12 - Sophae 03 - Connection and Discovery

Sophae was beginning to think this evening had been a mistake. It had certainly started well. Arriving at Naylia’s door, Sophae had stepped forward and knocked on the green door. The paint had started flaking away near the middle of the door, worn by the corrosive salty elements and decades of knocking. Clarize had begun a remark about something, when the front door opened and she cut short her speech.

Sophae had to make a physical effort to keep her jaw from dropping. Instead she took a strangled gulp. Naylia’s figure was draped in an almost scandalously arranged dress, based in a deep purple and shot through with cuts of angular white fabric. It was a stunning contrast to how Sophae was used to seeing Naylia, looking for all the work at home in a food stained apron and a basic t-shirt and jeans.

Melvin reached out his tail from underneath Clarize’s blazer, and smacked Sophae soundly on the back. Sophae managed to eke out “Evening Naylia” before falling silent again.

“Oh please,” Clarize muttered, barely audible. Pushing past Sophae, she reached out with a glad hand towards Naylia.

“Pleased to make your acquaintance! My name is Clarize, friend of Sophae’s, I arrived today in the city by way of /The Windy Isle/. The grey-green boat, during the storm” she added, noting the bemused look of confusion in Naylia’s eyes. “I intend to have a rolicking evening tonight, and we-” Clarize elbowed Sophae’s side, “-would love it if you’d join us. On me, of course. And-” Clarize added with the kind of smile that comes with a bit of confident tease, “-might I add you look delightful this evening.”

Sophae surfaced from her reverie in time to add a smile to the end of Clarize’s self introduction. “Well,” Naylia responded, eyes flicking between Clarize and Sophae, her face bearing that ironic smile that made Sophae’s mind wander, “it sounds like you ladies mean business. So let’s get to it!” And with that, Naylia closed the door behind her, scooped Clarize and Sophae’s arms, one on each of her own, and headed towards the city’s downtown.

The first hour, Sophae didn’t know if she’d ever been so happy in her life. Enraptured by Naylia, and goaded on by Clarize, Sophae felt fantastic.

The second hour, the drinks had begun to catch up, and Sophae retired to a booth in a corner of a nightclub they had ventured into. After a few minutes, Naylia sidled up next to her. She smelled sweet, Sophae realized through her alcohol befuddled state. Some sort of flower Sophae couldn’t place, but she liked it. She also realized she’d missed the first half of what Naylia was saying.

“-your friend is quite something, you know. The way she moves on the dance floor - it’s almost serpentine. Where did you two meet?”

“We-” Sophae paused as her mind clouded the details. “We met at school,” she finished lamely.

“All I know is, for a boat girl, you’re interesting in unexpected ways,” Naylia replied smoothly, moving to sit much closer to Sophae. Sophae felt her face start to redden. Naylia’s knee touched Sophae’s. In the third hour, Sophae found herself slightly more sober, being supported home by Naylia’s pleasantly strong arms. Clarize was in front of her, speaking about the pleasantness of the night, that pretty building facade, and a particularly pungent smell emitted from a food truck they passed.

In the fourth hour, the three of them were huddled in the cabin over her boat, awash in flickering candlelight, swaddled by the few assorted blankets Sophae owned. Clarize had begun to tell one of her gripping tales, and Sophae was pleasantly surprised to find Naylia leaning against her.

In the fifth hour, Clarize finished her tale, and adjourned for the night, citing a need to be clear minded the following day. She exited the boat through the deck door, and gave Sophae a knowing wink as she did.

And now, laying in her cot besides Naylia, Sophae wondered if she was colossally screwing something up, as Naylia’s hands investigated the bottom hem of her dress, fingers slightly tickling against her thighs. It wasn’t that she didn’t want this. It was just so /terrifying/. Sophae had grown up hearing the elder’s tales, the tragedies that followed the forays into passion with those not of her kind. Things never worked out, one way or another, even if the worst didn’t come to pass. And yet Naylia’s hands told a different story, and Sophae found herself swayed by their power. A touch between her legs, and Sophae freed herself to live in the moment. Some time afterwards, still illuminated by the now significantly shorter candle, Sophae marveled as she gazed upon Naylia’s beauty. Her bronzed skin in contrast to Sophae’s own pale white form, hips wide where Sophae’s were slender. Sophae made eye contact with Naylia, and both found slight but tender smiles on their faces. Naylia’s eyes were brown, turned liquid gold by the soft yellow light projected by the small dancing flame. Whorls of depth wove their way into and through the golden structures, prettier than any of the finest human filigree.

Naylia turned away, and stood, silhouette for a moment perfectly framed against the candle. Sophae found her thoughts returning to earlier in the day, when she had considered how Naylia’s hands on her breasts might feel. As she reflected on how lovely that sensation had turned out to be, her eyes lingered on Naylia’s.

Naylia bent, and began to slip on her dress. Once completed, she turned towards Sophae.

“Thank you for the lovely evening, Sophae. I’ll see you around, ok?” she barely more than whispered. The subtle huskiness in her voice was soothing to Sophae’s mind.

Sophae got up from her cot, blankets falling away from her. She pressed herself against Naylia once more that night, and kissed her.

“Sleep well, Naylia. May the tides guide your dreams to shallower eddies.”

Naylia once again gained /that/ grin. “Now that’s the boat girl I know,” she returned, and departed.

Sophae sat, elated, on the edge of her cot. A swim, she decided, would do excellently. Saephra had just finished chasing down a particularly fast fish in the harbor when she noticed something amiss. A piece of fabric, poking out from behind a harbor pier, was waving in the current.

As she approached, it was revealed to be a human body. Her throat constricted. She determined the human was long since dead, after further examination. Worrying at the knots holding the human to the concrete block with her teeth, she retreated as the body came loose from its bonds. But it had been underwater too long, and would no longer float.

Saephra nudged it towards the surface, towards the boat launching area, where the water was shallow and it would be noticed. Saephra noticed, with a realization that caused icy jolts through her system, that the woman - for the victim appeared to be a female - had dark bruises patterning her throat. Saephra finished her macabre task and swam away.

As she made ready for bed, back aboard her boat, her swim cut abruptly short by her sobering find, Sophae examined something that had fallen out of the clothing of the body. Her fist clenched as her thoughts turned dark.