[Nevos] The Triad (closed)

“Oh I am looking forward to it then.” Freh’ya exclaimed. ”Taleeze has told me a lot about her time there. The cliffs, the gemstone lake, black pebble beach… all names I have heared off but have never been to. No I also have a reason to spend some time on Illium. Although, not as freely as you perhaps but I’ll get that managed!” She sounded determined in an amused way.

For a moment the just sat and watches the blue and white animals jump along with the boat. Islands came up over the horizon and the FuHa changed course towards a straight between two of them. A single sail could bee seen in some distance.

“Look, that’s Sala and Mala. There is a reef around the islands with fantastic underwater life.” She stood and looked around. “Not much traffic at all today, seems like with have all the fish for us.”

In some distance on posrt side there was a huge green-grey back of a large animal braking the waves. It seemed like drifting a little bit under the surface, playfully flapping the water with two large fins.

“Look, a Skafa!” Freh’ya pointed out. “It’s a young one though.”

Taleeze had been woken up but the signal of the VI. [Target Perimeter Reached]
She couldn’t see Freh’ya or Skylar but expected them to still be on the ship. The VI would have raised an alarm otherwise. So she just selected a bay on the coastline of Mala, waiting for the boat to slightly alter its course by changing the angle of the four sails by a few degrees and went down into the hull.

A quick look down to the bow showed her where Freh and Sky were entertaining themselves. She smiled and threw over a waist long shirt before stepping outside.

“Hey you two! Having fun? We’re about to reach a good anchor spot.” She pointed over towards the island. A wide swooping bay with white sand beaches and lush greenery was visble.

"I don't doubt it," Skylar smiled, shifting to one side so they could continue to watch the sealife without completely disentangling from one another. "I know a few secrets around Nos Astra you won't find in the tour guides. I'd be happy to show you them."

When they neared the islands she stood with Freh'ya and leaned forward on the rail. She happened to be looking starboard, and hadn't spotted the skafa until it was pointed out to her.

"Good heavens," she said, standing up a little straighter in surprise. "A young one? How big do they get?" She realised, belatedly, how accustomed she had become to the waters around Nos Astra, hundreds of miles from the equatorial super-trenches where the planet's only truly sizeable marine life made its homes. She recalled the previous day, how she had barely given a thought to what might be in the water. Of course Taleeze had mentioned there were no local versions of sharks, and she hardly expected the two would have let her swim anywhere that wasn't quite safe; it was merely her own complacency that gave her pause.

Then again, she mused, she didn't think she'd feel ill at ease going for a swim here. Not with Freh'ya nearby. Just her presence created a sense of security in Skylar that surprised her with its power.

She leaned back down, at peace, and glanced back hearing Taleeze's approach.

"We certainly are," she replied. "Hullo yourself, gorgeous." She allowed her gaze to roam along Tal's legs and hips, then turned back to the water. "We've just been watching this enterprising gentleman... or possibly lady, can you tell with skafa by sight?"

"Then I will gladly follow your lead on Illium's wonders" Freh'ya responded to the humans offer with the secret spots.

“Those guys… and no, you can’t tell from here... get a bout three times that size. This one is ten, fifteen meters at most. But they are totally harmless, they drift along, eating what comes in their way, they are absolutely not aggressive, you could even touch one, just the fins can be mean.” Freh’ya eying the soft giant when Taleeze came outside.

“Hey dear.” She turned towards her and gave her a kiss, tasting like salty sun.

“Oh, there’s a skafa, how nice! That’s perfect, you get to see something out here. It looks like we have the bay for ourselves today, not much traffic.” She shaded her eyes to look over to the island.

The FuHa was reducing its speed now by moving the sails out of the wind.

“I just wanted to ask to help me a bit, Freh. I thought we could steer her by hand on the last kilometers. I’d need your had upstairs.”

Back on the bridge Taleeze opened a hatch that contained several winches. She then switched off the auto pilot and Freh and her were turning the masts and gave or retracted the airfoils to maneuver the FuHa right into the centre of the half moon shaped bay. When all masts were vertically up and the airfoils retracted, the VI dropped the anchor and the boat was swaying gently in the light swell.

“Here we are!” Taleeze exclaimed, hugging Skylar and kissed her. The sun warm skin felt wonderful under her hands.
She leaned back grinning, looking up and down the human figure. “Please note, skinny dipping is allowed.”

**

Freh’ya chuckled, as she closed the hatch again.
She stepped closer, putting her arms around the couple. “I have an idea, Skylar, if you feel like it…. You want to see more sealife? I could take you down in a bubble with me if you feel comfortable with that. I’d like to – it’s absolutely safe, Tal and I have done it numerous times.”

The light blue asari nodded.
“Oh yes! I never managed a bubble myself but Freh is so good at it.”

Skylar let her gaze linger on Taleeze and Freh'ya as they kissed. It didn't feel like voyeurism; it felt intimate. She wondered what it would be like to watch more than a kiss - the previous night had been very much all-inclusive, but perhaps there would be times where the two asari might want each other, but not necessarily privacy... or herself and Tal, or Freh... She cut off the line of thought before it could grow truly distracting, although a contented warmth remained with the strong feeling that, one night or another, such questions would be answered.

"That's a job for skilled hands," she added, when Taleeze asked for Freh'ya's help handling the boat. "You'll have to teach me some other time, though. She's such a marvellous boat." She followed the pair to the bridge, and watched proceedings with interest. The two moved as a team, barely needing to communicate in order to synchronise with one another on the winches and controls; the comments and replies that passed between them felt more like a comfortable ritual than a necessity. She approached at last when the work was done, struck by the calm as the boat bobbed gently in the bay without all the rushing and surging of the trip to this point.

"You could do that?" she asked Freh'ya, surprised at her offer. "I wasn't sure that was even possible." She shot a quick smile at Taleeze, then looked back. "Yes, absolutely, I'd be delighted."

“I’ll have you earn you meals on the way home sea-maiden!” Taleeze exclaimed with a captain’s pose, laughing, when Skylar asked for instructions. “It’s not that difficult to handle actually, you’ll get it immediately!” she was sure, given the cleverness Skylar often showed. In fact, Taleeze thought her to be more clever than herself, given the achievements and the age difference. But it didn’t make her feel bad, just proud.

~~~

“Oh, it is possible. You just have to hold on, I need at least one free hand I’m afraid. Come on…” Freh’ya led Skylar outside on one of two frontal booms. They were partially planked with light colored wood and only centimeters above the water surface..

Freh’ya stepped behind the blond woman, hugging her tight with her right. “Ready?” she asked, her extended left was already glowing with the blue glimmer of biotics, a bubble forming round them. Now the gravity seemed to be inverted as the couple was lifting from the planks, engulfed in the blue glow.
“Just hold on, but no need to clench!”

About a meter out and centimeters above the water, the bubble began to intensify and grow to almost three meters in diameter. The water below their feel was displaced by the biotic barrier as if it was made of glass, a perfect circle drawn in the ocean. Now the couple began to sink, the clear staying outside the sphere. When their heads were at sea level, they could just make out Taleeze waving from the FuH and then the biotic submarine descended further, towards the well visible ocean floor in some twenty meters depth. I was covered with colorful corals and small fish or fish-like creatures moved about, not minding the intruders.

Maintaining a bubble under water was just a feeling against the pressure. It was a bit like leaning against a door while someone was pushing from the other side, Freh’ya thought. It was easy to do for her. By the force she could feel she had an ideal measure of the depth and maintaining a constant size and therefore constant air pressure inside the bubble, there was no danger of aeroembolism.

The view was mostly clear, save the occasional flickering in the biotic barrier, separating their air bubble from the maritime world. Freh’ya pointed out a few of the native animals, big and small, colorful or quite dull. Some even came close to investigate the strange object. The water was exceptionally clear but Freh’ya was looking out for the skafa without success. It was too far out, being an open water dweller.

“We have enough air for at least half an hour or even a bit more in here” she noted as the moved along. The huntress took care not to touch the ocean floor with the bubble as many of the delicate structures and plants would not appreciate being exposed to air.

After a couple of minutes they had reached a rim, where the coastal shelf turned into a deep blue abyss. Turing back, they could barely make out the shadow of the FuHa and the anchor chain.

Drifting close to the edge Freh’ya asked Skylar “Are you afraid of the deep? It’s not for everyone but if you want to I can show you a little bit of a light show down there. But if you don’t feel good with it, there’s enough to see around here.” Her hand around the lithe body of the dancer brushed against the soft skin in a soothing way, feeling the well toned muscle underneath it.

"I'm sure you'll find a use for me," Skylar joked, giving Taleeze a quick kiss, then another, more lingering, on the side of her neck, before following Freh'ya's lead.

"Ready," she promised, feeling quite secure with Freh pressed in behind her. She gave a quiet gasp, and smiled slowly, as they lifted off the boom. She had experienced biotic fields before, but never one so seemingly effortless; she knew Freh'ya had to be exerting herself, but her reserves were obviously far deeper, proven as she reinforced and enlarged the sphere around them in preparation for the dive. Skylar reminded herself not to grip the hand around her waist too tightly, but left her own hand atop it - partly because Freh'ya had said to hang on, but also simply because she liked it there. With her other hand she returned Taleeze's wave, then pressed her palm to her cleavage, feeling her own breathing as the water closed above their heads.

"Incredible," she whispered to herself, gazing about at the sea around them. She had never experienced anything like this, no viewport, no window, no suit or mask - but for the rhythmic undulations running across the field's surface, it was as if the ocean had welcomed them as freely as dry land. She lifted her hand to her lips, holding her breath momentarily as a brilliantly coloured fish approach them - wondering if it would simply swim through the barrier and find itself inexplicably in open air - but it swerved as if warned, and she realised that the same pressure Freh'ya was exerting on the water was felt by its inhabitants as well.

She followed her companion's descriptions of the various aquatic flora and fauna around them, although she wondered if she would even be able to remember anything beyond the experience of simply seeing them, until at last they came to the edge. She stared as they approached, craning her neck, then looked back over her shoulder at Freh'ya.

"A little apprehensive, perhaps," she admitted, with a faint grin. "They say humans have an affinity for water - not quite up there with asari, by a long stretch, yet enough to take note of - but there's something... something about depth, about space beneath us. The sense of the unknown below, the one direction we don't normally need to worry about. You might say it's something of a recurring theme in the human psyche."

She looked down again, and gave Freh'ya's hand a loving caress.

"Not today, though," she said. "I feel safe with you. So by all means, let's take the plunge."

“Alright then!” smiled Freh’ya, down to the bent back face of the human. The hair was tickling her a bit when Skylar moved. She could feel the heartbeat in the belly, under her hand. The hand resting on her arm was gripping firm but relaxed.

“If you feel troubled just say so but if we’re lucky we will be all too distracted.” She places a gentle kiss on the top of Skylar’s hair as she drifted the bubble closer towards the dark abyss. You could see seemingly a kilometer under the surface with the water being very clear this time of year but down below was a green blackness.

Down there the bubble went, only lit by the faint glow of blue from Freh’ya’s hand that was guiding the field. Their descent along the almost vertical wall was not exceptionally fast, they could make out some crustacean and plant life that was occupying this zone, every color shifting towards grey. The biotic glow was increasing as Freh had to putt up more and more power to maintain the field. Endurance was not her problem, at least not in the times they would spend underwater. The pressure being constant and predictable made it easy to conserve energy. So they descended until everything around them was pitch black, only the wall behind them barely visible in the blue glow, Freh’ya stopped the decent, looking up there was only a vague idea of light. It was more the fact that she knew there was light but not being actually visible anymore.

Klicking an ticking noises could be heard. The navigation aids of the animals around them and out there. After a moment of rest, the sea around them came to life:


Strange shaped, blinking, disappearing, whooshing around the luminescent intruder, attracted by it, curious. The two just drifted there for a few minutes looking at the silent and cold lightshow, guessing at the invisible shapes of the animals involved.

“It is beautiful. A galaxy within an ocean.”

Another moment… there was a strange sighing noise, rumbling. Some of the lights flickered and disappeared.
“The skafa feeds in the deep, that’s him… or her.” Freh’ya chuckled. “But time’s up, we should go home.”

Faster than on their way down, the bubble shot towards the light, the rim came in sight and soon they were floating towards the four feels and the shadow of the FuHa. Freh’ya lifted onto one of the booms and the bubble extinguished with a small ‘plop’. Fresh wind from the sea brushing their skin now, Freh’ya could feel a small trickle of sweat down her spine.
“I haven’t been down so deep in some time. It was fantastic, thanks for coming.” She said in a low voice, bending down to kiss Skylar. Being so close to the human for so long and her exhaustion had made her a bit excited, so the kiss ended a bit more passionately and demanding than it had started…


“Hey you two hungry explorers, we can get to that later! There’s fish on the grill… “ the teasing voice of Taleeze could be heard from the upper deck. In fact now there was the smell of roasted seafood in the air. Freh’ya looked down and chuckled as she took Skylar’s hand.

As they descended, Skylar felt a sense of stillness settle over her, increasing the further they went, and the more the filtered sunlight faded away around them. Alone she was sure it would have been a most unsettling experience, but she wasn't alone - Freh'ya became the centre of her pocket universe, and the more the world outside seemed to vanish from being, the more connected she felt to the big asari. Rather than tensing, holding her breath, Freh'ya's touch gave her consciousness definition; she found her breathing matching her companion's, her muscles relaxing entirely in her hold.

When they finally slowed and stopped - felt rather than seen - Skylar felt almost as much at peace as in the bed the night before (the early morning before, rather), drifting into sleep with her two lovers draped about her. The darkness outside didn't matter, had no power to make demands of her; only the three of them existed. Only two, here, but Taleeze was somehow not excluded, Skylar didn't feel cut off from her, far above. Then she heard the sounds in the water, and began to see the dimly-lit forms of the inhabitants of the dark water, nearing them. There was no apprehension from her - almost like meditation, the descent with Freh'ya had penetrated her so thoroughly that, held in the asari's calm embrace, her own body could not be startled into motion or anxiety. Not so long as that hand held her.

"It is beautiful," she said in a whisper, repeating Freh'ya's words, but with the added emphasis of one seeing the spectacle for the first time. The darkness, the half-seen creatures, barely-perceptible fins and bodies and appendages unlike any she was familiar with... it was an alien world down here. Yet she felt the appreciation she had always admired in asari - 'alien' experience enriched the soul.

"Alright," she nodded slightly, when Freh'ya told her their time was up. She was in no hurry to leave, but nor did she want to stay, exactly. She felt melded, almost literally; when the asari spoke, she felt as if the words came from both of them.

-----

The fresh air struck her like a wave, and she inhaled and, for a moment, laughed out loud. She steadied herself as Freh'ya held her hand while they walked back along the boom to the deck, but she had no doubt she was wearing a ridiculously wide grin, one that only such a kiss as the asari bestowed upon her could have dispelled, leaving her more customary (given the company) flirtatious smile in its place.

"You're very welcome," she said, feeling slightly surprised at her own voice, raised over the sounds of the air and the sea after being in such a silence. She looked back as Taleeze appeared, and chuckled at her jest.

"I'm sure we can," she agreed, accepting Freh'ya's hand in hers again. "You haven't been idle up here."

After the meal they were lounging around on the stern sundeck, interrupted only by swim. Birds were crying and the water was making gentle sounds.

Taleeze was nestling on the warm chest of Freh’ya, with one open eye dreamily watching Skylar lying next to them. It could stay like that for all she cared.

The days were a bit short on Nevos, dusk begin to fall with the sky going through various colors. The lighting on the ship turned on automatically, basking the decks in a mix of soft, warm light. The air was still warm and smelled of sea and salt.

Freh’ya gently pushed Taleeze off of her and propped her body on her arms.
“I’ll fetch us some drinks.” She proclaimed and rose, stretching and flexing her muscles before she disappeared ionside. After a while you could hear her rummaging through the cabinet in the salon.

Taleeze rolled over to close the distance to Skylar. Under her she could feel where Freh had been lying. She lay on her stomach, chin propped in one hand and her other started caressing the jawine and down the soft elegant curve of Skylar’s neck. She ended up playing with the bikini strap. She wondered what Freh’ya would do when she returned and found the two doing it. A chuckle escaped her.

Freh’ya was preparing three colorful cocktails, not much alcohol but a lot of citrusy fruit juices and a splash of an azure blue luminescent thessian liquor. They looked amazing and were easy to drink, even fighting thirst. She decided to apply slices of an orange nevosian fruit to the glasses.

For a moment she stood and watched around. The sundeck was so dark that she could only see faint shadows of the two girls outside. It had to be a double moon night, she thought, a poem coming to her mind. She shrugged and went for the closet with her personal stuff.

Tucked on the left was a wooden box, Freh took it out carefully and opened it. Folded in a blue cloth was a thessian shi’tari. To a human it may have looked like a solid harp shaped thing, about the length of Freh’ya’s under arm in diameter, crafted from light colored, almost white wood and metal,

There were contact plates but no strings or openings. Her fingers became engulfed in a blue shimmer and a pattern on the front surface lit up in blue luminescent outlines. She placed her hand on to it and a faint humming sound could be heard. This was a nice night for a song or two, she thought, tucking the instrument under her arm and balancing the three cocktails to go outside again.

Skylar murmured her thanks at Freh'ya's offer, and watched her rise and stretch, giving rise to pleasant thoughts. She lay back and smiled as Taleeze rolled over near her while the other asari was inside the cabin.

"Dinner was lovely," she said quietly, offering a smile. The gentle rocking of the boat was soothing, but the hand on her skin kept her alert. She let Taleeze play as she wished for a few moments, then slowly rolled over herself, coming up on her side, to reach her back without denying the asari's hand access to her.

"You've dived with her," she said; it wasn't really a question, she knew Taleeze had. "We went down past the shelf, into the dark. I've never been anywhere like that. I don't know that I could have, if she hadn't been there. She and you." She chuckled, running her fingertips down Taleeze's spine, teasing the waist of her bikini. "You take me places I'd never see without you."

She looked up at Freh'ya's return; there was no hurried attempt to hide the dalliances her hand had been making in her absence. So this was the shi'tari, she thought; somehow it wasn't quite a surprise that there would be music tonight.

Taleeze chuckled back.
“You have been down there? Impressive, I thought she’d take it slow. But I guess I worry too much.” She listened to the tingling Skylar’s hand was producing for a moment. “We’re all progressing fast. I know how it feels to be closed up in a bubble, only the ocean around you. To me it feels like a coming home to another galaxy. It cleans the mind.” She sighed but with a smile. “I wish I could do that myself!” but as a reaction, her biotics flared around her hand, tingling the nerves under Sklyar’s skin. “I can do other things though.!”

When Freh’ya came outside again, she only hesitated for a splitsecond, but when Skylar showed no reaction, she continued the gentle caressing. The only reaction by Freh’ya was a raised eyebrow and a smile when she put the glowing cocktails down within the couples range.

She rolled onto her back, gently encouraging Skylar to cuddle up as Freh’ya took a seat on the bench on the side of the deck.

Here the two were, lovers in love. A beautiful sight, and peace around them as night fell. How could that have been wrong in any way? The soft indirect lighting of the boat’s deck produced more comfortable shadow than illuminate things.

She took a sip of her drink and propped one leg onto the bench, arranging the instrument. A few long and faint tunes came from it, as her biotics activated the mysterious inner workings. She had finally decided on a song and began to play. It was an old Thessian piece, about the loved ones left behind in the harbour and the many new friends to be found beyond the horizon and how love travelled with the singer wherever she was carried by the winds.

"She offered to leave it for another day," Skylar replied. "But being with you - these last couple of days especially, with both of you - is a constant reminder of one of those eloquent little soundbytes Earth has turned out: carpe diem. 'Carpe diem, quam minimum credula postero.'" She chuckled quietly. "Don't worry, your translator won't be set up for that. It's Latin; hasn't been a spoken language for a very long time. I've a notion translator programmers, at least human ones, avoid it on purpose. As a language in modern times, quite often, it's supposed to be 'in Latin', to sound properly intellectual. Seize the day, it means - to enjoy, like you would a fruit, ripe and waiting to be picked." Her smile widened, as she studied Taleeze's features. "Or to put it another way, enjoy the time you have. No doubt fodder for some academic theorist to speculate about early asari explorers dropping in to chat with Horace before being on their way."

With Freh'ya back with them Skylar took Taleeze's encouragement and rested against her, reaching up and back with one arm to stroke the back of her scalp while she watched Freh'ya avidly. Speaking of things we wish we could do ourselves, she mused, as Freh coaxed the instrument into life with her biotics; her fascination with biotic abilities was unsurprising, given their omnipresence in asari society, but she had long gotten over adolescent yearnings for such 'magical' powers and resigned herself without much in the way of dismay to gravity's utter indifference to her opinions of how it should behave. Luckily, she had reflected more than once, before moving - she could understand the surface allure of red sand, and had she not made peace with her bioticlessness before coming to Illium, where it was so easily available, she was far from sure she wouldn't have been tempted, with who knows what consequences.

"Beautiful," she complimented, once Freh'ya's introductory song was complete. "May I share one?" At Freh'ya's nod she suggested a typical Thessian accompaniment structure, which she knew would match her chosen tune well enough, and shifted slightly - not rising from her spot cuddled up to Taleeze, where she was quite content, but straightening a little to help her singing. Her voice was strong and clear, not quite what one might call a true singing talent, but able enough to carry a heartfelt tune.

"Ar lan y môr mae rhosys cochion
Ar lan y môr mae lilis gwynion
Ar lan y môr mae 'nghariad inne
Yn cysgu'r nos a chodi'r bore.

"Ar lan y môr mae carreg wastad
Lle bûm yn siarad gair â'm cariad
O amgylch hon fe dyf y lili
Ac ambell gangen o rosmari.

"Ar lan y môr mae cerrig gleision
Ar lan y môr mae blodau'r meibion
Ar lan y môr mae pob rinweddau
Ar lan y môr mae nghariad innau.

"Llawn yw'r môr o swnd a chegryn
Llawn yw'r wy o wyn a melyn
Llawn yw'r coed o ddail a blode
Llawn o gariad merch wyf inne.

"Mor hardd yw'r haul yn codi'r bore
Mor hardd yw'r enfys aml ei liwie
Mor hardd yw natur ym Mehefin
Ond harddach fyth yw wyneb Elin."