#gabidrake

The gloom and fog of the early hours of the day had only just lifted when Elistra started the short trek into town. When winter came properly, she’d have to start taking Cecil’s truck, its wheels suited for the snow and ice whereas her fragile feet were not. But then again, she’d never been inclined towards the cold; Elistra had been born in warm waters, colorful and tropical and brimming with life, the antithesis to the barren winter that the land brought about.

Emerging from the wooded path, Elistra spotted a figure walking towards her, without purpose, merely wandering. Maybe she’d say hello, offer a greeting, see if it was someone in town, someone who wanted to visit Cecil. But then she drew closer, and with each step, the figure came into alarming, disastrous clarity. At first her mind rejected the possibility. Not here, it said. Not in my Home. But logically she knew that argument held no weight. Mermaids and sirens had been flooding into Port Vale, so why had she thought her own Captain wouldn’t be among their numbers?

Elistra stopped walking. Her breath was coming in shallow and quick. The figure was getting close. Captain Gabriela Drake was approaching and Elistra had a choice to make. Would she stand and confront her, say all the things she’d imagined saying countless times; or would she turn and retreat back towards the chapel, hoping beyond hope that Gabriela did not remember one low-ranking defector from her army of sirens?

The sand crunched beneath Elistra’s boots, frozen over and frigid from the cold weather. She’d spotted Gabi as she made her way towards the beach, her art supplies in hand. Elistra hadn’t known she’d taken up human hobbies, only that she held a fondness for musicals, like Elistra did. But what she did and did not know about her former captain was hardly the first thing on her mind as she jogged up behind her, calling her full name before correcting herself and calling the name that Gabi preferred.

It had been a few weeks now since Elistra had returned to Port Vale, and nothing felt as it had when she’d left it. The ground felt unfamiliar beneath her feet, the air foreign in her lungs. When she’d returned to the water, to the ocean, to the sea that had birthed her, Elistra hadn’t known what she’d be giving up in the hope of reaching the Goddess.

And she didn’t know what she would ask Gabi once she turned around to face her, only that Elistra was desperate for guidance. The Goddess had not contacted her again after that dream, and as much as Elistra was wary about Gabi’s leadership, she was also the only one Elistra felt comfortable turning to. She sped up until the two of them were walking alongside each other on the beach. “I… I went back to the Caribbean.” Her voice was muffled beneath the scarf she’d pulled up over her mouth. “I think… I think I need help with something.” The admission was raw and fragile and Elistra couldn’t look Gabi in the eyes as she said it, though she had already prepared herself for a dismissal.

"No one here in Port Vale,” Gemma lamented. There were several sirens who contended for the top spot in her mind, but all were in the Coral Sea. “Out of those who are here... it’s a tough call. Gabi’s the easiest to work with, certainly. Ridley and Elistra have offered some much-needed insight into Port Vale and humanity as a whole. Val and Seraphina are both friends, and it has been good to have them here - even they don’t always get along with the group at large.”

"I don't think I'm entirely incapable of being what my clan and captain wanted me to be. If I ignored my convictions and just did what I was told, then I'm sure life would be less complex. I'm sure Gabi and Valentina and sirens like them would have shown me the barest amount of respect they'd show any loyal siren willing to throw their life on the line unnecessarily. But that isn't acceptance."

A long silence followed. There had been times when she was younger that she had tried to suppress her penchant for mercy, when she had tried to suppress the swirling thoughts in her mind that accused the world around her of being broken and wrong. "I certainly wouldn't like myself very much, if I changed in that way."