Metamorphosis

The night air was close and warm, the shore not far off, though i couldn't see it in the starlit darkness. She swam a bit further out than me while i stayed back, hesitant and a bit afraid with one foot buried up to the toes in the security of the sand beneath me. I heard her swim back to me, felt her take my hand.

"It's okay, i won't let you drown," i heard her say with laughter in her voice. She didn't need to say that, i knew she wouldn't let me drown. Nevertheless, i couldn't help being afraid.

"We can stay here near the bottom, if you like."

"I like."

She laughed at my silly fear and drew me a little more firmly on the sand. I could now stand with both feet flat on the ground, and the water barely cleared my shoulders. I heaved a gentle sigh of relief. I wanted to learn to swim, i really did! But the initial plunge was terrifying to me. I knew that one foot farther, and the sand would only be inches away from my feet, but the sea might as well be bottomless if i couldn't touch the ground and keep my head above the waterline.

I felt her gently probing fingers on my chest, pushing me gently back as she swept my legs out from underneath me. I lie just at the surface of the water, not really floating because of her hand on my back keeping me up. I could hear her soothing voice telling me to relax, and i did my best. Really, it wasn't so bad, this laying at the water's surface. The sea rocked me gently on its bosom, stroking the length of my body gently with its lapping waves, urging me to let go and be one with it.

I looked up at her and she smiled.

"Stay relaxed. My hand has not been supporting you for at least five minutes, and you're staying up just fine. I'm going to step back and float next to you."

Panic threatened to seize me, and i felt myself sinking. I closed my eyes and forced myself to breathe calmly. "Not yet," i said, thrusting the tremor from my voice. She nodded, but did not return her hand to support me. Gradually, i eased the tension in my shoulders and back, and let the sea carry me once again. I felt her move away from my side and down toward my feet.

She took my feet in her hands and pushed them together, closing my slightly parted legs. She began rubbing my feet gently. As she worked her way from my toes to my heels, she trailed her fingers up to my ankles, running the palms of her hands along my closed legs. Back and forth, she rubbed my legs gently, concentrating at the areas where my legs met. I held my breath, my heart quivering in anticipation as she worked her way up my calves and toward my thighs, always gently, brushing her palms over me.

My skin flared with heat where her hands touched me. I could feel the sea around me growing warm with the heat her hands left in my skin. She was halfway up my thighs when i could no longer contain my excitement.

"It's happening, isn't it?" She only smiled at me, her gentle touching the affirmation i was looking for. She ran her hands across my buttocks and over my nethers, up to the middle of my belly and back. The sea warmed me, helping my legs forget, helping me forget. She withdrew her hands from me and let the sea finish the job she started. I felt the gentle caresses of the water, molding me, reshaping me, every change a pleasure building towards ecstasy. She lay back in the arms of the sea next to me, her reassuring presence keeping me still as the changes she wrought in me came to their climax.

"It's done," she told me unnecessarily. I could feel the warmth subsiding, and the pleasure bleeding out of me into the sea. The sea accepted my emotion, taking its due payment for its help in my becoming.

"Can i look now?"

"Yes!"

I flexed my knees, feeling the power of them. The water was too shallow, but i didn't move just yet. I looked down at what used to be my legs. In their place, scales glittered so brilliantly back at me that at first i could not discern the colour. I moved slightly below the waterline and saw that from my navel down had become a deep ochre, with crimson tips. It was the most beautiful fish i'd ever seen, and it was me. I touched my scales, and they were tough like armour, but smooth and supple. I would become nothing's dinner.

My heart sang with joy, but my joy was fettered by the shallowness of the water. Where i once felt safety and security, i now felt hemmed in and trapped. I felt her take my hand and guide me toward deeper waters. I left my fear upon the sand.