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A steady hum of a chant her mother had taught her, as Jubulile sat on the top of her boat, taking in the sights and the mid-morning breeze.
She’d always loved times like this.
This wonderful time of day.
Although that enjoyment had been tempered slightly, by recent experiences for a while
Of finding an injured man drifting in the sea – an injured, creepy man who had turned out to be nothing short of a rampaging monster.
Dark thoughts and memories of things that had come after him, had been difficult to shake since.
But although she didn’t think they would ever go away, is wasn’t so bad now, not anymore.
Now that she knew that she wasn’t alone.
Do you think we’ll see them soon?
Toxin asked, their curiosity bubbling in her own mind, despite consistent attempts to downplay it.
“We can hope so. I know this is the right place, we checked the nautical charts and made sure we were headed in the right direction. Now, we just have to wait and see if any show.” She answered, as she brushed some hair out of her face.
Her own curiosity matched her friend’s.
Jubulile knew full well that this was a popular spot for seeing them.
And although she’d seen them before, while on her own voyage and with her parents in Hermanus, it still never failed to take her breath away when they showed.
They were magnificent.
Even if, now no longer the largest creatures she had ever seen.
I still think they just look like big fish.
Toxin commented, as they again looked through the memories returning to the forefront of her mind again.
“Well, I would be happy to help prove that opinion otherwise.”
Maybe… not exactly going to get myself too excited about fish though.
Jubulile’s smile shifted into one of amusement.
“Toxin, you can’t lie to me. You’re in my head. I know you’re curious. Tell the truth.”
If a symbiote could hmmphed, Jubulile would say that’s exactly the sort of sentiment she felt echoing back at her.
“Besides, isn’t this the sort of thing we agreed to do? Just…be. See what the world has to offer.”
And what the world has to offer is very big fish.
Toxin joked, their amusement entangling with Jubulile’s as she laughed back.
“Yes, but whales aren’t actually fish!”
What? Yes, they are! They look just like fish!
“They’re mammals!”
Are you trying to tease me because I’ve not seen them before?
“Why do you say that? I wouldn’t, I promise.”
They lightly bantered like that for a while, conversation continuing on as they also continued to watch out for the elusive animals.
Who were most certainly currently living up to that elusive description,
Time ticked on and on and they continued to fail to show.
Causing curiosity and excitement to turn to more of a feeling of disappointment.
Especially, as it became clear that they’d have to stop waiting soon and go back to chores.
And then-
“Wait…” Jubulile abruptly stopped talking, before whipping up her binoculars to focus in closer, having spotted something just off in the horizon.
Toxin focused in intently on this too.
Is that them? The mammal-fish?
Jubulile wasn’t quite sure herself yet, still trying to figure out what she was seeing.
A sentiment she tried to mentally emphasise back to the symbiote.
Who in turn, tried to offer up her own memories to her, to see if it would help with the identification.
“I think it is them.” She eventually, slowly, answered, putting the signs together.
“Yes.” She then reiterated more confidently.
It had to be them.
Large grey bodies rising about the gentle, lulling waves.
It was only a shame that-
They’re so far away.
Came disappointedly.
A disappointment shared by the both of them.
…Yes.
That was a shame.
They’d been hoping for a better look.
We can’t see them like this. Should we get closer?
The end there was tinted with a distinct feeling of hope…which is why Jubulile felt particularly bad at what came next.
She sadly shook her head.
“At the speed our boat would have to go to catch up and get close, it would be dangerous for both us and them. And that’s even if the noise doesn’t scare them.”
The boat could get capsized by or accidentally hit by any one of the pod.
And every good sailor knows, you’re supposed to show creatures of the sea respect during your exploration – and willingly risking such things was not showing respect.
Well, who said we have to take the boat! We could swim! You know how to swim and even if you didn’t, I could help!
“Toxin,” Jubulile started kindly.
Because while it was true that she had known how to swim since practically before she could walk, there remained the issue of –
“There’s always another time. At that distance, I could – would- drown. There’s currents that could catch us and there’s nowhere to anchor the boat, so it doesn’t drift off before we get to come back. I-”
Then something struck her, particularly as she noticed Toxin perking up as she said why she couldn’t do this, seemingly preparing to say something back.
Perhaps she was thinking about this wrong.
Sure, these were lessons that had been drilled into her since she was a little girl about seaside safety.
But, she wasn’t the same as she had been as a little girl anymore.
She technically wasn’t even just one person anymore, sharing her body with a friendly alien.
Meaning it very well could be, that some rules just wouldn’t be the same anymore.
Such as-
“Toxin, do we need to breathe?”
Who knew just yet how exactly things worked in the situation she was currently in, fully simply working things out as she went along.
As was Toxin in many ways too, but in this area?
This area they did have a definitive answer.
No, we don’t! I can keep you alive, easy! We could watch the whales for as long as we like.
So, that was a solution to one thing right there and – was she really considering doing this?
Just about every aspect of her was screaming about how this was such a bad idea, how this would get her killed…and yet, here she was, continuing to plan on making a dive.
A thrill running through her as she did.
“The boat is still a problem but…how long do you think you could keep a tendril extended? If we swam out there would we be too far? Because if we could keep ourselves attached, we could use that to pull ourselves back!”
She got a sense of Toxin trying to do an estimate in her head, with the sort of distracted concentration she was picking up on from them.
I think we could do it. If we keep it thin.
Think wasn’t necessarily…
No – we can do it. We can! Don’t worry. I would never let you get hurt.
...She knew this was true.
She did.
Utter sincerity poured into every single syllable of the statement, just like it did every time such reassurances were given to her.
Just like she also made sure it did when she gave such reassurances back.
They would be okay.
And with that, she took a deep breath, once more taking in how crazy this thing they were about to do was.
Then – “Alright then. Okay.”
Shoes slipped off and binoculars put down, she went to stand on up, leaning slightly over the barrier of the boat.
“Are you ready?”
A silent answer came in the form of a sensation that was growing increasingly familiar – that of a second skin forming, expanding over her own.
Bringing with it a pleasant warmth, that was almost like being wrapped in a blanket at night.
Once that was done, a tendril shot out and firmly wrapped itself around the railing they were leaning on.
And an affirmative, enthusiastically ready feeling was felt strongly in their minds, bouncing around, making it impossible to tell exactly how much came from who.
Not that it mattered much.
The result was still the same, as two-in-one, they both took some steps back, before running forwards and making a leap over the tethered railing. Their pseudo-life jacket.
For just a moment after the excessive leap, they remained airborne, wind whipping through them almost like they themselves were a sail, to be directed by the whims of nature.
And then they hit the water.
The force of the impact probably should have hurt, Jubulile vaguely realised, but she felt nothing of the sort, protected by her friend around her.
However, even so, despite intrinsically knowing she was in no danger here, she still found herself taking a deep breath the moment before.
A breath she still found herself instinctively holding, as they sank into the deep like an anchor at shore.
Jubulile? You okay? You don’t need to do that, we’re fine.
The symbiote might not have understood, having never experienced needing oxygen before, but even so she felt better doing that.
Her mind wouldn’t let her just exhale in the middle of the ocean.
It felt too fundamentally wrong to do so, despite what logic told her.
And she was okay, she just needed to get her bearings first before potentially moving off in the wrong direction.
Figure out which way to go now, think of herself like the point of a compass, leading the way for a route of a nautical map she had stored in her head.
I think it was North-ish? Straight ahead anyway.
Jubulile wholeheartedly agreed that North was along the right sort of direction.
She knew which way the boat was faced, that being something she constantly made sure to check, and she knew the direction she had been looking from that.
North-West it was.
With that decision, the two rapidly transitioned from being like driftwood in the water to being a force of nature in their own right.
Swimming here, like this was so easy.
Felt just like a pool.
She was swimming in the sea, going after whales, with the ease of swimming in a pool.
Each stroke propelling them forwards.
They felt unstoppable.
Like a riptide.
No current could possibly sweep them off because they were stronger.
And that was such an amazing feeling to have.
The boundless, giddy thrill of it.
They were two-in-one.
In body and spirit and mind.
In glee.
It was impossible to tell where one ended and the other began.
And they couldn’t find themselves even in that moment wanting to be able to tell.
Like this – they were unstoppable.
They could see and do things they’d never dreamed of been able to do before.
But…that thrill started to abate, when they felt their chest beginning to tighten.
A growing, increasingly uncomfortable sensation.
And, just like that, the differences of the two once again became apparent.
We need to surface.
Jubulile thought, her lungs burning, as she started to stroke upwards.
We need to surface now or I’m going to drown.
We don’t! We can heal the oxygen deprivation. It’s not a problem.
Sure enough, her lungs did start to hurt less, easing up from stabbing pains to a manageable dull throb but-
Jubulile surfaced with a splash, making a deep gasp for air as the mask that had covered her face withdrew.
Letting her do what she needed to.
In and out. In and out. In and out.
Catch your breath.
You’ll be fine.
You’re fine.
A thought that was backed up by another, who otherwise has mostly been quiet since she’d surfaced.
Other than a quiet, small, buried feeling of concern and confusion at the back of her head that certainly wasn’t from her.
We could be in open space, if we wanted. See those stars and sail in those ships. I wouldn’t lie to you.
Came even quieter.
To the point that she almost didn’t hear the little voice at all.
At this point, once again, Jubulile had gotten herself steady in the water and taking regular breathes.
With the exception there of a small sigh.
“I know you wouldn’t.”
Then what went wrong? I don’t understand.
“It’s not an easy shift Toxin. Going from breathing to not. Eddie might have been used to things like this and I don’t know about Pat, but me? I’m not. I- I panicked.”
An immense, primal and very much human fear of drowning over coming her all at once.
Almost as relentlessly suffocating as the water itself.
Guilt surged in her mind from both sides.
…I’m sorry. Are you okay?
A deep breathe, as she tried to think what the honest answer to this question would be.
Do you want to go back? To the boat?
Now Jubulile’s brow furrowed.
“I thought you wanted to see the whales too?”
I do but…not if you’re not okay. You said yourself. We can see them another time.
A deep sadness, honesty and concern all entangled into one there.
Another deep breath, as arms continued to move to steadily keep them afloat.
“No. No, we can do this. Thank you, Toxin, but when have we been the ones to give up?”
Are you sure?
Was double-checked, cautious optimism starting to rise as a sort of !!! again.
“An Elder God didn’t stop us before, did it? Why should water?”
Then forcing herself, she went back under water with not even one last gulp of air.
Determined that this wouldn’t stop them.
The mask sealed back up over her face barely even a second later, preventing any more water from getting in at least, as they once again moved off.
It took a little while longer than that, fears almost pushing back up again before being pushed right back down, as they continued on their quest.
Tearing their way through the ocean.
But then…they made it.
They could see them.
Finally, with their own eyes they could see them in the water.
And they were…
Goddess Mamlambo.
Sweet Mother Mary.
They were magnificent.
Seeing them from a distance was one thing…but this?
This was a whole other experience.
The big fish-mammals really are big fish mammals.
Toxin commented first, a dry sort of statement but the awe behind it unmistakable.
Jubulile nodded, as they, much more slowly now, continued to paddle closer.
They sound weird.
They sound beautiful.
Singing their song, that as only spectators she and Toxin couldn’t possibly hope to understand.
What? The Mwahh? Or the Meeoooh?
Were they not underwater and there still a slight tinge of paranoia, Jubulile could have snickered at the sounds that didn’t sound anything close to what the whales were singing.
They stopped then, Jubulile taking initiative and deciding this was close enough.
Just…watching now.
As the pod moved together, not even seeming to notice their presence.
And why would they?
These were humpback whales.
They were so small compared to these titans.
Perhaps they were smaller than Cthon, sure, but that was an unfair comparison that left them no less enormous.
Can we touch them?
No. Best not to interfere at all.
They were explorers, seeing the wonders the world had to offer.
And with things like this, that great honour also came with the great responsibility of not interfering.
And so, they didn’t.
Simply watching, even swimming alongside them for a while, feeling blissfully on top of the world.
At one point, they might have even made eye contact with one of the massive creatures, a moment that could only be described as utterly surreal.
They knew in that moment, that this was something they would never forget.
And then they let them go. Let them move on, to wherever their adventure would take them.
Giving off a little wave as they did.
I can assume this is definitely going in your log.
Definitely.
Our big encounter with big mammal-fish.
Which were still not fish!
We’ll agree to disagree. So, what not?
They looked back, at the thin thread of a tendril still connecting them to their boat.
Then, they glanced back one more time at where the whales had long faded into the distance.
And then, as one, they came to the same conclusion as they took hold of their life cord.
For now, they would go home.
Where they would inevitably find their next great adventure together.