Submission (#181) Approved

[WC: 412]
<Have you heard? There’s a ghost that lives in this lagoon?>

<What? No way- a real ghost?>

<A real ghost! They say it's the spirit of a guide who longed for the waves- but could not give up the wind. Now, they float in the water itself, wishing to be part of the ocean once more…>

<No, no, you’ve got it all wrong. It’s the ghost of a Baraboa, who sword to stay and protect these waters in their life, and death->

Lian pops their head out of the water, eyes glowing. Their wings, translucent and shimmering, bones visible, extend outward, visible even through the distortion of the waves. “Hi.”

<GHOST!!!>

The three guides disappear as quickly as they’d come. Lian sinks back down underneath the waves. That’s what they’d heard about the land dwelling guides- curious, and unable to tell a current from a wave. Acting like they’d never seen a guide with transparent wings before!

But then, they’d never seen another guide like them either.

But surely, their leaves had to have a similar structure? They wondered what they’d feel like. They had seen the palms that decorated the beach, but those were not at all like the leaves they’d seen on a guide. Would they be soft, like a fin? Or hard, like the sharp edges of the palm leaves?

They’d even heard rumors: of guides who’s leaves changed, who’s wings would slowly decay with the time. Shivering, Lian pressed their hand to the surface of their own wings. Their fins were closer to the ones they had seen on dolphins than on fish. They could not imagine such a thing- to be rotting away?

Lian had heard it from some of the other tidetouched in a ghost story. But if the land-dwelling guides thought their translucent and boned wings were a myth- could not the opposite be true?

Maybe they would get a peak, if they stayed close to the shores. Drifting along, they floated by the darkened shores, wondering if they’d hear another snatch of a conversation. They had only just begun when they saw something float towards them- one of the guides they’d startled earlier, coming back.

The closer they got, the more they saw. The dull colors to the wings, the blemishes dotting the headcrown- and most prominently, the part simply missing from the tail. Lian couldn’t help it: they gasped.

The other guide noticed that, turning to face them - and in unison, they both spoke : “You’re real!”