The Shell and the Star - Part 4

I'm continuing this week with Chapter 2 of The Shell and the Star. This is Part 4 of the serialized story, and includes more story commentary at the end.

If you are just tuning in to this book, I've now set up a page where you can read all the previous portions posted on this blog to date. Going forward, the page will be updated with each new part of The Shell and the Star after they have posted on Mondays.

Here's the link to the page: The Shell and the Star 

“Are you disappointed?” she asked in a tone of challenge, but secretly feared his reply.

“I am….enchanted,” he said, expelling a quiet hail of bubbles. “You are beyond beautiful.”

“I am not.” Jinn countered, averting her gaze. She swallowed around the lump of pain in her throat.

“Is this what you believe?” he asked softly, regarding her with eyes that were a startling shade of tropical blue. His short-cropped black hair waved in the gentle current. He used his fins to hold himself suspended at eye level, but she had yet to look him full in the face. “I see you very differently.”

“Perhaps you are vision-impaired,” Jinn countered, the hurt still bubbling inside at the trick their fathers had played on them. And maybe because she couldn’t help liking this confident young Perling…and she didn’t want to like him.

“It seems you don’t wish to be here at all,” Trey said in a quiet voice. “Why did you come to answer my bid?”

“Because my father insisted.”

He pursed his lips. “This is the only reason?”

“Yes.”

“Then it seems I have little chance of winning your hand.”

Jinn dropped her eyes. “Perhaps it’s better I return to my home.”

“I didn’t say I wouldn’t try.” Trey smiled at her and when that same warmth reached his eyes, Jinn’s heart felt like a large buoy rising in her chest. Despite her doubts, his genuine interest soothed her misgivings.

She looked toward the door as the staff member—Morra?—swam in with two drink-bulbs of pale green liquid. Trey thanked her and took a globe in each hand, offering one to Jinn as the staffer retreated through the arch. Jinn nodded to the receptor in her bubble, and Trey placed the drink-ball inside when she opened the outer seal.

“What is it?” she asked, taking the bulb from the inner chamber once the water had been vacuumed out.

“Shinshey. The juice of a special sea fan we farm.” He waved a forefin toward his drink. “Please try it.”

She hesitated, staring into the swirling liquid. When she glanced back at Trey, he took a long sip from own his refreshment and nodded to her.

Jinn put the drink tube to her lips to take a cautious sip. The liquid slid over her tongue, sweet, cool and slightly spiced. “It’s delicious,” she murmured, concealing her delight at the rare treat. Fresh food and drink on Talstar were rare, their supplies often stale or bland from frozen storage.

“You don’t trade this marvelous juice with Talstar?”

“We can’t produce enough to trade. It’s too rare,” he explained.

"Ah," Jinn acknowledged with a nod, wondering why Trey would waste such a rare and wonderful commodity on her, yet secretly delighted that he had. 

Rays of brilliant light suddenly lanced down from the ceiling and her envirosphere shuddered as a bass rumble sounded from her translator. Thick curtains of bubbles rose from the floor around her. Jinn shrank back in terror. Was the structure collapsing around them? “What’s happening?” she cried.

Trey swam closer, placing a fin on her sphere and peering through the barrier into her eyes. “Don’t be frightened. You’re safe.” She instinctively eased nearer to his side of her bubble, pressing her hand to the spot his fin rested before self-consciously pulling it back when the disturbance ceased.

“What just happened?”

“A changing of the air. See the air vents?” He motioned with his free fin toward a series of slits in the floor of the room. “The old air has to be released to the surface so that fresh can be pumped in. Otherwise the oxygen would become too depleted to breath. It’s entirely safe…just noisy.”

“You mean you don’t use air scrubbers?” Jinn questioned, lifting her questioning gaze to Trey.

“Air scrubbers?”

“Filters. To remove nitrogen and contaminants and keep the oxygen at optimum levels.”

He hovered vertically in the water, considering her words. “We have nothing like this on Perling.”

“Well, you should.” This made no sense. Why hadn’t Talstar provided such simple technology in their trade deals? Maybe a taste of the delightful Shinshey juice would give her people new inspiration to strike a deal.

_______________________________________________

Story Commentary: 

The Star-(and Shell-)Crossed Lovers

Trey, the hero, and Jinn, the heroine of the story are both the children of important leaders, and both are outcasts of their respective societies due to their physical shortcomings. 

Trey is accepting and confident about his "disability" but Jinn is self-conscious and shame-ridden.

A meeting is arranged by their fathers--two loving and hopeful parents who not only hope for a successful match, but also plot to strengthen the ties--and the trade--between their two societies. 

Though Trey and Jinn immediately strike a chord as kindred spirits, the soul-deep differences in how they view themselves and their place in society, along with conflicting cultural traditions, could be the ingredients for disaster.

But Trey has a profound secret, and envisions a future that Jinn can't yet imagine. Will his optimism win out in the end, or will Jinn reject the possibilities their shared future might present? 

Thanks for stopping by Spacefreighters Lounge for a dip into the seas of this aquatic world. Please join me next Monday for Part 5.

Have a great week!