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I bid my envoy farewell for the “day”, though she lingers on the sandy shore to observe the “sunset”. Apparently, many bright cousins enjoy watching their star dip below the horizon. I had found that odd, because I had been told that looking at the sun is painful, and potentially injurious! But it seems that they do not watch the sun itself, but the sky around it, which transforms into an array of beautiful hues in those winks before darkness. But I do not plan on watching this sunset, for I have other, more exciting plans.
As Akizet approaches, I wave to her.
“It is this way, follow me,” I say, leading her into the warm water.
As we descend further, the coarse sand beneath our feet turns to fine silt that feels silky to the touch. As we walk in silence beneath the gentle waves, I am tempted to slow down and enjoy the sensation of being submerged, but I must resist. We are here for a reason, after all.
I turn to Akizet, only to find her several paces behind me.
“Come, Akizet! We are just in time!” I urge.
“Just in time for what?”
“Hehe, I am so glad you asked! It is a sight afforded only to the dead! You see…” I gesture – both with my receptors and the hand not holding a simulacrum – to the swarm of strange little animals that are now in front of us.
“You mean these little bubbles? They look like tiny akozak.” The curl of her receptors tells me that she is deep in thought.
“Aki! This is not a problem to solve! Just listen, and I will tell you, hehehe.”
“… Aki?” The coils of her receptors tighten and pull backwards.
I laugh.
“Whaat?” I drag out the word, giving my voice an innocent intonation while canting towards Akizet. “You let Cavik call you Aki, right?”
I do my best not to show the hint of jealousy I feel, but am unsure if I succeed. Luckily for me, Akizet has never been the best at reading emotion. I know that I have no need to be jealous – it is not like Cavik and I are competing for her affection, even if I have had that worry at times.
Akizet averts her eyes and takes a sip of her orange simulacrum – she’s always had a fondness for citric acid.
“That is different – an honor he holds from our larval lives. But it is just that: childish, larval… silly,” she says the words almost disdainfully.
“Well I like it!” I declare. “And no one else can hear us here, so you will just have to feel silly!”
I retreat from her personal space to sip my simulacrum. Akizet relaxes, loosening the coil of her receptors.
“Besides, it is good for you to take it easy sometimes. You cannot always be worrying about everything, Aki. You know what they say about vel… if you do not make Velzie smile, a storm will find you!”
“I suppose… you’re right,” Akizet cedes.
“Yes! And that means I can call you Aki, too, right?”
“For now. And not in front of others,” she insists.
“Ok! Hehe… cool,” I say in surprise. I truly hadn’t been expecting her to acquiesce this quickly, and I can’t help the delighted spread of my receptors – not that I would want to.
A particularly large jellyfish catches my attention, reminding me of what exactly I’ve brought Akizet down here to see.
“Oh! Yes! It is getting dark, look! These little things, they are called jellyfish,” I gesture with a receptor to the swarm as it emerges from the darkness. “They are a big problem for our cousins, because they bite when you touch them. But do not worry! Their tiny little teeth cannot hurt us!”
“But… they are not fish, right? The fish have scales and distinctive eyes, which these…”
“I know! It is such a silly name! But look!” I draw closer to Akizet once again, peering over her shoulder to direct her gaze into the depths no longer lit by the sun, but by the jellyfish themselves. One of my receptors almost grazes hers, but we both recoil the instant we notice. The close call fills me with longing. How I have dreamed of it, our receptors entwined, calling her my velii.
Akizet laughs gently.
“This is… ”
“I know,” I say, and I do. “Their waters always amaze me – if only ours had such vibrance! Ah, here! Sit with me!” I give a cry of “Zzoust!” before falling backwards onto the seafloor, kicking up a cloud of sand in my wake. Akizet settles down beside me, laughing. It is a beautiful sound, one that I wish I heard more. I reach over, clinking our simulacra together with a giggle. The clinking of beverage receptacles is a tradition of the bright cousins’ that perplexes and delights me in equal measure.
After taking a long sip from her simulacrum, Akizet returns her gaze to the luminescing jellyfish.
“Thank you for showing me this, Kazki. How often does this happen?”
“Not often apparently. Which is good for our cousins, of course…” if a little sad for me. “These swarms mostly take them by surprise, so after seeing it myself, I knew I needed to bring you!”
“And not Bozko? Or-”
She is silenced by my amused grin.
“Bozko loves the water, but…” I do not want to share this special moment with him. “Aki, how long has it been since you took time to enjoy yourself? I think Bozko will be fine.”
“But… then, what about Tozik? He spends so much time in our research chamber…”
“Well, Ok, that is a fair assessment, but I know you better than him. Gakvu will have to spend time with him or something. A better question is, why not you? You are working so hard to find a reason not to be here. Why is that? You are not unhappy with me, are you?” I ask in jest, but a nagging worry makes itself known.
“No, ah…” Akizet peers down into the warm glow of her simulacrum. “You know… you are right. Thank you for thinking of me, Kazki.”
Akizet looks deep in thought for a moment before leaning over to me and resting against my side. I had not even noticed the tension in my receptors until they relaxed into a comfortable spread.
“This will sound silly, but… you are a good tir, you know?” she whispers. If my receptors could spread any wider, they would.
“Ahaha! No no no, that is always nice to hear.” Especially from you. “Hehe… thank you, Aki.”
We relax together amidst the glimmering swarm, in no hurry to return to the shore. The silence is comfortable, but I can feel Akizet’s curiosity straining against the calm of the ocean floor.
“How did you find this place under the water?”
Though I am typically more than happy to answer any question Akizet asks me, I am embarrassed to admit this particular discovery.
“… I fell, hehe… I slipped off of a little boat the bright cousins were showing me around it, and they were so worried I would get bitten by this swarm. But we are tougher than that! … If you stay positive, you can survive all kinds of things.”
Akizet hums.
“What is that over there?”
“Huh?” I see her eyes fix upon the swarm again, or is it the darkness beyond? “Oh! Hehe, what a silly question. But I suppose, if you go too far, you will fall off the shelf! Into the depths, where even stranger fish live… and it is not safe for us to go so deep without a high-pressure body. There is no need to do something so risky. Just stay here with me, where things are nice.”
Another moment of silence passes before her next question.
“Do you… want to leave?”
I can tell what she means from her tone, from the curl of her receptors, from our eyes of friendship. She has seen how well I have taken to the bright cousins – the friends I’ve made, the mannerisms I’ve adopted. She has seen how happy I am here. When our work is done, when the Call is finished, will I return home? Will she?
I know what she is asking me. And I do not want to answer.
“Why would I want to leave? We are having a good time, right? And, more than that… I know I am safe here. And it is familiar, too. But… I hope that you… come here with me again, Aki. It is so nice to talk to you. I do not want you to become lonely, you know? So, please, think of me from time to time.”
“Of course, Kazki. Is there… anything I can do for you?” I can feel her reticence, but I cannot blame her. I have not been the most forthcoming either.
“What do you mean? We have everything we need right here! I do not know what you could do to make things even better…” Of course, I know exactly what she could do to make things better, but I do not want to ruin this moment. I treasure our friendship far too much. “But thank you for asking, Aki! You are a good friend.”
“You are a good friend as well, Kazki.”
Akizet does not ask any more questions, and neither do I. We lie together underneath the waves until the gentle glow of the jellyfish fades and we are left in utter darkness. Eventually, we rise back to the surface, hand in hand. Perhaps it is the effects of our simulacra that compels us not to let go as we enter the Embassy. Perhaps it is the same reason that I accompany Akizet to her segment. Perhaps it is why she does not comment on this.
“I suppose… this is it…” Akizet trails off, standing in front of her door.
“So it is.”
“I enjoyed our time together, Kazki. I would like to do this again, some time.”
“Of course!” Were I not so tired, I would be giddy. “Goodnight, Aki.”
Her receptors curl in confusion.
“It is a bright salutation,” I clarify. “Rest well.”
I sense that Akizet wants to say something, but she decides against it.
“… Goodnight, Kazki.”
Perhaps this hesitation is a result of her simulacrum, or perhaps I only noticed because of mine. What I cannot attribute to a simulacrum is the bittersweet feeling I get as her door closes, as I make my way to my room, as I slip into my rejuvenation chamber. Despite my intoxication, I know that these are sober thoughts, ones I will carry with me into the next day, and the next, and the next.
It is these thoughts that I carry with me into slumber, filling my dreams with beautiful things. The sound of Akizet’s laughter. The sensation of her claws running through my hair. The loving curl of our receptors against one another. The knowledge that she is mine, and that I am hers.