“What is it that you miss most of home?”
Maria’s question surprised me, but there was no hesitation in my response. “I miss my daughter, Zerafina. I do not like to be apart from her.”
“I do not miss Estella so much. She is twelve now, learning about human culture and language so that she may better blend in with them when she does her duty among them.” Maria sounded thoughtful.
I was curious. “What do you miss, then?”
Maria hesitated before she answered. “I miss Cantrella. Human beds are cold, alone without her. I miss her conversation and her insight.” She gave a sigh.
I thought of the elder who was Maria’s partner. “But she would never live on land among humans for long. She does not like them.”
Maria immediately leaped to the defence of her partner. “She did her duty among humans who were cruel and hurt her. Would you like them if they had forced themselves inside you, without your permission?”
“I doubt I would. I understand now why you had difficulty in doing your duty, when the time came. As Cantrella’s partner, you must share her thoughts and feelings often.” I attempted to sound conciliatory.
Maria was thoughtful once more. “Yes, though not always. She dislikes dolphins, also, for reasons she cannot explain. She says that they remind her of humans. Yet I have no distaste for them – they are less like humans than we are.”
I returned to my initial question. “Is there anything else you miss?”
Maria closed her eyes, her response deep with yearning. “When I wake up to find the sun shining far too bright, I miss the darkness in the deep. I dislike the sense of smell we have on land, and I miss the absence of it in the water. I miss the feel of the pull of strong currents on my body in the open ocean, for the currents are dampened by the reefs and the shallow water here. I miss feeling connected through the water to every living thing in it – the air is too thin to give me that feeling.”
An amusing idea came to me. “And when you are in the deep, is there anything of the land that you will miss?”
Now Maria’s voice was quick and businesslike. “Coffee, chocolate, chilli and beer. And playing with the dolphins in the shallow water, though they are not of the land.”
I smiled and said, “I will miss my fire drink, warm food and hot showers. I will miss chilli, also. Speaking of chilli, I have an idea. What do you say to bringing our catch back to the vessel and placing chilli on it before we eat it?”
The idea struck her as it did me. “You mean the whole fish, eating it as our people eat it, but with the addition of chilli?”
I was eager to try this new idea. “Yes. It seems an intriguing idea, which I suspect will have a pleasant taste.”
Maria was more cautious. “This is an idea I would like to try. Does the type of fish matter?”
I dismissed details in my desire to experiment. “No, I think we will try it with whatever we catch on the swim back. Let’s see who can catch the biggest!” I darted off into the water, Maria not far behind.