Water and Fire (13 page)

"Well, you know my number,
mate. Give me a call if your cousin has room for one more on a
fishing charter."

I finished
off the last bite of bacon, then slurped up a big mouthful of
latte. After the expresso, it tasted like a warm coffee
milkshake.
I should have ordered two
expressos instead.

"See you at
the next site, mate," I told him, getting up.
Only two more years of this and I won't have to say
that.
In the meantime, I had a plane to
catch back home to Perth.

"We have
sisters across the Indian Ocean. We are collecting as much
information as we can beneath the surface."
It was Elder Darma who'd spoken, but the members of the Elder
Council looked to me.

I replied in
our language of sounds and gestures that differed so much from
human languages. Even translated, the meaning lost its depth in the
humans' words.
"This will not be enough.
We must discover what the humans know of the subsea disturbances,
the changes in flows. They have technology we do not and their
information is valuable."

Elder
Cantrella was abrupt as she broke in.
"Elder Sirena, you are our liaison between our people and the
humans. What action do you recommend with regard to gathering
information from humans?"

I drew a deep
breath of cool water before I responded, for even my
recommendations would hold the force of law.
"I would send three parties, small groups who have experience
living on land with humans. One to the western coasts, one to the
northern and one to the eastern coasts. I recommend we target the
countries of South Africa, Singapore and Australia, in each of
these regions. Each party may be required to remain for some time
on land and give the humans the impression that they are human,
too. Throughout, the existence of our people must remain hidden
from the humans. Each party must take care to hide the ocean's gift
from humans."

"A difficult
task. Whom do you suggest we send?"
Elder
Darma murmured.

My reply was
immediate, for I had considered the matter carefully in the days
prior to this meeting.
"For South Africa,
I would send Nafula. She has knowledge of the western coasts. For
the northern coasts, I would send Indah. I will choose the eastern
coasts and Australia for myself, for that is where I suspect the
greatest information will be available and that is where I have
ties to the human world. Each should choose perhaps one or two to
accompany them; I recommend younger sisters who are not yet elders.
I shall be accompanied by Maria and Apalala."

Elder Darma
was the facilitator of the Elder Council, though I was its
undisputed leader. Custom decreed that she made the final
decisions.
"Then it shall be so. You must
leave soon, for time is of the essence. I fear great changes are
happening in our ocean and the ocean's gift alone may not ensure
our survival. We need greater knowledge than we yet have. Without
this knowledge, how do we prepare for the worst?"

The purpose
of a leader is both to lead and reassure. I knew my role, for it
had been mine for many years now.
"Such
knowledge will be obtained and then put to use. We will ensure the
survival of our people and of the ocean's gift."

As soon as
people found out I was back in Perth, I was subcontracting for
another electrician I'd apprenticed with, installing air
conditioning units, new lights and safety switches. I thought about
the fishing charter I wanted to do, but couldn't decide which one.
Especially if I could get enough work in that week to get my house
sooner.
Fishing can wait, if it means one
less shift listening to Dean's fantasies. He always claims they
really happened, but if he's telling the truth, he's had more sex
than a porn star.

My phone rang. "Hello, this is
Joe," I answered automatically. I pulled a notepad out of the glove
box of my ute, clicking a pen in readiness.

"Mate, it's Dean."

Speak of the devil.

"I finally heard from my
cousin, the one with the charter boat." He sounded excited.

Please, don't let him want to
come with me.

"One of his crew got injured,
so he's a man short during the fishing season. He won't be doing
charters for a few months, until he gets a new deckhand and
finishes fishing up his quota." Dean didn't sound too depressed for
me or his cousin.

"Oh, that's too bad. Don't
worry about it." I dismissed it. I never thought he or his cousin
would come through with anything.

"How'd you like to fish for two
months and get paid for it?" Dean burst out.

"What?"
This has got to be a joke.
It's Dean, after all.

"I'm serious. My cousin's a
real experienced fisherman and he needs a deckhand for the rest of
the season, the next two months. The pay's good and all you have to
do is fish." He sounded thrilled at the prospect.

"Why don't
you do it? He's your cousin," I wondered aloud.
There has to be a catch.

Dean was so excited, he was
probably telling the truth without realising. "He won't have me. I
was over there for Easter last year and he told me if I got seasick
on his boat again he'd throw me over the side for the sharks."

I like his cousin already.

"So I told him about you. You
told me you know your way around a boat, and he thinks you'll be
perfect!"

I hesitated. He probably sold
me as the descendant of Captain Cook, Columbus and Captain Jack
Sparrow. "Now look, crewing a boat out to Rottnest and some
kayaking on the Swan River isn't like handling a fishing boat
offshore..."

"Nah mate, you'll be great.
You'll get to go fishing every day, your food and accommodation are
provided, what else could you ask for?" Dean sounded like he was
trying to sell it to me.

The certainty that you didn't
just pull this out of your arse?

"Look, he needs someone as soon
as possible. How soon can you get up here?"

Dean's in Geraldton, then.

"I could finish up at the end
of the week and fly up on Sunday," I told him reluctantly.

"Cool, I'll get my cousin to
sort out your flights and he'll meet you out on the islands. You
can see how it goes the first week and if it works out you get paid
to go fishing for the rest of your holidays. Seeya." He hung
up.

Shit. What've
I got myself into?
Knowing Dean, this was
going to be a disaster.
Oh well, next trip
I can always get back at him by putting huge spiders in his
swag.
He's terrified of them, but he
always forgets to zip his swag up properly. And he screams like a
girl when he finds them, too.

What's the worst that can
happen? A week on a free fishing charter and possibly getting paid
to fish for weeks after it. And if it didn't work out, the next
three months of seeing Dean do a high-pitched jig every night when
he found spiders in his swag. Hell, there wasn't a downside that I
could see.

I started writing down a list
of things to pack.

The voyage was long and
arduous. After consideration, I'd chosen the very islands I'd
cursed as a child as the best starting point to gather information.
I had visited them in the interim, but it was my first, stormy swim
that came to mind as we approached the continental shelf.

It was a stunning contrast to
my first lone swim to land. Much time had passed and I was now an
elder, acting under my own command. The two sisters who followed me
were my daughters, both adults who had done their duty to our
people. The contrast between us was distinctive, too. I twisted to
look back. Over my own blue tail, which blended with the shallow
waters at the islands, I could see dark Maria, with her dark blue
tail. Apalala was my golden girl, more than ever. The pale yellow
tail she had been born with had deepened to gold now. The only
brighter tail I had seen was her daughter's, an orange flame that
matched her fire-coloured hair. Zerafina had been too young for
such a trip, without the assistance of currents to carry us, and
our duty too dangerous.

Should the humans discover what
we were, we would protect our sisters at all costs. Even if it cost
our lives. It was my responsibility to ensure it did not come to
that.

I kept up a steady stream of
instructions as we travelled.

"We will be expected to live
human, which means dry. Whilst we are at the islands, I will remain
in my human form for the duration. You may swim, but only after
dark and where the humans cannot see you. You may eat as you
please, but when humans are present, we will eat what and as they
do. We must keep a supply of human food, just in case. We all have
our preferences; it will be important that we keep those on
hand.

"Our strength and agility are
greater than theirs, for we require these more than they do. They
have grown soft whilst we have not. We must take care that this is
not too apparent. This is unlikely to be difficult, but still we
must take care.

"Our vision and hearing are
more perceptive than that of humans; we must also take care that
they do not discover this.

"We must use human names and
human language whilst in their hearing and sight. I will be
Vanessa, Maria will retain her name and Apalala must use Belinda
once more. Our human names and human speech must be unremarkable
and ordinary.

"Under no circumstances do we
sing above water. The humans react peculiarly to this, particularly
the males. Singing is, of course, permissible beneath the water's
surface. We may need this to call fish or other creatures.

"Human drinks will also be
necessary. This will include a reasonable quantity of alcohol,
which must be consumed carefully, so we do not make mistakes.

"We must wear human clothing at
all times, or at least when visible to them. I recommend we choose
only one or two colours each and restrict our purchases to these
colours, so we do not mix them up.

"We must associate with humans
and appear human, which means being as polite as possible, without
being too friendly or antagonistic.

"Humans value privacy, with
walls they can hide behind. This will work to our advantage, if we
can remember this, for it means we can be out of sight and this
will not draw their attention as it would among our kind.

"We do not shape water or waves
where they may be perceived by humans, unless it is absolutely
necessary.

"We will first go to the
islands off the coast, where there is a fishing settlement. We
shall remain there and fish from a boat as they do, for the
duration of the fishing season. We will obtain as much information
as we can from the humans at the fishing settlement, before we
relocate to the nearest city. If further information is
required…"

Apalala was
the most vocal of my daughters, so she was the first to interrupt
my flow.
"Sirena, is there no end to your
advice? We have lived dry among humans before."

I remembered
well her last time on land, for I had been there, too. I reminded
myself to use her human name, Belinda, even in my thoughts.
"But not for this long. And you must remember
that I cannot use my name until I return to the water once more.
Even in your thoughts I must be Vanessa."

Belinda's
curiosity persisted.
"Why did you choose
Vanessa? It is not similar to your name – it does not even have a
similar meaning."

"Vanessa is
the name of a character in a moving picture for human children. An
old witch, who lives in the ocean, transforms herself into a
beautiful human woman to seduce a human man. The name she takes as
a human is Vanessa,"
I tried to explain.
When I had first heard of it, I had been using my real name on
land, but I had known that I would need a new one to ensure my
ageless appearance went unremarked upon.

Maria broke
her silence to give voice to her shock.
"Do you plan to seduce a human man, in addition to our duty
here?"

Both Belinda
and I considered her sister's words amusing. I found the idea
intriguing, but unlikely.
"Not at present.
However, as I may not swim in the evenings, I will need to find
something to occupy my time. Perhaps I will purchase some
books."

Maria
interrupted my thoughts with more practical considerations.
"First we must reach the land. How long will it
be?"

Both girls
were adults, yet their impatience to reach our destination mirrored
that of human children. I smiled, but replied in a more serious
vein.
"We should reach the islands soon
after dark. We can rest there for a time and continue to the
mainland at dawn. Then we can fit out our vessel and return with it
to the islands."

Belinda's
smile remained.
"Then come, Vanessa, shift
your venerable tail so we may spend our first night in human beds
and not on the seabed!"

The seabed was rising and the
water was lightening. It wasn't long before we could hear the boom
of surf above on the reefs. I guided them through the passages and
we surfaced. Fractured moonlight on the water was the only sign of
the reefs on the surface, part of the islands' curse. Amid all the
contrasts, this remained unchanged.