I tied up my hair, put on the board shorts I’d gotten, and followed Aggi down to the beach with everyone else. I’m not sure how she rallied them so easily, but most of them would have followed those legs in that tiny bathing outfit anywhere.
She was right, though, the beach was good for the soul, and apparently the body. I began to feel better the moment the salt smell hit my nose and my bare feet hit the sand. Could this be my energy chamber? Would it be this easy? I would like to have something be easy, for once.
Like the windsurfing. Being able to move that fast, with nothing between me and the fresh air, was delightful and almost overwhelming. I’d been too long on that stuffy vessel, with its dry, stale, recirculating air. I felt like the cobwebs were being blasted out of my head, and forgot that I was supposed to be helping Mike learn how to use the board. He was cheering me on, though, and I could hear the others also shouting enthusiastically in the distance. Only my companions ever really cheered for me. I was beginning to believe Aggi was wrong, and that they were too kind to be plotting trouble.
And then, Aggi’s whoops of encouragement turned into a high pitched shriek and cut off abruptly. I swiveled around, just in time to see her board’s sail hit the water and vanish. It bounced up again with the next wave, but where was she? I maneuvered closer to where she had vanished, counting the seconds warily. five, ten . . . she should have come back up by now. There were rocks over there, had she hit one? fifteen . . . twenty . . .
By that point I was close enough. I abandoned the board and dove in.
I’d done a lot of deep sea diving in Lyramir, searching for lost artifacts and bits of Lyra’s moonstone. I was bad at memorization, but I could hold my breath for a long time, and swim for long distances. It was a quiet, enjoyable, no-thought skill that others found useful in me.
I spotted Aggi quickly enough in the dreamlike depths, nearly upside down, arms and legs flailing helplessly. Her hairband had broken and her long red hair had wrapped around her face, rendering her blind.
A stream of bubbles escaped in a mad rush when I grabbed her around the waist, and she flailed and twisted in panic. I patted her shoulder reassuringly, and holding on tightly, followed the bubbles back up toward the surface as quickly as I could.
She was a handful, and even more so once we found fresh air. I tried to get her hair off her face as she coughed up water, clinging tightly to me.
“You’re safe,” I told her between my own gulps of air. “I’ve got you. I thought you could swim?”
“Void,” she gasped. “Void, so Void. . . ” We dipped below a wave, and I had to let go to keep us floating. She clung even tighter, burying her face in my shoulder and wrapping her legs around my waist.
“We’re in the ocean,” I corrected her as we broke the surface again, but she only responded with a frightened whimper. “The shore is near. Let’s get back on land.” I patted one of her arms gently. “Loosen your grip. I will not let go again, but I must breathe.”
I could see a little plastic boat with a motor headed toward us, and hear people yelling, but thought I could make it to shore faster than they could reach us. I set out, pulling Aggi along, making sure her head was above water.
Mike waded out to meet us, and together we got her up back to shore. She finally let go, dropping to her knees and digging her fingers into the sand as she coughed up even more water.
“Did she hit her head? Is she hurt?”
“I believe she is lost in a bad memory.”
“Aggi, are you all right? Oh my god, that was an epic flip!” Jessie, who had been frantically pacing the shore, dropped to her knees and hugged her tightly. “I think I recorded the whole thing!”
“Give her room to breathe!” Mike ordered.
Phoebe rushed over with oversized towels, one of which she shoved at me. “You saved her life!” she gushed, wide eyed, before draping the other towels around Aggi. “Aggi? Aggi, answer me! Are you ok?”
I knew all too well how we elves could get trapped in our own heads. I wasn’t sure how to stop it. Milo would have impatiently slapped her back into the present, which might work, but wouldn’t be viewed well by anyone, particularly Aggi. Miribel could have used elfsong and her own healing gift to calm her, but I had no such gift, and Aggi swore she couldn't feel elfsong. The only other healer I knew would have sat quietly beside her and talked or sang until she came out of it, but I never knew the words to his songs, and for the life of me couldn’t think of any soothing ones of our own.
They’d told me to stay away, but she had rightly pointed out that it would take a long-term ritual to alter her state. Everyone else was standing around, awkwardly watching or fussing, except for Leo and Izzy, who appeared to be retrieving the abandoned windsurfers.
I had to try something.
Jessie frowned at me as I knelt in front of them, but helped me encourage Aggi to sit up. Her mismatched eyes were unfocused, and red from the saltwater and her own tears. She had managed to get her hair out of her face, but kept pulling at it in an alarming way, practically digging her nails into her scalp as she sobbed. I grabbed them to stop her from hurting herself, and not knowing what else to do, began to sing the first song that popped into my head.
It was a simple one, meant for infants. My companions sang it often to their little ones. It wasn't elfsong, and so I shouldn’t have sung in Lyran in front of the others, but I didn’t want them to know the words.
Little one, what can you feel?
Little one, what can you hear?
Little one, what can you see ?
Little one, what can you smell?
Little one, what can you taste?
Feel the soft touch of my hand
hear the song that I sing you
See the beauty around you
Smell the scent of the flowers
Taste the meal that I made you
These are just a few of the things
that tell of my love for you
Little one, know you’re safe
Little one, know you’re loved
Little one, you’ll walk beside me
one day
And I’ll teach you all I know.
There were gestures, too, soft little touches to the body parts associated with the mentioned senses. I couldn’t help but do them as her choking sobs lessened, and she began to focus on me.
I pressed our foreheads together at the end of the first verse, cupping her head gently with my hands. When I pulled back, she was staring at me, wide eyed and confused, but seeing me finally.
“I haven’t heard that song in ages,” she said hoarsely, and hiccupped. “Ages and ages.”
“You were off in the Void. I didn’t know how else to bring you back.”
I shouldn’t have mentioned it, as her expression, normally so cheerful and buzzing with energy, grew so bleak that I feared she was retreating again. “It seems you are a wet mess today,” I told her. She hiccupped again, and burst into a fit of giggles.
“Nice. Nice.” She patted my arm, and then patted Jessie’s, who was grumbling about the comment. “He made a joke!”
“Are you hurt, Aggi?” Mike asked, from somewhere behind us.
“Uh, I dunno?” She looked down at her hands, and began patting her body, wincing as she touched her ribs. “I’m ok, but I think I’ll be a blue mess tomorrow.” She giggled again.
“Did you nearly drown in your past?”
“Eh? Yeah, sure. Don’t ask.” she shivered.
“It might help if you talked about it.”
“Therapy later! With a therapist!” She chirped in a high pitched voice, and then changed the subject. “Who won?” she demanded in a shaky voice. “Is it time to judge the sandcastles? Show me your sandcastles!”
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