The waves of heat were shorter now and less intense. Ripple drifted towards wakefulness and felt the presence of her father. The strength of her parents pressed mental ice against every overheated blood cell in her body.
Rigel and Pearl battled within her mind, moderating the pain. The medicine from the phosphorescent octopus worked in her blood to counteract the poison. That indomitable spark burning through the light of Ripple’s own soul fought the spiritual battle. Ripple could at any moment have escaped into the cool of the Hereafter but her spirit remained resolutely in her body, fighting the inferno. Another thread of strength helped to weave the healing spell; he was coloured midnight blue. She sensed his nearness.
~~~
‘She could still die any moment from dehydration,’ called Nimbus. ‘Bring food.’
A call went out. ‘Bring food for Ripple! Small squid to start with.’
It was daytime, when squid swam deep, but dolphins brought them at Nimbus’s call.
She felt a tiny one in her mouth and swallowed it. Some minutes passed. Another squid arrived, her favourite food, the lemonade of the sea. Good fluids began circulating in her blood, diluting the poison. Squid kept arriving as though by magic in her mouth but Nimbus carefully controlled the intake. The cool intervals between the pain spells grew longer.
Nimbus requested other fish and larger squid. Cosmo and Rush hunted hardest for Ripple. Nimbus found she could rely on these two alone to bring enough food for Ripple and her carers.
‘I don’t think there’s much practical astronomy going on right now,’ thought Echo. ‘I wonder why those two are so attentive.’
Soon Ripple was turning the fish in her mouth for herself.
My strength is returning, she thought. The poison is retreating.
Nimbus studied Ripple’s internal organs by ultra-sound, observing the signs of dehydration fading.
‘She’s healing,’ she announced to Pearl. ‘But there’s organ damage. It will repair itself slowly but she’ll be weak for a long time.’
‘Will Ripple always carry the terrible scar on her face?’ asked Echo.
‘The scar on her skin will fade to a thread but see how the welt has penetrated to strike its mark on the skull? The bone-scar will outlive her. Echo you’ve been a great help. Continue nursing your sister. Bring her back to health. If you succeed I’ll be happy to teach you my vocation.’
‘I’ll make her so strong she’s invincible!’ Echo squeaked.
Her tone caused Pearl to glance away from Ripple for the first time in days to regard her middle daughter closely. Pearl recalled Echo’s concentrated strength working with herself and Nimbus through these dark days. She felt a glow of pride and knew that Echo had found her vocation at last.
~~~
As soon as Ripple was well enough, Echo asked her how the attack happened.
‘I was working, not thinking of the sea around me. I can stay safe when I’m just playing my music, but this has proved I’m not so safe when I am creating it.’
‘And why weren’t you in the care of the minders as Delph arranged?’
‘The boys never really wanted me there. One day they teased me so I stopped working with them. Cosmo told me he wouldn’t let it happen again, but still I didn’t feel right about going back among them.’
‘Must you do this “work” Ripple?’
‘Right now I can’t imagine ever making music again.’
‘Two boys in the astro-team seemed to take some responsibility for what happened to you.’
‘Who?’
‘Cosmo and that beautiful jade-green one called Rush.’
‘Rush is beautiful?’
‘I think so.’
‘Echo!’
‘But I’m not impressed by the rest of the astro-team. I might have a few words with them.’
~~~
Ripple no longer needed full time care but she swam close by her mother and sister and if neither was near, she swam among the crowd to avoid the solitude where nightmares slithered up out of the abyss. She wouldn’t dive for food because of the darkness in the deep, so Echo and Pearl fed her at times. At night the dark was everywhere and she could not escape it.
Azure is savage. The Shade is not the only danger. The blackfin hunts the lonely too. The tiger shark, the tail-biter, the megalodon and his ilk, all think of me as a mid-morning snack. Now I’m so nearly well, I don’t want to die.
She tried to bring her music back but her inner world had fallen silent. She listened to the continual chatter of the school and the thoughtstreams of the others sent their comforting noise through her brain. All was friendly, safe, even stimulating sometimes, so she didn’t miss music too much.
Why did I ever bother myself about it? I must seek out a ‘normal’ vocation. I’ll see less of Echo now that she’s found her calling. I’ll be so lonely without her! I must go back to school, and find a new direction.’
She looked out at the world hoping for a bright new future to unveil itself. There was only rain, seeping from a grey sky onto a leaden sea. Even when she closed her eyes the greyness remained. Pearl arrived at her side. The rain shone suddenly silver, as though a light shone from her that lit up the sea.
As Ripple’s strength returned, she began attending normal classes, but more regularly than before. Pearl was pleased at this change. Ripple was quickly star of the gymnastics class again and enjoying the admiration she received for her skill. Soon all her classmates were copying her as before. Ripple gradually learned to dive for her food again, as long as she had friends beside her so that she didn’t have to face the deep alone.
Pearl was tired after Ripple’s illness. Her appetite waned and she wasted a little. She asked Echo to look at her organs and Echo noticed some discoloration on her liver.
‘You must rest mother,’ said Echo. ‘I’ll ask Nimbus what weeds might help. Let Rev hunt for you. He’ll love any excuse to do extra.’
~~~
Ripple worked hard to catch up on all she’d missed throughout her illness and previous negligence of her studies. Maths was the biggest difficulty. She’d missed so much, the class had outstripped her. She made some effort but only because she knew how much Pearl wanted her to do her best.
Whenever she hunted, she took food to her mother who was still unwell. Rev was feeding her also; Pearl’s anxious offspring cosseted her. Nimbus checked Pearl carefully and sent Rev to collect weeds that grew on the rocks near the islands. Echo fed these to her mother over a few days, insisting that Pearl chew them and suck their juices, though dolphins’ teeth are not suited to such food. Pearl soon announced she felt much better. Echo was pleased to observe the liver stain had almost vanished.
‘Great remedy!’ she thought.
~~~
Once Ripple and Pearl had both recovered, Echo threw herself into her new work with Nimbus. The sisters saw less of one another, as Ripple had foreseen. However, Echo made time to pay a visit to the boys of the astronomy class. They’d just returned from a short interplanetary journey and were about to begin hunting.
‘Hey, look who’s coming,’ said Flip.
‘It’s Ripple’s good-looking big sister,’ said Rush. ‘Wouldn’t mind her in the astronomy class.’
Cosmo looked up. ‘I think I can guess her errand.’
Echo arrived in a graceful swoop, scattering swathes of spray.
‘How’s Ripple doing?’ Cosmo asked.
‘Fully healed, thank-you.’
Cosmo checked his team to ensure no one was considering a swift departure.
‘I came to tell you that Ripple was attacked by Erishkigal because she was working alone and unguarded. You’d teased her so she no longer wished to work near you. There was good reason that Delph allowed her to make use of your minders.’
‘I thought that might be how it happened,’ said Cosmo. ‘I tried to persuade her to work with us again.’
‘At least you tried to undo the harm done, Cosmo, before it was too late. And you, Rush, helped those who worked to save her after the attack. You other three still need to admit your part in what happened. Or did you choose to ignore it?’
There was a mumble of apology from Flip, Givan and Quin. Flip’s shame impelled him to close his eyes and dive deep.
Echo swam away leaving them subdued, but she was satisfied they acknowledged their contribution to the disaster that had almost killed Ripple.
Suddenly Rush left the group and raced after her. He pulled up alongside and a little in front, giving her his slipstream.
‘Echo I knew it was a mistake when we teased her that day. Cosmo did too. We’re all happy to have her with us again, but if there’s anything else we can do to help, just let me know.’
‘Ripple and I would be happy to hunt with you and Cosmo any time.’
‘I’d enjoy that Echo, and not just because of Ripple. The whole school is talking about the fantastic job you did of caring for your sister.’
‘She’s my sister! What else could I do?’
‘You wouldn’t leave her, not even to find food.’
Echo laughed and leapt skywards, ‘Lucky for me we had you and Cosmo on hunting detail. We’d more food arriving than Ripple alone could ever have eaten. Perhaps you helped to save my life as well as hers.’
‘I’m glad,’ said Rush. ‘See the birds working ahead? Shall we hunt there now . . . together?’
‘Looks like good kahawai. Let’s go.’
~~~
Cosmo and the others waited for Rush to return.
Flip surfaced at last.
‘Where’s Rush?’ he asked.
‘Can’t you guess?’ said Givan.
‘He could do a lot worse!’ said Cosmo.
‘That’s ‘cos you fancy her psycho sister.’
‘And who do you fancy Givan?’ asked Cosmo.
‘Happy with whichever piece is closest when required.’
They set off to hunt but without their usual playfulness and the catch lacked its flavour that day.
~~~
Ripple was where she most liked to swim at that time, smack-bang in the middle of the main school. White clouds towering on a blue sky beguiled her, stimulating old memories. For the first time since her illness, a song awoke within her; a cloud-song. An elderly couple overheard her thought-streams.
‘Whatever’s that distortion?’ said the old female to her husband.
‘It’s her chaos.’
‘How can she hunt, eat, and communicate, with such turmoil?’
‘I’ve heard she calls it music.’
‘That must just be her name for chaos!’
‘They do say she’s mad.’
‘But look at her. She’s swimming like the windblown spray! Do you remember that poor dolphin who was born deranged? He moved with the grace of a tail-less seal.’
‘I remember. In the end he was taken by a blackfin who mistook him for just that. I can’t imagine a predator mistaking this girl for an injured creature.’
‘I’ve heard she suffers ridicule from the thoughtless ones among us.’
‘Teasing is easy to deliver, but never easy to receive.’
‘The way she’s swimming now reminds me of cloud formations. Her mind is a mystery but her movements make me wonder if perhaps she should be protected from ridicule.’
Ripple came back to herself with a jolt.
‘My music is back!’ She tasted the sweet tang of the breeze, heard the rush of foam, saw Azure’s colours intensify and felt the ocean stroking her skin like a lover.
‘I’m very sorry!’ she said to the elderly couple who looked shocked.
‘That’s alright dear! We don’t understand but we don’t mind.’
‘All the same,’ she thought, ‘I can’t be unsettling others like this.’
~~~
Read on, or if desired . . .