The Moon Pool
Touching Acxa was like caressing the moon, which moon, she isn’t sure. But she is touching a moon. The feeling is as celestial as she had imagined. The real moon paints a splendid glowing halo around Acxa’s figure. Her skin has an almost translucent appearance under its light. If Veronica didn’t know any better she would say that the Galra’s skin did that on its own. Acxa extends her hand. Veronica takes hold of it, feeling the woman’s fingers curl around her own. The light glints off of the woman’s horns.
She is ethereal.
She leads Veronica to a small pool of water, teeming with bioluminescent beings unheard of to Earth. She sure hopes that they are safe to be around. But Acxa doesn’t seem bothered by them, so she will trust her judgment.
The Galra strips down to her underwear and slips into the pool. She quietly beckons Veronica forward. “You will like it.” She insists.
Veronica doesn’t know why she is hesitant. She observes Acxa for a while longer. The woman’s skin seems to have a reaction to either the moonlight or the crystalline water it reflects in--perhaps it is the result of both working in harmony. But it shimmers faintly like the scales of a fish, or a fresh sheet of ice on a sunny January. Her eyes glow faintly yellow.
She reaches out again. “Trust me.”
And she does, she trusts the Galra with all of her soul.
It is the water she doesn’t trust but she doesn’t have the heart to tell her girlfriend that she has feared the water since she was a girl.
She takes a deep breath, removes her glasses and most of her clothing, and slips into the pool.
It isn’t as deep as she had thought, but it is not as shallow as Acxa makes it look. She clings to the woman like her life depends on it, she swears that it does. Acxa holds her tightly and some of the fear dissipates like the cloud of sand she has kicked up.
The water laps against her bear back.
It is different somehow, than the water she knows.
It is purer, lighter.
Acxa runs her fingers through Veronica’s hair. The only sound is that which Acxa creates with her subtle motions. Veronica feels safe.
Acxa lets go for a moment and dips her head beneath the surface. She comes back up with her hands full of sand that looks more like diamond powder than anything else. She lets it slip through her fingers until all that is left is a small gemstone that resembles a pearl. A pearl with deep blue fracture lines. “Azrelite.” Acxa points at it. “It grows in waters like this during the full moon.”
She disappears under the water again. She is under longer this time. She resurfaces empty handed and repeats herself a few more times. Apparently finding azrelite isn’t as easy as she had made it seem. Her searching hand kicks up clouds of sand that look like blossoming flowers. She can see tiny critters floating within. The same bioluminescent creatures she noticed earlier on. They looked like miniature, winged jellyfish. At the ends of their tendrils is something that looks like a hardened dew drop.
Finally Acxa comes up with a cluster of the crystals.
“Your eyes remind me of azrelite.” Acxa comments, handing her the stones.
“Aren’t you going to keep any for yourself?” Veronica asks.
She shakes her head. “They are yours.”
Veronica sets them outside of the pool so she won’t lose them. She closes the space between she and Acxa once again. The Galra has shown her a great many of space’s wonders, but this place, wherever it was, whatever it was, is her favorite so far.
“What is this place?” Veronica finally asks.
“My mother’s home planet.” She replied. “I like it more than the Galra Empire.”
“Then why didn’t you stay here?”
“It reminds me of her.”
“Is she gone?”
Acxa nods.
“I’m sorry.” She was equally sorry for bringing up such a dismal subject.
“It is fine.” Acxa replies. “My mother used to bring me to the azrelite pools. I haven’t been since she died.”
“Why not?”
“It doesn’t mean as much to come alone.”
The moon casts swirling reflections on her face. It is truly mesmerizing. She can picture a smaller, squishier, baby Acxa splashing around in these pools, hand in hand with her mother. At this point, Veronica would be surprised to hear that the woman had been born in these waters or waters like them. She watches Acxa cup her hands and drink some of the water. She cups them again and offers it to Veronica.
The water tastes as it looks; untainted and sublime. It has an almost fruity tang.
Acxa rests her arms on the rim of the pool and Veronica knows that she is thinking of her mother. So she strokes her back in tender and loving circles until the Galra is left with not a hint of tension. She gives a soft and pleasured sigh. “I am happy to have found someone to return with.”