Chapter Text
The faint glow of embers unstoked illuminated the icey room with a tint of orange. The tiny cave Amelia and Gura found themselves trapped in was only partially dug-out. Walls packed with rock and ice, the room held heat surprisingly well, but neither of them knew how well the room would hold.
“Well, I didn’t think it’d actually happen like it does in the movies. Who’d have thought that skiing would actually cause an avalanche, right?” Amelia poked at the beginning of a fire with the end of a knife. With the wood being partially damp, Amelia hoped it would elongate the lifespan of the sticks once placed in the flames.
“I still can’t believe it wasn’t even your fault. That’d be just your luck, huh Watson?” Gura said, mostly joking. She half-heartedly kicked at some snow to compact the wall. A small chunk shook loose, and she backed off.
“Careful Gura, we don’t want to have that collapse. We should be careful when we dig. Also, it wouldn’t be my luck causing an avalanche, as much as it would be my luck to get stuck in one, which we did do- have happen, to us.”
The fire perked up and took to the leaves. Amelia backed off to let it breathe and grow while she pulled more sticks from the floor and walls. Damp as they were, she placed them down to dry by the edge of the fire.
“Aren’t ya going to apologize for getting me caught up in this too?” Gura said. She didn’t have it in her to commit to fully teasing Amelia about this, but made a partial attempt. She wasn’t mad they got stuck, but if they hadn’t followed Amelia’s directions, they wouldn’t be trapped as they were. Gura turned around and stepped to the fire before crouching down beside the ring of stone surrounding it.
“Sorry?” Amelia, who didn’t hear everything Gura said, tried to express that as she fiddled with the campfire she started. They only had so many sticks they could burn, so she started organizing them by size. They could burn the larger ones during the night, so the sticks could smolder for as long as possible, then use the smallest to start the fire again the next day.
“Aw, it’s okay, it’s no worries.” Gura smiled across at Amelia. The orange flames reflected off of her, giving her hair and face a subtle yellow glow. “It’s crazy how much colder it is right next to the ice though, compared to here by the fire,” she mused. “I thought packed ice was supposed to hold heat or something. Isn’t that how igloos work?”
“Mm, yeah, close to that. We don’t really get to compact the ice right for that though. We’ve got rock, and snow. Maybe a tree or two if we really dug, but then it might fall apart. The snow might get warmer as it heats up, and then freeze again. Or it might not, who knows,” Amelia said. She shrugged. She only had a passing knowledge of how igloos worked.
“Well, I’m glad we’ve got some stone. Gives us a good base for packing the ice in here. It can’t be that hard.” Gura laid back and ran her fingers across the snowy wall. Here and there, flakes fell onto her arms, and she left small divots where her fingers compacted the snow. Before she let Amelia say anything else, however, she spoke again. “So… Should we get naked? You know, to share body heat, make sure we stay warm, of course. It’s a safety thing.” Gura moved her hands to her hip and the back of her head, posing on the floor like she was a model.
“Nah, I think you’re only supposed to do that if we’re getting almost dangerously cold, plus our clothes aren’t wet, so we don’t need to take them off luckily. It should be fine to do that to keep warm since we have a sleeping bag though.” Amelia underplayed her reaction for what she felt was just long enough for Gura to think she missed the joke. Or maybe she was actually flirting? Flirt-joke-tation-ing? Amelia wasn’t fully sure. “But if you really wanted to see me naked that bad you coulda just asked, you know. I would’ve only judged you a little,” she said with an accompanying chuckle.
“Alright, Watson, I tried to lighten the mood a little and ya just counter-goofed me, is that how it is? ’Cause I came ready to play those games,” Gura replied. She put her fists up in a boxer’s stance, letting them drift in front of her, like she was ready to strike from any angle. Her large grin, however, betrayed her real intention.
“Yeah ‘cause it’s easy to counter a goofball like you, I do it all the time. It’s fun, too.” Amelia laughed as she reached across the fire to bat at Gura’s raised hands. They play-swatted at each other for a moment before Amelia bumped a stick on the fire, knocking it loose. The momentary joy faded as the reality of their situation sank back in, and a silence fell over the room. Amelia moved the burning stick back into place. The end of the stick was hot, but not so hot she burned herself.
Gura was the first to break their temporary silence.
“Ame… How long do you think it’ll take before help comes?” She pulled her legs inward and crossed her arms around her knees. Gura was tough, she could handle a lot, but something like this… She was out of her element moreso than maybe ever before. She knew she could count on Amelia, and that reassured her.
“It’s hard to say. It’s gotta be soon, I hit the receiver thing that came with the ski gear pretty soon after we came too. Think it’s just some ledge on the other side of this wall?” She tapped the wall behind her, where a bit of exposed stone was not covered by ice, then leaned against it. No point in being uncomfortable.
“Yeah, me too, for both of those. Oh! Why don’t you just time travel outta here? Then you could warn yourself this will happen, and then you could warn me, and we wouldn’t be here!” Gura spoke so assuredly, perking up considerably at her stroke of genius. Amelia did not follow in her enthusiasm however, dashing her rising hopes. In fact, Amelia wouldn’t even match her gaze.
“I can’t. I left my Timepiece in the room. I didn’t want to risk breaking it out here, and we were only going to be out for a bit, but now look how it turned out…” Amelia clenched her fist. She could have prevented all of this, probably. Time was fickle. There was no way for her to know if they could have prevented the avalanche without trying, but she couldn’t do that until they made it back, and at that point, they would have already made the return trip, voiding the point of her attempt in the first place.
“Oh, well… Don’t blame yourself! No need to get so down about it, it’s not that big of a deal. We’ve survived plenty of weird encounters without your Timepiece.” Gura contained her disappointment. Getting mad wouldn’t do much, so she tried her best to be uplifting for Amelia. She wanted to keep her spirits high. “We could distract ourselves some other way to pass the time. Wanna just talk?”
Amelia smiled. “Yeah, like you could stop talking anyway.” She was glad Gura was there to lift her mood, but the shame of her own shortcomings burned still in the back of her mind. Now, if only she could use that heat to keep the both of them warm.
“Okay, bozo, I thought you were a detective, not police, but I guess I was wrong since you’re trying to cop an attitude,” Gura said. She was proud of her occasional zinger, and Amelia’s subsequent laughter told her when her jokes landed. “How about we talk about some of the fun times we’ve had together?”
“Sure, we might as well get to know each other better if we’re gonna be stuck here like this.” Amelia reached around and dug through her bag while Gura spoke. Any time was a good time to check if they had ample supplies. “Do you want to go first? Actually, I’m making you go first.”
“Wha- Why me? Just because I came up with the idea, I need to know what I’d actually talk about right away?” Gura protested her assignment as the new conversation leader. She would much rather listen to Amelia prattle on than herself, but Amelia did not give her that chance.
The sweetness and innocence with which Amelia responded such a simple “yup” to Gura’s complaints betrayed her true intent of messing with Gura, but she knew Amelia was trying to keep the mood as light as she could by keeping their usual banter going.
“Alright, Watson, but if I have to go first, you better get a good one ready for after I’m done.” Gura huffed and turned away, but only for a moment before laughter overcame her. She reached her hands out to warm her palms by the fire as she thought of what sort of story she could possibly tell. There were many adventures she and Amelia had gone on, picking just one wasn’t an easy task. As she sat with palms outstretched, the flames crawled up one of the sticks and licked at her hands. She yanked her hands back. The bite of the heat reminded her of one day from a few months back.
“Do you remember when we went to the beach a long time ago? Like… A few months ago, I think, about the time when Ina somehow got that boat?” Gura stuck her almost-injured hands inside her pockets, shielding them from the heat.
“I think so. Coulda sworn that was only a few weeks ago though…. But yeah, she got that when Kiara took out a life insurance policy. Turns out, most places don’t check if the insurance holder can come back from the dead, so it’s a bit of a legal grey-area. I don’t think they knew, anyway.” Amelia answered with confidence. Her lawyer advised her to deny involvement in or knowledge of any life insurance scams for obvious legal reasons, but since her lawyer was just her from another timeline, she was pretty sure telling Gura would be alright.
“What? You and Ina both helped her with that? Nevermind, I’m not sure I wanna know,” Gura said. She grimaced, yet the idea of the three of them trying to get a bunch of money because of Kiara dying was very funny. Gura made a mental note to ask Kiara about that later to figure out why she’d want to do that. “Anyway… Ina got the boat, so we went to the beach. It was all jungley and humid there, really kinda nice actually, remember?”
“Oh, gross, you actually liked how humid it was? What’s wrong with you?” Amelia laughed at her own interjections into the beginnings of Gura’s story. Truth be told, she didn’t mind the humidity that much, but she loved to complain about it, and she wasn’t going to let Gura off easy either. She knew exactly how to push her buttons.
“Listen! You wanna hear me talk or not?” Gura’s temper flared, then she cooled down. There sometimes came a point where even her patience wore thin.
“Heh, sorry Gura. No more interrupting unless I actually have something to say. Go ahead,” Amelia said. She waved Gura on, who obliged, and continued sharing her story.
***
Atop the waves out on clear blue waters, a jet boat with a slick side panelling job displaying the name Aquascape in a bright, metallic gold paint dashed across the water. The skies above had long-since given way to the light of the sun, and the women on the deck were all content to bask in the heat from the summer wind. Even the splash from the crystal waters below that lapped at their boat would only temporarily cool their skin.
They drove on, as if trying to outrun the blazing sky of the day itself, and slowed only once they found an adequate spot of calm out on the water. The sound of the engines fell from a roar to a purr, and then switched off, leaving the chattering of conversation and the drum of quiet music to contrast the occasional wave that broke against the side of the boat.
“This looks like a good spot. Gura, would you drop the anchor? It’s in the front compartment that I showed you before,” Ina said.
She took off her unzipped jacket to reveal the rest of her cross halter top, but kept on the skirt that matched the aquamarine and black top and bikini bottom. She reached into a cabinet, and placed the keys to the boat inside a small, waterproof lockbox where they would be safe from harm. Meanwhile, Amelia removed the cover from a seat to pull ice chests out from where they were stored. She re-fastened her top sarong which almost blew away during the initial trip on the water. Amelia would claim her lower rajah-and-carnation-coloured sarong never came loose because it was “protected by her butt,” but the knot being on the opposite side from her carnation and rajah top may have helped.
Gura, having stopped listening as soon as Ina said “drop,” went to the front of the boat, grabbed the anchor out of the hatch, and jumped off the front of the boat with the anchor in her hand. She knew they stopped so they could be out on the water for a while, and she planned on hopping in soon anyway. Two birds with one stone, and she didn’t want to wait anymore. The others were wearing their swimsuits anyway, and Gura was no different. She wore her swimsuit long before they got on the boat, for so long that the white from underneath the ruffles on the cobalt bottom piece nearly disappeared from creasing. Her similarly-coloured top was mostly spared from this fate, but the water appeared to restore her outfit to its previous state in its entirety.
Gura hit the water and broke the surface, sinking down with the anchor until she let go to let the anchor sink deeper below. Even the heat on the water from the sun faded the further down she went. Gura watched the anchor sink into the sand and rocks below, where it settled and came to a rest, all the while floating stationary in the water. She often found water movement to be even easier than walking, so remaining in one spot was no challenge whatsoever, even when she had the current of the water to contend with.
When satisfied with the placement of the anchor, she rotated her whole body to look to the surface. Above, she could see the boat as clearly as if she were on land. Even the clouds had a tint of blue when viewed through the water, clear as it may have been, but the seabed around her showed a multitude of colours. The creams and beiges of the sand crossed by the deep green of patches of kelp, and a further array of colour from the coral. Fish swam in and out of their coral homes, feeding on particles in the water as they went, all the while staying clear of the recently-disturbed seafloor near the anchor. Gura wanted to eat a few of them, and to catch them would be of little challenge, but she knew they packed some good food for lunch. Gura closed her eyes and ascended through the water like by a divine grace to heaven, her arms outstretched, welcoming, and free.
Propelled and guided by her tail, her ascent to the top was graceful and quick, and she broke the surface of the water without so much as a splash. The water seemed to bend to her will, and moved out of her way as she floated at the top. Gura crossed her arms behind her head in a model-like pose with a confident lack of tension as she drifted to the back of the boat, where she’d be able to climb back aboard. Water broke across her face, coating her in a cooling rush before being replaced by the heat of the sun bearing down from above.
After a moment’s languor in the water, Gura rolled onto her stomach and swam to the ladder that was dropped into the water. She climbed back onboard of the Aquascape and crouched down while she waited to dry. The sun felt even hotter now that she had left the water, like the stifling heat was trying to make up for lost time by licking away at the water with a blanket of hot air, from which the only respite was the breeze that came across the water. The ocean called to her with every gust, salt in the air and in every drop that glistened, then dried, across her body. But alas, there was no time to jump back in, not quite yet. Ina and Amelia finished setting out their food while Gura was in the water and started eating without her. She wiped any remaining water off of her tail, then settled down to eat with them.
“Did you enjoy your swim?” Ina said. She wore such a contagious smile that Gura couldn’t help but smile back. She’s not sure anyone else asking a question like that would sound anything but facetious, but Ina’s words rang so genuine with interest in knowing how Gura felt, she was always considerate, even when she was torturing her with puns. It’s of little surprise that Ina was her favourite.
“I missed by chance to push you off last time when you were sitting up there, but I’ll try to get you next time, don’t worry,” Amelia said. She laughed at her own declaration of war, but Gura laughed too. Out of all of them, only Ame acted so rowdy with her, Kiara being a close second. Gura knew Ame would be expecting the same sort of playful roughhousing in return, especially out there on the water where no one could stop them from pranking one another. Amelia was her favourite for a reason.
Okay, so maybe all of them were Gura’s favourites, but she had a lot of room in her heart for these girls, plenty for each of them and then some. As such, she wanted to spend as much time with them as she could on this vacation. Gura was disappointed Kiara and Calli couldn’t come with them, but she understood that they had their own plans that they were unable to cancel. Just knowing they wanted to come was enough, but she insisted they needed to go with her somewhere the next time they were free as recompense for missing the tropical getaway vacation.
Gura reached into the icebox and pulled out a chilled sandwich in a neat package, the paper napkins folded in such a way that it looked professionally made even if they were just homemade, since she knew Ina and Amelia packed them before they left. Most of the packing was Ina’s handiwork, she was much more tidy than Ame. Such is but a small portion of her charm. Even cold, the sandwiches they made together were still good. Layers of thin-sliced ham and turkey separated by swiss and cheddar, heated to the point of toasting then immediately refrigerated to keep them fresh for today, but the crust of the tiger bread keeping as much crunch as it did was still a miracle, and left the inside almost as soft as a fresh-baked loaf. The subtle differences in the textures of the meats and cheeses from both one another and after having been heated already made the wait worth her time. It only took Ina, what, four attempts to stop her from eating them early? Not to mention the various spices they used on a few of the sandwiches. A few were plain, but some had black pepper, cayenne pepper, ground basil and chives, whatever the three of them could want. She had no luck convincing them to let her bring any peanut butter though, so Gura couldn’t live quite as decadent of a life as she might want. She thought about grabbing a few more sandwiches before jumping back into the water, and maybe she would have if she was alone, but for the moment, Gura was content to eat next to Ame and Ina. She smiled between every bite.
“So, we’ve got the whole rest of the day out on the water, and a buttload of movies we can watch tonight. Plus, we can totally order margaritas or something before we get settled in for the evening, then just ride out the rest of the night like that,” Amelia said. She wiped crumbs on to the side of her sarong, then grabbed her phone, and placed the open map down on the lid of the icebox so that everyone could see. She gestured to various locations that dotted the pins across their area, including groceries, bars, and restaurants.
Gura appreciated how seriously Ame was taking their vacation, and nodded her approval.
“That sounds like a good plan to me! But you sure got a lot of places marked out there, are we gonna have time to go to all of them?” As much as Gura wanted to do a lot while they had the time, she didn’t want anything to cut into designated ocean hours. She would gladly skip a regular meal if she needed, fresh fish were always an option for her.
“Nah, these are just options if we want them. I figure we only need one or two a day, give or take one or two,” Ame said. She ignored her phone until it turned off, and returned to her sandwich, seeing as the discussion about where they needed to go wasn’t a priority.
“Wait, so why not just say ’one to four’ of them?” Gura wasn’t so much confused with the intent as much as she was confused with the phrasing of Amelia’s words. Before she could prod further however, Ina’s light laughter interrupted, and Gura’s train of thought diverted.
“I helped pick out a few, too. Apparently, there’s a water park nearby. I thought we could go there, it has good reviews. Plus, I saw it has a restaurant with a few secret menu items you can get if you ask your server if the parks are honest or not.” Ina couldn’t contain her smile as she spoke.
“What? How can a place like that be honest? Or any building, or something.” Gura hoped this wasn’t some bizarre expression that was catching on. Trendy phrases were fine, but “honest buildings” was a bit much, even for her liking. It took no time at all for her to regret asking.
“Would you prefer if water parks lied?” Ina’s smile turned to a full, as she’d heard Ame describe it, shit-eating grin as she celebrated her victory over Gura. She congratulated herself on a job well-done in her continued pun war against her friends.
Upon Amelia’s declaration that she saw the pun “coming from a mile away,” Gura’s head snapped toward her. There was no way Amelia knew Ina would make that joke, she just wanted to save face after Ina caught both of them unaware, and Gura made her stance against Ame clear. “You didn’t know that!” she said, annoyed, but having fun.
“Yeah, I did, she used that on me while you were in the water.” Amelia casually dismissed Gura, more than a bit of smugness sealing into her tone. Gura wanted some way to get back at her, but her mind blanked on any sort of clever retort. She cursed her lack of immediate wit, but realized there was something she could do after all.
“Maybe you should give us some time then, I’m sure I’ll think of a joke to get you when you get back from the water!” Gura listened to Amelia’s confused protest only for a moment before she tackled her onto the bench seats. Despite Amelia’s struggle, Gura easily overwhelmed her, and held Amelia in a bear hug. She walked to the back of the boat with a bit of difficulty, laughing all the while at Ame and her attempts at convincing Gura to let her go. She spun in-place for a moment before releasing her grip on Ame and launched her into the air several yards away from the boat.
“Gura you little sh-!” Gura heard nothing more but the satisfying splash of water from the loudmouth detective.
“Well done, Gura. I guess this Amelia didn’t have the heart for the air, but at least you’ve returned Waterson to her rightful home.” Ina continued laughing at her own jokes until Gura stepped closer. Her amusement was replaced with a look of mild confusion as Gura simply picked Ina up. As Gura lifted Ina above her head with great ease, she maintained her curled sitting pose despite her lack of a surface to sit on. The confusion was replaced with realization, then acceptance, as if she had already resigned herself to the fate Gura set for her. “Before I go, tell me one thing…”
“What’s that?” Gura paused her act of vengeance to give Ina her one final request. It was the least she could do before tossing her from the boat.
“Are there at least angelfish waiting for me past the pearly gates on the other side of my watery grave?” Ina stifled her laughter, but not enough to prevent the sounds of her laugh from reaching Gura’s ears. The next sound to reach Gura’s ears was the short shriek Ina gave when she was tossed, followed by the crash of her hitting the water near where Amelia was thrown.
Gura stepped up on top of the backs of the seats that separated them from the back of the boat. She crossed her arms before throwing them out in a pose of triumph. Below, paddling through the water, she could see Amelia and Ina watching her declaration of victory over them and the boat.
“Foolish are those who enter the domain of the shark, ruler of Atlantis and all the seas! Bow now, before the conqueror of your boat!” Gura did her best “big bad evil guy” laugh as Ina and Amelia climbed back onto the boat after Gura finished boasting of her victory. She almost wanted to monologue more, but such a quick burst of energy left her feeling drained, and bearing the brunt of the Sun’s heat on her did not help.
“Oh, who are we to stand against such a foe? Perhaps, could an offering of snacks suffice as tribute?” Ina extended her hand to Amelia, helping her back onto the boat. From her lower back formed shadowy masses that then solidified into her tentacles, which she used to brace herself as she lifted Amelia up. When Ame was steady on her own feet, she turned to Gura once again and kneeled in a pose of fealty. “If those snacks aren’t to your liking, I would offer myself up to sate your hunger.” She looked up at Gura and grinned. Her tentacles were extended like arms as she bowed. Gura knew she was just playing into the bit.
“Aah, you know, I think both will suffice! Now, let’s eat more!” Gura hopped down off the top of the bench and settled herself in front of the food once again. Despite knowing that she was joking, Gura still found Ina offering herself to her a little embarrassing. The Sun’s heat was nothing to that of her growing fluster, and she decided a change of subject was in order. She made sure that the packages of their food were all set out in a nice, neat fashion so Amelia and Ina could join her at their leisure.
Once the other two resumed eating, and the conversation flowed like those many waves below their feet, Gura felt that ease of mind return. Calm waters came gentle into the boat and made for a calm mind for Gura. At peace, on the sea.
***
A chill had settled over the enclosed room as Gura finished recounting her story. The flames that once heated them had dimmed into embers until Amelia noticed the fire waned and added another stick to it. For a second, she worried what was left of the embers would not take, so she added a few of the leaves they had dried off to jumpstart the process.
Another beat passed, and a leaf at the bottom produced a faint smoke trail that rose through the small collection of kindling above it and dissipated into the snow around them. The leaf ignited, and orange fingers of the fire crept around the others before it found the sticks, once again returning heat to Gura and Amelia.
Amelia sighed with relief. She had paid so close attention to Gura’s story that the fire nearly faded from right under her watch. Keeping the fire going was important right now especially, she figured the land above them would be growing dark soon. Keep in the heat. She repeated this in her head several times to try to ensure she would always remember to fuel the fire.
“You know, I’m glad you started with that trip, it was fun. But mine was gonna be from then, too,” Amelia said. She smiled, but soon grinned because she knew she would be embarrassing Gura with what she wanted to talk about. “When you got all sunburned, remember? We had to spend that entire night slathering you in aloe vera just so you could put a shirt back on.”
Gura bemoaned Amelia’s choice in her anecdote. “You just had to bring that up, huh? It was embarrassing enough back then, it’s almost worse now,” she said. Gura put her head in her hands, covering her face. Though her voice was muffled, she continued speaking. “Well, go on then. It is your turn.”
“Hmm, nah, I’ll just let you sit in your embarrassment here, that’s fun enough. I just remember you being just as embarrassed then when you didn’t put sunscreen on and were burnt as hell when we came in for the night. It’s pretty impressive actually, not many sharks get sunburned as badly as you did,” Amelia said. The more she spoke to Gura of her former burn, the more Amelia could see her cheeks burning with embarrassment.
Gura chuckled awkwardly. “Well, what else was I supposed to do? I already got in the water, I wasn’t going to dry off, put sunscreen on, wait for that to dry, and then finally be able to actually get back in the water! That’s way too many steps. Even if that’s what came of it.”
“It’s just kinda funny is all, everybody burns from time to time. Plus, it was kinda hot. Your skin was, I mean, since you were so burned up. It’s like, I could feel how warm you were when I was putting the aloe vera sun slime on you,” Amelia said. She laughed again. She wondered how far she could push Gura before she gave up being embarrassed entirely, although she didn’t want to be too mean about pushing her for a dumb joke.
“Oh my god, Watson, just call it a gel like everyone else does. I get it, I was really red and burned up, I know,” Gura said. As she moved her hands like a conductor to express her irritation, her facade continued to break as her smile peaked through the cracks. She seemed to be enjoying herself just as much as Amelia, even if the conversation was solely focused on her shortcomings. “You even said you wanted to call Kiara so she could double-check and make sure I wasn’t secretly a phoenix-shark, or something kinda dumb like that. Oh, sorry, am I talking too much during your story? You didn’t really interrupt mine.”
“No, no! I like this back-and-forth, it’s nice. Mine’s so short anyway, and teasing you about it is funny, especially when I can get you to respond pretty quick to it.” Amelia was relieved Gura was having enough fun to not realize she was interrupting. Stories were meant to be shared, after all, and what better way to enjoy one than talking, laughing, or crying about a story together? Moreso the former two than the latter option, Amelia hoped. The only tears to be had then were those that welled in Gura’s eyes when they tried to put her in regular clothes again after her body was covered in sunburns. Amelia had her fair share of nasty sunburns in the past, so she really sympathized with Gura’s pain. Every little action could feel like the blazing Sun still beat upon your skin, no matter where you were, no matter the time of day.
“If you say so. Hey, Ame? Can I move closer? It’s cold, ya know?” Gura seemed rather bashful when she asked, so Amelia figured she wanted to cuddle. Truth be told, Amelia was cold too, but so far the temperature was still bearable. She realized that the cold must be much harsher on Gura, so she nodded and placed the bag behind her back.
“Come’re. I doubt it’ll be much longer until someone shows up; we’re not that far out, I don’t think. If you wanna sleep some, go ahead. I’m gonna be up for a while anyway. We should sleep in shifts if we do at all, though, you know… Just in case,” she said.
Amelia would rather not consider the possibility of something horrible happening while both of them slept. She was sure this worry would keep her up through most of their time here, but once Gura was rested, then and only then, she’d rest some too. Amelia opened her arms to receive Gura, who scooted over and placed herself against Amelia. They were close enough to the fire that she should be fine, Amelia thought.
Gura rested her head on Amelia’s chest, and pulled in close, the occasional shiver running through her body. Ame’s arms wrapped tight around her. She knew where she could reach to lock her in, where to squeeze to keep her close, how tight she could press without hurting her. Had things been different, she’d whisper in Gura’s ear sweet nothings, but this was no place for that.
She took a deep breath, and for a moment, a flash of the sea appeared in her mind’s eye. No matter how far they were from any ocean, Gura always smelled faintly of the sea. The hint of sea salt across her skin, or from a breeze brushing through her hair, Amelia was never far from thoughts of the ocean. She rested her head against the back of Gura’s, content to sit like this. Their situation notwithstanding, this was how Amelia liked best to be, wrapped around someone she cared for, and so much too. “I love you, Gura.”
The crackle of the flames on smouldering sticks filled the silence proceeding Gura’s response. Only after she heard a light snore did Amelia realize Gura had been so quick to fall asleep in her arms. She must have tired herself out during the day and with her story, Amelia thought. All her willpower went into not laughing so hard she jostled Gura awake. With the shark defeated, she sat there, watching the fire from just over Gura’s head, waiting for their help to arrive.