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With the seaweed gathered into her sample bag, Emharo looked at the tempting waves and debated continuing her search for vegetation with antiseptic properties versus taking a nice dip in the waves.

Emharo looked up at the bright ball of the sun and smiled. It made her mind up for her. She carefully put her sample bag up where the shifting surf could not reach it and was slipping out of her shirt when a transport skimmed around the headland and came toward her.

It must be the specialists from the mother ship of the Nine.

The transport flew past her and up the beach. Its air cushion spewed sand left and right until it moved up to the ridge and approached the lab.

“Well, if everyone is over there, I think it is time for me to cool down.”

Her parents wouldn’t begrudge her a short swim, and she might find another sample to take back to them.

She wore undergarments made of cured fish skin, and the leather made supportive and waterproof underwear. Em removed her outerwear and folded it neatly, tucking it up where it would remain dry. With a knife strapped to her thigh and a fishing spear in one hand, she went into the water to do some collecting.

“Doctor Harold Baker, Doctor Emaline Baker, please allow me to introduce Morro Nefurik, biologist and Weelar Tish, chef. They have been invited by our government to run their own tests on native species in an effort to replenish some stores on their ship.”

Daphne Leoraki smiled as she made the introductions.

Morro cleared his throat. “Rivvin Sequelar is also with us, but he required some time in the sea before joining us here. We dropped him just past the headland, and he is swimming in.”

“Swimming?”

Emaline Baker blinked and frowned toward the headland with a worried expression.

“Yes, Dr. Baker. He is of the Water Folk, and he has been craving open water for years. The temptation was too much to resist.”

Emaline Baker looked to her husband. “Call her. See if she answers.”

Harold Baker went to a primitive com unit and tried to make a connection. “Em. Em, are you there?”

Dr. Emaline Baker covered her eyes. “Something tells me that your associate is about to get an eyeful.”

Morro looked interested, Weelar was busy nibbling on a piece of seaweed and Daphne was left to figure out what was going on. “What does she wear when she swims?”

Emaline sighed, “As little as possible.”

With the penchant of the other races of the Nine to recognise their mates on sight, this would give Rivvin the ideal option to see if the Gaian Emharo Baker was the one for him. Daphne groaned and hoped that her friend was not as heavily armed as she normally was when she went into the sea.

It was Daphne’s first time escorting men of the Nine around on her own, and she wanted to bring them all back alive.

Em was on her ninth dive, looking for shellfish, large fish that got close enough to spear and anything that qualified as the object she had been sent out to collect.

A pale silhouette approaching her got her attention.

Em kept neutral buoyancy and moved carefully as she kept the incoming predator in her sights.

It swam slowly toward her and paused, facing her.

The tension in her chest reminded her that she needed to breathe, so she kicked up and away from the pale man with huge black eyes who was staring at her from a few metres away.

She broke the surface and exchanged her air before looking down once again. The man was remarkably close, and he showed no signs of needing to breathe.

He swam underneath her and up behind her as he examined her from all angles.

She watched him as long as she could before she needed to breathe again. She slowly began to move toward the shoreline. He didn’t impede her in any way. Em staggered up the pebbled beach and whirled to look behind her.

The man walked calmly out of the surf, and a small spray of water jetted from his neck. He was wearing a short hip wrap, pale skin, dark blue hair and nothing else.

“Hello.”

Em walked over to her clothing and put her spear down.

“Greetings, miss. Am I near the research lab?”

She nodded and turned to see that he was within inches of her and she hadn’t heard him move. “Oh. And here you are. Um, yes. It is right on top of that ridge over there. I am on my way back if you would like to come with me.”

She mentally kicked herself the moment that the invitation came out of her mouth.

He extended his hand to her. “Rivvin Sequelar, pleased to meet you. You work at the lab?”

Em took his hand and felt a peculiar slickness leave his palm and wrap around hers. “Emharo Baker. My parents run the research lab. Is there something on your hand?”

He looked down and a hot lavender colour ran under his cheeks and across the muscular expanse of his chest. “I apologise. My body is attempting to chemically analyse yours.”

“You are a member of the Nine?”

He inclined his head. “I am. I am of the Water Folk.”

She smiled at the obviousness and gradually eased her hand from his. The slickness absorbed into her skin without a trace. “I gathered as much. Well, I suppose I should get dressed and escort you to the lab.”

“If you insist. I have no problem with your current attire. Is it fish leather?”

She nodded. “It seemed the most practical swimwear. It dries quickly and identifies me to other predators.”

She slipped on her shirt and shimmied into her trousers before sitting, dusting her feet off and tugging on her boots. “Just a moment while I grab my line and my samples and we will be on our way.”

Em kept her gaze on Rivvin as she flipped her collection bag over her shoulder and hauled her line of fish in and flipped it over her other shoulder.

Rivvin was watching her with surprise. “You eat from the sea?”

She paused. “Oh, are you vegetarian?”

He shook his head. “No. We eat whatever swims past. I am simply surprised that you hunt in the sea.”

“It’s a thing I do. My parents send me out with a list, and I bring it home. Doesn’t matter if it is fish or topical anaesthetic, I will bring it home.”

She chuckled. “Shall we?”

He blinked, and she noticed the secondary membrane that flicked over his eyes. “You are walking?”

She shrugged. “Yes. I walk everywhere. You are welcome to swim up to the lab. There is a set of stone stairs that leads out of the water so you will know it when you see it.”

Rivvin looked down at her, and his hands flexed.

She noted the webbing between his fingers and quickly looked up when she saw that his wrap was slightly distorted.

Em cleared her throat. “Well, I will get moving, and you can make up your mind.”

She turned and made her escape, shifting the thirty pounds of fish on her shoulder. The fish was taken from her as Rivvin came up on her left. He inclined his head, and she let him carry it. It was only fifteen minutes of walking anyway, so why did she feel like he had given her an armload of flowers with that small gesture of taking her burden?