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+====== Nell Hadley (Jen M) ======
+Alya sits back and closes her eyes, enjoying the cool of the evening. A little way up the hill, she can hear the bustle of the market, the bleating of goats. Further down the road, there is only the whisper of the surf.
+"//What does the sea say?//"
+Alya opens her eyes to see a rather grubby-looking child wielding a large crab. "Hello, Nadia," she says.
+"My mummy says you can talk to the sea. What does it say?"
+"It says a great many things," Alya smiles. "If you listen carefully, you can hear it. What do you suppose it's saying right now?"
+Nadia inspects the crab in her hand. "Maybe... '//put that back, Nadia! That's mine!//'"
+"Maybe," Alya chuckles.
+"But you can //really// hear the sea," the child protests. "My mummy says you can talk to it whenever you want to. How can you do that?"
+"I was chosen," Alya says. "It's my job. I have to look after the sea, and make sure it isn't too naughty."
+Nadia frowns. "What happens if it's too naughty?"
+"It goes to bed without any cake."
+"So... you're like the sea's mummy? How did you get to be the sea's mummy?"
+"Just as I said - I was chosen. The sea noticed me and told its old... //mummy//... about me."
+Nadia nods, apparently satisfied with this answer. "Nell Hadley," she says, solemnly.
+Alya's eyes widen. "And how do //you// know about Nell Hadley, little Nadia?"
+"Mummy told me," Nadia explains smugly. "Mummy told me Nell Hadley came and got you and you had to go and live with her in a bath."
+"In //Bath//," Alya giggles. "That's a city in the UK. And, well, also Nell's partner, at the end of her life." A pause. "What //else// did your mummy tell you?"
+"She said... the first time you came back, you had all sorts of stories about Nell Hadley. How she stopped a volcano from blowing up... and nearly got eaten by rats. " Nadia sniffs. "She sounds like a //proper// mummy."
+"She was... quite something, yes," Alya sighs. "A lot to live up to. She knew the ocean like nobody else; she faced it down and refused either to tame it or to drown in its rage. She got things done; she always seemed to have the answers. And she tried to pretend she wasn't much good at emotions, but you know what? Whenever I was scared or upset, she was the one person I always knew I could turn to. //The compassion of granite//, she called it - she was... a stable presence in a shifting world. She was always there... and then, of course, she wasn't."
+Nadia is staring at her. "Yes," she says at last, somewhat uncertainly.
+"Sorry, Nadia," Alya says. "Grown-up stuff. You probably wouldn't understand. Let's just say... for a while, I wanted to //be// Nell Hadley. To have that kind of strength. Of course, if I'd //said// I wanted to be like her, she probably would have been disappointed in me. I mean, she wanted to make sure the tides would keep turning when she was gone, but... I could never have been another //Nell//, and she knew it. There was... nobody quite like her. In the end, I learnt to be myself, to do the job using whatever it was she'd seen in me."
+"I get it," Nadia says happily. "//I// want to be just like Berbulu."
+"Berbulu is a goat, Nadia."
+"//Behhhh//...."
+"Listen, Nadia," Alya says, carefully. "Would you like to hear one of my stories? About Nell Hadley, I mean. I can probably think of one your mummy didn't tell you...."
+Nadia looks thoughtful for a moment. "All right," she says, seating herself cross-legged at Alya's feet.
+"I thought that might catch your interest," Alya grins. "Well now... have you heard of the Great Barrier Reef?"
+Nadia nods. "It's a nice place. That's what everyone says."
+"It is," Alya confirms. "I've met Great Barrier Reef, actually. It's quite friendly."
+"Can you... talk to it?"
+"Not now. It's one of those Water Gaians who chose to break away from the Leviathan hivemind, in the end." She notices Nadia's expression. "Oh. Sorry. Grown-up stuff again. Anyway. This is the story of how Nell and her friends saved the Great Barrier Reef...."
+The child listens intently as the sun sets over the Flores Sea. Forgotten at Nadia's feet, the crab makes its bid for freedom.

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