SImp

Just a few minutes out I spied two teenage boys, huddled close together, peering past a large coral outcropping. I released my hold on the dolphins. Imp let out a squeal from my gill, [I told them, thanks,] Imp said. I took a moment to patch up the scratch on my back using some of the first aid materials that are packed into the Gill pack's belt. I gained some elevation and saw that the teens were spying on a couple of Tweens, in a small-enclosed grotto. I swam in close and scared the two spies' right out of their fins. I sent them on to the central grotto very embarrassed at having an outsider catch them.

The two in the small grotto were oblivious to anything, except each other. The one was the voluptuous girl, the other a young man from the other group. Although public nudity in the appropriate setting was accepted as a norm, there were taboos against touch. Strong taboos, dating back to the days when so many had died of SADS. Each generation seems to rebel against the previous. I'd guess that these kids were no different.

At one point in history, a girl would feel embarrassed if a man caught a glimpse of her ankle, and "heaven" help her if he saw one of her "limbs." Several generations later the "See-through" came into existence, and the miniskirt made its appearance. Then, for a time, fashion lost its hold, and anything was accepted. Although out and out nudity was generally frowned upon, admittedly some of the fashion-conscious in those days would have been less tantalizing to their observers if they had been nude. After the SADS epidemic really took off and nearly everyone had lost someone to the disease, public taboos clamped down. Clothing covered all parts of the body, and people avoided any touch, not even shaking hands in fear.

Most of society, then, was monogamous in theory, but in practice they had many sexual partners, marrying and then when they tired of each other, getting a "divorce" and remarrying. Teens were often sexually active, within a year after puberty, and often had experimented previously specifically with oral sex which led to an epidemic of the common cold sore which in reality is a member of the herpes family of viruses. An outbreak of herpes caused an increase in the virus that caused the SADS condition, this single factor alone launched the worst of the major SADS epidemics. This was where the real problem came into play, with the virus being spread by innocents. Eventually, knowledge replaced fear. The public realized that sexual activity, outside of a single partner, was the primary way to catch the virus, and a strong cultural taboo came into play.

There is an ancient mythical creature called a unicorn that could only be caught by a virgin. The corollary to this is—how do you catch a mythical creature? Answer: With another mythical creature.

Nowadays you would have to look far and wide to find a teen who had experienced sex. The vast majority hadn't even touched the opposite sex until they were a Tween, sometimes not even until they joined lives, although in compensation they were well acquainted with the sights.

Marriage nowadays has several forms, from just declaring a partnership and moving into

the same house, which is the most common form of joining today. All the way through public marriages like Michelle's and Jacks, and on to formal "church" weddings if your beliefs so lead you.

Couples could mean almost any combination of people you could imagine—both in quantity and sexes. However, the typical was one man and one woman. Gender-specific roles no longer existed like they did centuries ago. Today's couples took their time deciding, generally at age forty to fifty and then stayed with that choice. Very few ever moved apart after joining, the percentage of separations staying in the low single digits. As far as the law was concerned; what you did in private was private. The only hard rule was children—if you created one, then you had responsibility until that child reached maturity at twenty-seven. Failure to do so led to the mandatory loss of future reproductive rights by surgery.

The central taboo that held the whole structure together has been 'look but don't touch'—specifically don't touch sexually. The couple in the small grotto was ignoring that taboo. I expect that the curiosity of the girl, as to what he was hiding under that bit of cloth, was equally at fault with the young man never having been exposed to the naked female form in person, especially a figure like hers!

They had gotten carried away with their touching, so I decided to scare them to death and swam above them. I dropped suddenly to their level and grabbed their facemasks, blocking their vision—it had the appropriate effect. When they had quieted down, we all swam back to the main group and headed to shore. If they kept in touch, they might continue what they had started later in life, but for now, they would behave.

The real question right this instant was what has Serina been doing all the is time. Was she one of the ghosts hiding behind those coral colonies? Even more importantly where is she now?