The dawn tide whispered across the sand as the Islanders gathered, bare feet pressed into the shoreline. The air smelled of salt and smoke, gulls wheeling overhead.
Rowan stood with his companions — Mira stretching her arms, Callen tapping restless fingers against his thigh, Darin steady and composed, Lyra smirking already as though she'd enjoy watching Rowan fall flat.
At the front stood Luna.
She looked like she belonged more to the ocean than the land. Bronze skin caught the pale morning light, her dark curls clung damp to her shoulders, and her emerald eyes gleamed like sea-glass. She raised her arms, and the Islanders mirrored her. She breathed, and the tide itself seemed to breathe with her.
The Taichii began. Arms sweeping slow arcs, feet pivoting like waves turning on the shore.
Rowan stumbled instantly. His stance was stiff, his shoulder jerking out of rhythm. Mira flowed more easily, Todd — her silver minnow Soulkin — darting around her head like a spark of light. Darin's movements were deliberate, balanced. Callen's were sharp, quick — almost too forceful. Lyra moved lazily, smirk firmly in place as she watched Rowan flail.
Luna glided past him. She touched his arm lightly, correcting him without breaking stride.
"Too rigid," she murmured, her voice soft as tide over stone. "Water does not answer to force. Let it move through you."
Rowan's chest tightened. "Right. Moving through me."
Behind him, Lyra's whisper cut sharp as ever. "Try not to drown staring at her."
He nearly tripped again.
By the time Luna raised her hand to finish, Rowan's legs trembled, sweat dripping down his back. And yet, when her eyes caught his, he nearly forgot the exhaustion.
---
Later, they gathered at a crescent cove, the tide still and glassy beneath lantern light. Islanders ringed the water, silent, waiting.
"Now," Luna said, "you will learn the truth of your Soulkin."
She raised her hand. A sleek dolphin broke through the surface, silver and shining. It circled her, whistling, before pressing close. With a shimmer of light, it dissolved into her chest.
Rowan staggered. "What—what was that?"
Luna stepped into the water, sank beneath, vanished. A long silence stretched — Rowan's chest clenched — then she rose again, eyes glowing brighter, breath unbroken.
"For a breath," she said with a smile, "I was the sea."
Mira gaped. "You can… merge with them?"
"Of course," Luna said. "Beside you, they lend their senses. Within you, they share their gifts. Breath. Speed. Strength. Did no one teach you this?"
Rowan shook his head. "We thought they were just… companions."
Gasps rippled through the Islanders. Luna's expression turned sharp with disbelief.
"You walk blind," she whispered. "You carry treasure, and never opened your hands to see it."
Rowan flushed as though her words were meant only for him.
---
The demonstrations began.
Mira went first. Todd shimmered into her chest. Her eyes lit silver, her body trembling. "I can feel it — the currents, the reef to the east, the fish below us—" Her voice broke in awe. Islanders smiled, nodding approval.
Rowan followed. Midg floated smugly at his ankles. "Alright, you little tyrant. Let's do it."
The minnow darted forward, vanished into him. Rowan staggered, choking as water filled his lungs. Panic flared — then shifted. He could breathe. He plunged beneath the tide, wide-eyed, and breathed saltwater like air.
He surfaced laughing, sputtering. Midg flicked free, smug as ever. The Islanders laughed warmly. Rowan's cheeks burned.
Lyra stepped next. With a shimmer, Bounty appeared — her shaggy mule, big-eyed and unbothered.
Rowan grinned. "Old faithful."
Some Islanders chuckled. Lyra smirked. "He's carried more weight than any of you could dream."
She pressed a hand to his flank. Light rippled. Bounty dissolved into her. Her frame shifted solid, unshakable. She bent, hoisted a heavy barrel of salted fish, and lifted it easily overhead.
Rowan let out a low whistle. "That's Bounty, alright."
The Islanders' chuckles melted into murmurs of respect. Luna inclined her head. "Endurance is as sacred as swiftness."
Bounty reappeared, chewing nothing, bored. Rowan laughed outright.
---
Darin watched quietly, eyes steady. He had already Awakened, and the water seemed to bend around him subtly now, acknowledging it — though his Soulkin had yet to come.
Callen, though, clenched his fists, jaw tight. He was the only one left untouched, and it gnawed at him.
Luna's gaze softened on him. "Not all bonds come at once. The sea chooses its moment."
---
Weeks passed in calm rhythm. Mornings brought Taichii on the beach. Afternoons, training in the shallows. Evenings, feasts beneath lantern light. Mira learned to read the ocean like a living map. Lyra grew tireless with Bounty's strength. Rowan stumbled less, breathed easier, even began to smile at Midg's antics. Darin honed his awakening, water rippling subtly with every movement.
But Callen's frustration only grew. He threw himself into the forms, again and again, driving himself until sweat drenched him.
Then, one afternoon in the lagoon, it happened.
He struck through a Taichii form — and the water struck with him. A current snapped outward, sharp and sudden, knocking two Islanders off balance.
Silence fell.
Callen froze, staring at his hands, the water still rippling around them. His breath came fast, exhilarated, wild.
Mira gasped. "Callen… you've awakened."
Luna stepped closer, emerald eyes bright. "Yes. The sea stirs in you now."
Rowan clapped his shoulder with a grin. "Knew you were hiding something."
Callen's lips parted in a stunned smile. No Soulkin yet — but the power was there, waiting.
And for the first time, he believed it would come.
---
The lagoon buzzed with voices as Islanders congratulated Callen. Mira grinned ear to ear. Even Lyra looked faintly impressed.
Rowan lingered at the edge of the water, Midg circling smugly at his ankles. "Don't look so pleased," he muttered. "You're still a minnow."
"Yet you breathed the sea through him."
Rowan turned. Luna stood beside him, the lantern glow painting her skin bronze, her emerald eyes bright as polished glass.
He swallowed. "Barely. Looked more like I was choking to death."
Her lips curved in that half-smile. "Perhaps. But you lived. And you laughed. The sea favors those who laugh at it."
Rowan tried to match her smile. "Is that wisdom… or are you just making fun of me?"
"Perhaps both."
They stood in silence for a beat, the tide brushing their ankles. Rowan forced himself to ask, "So… was I really that bad out there?"
Her laugh was soft, teasing. "You flailed like a drowning crab." She leaned in, lowering her voice. "But even a crab finds the tide, eventually."
Rowan's face heated. He couldn't tell if she was mocking him or encouraging him—or both—but when she turned away, he caught the glimmer of a smile she didn't bother to hide.
Midg flicked his tail at Rowan's feet, smug as ever. Rowan groaned under his breath.