Koleyn pulled himself out of the river, coughing up water.  There was a small beach at the mouth of the river, more rock than sand, and he collapsed onto it.  He wasn't sure how llnog he'd been under this time, but Oriel kept them moving long after he would have given up.  He turned onto his back, looking out for his first view of the sea.

It never ended, it seemed.  And as he looked, he suddenly saw Oriel burst out of the water triumphntly, arms out at its sides, head tipped back to the sky, spray coming up around it.  Then it sank back into the water, leaving Koleyn with his breath caught in his throat.  Oriel was radient.

He slowly let out a breath.  With Oriel home, his self-imposed task was over and he felt as if his life was as well.  He couldn't go back to the mountain, that life was through, and he couldn't stay at the beach indefinately, although part of him wanted to.  He pushed himself to his feet, wondering how far the nearest village was and if they'd give him help.

There was a splash and he turned to the water again.  Oriel was running toward him, movements easy and joyous.  It caught his hands, swinging around in an arc around him before collapsing against his chest, laughing.

Koleyn smimled back, knowing that Oriel would somehow know he was smiling.  "I have to say good-bye now," he said.

The laughter drained out of the sea creature's face.  "Why?"  Soft hands clung to him.

"I'm no water creature.  I can't stay here.  You're safe now.  I've done what I meant to.  I have to go."

"No.  You're mine now.  You can't leave."  Oriel didn't seem to understand.

"You're free," Koleyn repeated gently.  "I can't stay with you."

The sea creature paused, thinking, and finally said, "You never took your prize."

The elf sucked in a breath.  He'd thought Oriel had forgotten.  But faced with the blue one's expectance, all he could do was lower his lips to its, kissing it gently.

The knot of anxiety in his heart that related to his departure melted at the touch.

"See?" said Oriel with a small smile.  "You have to stay."

"I can't live in water," he protested again.

The smile turned enigmatic and Oriel tugged Koleyn gently to the water.  "Do you want to stay?" it asked when they were waist deep.

"Yes," he said without hesitation, "But I can't."

He was shushed by damp fingers covering his lips.  "If you really want to stay you can, but you have to want to."

"I do," he replied, wondering what Oriel was pulling.

The sea creature pulled him deeper, until they were treading water, then pushed him under.

He spluttered, not expecting the move, but swiftly grew accustomed to the water.  He darted his head around and caught sight of himself as his body shifted into that of a small dragon.  He felt wings growing out of his back.  When the glow of magic faded, he found that he could breathe in the water, that it seemed a part of him.

He swam in a small circle, testing his new body, then looked up to find Oriel and stopped.  If the creature had been fascinating on the mountain, beautiful at the river, radiant in the sea through elf eyes, it was now beyond radiant.  And that was only through sight.  Oriel's beauty came to the new dragon through scent, through hearing, and through a sense that had to be unique to dragons.  One that Koleyn couldn't name.

It smiled and held out a hand, causing Koleyn to drift closer.  "Do you hear, gentle one?"

He listened.  And suddenly he heard.  He heard something more beautiful than he had ever heard.  Something that seemed the sum of being.  And he knew that what he had called the blue creature was true, or as true as he could know.

He looked up at the glory in front of him again, at the angel of the deep that he was bound to, and already he heard his own song starting and twining with the rich, deep, everchanging song that was Oriel.

There was an answering smile, and Oriel beckoned him deeper into the water.