Above her wings, a smaller pair learns the sea.
Before the First Turn
“Left after the ridge,” Mum said.
“I haven’t got to the ridge yet.”
Neri glided above his mother’s broad wings. Far below, pale sand lay between the rocks in long, winding strips. Ahead, the ridge rose out of the blue.
He had asked to lead their afternoon swim to Split Rock. Mum had agreed before they left their usual cove.
Since then, she had mentioned the ridge twice.
“There’s a shorter way round the other—”
“Mum.”
She looked up. His small shadow passed over her back as he moved a little ahead.
“Could I choose first?”
For a moment, she kept pace beneath him.
“Yes,” she said. “Go on.”
A Question of Bubbles
Neri reached the ridge and turned left.
Beyond it, the water opened into a wide blue space. Sunlight broke into moving patches above them. He was watching one slide across Mum’s wing when something small and dark moved beside a distant rock.
He slowed.
It had two long feet and something bright on its back. A string of bubbles rose from its head.
“Mum. What’s that?”
“A diver.”
Neri watched the figure lift one arm. The bubbles kept going, widening as they rose.
“Does it know it’s letting those out?”
“Yes.”
“Every time?”
Mum tipped one wing and circled slowly beneath him. Neri stayed above her, watching from across the open water.
The diver turned their way and became very still.
Neri stopped asking questions for a while.
From here, the long feet looked almost too large for the little body. He bent one wing, then the other, imagining how he would swim with only those.
“Perhaps the feet are for steering,” he said.
“Perhaps.”
Another trail of bubbles climbed towards the light.
Neri followed it with his eyes until the last bright speck disappeared.
Just One Clue
When he turned back towards their journey, two gaps opened between the rocks ahead.
He looked through the nearer one. There was sand beyond it, and another ridge. Through the farther gap, he could see sand too.
Mum drifted alongside, a little below him.
Neri started towards the first gap, then curved back.
“Is Split Rock past the tall ledge or the low one?”
“The low one.”
He studied both openings again. One ledge rose almost to the band of light above them. The other ended much farther down.
“That one, then.”
Mum had already begun to turn. She eased her wings level and let him pass in front.
Neri took them through the farther gap. For a short stretch, the rocks hid the open water behind them. He glanced back once. Mum was there, with plenty of room on either side of her wings.
He went on.
At the next bend, she opened her mouth.
Neri turned right.
She closed it again and followed.
The Spare Guide
Split Rock appeared beyond a patch of rippled sand, its two pointed tops leaning away from each other.
Neri circled them both. From the far side, he could see the long slope leading back towards their cove.
Mum came round beneath him.
“Here we are,” she said.
He rose a little, letting his shadow travel across one pointed top and down the other.
“The diver was an extra.”
“Yes.”
“Not on the usual route.”
“No.”
He looked towards the blue space behind the ridge. Somewhere back there, the small creature would still be making its way through a sea much larger than itself.
Then he settled above Mum’s wing again.
“You can lead us home.”
“May I?”
“You’re the spare guide.”
She began to turn towards the cove.
“Left after the—”
“I know,” Mum said.
Neri kept the rest of the directions to himself.
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