The next morning, Maeve slipped out of the hotel room and ran down to the water just as the sun was lighting the sky. The pink, yellow, and purple hues lit up the mists and the shadowy water reflected it a little.
Just as he had promised, Narfi and Vali's bags were dry as well and were sitting near the spot hers had been. She ran over to them and picked them up, slinging one over her shoulder and holding the other one by the handle.
She looked out at the water to see if she could catch a glimpse of the person who had left them, but to her disappointment, she couldn't see him. She let out a sigh and turned to leave a bit sullen.
"What troubles you?"'A voice said as she turned to leave. "are those not all of the belongings of your brothers?" The voice asked.
Maeve turned around as fast as she could to see the boy in the water but she couldn't see him.
"Where are you?" She asked.
"I am here." He answered.
She looked harder and saw a seal poking its head out of the waves and bobbing up and down with the current.
"Yes that's all that they lost." She answered, "I just wanted to see you again."
The seal came a bit closer curiously.
"What has compelled you to seek my presence?" He asked.
Maeve didn't know how to respond, how could she say it was because he was hot?
"I too felt the desire to meet you once more. There is a mysterious pull about you, and your connection with the earth fascinates me." The seal said.
Maeve got closer to the edge of the cliff and dangled her legs off of it.
"No Maeve! You can't swim!" Narfi suddenly yelled from behind her. The boys had woken up and noticed her gone and were now running down the pathway towards her.
She looked at them startled and then turned back to Lugh but the seal had now vanished.
She sighed and stood up. "I wasn't going to jump in!" She insisted. "I was just talking to Lugh."
Vali looked over the cliff and didn't see anyone in the water. He pulled Maeve away from the edge. "You scared us! You need to tell us when you are leaving!" He said shaking her a bit.
"I just came to get your backpacks. Lugh dried them off for you."
She handed the bags to the boys and Vali searched inside of his frantically but found nothing was missing, especially his money so he sighed. "Maeve I'm serious, no more going to the water."
——-
Lugh watched them go and felt a bit disappointed he hadn't had the opportunity to ask her when she would come back. Now her brother was telling her not to.
How can a girl her age not know how to swim?
He pondered it a bit longer before he sunk back beneath the waves and swam back to his boat to retrieve his fish.