Katie

I gaze around the hotel room. Its soft cream-colored walls, carpeted flooring, and a single queen bed with almost coppery colored bedspread. It’s not the grandest of places, but we’re only here for a few hours anyways. Luna and I are coiled up on the bed in relative silence. Luna’s eyes are wide, her muscles rigid, and she continues to gaze around as though expecting something threatening to burst from the walls. She’d been much more relaxed in the open waters, but is clearly no longer at ease in the strange and more heavily populated place. She’s been virtually silent since we docked. I bump her gently with my shoulder, tilting my head at her.

“You okay?”

It takes a moment for her to nod, her motions slow and forced, as though she were fighting some unknown viscosity with each motion. “Yeah,” she murmurs finally. “Just nervous.”

“Don’t be,” Olivia says, beating me to a response. We both turn to glance at her, seated on one of the two chairs in the room, pushed in around a tiny kitchen table. Her book is open, the unread side getting rapidly thinner since the start of the trip. “We’re only here for a couple hours while Lukshia is out getting things sorted. Katie, there’s coloring books and pencil crayons in the drawer of the nightstand beside you. The hotel provides them. Not the most engaging of activities, I know, but it might be good to have a distraction,” she suggests, nodding pointedly at Luna.

I lean over and pull open the mentioned drawer, removing the two coloring books and the pack of pencil crayons. I hold up the two books to Luna. One is all Disney princesses while the other is themed with different animals. “Which one do you want?”

Luna gazes at them with a puzzled expression for a moment before reaching out and taking the animal one from me. “What do you do with it?”

I shift closer to her, taking the book and opening it on the bed. It’s meant for younger children, so the pictures are simplistic, one or two animals and a bit of background. “Pick out one you like, and I’ll show you,” I offer.

Luna spends the next couple of minutes flipping through the pages with a look of mild confusion before she makes a choice. The picture is of an orca cresting, with a little island in the background, and a seagull in the sky. She taps it with a finger. “This one.”

I nod and open the pack of pencil crayons, patting the bottom of the box so they all slide out onto the bedspread. “Now you color it in with these,” I say. “Like this.” I pick up the yellow pencil and begin to rub the tip around on the sun in the picture. Luna’s eyes widen as she watches the color spread onto the page. “Now you try,” I say, handing her the pencil. It takes a moment to help her get it decently positioned in her fingers, but eventually she’s able to actually maintain a hold on it, and begins to color. Being under practiced, she struggles a bit with staying in the lines, but she doesn’t seem to care and it doesn’t really matter. She changes colors every so often, choosing ones that are accurate with the picture. I join in, coloring in the water with a dark blue pencil crayon while Luna tackles the orca with black. She goes slow, seemingly determined to stay in the lines now that she’s seen me doing just that.

I find myself nodding off at one point, having left her to her task since she seems so engrossed and content.

“Done!” Luna exclaims happily, startling me awake. She begins to cough again, having been too loud for her still weak voice to handle. She seems better underwater and I’ve come to learn that being above it does have little effects on our aquatic built bodies. I pass her the glass of water on the nightstand before glancing down at the picture. A little sloppy in areas from her learning curve, by the end, she’s got it down to an art.

“It looks really good, Luna,” I say, watching her puff up with the praise.

“Can I keep it, do you think?” Luna asks, glancing at Olivia.

“I don’t see why not,” the woman replies. “Rip it out and fold it up, then pass it over and I’ll make sure it gets sent to Australia with you.”

I follow Olivia’s instruction, more used to what she means than Luna and not wanting the picture to get ripped accidentally. I carefully tear it out of the book and fold it in half, passing it over.

It’s then that Lukshia enters the room. She gives me a look and I touch Luna’s shoulder, shifting to pull the blanket on the bed back and slip my tail underneath, concealing it. Luna follows in suit and we lay down to hide out scales entirely. Nodding, Lukshia steps aside to let two people into the room. They’re carrying two large, but empty wooden transport crates, the words ‘Fragile’ and ‘This side up’ with a little arrow, stamped on it in dark ink. The workers lower them to the floor and then depart. Lukshia has a transport trolley with her and she pulls the one crate up onto it as though it weighed nothing, and pulls the lid off. “You girls ready?” she inquires.

I sit up and nod hesitantly, my nerves suddenly firing. Beside me, Luna looks just as frightened as she struggles to put on a brave face and nod as well.

Olivia moves to take a seat on the bed beside us, removing a small white pill bottle from her purse. A quick glance at the label reveals sleeping pills. “We’re obviously not going to make you girls take this trip awake. These are going to last about twenty four hours, so it should be more than enough time. If you wake up, I’m going to leave an extra pill for each of you, but try to stay nice and quiet okay? But you shouldn’t wake early,” she explains.

“Are we taking them now?”

“Yes. It’s time to go,” Lukshia says.

“So this is goodbye then,” I state, suddenly saddened by the thought.

Olivia nods. “I’ll be down next year, same as always, but yes, this is goodbye. You two take care of yourselves, alright?”

“We will,” Luna whispers.

There’s a few minutes of hugging and thankful goodbyes. I find myself genuinely sad to leave them behind. They’ve done so much to save us and protect us and I know I’ll never forget it.

When it all finally settles down, I find myself staring at the two little pills in the palm of my hand. My opposite hand is holding a glass of water. Taking a deep breath, I tip my hand back against my mouth and then drink the water, downing the pills quickly to get it over with.

“You have to swallow them whole, okay Luna? You can’t chew,” Olivia instructs my friend gently. It should be easy for her, given the chunks of fish she’ll rapidly scarf down when she’s hungry, but apparently it isn’t, because Luna proceeds to cough and sputter for a good while before managing to choke one down, moving to the other. She looks miserable, so I place a hand on her shoulder, giving her an encouraging smile. She return it and begins the process again.

I find myself growing rapidly drowsy and by the time Olivia praises Luna for getting the pills down, I can’t see straight and feel myself start to sway. A warm pair of arms wrap around me and seconds later, Lukshia’s voice is echoing in my ear. “Put your arms around my neck.”

I have to struggle to focus enough to do as she’s asked, but I manage to link my fingers together around her after a moment of effort. My limbs feel dead, filled with…something heavy. I frown, blinking rapidly as my mind scatters, my vision swimming. I can hear Lukshia chuckle slightly, and then wet fabric as she wraps wet towels around my tail like was discussed earlier. Seconds later, my vision darkens and I slip into a drug induced slumber.