Knight on the Reefs: A Tale of Junayd's heroism

[Alain]

Alain was not the type to risk life or limb for no good reason. That was what he kept telling himself as he watched the sharks glide over the reefs with such ease. He let his hand trail in the water as the boat bobbed softly on the waves. The night was cool and clear and seemed to be a reflection of the water.

"Maybe," he said softly, not really listening to Junayd's poem. He sat up and pulled his t-shirt over his head without consulting any of the others. He kicked his shoes off his feet and his socks quickly followed. "Let's hope they're nurse sharks," Alain said before diving off the side of the boat in only a pair of jeans. There had been something about the water and the night and the sharks that had been irresistibly mesmerizing to him.

He hit the cold water and he felt the usual shock as it covered his body. He kicked towards the surface and his head popped up a few feet away from the boat. His hair was long enough to fall into his eyes, especially when wet, and he shook his head to get it out of the way. He sighed as he took a few leisurely strokes through the water before looking down below his feet to see if his presence was bothering the sharks beneath him.

[Suji]

When Alain took of his shirt Suji's eyebrows rose steeply, and there was barely any time to talk any sort of sense into him before he dove off the side of the boat. It wasn't small enough to capsize, but he was a big guy and the motion sent the smallish craft rocking. Junayd immediately grasped onto anything secured around him, looking more like they were caught in a hurricane than like someone had taken a dip in calm weather.

Suji leaned over, inspecting Alain's drink cup. It still had liquid in it, and he hadn't had that much. Which meant you couldn't really blame his midnight swim on the effects of alcohol. She turned around, resting an elbow on the edge of the boat, and looked over at Alain treading water. "Careful for your feet," Suji called out to him. "Coral can be really sharp." As far as she was concerned, the tall young man accidentally kicking the edge of a coral reef was more likely to injure him than anything else.

"Are you crazy?!" Junayd said in a loud whisper, as if he was afraid the sharks would overhear. "Get back on the boat! Suji, tell him to come back here!"

The more Suji watched him though, the more tempting the water seemed. For some reason she kept thinking that she should be in there too, to protect him if they were tiger sharks. Because she could become something that ate sharks as part of its regular diet.

But that was ridiculous. First of all, unless she was already morphed, it wouldn't do anyone much good -- even one serious bite from a shark could result in permanent injury or death by blood loss. Second of all, she wasn't morphing in front of these guys. Cassie had never forbidden it in any way, but it was Suji's personal choice. Lastly, these really were probably nurse sharks. There were a lot of them around the beaches here.

Suji rested her head in one hand, looking over at him. "How's the water?" It was pretty warm on the top, but that could be misleading further down, from what she knew.

[Alain]

Alain tried to float on his back but it had been a long time since his swimming lessons and he found it difficult. It was still relaxing to try though and he glided through the water parallel to the boat. He didn't have the grace of the sharks beneath him but there was a wonderful feeling of weightlessness in the water. He closed his eyes for a moment, allowing his ears to go beneath the level of the water. The sounds of the world were muffled and when he opened his eyes he could see the sky full of stars above him.

He barely heard Suji's question. Maybe because his ears were still clogged with water but probably more likely because he was just allowing himself to float for a little. "It's nice," he said in a calm tone. "Care to join me?"

[Suji]

Suji kept one eye on the sharks, and one on Alain, though she was careful to glance away quickly. It felt unseemly to be looking at his bare chest for some reason, which was incredibly stupid. For roughly two years she'd lived in close confines with plenty of young men and women, usually clothed only in mismatched, skintight oufits. But Alain wasn't an Animorph, and that'd all been out of necessity.

The sharks, as it was, didn't seem aggressive at all, but they may have been annoyed by his presence. Or he might have been scaring away the crustaceans they were hunting. They moved away slightly, drifting a few yards down. Junayd didn't seem really comforted by this.

"Care to join me?"

Suji thought again about how nice it would feel to go crocodile. Alain looked relaxed now, but he'd never felt what it was like to sink down into that reptile brain. Floating through the water with no natural predators, mind all still and assured, untouched as death itself.

Maybe when they go home for the night, Suji thought to herself, and was more than a little surprised that she was so interested in the idea. For now, there was a second best alternative. Suji stood out, and glanced back at Junayd, whose eyes went big with worry. "Et tu, Brute?" He asked quietly, and she laughed genuinely.

"C'mon Junayd, there's nothing to be afraid of." Without disrobing her tank top or shorts, Suji held her nose and jumped off the side. She shot straight down, the water engulfing her. Her feet luckily didn't sink far enough to hit coral, and she kicked towards the surface. The water was definitely warmer than any of the oceans she'd ever swam in, but it was incredibly salty. As she broke the surface, she blinked furiously to get it out of her eyes.

Following Alain's lead, Suji leveled onto her back. The last time she'd really done any swimming had been in a filthy, freezing run-off pipe that fed into a sewer at Dallas. This was only about a thousand times nicer.

Junayd clambered to the side of his boat, and sat where he could let his (now bare) feet hang it. It seemed like an accomplishment for him, and he looked pretty proud of himself. "I'll just stay up here and uh, keep an eye out." Indeed, he did seem to be very thoroughly searching the dark waters for any sign of incoming sharks.

[Alain]

Alain smiled over at Suji. Partially because of Junayd's antics and partially because it was such a damned nice night and it was one of the few he'd spent relaxing and the only one he'd spent with friends. He looked over at Junayd and watched him scan the water with a critical eye as his feet drifted through the water and decided that the term did apply to him. Maybe he wouldn't let Junayd know that right away but the man had won a bit of his affection if only for being a seemingly endlessly amusing character.

He stroked through the water, not really trying to go anywhere or swimming with any conviction, just enjoying the feeling of being weightless. It occurred to him that there was some type of metaphor in all of this but then he decided to stop worrying about it. Let Junayd be the poet. He just wanted to be...Alain.

"I'm Alain," he said quietly, smiling but it wasn't enough. He turned himself a bit more vertical and screamed, "Alain!" It wasn't quite at the top of his lungs. He wasn't that uninhibited yet but it was louder than he thought anyone had heard him be. The sounds echoed out over the ocean as he let his head sink under the water. He closed his eyes tightly and just stayed under for a second before popping back up and shaking some of the water out of his hair.

[Suji]

Suji looked over at Alain and when it seemed he maybe hadn't completely lost his mind, she turned so she could give a heaping shove and splash a moderate wall of water towards him. "Nice to meet you Alain, but you're scaring away the sharks!" Before there could be immediate retribution, Suji back-stroked away.

Unfortunately her foot managed to come down on an particularly tall, upturned piece of coral. It bit into the fleshy pad of her food, and the salt water didn't really tickle. Still, she didn't complain. It didn't feel so deep. "Hey watch out for that spot," she called out, anticipating Alain's vengeance. "Something sharp." She swam away from it to make it more clear.

[Alain]

Alain closed his eyes just in time to avoid getting too much salt water in them. He ducked back under the water, therefore spoiling the entire idea of dodging the thrown wave but it felt good to swim. He missed Suji's warning but he wasn't near the spot and he heard her the second time when she swam away from it.

"You ok," he asked, swimming in her direction.

"Yeah! Are you ok?" Junayd yelled from the boat, an honestly concerned look on his face. "I have a first aid kit if you guys need help. You'll have to swim back to the boat." It was obvious this is what Junayd wanted them to do since they had drifted a bit from the boat. While Junayd was still plainly visible in the light of the little lamp, Alain imagined the effect was one way. Junayd probably couldn't see them in the darkness and that most likely fed into his concern.

[Suji]

"Yeah I'm all right," Suji replied, feeling kind of silly for mentioning it. She probably wouldn't have said anything if she hadn't been worried that Alain would make the same mistake. She turned a bit towards the boat. "No cause for alarm!" She half-shouted back. "I'm all right, it isn't bad!"

Just to be sure she wasn't making herself a liar, Suji reached down and touched the cut on her foot. It was awkward to tread water at the same time, and she ended up spitting out a mouthful of salt water. Her fingers prodded the wound. It protested sharply and she gritted her teeth, but as suspected, it wasn't too deep. She'd wrapped it when they got to the boat to make them feel better if necessary. Maybe she'd morph it away later.

"Hey," Junayd said suddenly, and she saw him looking back and forth into the water. "The sharks are gone!" He sounded delighted, but Suji's brow furrowed. Odd. Suddenly the hush of the ocean didn't seem as welcoming. Without realizing she was doing it, Suji floated back towards Alain a bit.

[Alain]

Alain was glad to hear that Suji was alright though he had assumed as much. If she were actually hurt she probably would have said so and most of his motivation in asking had come from a desire to get closer to her so he could splash her back. Junayd had ruined that a bit, or so he thought until Suji started headed back his way.

A smile bloomed on his face before he wiped it so that it wouldn't give him away. As he was about to splash her he caught the look on her face and stopped. "What is it?" he asked, looking around has he noticed that the sharks actually were gone, or at least, had passed out of the lamp's circle of light.

[Suji]

Suji had suspected Alain to attack her, and she wouldn't have minded the exchange if it wasn't for the sinking sensation in her gut. It was hard to describe, and she was probably just being paranoid. But somehow the water felt stiller, and you didn't live as long as she had in a world of things that wanted you dead without listening to those tiny alarm bells. Her face must have given her away, because his went serious very quickly.

This would be a great opportunity, if I was just kidding. And it really would have been. It was almost perfect enough that she was tempted to forget about it. But in the end, safe rather than sorry. They were in tropical waters, swimming around reefs, not even near a big party with a lot of noise or anything, at night. Also, her foot was bleeding pretty steadily, even if it wasn't a major laceration.

Suji smiled, swiftly (and she prayed efficiently) hiding her discomfort. "Oh, I just felt my foot, and I think maybe I do need a bandage. We should head back in. Race you?" Without waiting for a response, Suji began swimming back towards the boat. Hopefully Alain would buy in. And, hopefully, he would beat her there. He was bigger and undoubtedly stronger, and she wanted him out of the water first. Even if she was the one bleeding, she was probably also the most likely to survive-

-what, a shark attack? Get real, Suji. You're more likely to get struck by lightning.

Sure, Suji knew the statistics. But you kind of lost faith in the statistical average of things when your planet had been conquered by slugs from outer space.

They were only about ten feet from the boat when Junayd yelled over to the. "Oh, hey, one came back! It's pretty far away though." Suji, looked over her shoulder, searching below first. But then something caught her eye; the shark Junayd was referring to wasn't slinking around the reefs. She could see the fin in the distance. It was at least 40 feet away, just at the range of visibility, and it wasn't heading for them. It was actually moving parallel to them.

Which worried Suji a lot more.

"Junayd, help Alain out of the water, okay?"

"Ladies fir-"

"Junayd, do it." There could be no mistaking that it was an order, and Junayd looked a little affronted. But he didn't really argue the point any more; Suji had a way of making things sound absolutely final. It worked on most people.

"Man. Okay, fine." He leaned over, reaching down so that Alain could grab his hand when he came over.

[Alain]

"Uh, ok," he said, a little disappointed. He'd been enjoying the swim and he really didn't want it to end but if her foot was hurting her that badly they should probably head back and get it checked out.

He began swimming back towards Junayd and the boat and only put some effort into his strokes when he realized she was serious about the race. He didn't really care about winning, he was more concerned with making sure she got there safe enough so he trailed a bit behind her.

When he reached the side of the boat he grabbed hold of it with one hand and turned back to help Suji get in. She was the one that was hurt after all and, supposedly, that was the reason they were getting out of the water. But he saw her eyes locked on the shark Junayd had spotted. Alain turned to look at it too and wondered if his stupid desire to swim was actually going to turn out badly after all.

When Suji ordered Junayd to help him out of the water he almost protested. She was the one they had to be after. Besides, a large part of him rebelled against the idea that she'd pay for his mistakes twice. But he let Junayd help him into the ship, figuring he would waste more time arguing with her than he would by just jumping in and getting her out of the water as soon as possible as well.

He dripped sea water all over the deck as Junayd grabbed his arm and then his shoulder and pulled him into the boat. He slid in on his stomach rather than trying anything fancy. He didn't want to tip the boat over and send them all into the water.

As soon as he was in, before he was all of the way in actually, he turned back and held out a hand to Suji. "Suji, come on. Junayd," he demanded the other teacher's assistance without looking back at him but it was really unnecessary since Junayd was already holding out his hand.

[Suji]

Suji was half turned towards the boat, half turned towards where the shark's fin cut through the water. It was still travelling sideways from them, but it was definitely closer now. Circling behavior. A curious shark was a hungry shark, and Suji felt her throat constrict when she saw the fin dip below the water. The feeling of fear was strange; it seemed so long since she'd actually had a visceral, gut-level, adrenaline-pumping fright. Most of her fears tended to be long term, the stuff that ate away at you in nightmares.

Not the stuff that would eat you while you were awake, for instance.

Alain slipped into the boat, and Suji wasted no time and made no fuss about putting a hand in his and Junayd's. Together they were able to drag her out of the water without much trouble, though the floor was slippery and it took a while for them to sort themselves out without falling down. As soon as everyone was seated, Suji turned back over, peering into the water. "Check this out," she said quietly, gesturing for them to come over as well. She didn't sound scared now, but excited, part of completely unable to panic (especially now that they were back to safety).

As they peered over, the lamplight showed a form at least six feet long pass under the boat. It went directly under them, so close to the boat that the distinct, striped pattern on its back was entirely visible. Suji felt her hairs stand on end, even as she was soaking wet. Truth be told, she had to resist the urge to reach down and brush her fingers along its sandpaper skin. What would it be like, to morph something that spent its entire life prowling the oceans? Fortunately, she reigned herself in, and kept all limbs within the small boat.

[Alain]

Alain made his way over to the side of the boat next to Suji, careful not to unbalance things too much. He looked down into the water in time to see the shark go gliding by beneath them, it's tiger stripe patter just barely visible in the light cast by their lone lamp. Water dripped from Alain's hair as he watched the creature go by. There was something completely elemental about the shark. He'd seen a lot of dolphins and whales in aquarium gift shops but if there was one animal that ruled the oceans it was a shark.

It was an oddly esoteric thought for Alain but he let it pass through his mind without too much examination. This night had been too oddly magical to ruin with gloomy introspection. A small smile curved his lips as pulled his head back over the edge of the boat and looked over at Suji and then at Junayd. He felt like they had just had the smallest contact with something meaningful and older than all of the concerns that bothered his thoughts on a regular basis.

"You're both crazy," Junayd said, looking from one to the other.

[Suji]

Suji grinned widely at Alain and then Junayd, and shrugged, as if to say, Yeah, and I know it, don't worry. Part of her felt like they'd just completed a small mission or something; the same rush she got when everyone was back safely after being in danger. Suji sunk back down to her seat, still grinning, through she bit her bottom lip to try to hide it. The cut on her foot was entirely forgotten.

"I think we need a toast," she said gestured to their remaining bottles and their neon-colored cups. When she couldn't hold it in any longer, Suji started laughing. Maybe it wasn't a particularly funny situation (and she was sure Junayd didn't think so), but it felt so absurd. Death had glided amongst them with rows of sharp teeth and a tiger striped back. It was probably just the endorphins still in her system, but she kept laughing. Suji putting a hand over her mouth to try to quell the sound, eyes still bright as they looked back and forth between the two men. But mostly at Alain.

[Alain]

Alain smiled when Suji suggested a toast. He held up his cup immediately. If he hadn't known that he'd been working on his beer slowly all night he may have suspected that he was a little drunk. He felt the same goofy happiness that being a little intoxicated normally induced and it felt all the better knowing that it was completely situation induced.

Junayd followed suit with a bit more reluctance, lifting his cup. When Suji started laughing he looked almost offended by her ability to laugh about what had just happened and between Suji's laughter and Junayd's expression Alain found himself laughing as well.

Tears came easily to his eyes as they always had and he didn't bother to try to wipe them away since they just mixed in with the salt water that was already all over him. He was beginning to feel a bit chilly now that he was out of the water but he could ignore the sensation for a little while longer in order to enjoy the night.

"What shall we toast to?" he asked Suji, with a smile on his face. He looked back at Junayd who still looked confused and affronted. "Any toasts Junayd?" he asked the poet.