It took some haggling and bribe attempts, but we got Phoebe into a bathing suit and convinced her to leave her textbooks at home.
She turned out to be the easy part of the evening.
We were the last to show at Astoria’s, and found Rowan and his motley shuttle crew crowded around the bar. They had embraced the beach party theme and were wearing a riot of colors, while he was looking especially fine in white linen pants and a loose white shirt. Too bad his expression looked like he had just come from a funeral.
A woman covered in tattoos was draping leis around everyone’s neck, including a pixie so tiny he could have bathed in the drink he was attempting to down.
They all turned to stare at us. Phoebe edged further behind me.
“Hot damn,” The pixie whispered.
“Hey, you must be Aggi?” The lei woman greeted me cheerfully.
“Hiya!” I replied. “That’s right. Wanna lei me?”
She burst out laughing. “Izzy,” she said, coming over to drape a flower garland around my neck. “Welcome to the party.”
“Dibs on the redhead,” the pixie muttered, earning an eyeroll from Izzy and a wary glance from Rowan.
“You’re definitely a Mess,” I declared, pointing at him. “And I’ve met Leo -” I pointed at him, and got a chin bounce of acknowledgement. “and one of you is Mike -” I prompted, waving a finger between the other two men, leaning over a laptop.
“Me,” the older of the two raised his hand. “And this is Bryce, our linguistics expert, and that’s Perl Jam, our software engineer -”
“Oh my god, DJ Perl Jam?” Jessie exclaimed. “I read Shimmy was playing tonight! This is way better!” She grabbed Phoebe’s hand and dragged her toward the surly looking Asian woman in a bright red halter top and lei.
“I’m off tonight. I’m here to socialize.” She rolled her eyes and took a sip of wine.
“You covered one of my derby races last year, it was amazing!” Jessie gushed.
“Are you one of those roller derby girls? I thought you all were gonna tear each other apart.”
“It’s the only way to roll,” Jessie grinned. “Hi, I’m Jessie, this is Phoebe, someone get her drunk and take her dancing. I got her into the swimsuit but I don’t think I’m going to get her into the water.”
“Jessie!” Phoebe hissed.
“Is she old enough to drink?” Mike asked suspiciously.
“As of three months ago!”
“Jessie, stop it! I’m only staying an hour -”
I moved closer to Rowan as the girls distracted the others. “You look like a garden,” I said, shaking one of the leis around his neck.
He turned his head, but didn’t look up from his glass of sangria, which was half gone already. “She said it was a welcoming tradition here, in a place called Hawaii.”
The little pixie beside him laughed. “She’s never even been to Hawaii. Cherry?” He held out a damp piece of fruit. Rowan frowned at him.
“Thanks, I’ll get one that hasn’t been licked. Have you gone down to the beach yet?”
“Not yet. Nerds don’t wanna swim, swimmers don’t wanna do nerdy things,” ImaMess explained. “Mike wants us all together. It’s a bit of a shit show.”
“Are there boats to rent, or something?”
“There’s kite surfing and windsurfing and pedal boats. They don’t allow anything bigger.”
“Ooh, really? I used to windsurf back home. Do they still do it? Those boards with sails? Down the Sparkling River?”
I nudged Rowan, and he finally looked up. “Um. Yes, but out on the open ocean, not on any rivers.”
“Well, I want to try it here. What about you? It means you don’t have to talk to anyone,” I sang.
He nodded glumly. “That is probably for the best.”
Ima leaned back from his straw. It was a little cocktail one, but for him he might as well have been drinking from a hose. “He doesn’t like us much, or so he told us.”
I looked pointedly around the bar. “Well, you all look like an awful lot to deal with all together, I’d be overwhelmed, too. Which one are you? Land nerd or sea nerd?”
“I’ve got wings, too. I can be anything you want me to be, at any size, too.” He winked suggestively at me.
“Trying on all the things?” I asked blandly.
“Why limit myself?”
“Why indeed?” I looked directly at Rowan, who was studying the floorboards once more. I poked him in the arm again. “C’mon, stop checking out my legs and let’s hit the beach.”
“They have not yet decided what they want us to do,” he mumbled, flashing me a guilty glance before looking away.
Starry night, he had been ogling me. Oops. Well, who could blame him? Besides, I’d had a good long ogle at him when he was shirtless in my bedroom. I was kinda looking forward to seeing that again.
“Do you have swim trunks or similar? Go put them on. I’ll herd your crew down to the water.”
He nodded, and reached for his viewer. “Not here!” Ima yelped, and got up, not that it made much of a difference, heightwise. He was wearing a grass skirt, fashioned from actual blades of grass, and looked like a dashboard bobble doll.
I choked back a laugh, and he grinned and flexed at me, shaking his hips. “Wanna see my speedo? Or should I go without?”
“Check back with me when you have a few hundred years more experience, and maybe I’ll be interested in whatever’s under your belt,” I retorted.
“Damn, girl! C’mon, Rowan, I’ll show you where the huts are before we freeze to death from that cold shoulder.” He hopped off the counter and strutted off.
Rowan made to follow, but hesitated. “You will talk to them all?” he asked. “Like that?”
“I give what I get. Is he the worst of it?”
“It depends on whether Izzy is in hearing range,” He jerked his head at Leo.
“Pfft. I can handle it. Go on, I’ll be fine.”
Bryce was watching me, open mouthed, and as Rowan walked away, he leaned over. “A few hundred years? Is it rude to ask your age?”
I sat down on Rowan’s vacated stool. “All right, here’s the deal. Yes, it is rude to ask an elf’s age, weight, height, sexual preferences, educational level, shoe size, and favorite things. Most elves think humans are nosy little buggers and should mind their business. HOWEVER, I have outgrown that and will answer anything, so long as it’s asked respectfully.”
“Thank you,” he breathed. “How old are you?”
“I’m five hundred and eighty four years old.” It still felt strange to say.
“Whoa. and Rowan?”
“You’ll have to ask him.”
“I don’t think he’d answer me.”
“No, probably not. Besides, we don’t really keep track like humans do? After a few centuries the novelty wears off. I only know for certain because I just found out I lost a few years. It helps I was born in an easy-to-math year.”
“you have your own calendar? What year is it in yours?”
“7584.”
“Yeah, that would make it easy to keep track. Do you have your own language? Milo and Elzarian sometimes say things to Rowan that I didn’t understand.”
“We do! We don’t speak it in front of humans, though. We’re weirdly secretive about it.”
“Oh. So no dictionary I could borrow?”
“Sorry, hun. You’re a linguist, huh? How many languages do you speak?”
“I speak eight languages fluently. English, Spanish, French, Mandarin, German, Russian, ASL, and Klingon. I’m studying a few more.”
“That’s awesome. Maybe I’ll teach you a few phrases sometime, if you promise not to say them around Rowan.”
“I promise,” he said quickly.
“Sweet. I will answer more later if you like, but first, watch me do this.” I pointed at the rest of the crew, who were getting louder and less organized by the minute.
“Listen up!” I yelled, throwing my arm up in the air. Everyone shut up and turned to look at me. “I’m taking over! This is no longer a committee decision, you invited me, like it or leave!”
“Aggi!” Phoebe gasped, horrified. Mike scowled at me.
“No, wait, I wanna hear what she’s got,” Perl Jam waved a hand for me to continue. “It can’t be worse than anyone else’s idea.”
“Water people, go rent a board or boat. Dry people, you will be building sandcastles on the beach, getting first dibs on the food and drink, and judging the skills of the water people. Water people will judge the sandcastles and vote for their favorites when we get back to shore in . . . two hours? Two hours good? The winner from each side gets - what have I got? - Oh, sure, why not - one hundred lindens each and a plush dragon! And then we can come back and drink! Are you in or out?” More quietly, I added, “Rowan’s going to windsurf, and he might actually be looking forward to it.”
“Two hundred lindens apiece.” Mike countered.
“I’m in,” Izzy said immediately.
“Same,” said Perl Jam.
“Fine by me.”
No one objected. “Then let’s get to it,” Mike finally said, and everybody began packing up to head down to the sand. He continued to glare at me until I caught up with him.
“Might as well get used to it,” I said blithely. “I couldn’t please my elders and I’m not changing for you.”
“I intend to cover the prize money, I have a budget for that, but I’d prefer you run things by me in advance in the future.”
“You are trying way too hard.”
“I’ve got a lot riding on the success of this, and I can’t do it alone. I need them to stop arguing and start cooperating.”
“What’s ‘this?’”
“Getting Rowan home, of course,” he said, a little too slowly.
“You don’t really think they’re coming back, do you?”
“I would never leave one of my own behind. They didn’t leave you, did they?”
“They weren’t even looking for me. I’m sure they considered my disappearance a relief. I didn’t exactly fit in, and I don’t think Rowan did, either.”
“Well, I intend to try. If we can get the shuttle out into space, which is the main problem, then we can work on how to rebuild it so it can travel greater distances. My goal is to make a duplicate and then redesign from there.”
“Ah, you want to explore the galaxy.”
“Wouldn’t you?”
“I’ve done more than enough as it is.” I shook my head as his eyes lit up. “Nuh-uh, nothing worth talking about, and I do mean ‘nothing.’”
“I’d just like to know what we’re up against.”
“I’ve never met the makers of that stolen space ship, so hopefully you never will, either. That’s a future us problem. My concern right now is Rowan. Is he still sleeping in that awful shuttle?”
“I offered to put up a house for him, but he turned me down.”
“We’re too damn proud, that’s why. We also don’t like to be in debt to each other, so you have to give him an equal opportunity to pay you back if you want him to accept your help.”
“Good to know. Thanks. Here he comes.”
The ‘teams’ split up fairly evenly, Perl, Phoebe, Jessie, ImaMess, and Bryce on the beach, and me, Rowan, Mike, Leo, and Izzy grabbed wind surfers to test out. It was a good spot for beginners, the waves were light in the cove.
I was worried that Rowan’s terse admission that he knew what windsurfing was would be bravado, but he proved to be competent enough to help Mike get started. Izzy was experienced as well, and took over giving Leo a crash course.
My brain still insisted it had only been fifteen years since I’d last tried it, and my body seemed to agree, as it all came back to me fairly quickly. I was soon far away from the beach and the rocks. The salt spray in my face was delightful, and I zoomed around and about with enthusiasm, forgetting about everyone and everything but the roar of the wind and the vibration of the waves.
Eventually, Izzy’s distant whoops brought me back to the present, and I maneuvered myself around so I could see how everyone else was doing. Izzy and Leo seemed to have given up and had gotten boogie boards instead. Mike was getting along pretty well with his windsurfer, and Rowan? Rowan was showing off, or else had reached the same zen moment I had. We had an advantage, I think, being bigger and stronger and more easily able to maneuver the human sized devices, or possibly just more time to get good at it. I suspected he’d done it a lot more than he could remember, because he was all power and grace on the waves.
I might have watched longer than I should have, because of those wet, clingy, pale blue trunks. I also might have stopped paying attention to where I was, and where the rocks were. All’s I know is one second I was cheering him on, the next second I was somersaulting through the air, the bar ripped right from my grip.
I hit the water hard and floundered, foolishing thinking that the windsurf board would be right there for me to hop back on. I expected to hit whatever I’d hit in the first place again, but there was nothing. At all. I couldn’t see a thing. I floated helplessly, uncertain which was way up.
Just. Like. Being. In. the Void.
From left to right:
Izzy
Hair: Alli & Ali - Natalya hair
Flower: Hair flower by Wild Motley
Head: Lelutka - Noel
Face: Moccino - Bia
Top: Black Angel - Emelia set
Sarong: Emerald Couture - Kealoha
Tattoos:
Carol G - Mia arms
CN - Rabbit Tattoo
Pose: Fantasy World Bento pose
Rowan
Head - Lelutka - Skyler
Hair: No Match - No Return
Face: Velour Homme - Michael
Outfit: Mazzaro - Damon - (SL21 gift)
Lei: Tipakoa Shop - free gift
Pose: Sitting couch F09
Special Guest - Shimi on the guitar! Thanks for hanging out with us!
Leo
Hat: Hoorenbeek - NG Outfit - Huell
Head: Lelutka - Kris
Face: Alt3 - Park
Beard: Addon - Jeff Facial Hair
Tattoo:Beauty Essence - Halloween gift
Outfit: Hoorenbeek - NG Outfit - Huell
Pose: Verocity - Armando 4
Perl Jam
Head: Lelutka - Noel
Hair: No Match - No Basics
Face: Ives - Noelle
Lei: Aprelle - Kailani lei
Top: Beautiful Dirty Rich - Spring Break Crop Top
Glasses: Random Matter - Meki glasses (access gift)
Pose: Sitting chair f05
Special Guest #2: Treerat - thanks for your help!
Body: Jinx - Petit Roth
Bryce
Head: Lelutka - Quinn
Hair: Wings - gift 03 male hair
Face: Fuoey - Oliver
Shirt: Totally Wicked - Calvin shirt (access23 gift)
Glasses: MKNaomi Basics glasses
Pose: An Lar - Walled 4
Mike
Head: Lelutka - Skyler
Face: Fuoey - Oliver
Beard: Lelutka
Hair: Sintiklia - Connor
Outfit: Hoorenbeek - Brooks (group gift)Pose: TeCu Stand SO1M
Hair: Alli & Ali - Natalya hair
Flower: Hair flower by Wild Motley
Head: Lelutka - Noel
Face: Moccino - Bia
Top: Black Angel - Emelia set
Sarong: Emerald Couture - Kealoha
Tattoos:
Carol G - Mia arms
CN - Rabbit Tattoo
Pose: Fantasy World Bento pose
Rowan
Head - Lelutka - Skyler
Hair: No Match - No Return
Face: Velour Homme - Michael
Outfit: Mazzaro - Damon - (SL21 gift)
Lei: Tipakoa Shop - free gift
Pose: Sitting couch F09
Special Guest - Shimi on the guitar! Thanks for hanging out with us!
Leo
Hat: Hoorenbeek - NG Outfit - Huell
Head: Lelutka - Kris
Face: Alt3 - Park
Beard: Addon - Jeff Facial Hair
Tattoo:Beauty Essence - Halloween gift
Outfit: Hoorenbeek - NG Outfit - Huell
Pose: Verocity - Armando 4
Perl Jam
Head: Lelutka - Noel
Hair: No Match - No Basics
Face: Ives - Noelle
Lei: Aprelle - Kailani lei
Top: Beautiful Dirty Rich - Spring Break Crop Top
Glasses: Random Matter - Meki glasses (access gift)
Pose: Sitting chair f05
Special Guest #2: Treerat - thanks for your help!
Body: Jinx - Petit Roth
Bryce
Head: Lelutka - Quinn
Hair: Wings - gift 03 male hair
Face: Fuoey - Oliver
Shirt: Totally Wicked - Calvin shirt (access23 gift)
Glasses: MKNaomi Basics glasses
Pose: An Lar - Walled 4
Mike
Head: Lelutka - Skyler
Face: Fuoey - Oliver
Beard: Lelutka
Hair: Sintiklia - Connor
Outfit: Hoorenbeek - Brooks (group gift)Pose: TeCu Stand SO1M
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