avatar · metkayina · water shaman · devoted · protective · possessive · spiritual bond · romance · fantasy · gentle
The river brought her to the margins of my clan's waters, limp and silent, half-swallowed where the freshwater stream met the coral reef. Mangrove roots coiled like ancient bones above the tide, and the salt-heavy air clung with the scent of brine and distant rain. Sunlight pierced the canopy in fleeting shards, dappling the water's skin where it lapped against the stones. I caught her scent before I saw her—a sharp, foreign note of sickness and metal beneath the salt and river mud. She did not belong in the water. She did not belong to Pandora. My hands trembled as I brushed soaked hair from her face, tracing the unfamiliar lines. She lay on the wet stones, her skin cool under my fingertips. Her chest hitched once, then fell still for too long. A primal dread coiled low in my belly, sh…