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

(11) Sami Territory

I don't know what signal Taiki is waiting for, but shortly after dark, he perks up and beckons me after him into the open water. He swims face-forward, and I can't miss the glances he keeps sending over his shoulder. I have no desire to get any friendlier with him than I already am, but I have even less desire to die in another shark attack. The more I know about this underwater world, the sooner I'll be able to survive on my own.

I swim up beside him, going for the easiest conversation starter in our current situation. "How far do the... Sami go? Around the islands?"

"This is all Sami territory. Only the Karu stay close to the islands."

That is not at all reassuring. Is the whole surface infested? I'm astounded my people went as long as they did before the Luasa started taking down their boats.

"Are we safe?"

"Not really." He checks over his shoulder again. I want to grab him and shake him to make him stop; it makes me nervous. "But the Sami aren't usually active at night. And we can see better."

It's true that my eyes have adjusted to the darkness since my stint in the deep. Even with a barely-crescent moon on the rise, the water has not darkened past a shade I would previously have considered twilight. I can see the shadow of Taiki's upper body even without his hand-lights, and the water around us has a slight blue to it that's enough to spot sharks in. If I'm looking in the right direction, at least.

I'd have expected us to dive by now, but Taiki is still taking us straight with no visible intention of leaving the surface waters. "Are your people up here?" I ask incredulously.

"We're here every night." He glances at me sidelong. "Don't you feel it?"

"Feel what?"

He makes a sign I'm not familiar with, then translates, "The diving call."

That must be the urge I've been feeling every time I'm up here in the daytime. Does that mean they get that, too? And they actually follow it? I mean, I did, too, but I also didn't know how bad the surface was at that point. "I feel it." Saying so makes me feel uncomfortably like a real Luasa. "But what's at the surface for you?" I press, because I want to get off this topic, and Taiki doesn't seem about to explain.

"More food."

"Eat your squid."

"They need food."

"Send them up without you."

"They need our help."

"To protect them?"

"And to help them swim."

That's a positive on the protection... but then why aren't his people armed? This conversation has the magical property of opening up three new questions for every one it answers. Taiki and his kind don't even have natural weaponry: claws or spines, or whatever other nasty things ocean creatures defend themselves with. Unless I just haven't seen them yet.

No, if they're like their tiny squid, I would have seen those defenses already. I ate the little things. I run both hands down my face. This isn't going anywhere.

"Why are there Sami and Karu around Telu, though?" I sign. "Why are they fighting?"

Taiki shrugs. "They both need islands. The Karu live on them, and the Sami need them to raise their kids. We need them for our—" He makes a sign I don't understand, and I wave at it. "Sorry." He makes the sign again, and this time says it, too, turned towards me with his hands lit so I can see his face. "Riti. The little squid."

I write it down in my head. The middle is awkward, and I like words that look pretty, so I change it to Risi, a different and equally plausible option for the same lip-read. Risi is all curls and dots. I'm a bit confused why its corresponding sign looks nothing like the squid, though. "So those squid are called Risi?"