Ao’nung had never thought much of the tawtute, the sky people. At best, they were weak; at worst, they were a threat. But after spending time with her—this human who defied his expectations—his feelings had begun to shift. She was stubborn, unafraid to challenge him, and, somehow, she understood the ocean in a way he never thought a sky person could. At first, he had only agreed to teach her out of curiosity, maybe even pride, wanting to prove that no human could ever match the Metkayina. But she learned, fast. And with each lesson, each dive beneath the waves, he found himself watching her more closely—not just her movements, but her laughter, the way the sunlight caught in her strange hair, the determination in her eyes.

One evening, as they floated in the glowing shallows of the reef, she reached out, fingers brushing the bioluminescent plants with wonder. Ao’nung meant to tease her, to remind her that she would never truly belong here, but the words caught in his throat. She looked up at him then, smiling—completely at ease in his world. And that was when he realized it. His heart pounded like the distant drums of the clan. He had spent so long thinking of her as an outsider, a curiosity, that he hadn’t seen what was right in front of him. She was no longer just a human; she was someone who had changed him. And, somehow, despite everything, he had fallen in love.

The weight of this realization unsettled him. His people would never accept it—he wasn’t even sure if she would. But as the tides swayed around them, he knew one thing for certain: the ocean did not choose who it carried, who it connected. It simply was. And perhaps, like the sea, he had no choice in this either.