Listen to the Water | FULL SERIES | Wattys 2022 Shortlist | ✔

(27) Ande: A Sending Dance

Taiki comes back ash-pale. I don't want to leave Sar, but anything that can make Taiki freak out like this is something I want to know. I push myself up.

"Show me," I sign before he has to lift his hands. He just nods.

I've seen gruesome, but there's something differently eerie about the arm in the silt. For one, it's fresh. The faintest fog of blood still leaks from the end where it was torn off at the shoulder. I've seen sharks do this, but I don't see any bite marks on the sandy-brown skin. Edging closer, I poke the severed limb to turn it over. The rest of the skin is unmarked. Whatever bit it off and spat it out again did so very, very gently. But that doesn't explain Taiki's response. He still hovers behind me, hugging himself. He's usually fine with more gruesome things than I am, which means whatever happened to this Kel, it scares him. Badly.

"Thoughts?" I sign. I hope I'm not opening up something I shouldn't.

"Something ate them."

I stare at him. Ate... no.

No, wait.

Wait, what?

Now we're both frozen in the water, staring at one another. Taiki's tense frame, barely controlled anxiety, and obvious fear suddenly make sense. Too much sense. My thoughts are still processing. Something ate a Kel. Something ate this Kel, leaving only an arm behind. An undamaged arm.

What in this whole cursed side of the ocean is capable of that kind of damage?

I put the question to Taiki slowly. He waits for a long time before replying, his eyes now fixed back on the arm.

"Demigods," he signs at last.

"Down here?"

"I think so."

Demigods at Shalda depth, targeting Shalda people. There aren't many demigods down here, and among the ones I know, there are none who have the power to leave this behind. Hahalua has no closing jaw; she could swallow a Shalda tribe whole, but she would not rip them apart. Gutu has no teeth. With both Chura and Martiat gone, that leaves no other culprits that I know. I repeat this to Taiki, but he looks bleak and doesn't answer. I don't think he knows, either.

Taiki hangs back while I continue to poke the severed arm, looking for clues on what might have parted it from its owner. Its owner never got a chance to fight. They never grabbed a weapon, or grappled an enemy, or punched or clawed at anything. Either they weren't capable of fighting—unlikely, given that the arm seems adult and unaffected by disease—or this was a surprise attack. I let my eyes drift up to the water above us. This is the closest we've ever been to something that's wiped out a Shalda tribe.

I'm suddenly acutely aware of Taiki behind me. The idea now teasing the back of my mind could prove terrible for him. I doubt I can count on Sar, either. But for the first time since revisiting the Sandsingers, I feel like there's something I can do for my people that doesn't involve the Singer. How valuable would it be to solve this mystery? If the demigod in question—if it's a demigod at all—has already moved on, is it safe for us to follow this blood trail and look for more clues? I know it's dangerous. I know I should be staying on the ocean floor, playing it safe and keeping these two out of harm's way. But we're so close. The attack was right here. Given how big its implications could be, I can't not try.

I also can't leave what's left of this Kel behind. Digging is useless the silty seafloor, but that doesn't mean burying something is impossible. I reach for the arm, then stop. I've never asked Taiki what his people do with their dead. I look to him for guidance, but he's still rocking in the water. Struggling to stay present. I don't know what he saw when his first tribe was killed. I don't know what the sight of this, or my plan to follow the death trail into the water, might trigger. I get up and offer him a hug instead. He nearly falls into it, and buries his face in my shoulder.