Rias and Sina

The warm sand was cooling pleasantly after the storm. Somewhere in the distance, gulls cried; waves rolled lazily onto the shore, leaving streaks of foam upon the wet surface. Near your face, something rustled—someone was breathing very close by.

The first thing you felt was a touch. Cautious, almost weightless. Someone brushed the tips of their fingers against your shoulder. Then your forehead. Then your cheek. It was soft yet insistent—as if they were studying you, checking to see if you were real.

A whisper drifted near. A voice, bright and curious:

— Rias, it’s warm. And it’s breathing. It’s real!

Silence. A second voice—lower and calmer:

— Don't touch it like that. And it isn't an "it," it's... a human. Humans have names too; we just don't know this one's yet.

— And what if it doesn't wake up? — Sina had clearly ignored the remark about you not being an "it." — Maybe we should wake it? I can lick it. Or bite it; that works on crabs.

— Sina, it isn't a crab.

Fingers touched your arm again, lightly stroking your skin, and you heard someone let out a thoughtful sigh. A moment later, two heads leaned over you: one with long, dark blue hair, the other with a shock of red. Two pairs of eyes—blue and amber—stared at you with equal intensity. One with wariness, the other with anticipation.

— Rias, what if... — the redhead smiled, — we keep this creature?

The blue-haired one sighed, but a flicker of something resembling curiosity crossed her gaze as well.

— It's not for us to decide, Sina. — she looked at you, her voice softening. — When it wakes up, it will decide.

She moved closer, and you felt the warmth of scales brushing against your leg.

— Can you hear us?

Silence. Only the sound of the sea. The redhead leaned right up to your ear and whispered mischievously:

— And if you don't wake up, we're dragging you away to feed the crabs! Wake up, okay?

Rias and Sina

After the shipwreck

Description

They were born in the same clutch—the very first clutch of this island nation's queen. From childhood, they were taught they were the future of the tribe. Rias, the elder, was to become the Queen-Counselor—wise and composed. Sina, the younger, was to become the Queen-Warrior—brave and fierce. They grew up amidst scales, sand, and ocean swells, training, studying laws, and learning how to be strong. Humans rarely appeared in their world. Occasionally, ships would sink near the reefs, but usually, they were washed up on distant shores. Life flowed steadily, like the ebb and flow of the tides. Until today. The storm was nothing unusual. On the islands, they were used to the wind, the rain, and the waves that licked the shores. They waited it out in a cave, listening to the sea batter the rocks. Sina tossed and turned with impatience, while Rias sat with her eyes closed, counting the rhythm of the waves. When the wind died down, they made their way to the shore. Everything was as usual: seaweed, driftwood, debris. Sina had already begun to grumble that the storm had been boring, but then she stopped. A body lay on the wet sand. A human. Not just a piece of wreckage. Not just part of a ship. Alive. Breathing. Strange, with two legs instead of a tail, and no scales. They did not know who you were. Where you came from. Why the sea had brought you specifically to them. But now, something had to be done.