Tidecall Memory Fragment đ¤đ¤đ¤: "First Contact"
Location: Portside Village, Cycladic Coastline
Phase: First Quarter Moon (Tui's Smile Curved Upward)
I waited three nights.
Three nights wandering the port barefoot, clothed in borrowed fabric and the illusion of belonging.
I watched him drift through the mortal rhythmsâlaughing, eating, sleeping with his door half-open to the breeze.
On the fourth night, I decided.
I would speak.
I would breach, againâbut this time into his world, not just his waters.
He was alone. Sitting on a seawall, feet dangling over the edge. A paper box of food in his hand. Something steaming and meat-scented.
I crept closerâslow, heart in my throat. My legs still ached with every step. My body remembered the water.
The sand between my toes felt like a threat.
But he smiled at me.
And I forgot how to breathe.
"Hey," he said, voice soft, curious. "You alright?"
My mouth opened. Nothing came out.
I forgot to have a name.
He waited, tilting his head. I mimicked the motionâoverly exact. His brows furrowed. I tried again.
"Yes," I said. The word dropped like a dead fish. "I am very⌠yes."
A pause. He chuckled.
"You need help with something?"
I nodded. Then too much. A rapid bobbing, like a bird in distress.
"I am looking for the place where hearts are kept," I said, confident, certain that this was the correct human ritual. "The⌠warm muscle?"
His expression faltered. "You mean⌠the hospital?"
"No." I stepped closer, barefoot on the stone, fingers twitching. "Your heart. I saw it before. It was full of light."
Now he looked afraid. Just slightly. The kind of fear one has of someone who might be strange, or broken, or drunk.
I tried to fix it. I reached for his chestâfast, open palm, intention clear.
He jolted back.
"Okay, uhâmaybe don't do that."
I froze. Confusion bloomed behind my teeth.
"You said it was warm," I whispered, hand still hovering. "I need to know if it still glows."
"You mean my shirt?"
"âŚYes," I lied, poorly.
I could feel it spiraling. The weirdness. I felt the ancient weight of it pressing against this fragile surface form.
The wrong words, the too-bright eyes, the stillness in me that frightened humans.
I smiledâtoo wide, too long.
He did not smile back.
"Are you⌠okay?" he asked again, slower this time.
I panicked. Said the first thing I could remember:
"I want to mate."
Silence.
Long.
Horrible.
His mouth opened. No sound. Then he laughedâloud, nervous, not kind.
He stepped back fully now, clutching his box like a weapon.
"Okay, this is⌠wild. I'm gonna go now, alright?"
He turned.
I stood there. Heart lurching in a way I did not understand. Water gathering behind my eyes, heat flushing my skin.
He left.
I did not follow him that night.
Instead, I walked back to the shore, stripped the dress, and sat in the tide, letting it reclaim my legs, my weight, my dignity.
Above me, the moon watched silentlyâTui's eye, always open.
She had warned me:
Surface things are sharp.
They shimmer until they cut.
But even as the sea took me back, I ached for him still.
Not for his body.
But for that lookâjust before he recoiled.
That flicker of wonder⌠before the walls closed.
I will try again.
Next time, I will learn.
Next timeâŚ
I will have a name.