Cal fell silent. Jake's heart thumped. Thoughts skidded madly around his head. This is what the dream had meant. It wasn't Cal, it was Syllable's - his mother, calling him to the sea. Of course, the silver hair... this hair... He stroked this message. Overwhelmed, he tumbled off the paddy and plunged under the water. "Jake-" Cal looked down. He swam furiously around the platform, diving and somersaulting, trying to obliterate a rush of confusing emotions. At last he came up with a tremendous splash.
"That's me!" He spun around, shouting aloud. "That's me!"
"You - you're my kin," said Cal, quietly. "You're my brother."Jake stopped abruptly. He trod water, gasping for breath, his hair dripped around his startled face. Cal stared at him, apprehensively. "Did you know?" he asked. "Did you know about me - about us...?"
"No." As soon as Cal said it she doubted herself. Could she have known, somehow? "We were meant to find each other," she said, "I see that now. But I don't know about Sylla - about us."
Jake heaved himself back into the paddy and lay down in the sun. He breath deeply. For a while they both gazed in silence, searching for new bearings.
"It is... good, isn't it, being kin?" Jake said hesitantly, not looking at Cal.
"Yes," she replied. "It is good." Jake rolled over and propped himself on his elbow. Cal's face relaxed and she smiled at him. "When I left my father I don't know what to expect. This makes sense of things - why I had to watch you, and the storm, don't you see, it was the sea claiming you back." She twisted a strand of hair thoughtfully. "But I haven't inherited this power my mother talks about. I mean, our mother."
Our mother. Jake repeated the words silently in his head. My mother. Jake realized that apart from his boat nothing had ever really belonged to him: his home, Charley and Lil - all that suddenly seemed like something borrowed; some wonderful borrowed thing that he could ever keep. Instead here was real belonging. And it felt like new beginning. "You haven't finish reading," said Jake. "Go on,..." Cal turned again to the message.
"Three times that night I pulled myself to the water's edge, waiting to take you back. But the low tide kept me beyond reach. Early next morning an old Creeper found you and took you away.
I couldn't leave that place. At last a powerful undertow dragged me below. The current carried me until a ray appeared and took me to a Silvertail settlement, to others of my kind."
"Skimmer!" cried Cal. "It was him - he must have found her."
"I hid my Marrow secret. Yet, in time, Til's gift moved me. Slowly I grew close to one who was kind. Pelin was overjoyed when you, Calypsia, were born and I saw Til's nature in your eyes. But that effort was great. Now I fear-"
Just then there was a riotous screech and three big gulls tumbled out of the sky, squabbling as they dive for fish beside the paddy. Seeing the silver cloth, one of them broke away and began stabbing at it with its beak. "Get off!" Jake swung his fist. But the fearless gull thrust out its yellow claws and beat its wings at Jake's face. The other birds join the attack.
Cal cowered. They shrieked and snatched at her hair. "Jake, help me! Get them off!" She was frightened of the bride, afraid of tearing the message by fulling away.
"WHOOA!" Jake shouted and leapt up. The paddy rocked. Suddenly there was a loud crack and a rotten timber that had been supporting the structure split in two. The gulls screamed and took off at once. The whole raft of weed collapsed beneath Jake and Cal, dragging them under the water in a convulsion of wrack and rope. They trashed and twisted, struggling wildly to free themselves. Trapped air bubbled to the surface. Frantic fish scattered in panic. Jake could see nothing in the swirling debris. He pushed at the mat of kelp above his head, forgetting his Delphine breath, terrified that he was gong to drown. Cal's hair was caught in a knot of cable. It pull her down, headfirst. She ripped at her hair, screaming in pain, her tail snag in the spinning fronds.
Sylla's message, ripped by the wreckage, fell into the sea below.