand into a pile and started shaping them, pretending not to pay attention to Ryan.

Ryan did not say anything else.

Just when I was starting to think that Ryan was convinced I did not want to talk, a wave landed over my sand-castle and dissipated it into grains of wet sand. Clenching my jaw, I turned to Ryan. He was flexing his wrists.

"I do talk to you," I said, rather snapped. "I told only you that I remember those incidents from The Obsidian. But I won't tell you how I am feeling at every second and every hour of the day."

"Very well," Ryan said with seriousness and his eyes met mine. Unlike the sudden gravity in his voice, his blue eyes were soft as they bore into my black and inquisitive ones.

A firm touch and a feeling that my palm was lifted prompted me to cast my gaze down, to where my palm now rested in Ryan's warm ones.

I snatched away my hand from his. "Why don't you yourself find out how I feel?"

Ryan looked at me with a bewildered expression, but soon squared his features. "I won't use my abilities to detect your emotions, unless you say me so."

"Why?"

"How useful will it be for you if I find out about your emotions?" Ryan said. I tried to understand the meaning behind his words but couldn't make out much of it. He continued further, "I want you to tell me about your distress so that they become less of a burden to you than they are now."

Ryan looked down raking his fingers through his hair. Then, he looked at me. "Nevertheless, it is now me who wants to tell you something."

_________________

Hope you liked the Chapter 29😭✨❤

I am so sorry for updating this late. I started writing this chapter a long time ago, however, I edited this chapter like so many times.

Basically rewrote it so many times.

The exchange between Ryan and Venus, you may not believe me or you may believe me (who knows?), was the toughest to write.

Also, I am having second thoughts about my chapter titles. Are you liking them?

Please vote/ comment/ share if you enjoyed the chapter. It really means a lot♡