She heard him in the water somewhere behind her. Not splashing. He barely made noise. Just a quiet movement and then the sense of him nearby.
She kept floating.
"You can swim," he said.
"I told you I could."
"You grew up inland."
"There's a river in Shadowmere," she said. "My father used to take me."
The word father landed in the air between them.
She felt it.
Didn't take it back.
"How old were you," he said. "When he started taking you."
"Four, maybe." She kept her eyes on the stars. "He said I took to it like I'd done it before. Like I already knew how." She paused. "He used to say that about a lot of things. That I already knew. Like I was remembering instead of learning."
Nicholas was quiet.
"He sounds like he was a good father," he said finally.
"He was the best person I knew," she said simply.
The waterfall filled the silence.
She righted herself. Treaded water. Found him a few metres away, watching her with that expression she couldn't fully decode.
