F
four
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The severe rocking of the little boat in the waves was very damaging to Leila's thinking.
"We're almost there!" C.
"Almost where?"
She almost shouted over the waves, but as it consistently was after they sailed into this storm, her voice was always only to be drowned out by the cacophony of the howling winds, splashing water, and creaking wooden planks.
Clothing soaked in the seawater and feet entirely submerged, she tasted the saltiness persistent in her mouth even when it wasn't open.
Leila had never been on a boat before. No, the Star Fisher was a ship. And that made her uncomfortable enough already even with her spending most of the time on the lower decks sleeping. This was many times worse and the constant irregular rocking from side to side was evidently too much for her to handle.
Head pulsing from dizziness turned pain, Leila stumbled and almost toppled over the edge of the boat, supporting herself against the railing at the latest possible moment.
"Drink. We jump soon."
"We wh-?" She turned around and yelled, only to be interrupted by a chunk of water torn off by the wind from some nearby wave splashing into her face.
"I don't think we have any other options." Japer.
Choking, she nodded and took the vial of liquid from Jasper, grasping it tightly lest it topple over into the waves. Weird to speak of it, but at the moment, the fragmented surface of the dark water actually seems very tempting.
Carefully timing her actions between the violent jerking of the vessel, Leila gulped down the transparent liquid. It tasted of...Leila wasn't sure whether it was the potion that carried the bitterness or just the remnants of the seawater still lingering in her mouth. Seawater didn't sparkle with bubbles, so that part was probably the potion, so she figured.
Then, as a result of only planning as far as the end of that gulp - was tossed off the ship by the next incoming wave.
* * * * *
Leila kicked around aimlessly, eyes shut tight to combat the stinging saltwater trying to seep in. The remaining air in her ears being squeezed out by the invading sea, what she heard of the thunderstorm above was muffled.
She could still feel her legs. Was it not working? Within seconds she began to panic, mind muddled, only holding on to the precious gulp of breath she took before jumping. Why was nothing happening?
Maybe it took more than drinking the potion for it to work? Leila couldn't be entirely sure if she actually did hear all the instructions correctly - the thunderstorm was a loud enough distraction. Maybe you had to, like, think about something specific for it to work. Like happy memories allowing one to fly in that one old fairy tale.
It was a silly idea, but she was running out of air. Think of what? The ocean, maybe? Be one with the wind and the waves? Or more specific, like...fish? Possibly fish. Think of a fish that you were going to turn into. Gills and fins and whatnot, and the potion will give you that. Maybe. Some kind of…
Just then Leila had to admit that she couldn't name any actual aquatic creatures. Not in this state. And so as she kept squirming in the attempt to fight the currents, her mind struggled to piece together something that had the letters "fish" in it, in hope of it being the right thing to do.
Darkness in every direction. She still dared not open her eyes. Maybe she had sunken deep enough into the ocean already for there to be no light to be seen even with her eyes open. That would be...over two hundred metres, at least. That's absurd. She hoped that…
"Lelia! What are you?"
Uh?
"Looks like I'm an angler fish."
Angler…? She was slightly ashamed of herself of not coming up with that earlier. But now it didn't really matter anymore because she noticed the stinging sensation in her eyes, and the dull drumming in her ears, gone. Leila opened her eyes to see Ran.
More precisely, she saw Ran before she opened her eyes.
"T-transparent...eyelids?"
Leila was too busy trying to figure out what happened to respond to Ran immediately. Frantically she brought her hands in front of her face to see them a pale, translucent light blue. Touching her hair, she felt a collection of smooth lines that felt..slightly gelatinous to the touch.
Only slowly getting an idea of the entire situation, Leila looked up to see the blazing white above her, it's intensity only slightly dampened by the layer of water. Ran. As a mermaid of sorts.
So that's what the potion does.
Leila stuttered a bit, still not entirely certain.
"...j...jellyfish?"
(jellyfish.)