Listen to the Water | FULL SERIES | Wattys 2022 Shortlist | ✔

(37) Through the Stone Forest

Patrol with the Sandsingers takes me all the way around the base of the formation their camp sits on top of, then around the neighboring one, too. From there, we spiral slowly upwards, with Ruka watching the open water and Keshko checking every crack and crevice we pass. I try to be helpful, but my mind has jumped back to the journey ahead of me, and it's making it hard to focus on anything else.

I'm going to have to talk with Taiki as soon as I get back, or maybe as soon as we leave the Sandsinger camp. I prefer the latter option. I've decided I rather like Keshko and Ruka, but there are others in the group that I'm decidedly less sold on. I'm not sure if Taiki's inclination to hide behind me whenever Makeba is around says more about him or about Makeba, but I take it as a sign at very least that he'll be more comfortable talking when we're away from the camp.

Not to mention that if I mess up again and he melts down, Makeba is the last person I want to have watching.

The patrol finds nothing, which I would hazard a guess is pretty standard for a group camped out on an outcropping that's purported to be cursed. My heart skips a beat in a bad way when we come back into view of the camp entrance. Makeba is there with her arms crossed and her tail flicking, scanning the water for what I can only imagine is us.

Sure enough, her eyes snap to me the moment we're back in view. "There you are," she signs. "You're wanted."

To say she looks unimpressed about that would be putting it lightly. The last time I saw someone look so sour was the time I convinced one of the young adults my age that I'd found a sweet crow-sucker fruit and gotten him to bite into it. He wouldn't talk to me for half a moon after—which was, of course, entirely the point.

I refuse to let my guilt get the better of me. With a cursory acknowledgement, I swim past Makeba while Ruka and Keshko stop to give their report. I emerge into the camp already looking around. My heart drops. Taiki is awake. It's taking both Devir and the other squid Kel to hold him as he thrashes, completely inconsolable, sobbing as he tries frantically to leave. Did he wake up and find me gone?

I hurry over. Taiki's eyes skim straight past me, so I tap both squid Kels on the shoulder and brush between them. I catch Taiki's wrist and pat him on the cheek. "I'm here," I sign. "I'm okay."

He goes stock-still. Then all the coiled-up tension leaves his body like sand draining out of a broken basket. The squid Kels let go of his arms and slip away, leaving the two of us alone.

"Are you with me?" I sign.

No response.

"Can you see me?"

Slowly, he nods. He looks like he can hardly believe it.

"And you can understand me?"

Another nod. I want to ground him enough that he stops freaking out, at least, something I suspect he'll return to the moment I'm out of sight. I keep asking questions until he signs an answer back to me, shaky, but not melting against the rock like he was when I first arrived. I can feel the prickle of Makeba watching me from across the camp. I won't let her see anything she disapproves of—because I don't plan to do anything of the sort.

Taiki's eyes finally focus enough that I feel comfortable easing off again. Now's as good a time as any to leave. Signing a quick thanks to the squid Kels, I take Taiki's hand and swim straight up. He keeps up with me, but there's a numbness to his movements that I know will catch up with him whenever we stop. I focus on swimming instead. The sky's last tint is tipped to one side of the ocean. Osogo is the small island at the far end of Telu's island chain, a direction I can find on my own when the sun is up and angled. I take us far into the stillness of the stone forest before slowing.