Ingo

I wish I was away in Ingo Far across the briny sea Sailing over deepest waters Where neither care nor worry trouble me.

I don’t know how you humans ever get anything done, you ask so many questions.

You know how the sea grinds down stones into sand, over years and years and years? Nobody ever sees it, it happens so slowly. And then at last the sand is so fine you can sift it in your fingers. Losing Dad is like being worn away by a force that's so powerful nothing could resist it. We are like stones, being changed into something completely different. If you looked casually at me and Mum and Conor now, you might think we were the same people as we were a year ago, except that we're a year older. But we are not the same people. We've changed where no one can see it, inside our minds and our feelings. I didn't want us to change, but I can't stop it.

The fire melts into velvety blackness. There are stars in the blackness, and I want to count them one by one, but they're dancing too fast...

I used to think that when a child was born, a parent made a promise to stay with him. Or her. But if there's a promise, it can be broken. That first Matthew Trewhella broke his promises. I wonder if he ever forgot them, or did the torn edges of his promises hurt him to the end of his life? When someone goes away from you suddenly, without warning, that's what it's like. A rip, a torn edge inside you. I have a torn edge in me, and Dad has a torn edge in him. I'm not sure if those edges will still fit together by the time I find him.

I think that everything that happens to you stays in you, even if it stays in a part of your mind where you can't find it. That's why you should never try to forget when people urge you to.

As long as you two look out for each other, you’ll be safe enough.

They'd think nothing of destroying the Mer, your divers. Can't you see what will happen to Limina once divers get near that wreck? Once humans know there's gold there? We're nothing to them. They don't even see us. They'll destroy our world and they won't even know they're doing it.

The sea's strong, and wild, and if you make a mistake, the sea will make you pay. Sometimes you pay with your life. Dad used to say that the sea doesn't hate you and it doesn't love you. It's up to you to learn its ways and keep yourself safe.

All the bright pictures in my head fade and disappear as the sea rushes into me. Into my mouth, my nose, my ears, even my eyes. And suddenly, it doesn't matter. The sea is in me and I am in the sea.

Tides are powerful. Tides know where they want to be and they take the whole sea world with them, dragging it to and fro.

I see the current before I feel it. There's movement in the water ahead of us, like a twisting, glassy rope. Or like a powerful sea snake coiling itself in and out. The current looks thicker and much more solid than the calm water around it.

The sea's strong and wild, and if you make a mistake, the sea will make you pay. Sometimes you pay with your life. Dad used to say that the sea doesn't hate you, and it doesn't love you. It's up to you to learn its ways and keep yourself safe.