falls back into the sea. Nothing I ever said could shake her vanity, so I don’t know why I even bothered.
“They’re so clumsy and strange looking. And all dried out like old coconuts. I’ve seen better looking old-man eels.”
The ones I’d seen weren’t dry. They were soaked through, you could see the water streaming off them like storm-rain. But strange looking – yes. Their skin had all the colours of the sea forest and flapped about them as if it didn’t fit properly. And those legs! How high they stood on them, squinting out over the water – I wondered if I could balance on my tail like that, and tried it, and flopped on the flat rock with a splat and an ouch.
“ That’s not their real skin,” said Casih, drawing the long gutting knife along the belly of the first bluefin, so that the flesh began to ooze red juice onto the slate dark stone. “They cover themselves up.”
“But w hy do they? Are they trying to trick each other?” I asked, scraping up damp sand over my tail to make two lumpish human legs. I should have been helping, I know.
“ It’s because they’re so disgusting, they can’t even bear to look at themselves,” Dawii said, pulling the guts away from the spine. Dawii thinks she knows everything, because she once found a cave on the outer edge of the lagoon that nobody else had ever been in, or so she said. She showed it to us, and we called it the Squid Cave, because it had a squid in it (although we pulled him out and ate him, so perhaps it doesn’t now). She was cruising about on the reef looking for things to eat in the long weeds and she pulled at a piece of bubble weed stuck to a rock, and the rock rolled off, and there it was. Now, you can swim into the cave through a dark hole under the sea, and inside, the water is thick and almost lightless, at first. Nobody went there before she found it – or so she says – and nobody goes there now either, and why should they?
Dark Suria began braiding Azura’ silver hair into eight thick strands, like octopus legs. She looked down complacently at her own pearl white skin.
“ I wouldn’t like to either, if I were them. I can’t think of anything worse than being a human. I’d rather be an oyster.”
“ That’s not what the elders say.”
Sensible Dayang pushed the guts to one side, for later. She was always a hard worker, when the rest of us sat around and gossiped.
“It’s becaus e their skins are weak and they have to hide themselves from the sun and the sea. Humans are like crabs, they have to go about in shells otherwise they’ll damage their soft bodies.”
“ If I caught one, I’d scoop him out of his shell and knock his ugly head open with a rock.”
Azura sniffed, and popped a piece of fresh cut meat into her mouth. Dayang slapped her hand, but not hard. We were supposed to give Father and the other males the best of the meat first, before we took our own food. If we were lucky, they’d leave us more than just the guts. That’s the way it was.
“ They’re prettier than you are, Azura stumpy-tail,” I said, being mean in my turn - because Azura had a short, fat tail with stubby fronds at the end of it, not like my shining long one, and she was sensitive about it.
It’s not that I thought humans were particularly nice to look at – I hadn’t even seen one for long enough to have an opinion, not then. I just wanted to argue. More than anything, I didn’t want to be like Azura and the others- obedient, incurious, vain.
“ I don’t see what’s so scary about humans, anyway. They’re all soft and squashy, they can’t even swim, they’ve got no tails! I don’t see what creatures like that can ever do to us!”
Azura stuck a claw up, making a rude face.
“I’ve seen one in a shark’s belly once,” Suria put in, thoughtfully. “Just part of one.”
“What did it look like? Which bit?” Azura stopped polishing the tiny blue and
“They’re so clumsy and strange looking. And all dried out like old coconuts. I’ve seen better looking old-man eels.”
The ones I’d seen weren’t dry. They were soaked through, you could see the water streaming off them like storm-rain. But strange looking – yes. Their skin had all the colours of the sea forest and flapped about them as if it didn’t fit properly. And those legs! How high they stood on them, squinting out over the water – I wondered if I could balance on my tail like that, and tried it, and flopped on the flat rock with a splat and an ouch.
“ That’s not their real skin,” said Casih, drawing the long gutting knife along the belly of the first bluefin, so that the flesh began to ooze red juice onto the slate dark stone. “They cover themselves up.”
“But w hy do they? Are they trying to trick each other?” I asked, scraping up damp sand over my tail to make two lumpish human legs. I should have been helping, I know.
“ It’s because they’re so disgusting, they can’t even bear to look at themselves,” Dawii said, pulling the guts away from the spine. Dawii thinks she knows everything, because she once found a cave on the outer edge of the lagoon that nobody else had ever been in, or so she said. She showed it to us, and we called it the Squid Cave, because it had a squid in it (although we pulled him out and ate him, so perhaps it doesn’t now). She was cruising about on the reef looking for things to eat in the long weeds and she pulled at a piece of bubble weed stuck to a rock, and the rock rolled off, and there it was. Now, you can swim into the cave through a dark hole under the sea, and inside, the water is thick and almost lightless, at first. Nobody went there before she found it – or so she says – and nobody goes there now either, and why should they?
Dark Suria began braiding Azura’ silver hair into eight thick strands, like octopus legs. She looked down complacently at her own pearl white skin.
“ I wouldn’t like to either, if I were them. I can’t think of anything worse than being a human. I’d rather be an oyster.”
“ That’s not what the elders say.”
Sensible Dayang pushed the guts to one side, for later. She was always a hard worker, when the rest of us sat around and gossiped.
“It’s becaus e their skins are weak and they have to hide themselves from the sun and the sea. Humans are like crabs, they have to go about in shells otherwise they’ll damage their soft bodies.”
“ If I caught one, I’d scoop him out of his shell and knock his ugly head open with a rock.”
Azura sniffed, and popped a piece of fresh cut meat into her mouth. Dayang slapped her hand, but not hard. We were supposed to give Father and the other males the best of the meat first, before we took our own food. If we were lucky, they’d leave us more than just the guts. That’s the way it was.
“ They’re prettier than you are, Azura stumpy-tail,” I said, being mean in my turn - because Azura had a short, fat tail with stubby fronds at the end of it, not like my shining long one, and she was sensitive about it.
It’s not that I thought humans were particularly nice to look at – I hadn’t even seen one for long enough to have an opinion, not then. I just wanted to argue. More than anything, I didn’t want to be like Azura and the others- obedient, incurious, vain.
“ I don’t see what’s so scary about humans, anyway. They’re all soft and squashy, they can’t even swim, they’ve got no tails! I don’t see what creatures like that can ever do to us!”
Azura stuck a claw up, making a rude face.
“I’ve seen one in a shark’s belly once,” Suria put in, thoughtfully. “Just part of one.”
“What did it look like? Which bit?” Azura stopped polishing the tiny blue and
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