@DragonSong Traveling by sea was always a dangerous endeavor even for the most seasoned sailor. Between unexpected turbulent waves and weather, you never really knew what you were going to get once leaving port.
Unless, of course, you had an uncanny knack for knowing the weather. Maybe more than a knack considering Nik was never wrong, but he still just looked at it as a string of good luck.
And Gods did he need some good luck today.
After....
the event....the ocean was no longer a safe place for him and, though he did his best, living in port towns did kind of throw a wrench in his plans from time to time. Especially when the city watch caught on to the strikingly handsome man who was borrowing peoples purses...
Well....then it was time to bounce.
But ships were obvious and he needed to be silent. Discrete.
Ghostly.
And he was broke.
But mostly
phantomly!
So he did what any sane person who needed to get off of an island to avoid prison did. He commandeered his own boat! Sure, it was modest and only had just enough space for his captain and crew and a few precious belongings, but people wouldn't miss it.
"Oy, Captain!" He called over his shoulder, "Should be clear sailing for the rest of the night." He paused, "Those clouds you say? Ah, naught but little wisps, nothing to worry yourself over."
"Thanks, Nik!" He responded back to himself, "You're the best first mate a captain could ask for."
"Awww...shucks, Captain, you're making me blush!"
And with that the strange conversation ended and a single figured pulled at the oars of a tiny rowboat into the vast open ocean with the stars as his guide.
The relative shallows she'd been claiming as her temporary territory were so clear that the shadow of a boat passing above her was more than enough to catch Morgana's attention.
She glanced up, judging the size of the craft. Ah. Not a ship. Barely a dinghy, really.
Almost despite herself, she was intrigued; there weren't many who would venture out onto the water in such a craft, not this far from shore. And a boat like that would hold one, maybe two people.
Not anything worth hunting...but curious all the same.
She considered a moment longer, then started to swim for the surface, rising in lazy spirals until her head broke the water some handful of yards from the small rowboat.
Silvery white hair drifted through the water around her as she flicked her tail in careful little circles to keep herself bobbing in place. Her head tilted, a smirk touching at her lips as she caught the end of the odd sailor's self exchange.
"Do you often talk to yourself?" she asked in a siren's coo, smirk widening. "Or is your captain truly invisible?"
So intent on his rowing and imaginary conversation with himself was Nik, that the sudden voice broke him from his stupor with violence. A high-pitched shriek escaped his lips and he jumped so high the rowboat nearly capsized. Thankfully he was able to gather himself fast enough to lung to the other side of the boat before it was too late.
Gosh he was good.
"Oh...oh...dear sea goddess...I am but a lowly manservant taking his majestic ship to a new port. Nothing to see here! Nothing remotely of interest. And definitely not someone your kind would have any reason to be mad about. Nope. Not me!"
His oar slipped down the side of the boat and he lunged for it, but was too late. He grasped at the oar as it sunk below the waves too quickly for him to reach.
"Ah fuck." He muttered, "Guess hands it is!" And he reached over the sides and promptly began inching the boat forward with cupped hands.
Morgana laughed, rolling onto her back and floating alongside the boat. "Sea goddess?" she repeated playfully, flicking her tail so that an arc of water droplets sparkled through the air. "I've been called many things, sailor, but I'll admit that is a new one."
She watched his oar slip into the water with mild curiosity, then looked back to him.
"You could always ask for help," she pointed out blithely. A flicker of a true smile moved across her face, showing sharp teeth, before she was back to that close-lipped smirk.
Nik shook his head.
"Thanks but no thana great goddess. I got two good hands and they make good cups. Just gotta go a few miles....ish...."
He tipped his hat with a sopping wet hand, "Thank you, Goddess Lady Ma'am. I appreciate you coming up to check out my wonderful little ship, but the captain and I got it covered."
And he didn't want to owe her any favors. Favors from the likes of her were never simple nor straightforward and he wasn't in a position of strength to refuse her if she came calling to collect.
But damn...she was beautiful. As he continued to slowly paddle his little boat he stole glances in her direction. Maybe she didn't know her....maybe he'd luck out and get to spend time with another siren....
She laughed again, curving backward through the water in a loop before surfacing again. Oh, this little human was an odd one--and she'd hunted recently enough that she wasn't all that interested in him for that. At least, not yet.
Another giggle and she ducked beneath the water and...disappeared. There was no ripple of her passage through the waves, nothing to indicate that she had ever been there at all.
At least, until Nik's rowboat jostled slightly underneath him, and then began to move steadily in the direction he'd pointed the bow quite without him paddling along with his hands--for whatever good that had even been doing him.
"What the hell!?" He shouted, falling back in the boat as it lurched forward suddenly. He couldn't say a part of him wasn't grateful of course, but the damned sea creature clearly didn't like to listen.
He wondered if maybe this one didn't have ears or something. It wasn't like he had that much experience with her kind. But...maybe a little more than the average still-alive sailor.
"Oy! Miss Fish!" He stomped on the boat, "What are you doing???"
The boat stopped as Morgana curved under it to pop her head back out of the water on the starboard side. "I should think that was obvious," she said, cocking her head to the side in an manner that was almost avian. "I am moving your boat."
She looked at him a moment longer, then ducked beneath the water again to reappear a few moments later on the other side of the rowboat. She was nearly close enough to reach out and touch, though continued to maintain a careful arm's distance between herself and the side of the boat.
"Unless you'd prefer to drift aimlessly." She shrugged, then pointed eastward. "There's an islet that way. At the very least, you could make yourself another oar--though I doubt you'd reach it using just your hands."
Another sharp-toothed smile, and she tilted her head the other way. "Of course, you could always come for a swim."
Nik eyed her with suspicion. He didn't trust her. After all, the last Siren he had encountered had tried to kill him and vowed to kill him the next time she caught him on the ocean.
For no reason! He hadn't done anything wrong!
"So.....do you just.....ferry sailors safely across the ocean on a regular basis? For free? No strings? No.....dinner.....?"
She chuckled quietly and flicked her tail through the water again. "Oh, I'm not hungry." Another flash of those almost shark-like teeth.
Then she shrugged and spun onto her back again, floating lazily alongside the rowboat. "But no, I don't usually do this. Perhaps I'm simply intrigued. Or perhaps I want something from you."
The siren ducked beneath the water again to surface near the bow of the little boat, just a hair closer than she had been before. She shrugged once again and tipped her head from side to side. "I'm not sure myself, in truth. But are you really in a position to be questioning help just now?"
"Oh goody." He said both sarcastically and sincerely, if you could believe it. Honestly, it was a mix of both because he didn't want to be indebted to her, but he also was glad she wasn't hungry.
"And listen here, you." He pointed a finger in her direction like a school teacher scolding a student, "I was doing just fine until you swam around scarring the pants off a nice man just minding his own business. I commendeered this boat to be quiet and discrete and now it's ruined."
He pouted, jutting his bottom lip out dramatically. Thankfully it was a full moon and the ocean was sparkling brilliantly as the gentle waves lapped against the rowboat.
Hmmmm...perhaps he had been too harsh. Could never tell with these Sirens if they'd be offended or what.
"Candy?" He offered a small apple candy from his pocket. They were his favorite and he carried them everywhere.
Morgana simply stared at him with her head tilted and one eyebrow quirked as he accused her of "ruining" his commandeering plan—from what she had seen, that plan had been something of a dead end.
She made a point of looking around their empty surroundings when he complained that his "discreetness" had been sabotaged by her presence. It wasn't like they had an audience, or were likely to get one, and she looked back to him perhaps a little smugly.
Maybe she would leave. She knew where he was now, if she decided to come back for a hunt later—
But then he offered her candy.
She blinked at his outstretched hand, and that semi-constant smirk she'd been wearing abruptly fell away to be replaced with a moment of pure, genuine curiosity.
"...What is...candy?"
"Yeah. Candy." He popped one into his mouth and sighed happily. Gods that woman made the best candy he'd ever had in his life. He would spend someone elses life savings to keep his candy obsession filled.
Well...after he made land at a new location with heavy purses and unexpecting folks getting bumped into a few times...
"It's called that because it can make you happy and keep you from dying because it's so good. Can-dy." He shook his hand at her, encouraging her to try it. "One of the best thing on this Earth lemme tell you!" He popped another in his mouth and swooned dramatically.
"Uuuuugh...so good....better than sex." He paused and rethought his comment, "eh...sometimes."
The siren drifted just a little closer to the boat—in proper arm's length now, which could be a danger to herself or the sailor (or both), depending on who you asked.
"So it is...food," she said slowly, watching him put what looked to her like a small, colorful pebble into his mouth. When he shook his hand in her direction she eyed it critically, like it was some potentially distasteful creature heretofore undiscovered.
"...Why are you offering this to me?" she asked, not reaching out to take the candy but allowing herself to drift even closer. One eyebrow inching upward again, she added a bit more dryly, "Sex is a hard thing to come by alone on open waters. If it is as good as you say, should you not keep it for yourself?"
"Food?" He scoffed, "Food? is more than just food, it's an experience. It's what makes life worth living. It's a combination of sweet and tangy in a perfect, balanced combination with just a hint of cinnamon to linger on the palette. It's one of the few things that makes us humans better than barbarians."
He popped another in his mouth and sighed again.
"And I'm sharing because I'm a nice person and I want to spread joy."
Morgana gave him a very sharp look that said she didn't believe that reasoning for a moment, but still she allowed herself to bob even closer--close enough that when she blinked, the flicker-film of her second set of eyelids was visible.
"...Fine." She held a hand out. "I will judge for myself."
Nik smiled excitedly. True excitement mind you, and practically bounced as he dropped the candy into her outstretched hand. His fingers brushed ever so slightly against her palm, but that was the extent of the contact. He could have held his hand a little higher, but he would be damned if one of those candies fell into the water to join that traitorous oar.
"Go on!" He urged, leaned against the side of the rowboat and ignored when it leaned precariously.
He popped yet another candy in his mouth and grinned.
Morgana drew her hand back quickly once the candy was in her palm. She lifted it closer to her face and sniffed at it cautiously, then cut her eyes up toward him sidelong before darting the tip of her tongue out to press against the smooth surface of the thing.
She quickly reeled back, blinking and smacking her tongue against the roof of her mouth at the foreign taste. "What in--?"
She glared at the candy as though it had personally offended her, lip curled back in the beginning of a snarl. It was so strange. He actually liked this?
Well. It was a challenge now. Still glaring, she quickly snapped the whole thing up and crunched down on it--clearly the idea of sucking on the small piece of sugar had not occurred to her.
She was so absorbed in the abrupt assault of flavor that at first she didn't notice the slight ripple on the surface of the water behind his boat, or the way it stalled just a few yards away before disappearing, as though whatever caused it had dived down.
Nik watched her intently, leaning further and further onto the edge of the boat completely engrossed in her experience of the candy. Her reaction reminded him of the first time a baby tried a food. First complete rejection and then..
then.......!
He leaned too far and the tiny rowboat flipped sending Nik right into the ocean water while the small belongings he had with him toppled in after.
Bottles quickly bobbed up to the surface, but the rest began their slow descent into the darkness.
Water filled his nose, his ears, and his mouth -since it was gaping while watching his new friend experience the candy. Thankfully, he wasn't new to the whole water situation so he quickly followed his bubbles and burst back into the air treading water to stay afloat.
"Well fuck." He sputtered, wiping the saltwater from his eyes. He recovered quickly and looked around for the siren, "so......how was it!?"
Morgana was actually surprised by the sudden capsizing of the rowboat. She'd been so absorbed in the strangeness of the apple candy that she hadn't noticed the tipping of balance until it was too late--not that she was sure herself if she would have warned the sailor or not.
She debating diving down after him, but he surfaced quickly enough on his own. She did flick her tail to get some distance between them as he bobbed in the water, head tipped at him curiously.
Rather than answer his question, she noted, "Your boat is upside down." He seemed strangely unconcerned by the whole affair--and not nearly as nervous as she expected most folks to be when they found themselves within drowning distance of a siren.
Glancing around, she added, "And it seems most of your supplies have sunk." Well, save for the bottles. She didn't know all that much about human dietary needs, but she had a feeling that wasn't going to be enough.
He looked over his shoulder at the boat and shrugged, "yeah....my bad..."
With a sigh, he flipped around and started floating on his back and letting the gentle waves lap against him causing him to bob up and down in a calming motion. He had been rowing for awhile and his arms were definitely already tired.
"The stars are nice." He sighed, "Wouldn't have looked up like this if the boat hadn't tipped."
"...Mmm." Humans are so odd.
She circled around behind him, keeping just her head and shoulders above the water. "And you have no interest in retrieving your supplies?" she pressed, quietly baffled by this strange sailor.
The water wasn't all that deep here. She could likely collect whatever had sunk easily enough, if he asked. Of course, that would be yet another favor, and she didn't think she was much interested in doing something else for him for free--
She felt movement beneath her tailfin and went still. Something was circling under them. Something large. At least as big as she was.
"Get on top of the boat," she snapped abruptly. "Now."
It took a moment for his to hear her through the lapping waves and the water that filled his ears. The urgecy was clear even if her words were muffled and he quickly moved towards the capsized boat.
He had questions, but those could wait for now. He was a strong swimmer, so he moved quickly and his muscles rippled as he pulled himself effortless onto the bottom of the boat.
But not before something circled around his leg and yanked.
His hands, still wet, slipped off the boat and he was dragged under the waves with a surprised yell before he disappeared. Only bubbles remained on the surface where he had once been.
Well.
Shit.
With a sigh that was more exasperated than anything else, Morgana dove beneath the swells.
Despite the dark of the night above them and the water around them, her eyes pierced easily through the gloom to see the sailor's figure being dragged down, streaming a trail of bubbles.
It took a moment for her to recognize the creature that had him--at first it was just a dark shape--but then she could see the slick edges of it, shadow on shadow in the water, and she cursed silently.
Gorlith, creatures that looked something like a cross between an octopus and a sea snail, usually didn't grow big enough to be much more than pests. This one was easily half again as long as a human was tall. It was using the shell that protected most of its body as an anchor to drop itself and its prey to the seafloor as quickly as possible, while six of its razored tentacles tried to draw the sailor in toward its blade-sharp beak.
Morgana flipped herself around and dove at it, smacking the broad side of her tailfin against the shell before darting away again. It wouldn't do much more than disorient the thing, but hopeful that would begin to loosen its grip. She arced backward and came in for another pass.
Nik's human eyes burned for a few moments after going up, but soon the saline in his eyes adjusted to the salt in thr water and the burning stopped. He could feel little razors digging into his leg, but he couldn't focus on that now more than just to recognize that pulling himself free would probably lead to some serious bloodloss.
Instead, he used his free leg to kick the thing as hard as he could. Multiple times. Over and over. Hoping it would decide he was too much effort for a snack.
The siren was much more lithe and continuously wacked and smacked the thing.
Nik could feel the tenticals loosening and the sea salt began burning the lacerations on his leg.
Dammit.
He hoped she was far away....
His lungs were burning. There hadn't been time to take a good breath before being rudely pulled below and he was exerting a lot of energy with his blows. A minute or two more and he would be no help to anyone other. He'd make a handsome paperweight, though.
He kicked again and the creature recoiled.
Now!
But he was far below the surface and black spots were filling his eyes. His body was pushing to breathe but he had to fight it. Opening his mouth was certain death.
He swam. Following his bubbles. Please let the surface be close. His limbs slowed. One more kick...just...one...
Instinct won and water filled his lungs.
Under the onslaught of both feet and tail, the gorlith seemingly thought better of what it had assumed would be an easy meal and released its prey to sink back down into the depths, using it's trailing tentacles to propel it even faster through the water.
Morgana drew herself up, not bothering to pursue the creature. It had only wanted a meal, after all, she couldn't exactly bear it ill will for that. She turned to look at the sailor, expecting him to have reached the surface.
...Except apparently she'd overestimated human lung capacity.
She watched his instinctive gasp, the way he drew in water rather than air, and there was a long, frozen moment where she just stared. She could let him drown--she'd considered hunting him herself. What difference did it make if he died here? Humans died all the time.
But he'd given her candy.
I'm going soft, she lamented to herself as she shot through the water to catch the sailor around the shoulders and tow him toward the surface. She curved around him as she did, bringing her mouth to his--both to prevent him from inhaling more water, and to blow air from her own lungs into his. Though she didn't use her lungs in the water, her body still stored the air. It should be enough to prevent him from drowning between here and the surface, at least.
A few powerful thrusts of her tail sent them gliding upward. She adjusted her grip on him so that his head was cradled against her shoulder as their heads broke the surface, allowing him to expel the water he'd breathed.
Moments passed. So many it felt like an eternity. Nik remained still in the siren's arms while his fingertips turned blue as water replaced air.
Then, when all seemed lost, his chest convulsed and spasmed. A wet, gurgling cough erupted from his lungs and seawater burst from his lips. He tried to breathe, but the ragged coughs kept coming until as much water as his body could expel was emptied. He breathed on his own; short, wet breaths, and continued to cough. But the coughs eventually slowed and his breathing steadied.
He remained still for quite some time just focusing on the air he needed. His head aches, his fingers were tingling painfully as oxygen slowly reincorporated itself with his appendages.
"Fuck....me...." he finally coughed out. Then, realizing that his new friend was clearly to thank for his current not-dead situation, "What...the hell....was that?"
"Steady." Morgana tried to finagle him into a more upright position, which was not an easy task to accomplish while free floating in the water. "A gorlith," she answered his question, frowning down for a moment at the water beneath them. "They're usually solitary--then again, they don't normally get that big, either."
Perhaps best not to risk it.
She towed him over to his capsized boat. "You should keep out of the water," she noted wryly, trying to help boost him up.
Nik didn't argue and he grasped clumsily onto the capsized boat and heaved himself up. He didn't even try to make himself comfortable and just drapped himself over the center and rested his cheek onto the wood slats while his hands gently skimmed the water.
His leg was bleeding steadily where the sea creature's razor tentacles had grasped him, but he didn't care. He was alive, all thanks to the siren who happened to be passing by.
"Thank you." He said after a time, still refusing to move from his spot. Gods air was terrific. He loved how it moved through him. Uuuuup and dooooown....iiiiiiiin and ooooooout.....ahhhhhhh.....ooooooooh
"I love air." He sighed dramatically with only a slight cough as his body still worked to get the last of the water from his lungs.
Morgana watched him settle himself with a slight frown. She didn't respond to his expression of gratitude, her attention on the blood that was steadily dripping into the water.
"You need to take care of that," she noted. If she could smell it, other ocean predators could too.
She glanced over her shoulder, in the direction she'd initially been towing his little rowboat. "The islet isn't far--you need to get off the water."
Nik sighed, still feeling very little motivation to move, but the siren wasn't wrong. His blood dripping into the water was like a giant homing becon for all kinds of unsavory...critters.
Unfortunately not the cute kinds usually. But....maybe they'd be cute this time....?
He rolled onto his back with a groan and pulled his legs up fully onto the bottom of the boat. With a swift swipe of a knife from his belt, he cut away his pant leg to reveal the extent of his injuries. There were very obvious lacerations that circled his entire calf and shin in perfectly structure little gashes. They were clean at least, and would probably heal nicely with time. Hell, he might even get some cool looking scars if he was lucky.
Nik pulled off his shirt and began cutting it into strips which he then tied tightly around his wounds. The moonlight caused a set of five long silver scars along his back to glimmer. They extended from his shoulder all the way across his torso to the opposite side and looked very similar to scratches that might be made by human fingernails, but clearly the severity of the scar suggested something other than human and with much sharper claws.
After finishing the last of the wound binding, he reached into his pocket and cursed, pulling out a handful of very wet, very slimy candies.
"Fuck. Not you, too!"
Morgana watched in silence as he struggled the rest of the way up onto the capsized boat. There was a moment when he cut away the fabric of his pant leg and the extend of his injuries were visible that she actually started to reach toward him--and she didn't know herself exactly why.
In rather short order, she had somehow grown quite protective of this silly human sailor. Usually, that only happened when she had picked a hunting target and didn't want one of the ocean's other many dangers to get to him first.
...But he'd given her candy.
It was the one thought she couldn't get out of her head. It wasn't even the candy itself--she hadn't particularly cared for it, honestly--it was the fact that he'd just given her something. Not bartered or finessed or expected something from her in return.
An odd thought, one she didn't entirely know what to do with. And one that was quickly shuffled to the back of her mind when her eyes lit on the scars over his back.
Oh.
Ohhhhhhh.
Now that was interesting.
She smirked and drifted close enough to the rowboat that she could fold her arms on it and rest her chin on top of them. "I see I am not the first of my kind that you have met," she noted with a pointedly raised eyebrow. Tail waving lazily back and forth through the water behind her, she tipped her head to the side a bit and cut a quick glance toward the waterlogged candy. "Is that really what you're most distressed about just now?"
He blinked down at her, real tears pinching at the corners of his eyes. "I bloody well am distressed about this." He waved the sticky mess dramatically towards her, "This is made special by a wonderful little lady who owns a candy shop on and island I can't go back to right now. I'm going to have to eat fruit or something like a pauper."
He dropped his head onto his knees and dumped the ruined candiea into the sea, "Goodbye my loves, may the fishies treat you nicely...."
Another sigh left his lips and he turned his head to look intently at the siren while purposefully ignoring her question about his scars. Of course she'd recognize them, but that didn't mean he had to divulged his secrets. A gentleman didn't kiss and tell, after all.
"I'm Nikkolai, captain of this magnificant upside-down boat."
Morgana rolled her eyes.
"You're a pain in my dorsal fin is what you are," she muttered, before slipping off the capsized canoe to swim around to the stern. "Just...hold on."
She braced her hands against the wood and pushed, setting them moving first gently, and then more swiftly through the water. If he wasn't concerned with getting himself to the islet, it seemed she would just have to do it for him.
"...Morgana," she said after a long moment. He'd given his name, after all. "I'm called Morgana."
Nik smiled and enjoyed the wind that whipped through his sandy-blonde hair. It had long since broken free of the hasty plait he had done and now sea-soaked tendrils began to dry in that slightly-hardened-way only salt could manage.
"Nice to meet you, friend." He called down to her, "I greatly appreciate not being your dinner."
"I'm not your friend," Morgana responded bluntly. Then after a moment, she added in an almost petulant tone, "But...you're welcome for not eating you. Yet."
She stroked her tail more firmly through the water, increasing their pace slightly. The islet she was seeking started to come into view: a lumpy shadow settled on top of the dark water, a dark patch that reflected neither moon nor stars.
She continued to serve as propulsion for Nik's capsized boat until she felt the bow of it scrape against sand, when she finally let go and allowed the slight drift of the surf against the islet's shore to push him the rest of the way out of the sea.
Her eyes flickered down to his injured leg as she bobbed head-and-shoulders above the surface. "Gorlith aren't particularly clean creatures. You'll want to find some sort of disinfectant for that."
"Ahhh but I could be. I'm quite an agreable person with a...generally...pleasant demeanor." The boat tipped slightly as the bow brushed against sand.
Instead of going straight onto land, he slid down from the capsized rowboat into waist-high water and just....stood. His wounds burned terribly, but it was probably the best way to clean them out given his severe lack of supplies or even and oar to row to someplace more occupied.
He'd just hang out here until the burning stopped.
The water was so shallow here that Morgana had to curl her tail beneath the rest of her body--almost serpent-like--in order to keep herself mostly submerged. As it was, she was a bit more than head-and-shoulders above the surface, revealing that even her "human" half glittered with pale scales in the moonlight.
"...There is a plant," she said abruptly, jerking her head back out to sea. "It sometimes grows in these waters. A seaweed, with veins of silver through it. It can help with infections."
She didn't offer, exactly, but the considering tone to her voice and the way she eyed him with a combination of wariness and curiosity indicated that she may in fact be willing to go searching for this seaweed, if he asked.
He looked down at her from under the waves and cocked his head to the side pensively. She was warming to him, it would seem, though if that came with ant strings remained to be seen.
"For someone who claims we're not friends, you're being awfully friend-like. People don't just help you often, do they? Like....without expecting something in return?" He smiled a genuine smile, "I hope I can show you that it does indeed happen pretty frequently amongst us two-leggers. I'd also greatly appreciate any help you can offer." He glanced over his shoulder and saw some village lights off in the distance quite a walk away, "it would help if I ever wanted to make it to a human settlement."
"We are not friends," Morgana reiterated, perhaps a tad too defensively. Then she sighed, flicking her tail through the water in an irritated twitch. "...But I owe you for the candy."
At least, that was what she was going to tell herself.
She slipped back beneath the surface of the water, and soon was no more than a long, dark shape swimming swiftly back out into the open ocean.
She was gone for a little less than an hour. When she returned to the spit of sand where she'd left him, she was clutching both a bundle of silver-veined seaweed--and the pack from his rowboat that had sunk when it capsized.
"Here." She thrust it out toward him, fabric dripping. "It was near where I found the lutsara--the seaweed. I'm not sure what might have drifted away, but this is what I found."
She was gone for a long time and he managed to limp his way to the beach while he waited. His leg was already aching, though whether it was from the wounds being dirty or the constant salt water, he wasn't sure. He did, however, collapse thankfully onto the rocks and sand and spread his arms wide while he gazed at the stars.
It really was a beautiful night. It reminded him of the times they had laid out and stared up into the heavens back when times had been...simpler wasn't the right word, but language was failing him. Regardless, it seemed like his little run in with the giant seasnail hadn't given him away so at least there was that.
The quiet disturbance of the water alerted Nik to Morgana's return and he pushed himself back into a seated position.
"Thank you." He inched himself forward on his behind until the waves lapped against his shoulders and he was close enough to take the bag and the seaweed from her.
Then back he went, still refusing to stand, and doing an awkward scoot shuffle back out of the water. Walking was too hard. He was over walking.
The makeshift bandages came off and he immediately began weaving the seaweed around his leg almost as if weaving a blanket. It was clear he had knowledge of its use and application and it didn't take long until all of the lacerations were dressed and the plants firmly adhered to his leg. On land or in water they would stay.
Then he turned his attention to his bad and it was like a fire was lit underneath him. He tore through the contents, throwing soaked clothes around him along with some pieces of ruined food until he pulled out a decently size parcel and grinned wildly.
"Yes! Yes!!" he greedily unwrapped the package and pulled out a few bags that were bone dry. His oiled skins had worked perfectly!
From one bag he produced more candies, from another he pulled out a glass bottle full of some unknown liquid, and finally he produced a dainty bracelet made from pearl and polished stone while set in gold.
"For you." He offered the bracelet to Morgana, "I was saving it for someone special, but you've saved my life and I think that's more important. It's a...family....heirloom." he lied. Well, it wasn't really a lie. It probably was an heirloom to the woman it used to belong to. Eh...details.
Morgana watched him scoot his way along the sand with her head tilted like a curious puppy. Was that how humans moved without use of their legs? How on earth did they manage? She'd thought navigating with her tail in shallow water could be unwieldy, but in comparison to that it seemed exceedingly simple.
His familiarity with the seaweed she had brought him certainly spoke to something, though she couldn't say she was entirely sure exactly what. And then, as he began rummaging through his bag, she leaned forward just a bit to get a better look at what he was unpacking.
Ah. Of course. More candy. And a bottle of...something that she could only assume was alcoholic.
Then he produced the bracelet and held it out to her, and she stared at him in blank confusion for a long moment.
...Why did he keep giving her things?!
Of course, her general understanding of the world would indicate that in saving his life--and further, towing him to land, then finding the seaweed and his bag--she had more than repaid any debt she might have owed him for offering her a new experience with the candy, she was having a hard time looking at the bracelet as payment offered for those services. Because usually a payment was parted with reluctantly, and he seemed all too happy to just keep giving things to her!
Still, she allowed herself to drift to the edges of the shallows, then sighed and pulled her upper body out of the water entirely, so that she was sitting on the sand with two thirds of her tail trailing back into the surf. She reached out to accept the bracelet, and simply held it in her palm for several long moments before slipping it over her wrist.
There were certainly those among her kin who collected such things, enjoyed decorating themselves with pretty baubles--either scavenged, stolen, or crafted themselves from what materials the sea provided. She'd never really considered herself one of them, but she would admit a certain fondness for pretty things.
Rather than thank him for the bracelet, she asked quietly, "Who is...someone special? The one you were saving it for."
Nik popped a recovered candy into his mouth and tilted his head to the side while studying her intently. Sirens, as he knew them, were not very trusting folk. It was rare indeed that someone walked away unscathed if at all. It was rarer to have a conversation with them. And there were so many different kinds of sirens. This one seemed to be almost exclusively sea dwelling with a full tail and scales across her whole body.
And yet....she inched closer to him.
Gods he was just that charming wasn't he? Charmed the charmer, he had!
"Hmm...." he mused, contemplating what to tell her. Specifically how much of the truth. "I suppose you could say I was hoping to make it a peace offering. So less....you're special to me and more....appeasement."
Morgana lifted one eyebrow. "...I don't suppose this appeasement has anything to do with the marks on your back?"
It wasn't any great leap in logic--he was clearly familiar with sirens and the sea, at least to the extent any human could be. And she had certainly known individuals among her kind who held grudges. Either he had been marked for a hunt and escaped, or...
Well. There were several options really. She didn't want to assume.
Flicking her tail through the surf to send up a few glittering droplets, she let herself lean back and braced one hand on the sand behind her. "You don't have to tell me," she said in the general direction of the stars above them. "I'm just...curious."
It was a new feeling, being curious about a human. She normally didn't give them much thought, beyond deciding if they would make a good hunt.
Nik studied her for a bit longer, sucking noisily on the candy as he mulled over her questions. He wasn't surprised she knew what those scars were. Very few creatures could create that kind of mark. But...how would she react?
"I understand how you could come to that conclusion." He spoke slowly; choosing his words carefully, "but whether or not I answer your question really depends on whether or not it'll change your mind on eating me."
She laughed at that, and tipped her head tot he side to better see his face from her current position.
"Do you worry I might turn you over to an angry sister?" she asked, lightly teasing--though it was certainly a reasonable fear to have. Looking upward again, she shook her head. "I have little interest in the doings of other sirens. And I will not eat you because you do not appeal to me as a meal."
She shrugged. "Perhaps that will change, but I doubt it. Those of my bloodline tend to prefer...angrier prey."
She would never pretend to be serving some higher form of justice--she hunted because it was her nature, and because she was hungry--but she had never taken the life of someone who had showed her kindness.
"The thought crossed my mind, yes." He responded, basically admitting to her original question about the claw marks on his back. Thaleia hadn't been pleased when he tried to part ways but, somehow, he had managed to escape her. Mostly thanks to the small silver ring he fished out of his bag and now turned over in his hands pensively.
He sighed, "She really didn't want to let me go." He admitted, "Which is probably my fault for being so damn charming."
"Mmm." Morgana twisted slightly to better face him. "We can be possessive creatures, true enough."
She swayed the lower part of her tail back and forth through the surf. "Did you take something from her?" she asked after a moment, simply curious. She knew there were sirens who could lash out violently if the object of their affections spurned them—but it was just as likely that there was something he wasn't telling her about the whole affair.
He didn't answer right away. Her question was....complicated.
"Nothing that can be returned." He answered honestly, "Even if I wanted to....I...can't give her what she wants. So, now I'm marked or....something. I don't quite understand how it all works."
Another quiet "hmmm". Morgana rolled onto her stomach, bracing her elbows in the sand to lift her upper body as she looked him over yet again.
"I...am not familiar with that practice," she admitted after a moment. "That is, I've known sirens to be jealous and possessive--and we can certainly hold a grudge--but a mark sounds...almost arcane."
She frowned a bit, thinking. "Did she have any magic? Besides her song, I mean."
Nik leaned back on his hands and let his legs rest in the water as the waves gentle ebbed and flowed. It was nice, this little islet thing. It was peaceful and even the ocean seemed to want to preserve that feeling. If he wasn't so addicted to candy and other people's money he might consider retiring here for good. Just....exist in the calm.
"She does..." he responded slowly, "that's.....not.....normal?" Oh Gods...what had he gotten involved with then?
"It is not abnormal," Morgana mused, pursing her lips. "But no, not all of us are born seawitches. So I suppose it's possible this mark is more magical in nature than it is physical?"
She nodded toward his back. "I could take a look, if you want. But I'm not sure how much I'd be able to glean--I've never been all that adept with that sort of magic."
Nik shrugged. "Can't hurt, can it?" He replied, spinning around so his back was now closer to the water. The scars, upon closer inspection, weren't just silver because of new skin, but looked almost scale-like in appearance.
Morgana hesitated a moment before shifting a little further out of the water--not so far that her tail wasn't still mostly submerged, but further than she usually allowed herself to settle on shore.
With Nik's back to her, she lightly traced over one of the marks with her fingertip. It didn't just look like silvered scales, it almost...felt scaly.
"Well that's interesting," she murmured, tracing another scar with her fingertip. "How do they feel?" she asked abruptly. "I mean, do they...hurt? Are they sore? OR do you not notice them?"
Nik shrugged and glanced at her over his shoulder.
"Honestly, I don't feel them. I...don't even really remember getting them...just that they weren't there and then I suggested we part ways and the...argument happened. Next thing I remember was waking up on shore."
"Moon and tides," Morgana muttered, with the tone of someone invoking an impolite oath.
She bit her lip, then said slowly, "I have a...friend. Acquaintance, I suppose, really."
She sat back, giving him a quick tap on the shoulder to let him know he could turn back around. Propped up with one hand in the sand, she tipped her head so her silver-white hair spilled down over that shoulder and mused, "We haven't spoken in—well, in quite a while. But she might know more. This sort of magic is more her area of expertise than mine."
She "hmm"ed in consideration. "Her home is quite a distance though...and underwater."
Nik turned back around a looked at her thoughtfully, a mischievious look creeping into his eyes.
"Underwater, eh?" He asked as he stood up and started walking pointedly into the ocean. His bag laid long forgotton on the beach but the ring he had collected was held tightly in his hand, "well, let's go adventuring then! Assuming, of course, you're cool to protect me from a raging...witch."
He gave Morgana a playful wink before sinking his head under the water without even taking a breath.
"What are you—?"
She blinked, then dove into the water after him.
Circling around him as he sank lower, she frowned, looking him up and down.
"...Are you telling me I didn't need to bother saving you from drowning earlier?" she demanded, deadpan.
His grin widened at her question and he popped his head back above water. He had drifted a bit further than he could touch so he was forced to tread water.
"What?" He responded once his mouth was out, "No, I definitely needed saving. A right proper damsel in distress I was." He spit out some salt water that splashed up.
"But when you saved me, I didn't have my bag....so...." he waved the ring around before slipping it on his thumb. Silver strings of magic blossomed from the ring and began entwining themselves around his body. The strands formed webs between his fingers and his toes. Then they inched up and created long lines along his neck and then small stabilizing type fins swirled out around his hips.
He felt his lungs get tight. That was his cue and he sunk again below the waves.
The siren backpedaled through the water slightly to give up room as he slipped the ring on. She let herself tilt sideways before moving into a full flip.
Coming upright again, she said with a shrug, "Well, at least I won't have to be kissing you every time you put your head above water."
Without bothering to explain that comment, she gave a sharp flick of her tail to send her back through the water several lengths before pausing again.
"Well? Think you can keep up, or should I fashion you a leash?" she asked with a crooked, razor-fanged grin.
Nik looked at her confused, "What?" He responded, "What's this about kissing? You were going to kiss me?"
He swam quickly to follow her, "Wait. No no, you can't just swim away after that." He reached for her hand, "I think I like the kissing idea better. Let's do that."
She laughed, letting him take her hand, but keeping him at a full arm's length.
"I would have thought you'd known," she chuckled, titling her head at him playfully. "Have you never heard the legends? A mermaid's kiss can save a man from drowning."
Looking pointedly at his ring, she added with a blithe shrug, "Seems you've no need of that assistance, though. Come along now!"
She started swimming again, her hand still in his.
He flicked his feet and reveled in the water that raced past his cheeks and into his blonde hair that created a trail behind his head.
"No no no." He continued, almost begging, "I am a man in danger of drowning. You need to save me." He swam up next to her and flipped onto his back dramatically, closed his eyes, and stuck out his tongue. "See." He whispered, "Drowning."
Morgana laughed again, the sound carrying through the water like a silvered song all its own. She released his hand to swim over top of him, drawing close enough that they were merely a breath apart as she floated just over him.
"Oh?" She traced one hand down along the side of his neck, then over his collar—just using her fingertips, barely touching him at all. "Are you sure? You're quite talkative for a man on the verge of death..."
She gave a slight flick of her tail that brought her even closer, her torso just briefly pressed to his, lips no more than a finger's width from his—
Then she flipped back with another silvery giggle, spinning and smirking at him through a billowing curtain of hair.
He fake swooned and let himself sink lower into the water while one hand dramatically clutched at his chest.
"Death take my heart for a seductress has stolen it from me!" He closed his eyes and let his body rock gently back and forth with the current while squeezing his eyes shut. Well....mostly shut....he was peeking out at her through tiny slits.
The siren scoffed and rolled her eyes at him. Swimming close enough to touch him again, she reached out and flicked the tip of his nose lightly.
"If this is how you seduced my kinswoman, my opinion of her has plummeted," she said wryly, but there was a teasing glint in her eyes.
Circling him once more, she flicked her tail out so that the very tip of her fins dragged along his leg for half a moment. "Now come, come! It'll be well passed midnight soon, and we'll want a safe spot to rest for the remainder of the night."
Nik flipped around and sped after her chuckling lightly under his breath. Something about the water always made him feel freer than he did on land. Perhaps it was that sense of flying. Maybe it was the lack of gravity as the water lifted and supported entirely.
Perhaps he was a bit lonely and it was nice to have someone to talk to.
Nah. That was stupid.
As they swam, Morgana kept checking back over her shoulder to make sure Nik was keeping up with her. A ring that allowed him to breathe underwater was one thing, but human legs and feet just weren't the kind of swimming tool that a merfolk's tail was.
She found herself checking her own speed unconsciously, allowing him to keep pace with her more easily. She wasn't used to traveling with a companion, and had thought it would quickly grow irritating.
It hadn't so far, which was...interesting.
Eventually, she slowed and circled back to hover vertically in front of him in the water. "Does that," she asked, gesturing to the ring, "work indefinitely? Or will I have to sleep with you floating on the surface like a mother otter?"
"Indefinitely?" He thought for a moment, "I mean, I haven't used it for weeks or anything, but I actually can't breathe above water with it on."
He grinned again, enjoying teasing her, "I wouldn't object to being cradled though. Who knows what kinds of dark creatures are lurking in the depths hoping that some poor unassuming human might just....swim by. I'll need to be protected. My little baby skin is no match for horrifying creatures of the deep."
He brushed some wayward strands of hair out of his face. The magic of the ring emitted a soft glow where the silver threads wove around him to the point he looked almost otherworldly. Hopefully that alone wouldn't attract unwanted attention. Fish tended to like light...
Morgana snorted at him—which was actually not an easy thing to accomplish underwater. Rolling her eyes, she reached out to take his hand and started swimming again.
"There's a cave system not far from here," she said as she towed him along, tail slicing gracefully through the water to move them more quickly than he could have on his own. "It should be safe—though we may have to block any entrances to hide that light."
She gestured to the way he was glowing with her free hand.
Nik took her hand and enjoyed the speed with which she sped them through the water. He still kicked his feet to keep her from doing all the work, but he definitely wasn't doing much to contribute. His ring was an impressive bit of magic, but she was part of the sea and he was an interloper.
For a moment he was able to forget that fact and just enjoy existing in this exotix world. People didn't know what was beneath the waves and the beauty the were missing.
"Yeah...." he glanced at the silver strands that encased him, "It is a bit of a setback isn't it? You'll just have to wrap me up tightly." He winked at her.
She rolled her eyes again, but there was a hint of a smile playing around the edges of her lips.
She'd always been a solitary creature, but it was gradually occurring to her that perhaps...well, perhaps an occasional bit of company could be...nice. Maybe she had been on her own too long.
"You know, most sailors would at least be wary of the idea of being "wrapped up" by a siren," she said pointedly as they cut through the water.
The cave system she had mentioned gradually loomed ahead of them, slowly solidifying its shape in the water, shadows upon shadows.
He shrugged, "Maybe I just like danger. Maybe I'm actually insane." He contemplated and then nodded, "yeah, probably just insane." He concluded. "I don't care much about self-preservation the way most people think I should. I mean...technically...just being in the water right now might bring death and destruction down upon us. At least, that's what I've been lead to believe."
He paused and bit his lower lip as he thought, "If she did mark me...and if that means she knows where I am...you could be putting yourself in a lot of danger. Are you sure you're ok with that?"
"Oh, Nik." She smirked; it was the first time she'd used his name. "Believe me—I'm not the one in danger. If another siren wants you, she will have to go through me."
She flashed a grin at him, teeth silver in the dark water. Her long canines weren't just fang-like: they were serrated.
"Here." She let them drift to a stop outside the mouth of the largest cave in the underwater system. "There should be a safe place we can sleep for a few hours further in. I hope you're not afraid of the dark?"
"The dark?" He scoffed, "I'm never in the dark because I'm de-LIGHT-ful." He wiggled his eyebrows at her.
"The only thing that I'm afraid of it a world without candy. And drink. I'm awfully fond of both." He swam in after her. In the cave, the soft glow of magic around him seemed infinitely brighter.
"Oh, that was bad," Morgana chuckled as they swam inside.
She led them through a series of tunnels, most of which were wide enough to pass through comfortably, but some required that they squeeze in a little closer together.
Eventually, they reached a place where the tunnel opened wider—and Morgana drew up short.
"Hmmm..." She hesitated at the mouth of the cave proper, where it seemed that some sort of fluctuation in the pressure since she'd last been here—perhaps a cave-in further into the system—had rendered the water level barely ankle high on a human.
She backpedaled slightly, sinking back down into the tunnel. "Well...you could sleep up there, if you like. There are natural shelves along the cave wall that would keep you safe."
Nik shrugged and slipped the ring off his finger so he could emerge into the air safely. But without its magic, the cave plunged into absolute darkness.
"Well." He spoke to the black, "This both solves a problem and creates one." He waved his hand in front of his face. Nothing.
"...I suppose it does."
Or, perhaps, an opportunity.
A girl had to keep some secrets, after all.
"I can see, a little," she told Nik as she poked her head above water, and then slowly dragged herself up onto the lip of the cave.
She glanced down at her tail as the tingling started; she'd only done this a few times before, and it always felt odd. Her scales loosened, shimmered, then sluiced away as salt water, revealing the pale flesh of legs beneath.
She stood, swaying slightly as she adjusted to the new center of gravity, then stepped toward to take Nik'd hand again.
"Here. I'll guide you."
Her hand against his caused him to jump straight out of his skin. "The fuck?" He yelped, yanking his hand away and promptly slipping and crashing on his butt into the water. Thankfully he was able to hold onto the ring - that would have made for a bad day...
"Morgana?" He lurched to his feel and reached around blindly, "What the hell...was that you?"
She couldn't help laughing quietly, though his own start caused her to skitter back a step.
"Yes, it's me," she confirmed, watching the shadow-in-shadow outline of him grope around in the darkness for a moment before she reached out to put her hand in his path again.
"Who else were you expecting?" she teased lightly when his hand found hers in the dark.
He didn't pull his hand back this time, but the whole situation had him confused. "But...you're out of the water." He told the darkness, "Like rightly out of it." He emphasized. He knew it was possible, but he also knew generally it wasn't something sea dwellers wanted to do.
But....here she was...potentially out of the water. Not that he could be sure, of course, since his sad human eyes were absolutely zero help in this cave.
"It certainly seems that way," Morgana responded blithely. "C'mon, this way."
She started leading him through the shallow water to a lip along the edge of the cave wall. It should be large enough for him to sleep comfortably.
"Could your siren not leave the water?" she asked as they walked—partly because she was curious, and partly because she simply wasn't used to having legs, and so moved slower than she perhaps would have liked.
"She could," he replied, shuffling and stumbling forward with one hand clutched in hers and the other reaching around just in case he could find something anchor himself to, "but she didn't like too. Said it was beneath her. Though, I actually think it had more to do with losing some of her strength. She can do.....a lot.....with the ocean. Affect weather, mists, change tides. Ain't no tides to change when you're walking on land."
He paused again and a small creeped on his face in memory, "I mean....I certainly liked having her on land. But I'm just a bumbling, blind human." He slipped again and his knee cracked on the stones.
"Ahhh." She nodded. "Sounds like she's a proper sea witch. It's rare for merfolk to be able to trade fins for legs if they're not. Usually the result of a curse of some sort."
She didn't seem to feel the need to elaborate on the fact that she could do so, and had already claimed not to be a sea witch.
When he slipped again she tried to keep ahold of his hand, but couldn't manage to keep him from cracking a knee on the stones. "Well. That sounded painful," she noted as she knelt next to him. She ran one hand up his leg, scenting the air for blood. "Can you stand?"
His breath hissed in sharply and he swatted away her hand when he felt her feeling for a wound, "I'm fine, I'm fine." He grunted through clenched teeth, "More bruised than before, but nothing's broken. Probably."
He tested his words by gently putting weight on the injured leg and then hobbling forward. It hurt with the added pressure, but it didn't collapse so...probably ok.
"What exactly are you looking for here? I didn't get a good look before descending into the depths of hell itself."
Morgana drew her hand back quickly when he swatted at her, though not without an indignant huff.
"There's a ledge," she answered his question with a small sniff. "It's only a few feet ahead of you—it'll keep you dry while you sleep, and protected from anything that might be living in this bit of water.
She splashed one hand through the shallow water around them. It was unlikely there was anything all that dangerous in it, but it often paid to be cautious.
He stood for a few moments just staring into the darkness. Gods how could anyone evolve to see in it? It was so dark it felt almost suffocating.
Then he shook his head and sat down right where he was, allowing the chill ocean depths to cover his legs and hips.
"Yeah...this sounds just fine. Right here. No moving required."
Morgana sighed expressively. "Far be it from me to curb your vaguely suicidal tendencies," she said dryly, "but the ledge is three feet in front of you. All it would take is for you to roll over in your sleep in this and you could drown."
She glared down at him, though she knew he couldn't see it. "...I can carry you, if you want."
"To be fair," he argued, "I could roll over in my sleep and off that ledge and still drown so seems like I'm doomed. But fine." he stood up again, his knee feeling tender but not unusable.
By the time he stood up again, he was turned around. He held out his hands and spun in a very slow circle.
"Yeah....this is fun. Where....is it again?"
"This way." She took his hand and guided him through the dark until he could touch the ledge. "Here. And the stone has a lip, see?"
With her hand hovering over his, she let him trace along the edge of the formation to feel the way the stone dipped in toward the wall—so if he did roll over, it would just roll him back.
Smirking into nothingness, she asked, "Do you need me to help you up?"
He let her lead his hand over the ledge and was actually thankful she did so. Then...the snark.
"Oh ha. ha." He responded with an eye roll before lithely pulling himself up and turning to let his feet dangle over the edge. The cuts along his leg from the sea snail were stinging, but the seaweed remained tightly wrapped and were helping deaden the pain. He took a moment to roll up his pant leg and gingerly touch his knee. And winced. Yeah, that hurt, and he could feel that it was already swelling. Wonderful. Just what he needed.
The cave was....well....cold. There was no other way to describe it. Coupled with his wet clothes it wasn't long before shivers set in.
"Alright. I'm up. So now we do what? Sleep? Should we take watch?" He laughed heartily at that. The cave was just as dark now as it had been before. If anything wanted to eat him, he'd be a sitting duck.
She waited until he was settled before her shoulders fully relaxed. Her joke about taking watch earned a short huff of laughter and an eye roll that she knew he couldn't see.
"We'll be safe in here," she replied. "The only real danger to you would be the most embarrassing case of drowning in human history."
She finally seemed to notice the slight shivers of his shadowy form in the darkness, and put two and two together. "Ah. Or hypothermia, I suppose..."
Ohh...damnit.
She took in a breath, then released it heavily. "Scooch in," she grumbled, climbing up onto the ledge next to him. "I'm afraid I don't have a dry blanket handy, so you'll just have to make do with me."
Nik chuckled and sighed, "ok, fine, but hold on a second." He immediately started removing his clothes starting with his shirt which he blindly felt around for the edge of the ledge far enough away that it wouldn't touch them where they laid.
"Ahhhh..."
Morgana went abruptly tense and froze in place. "Just what do you think you're doing?" Her tone was mild, but there was the promise of danger just beneath it if she didn't like his answer.
Being a creature of the sea, it hadn't occurred to her that sleeping in wet clothes could be just as cold and uncomfortable as sleeping in the water itself.
He could hear the danger creeping into her voice and he immediately held up his hands and waved them in her general direction.
"No. No no no no. It's just those clothes will make it impossible to get warm. They're wet and will make it worse. I'm not trying anything I swear. How stupid would I have to be to try and take advantage of you in the middle of your domain??" He stopped trying to unfasten his pants, "Body against body works best, but I'll leave these on if it will make you more comfortable." His teeth clattered together but he remained still where he was with hands extended in an attempt to show her he meant everything he was saying.
"...Oh."
That actually made sense.
She huffed, then waved a hand at him airily. "Fine, fine. I suppose it'll be best for both of us, in the long run." She shrugged, shifting to give him a bit more room so he could continue removing what clothing he needed to.
"I'm...not used to begging out of my scales," she admired, running one hand down her own—surprisingly smooth—arm.
Now that he'd said something, she realized she was actually growing a little chilled on the bare stone. It wasn't like she had any clothes either; in the dark, that hadn't seemed like such a big deal.
"So.....yes....pants? Or.....no? if you're trying to tell me something your eyes or hands or something I can't see you."
Ah. Right. He couldn't.
She huffed. "You can take them off," she sighed. "Just...know that I'd you do decide to try something, I will eat you."
She settled herself onto the ledge, trying to adjust to the heaviness of sleeping out of the water.
"Got it. Understood. Unwanted sexual advances equals eating. I promise you I do not wish to be eaten. I swear on those apple candies that I will not start anything or put you in a compromising position unless you specifically ask me to do so. I don't mess around with those candies." His words sounded ridiculous, but his inflection was deadly serious.
He pulled his pants down and felt warmer for it, but still cold. Wet clothes were the worst.
"Ah. I do need your help." He held up the ring, "can you help me put this on the chain around my neck? I'm worried about dropping it."
"...Fine."
She tried to sound properly annoyed, but wasn't sure she quite managed it. Twisting to face him, it took her a moment to find the ring he was holding out to her—though she could see in the dark, she couldn't see well. It was all shadows upon shadows.
Taking the ring, she let her fingers ghost along his collar until she found the chain he spoke of. "And...there." She slipped the ring onto the chain, double checking the clasp with sure fingers just to be safe.
"Now, get some sleep." She rolled to put her back to him. "It'll be dawn in a few hours—if you want something done about that mark, it's a good two more days of swimming to reach my...acquaintance."
He sighed and settled himself behind her, draping one arm carefully and tastefully around her so as not to touch her inappropriately but still allow their bodies to properly maintain a comfortable level of heat.
"You know I really don't like how you say the word 'acquaintance.'" He complained, but said no more as he closed his eyes and let sleep claim him.
She chuckled again quietly.
"Do you prefer ex-lover?" she asked as she felt his breathing even against her back and assumed sleep had claimed him.
It was strange, to sleep beside someone else. Even on the rare occasions when she did have a partner, she couldn't remember ever choosing to spend a full night in someone else's embrace.
Not that Nik was embracing her, of course. Still, it was...something close. Close enough that it made an empty, echoing part of her chest pang with a loneliness she worked hard to never let herself feel.
So, needless to say, she was quite happy when the barest hint of light began shimmering at the mouth of their cave—what few precious sunbeams could penetrate water and a labyrinth of rock—and she roused herself quickly.
"Up you go, sailor," she said, twisting in place to shake Nik's shoulder lightly. "We have daylight; it's best we be on our way."
Nik's eyes opened groggily and for a moment he wasn't sure if he was awake or not because darkness was met with darkness with the exception of the tiniest slivers of light from the water.
"Already?" He mumbled while sitting up on the shelf. The moment their bodies stopped touching he felt the chill return. Hopefully it wouldn't be long since he was fairly certain they'd be plunging back into the water and the ring's magic kept him comfortable.
He rubbed his eyes and raised his arms over his head with a quiet groan as his sore muscles stretched. Sleeping on stone was not comfortable, but he had also had worse.
His stomach growled loudly in the dark.
"Yes," she said, "already."
When his stomach growled she chuckled and glanced at him over her shoulder. "Though perhaps we'd best find you something to eat first."
She cocked her head as she stood from the ledge, automatically holding her hand back and out to him in an offer of guidance.
"I'm afraid our options on that front are rather limited; do you care for fish?"
He shrugged, "Help me with the ring, if you can. It doesn't do much for taste, but it does allow me to eat stuff without, you know....dying." he was already slipping his feet into his very damp and very cold pants as he spoke.
"Shame they're not fish shaped candy...."
Morgana scoffed quietly as she led him back to the edge of the cave where the water deepened. "You and the candy," she muttered, rolling her eyes even as she took his hand in one of hers and used the other to fish the chain that held the ring off his neck.
She slipped the ring back onto his finger and allowed herself to fall back into the water with him. As the silvery light overtook him, her legs churned in the water beneath her and she winced, gritting her teeth against the tingling, burning sensation. Her legs stretched, joined, twisted, and then a wash of scales ran up her body from her toes to the top of her head.
She flicked her tailfin and sighed contentedly as she settled back into her proper shape. "Hahh. Much better." She glanced around, before looking back to make sure Nik was with her. "So. Fish?"
Nik felt very princely when Morgana slipped the ring onto his finger and he found himself completing a silly curtsey as a thank you.
The tell tale sign if the rings power encased his lungs as breathing air became impossible and he was forced to slip under the surface and breathed in a nice gulp of salt water.
His eyes worked much better in the dark now and he poked his eyes above water to view their previous sleeping arrangements. Yup. Probably best he couldn't see. Their perch was certainly precarious and, if he was being honest, having the Siren in front of him probably kept him from falling right back into the water.
"Yeah," he sighed slipping back under the water and searching for her, "I guess fish it is."
"Oh, don't look so sour about it," Morgana chuckled as she started to swim back out through the maze of tunnels to the opening of the cave system. "You know, I've heard there are some humans who eat raw fish as a delicacy. Consider it...refined taste."
She smirked slightly over her shoulder at him just as they reached the mouth of that first cave and moved out into open water.
With the sunlight filtering down from above, details were thrown into relief that had been invisible the night before: a grove of coral and anemone that stretched up from the seafloor along the rock-and-silt edge of the cave system. It was quite lovely, if less colorful than the reefs closer to the main islands of Yoreiq.
"Hey. Don't tell me what to do." He swam around her with a deep frown on his face, "People deciding something is a delicacy is a scam. A big fat con. They're a bunch of snooty hot shots who wouldn't know good food if it bit them in the face."
His stomach gave another sizable gurgle, ".... let's go find this fish."
She laughed, putting her back to the cave system and flicking her tail firmly to send her rocketing through the water.
There were several schools of silvery fish in the area, feeding off the creatures of the reef or the reef itself. Morgana let herself slink along a bed of seagrass, the dark green plants all but hiding her from view as they waved around her body.
As one of the larger groups of fish passed above her, she suddenly exploded upward in a wash of bubbles and startled silvery streaks as most of the school darted away.
She caught three--one with her teeth and the other two with the claws at the tips of her fingers. She shook them quickly, snapping their spines so that their thrashing wouldn't attract any other predators, before returning to where she'd left Nik.
"Here." She held one freshly killed fish out to him. "Mind the scales--they can scratch at your throat."
He accepted it from her with a sigh. He held it in his hands and stared at it with a frown of disgust and just...poked at it like a toddler who had just been given the worst possible meal of his life.
His stomach growled again. Another sigh. Then he began picking the scales off painfully slowly and flicking them absently into the water where they twinkled like glitter at a birthday party as they fell.
Another sigh.
There was a scale free place on the fish and he gingerly brought it to his mouth and bit into it with a gag.
"Oh sweet stars preserve me." Morgana rolled her eyes at what she perceived to be theatrics and scowled at him. "We'll be here all day if you eat it like that! Or should I be towing you through the water while you pick at that thing like a petulant guppy?"
She circled him, then sighed and reached out to pluck the fish from his hands. "Here." In three quick, sure movements, she descaled and even mostly deboned the fish with those razor claws at the ends of her webbed fingers before handing it back to him.
"Happy?"
"What?" He asked, as if shocked by her reaction to his drama, "It's gross but I'meating it."
He accepted the now cleaned fish back from her and took a bite. It was raw, it was gross and slimey and definitely not an apple candy.
He swallowed a bite and held his fist to his mouth as he gagged it down. There wasn't much choice though, was there? It wasn't like he could live off of plankton or rocks.
"Where to now, madam?" He asked after taking another bite.
"Southeast." Morgana gestured in the direction they had to go, for wing brief fly as she peered through the water before looking back at him.
"Mmm. We'll move faster if you hold onto me," she noted, drifting back toward him and circling once, evaluating. Though she wasn't exactly tall when she traded fins for legs, with her tail back it added no small amount of length to her form; if they really needed to, she thought he'd be able to hold onto her waist and sit astride her tail without making too much of a nuisance of himself.
He swam below her and stared up at her face, a mischievous glint in his eyes. "You want me to...what exactly. Ride you?"
She scoffed and arced back through the water away from him, before completing a full turn to hover above him again.
"Yes," she said with a roll of her eyes. "I suppose that is what I'm suggesting. Unless you believe you can keep up with me on your own?"
She tipped her head and batted her lashes at him innocently, then gave a powerful thrust of her tail that sent her spearing through the water nearly half a ship's length before she slowed and turned to make her way back to him.
Arching an eyebrow, she waved a hand at him as though to say, Go on, your turn.
He frowned as she zoomed ahead. "No fair!" He cried after her, "I haven't even stretched and only ate fish today!" If he had a handful of candy he'd be unstoppable.
He let out a frustrated lip trill and then sped after her. It wasn't like he was slow so much that she was just ungodly fast. The ring enhanced his natural swimming abilities considerably but....he was still just human.
"You know that riding you is a compromising position in the human world." He told her sourly.
"I am well aware," Morgana chuckled lightly. "But that would require me to have legs. Or, more accurately, what's between them."
She flipped onto her back and drifted along just beneath him with lazy flicks of just the very end of her tail so she didn't outpace him. Had she been showing off before? Yes, a bit; she wouldn't have been able to maintain that speed for any real length of time. Still, it was oddly entertaining to make him pout like that.
"If you'd rather, I could tow you through the water," she said with a small shrug. "It just won't be as quick."
"You might not have the parts," Nik pointed out, "But I still do and I'm not looking to get eaten if things get....exciting. Can't always control these things. Unnnnnnfortunately......"
Gods if he had complete control over that life would be so much nicer...
"Oh." Morgana laughed again and paused, flipping up over him through the water to hang upside down as she tilted her head at him. "Is that what you're worried about?"
She shrugged. "It doesn't particularly bother me, but if it makes you uncomfortable that's understandable. I'm not in any rush, so I suppose it's up to you."
"Yes, I'm worried about it." He frowned, "You made it very clear I would be eaten if I tried anything. So this is me being extra sure not to try anything. Can we just.....hold hands and skip along like school children?"
Not that they would actually skip, and come to think of it would she even know what skipping was?
"Skipping is when us two leggers jump on one foot at a time and kinda....spring forward. But excitedly. Like boing! Yaaaaay!" He waved his hands in the air and whisper-yelled the last part. "And school....isn't like....fish...or....you know what. Sure. I'll ride you like a dolphin. Let's just go."
"You getting, shall we say, "excited" and acting on that excitement are very different things," Morgana noted mildly. "So long as you mind yourself, I'll have no reason to harm you."
She actually laughed when he said he'd ride her "like a dolphin".
"Oh, you should be glad one of those isn't your guide," she chuckled. "Now c'mon. And hold on tight."
She rolled again so that he could actually do that.
Nik looked at her for a few moments and hesitated. Everything about this felt wrong to him. And she was just...there....offering him her back like a pony.
"Ooooookay then....I mean....if you're sure." He swam quickly above and then waited some more before settling over her back.
Then he looked around and held his hands up helplessly "What....should I hold onto? Your hair seems...not...right...."
"Oh, most definitely not," she agreed vehemently. "Just hold onto my shoulders—or if you must wrap your arms around me, do so around my waist." Her tail was long enough that he should be able to manage that without getting too much in her way.
As she waited for him to settle, she gave her tail fin a little flick and twisted slightly in the water so she could get her bearings and find their heading. It wasn't the easiest thing to navigate by the angle of sunlight through water, but luckily she had quite a bit of practice at it.
Conceivably this was the oddest thing Nik had ever done in his whole life. This even beat the time he'd decided to wear a bonnet for a week just to see how it felt (it wasn't as exciting as people made it out to be). But this was also the most thrilling.
The water whipped around him, tugging at his hair and his clothes but without the fear of falling that came with flying. If he fell off the worst that would happen was Morgana would have to stop and turn around and probably roll her eyes a few hundred times.
He wondered if they'd stick like that eventually.
The calloused hands of a seasoned sailor gripped her waist and he just...looked. How long had it been since he had last stepped foot under the waves? Not sail on it, but do this. Experience all of the mysteries of the sea.
The scars on his back seemed to...hum...
Having a companion--or more accurately, a passenger--prompted her to look at their surroundings in a new light. What had always been mundane to her seemed...lovely.
She had been the one to make a point of moving them quickly to their destination, but as they passed through a brief stretch of shallows guarded on either side by colorful reef, she gradually slowed, and then eventually came to a stop.
"Perhaps we should...take a brief rest," she suggested almost cautiously. She wasn't all that tired, really, but...well, how often did humans get the chance to see the ocean as it was? Truly see it, down in amongst the water and the waves, as it was meant to be seen?
A small school of colorful fish zipped by above them, and her eyes flickered after them quickly, a hunter's instinct.
Nik let go and allowed himself to simply drift along the reef. He knew he was one of the few humans who had the pleasure to experience this world and it had yet to become old. Even now he marveled at the sheer magnificence of the colors and ecosystems that existed here. Schools of fish from basically every hue he could imagine. A shy little eel creeping near the bottom for some unlikely meal to stumble into his den.
The sailor followed some bright blue fish about the size of his palm and made sure he moved slowly and meticulously so as not to frighten them. They looped under some bridge-like features and he followed, poking his head upside down around the branch to watch them swim away. A sea anemone tickled at his hair.
Morgana simply watched him for a few moments, head tilted curiously. It really was fascinating, to watch him be so fascinated. The clear joy he took in what was something so simple to her began to shed some light on how he might have captured another siren's attention so successfully.
Much to his own peril, it seemed.
She allowed herself to drift along with the current for a few moments, until she was floating above the bridge of coral where he was hanging upside down. She turned in the water until she matched his position and gave a little flick of her tail to bring their heads level.
"See anything interesting?" she asked mildly.
The local fish did not exactly flee at the sight of her, but they seemed to recognize an ocean predator when they saw one. Since she wasn't being aggressive, most simply darted around her, giving her a respectful berth.
Nik didn't speak, just nodded and continued to watch the blue tang swim in and out of hidden and not so hidden openings in the reef. The whole place was full of life and it filled him with joy.
"The blue ones are my favorite." He said after a time, "they took on the color of the ocean and yet still stand out." It was like a metaphor for life. People spent so much time trying to blend in but even the simplest could be magnificent.
"What about you? Or....do they all just kinda...look like food." He glanced at her sideways, head still upside-down while he gently kicked his feel to remain vertical.
"Mmmm." It was a good question, she supposed. Did she even have a favorite fish.
"Well, of course they look like food," she answered part of his question absently as she looked at the reef around them. "But that doesn't mean I don't see that they're beautiful. Humans can be beautiful, and they occasionally serve as food."
She didn't see any, but...ah!
"Here." Taking his hand, she pulled him with her around a bend in the reef to a small, almost grove-like stretch of seafloor where a variety of greed seagrasses waved gently in the subtle current. Sinking down amongst them, she stretched one finger out into the plants, then pulled it back with a smile.
A small seahorse had wrapped its tail around her finger, swaying gently with her movement as she held it up for him to see. "These," she told him with a small shrug. "They're cute."
Nik let her lead him around the reef and smiled with delight when she pulled up a tiny seahorse. He had never seen one up close and it was quite different than he imagined; full of ridges and bumps and, "They look nothing like a horse." He declared, inching closer to peer at their new little friend.
"If you were bigger and lived on land I'd give you a candy, little guy." He cooed.
"Even if he were bigger I doubt that would agree with him," Morgana chuckled. "Here, give me your hand."
She reached out and circled the fingers of her free hand around his wrist to pull his hand forward. Allowing the finger that held the seahorse to touch his, she coaxed, "Go on. He won't bite."
It wasn't quite clear if she was talking to Nik or the fish.
Slowly, the little animal uncurled his tail from her finger and flicked it out to circle Nik's.
"I wouldn't know how much he looks like a proper horse," Morgana mused, watching the exchange. "I've never seen one."
Nik smiled at the little critter and slowly, carefully, took his pointer finger to gently stroke the seahorse's nose, "Oh you little wittle bwaaaaby" he cooed again.
His eyes never left where the creature twirled around his finger, "Well, they're way bigger and have four legs and you ride them. Maybe I'll show you some time."
"Four legs?" She shook her head. "I don't know how you lot manage with two."
Watching him coo over the little fish, she tipped her head and mused, "Maybe. Although from my admittedly limited experience on land, I was not under the impression that horses are...shore creatures, precisely. It may be difficult for me to see one."
Yes, he knew she could trade her tail for legs if she wished. But she didn't exactly feel the need to tell him how limited an ability that was.
"Oh, there are definitely horses that live near the ocean. People come from all over to watch them because they're just so...free. Also humans are obsessed with the ocean so they get that damn view, too. " he smiled at her and continued to gently tickle the little sea horse. They were friends now.
"If you were even interested. And I get wanting to stay by the water. Land is kinda....massive and scary if you're not used to it."
He turned his attention back to his knew buddy, "I'm gonna call you Bubba. Bubba the seahorse. We can be best friends, you and I."
Morgana snorted. "Bubba?" she repeated, tone somewhere between incredulous and tickled. "That's...a choice."
The little fish had wrapped its tail quite firmly around Nik's finger, and seemed entirely content to take up residence there for the foreseeable future.
"...I can't," the siren said after a few moments of watching them. "Go on land. Not...properly, at least. It takes days to get anywhere, doesn't it?"
She flicked her tail out, looking down at it with her head tilted. "I'm...somewhat limited in the time I can spend with legs."
Nik flipped around lithely until he swam horizontal underneath Morgana with Bubba still attached to his finger. Gods he loved the little guy. Imagine all the adventures they'd get to do together. Bubba could show him the best hiding places and he could concoct some kind of sea-creature appropriate candy. Maybe seaweed flavored!
"You wouldn't have to go far, if we timed it right." He assured her, "they run on the actual beaches. Eat sea plants and stuff sometimes. Probably wouldn't want to try riding those kinds, though, they ain't keen on letting humans near and they like to kick."
"I don't think I'm much interested in riding any land creature," Morgana said vehemently. "That seems to require an awful lot of trust that the thing beneath you is not going to suddenly decide that it simply doesn't want you on its back anymore."
She couldn't help smiling a bit as she glanced down to see the seahorse still curled around his finger. "If you're taking him with us," she started slowly, "he'll need--ah, wait a moment."
She looked around, then gave a sharp flick of her tail that sent her diving down and skimming along the sea floor. She gathered up a few fistfuls of the same weedy plants that Bubba had been drifting in when she found him, then allowed herself to drift back up to where Nik was, fingers moving quickly.
"Here." She held her finished project out to the sailor: at first glance it was simply a roughly woven clump of seaweed, but on closer inspection one could see a small opening amongst the woven strands. "If he wants to, he can go in here," she said with a shrug, "and it'll be easier for you to keep him safe. Maybe in your pack. But he won't last long just clinging to your finger like that."
"That's why I said you don't want to ride them." He rolled his eyes, "Because mean and kicks."
He watched her fiddle with some strands of seaweed intently, trying to figure out just what she was doing. It did look like a weird clump but then he got his face really close to it and his eyes widened.
"He buddy," he spoke softly to the little seahorse, "Looks like our friend made you something. A little bed thing." He tickled the guy's nose again and the critter seemed to lean into his finger. Or maybe he was imagining it. "Wanna come with me, Bub? I'll bring you back if you want, doesn't have to be for a long time."
Morgana continued to watch with a combination of curiosity and almost something like a fond exasperation as the seahorse poked his head into the gap in the woven seaweed, then slowly unwound his tail from Nik's finger and shimmied inside.
"Well then." She gave a sharp nod. "That seems to be sorted. He clearly didn't have a mate here, so I doubt he'll miss this particular patch of reef all that much. Shall we?"
She nodded over her shoulder toward the open water, one hand extended toward Nik in invitation.
Nik took the little house Morgana made and slipped it around his neck on the chain where he had kept the ring the night before. He smiled broadly as Bubba stuck his little snout out of the opening and they exchanged a look that Nik was certain meant Let's go! Then the sailor grabbed Morgana's hand and let her lead him back out into the ocean.
It was several days' travel to where Morgana had last known her acquaintance to reside. Luckily, they had no further run-ins with hungry creatures of the deep, and so they were able to make good time.
Eventually, the siren had led them out to a stretch of ocean dotted with bare, rocky islands--well, islets was probably more appropriate. Most were no bigger than a large sandbar, and the few that sported life of any kind only claimed scrubby, harsh plants. Perhaps a few nests of seabirds. The islets formed a sort of loose ring in the water, and Morgana began to slow as they neared the edge of it.
"This is her territory," she told Nik, gliding to a stop and turning slowly in place to observe their surroundings. "Or at least, to the best of my knowledge this is still the area she claims. She'll sense us soon enough."
He couldn't explain why, but he felt dread creep up around his chest.
"So...uh...." he absently pet the tip of Bubba's nose as it poked out of his little house, "Your acquaintance is another Siren?"
She hesitated a moment before answering slowly, "Not...exactly. She's merfolk, certainly, but..."
She looked back to him, clearly struggling to find the right words. "Sea witch is not simply a title. Not for her kind, anyway. It is...what they are. Her strain and mine are...very different." Dark eyes met and held his as she warned, "You just be careful with her. She may be able to help, but it will come at a steep cost. Do not agree to any price she offers unless you are absolutely sure that you are willing to pay it."
Nik cocked his head to the side intrigued by Morgana's obvious struggle to encapsulate just exactly what they were walking....er....swimming into. They'd been under so long at this point he would do well to start thinking in terms of water instead of land.
And good news - the ring hadn't stopped working....yet. He didn't actually know if it had a limit or what. Maybe one day it would just go kaput and he'd drown.
"Got it. She's a genie. A sea genie. Understood. Anything else?"
"No, not a genie." Morgana shook her head vehemently. "More like...you know there are nearly as many strains of merfolk as their are land walkers, yes? With different origins, abilities, cultures... A sea witch is most like what I believe you two-leggers would call a fae creature."
She tilted her head, brow slightly furrowed. "She is as much a part of the sea as one of its denizens. And it is that connection to the wild magics of the sea that allows her to do what she does. She is very old, and very powerful, and she does not suffer fools lightly."
Her head tilted the other way and she considered him for a long moment before offering in a gentler tone, "We can always turn back, if you'd prefer. But...I do believe she may be your best chance at doing something about those scars."
He flipped around her once while she talked until he stopped with his head upside-down in front of her. "Ok, serious. I know she's not a genie, just making a joke because....don't agree to anything and genies are like known for being tricky. But I got it, I got it. She's to be taken fucking seriously and I should be on my best behavior."
He righted himself and looked around the area before turning back to Morgana, "So....what are the chances she's just going to want to kill you on sight?"
That was a very good question. Morgana pursed her lips as she thought it over.
"Unlikely," she settled on eventually. "But not impossible. If she does want to kill me, it's much more likely that she'd want to draw it out. "On sight" wouldn't be as fun for her."
She said it blithely, as though it was how anyone talked about old acquaintances. The tip of her tail fin did twitch slightly back and forth though, the only sign of any discomfort she may be feeling.
"Shall we, then?" Once again, she held her hand out to him in invitation. The water around them seemed fo grow ever so slightly colder as they drifted closer to the border of the caldera that the islets formed.
Nik frowned and gave Bubba a nervous nose scratch before reaching for Morgana's hand. But he hesitated and retracted his hand slightly. She was nervous and here we was making jokes.
What an ass he was.
"Are you sure, Morgana?" He asked searching her eyes, "Truly? We've been swimming for days and my siren hasn't turned up. Maybe it was all a lie? We don't have to do this."
The siren seemed taken aback by the question. "Well of course I'm sure," she protested. "I wouldn't have come all this way if I wasn't."
Perhaps she was a little...wary. But she certainly wasn't afraid. Obviously.
With a brisk shake of her head, she added, "Sirens tend not to lie about such things. Often times, we can't. If she promised you danger, it will come--and this is the best way I know to possibly avoid it."
He stared at her for a long breath before nodding, "Ok then." And he took her hand finally without a clue in the world as to just what kind of sea witch they were about to encounter.
"So....your...'friend'....she can like....control the weather and the ocean and stuff? What exactly makes you a sea witch besides being a denizen of the sea itself. Are there like....magic qualifications you have to have?"
Morgana led him into the bowl of the caldera. The water was colder here, too cold for the shift to be the natural result of the currents.
"Oh, yes. She can control the wind and waves," she murmured as they swam through a twisting labyrinth of underwater stone spires that grew progressively tighter together the closer they drew to the center of the islets. "To be honest, I don't know if she was born as she is, or if she gained her power through practice or a pact of some sort..." She shrugged. "She simply is. I have learned not question it."
The sharp rocks thrusting up through the water started to thin again, revealing a jagged entrance to a wide cave that must have been set into the underside of the center islet.
The whole thing was like something out of those story books parents would read to their kids. The ocean is a scary place, Jim Bob, watch out of they'll come up and take you away!
But...this felt very real and very dangerous. As much as he wanted to joke about it, he found that he absolutely could not. Even Bubba seemed to be huddling deeper into his seaweed house.
"So....she may or may not torture you to death but...what are the chances she'll just eat me." He whispered.
"She doesn't do that," Morgana replied, her own voice quiet. They were just outside the mouth of the cave now, and she found that she couldn't make herself move forward. Not yet. "That is, I've never known her to eat at all--I think she draws energy from the wild magic of the ocean."
Her tongue darted out across her lips--an odd nervous habit for a mermaid to have, considering her environment meant that her lips were never actually dry. "That being said...I've certainly known her to kill for many reasons other than food."
As she said it, she drifted slightly in front of Nik and released his hand. A pulse of icy water ebbed out from the cave, and she closed her eyes.
Well. No more chances to turn back. "She knows we're here..."
Nik didn't say a word. His mouth suddenly felt dry. Or...well...the ocean equivalent. He waited...
"You are brave to return here, Morgana."
The voice pulsed through the water around them like that chill. Morgana swallowed.
"Brave, or perhaps simply foolish."
Something moved in the shadows of the cave. "And you do not come alone, it seems. Tell me, human."
Movement again, and a flash of bluish green scales that glowed faintly with a light of their own.
"Why have you come to me?"
Ok. This was definitely not what he was expecting. This was definitely the things Jim Bob's parents were hoping to save him from. Good Gods Almighty fuck. He could still just swim away, right?
Ha. Ha. Ha. He always did have the best jokes.
"Um..." he cleared his throat and then tried again, "uh...hi. I'm Nik and...um....hi?" Gods when did he become a stuttering fool? If he had been able to bring his candies down to the depths of the ocean he would have just given her one and then they'd all be besties swimming around the ocean getting into shenanigans and the like. That seemed like a good ending, but nooooo....candy didn't last in water.
She doesn't suffer fools, eh? Well, this might prove that theory because Nik felt like a fucking fool alright.
"Nik..."
Her voice seemed more immediate. The shadowy thing in the cave had drawn closer. Close enough that those softly glowing scales were more clearly a pattern along the tail of a creature shaped much like Morgana was.
"You do not answer my question, Nik," the sea witch all but cooed.
Morgana started to move toward him, to place herself more firmly between them—but the witch flung out a webbed hand, and suddenly she was frozen in place.
"Why do you come here, Nik?" the sea witch repeated, while Morgana trembled uselessly in place.
He glanced sideways at Morgana, but there was nothing he could do about any of it. They were at the mercy of this sea witch and she clearly knew it.
"Um...." he drew his eyes back to the witch and cleared his throat again, "Morgana mention that you...uh...know things." Well this wasn't going much better. At least some semi-intelligent words were coming from his lips, if just barely.
"So...uh...." stop with the stammering already! Gods just take a breath and chill! "I have these....interesting scars? I guess you could say? But you're probably very busy and don't have time to waste on the likes of me so I suppose we should just leave you alone....eh? Heh..." he smiled nervously.
At that moment, Bubba burst from his little home around Nik's neck and started furiously swimming in front of the sea witch's face almost as if he were reprimanding her.
"Bubba! Bubba no. Stop. Stop." he tried to reach up and catch the critter, but he was too fast for Nik's slow human hands.
The sea witch finally drew close enough to the mouth of her cave that the whole length of her body was visible. Like Morgana, she had a humanoid upper half and a waist that blended into a long tail, with those blue-green patterns of bioluminescence picked out along it.
Unlike Morgana, she did not sport a frilled tail fin. Rather, the entire length of her tail bore short dorsal fins on either side, like an eel. Those fins extended up her waist, her ribs, even along the lengths of her arms. Her skin was a mottled gray and green, and in closer look it seemed as though she did not have scales at all.
Her eyes were entirely white, two round pearls set into the wave-patterned mottling of her face.
"But why would you go so soon?" She grinned, revealing multiple rows of thin, needle-sharp teeth. "You've only just arrived..."
When the seahorse suddenly darted out in front of her, she simply stared at him. Then one clawed and webbed hand shot out to close her fingers around the tiny fish.
"Selari—!" Morgan's started, twitching forward. The magic that had held her in place was a general thing, so she still had some slight control of her movement.
The witch looked to her, curious. "Hardly a morsel," she noted of the frantically fluttering fish still locked in her grasp. "Should you care what happens to it?"
"Just...let him go," Morgana said quietly, holding her gaze. "It costs you nothing to let him go."
Nik froze, hand still hoving in front of his face in a desperate attempt to catch the seahorse before he had gone too far. His blood ran cold as he stared at the tiny movements he could see of his friend in the cage of the seawitch's hands.
"Please." He begged, "Please don't hurt him. He chose to come with us and he's been with me ever since. I'm responsible for him. Please."
"Hmmm..." The sea witch cocked her head, watching them both in a manner that could only be described as predatory.
"You come to me for a service, do you not?" She smiled again, holding the seahorse out in the cage of her fingers between them all. "My services are not without price. Perhaps—"
"Selari," Morgana interrupted. She still couldn't move much more than to strain and twitch in place, but at least she had her voice. "I'll pay the price."
The sea witch snapped her eyes toward the siren. "...I have not named it yet."
"I know." Morgana swallowed. "But I'll pay it. Whatever it is. Let the damned fish go."
Selari smiled slowly, and one by one I curved her fingers from around the seahorse. "Very well," she purred as Bubba swam quickly back to the shelter of his woven seaweed bed.
"What is it you ask of me?" Selari looked to Nik with that same predatory smile.
Nik clutched at the seaweed house gently, curving his body protectively around Bubba as best he could trying to convey safety to his pal through body language. The sea bitch was making him angry.
"I don't want you to pay a price for my issues, Morgana." He shot her a look before turning back to Selari, "You're here to make a deal with me, so let's make a deal." He uncurled himself from Bubba and deftly removed his shirt revealing the leathery skin of a sailor that was littered with small scars from all sorts of unimportant trauma through out his life.
He turned to show Selari the long blue-green scales that stretched down his back, "These are why Morgana brought me here."
"Well now. That is interesting." Selari swam closer, circling him once before hovering at his back again.
She flicked her fingers briefly in Morgana's direction, and the siren gasped as she was suddenly freely able to move again. She had to resist the urge to skitter back away from the sea witch.
"Do you know what they are?" she asked instead, drifting a little closer to Nik's side in a gesture that could almost be read as protective.
"Mmmmm." Selari tapped one king claw against her bottom lip as she swam backward into the mouth of her cave once more. "Perhaps. But before I give you the information, we must settle on a price." She smiled slowly at Nik and cooed, "Brave of you to try to take the burden, but Morgana has already spoke. And a contract is a contract, isn't it darling?"
Morgana's jaw clenched.
Nik frowned, "You hold the contract so you can change it." He agrued, "I already have one siren ticked off at me and trying to kill me, what's one more debt added to that? Charge. Me."
How could one acknowledgement be so binding that it couldn't be changed? Everything had a price, in his experience, but what was hers? Was Selari simply in it to torture Morgana or was there something he could offer?
Selari tutted at him, still smiling. "I'm afraid it just doesn't work that way."
Morgana reached out to touch Nik's arm lightly. "It's okay," she told him quietly. "I knew this might happen when I brought you here. If it wasn't this...she would have found something else."
The sea witch's smile widened, but she said nothing.
Morgana glared at her. "How many?"
"Two score."
The siren hissed. "Five."
"Twenty."
"Eight."
"Ten."
"Fine." She closed her eyes. "Deal."
Nik grabbed Morgana's arm roughly, "what the hell are you doing?" He hissed, "I'm not worth this."
He turned back to Selari, "What the fuck did you just agree to?"
"Ten souls," Selari purred, circling around the two of them and letting her eel-like tail curve briefly around the end of Morgana's. Siren and sea witch stared each other down.
Morgana broke the gaze first, glancing back to Nik with something like an attempt at a reassuring smile. "It's fine," she told him quietly. "I couldn't have avoided her forever." She shrugged. "You just gave me a reason to come back here."
Selari chuckled, the sound echoing coldly through the water around them. "What, no interest in the traditional method of sealing a bargain?" she asked Morgana, arcing up to hover over the siren in the water.
Morgana glared at her. "No. Thank you."
Selari sighed and shrugged. "You used to beg me for kisses, remember? Ah, well." She drifted down to float in front of Nik, head tilted. "The scars are not part of a siren's curse," she told him after a moment. "They are your nature clashing with your understanding of yourself."
Souls.
He wasn't sure what he was expecting, but souls certainly wasn't anywhere close on the list. It turned his blood cold. It made his head pound. It made a rage he didn't know he had boil deep within himself like a volcano churning underneath the surface and building pressure moment after moment before those unsuspecting on the surface would know.
The sea darkened suddenly from the storm he felt brewing above them. It was a big one; he could feel it like lightening against his skin. The kind of storm that downed ships before they even could think about making preparations. A sailor's worst nightmare.
"Souls." he hissed at the sea witch, "You deal in souls?"
Selari actually seemed startled by the sudden onset of the storm—and that in and of itself was enough to make Morgana wary, casting her eyes quickly to the darkening water above them. It seemed to have come out of nowhere.
"Nik." She placed a hand on his arm, trying to draw him back away from the sea witch. "It's—don't..." The warning fell flat; she didn't like Selari's deals anymore than he seemed to.
"I do," the witch answered him coolly, shaking herself out of her momentary surprise. "Usually such information as you ask would only cost a single soul, perhaps two—but seeing as Morgana only ever deals in the deceitful ones, I must ask for more."
The water itself seemed to be getting colder by the second as Nik's rage simmered and grew. He shook off Morgana's hand and inched closer to Selari. He didn't care who she was. He didn't care what she could do. She was a slippery. Slimey, evil son of a bitch.
"Why. Why do you need them at all? What could you possibly need that justifies forcing others to do your dirty work for you? If you want souls get them yourself. Especially for some cryptic bull shit answer? Fuck you."
Was the water around them starting to shift, too? Damn...this was a storm that bards would sing about. Where had it even come from?
"You will be still." Selari's voice echoed around them once more--not talking to them, but to the shifting waters.
Abruptly, though the darkness of the storm did not pass, a bubble of stillness formed in the sea around them. Morgan sucked in a sharp breath, her hair and fins going eerily still in the sudden lack of current.
"Child of the sea, mind yourself," the sea witch hissed at Nik, one hand raised toward the surface above their heads--keeping their bubble of frozen protection in place. "Ignorance is no excuse. Not in this place. Calm the waves."
Nik stared at her. The rage boiling in his heart was dampened by confusion, but it still simmered there waiting for the perfect moment to burst forth. He didn't know what he would do with that rage, only that it would most likely end in his death, but good Gods he hated her.
"You calm the waves," he spat, not understanding what was going on, "You threaten Bubba and then bind Morgana in some kind of soul contract and expect me to just do a back flip because you said so? I don't know how to do anything about the fucking waves!"
"Yes. You can." Selari stared him down, white eyes flat as a shark's. "Feel it. Feel the wind in your breath, the water in your blood. Calm it."
Morgana, now thoroughly at a loss, looked between the sea witch and her companion. "Nik, what...?"
Right. He didn't seem to have any more real idea of what was going on than she did. Which was why they were here, of course.
Nik pushed his face closer to hers, his eyes full of fire.
"Fuck. You."
The storm raged around their bubble.
Selari tsked and narrowed her eyes at him. "Normally, your lack of knowledge of your own abilities and high likelihood if it getting you killed might amuse me," she said dryly, "but considering you are the entrance of my home, I find it more of a nuisance."
She spread the fingers of her hand above her head and then curled them back into her palm one by one.
The water around Nik froze solid, all the way up to his neck, and the storm seemed to suddenly abate.
"Selari!" Morgana circled the frozen sailor helplessly, then looked to the witch.
Selari tossed her head. "I will not allow his tantrum to destroy this place."
It was like the air was suddenly punched out of him, if there had been any air in his lungs at all. Though, honestly, he didn't know what the ring actually did to make him breathe under water. He did feel like he was actively breathing the entire time, but obviously it was all water and no air. Regardless, everything stilled. He couldn't move. He couldn't even turn his neck. He was a statue and within seconds the burning, tingling sensation of extreme cold on a warm-blooded creature began to inch through his body.
Breathing was difficult, if not near impossible. His chest couldn't expand and he found himself taking tiny sips of his surroundings but nothing more. He emptied his lungs as much as he could and filled them until the ice stopped him.
He wouldn't last long like this. If the cold didn't take him, the lack of air certainly would. He tried to struggle but gave up after a few futile grunts that made his oxygen deprived brain spin. Not good, not good.
Instead, he let his body go limp in the ice. He tried to ignore the pain ever increasing in his limbs and focused on those tiny, tiny little breaths that would keep him going. It wasn't going to be long. Cold would claim him quickly on its own, but as it were, even now, he could feel the edges of his vision darkening despite his best efforts. He closed his eyes finally to try and preserve as much energy as he could muster.
Tiny sip.
Tiny sip.
Tiny....
Sip....
What about Bubba? How was Bubba? Had to....help....Bubba....
"Selari!" When the witch only gave her a cool look for her pleading, Morgana bared her teeth, then spun in the water. He didn't have long--she could see the tiny gasping sips he tried to breathe in.
She didn't see any other options. She inhaled, and Selari's eyes widened as she realized what the siren was preparing to do. The sea witch stroked back into her cave quickly, and Morgana released a high, piercing shriek.
It wasn't a siren's song, but it was a single, sustained note infused with whatever magic she could pour into her voice. The ice around Nik trembled, then cracked down the center.
Morgana didn't even wait for it to flake away, darting forward to grab him under the arms and pumping her tail frantically to propel them both toward the surface.
How long had he been in the ice? A minute? 2? Maybe 3? Regardless, his consciousness had tipped over the edge by the time Morgana's shriek cracked the ice and he slumped forward like a rag doll as a shuddering gasp ripped through him. Everything was black and his skin was burning from the cold. Where her arms gripped him, painful stabs shot through his body but he was too much in twilight to do more than gasp for the air that had been denied.
And shiver. Gods did he shiver. Shiver wasn't even the right word for what he was experiencing. It was more like convulsions bordering on seizures as his body desperately tried to warm him up.
Wherever Morgana decided to go, he went. Nik didn't even care where it was as long as it was away.
She got them to the surface, ripping Nik's ring from his finger as their heads broke the water. Struggling to hold him through the convulsions, she towed him toward the nearest stretch of dry land--which happened to be the rocky coast of Selari's main island. She dragged him from the water, sparing just enough time to pull the woven seaweed from his neck to let it drift in the surf before she heaved them both onto the shore.
Her tail began to tingle, twitching and melting away. As the scales fell from her body, she pressed herself against his side--this was something that was supposed to help, right? In her true form she had very little body heat to share, but as a human she would have something.
His consciousness swam and while he was never truly out, everything burned...and it was all encompassing to the point he couldn't focus beyond just trying to regain basic functionalities. The convulsions eventually faded to continuous shudders and when the air touched his skin it errupted into mountains of goosebumps on top of goosebumps. He tried his best to help pull himself up onto land, but it was comical how little he was able to do. Everything was just so damned hard.
Then warmth was against him. Gods, it was so starkly different from what the rest of his skin felt that it was like stepping into a fire; he melted into it. It was the best possible pain he had ever felt in his life. He forced himself, shakily, to roll over until he was facing her and unconsciously pulled her warmth closer to him and buried his head into her shoulder. The shudders eventually subsided to mangable shivers as he continued to hold onto her to allow the heat between their bodies to grow, to encompass him and chase away the nightmare below.
"Thank you." He managed to whisper after a time.
Not having any idea what else she could do, Morgana held him as the convulsions faded to shudders, and then to shivers. She ran one hand up and down his back, her other arm wrapped around his shoulders as she did her best to share what little warmth she had.
"I'm sorry," she found herself whispering, over and over. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry..."
She never should have taken him to Selari. She should have known something awful would happen. This was all her fault.
For the first time in a long, long time, she felt guilt sink its claws into her heart and hold on tight.
He held onto her a good while longer than was probably necessary and he wasn't about to admit that it was due to simply needing comfort, nor would he admit that the sea bitch had spooked him. He had been an idiot, of course. An ignorant idiot. An ignorant, human idiot who decided to have a show down with a magical creature in the middle of her own realm.
Gods he had a death wish didn't he? What the hell had he even been thinking?
A shaky hand inched up and fingers tangled in Morgana's hair as he pulled her close, her words sending daggers into his heart. She shouldn't be apologizing. This wasn't her fault.
"Stop." He told her softly, voice raw and exhausted, "This isn't your fault. You gave up everything for an idiot. I should be apologizing to you."
She shook her head, but couldn't help the way her shoulders curved in relief as he pulled her closer; at least he had the strength for that. She'd genuinely had no idea how she could possibly help him if just warming him up hadn't worked. They were well and truly in the middle of nowhere.
"I'm sorry," she repeated quietly. It was all she could do; she'd brough him here half out of curiosity, knowing that Selari would enact a price but not expecting it to be so steep. Or for him to react so strongly.
"Bringing you here was my idea," she whispered. She didn't know when exactly it had happened, but she realized that she had shifted from simply pressing herself against his side in an effort to share heat to...holding him, almost.
She wasn't quite sure what to do about that, but--well, he was still holding onto her, too. And she didn't find herself all that rushed to pull away. She'd forgotten how plainly terrifying the sea witch could be.
He existed in her warmth for a time. She was right, of course, it was her idea to come here and she was the one who had thought it was a good idea to do so, but ultimately he could have said no. Or at least asked more questions.
His heart beat heavily in his chest and the tips of his fingers and toes continued to burn with pins and needles but that was, thankfully fading. If he was lucky, Morgana had saved him quickly enough that he'd be able to keep all of his limbs, but time would tell on that front and he wasn't ready to untangle himself from her to check for frostbite just yet.
"Will you be safe?" He asked, "I can disappear on land if I really need to," he wouldn't....but he'd try for a time. It never lasted for long though and he didn't really know why he couldn't kick the ocean habit, "But you kinda....live here..."
She was quiet when he was, feeling unsure and horribly responsible for the whole mess. Since he didn't seem inclined to pull away from her, she assumed he still needed warmth, and let him have it without complaint.
She sighed when he asked if she would be safe, tipping her head up slightly in the rough sand to look toward the inner center of the islet.
"...I'll be fine." So long as she paid Selari's soul-price, anyway. It was something she'd known would come back to haunt her eventually. It had seemed a good idea at the time, to get her lingering ties to the sea witch severed at the same time Nik sought information at his scars.
She deeply regretted it now, of course. But that was always the way with Selari.
After awhile, he untangled himself from her and pushed himself to a seated position, pulling his knees to his chest and resting his head on them to try and keep some of the warmth from escaping. The air was cool and as he stretched out his arms for further inspection, his skin had taken on a purpley splotchiness that indicated his capilaries bursting from strain. The tips of his fingers were a lovely shade of blue, but he could see red creeping in which was a good sign despite not being able to feel it when he pressed his nails into the fleshy part at the tip.
Hopefully that would come back soon otherwise he could be in trouble. If feeling didn't return, maybe it would just end of being nerve damage and he could keep his fingers at least.
"What the hell even happened..." he asked and then shook his head and ran his hand through his salt-stiff hair, "No, actually, I'm just sorry I'm an idiot. I shouldn't have tried to fight a fuckin' sea witch in the middle of her home. I could have gotten us both killed. I owe you my life twice now. You should just give her my soul at this point to help with her price."
Morgana sat up slowly once he'd pulled away from her, watching how he prodded at his own fingers with a slight frown. She hesitated a moment, then reached out to take his hands between hers and rub gently, hoping the friction might help.
She sighed quietly and shook her head, eyes downcast. "I should have better prepared you," she murmured. "But even so, I--I didn't think she would go so far. It was my mistake."
Her shoulders stiffened when he told her to use his soul as part of Selari's price. "No," she spat, her mouth curving into a partial snarl. Then she took a breath and tried to force the instinctive reaction back. "No. I...I don't deal in souls like yours."
He defaulted to his usual jovial manner and flashed her a toothy smile, "Why?" He asked batting his eyes innocently at her, "I'm too dashing? Too sweet?" He sighed dramatically and laid his head on his knees to gaze up at her sideways between strands of hair that fell over his face, "Too gods damned innocent and good looking?" He gave her hand a playful squeeze where she had been working on returning feeling to his fingers. To her credit, the blue was slowly dispersing. Even without looking at it he could feel the piercing pain that came with the return of feeling.
"Shit that hurts." He winced and wiggled his fingers to try and speed up the process.
Morgana clicked her tongue at him and gave him a quick, dry look before refocusing on her task.
"Not exactly." Eyes downcast, she murmured, "I claim those that lie when I read their hearts."
At his wince, she released his hands quickly and sat back. "I'm sorry," she murmured. "I wasn't sure how to--cold doesn't affect me the same way it does a human."
Nik chuckled and continued to flex and extend his fingers even after she let go, "No no, you're doing great. It's just that blood flow returning is a painful process and the fingers and stuff are the last ones to get there."
He frowned in thought, "Have you ever like....sat on your tail or something and then your....fins....go numb? Oh! Or sleep on your hand wrong and then your fingers go all tingly? It's like that but like a gazillion times worse." He brought his fingers up towards his nose and almost went cross-eyed as he examined them closer, "Right now it's like tiny needles stabbing nonstop right to the bone. Not. Pleasant."
And then another sigh as he let his hands fall to his side, continuing to open and close in a half hearted attempt to make the process go faster. She had mentioned reading hearts and he had....questions, but wasn't sure if it was something he actually wanted to bring up or not. It was disconcerting for sure to think this sea-woman-fish-lady-thing could just look at someone and read them. Like what? Like a book? Was it like mind reading? Or...auras?
"Read their hearts, eh?" He finally landed on a direct yet not leading approach.
Morgana nodded along as he explained the feeling, though it was clear from her expression that she still didn't quite get it. She watched the way he continued to open and close his fingers--but at least he was moving them, and the color of his skin seemed to be returning to normal, so she assumed those were all good signs.
She looked away at his question, letting out a long, slow exhale that wasn't quite a sigh. "Yes," she murmured eventually.
Then, rather than answer the question directly, she looked back to him and asked suddenly, "Do you know how many kinds of merfolk there are? Not just sirens and tritons and the riverfolk, but even amongst those races there are...strains, I suppose. Bloodlines, maybe." She shook her head. "I'm not sure what the precise word is. I told you Selari is one of them, yes? A sea witch is as different from me as I am from a human woman."
What she was explaining wasn't crazy by any stretch, but it was definitely something he had never really sat down to talk about. Even his experience with other sirens in his life hadn't really laid it all out like that.
"Huh." He replied once she had finished, "I guess I never really thought about it like that, but it makes sense. Humans with magic tend to come from certain bloodlines, too, but the difference being we still kinda just consider them all human. But you're saying Selari is almost a different species entirely from you? But you have magic, too, so are you really that far off?"
"Species. Yes." She nodded quickly. "Yes, it's...something like that. And no, I suppose--I suppose in the grand scheme we are quite similar. But it...depends largely on how our bloodlines--our species--came into being."
She looked back out over the dark water, turning words over in her head before she risked giving them voice.
"Did you know some sailors used to believe that a woman on their ship was bad luck? Not many, an odd cult or two that would pop up here and there--but they barred women from sailing on their ships. And if one happened to stow away..."
She frowned at the sea, mouth a thin line. "She was given to the ocean's mercy."
He listened and nodded when she started mentioning the stereotypes about women on boats. There were quite a few men out there that believed the stupid superstition, but none of them pushed women overboard anymore that he had seen. Maybe go straight to port and kick them to shore, but that was the worst of it.
It was load of bull shit as far as he was concerned. There were some pretty spectacular captains out there regardless of sex and he had had many women on board and never had they been the reason the boats sank. No, that was always some kind of danger the ocean itself brought: freak storms, monsters, mutiny. That kind of thing.
"Are you saying you were once a human who was fed to the sea and then....grew a tail?" He asked, trying to figure out why she was telling this story. It would be an intriguing one, that's for sure!
"No." She shook her head, drawing one knee up toward her chest and allowing her chin to rest on it. "Not me, personally. My grandmother." She shrugged, silvery hair rippling down her back with the movement. "My great-great-great--probably a handful more greats thrown in there--grandmother."
Still looking out over the water, her tone took on an almost story-like cadence, as though she was reciting words she had heard over and over and memorized by route. "Bound hand and foot and thrown to the sea, screams swallowed by salt water, ever-drowning...until the sea takes her in, and bonds fall away from a scaly tail. Her throat forever changed by the sea she drank as she tried to breathe--a voice that will lure her killers to the depths below."
She went quiet, then shook her head and shrugged. "I'm not the only one. My family, I mean. There were probably dozens of women who died that way. Died, and were changed by the magic of the ocean to live again. They, and their daughters, and their granddaughters, are the heart-readers."
She finally looked to him, dark eyes as fathomless and cold as the depths she'd pulled him from. "I ask a question. One question. And I know with the truth of their answer if they would have done the same. If they would have left me to the sea."
Damn that wasn't what he was expecting. He had always assumed Sirens were just kinda...left over Goddesses or something. Offspring of some sea God or other. But to hear what happened to her ancestors made his throat dry as a quiet rage simmered below the surface. They had come out of it stronger, but they shouldn't have had to been saved in the first place.
His blue eyes were icy as the story continued and he found himself wishing he could take it all away and just...reset. Even his hands had stopped fidgeting as she spoke and rested clenched by his side.
"You never asked me that question." he responded quietly after her voice faded into silence.
"...No." She looked away from him again, watching the way the surf lapped at the pebble-spattered shore of the islet. "I didn't."
She still wasn't sure why herself; maybe because she was afraid of his answer. She didn't believe he would make himself her prey, not really, but...well. Humans could surprise her.
After another moment of quiet, Morgana shook her head slightly and noted, "And you never told me you could call down a storm."
He honestly didn't know what to say to that. With her history and her track record, why suddenly decide to trust some random dude in a rowboat in the middle of the ocean? That would probably be a concerning trait for most people. He would be the first to admit it was crazy. But that kind of person was trustworthy?
Huh...who'd have thought it? Just being odd made him likable. Intriguing....
But....
He leaned forward and gently turned her head so he could look directly into her eyes, "Morgana Siren...son....I don't actually know if you have a family name but whatever. I don't know how your heart reading works, but I swear to you I would never throw you or someone undeserving to the sea. I also swear to you that I will do what I can to help you meet your soul-price and I won't hear a word about it. You took me there for answers, it is my debt to pay no matter how you decide to try and twist it."
His gaze did not waiver and he wasn't afraid of what she might see. He wasn't even sure she could just read him like that without actually asking a question. Magic was funny like that - had a lot of specific rules and stuff....
"And I can't call down storms." this is where she lost him, "I just predict it with relatively 100% accuracy for some reason."
She huffed a very quiet laugh. "Just Morgana," she assured quietly, then chuckled again. "And heart-reading doesn't work that way. But...thank you."
She knew what he was doing, and she did appreciate it. Maybe one day she would really have to ask him her question; but she had a feeling if his answer had been something she wouldn't like, she would know that by now.
Her brow furrowed slightly, first at his assertion that he would help her with Selari's soul-price, and then when he protested that he couldn't call down storms.
She shook her head. "Nik...how long have you been able to do that? Predict storms?"
He shrugged, "Dunno....as far back as I can remember? My da was a sailor and used to bring me on all his ships. Said I was good luck. Honestly, he probably wasn't wrong because there weren't really that many storms at all on the trips I went on. The crew seemed to think so, too, and then I just kinda...grew up on the water."
Ahhhh.
Some of what Selari had said began to make sense.
"And your mother?" Morgana asked after a moment. "She didn't sail with you?"
He frowned at her question.
"My...mother..." his brain felt foggy and he found himself staring off into the distance without realizing what was happening. It was like his mind had gone completely blank and his eyes remained distant as time seemed to pass without his knowledge. "She stayed home. She didn't like sailing." his words came out in a monotone, almost robotic in their delivery.
That was the effect of a spell if she'd ever seen one.
Morgana hesitated a moment, worried that pushing too far might do more harm than good. But...she'd made her deal with Selari, and vindictive as the sea witch could be, she always honored her deals. And she had been the one to start telling Nik the truth. So...
"Why?" she asked quietly. It occurred to her that she could use her heart-reading abilities here, and he would feel the truth in his answers as much as she would, but she didn't want to risk that if she didn't have to. "Why didn't your mother like sailing, Nik?"
His frown deepened and his eyes remained glued to the horizon. What was wrong with him? Why were these questions so difficult? It should be easy, right?
"Too cold." His words were slow, like he was forcing his mouth to work against the thickest taffy stuck between his teeth. His heart was starting to race and a thin line of sweat appeared on his brow, "Made...her....joints ache."
As the physical signs of distress began to appear, Morgana winced.
"Nik." She reached over to take his hand. "Breathe. It's okay. You--you don't have to remember right now. It's okay. I won't push."
On some level Nik felt her take his hand, but something in him was stirring. Not a rage, not anything like what he felt down in Selari's den when he had learned about the souls. But it was strong, and it was....terrifying.
"She...had blonde hair." He tried to remember, but it hurt. He felt a headache creeping in and the more he tried to dig it was getting more intense. He gasped and pressed his free hand against the bridge of his nose as it felt like an ice pick was trying to smash its way through his brain.
Around them the wind grew colder and a mist was beginning to form out at sea.
"Why...can't I remember her?" He asked as a small line of blood inched its way out of his nose, "Not....properly...."
Oh dear.
It seemed no matter what she did, she brought this man pain. Ironic, considering he was one of the few humans she was almost entirely convinced didn't deserve that.
"It's okay," Morgana repeated, abruptly moving to wrap her arms around Nik and pull him into a slightly awkward but genuine hug. "Let it go for now. Let it go if it hurts. Just...just breathe, okay? You--we can try again later, if you want."
Enough.
A voice seemed to echo in the back of his mind and in an instant he blinked and realized Morgana had somehow come around to hugging him again. Instinctively, his arms encircled her for a brief moment to give a gentle squeeze.
"Hey, I'm ok now. I don't feel as cold anymore except damn it got chilly again didn't it?" He gently unwound his arms and pulled away with his hands resting on her shoulder. His eyes were light again and he was present, but an exhaustion lingered there that hadn't been there even after the ice incident. He also didn't appear to notice the blood coming from his nose.
He glanced up at the sky and shrugged, "It'll drizzle a bit, but it shouldn't be too crazy. What do you think we should do? Is staying on land safer, ya think?"
Morgana followed his gaze upward, and exerted no small effort of will not to comment on his certainty about the inclement weather.
At his question, she sighed and shrugged. "Perhaps. For a time. But she will find a way to reach me--or the contract sealed between us will pull me back to her. It is better to simply...pay her price. Sooner rather than later."
He nodded, exhaustion slowly taking over and he felt his eyes growing heavy.
"Makes sense...guess we'll need to get to work on that, then." His head dropped to his knees and then shot up again as he scrambled to his feet suddenly.
"Bubba!" He exclaimed and the bolted towards the sea. The water spashed after him comically as he waded as far as he could before the floor dropped away and became far deeper than his non-ringed form would be able to handle. He took a deep breath and plunged his head beneath the surface to look around for his friend.
"Oh!" Morgana reeled back at the sudden motion, then quickly turned and tried to follow him into the water. She stumbled a bit, ever unused to having legs, and had to move more cautiously as she approached the edge of the surf.
"Here," she called to Nik, waving to get his attention and then pointing to the clump of woven weeds bobbing in the shallow water near the edge of the rocky islet. "I got it off you as soon as I could. If he—he might still be in there."
Nik's head popped out of the water just as quickly as he had gone under and he floundered his way to the shallows where Morgana had indicated. His heart was racing, but this time from panic rather than from trying to remember things best left forgotten. Running in water was not easy and he was winded by the time he reached the spot and fell to his knees to reach for the little house she had made.
"Bubs?" he called softly, hands shaking as he pulled the little house towards him making sure not to remove it from the water in case the little seahorse was still in it, "Bubba, you in there?" he moved his face closer and peered in, but the house was empty.
"Nothing." he looked up at Morgana desperately, "Do you...you don't think....he's ok, right? He's got to be ok."
He spun around fast enough that it took a moment for his brain to catch up with his eyes as he searched the shallows the best he could, looking for something anything that indicated that he was ok. Gods he needed to be ok. He came with them. Nik was supposed to protect him.
"Do you have my ring?" he pleaded.
"Yes. Here." She floundered for a moment, then raced clumsily back to where they had been sitting on the pebbly sand. She scrabbled about for a few moments, then popped up with the chain and ring triumphantly in hand.
She staggered her way back to him, only walking into the water up to her ankles to keep her transformation from overtaking her and knocking away what little stability she had gained with her legs.
"Here," she repeated, holding it out to him. "And just—wait a moment. I'll go with you, just let me..."
She edged carefully into the water, hissing a sharp breath between her teeth as he legs began to tingle, then abruptly fused together, first at the knees before a ripple of scales swept down from her waist all the way to the end of her tail.
She gasped, feeling backward and struggling to regain her equilibrium as she all but flung herself into the water in an effort to move faster than the change. Popping back up, she shook her head quickly and looked around.
"If he wasn't in the seaweed—" She hesitated, then said carefully, "He must at least be alive. If he wasn't, he would have...still been in there."
Nik didn't even hear her ask him to wait as he snatched the ring from her with a hasty thank you before shoving it onto his finger. Within seconds, he was unable to process the air and was forced beneath the waves. It was also helpful because it chased away any residual cold that he had been feeling and the water felt delightful. Or, at least, it would have if he were in the mindset to appreciate it.
"Of course he's alive." he snapped back, panic making him unintentionally ruder, "He has to be alive." his words caught in his throat and he tried to hide it behind an awkward throat clear.
"He has to be alive..." He murmured, eyes wide and shining as they darted around looking for anything. Even the smallest clue....Gods please....
"Bubba!" he called, holding his hands to his face. He wasn't sure if that even worked under the water, but it did on land so it couldn't hurt. And he swam, starting close to the surface and working his way into the deeper waters.
"What if he's hurt?" he asked Morgana breathlessly, "Do you know how to help a seahorse?"
It took her a moment o fully submerge and catch up to him in his frantic searching, but once she had Morgana laid a webbed hand delicately on his arm.
"It'll be okay, Nik," she murmured. "He...he probably got scared and swam off. That was...a lot, for a little fish. It's frankly a wonder he survived it at all—"
Her voice cut off as she spotted a hint of darting movement in the dark water.
No.
No, surely not. Right?
It—it almost looked like the movement was coming toward them. Toward Nik's calling. Like it understood. If it hadn't been so small, she might have actually been worried.
If they hadn't been underwater, you would have seen the tears in Nik's eyes as he searched for the little guy. They had been together for days. He had chosen to come with them. Nik had promised to take care of him and be there for him and now...now he was lost all because Nik couldn't keep his fucking mouth closed and he had to piss off a sea witch. If he had just listened and stayed quiet, none of this would have happened.
He instinctually shook off Morgana's hand. He didn't want soothed. He didn't want kind words, he wanted Bubba. But then she stopped mid-sentence and stared past him. He turned around quickly to see what she was looking at.
"Bubba....?" his words caught in his throat, but this time he didn't try to hide it, "Bubba?" he called louder and began swimming closer to the tiny creature making its way towards him.
"BUBBA!" the word ripped from his lips the moment the seahorse came into view and practically barreled into his cheek. Choked laughter could be heard as a hand gently reached up to cup his friend gently against his skin. "Gods I'm so glad you're ok....Are you hurt?" Nik pulled Bubba away and inspected him, "Are you ok? Do you need anything?"
Not that the seahorse answered him, instead, he swam right back up and nuzzled against Nik's cheek in a tiny seahorse kind of embrace.
Morgana gaped. "That—that's not..."
She shook her head, blinked, then stared again as the tiny fish darted happily around Nik.
"That...shouldn't be..."
She frowned, swimming closer and cocking her head as she observed the seahorse. He seemed to observe her right back, pausing in his cheerful spirals around Nik's head to hover in front of her face in the water.
She tilted her head the other way, and the seahorse mirrored her with his whole body.
She jerked back, blinking rapidly. "What in all the sunken hells?" she muttered, brow furrowed as she stared in disbelief at the little creature.
That was not a normal fish.
Nik didn't even care that this wasn't a normal acting seahorse. He knew that fish generally didn't act like this, but he didn't care. His bud was alive! He was more than alive, he was thriving and showing off with swoops and flips and overall tiny little critter excitement.
Nik swam a circle around Morgana and Bubba with a whoop of excitement, "He's alive!! Morgana, he's alive!" and he gave her an impulsive hug around the shoulders before flipping around the water like a baby guppy who had just figured out his fins.
"Yes," Morgana agreed, baffled. "Yes, he is. You don't think that's weird?"
She squinted at the little animal again. Was he...bigger than when she'd last seen him? Just a little, maybe a finger's width longer? That made even less sense than anything else!
Unless...
Oh goodness.
Her brows shot up, and she reached out a hand to Bubba. "Ah...here, boy?"
The seahorse drifted cautiously over to her and nuzzle curiously at her fingers. Clearly, he was not as taken with her as he was with Nik, and was hoping she may simply have food available.
She squinted at the markings along his spiraled body, trying to make out a pattern. "What are you?"
Nik swam around a few times and shrugged at her question. Weird or not, it didn't matter. All that did matter was that his stupidity hadn't cost them the life of this tiny little perfect amazing creature.
"You're a seahorse, aren't you buddy?" He asked in a sing-song kind of voice as if he was talking to a child or a very adorable puppy, "a very resiliant, smart, amazing, perfect little seahorse."
Bubba flitted away from Morgana and seemed to beam at Nik proudly. Gods he was a good boy.
"I'm...not sure that he is," Morgana said slowly, watching the little creature bob toward him in the water. "A...seahorse, I mean."
She frowned. "I think he might be enkima. Ahh—damn, I don't know how to translate it..." She devolved for a few moments into a quiet string of melodic words that were clearly not Common, but did fit the cadence of her very slight accent. "They are...ocean creatures, affected by the natural magic of the sea. Some of them start out as ordinary fish, but when exposed to raw magic they will...change."
She looked from Bubba to Nik and back before pointing out a little desperately, "Doesn't he look bigger to you?"
Huh, interesting.
Nik held out his hand and Bubba swam up and nuzzled against his thumb. His thumb that was now quite a bit smaller than the seahorse which was definitely new.
"Hey Bubs..." Nik pulled his hand closer to his face so that he and the critter were eye to eye. "Are you a normal seahorse?"
Bubba remained still and silent as they stared one another down.
"Hm. Ok. Are you a...uh...special seahorse?" A tiny pip kind of squeak seemed to come from him and Nik shot a look at Morgana.
"Ok. Either I'm crazy or this guy understands us." At that, Bubba zoomed up seemingly angry and zoomed around his head.
"Bubba." Morgana said the name in a flat deadpan. "You named. An enkima. Bubba."
She shook her head slowly. "Right. Okay. Sure." Because why not? She took pity on a drifting sailor who offered her apple candy one time, and this was what came of it.
Sure.
With a quiet noise that wasn't exactly a groan but wasn't not one either, she pressed both hands to her face and just breathed for a moment. The gills along her waist fluttered, then she shook her head again and dropped her hands.
"Right. Well. I suppose that's--he can certainly make his own choices about if he wants to stay with you." She snorted. "Good luck getting rid of him now, in fact."
"What's an enkima?" He asked while trying to catch the angry seahorse in his hands to keep him from swimming angrily around his head. It took a few tries but he managed to scoop him up and held him still against his chest.
"I'm sorry, bud," he cooed, "You're just very opinionated and we're not used to how exuberant you are! You know most other little guys aren't as brave and resiliant as you, right?" He gave his slightly larger snout a little scratch.
"What do you mean get rid of him? I'm going to keep him forever and ever and ever."
Morgana sighed. "I don't think the word translates; it's what we call creatures like him." She gestured vaguely toward the seahorse--or rather, not-precisely-a-seahorse--that he held. "Ocean magic is wild, and unpredictable. He might have been born with the potential, or maybe it happened when Selari used that spell." She shrugged. "I don't know. But the magic will continue to change him, until he is something...well. Something else. Possibly a very powerful something else."
Nik let the guy go once he'd settled down and Bubba made a happy, playful series of little peeps. Each peep sent a bubble in the water and he proceeded to chase afte them.
"Well, I don't care what he is. I love him." he grinned
"Of course you do," Morgana sighed, shaking her head. "Well--I suppose he'll outgrow it quickly enough, but you should see if he wants to go back into that seaweed nest." Her expression sobered a bit. "I'll...take you both to shore. It should only be a few days."
She knew he'd said he wanted to help her with Selari's soul-price, but...she couldn't let him do that.
Nik shook his head, still playfully swimming after Bubba as they both did flips and spins in the water.
"Trying to get rid of me?" He asked Morgana as he stopped mid flip and drifted past her from the momentum, "I'm helping you, that's final. It should have been my deal to make, not yours."
She gritted her teeth. "Nik." One breath in, then out. In the water, such a breath was drawn through her gills, so her chest didn't move. "This is...I knew going into this what might happen. And it isn't--it isn't something you need to be a part of."
She shook her head slowly. "You should return home. Forget any of this happened--you know you are likely safe from your old lover now, yes? Surely she would have found you by now, if that was still a danger."
He flipped around and difted by her again but this time in the opposite direction.
"Maybe. Maybe not. Thaleia never really played by the book. Either way, I can't just go to shore because I'm a father now. Gotta take care of my little man." Bubba had started drifting with Nik and the two stared down the siren.
"Sweet fuck," Morgana sighed, evidently driven to human vernacular by her exasperation. "Nik, I am going to kill people. You do understand that, yes?"
Nik waved his hands around in the water to gently bring his drift to a stop in front of her. His usual jovial demeanor was replaced with a quiet stoicism befitting the subject matter.
"Of course I know, Morgana." He replied, "and I understand what I'm offering to do or...help do. It still doesn't change that you're taking this on for me. So stop your arguing, it's settled."
"You are--" Morgana inhaled deeply, pressing both hands together in front of her face. "Has anyone ever told you," she asked slowly, frowning, "that you are quite infuriatingly stubborn?"
Well. It seemed this argument wasn't going to get them anywhere. Not just now, at any rate.
She shook her head and sighed. "Fine. We can get started in the morning then, I'm...too tired for this."
"Dunno what you're talking about. I'm delightful." He flipped around one more time to catch up to Bubba and then the two of then saddled up next to Morgana.
"Lead the way, Captain." He gave her a brisk salute.
"Uhg." She rolled her eyes toward the surface. "Please. Don't call me that."
She started moving. It occurred to her that she could simply leave him behind; if she swam full speed, Nik would never be able to catch her.
But then he would be alone—save for a vaguely magical seahorse—in a literal ocean of dangers.
...Damnit.
"You know, you introduced yourself to me that way," she noted as they swam. "Captain Nik."
He followed along without complaint and did his best to keep abreast. Despite his demeanor, he understood what he was getting into and he didn't take it lightly. He understood that many creatures dealt in souls, especially having hooked up with a siren for a good chunk of time, but the sea witch had been the first time someone had actually discussed it like currency. Now that....that made him angry.
But now Morgana had forced herself to carry that debt for him and he wouldn't be able to live with himself if he just let her go off and do that. No. It should have been his choice on whether or not he was willing to pay that price for shitty riddles and...honestly...he was a bit angry that he hadn't even been given the chance to turn it down.
Not that it mattered. The witch would have exacted some price, of that he was certain. Just leaving her doorstep would have probably incurred some kind of payment.
Which meant that he was just a fool.
"It was a small boat." He shrugged, "Small crew. Had to wear many hats."
The siren shot a sidelong glance and crooked smile in his direction. "Oh? Captain and cook, were you?"
She huffed softly and gave her tail a little flick to pick up a moment of speed before allowing herself to glide along through the water. "Unless you were planning to just eat candy for your entire voyage?"
He glared at her. How dare she insinuate negative things about the best most amazing most awesome food on the face of the planet. No. The universe.
"You don't understand." He looked down at Bubba, "She doesn't have refined taste and would rather have raw fish than the finest delicacies known to mankind. When we're done here I'll open a confectionary and then we'll see who's laughing!" He might be crazy, but he could have sworn Bubba "humphed" and sent a glare over towards the siren at that.
Gods he was the best boy...
"Doesn't a...confectionary—" she took a moment of care to pronounce the unfamiliar word— "require you being in land? How exactly do you propose to do this?"
She shrugged and added, "Unless you're planning to create some sort of floating candy factory."
Nik nodded vigorously, "Yes! A floating candy shop! I could make it on a boat and just travel from place to place and Bubba can help me find all sorts of interesting delicacies to try. What do you think, boy?" he gave him a little nose pat, "Wanna help me be the most famous Candy Pirate in the Western oceans?"
Bubba gave a little peep and did a few flips which Nik took to mean yes.
"You can be my first customer!" he exclaimed to Morgana with a grin.
Morgana scoffed. "Your only customer," she muttered, but she was smiling just a bit.
She cut another sidelong glance toward him as they swam along; there was still clearly so much he needed to face. Not least being...whatever it was that he seemed unable to remember.
But perhaps he would simply have to face that on his own. She couldn't let him get caught up in Selari's price, not anymore than he already had.
Nik rolled his eyes. She was part fish, there was no way she'd really understand humans and their perfect tastebuds. Candy was universal. It brought together the rich and the poor. It unified enemies. It made people smile when they wanted to do anything but be happy. Candy was for adults as well as for children.
Maybe one day he'd bring her up to shore and really show her what being human was all about. And then maybe she'd actually understand why he hated eating raw fish so much. Gods why couldn't his damn ring change everything to taste like candy?
"Naaaaah, you'll bring all your sireny friends with you. I'll accept a single pearl as payment." he nodded matter-of-factly, "Or maybe some cool little ocean trinket...life a shiny shell! Or some kind of ingredient I could then do cooking stuff to and make it into candy."
Morgana laughed. "What friends?" she asked, as though the question itself was a joke. "Sirens are typically solitary creatures. Well, at least all those I have met are."
Sure, she'd hung around with siren "schools" every once in a while, but those were incredibly transient social groups. They never lasted much longer than a month or two, in her experience. Sirens were simply too territorial, too competitive.
And while most, like her, hunted humans for the "food" of magic that a blood-sacrifice to the ocean granted them, there were some who hunted them as actual food. Which led to its own conflicts.
Nik stopped swimming and stared at Morgana, concern inching up on his features. "You don't have friends?" he asked, "Like at all? No...best mate? or partner in crime? You're just...alone?"
She paused, turning to face him. Clearly, she was just as confused by his concern as he was concerned by her solitary proclamation. "Well...no," she answered honestly, looking a little baffled by the idea. "I had--have--a sister, but I haven't seen her since I left home."
She shrugged. "We don't do so well in groups. Sirens, I mean. I know plenty of others, but I wouldn't say we're friends."
He frowned at that, "Well...that's...kinda...sad I guess. Do you get lonely?"
Gods the sea was a heartless place wasn't it? It almost made the whole soul trade thing make sense to him. If you're always alone, what do other people matter? He imagined that it turned you mad almost.
"I--"
She stared at him for a moment, speechless. It was as though the idea of being lonely had never actually occurred to her. In a way, it hadn't; it was simply how she lived. She hadn't ever really thought about other possibilities.
"I...suppose." She shook her head briskly, then turned and started swimming again. "Come. We should find a safe place to rest before sundown."
It wasn't exactly a subtle change of topic.
"For what it's worth," He replied as he quickly started swimming again to keep pace with her, "I consider you a friend. I'm sure Bubba does too. If you ever wanted to be not lonely...or just....not alone."
He felt especially silly saying it out loud. It was like some weird teenager confession or something but he meant it sincerely. She had already done more for him than most people in his life; besides Cornelius and his dad mostly....with a few other people sprinkled in that list. It was funny, actually, to be sad for Morgana's lack of friends when he himself tended to be more of a loner as well.
She cut a quick, sharp glance in his direction before focusing her attention forward again. She was quiet for a few long heartbeats, but eventually said quietly, "Thank you..."
She glanced at Bubba, who seemed to be keeping pace with them much more easily than a creature of his size should have, and huffed a quiet laugh. "I'm not sure about friend. I believe he tolerates me."
Bubba gave a quiet peep before snuggling in against Nik more earnestly than before.
"oof...yeah...you might be right about that one." he gave Bubs another quick pat, "She's a nice person, Bubba." he assured him, "She didn't eat me or you and that's gotta count for something, right?" the seahorse just peeped again, seemingly indignantly, before falling silent and nuzzling up against Nik's collarbone.
"So, what are you thinking? Another underwater cave? Just hanging out for a quick nap in an anemone or something like a clown fish? Would that sting us you think?"
"Perhaps something on land would be better," Morgana mused. "There are plenty of more inviting islets than Selari's caldera in these parts--though that would mean Bubba would have to content himself with a tide pool."
The little creature was proving to be quite opinionated; she doubted he'd be happy with the suggestion.
"You'll be fine with that, right boy?" he asked Bubba, "It is more comfortable for me on land and it'll only be for a few hours, yeah?" Man....life would be so much easier if he could just permanently live in the water without worrying about a ring that might one day possibly run out of magic and then he'd just drown.
He spun the ring around his finger in thought, "Mor," he started, "Do you know much about these rings? I got this as a gift from one of your kind and...do you know if it'll just wear off one day and then I'll drown?"
"Hmm?" She was startled enough by the use of a sudden nickname that it took her a moment to process his question. When she had, she drifted closer and held her hand out to him in silent request for a closer look at the ring.
"I'm not sure," she said slowly. "My magic doesn't allow me to enchant items--my kiss could save someone from drowning, but only until they next left the water. I would need to repeat the process every time they wanted to submerge."
"Welp....if I start drowning I'd greatly appreciate a little bit of life saving. If you're comfortable of course." Which hopefully she would be, but he wasn't going to beg for a kiss or anything...nah, he probably would if he were dying but you never really knew what you were going to do until your life started flashing before your eyes.
"So...to the island thingies then? And hopefully the ring doesn't just you know....stop working between now and then."
"It shouldn't," Morgana said consideringly, turning his hand in hers to observe the ring for a moment longer before she released him and started off again. "Those sorts of enchantments are usually meant to last. But who knows." She shrugged, flicking her tail to gain a bit of speed. "Maybe there will come a day when you don't need it at all."
He kicked his feet harder to stay close to her and Bubba pressed against him with the acceleration. Morgana's strong tail was definitely a major advantage in the waters and even his magically enhanced feet couldn't do much to keep up without effort.
It gave him a good view though. And he really looked at her for the first time since they had met. Her tail was powerful and the movements equally mesmerizing and dangerous as they were beautiful.
"Sure, sure." He rolled his eyes, "lemme just grow a tail and gills and stuff. Be right back! I'm sure science has advanced that much."
"Who says you can't?" She grinned as she spun onto her back and allowed her momentum to carry her along for a moment so she was simply coasting along beneath him. "There's all sorts of ways a person could become merfolk. I know my lineage is steeped in tragedy, but not everyone's is
"Pretty sure I'm not just going to grow fins, Morgana." He gave her a deadpan stare, his lips in a stright line. "If it was that easy I think there'd be way more of you than there currently are."
She smiled enigmatically, thinking to the storm he had nearly called down on a sea witch.
Growing fins might be more likely than he thought.
But best not to push, for now. That magic, whatever was blocking him from reaching that part of himself, was clearly more powerful than she could counteract.
"Perhaps." She shrugged. "Who's to say there aren't as many of us as there are of you? Some of my kind never even see the surface, you know—there could be a whole continent's worth of merfolk in the depths."
He kicked his feet to bring himself face to face with her and cocked his head to the side, "Well...are there? That many of you, I mean? If you're all as much of a loner as you mentioned earlier how does that even work? Do you just....make plans with each other to not...see...each other? Assign different routes?"
She laughed, a sound near as silvered as her hair, and shook her head with a shrug.
"Oh I don't know," she said with a little giggle. "I suppose there could be whole cities of us, but I've never heard of one. Though, like I said, I'm a solitary creature by nature. I suppose there's every chance that some other strain of merfolk are significantly more communal."
Another shrug. "They must have themselves hidden away, though. That, or they simply avoid sirens like myself."
He digested that thought for a moment and then shuddered a bit, "Huh...somehow a whole city of sirens seems...kinda terrifying? I'm just imagining a bunch of angry Selari's scheming together and laughing over souls....now if they were all like you that would be completely different."
He paused for a moment and then chuckled self-consciously, "You know...when you first showed up and ruined my maiden voyage, I thought you were going to eat me."
"I thought about it," Morgana said blithely, flashing that sharp-toothed smile.
But then her expression softened, sobered a bit, and she shook her head. She debated with herself for a moment before admitting, "I don't...actually do that. None of my line do. Well, not to the best of my knowledge, anyway."
She cleared her throat and glanced away. "We, ah, eat...magic, I suppose. Sacrificing a life to the ocean generates quite a lot of it."
Huh...he was learning all kinds of new stuff today.
"So, uh...are there kinds that do eat us? Like...teeth, chomp, swallow kind of eat? Or is it pretty common for it to be more blood magicy kinda nightmare fuel?" he thought for a bit, "You know, a lot of humans get real touchy about blood magic. Think it's evil. I wonder if they'd find you more or less scary if they knew they'd be magic sacrifices."
"Oh, certainly." She shrugged. "I've known sirens who, ah, teeth, chomp, swallow. Cant say I've spent much time around them, but they definitely exist."
She hummed consideringly at his mention of blood magic; she'd never really thought of it like that before. She honestly didn't know much about blood magic. "The ocean is harsh. Its magic is harsh. We do what we have to in order to survive it."
He understood that completely. As a sailor it was one of the first lessons you ever learned. When storms took you by surprise, sometimes the best sailors drowned and the worst were somehow spared. Sometimes rocks scraped the bottom of your ship and then you were lost to sea hoping against hope that something or someone would come along and save you from a horrible death by sun and dehydration.
Even finding land after being stranded meant certain death unless you were unbelievably lucky and happened upon a civilization. But finding land was unlikely and most drowned or were burnt to a crisp on a makeshift raft. If the ocean decided it was your time to go, there was nothing you could do about it.
"It is, isn't it?" he nodded, "And it's probably why so many sailors hold onto their superstitions like gods."
"Mm." She glided along through the water, barely moving her tail so that she kept better pace with Nik. "Superstition is one thing. Blind fear is another."
Her slight frown spoke to what she had told him of the origin of her bloodline—how superstition had led to the horrid deaths of so many.
But then she gave herself a little shake and the weight of it seemed to sluice off her back into the water.
"What are your superstitions then, Nik?"
Nik took a moment and spun like a corkscrew through the water with his hands outspread and watched the bubbles swirl around him following his fingertips. Bubba let out a peep that sounded like it might be from excitement, but he was a seahorse and honestly all of his peeps sounded the same.
"Mine?" He stopped spinning and let his momentum keep him moving forward, "I don't have superstitions, I have cold hard facts." He held up his fingers as he counted, "1) Always have candy. Everyone likes candy. It has never let me down once. Well...maybe that one time I got lied to and then stabbed by a poisoned dagger but we won't blame that on the candy. 2)Always start a new voyage the day after it rains. If it's been a week of no rain you're gonna get killed."
Morgana snorted, which was a distinctly less silvery sound than the laugh she'd let out earlier. "And that second one doesn't strike you as just a bit superstitious?" she prodded lightly, smirking at him.
He shook his head, "Absolutely not. It's science. It always rains or storms if the voyage starts during a dry spell. Always."
"Mhm." She gave him a very wry look. "And you're sure that's absolutely nothing to do with your belief that that's how storms work?"
He placed his hands on his hips and gave a few kicks to keep up, "Well what the hell is that supposed to mean, Miss Sassy pants?"
She huffed quietly and twisted in the water to look at him properly.
"Are you sure you don't have any magic?" she asked suddenly, answering his question with a question.
He shrugged and did another corkscrew spin. It was odd how insistent she was about this magic bit. Did it actually matter if he did or didn't? And did he even know if it was true or not?
"I mean, I guess it's kinda magic that I'm still alive." he did a backflip because why not? "But I don't think I've ever like....made a tree grow or nothing...but Gods wouldn't it be amazing to just waive your hand and suddenly there'd be those apple candies? Though I guess that would put Mrs. Corolin out of business and I wouldn't want that to happen. Now if you want to talk magic that Lady has got some serious skill."
"Magic comes in many forms," Morgana said with a shrug. "Maybe, for example, predicting the weather with a near perfect accuracy?"
She quirked an eyebrow at him meaningfully, drawing herself up so she was treading water with her tail perpendicular to the sea floor.
He shook his head vigorously, "Nah....that's just dumb luck. I have a lot of it, actually. Luck, I mean. I'm a certified lucky charm, I am." and he grinned over at her while continuing to practice summersaults through the water while Bubba peeped annoyedly.
He was so annoyed, in fact, that he wiggled out of his little house (that was getting quite small for him) and swam over to be with Morgana until his person could figure himself out.
Morgana huffed, then chuckled a bit as Bubba swam over to her. He was easily the size of her hand now, and wrapped his tail around her wrist like a living bracelet while he peeped in Nik's general direction.
"I know," she said to the magical seahorse, rolling her eyes. "You decided to stay though. On your own head be it."
She could've sworn the little creature rolled his eyes at her.
He joked, but he also knew deep down that something was different about himself that he didn't want to touch. Thinking about it was like holding your hand over a candle flame and it only got hotter the more he delved.
No. His life was just fine with candies and rowboats and - he shot a look at Morgana and Bubba and a small smile pulled at his lips - also friends.
"Come on." Morgana huffed a bit and reached out to take Nik's hand, dragging him along with her as she gave a few powerful strokes of her tail to build momentum. "Let's get to shore. Or some semblance of it."
The islet she led them to was really barely more than a sandbar, dotted with a few tide pools near its edges where Bubba could comfortably spend the night. Morgana pulled herself half out of the water, leaving her tail in the surf so she didn't start to transform.
"This should do for the night, yes?" she said, looking around.
Nik popped his head out of the water and immediately slipped the ring off his finger while he started looking around. Once the magic was no longer in effect, he felt the weight of the day crash into him. His arms felt heavy and each step foward up onto the small little sand bank took effort.
"Anything will do at this point." he yawned as he practically rolled himself onto shore and spread his hands out wide. Thankfully it was a warm evening and even his soaking wet clothes didn't make him cold. He did, however, remove his shirt and lay it out on the warm sand before flopping down on his back.
He held his hand up in front of his face and inspected it for a moment before looking towards Morgana, "It's funny that the ring keeps my fingers from getting all pruny, too. Do you get pruny? Like your fingers and toes get all wrinkly from being in the water for a long time? Or is that a strictly human skill?" His hand came back down and rested gently on his chest and before he could even hear her response, sleep claimed him.
Morgana chuckled a bit and shook her head as he collapsed onto his back like a starfish. She scooped a few handfuls of sand out of the edge of the nearest tidepool, creating a tiny irrigation channel for Bubba to swim up so he could sleep in safety as well.
"I'm covered in scales when I'm in the water, Nik," the siren noted wryly, but when she glanced back to him he was already asleep.
Her expression softened slightly, dark eyes going sad. She looked down at the sailor's odd companion, then reached out to stroke one clawed and webbed finger lightly over his head.
"Look out for him," she urged quietly, before sliding back into the water.
She couldn't let him come with her. She'd never known any was purely and simply joyful as Nik, despite everything. She couldn't let Selari's price haunt him.
She'd been swimming for a little under an hour when she had to admit defeat to her own exhaustion; though she hadn't gotten too far from the islet, she was confident enough that Nik wouldn't be able to track her. Not through open water.
Ignoring the slight twinge of guilt in her gut--and regret in her chest--she set about searching for a safe place to spend the night.
The sailors didn't stand a chance once the storm blew through. In fact, no one even saw it coming as it came in strong, fast, and deadly. By the time orders were being shouted, the mast had snapped in half and the sail fell into the crashing waves. Men fell overboard every second as the wind forced them against the rails and the boat tipped them into the dark depths of the sea.
Some jumped themselves believing they were going to the hands of a lover, a friend, a mother...
Thaleia smiled as each sailor offered themselves to her, one by one, letting the water claim them as the storm tore apart their home. This should be enough. No siren would be able to resist such easy prey...
She would come.
If she hadn't left him asleep on that islet, Morgana would have been hacing words with Nik about the abrupt arrival of the storm. It was simply not natural--but it might also be a boon. Her own magic didn't extend to things like manipulating the weather, so to find Selari's soul price she had thought she'd be relying entirely on her siren's song.
It was significantly easier to fish up a few drowning sailors and ask her question.
Still, Morgana was wary as she approached the sinking vessel; she didn't trust how convenient the wreck was, or how quickly the storm had come on. She knew of no other sirens in the area, but... Still, she was wary.
Thaleia sensed Morgana before she saw her. The water shifted ever so slightly as it did when creatures of magic and sea were near. And yet she remained in the shadows, her black and silver scales blending in with the large rock-like structures in this area of the ocean. It wasn't time yet, but it would be soon.
A man was floundering near the surface. Morgana moved to him, grabbing him under the arms and pulling him up so he could catch at a jagged bit of wood floating in the water.
The sailor stared at her as he gulped desperately for air, awe and fear warring in his expression. She opened her mouth to ask—and then suddenly paused.
There was someone here. She could feel it.
She frowned, annoyed at the interruption, and dove back beneath the water; down down down down, until the creaking and wailing of the wreck above was but a distant hum.
"Hello?" She allowed magic to slip into her voice—not luring, but carrying it out into the water further than it had any right to go. "If I'm intruding on your hunt, I meant no harm."
Ahhh so she could sense her, too. That was good to know. Not every siren had the same skills or the same senses. Some were born simple while others cultivated their slowness through years of disuse. This one clearly was connected with her surroundings.
Good.
Thaleia despised the lazy, wretched kin who lived off of others. The ocean was unforgiving and so was she.
"Sister." she purred from the rocks, flicking her tail gently so the black and silver reflected against the light just enough to show there was more to their surroundings than just rock, "There are plenty here to share. Please, take what you need."
Black and silver.
Sister indeed.
Morgana flicked her own tail, midnight scales barely more than a shadow in the water. She nodded politely to the other siren, though she didn't move closer.
"I'm afraid I don't hunt for myself tonight," she replied cautiously. In her experience, most sirens were territorial; it was a bit odd for one of her kindred to be so accommodating.
But, as she'd said to Nik, there were as many kinds of merfolk as there were landwalkers. So she was wary, but not suspicious. "What I need is...specific. I hadn't realized this was your wreck, I apologize for intruding."
Hmmm...a polite sister it would seem. And no thief at that. Well that certainly made things interesting and maybe a touch more complicated.
Her tiger-striped tail flicked gently, once again catching the light, before Thaleia pushed her self forward from the rocks and gently glided out of the shadows. Her black hair was braided back from her face and woven with perfectly round pearls of varying shades and strands of seaweed that looked like ribbon twisted through the plaits. Her neck was adorned with more stones and gems along with a large emerald that had clearly been taken from some wreck or another.
"I suppose you've passed the test." she cooed, "Too many would count it as luck and take what is not theirs. Thieves." she gave her tail a quick flick and continued inching closer to where Morgana waited, "But not you? No easy prey for you?"
Morgana had certainly known sirens in her time who had a fondness for self-ornamentation, even if she had never been one of them, and she could appreciate this stranger's clear display of her scavenging skills in how she chose to adorn herself.
She shook her head slowly. "No indeed, sister. I've lived among cold waters too long to take something like "luck" at face value."
She still didn't approach, but she didn't back away when the other siren moved closer either. She couldn't quite decide if she should be showing her own territorial display or if she could simply leave this siren's territory without getting into a scrape.
"Are you not enjoying the results of your hunt?" she asked after a moment, gesturing back and up over her shoulder toward the still-sinking craft and the chaos surrounding it.
Thaleia smiled and shifted her trajectory so she was no longer coming directly towards Morgana, but was instead circling her slowly from a distance.
"And she is polite, too? Curious." She flipped and drifted in the same circle but in the opposite direction, "I am enjoying it." She assured her, gesturing towards the floundering men, "Their deaths are what I seek and what I'll take. Their essence belongs to the sea and I'm just....helping them reach their full potential."
She slowly shifted her angle to draw her circle smaller, but subtly so.
"All men deserve this, don't you agree? They were born wicked. They take. They destroy. They lie."
"Mmmm." Morgana watched the way she circled, turning slowly in place to keep the other siren in her direct line of sight. "Most do," she agreed easily enough, and hoped that whatever it was the other mercreature was looking for from her she had found. "But I don't know that any creature is born wicked. Many become it, but I'm not sure any are born it."
She shrugged as she continued turning while the other circled. "Is a shark a wicked thing, or merely following its nature?"
Thaleia hissed at the comparison, "Do sharks cheat and murder? Rape and pillage? Do they take because they feel it is their due? No. Their nature is to survive. Humans simply desire. The horrors inflicted bring nothing but death and despair. Surely you have seen this. Felt this. It is who you are. It is what made us."
And still she inched closer, now too close to be perceived as anything but threatening. But she didn't strike.
"What souls do you seek, sister? What is so special about your task that you'd leave these men to their drowning?"
"I'm not saying they can't be wicked," Morgana put forward cautiously, not entirely sure why herself. Normally, she didn't give humans much thought one way or the other. Surely just a few days in Nik's company couldn't have made her that concerned about them?
As the other siren drew closer, she flexed her fingers at her sides--a subtle but tangible threat display, drawing attention to her curved claws.
This was why she didn't like to hunt with others of her kind. Most sirens weren't so "picky" about the souls they took. It was why Selari had tried to up her price.
"I look for those who would have forsaken us," she responded, holding her ground.
"Oh child." She said with a dark chuckle; her circle stopped and she faced Morgana only a few feet away, "Oh you poor, sweet, innocent child. They will always forsake us. Perhaps not today. Perhaps not tomorrow. But it is inevitable."
She opened her arms wide and gestured to the few sailors who still thrashed in the water in a desperate attempt to reach the surface.
"Feast. Take. For they are, all of them, wicked. Do not let him fool you."
Morgana looked up, watching them thrash. Watching them drown. Watching them die.
Do not let him fool you.
Him?
She frowned. "How--what do you know about...?"
She snapped her head toward the other siren as realization struck her. She bared her teeth and finally moved, slicing backward through the water.
"It seems you have me at a disadvantage here--Thaleia, is it?"
The tiger-striped siren held up her hands in a show of pacifism that contradicted her previous more threatening movements. Her smile faded to a look of pleading and one could almost forget she had just commanded the sea to destroy a ship and her entire crew mere moments before.
"I am not your enemy." She implored giving the tiniest flick of her tail to begin closing the gap between them. "You have already proven yourself a creature of integrity and I have no fight with you." Her face was a mask of despair, "He is not what you think...please understand that everything he has said is a lie that will bring down destruction and devastation on us all."
Morgana stopped retreating, holding the other woman's eyes. "And just how do you know what he has said to me?" she asked, voice sharper than it had been.
Sirens lied. It was just what they did; they made themselves into a safe harbor for the lost and the damned, and then when those souls leapt to join them, they dragged them down.
But usually lying wasn't done amongst their kindred. Still, Morgana kept wary, tail churning a slow circle beneath her to keep herself in place.
Thaleia inched closer. She could feel her hesitation.
"I don't know what he's said, but I know how he can make you feel. He is not innocent. He is not pure. He is just like them. He will lure you in with the act but his entire existence is an abomination."
Still she inched closer, weaving past the body of a sailor who happened to float between them, eyes staring sightlessly into the void.
"Do you know what he is?" she hissed.
Abomination? What was she on about?
Morgana narrowed her eyes, still not fully retreating, though she did allow the faint movement of the water to carry her backward just a hair. "I know he is not fully human," she replied slowly, cautiously. "Though he doesn't seem to know it. Or at least, he doesn't remember."
And still Thaleia advanced bit by bit, hands still outstretched in supplication.
"Leave him. Go far away. Let him join his brethren in the sea."
"No." Morgana shook her head. "I am sorry, sister. But I can't let you hurt him."
She tried a desperate appeal of her own, arms held loosely at her sides and fingers spread to show no tricks. "Just let him go, Thaleia. One surely life cannot be worth all this trouble."
"Then you have made your choice." the hands that were outstretched to her side suddenly rushed through the water in a dynamic swirl. The water around the two sirens began moving, first slowly and then the speed gradually increased until a barrier of waves encompassed them. As it spun, debris was scooped up from the surrounding crash and while the water was not moving quickly enough to be considered a true whirlpool, the pieces of wood, metal, and even fallen sailors made the perimeter treacherous.
Thaleia bared her teeth and long claws flashed in the light that trickled through the wreck that bobbed on the surface.
"He is mine" she growled with venom in her words.
Morgana flashed her own teeth and raised her hands defensively. Still, she said, "I don't want to hurt you, sister."
Her eyes darted through the debris swirling around them, trying to find a path into clear waters. The best method to win a fight was to avoid it, after all—though she seriously doubted that Thaleia would let her.
"You won't have the chance!" she screamed and propelled herself forward suddenly with incredible speed, claws outstretched as she aimed for Morgana's throat.
***************
Tiny peeps came from the pools where Bubba thrashed about anxiously, but they were so quiet and Nik so tired that they didn't register. His was the dreamless sleep of one stretched to their limits and beyond.
Bubba tried jumping out of the water and peeping. His human was making him angry by being so still and so useless up on land where he couldn't reach.
Morgana dropped down just in time to avoid claws swiping over her head, catching slightly at her hair. She growled, diving down and then flipping around again quickly to rocket up behind Thaleia.
She didn't have the kind of magic this siren did. She couldn't bend wind and tide to her whims. But she did have claws, and teeth, and more than her fair share of practice using them.
She hissed and swiped for the other woman's back, aiming to claw along her dorsal fin, which could throw off Thaleia's ability to turn quickly if she did enough damage.
Thaleia dogged quickly enough to avoid too much damage, but one of Morgana's claws scraped the top of her fin as she spun to avoid her claws. It was superficial enough that she paid it very little mind as one clawed hand snatched a large broken pole that swirled around them in the water. With precision, she whipped it around and let it fly like a spear towards her opponent.
*************
Nik groaned and rolled over getting a face full of sand, but his eyes remained closed. Bubba splashed in his little pool, using his tail to brush away the sand in a desperate attempt to get closer.
Morgana flipped backward, but the makeshift spear still glanced along her side. She hissed as it opened a thin, red line between the pale gray scales over her ribs, then flicked her eyes up to snarl at Thaleia.
"I said I didn't want to hurt you," she growled. Her eyes tracked the debris swirling around them, flickering from one piece of flotsam to the next. "Leave, and I can still honor that."
In a sudden burst of movement, she shot upward, then raced back and around behind a broken piece of a boom. She gave the heavy wood a firm smack with her tail, sending it shooting out of the whirl of water and into the patch of calm Thaleia had carved out in its center.
"You've made your choice." she shot back as she narrowly avoided the boom that hurled towards her. Thaleia was the master of these seas and no second-rate sister would succeed in taking her down. The skies above were darkening as the storm raged above making the seas dark and murky and so much harder to navigate the debris.
She went to swirl her arms to increase the speed of the water surrounding them, but she miscalculated. The way that Morgana had hit the boom had given it a spin and it whipped around slowly until it's narrower edge smacked her in the back and sent stars dancing before her eyes.
***************
Bubba peeped louder as he chipped away at the sand and made his little safe haven bigger. He was getting closer to Nik, but not nearly close enough to do any good. At this rate he it would take all night and the now-not-so-little seahorse knew they didn't have all night.
Morgana had not gone so far from the islet where she'd left Nik; it seemed they were just close enough that the storm Thaleia had called down to sink the ship left trailing edges just above.
Just enough that a few scattered raindrops fell onto the surface of Bubba's tide pool, and then onto Nik's face.
"Can't you fight without magic?" Morgana taunted, darting back and forth through the whirling waters. She may not be able to control a tempest, but she could sure as hells navigate one. She kept large chunks of debris between herself and Thaleia as she followed the circling current. "Where is your hunter's spirit, sister?"
The rain started to fall in a steady drizzle on the little sand bar as Thaleia continued to summon the storm and it was just enough to cause Nik's eyes to flutter open. And he frowned. It wasn't supposed to storm. He always knew when it was going to storm.
Except...when....
He jolted upright and looked immediately to the skies where dark clouds had formed and were swirling ominously in the sky not far from his tiny "island." Weirder yet, the clouds weren't moving beyond their spot where they spun slowly.
Then he heard Bubba's little peeps and saw his sea friend thrashing in the tide pool.
"Where's Morgana?" Nik asked him, panic settling in his bones. Bubba peeped and spun around and began inching out to sea.
Without thinking, Nik slammed the ring onto his finger and dove into the water.
****************
Thaleia swooped lower towards the ocean floor as she recovered from the blow. She could feel where the wood had smacked her and it made her angry.
"We are magic, child." She cried into the darkness, "Or have you forgotten?"
And then she charged, teeth barred and claws outstretched.
"We are the sea," Morgana shot back. "Yes, the sea is are merciless; she gives life, and she takes it, but the tempest does not care who it catches in its wake. Sinners and saints alike will drown."
She was a hypocrite, and she knew it. But she didn't care, teeth bared as she lunged to the side to avoid Thaleia's strike. "We are the sea," she repeated. "And the sea does not hold grudges."
"The sea will have her due!" Thaleia cried and pivoted effortlessly in the water and swiped at Morgana with long, sharp claws as a big kick of her tail propelled her forward.
**************
"How far is she?" Nik asked the seahorse as if he could answer him back. Bubba, to his credit, made a series of back to back quick peeps and flapped his fins faster in an attempt to pick up the pace.
Gods he hoped Morgana was ok. What the hell was Thaleia thinking? What had he done that was so horrible that she would go after not only himself but every creature, every person, who had the misfortune of aligning themselves with him?
Morgana darted quickly away from those lashing claws, just barely managing to avoid a raking blow across her face.
"You do not speak for our mother!" she spat back. It was one of the worst insults one siren could give another: the implication that she had lost her connection to their home.
Spiraling backward, Morgana flipped herself around and started diving down, down, down--trying to reach the edge of the swirling currents that Thaleia had conjured.
A primal scream erupted from Thaleia's lungs as she missed her target. But she wasn't finished. No. She would continue until the pitiful creature was a pile of bones in the depths of the sea. Nikkolai was hers and she would deal with him as she saw fit. No creature of land nor sea would change that. Not now, not ever.
She whipped around and dashed again towards her foe, eyes flashing as dangerously as her claws. As she dashed, she grabbed pieces of debris and shot them like missiles through the water in quick succession.
************
The debris field was visible, but Nik couldn't make out anything else. It was darker here and even his magically enhanced eyes struggled to see beyond the circling water.
"She's there isn't she?" He asked Bubba, gasping with effort as he propelled himself forward even faster. He'd never be able to forgive himself if anything happened to her.
Something sharp--wood or metal from the ship, it moved too fast for her to be able to identify it--shot passed her cheek. Morgana hissed as she felt the shallow cut open up, but kept her downward trajectory. Just...a bit...further...there!
She reached the bottom edge of the aquatic whirlwind and forced herself to swim faster, pumping her tail frantically to build momentum before she could--
She shot down, and the sudden change in water pressure as she reached the edge of the swirling currents sent her slingshotting up and out of the field. She drew in a deep breath and turned to face the debris, eyes darting around for a sign of Thaleia.
Nik pumped his legs as hard as he could and no longer cared that Bubba was quickly being left in his wake. Thaleia was in there and somewhere so was Morgana. He just hoped that he wasn't too late. If he showed up, maybe he could stop it before someone got hurt.
Bubba peeped constantly as the two became more and more separated by distance, but Nik had to believe the little guy was smart enough to stay away until things had settled. Hell, he hoped that he was smart enough to just disappear with Morgana after he tried to make some kind of deal with Thaleia. Would that even work? They had hurt each other so many times now...was it even possible for this to end in any other way but pain and destruction?
He didn't want to hurt her. At least not the way she clearly wanted to hurt him.
The barrier of water and debris was coming up and he knew he needed speed in order to get through it - if he wasn't just going to get caught up in it and be impaled by some piece of ship or another. Even here he could see the bodies of sailors floating in the water. So much death....
And for what?
He kicked his legs as hard as he could, allowing the ring's magic to amplify his abilities as much as possible. He had to get through. He had to!.
In a desperate attempt, he piked his hands above his head to help cut the water and prayed he wasn't about to get a face full of pain from the numerous chunks of the ship and drowned sailors. This could easily be over well before it began.
He took a breath, closed his eyes, and his body jerked in the current and he found himself forced around the whirlpool, but he kept kicking. Kept trying to get through. Something slashed against his cheek and the saltwater immediately stung. Then against his arm, this one felt worse than the first, but he ignored it. Healing could happen later. This had to happen now.
And then the water was still.
He opened his eyes and was confronted with whisps of blood rising from his wounds - many more small scrapes and cuts than the two he had actually felt. But none of that mattered. Where was she? Where was Morgana? Where was Thaleia?
"Thaleia!!" he cried out as loud as he could. If she knew he was here, she would come for him, of that he was sure.
*****************
The siren hadn't noticed Morgana exiting the ring she had created and circled in the water expecting to find her hiding amidst the chaos. Even in this calm area, pieces of the shipwreck provided coverage as well as weapons.
She wrapped one clawed hand around a jagged piece of metal that had once been wrapped around a barrel to keep the planks together. Now she had straightened the arch in her hands and kept it by her side. She was ready. Next time she wouldn't miss. First she would get her sister out of the way and then she would go to find Nikkolai. Find that traitor.
When her name was called she didn't even think. Her ears perked and she swung with all her might towards the sound, directly towards where Nik was waiting for her. The sickening crunch of metal against skin brought a grin to her features as she swam up to see the damage.
And a cry of horror escaped her lips.
******************
Nik didn't even feel anything. One minute he was waiting for Thaleia to show herself and the next he jerked backwards a few yards at least. It was hard to breathe. Had....had he been hit....?
He looked down and saw something black on his chest. It was about a foot in length from what he could tell but...it didn't move when he pressed his hand against it. He didn't know that the other end was sticking out of his back.
"Oh."
The whirlpool suddenly stopped.
Morgana only had a few moments to process what was happening. One moment, the swirling debris and floating dead consumed her vision. The next, the whirl of currents had stopped, and she found herself staring at Nik across a small stretch of now open water.
Nik, with a shard of metal impaled through his chest.
A wordless cry tore out of her and she darted forward, Thaleia the last thing on her mind as she reached out to take his shoulders in a desperate, futile effort to do something, anything.
"Nik?" Her eyes searched his frantically, one hand fluttering uselessly around the entry wound. What could she do? Her tears had healing properties--her saliva too, if she was truly desperate--but that wouldn't work around an imbedded shard of metal. Not to mention those abilities were limited at best. "Nik, look at me," she begged softly, trying to focus her gaze on his. "Just--it'll be okay, just hold on. I'll--I'll get you to land, and...and we can..."
She didn't know what to do.
Everything had an odd glow of darkness around it that hadn't been there before. Nik wondered if that was part of Thaleia's spell, or if maybe the storm had grown bigger casting shadows where there hadn't been any before. But that...didn't seem right...
"Hey..." he smiled a genuine smile when he saw Morgana appear before him, "I was worried I'd be....too late."
He couldn't move his arms. They were like dead weights anchoring him down.
"Hey. I'm glad you're ok." why was talking difficult? What was that black thing on his chest and why couldn't he move it?
"Hey....." his voice faded and no matter how long she waited, he wouldn't finish that sentence.
"No..." Morgana blinked. Her voice wasn't even despairing, it was...disbelieving. This was--this couldn't be...
"No no no no no," she whispered, shifting her grip from Nik's shoulders so she was instead cradling him carefully against her chest. She didn't realize that she'd allowed herself to drift down through the water until her tail touched the sand of the seabed.
"Nik? Nik." She shook him lightly. "Nik, open your eyes. Nik. Nik."
She looked around, as though there might be some explanation she could find in the waters around her. But there was only debris and death; now that the whirlpool had stopped, the flotsam from the wrecked ship was gradually sinking down to settle in the sand around them.
Her eyes were burning in a way she didn't recognize, and she shook her head, flickering her secondary lids rapidly. "Nik, this isn't funny," she rasped, looking back to him. "Please, this--this isn't funny. Nik!"
She'd seen dead men before. Of course she had. But her mind refused to recognize what was in front of her. Refused to accept the finality of it.
Stupid human.
A stupid human who saw a siren and offered her apple candy.
She sobbed, both sound and feeling foreign to her as she curled over him, shoulders shuddering. The water gently fanned her silver-white hair around them, spanning out behind her back, and for a moment she more resembled a mourning angel than a siren of the depths.
"You." Thaleia hovered a slight distance away, staring wildly at Nik in disbelief. "This is your fault." she seethed. This wasn't the way it was suppose to go. Nik was hers. He wasn't supposed to be here, dead, in the arms of another.
"It was YOU!" She screamed, her voice dripping with magic so raw it shook the very sand beneath them.
And she lunged, all thoughts of self preservation overridden by rage and sorrow. But she made it only a few feet before something slammed into her face stopping her attack before she could get to her prey. It was the biggest seahorse she had ever seen and he didn't stop there. He swirled around her, peeping loudly - angrily - making noises she had never heard a sea creature make before.
She shrieked and swiped her claws in front of her face in a desperate attempt to get the thing away from her. He was stopping her attack. He was making it impossible to see.
One hand made contact and Bubba was propelled off to the side.
At first, Morgana didn't even move, staring listlessly down at Nik's unmoving features. She traced a her fingertips delicately over the line of his cheek, a gnawing numbness slowly growing in her chest.
It wasn't Thaleia's threats, or even the coalescence of magic behind her that finally broke her from that gray, slow place.
It was the angry peeping sound, followed by a sharp, pained squeak as the now roughly flounder-sized seahorse was thrown back.
Morgana rose in an explosion of black and silver and spun to face the other siren. She didn't scream. She didn't wail, or toss insults or even blame, didn't posture and snap.
She just lanced forward through the water, feeling nothing but cold, sharp rage as she slammed into Thaleia at full speed and swiping one clawed hand toward her throat.
Thaleia didn't even have time to look up before Morgana was upon her. No time to dodge. No time to regroup. No time for anything.
Only enough time to stare, startled, into her sister's eyes as claws ripped through her throat in one, unavoidable slash. Her teal eyes widened in shock and if she were human she would have stumbled. As it were, she hung in the water motionless and stretched one shaking hand up towards her tattered throat. Her blood billowed in the water around her, obscuring her vision, and the slash was so deep she couldn't even make a sound as her life's blood fed the sea.
She was finished. She knew it.
And when she was gone, Morgana would be left with nothing.
She smiled as death claimed her.
Morgana stared, wide-eyed and panting. That...shouldn't have worked. Thaleia was so much more powerful than her, how...? Why...?
"Why?" she whispered as she watched the life bleed from the other siren's eyes. "Why?"
She knew she wouldn't get an answer, but the question fell from her lips anyway.
Why? What did he do that was so awful? Why did this happen?
Why did you take him away?
Morgana slumped where she hovered in the water, staring to let herself drift downward. Blood in the water. There would be scavengers soon...
Bubba.
She gasped, jerking upright and spinning around. "Bubba? Bubba!"
Not him too, please...
She darted in the direction Thaleia had thrown him, and found the too-big-for-a-seahorse-but-still-pretty-small fish huddled in the sand near Nik's body.
She couldn't look at Nik; but she curled herself down beside the enmaki and carefully lifted him from the sand in her hands, heedless of the blood still on her claws. Wordlessly, she cuddled him to her chest, curving protectively around him and crooning softly.
The not-so-little seahorse was hurt. When Morgana scooped him up, he let out an exhausted, weak peep before nuzzling against her and soaking in the closeness that he needed. His fish-sized body shuddered a few times, but he continued to breathe and continued holding on - it was the least he could do for her. He kinda liked her too...and she was all he had left.
He couldn't be sure how long he stayed there with her - after all, he was a seahorse and had no concept of time, but when he did open his eyes again he found himself staring at Nik's body - his person - when something caught his eye.
There was a tiny, painful peep that came from Morgana's arms and then she'd feel his little fins wiggle against her skin as he worked his way out of the cocoon she had made with her body. He swam awkwardly, clearly hurting, over to Nik where he floated with his feet brushing against the sandy bottom of the sea and the rest of him hanging limply.
The ring had not stopped working and little blue swirls of magic fins, gills, and webbing still encased his body. It gave him a glow in the darkness and lit up something around the metal protruding from his chest.
Bubba got closer. And peeped.
He nuzzled his nose up against the metal.
And Peeped.
The blood around it had stopped but not because he had been dead so long it had stopped flowing. No...in its place were green and blue scales...like his body was attempting to heal itself even in death.
Bubba peeped again, this time louder; more insistent. He was just a little seahorse - he couldn't do anything but Morgana could. His person's person could.
"What are you—wait."
Morgana knew better than to try to hold him still; he would only hurt himself worse wriggling away. But she did protest quietly as the little creature swam to Nik's body.
She didn't want to look at it. She followed Bubba, but she couldn't make herself look directly at what was left of his friend.
"I'm sorry," she whispered, reaching out to cup one hand against him to help support him in the water. "I'm sorry, little one. He...he's gone..."
Finally, she made herself look. Made herself confront the reality of that.
But then she saw it. Saw what Bubba must have seen, and her eyes widened.
"Tides help me," she whispered. Glancing down at the seahorse, she said firmly, "Hold still, you'll hurt yourself," before scooping him up onto her shoulder, where he could wrap his tail around the back of her neck to keep himself steady.
She stared at the scales around Nik's wound, then risked the briefest glance up into his face. Her stomach rolled, throat tight, and she choked out, "Please."
She didn't know who she was pleading with. Sirens didn't pray. But she gave it her best effort as she reached forward and yanked the metal scrap from his body as quickly and cleanly as she could.
Nothing happened.
But that in and of itself was odd. When the scrap was removed, no blood followed. In fact, if inspected, the only piece of it that had any blood on it at all was where it had initially pierced his body, right on the first inch or so. The rest seemed to have an odd silvery sheen to it.
Nik himself looked like he was just sleeping. The water hadn't begun affecting his skin like it had the dead sailors that surrounded them even slightly.
The light from the ring flickered the moment the piece was removed and then steadied for a bit before flickering again.
Bubba watched from Morgana's shoulder for a time. Then gave a small peep before swimming back to Nik's body and circling him slowly - calculatingly. He would stop sometimes to get closer almost like he was...smelling for something...before moving on and continuing the odd search.
The ring's magic flickered, longer this time.
Bubba gave a louder peep and circled around Morgana's head quickly before zooming towards Nik's feet. He peeped excitedly.
The ring flickered. The webbing between his toes did not go away.
Morgana stared, waiting, hoping for something to happen.
When Bubba started peeping around Mok's feet as the ring flickered, she looked between the two quickly.
"I—you want me to take it off?" she guessed. "But—he'll dro—"
She'd been about to say "he'll drown" when it occurred to her how stupid a thought that was. To use the human parlance: that ship had sailed.
She approached cautiously, still wary of looking directly at Nik. He was so unnaturally still, she couldn't stand it.
But she took his hand in hers and grasped the ring gently before looking to the enmaki for...something. Confirmation, maybe, or encouragement, she wasn't sure herself.
Bubba circled around Morgana's head an peeped excitedly numerous times in a row without stopping.
The ring's magic continued to fail, but then start back up again.
Well. If the seahorse thought she should...
Despite herself, Morgana almost laughed at the thought. "I'm mad," she murmured to herself, and slipped the ring off Nik's finger.
I may be mad--but please, please let this work...
The moment the ring left his finger a pulse exploded from his body on an outward trajectory with enough force that debris and sand moved away with force. A silver and blue light pulsed from the wound in his chest, growing bit by bit until Nik's entire body was encompassed completely. It was not a stagnant light, but one that continuously swirled and swelled; ebbed and flowed. There was a sound like clear crystal being gently struck and ringing continuously coming from the strange ball of moving light.
Whispers joined the ringing. Eery and indiscernible like the ocean itself was trying to find Her voice but had not quite learned the formation of words. They grew louder. Voices and bells overlapping in a cacophony as the light continued to grow until one voice echoed above them all...
No creature of the sea shall harm you.
In an instant the light dispersed and darkness reigned. There was no sign of the shipwreck anymore and even the sand around Nik's body was completely smooth like someone had dragged a large tree branch in a spiral around him for at least a 10 meter radius.
And Nik's body was right there, in the middle, still hovering unmoving in the water. His wounds, however, were replaced with blue and silver scales and his feet were no longer strictly human. Where he had once had feet, he now had two, large, powerful flippers that matched the scales around his wounds. His fingers, too, were now gracefully webbed and smaller fins extended from his elbows to his wrists, while gills had appeared on either side of his neck.
Morgana grabbed Bubba and dropped low to the sand as the pulse echoed out from Nik'a body, using her free hand to cover her head and curling her body as best she could around the not-just-a-seahorse. They were buffeted back, but seemed miraculously unharmed--well, no more harmed than they had already been--when the sea went eerily calm around them.
Morgana lifted her head slowly, letting her grip on Bubba go slack. She stared at Nik in silence, lips slightly parted and her gills fluttering along her ribs as she fought the urge to begin panting in panicky breaths.
Had it...worked?
He still wasn't moving...
"Nikkolai...." a soft voice echoed in his head. It was so dark...cold...and he couldn't move. Hadn't Morgana just been there? Where was Thaleia?
"Nikkolai, look at me." He shook his head. At least he thought he did. He couldn't really feel anything. He couldn't see anything, really.
"Nikkolai!" A light blossomed in front of his eyes and if he had hands, or arms, he would have covered his face. As it stood, he didn't. He couldn't. "Nikkolai,look at me."
His vision cleared and he saw the outline of a merfolk he didn't recognize. She swam closer and the blue-green scales along her body glittered in the light. He knew her. How did he know her?
A warm hand pressed against his cheeks, "I'm blocked. I'm trying to save you. I've always tried to save you....what wards you? Why can't I reach you? where are you?" Nik shook his head. He didn't know how to answer. Where was he? In the ocean? Yes. Somewhere in the ocean. Swimming to find Morgana and Bubba.
"The ring..." she murmured, "It shields you from me...she must have known. She gave it to you, didn't she?" Again Nik would have nodded but...body didn't exist. .."Hold on."
Something slammed against him. If he had a body it would have split him in two. Something slammed into him again. He wanted it to stop. It didn't necessarily hurt but it made him feel like his entire spirit was about to shatter.
A shuddering breath ripped through him as he sank to the ocean floor.
"Nik? Nik!"
Morgana shot forward through the water, catching the sailor around the shoulders just before his body could sink fully to the seafloor. Her eyes flickered over his face quickly, frantically: searching, praying for a sign of life.
"Nik, look at me?" she pleaded quietly. "Please, it has to work, please...open your eyes..."
He coughed heavily and a rattling gasp shook him from head to toe as his body restarted. He was confused, uncertain, lost. Nothing was connecting. Nothing was making sense. Did he have a body again?
He forced his fingers to wiggle. They felt....odd...
He tried to move his legs. It was like molasses surrounded him.
He knew that voice.
Eyes. He had eyes.
How did he open them?
He forced his brain to obey him. Eyelids. Open.
Everything was blurry. Why was everything blurry?
Blink. Brain, blink.
Still fuzzy.
Second lid blinked.
What the fuck was that.
"Morgana.....?" He rasped, trying to figure out how to move again, "Morgana I....I....." his brain was so gods damned slow. "I have bad news." He swallowed, coughed, "I....don't think..... I'm a human...."
"Nik!"
She gaped at him for a moment, then gave a wordless cry that was something between a sob and a shout and hugged him tight to her chest.
"Oh, stars and seas." She laughed, her eyes doing that uncomfortable burning thing again as she pressed her face into his neck. She felt the faintest flutter of gills—familiar to her, though she imagined not so to him—and laughed again.
"You're alive," she sobbed into his shoulder, hugging him even tighter. "You're alive!"
Nik coughed again and his lungs wheezed with the effort it took. Nothing felt right. He felt...wrong....different...he could feel the water actively cycling through him and out of his neck.
And then she was hugging him and he grunted at the sudden pressure. Everything was aching.
"I...am?" He asked confused. Instinctively his arm raised to rest against her back, but he paused as double-lidded eyes finally sighted the very clear scales that encompassed his hands and the skin that connected each finger together.
"Is that surprising.....?"
"Well..." Morgana looked down at him. "You--you were dead..." she whispered. "You weren't breathing--I felt your heart stop!"
She hugged him again, unable to make herself let go, though she was careful not to hold too tight this time.
"I'm sorry," she whispered, blinking both sets of eyelids in rapid succession. "I'm so sorry, Nik."
"I don't..." he shook his head to try and clear the cobwebs, "That doesn't..." he took another deep breath.
"What do you mean?" He couldn't tear his eyes away from his fingers, "I feel funny...."
"Yes. I imagine you do." Morgana pulled back so she could hold him at arm's length, hands still gripping his shoulders carefully.
"...Nik...what do you remember about your mother?"
He was still watching his hands and had started closing and opening his fingers while watching the webbing expand and contract. His mind was so full of the webbing he didn't hear her question.
"This is skin." He responded instead,"Like good and proper skin. Not magic." His head jerked up in shock and he pulled his other hand out in front of him. There was no ring. No ring on either hand. No...how was he breathing? How was he not dead?
Panicked, he reached up to his neck and felt them. Gills. Not strings of magic but actual, fishlike gills.
With his hands still on his neck, his eyes finally found Morgana's and they were filled with confusion and not a small amount of fear, "You said I died? But....how? I came here to help you to-to-to stop Thaleia. I remember seeing you. You were there. When...how did it happen?"
Why am I still here?
"It--she--" Morgana swallowed, then took a breath. How did she explain this? She didn't even know what had happened herself! Not really.
Slowly, she started to simply recount the facts: what had happened that she could see. She hesitated when she got to her claws slicing through Thaleia's throat--distanced from the rage and panic of the moment, she was starting to feel guilt clawing its way up from her belly into the hollow at the base of her throat.
"I didn't...think I could stop her," she found herself whispering. "Stars and seas, Nik, she's--she was so much more powerful than me. I don't think she thought I could stop her..."
Nik was having difficulty comprehending everything Morgana told him. From what he could gather he had been truly, completely dead for a while - not just a few seconds and then some life saving measures brought him back but....dead dead.
And now he wasn't.
He looked down at his chest where the metal had been lodged and traced the scales that had grown in where skin used to be. He wasn't very limber, but he assumed he'd have a similar scale patch on his back as well.
When her tale had finished he floated there for some time, mouth pressed into a line while he processed it all.
Then, he looked up at Morgana, his friend, and pulled her into a tight embrace. His newly webbed fingers cradled the back of her head and wove in and out of her hair.
"Thank you."
Morgana drew in a sharp breath when his arms went around her. She was stiff and awkward in the hug for a few moments, then exhaled slowly and allowed her hands to come up and rest lightly against his back.
"I didn't...really do anything," she murmured. "You were--you were there, and then Bubba started--"
She blinked, then hissed quietly and started to pull back. "Oh, damn it all, where did he get to?"
Nik let her go the moment he relt resistance, though he was sad to lose the comfort that she provided. He also wasn't about to admit that dying and coming back to life was messing with him a bit and her existence made sense.
His reluctance was short lived and disappeared the moment Bubba's name left her lips.
"Oh Gods. Bubba!" He couldn't keep the panic from his voice, "He lead me here! He should have stayed back. Bubba?" He started circling the waters, a small part of him surprised at how much easier it was to cut through the water. He was faster and more agile without trying.
There was no sign of the little seahorse. The panic grew and he spun in place, scanning the area. There was nothing. The whole place was completely clear except for the odd swirl left over from the magics that brought him back. Nothing except for a rock oddly in the middle of the cleared space.
That was moving.
"There!" He pointed. It was no rock. It was moving gently up and down and was roughly the size of a watermelon.
"Oh!" Morgana darted toward the now-no-longer-little seahorse. When she reached him, she cupped one hand under the enmaki's body to help support him where he was bobbing in the water. "I think he was hurt," she told Nik quickly, looking the animal over for injuries. "When he was trying to get your ring off, he was moving funny..."
She bit her lip. "What did she do to you?" she murmured to the seahorse; if she could find an actual injury, she might actually be able to do something to help.
Nik circled anxiously around the two of them, making concerned noises. This was his fault. He knew that coming back on the ocean was a risk. How many times had Thaleia found him so far? Three? And every time some stroke of good luck saved him. This time someone innocent was suffering the consequences for his idiocy and it filled him with guilt.
"Is he ok? Is he going to be ok?" He repeated over and over again. "Bubs, I'm so sorry. This is my fault. Please be ok. Can you say something?"
Bubba gave a tiny peep before curling up in Morgana's hand and closing his eyes.
"Shhh, shhh," Morgana murmured--both to Nik and to Bubba. She thought she'd found the main culprit of the seahorse's sluggishness: there was a shallow gash down his left side, and the pectoral fin on that side wasn't moving properly. She imagined the wound had damaged the joint. It was bleeding only sluggishly, which was odd, but she hoped a good sign.
"Here, little one," she said softly, despite Bubba not being all that little anymore, and shifted him over to cradle him in the crook of her right arm. Lifting her left hand to her mouth, she pieced the pad of her thumb with one sharp fang, and then quickly brought it down to press the small cut against the gash and hold it there. "This will start to sting," she told Bubba, working on the assumption that he actually could properly understand her, "but I need to keep it here for a minute or so to let my blood mix with yours. It should get you sorted in a few hours."
Nik watched intrigued, unable to stop the swimming equivalent of pacing. Back and forth, back and forth, back and forth.
"I'm so so sorry." He blinked rapidly as the guilt continued to rise in him, "I'm so sorry...."
When Morgana was finished he started to get closer and changed his mind. He was the reason Bubba was hurt. He was the reason Morgana had been in a fight for her life. He didn't deserve either of them.
"What does that do?" He asked quietly from a bit of a distance.
"It heals," Morgana responded, a little vaguely as most of her concentration was on keeping Bubba still enough that the blood could actually do its work without hurting him. "A siren's tears, blood, saliva--even sweat, I suppose, though I've never actually tried it. They all have minor healing properties."
They were creatures of magic, after all. Sirens characterized themselves as hunters, but just as often they could become the hunted--scales, hair, blood, tears, they all made them a target.
It couldn't work miracles, but she sighed in relief as the cut started to close slowly. It wasn't completely healed, but it looked older, several days along in the healing process. She felt the little creature's pectoral fin flutter against her palm as whatever had been twisted seemed to gradually start to sort itself out.
She let out another low breath and uncurled herself from around Bubba, cupping her hands under his body to help support him in the water but no longer cradling him.
"Oh." Was the only thing he could think of to say. "That's....that's awful." He couldn't even imagine being hunted for parts. The fear that must cause.
No wonder sirens hunted men.
Then Bubba started moving and Nik's attention was back on then quite-large seahorse. He peeped a few times and wiggled around in Morgana's hands before flapping his fins as if to test them out. When they didn't immediately fail him, Bubba swam over to Nik and almost barrelled him over.
"Hey Bubs," he murmured quietly, reaching up to give him the tiniest of nose scratches. He wanted to hug the guy, to hold him close and tell him how terrific he was and how thankful he was to have him. But the guilt kept him quiet.
Morgana smiled faintly when Bubba started cuddling up to Nik, but the smile faded as she realized Nik wasn't cuddling back.
She allowed herself to drift a little closer to the two of them. "You won't hurt him," she noted softly, assuming it was that worry that was preventing Nik from acting as she would have expected. "His fin might be a little tender for a day or so, but it should be mostly healed now."
He shook his head a little too vigorously and continued to remain detatched from the seahorse who was actively trying to burrow into his chest. His arms raised slightly as if to hold him, but then dropped and once again he gently scratched the top of his snout.
"No....it's not...it's just...." he ran a hand down his face and it lingered over his mouth for a few seconds.
"I almost got you killed." His words were barely louder than a whisper and he struggled to keep his voice steady, "I almost got both of you killed. Morgana I'm... I'm a monster." He wouldn't meet her eyes.
He took a deep breath to help calm himself and stared intently at the rings of empty sand that surrounded them, "And I think...I think she saved me."
"I—what?"
She stared at him, blinking several times before she found more words.
"Nik, that's idiotic."
Oh, whoops. Okay, wrong words.
Morgana growled quietly and rolled her eyes, muttering to herself in the language of sea and sand for a moment before switching back to Common. "You didn't do anything. Thaleia did. You tried to help me, how can you possibly blame yourself?"
She shook her head. "And what do you mean she saved you? She who?"
He shook his head. It was so much more than that. Just by traveling with her he had put her in danger. Thaleia had always found him and, inevitably, someone always got hurt in the process. He still didn't understand it. Didn't understand what he had done that had come with such a high price. He always told the story that he had dated a siren and then couldn't stand being with one person which had sent his siren lover into a rage but....that wasn't true was it? It made for a good story to tell random strangers or to woo bar keeps when he wanted that extra drink after being cut off.
"It is idiotic." He surprisingly agreed, "It's idiotic that I thought this time would be different and maybe she had actually moved on or gone away or something." Bubba peeped a few times, clearly annoyed at the lack of affection his human was offering, "She's always found me." he continued, voicing his thoughts, "But she's always come for me. Today she went for you and I just, I don't understand what changed."
He raised his eyes to look at Morgana for the first time, "She meaning my mother." an echo of a headache started forming behind his eyes, but he ignored it. The time for magic and spells had passed and whatever magics brought him back had clearly weakened the enchantments that kept him from remembering her.
"Nik." Morgana took his face between her hands, forcing him to look at her. "This is not your fault."
She sighed and shook her head slowly, glancing away. "I've told you before--sirens are jealous creatures. Maybe she just...didn't like that I was with you."
That didn't exactly explain the way Thaleia had tried to turn her against him, but she wasn't sure it was precisely the right moment to bring that part up.
Focusing on what seemed like they now could talk about, she prompted gently, "Your mother? What do you mean?"
Nik didn't believe her. How could he possibly believe this was anything but his fault? The only thing in all of this that he had seemingly done right was die so he could give Morgana an opening to save her own life and the life of their every growing friend.
He shouldn't have come back. Dying had saved them. What more could he possibly do with a life now?
"I remember her now." He admitted quietly, finding it difficult to keep the shame from his face and the shake from his voice. "I also remember trying to remember her...like...a veil's been lifted. But....there isn't much to remember." He rubbed his fingers along the bridge of his nose to chase away that small headache that had formed, but it wasn't getting worse so he continued, "I remember...a...a song? Like...a lullaby almost. Mostly I just remember feeling peace."
He blinked a few times and shook his head, "But when I was...um...a skewer?" He found that he didn't want to say the word dead, "There was this light. And she was there and asking questions - she couldn't find me she said. That....that Thaleia had known to...to shield me?"
His head shot up and he spun, looking around for it, "Where is the ring?"
"The...ring?" Morgana looked down at her own hands for a moment, as though she might be holding it. "I don't...I took it off you, and then..."
She looked around. That pulse of magic from him had been so strong—there was very little chance the ring had not been tossed somewhere in the chaos.
But—
"Bubba." She looked to the seahorse. "Think you can find it?"
Enmaki we're strange creatures, and this one had already proved he seemed to have a good sense for finding things. It was the best idea she had, anyway.
Bubba perked up immediately, peeped loudly and concisely almost like a soldier, and then sped off into the ocean, circling around on occasion while he zipped through the water. Nik stared after the giant watermelon of a seahorse in awe. He was truly an amazing creature....he'd love to know exactly what made him like this. Every moment it became clearer that he was almost humanoid in his understanding and reactions.
Then something Morgana had said struck a chord.
"You took it off? So...it was on me when I was...gone....and then everything happened after it was removed?" He stared at her, mouth gaping unattractively, "Morgana....she said something about Thaleia giving me a block and that it was keeping her from helping me. She then kinda hit me. But not physical? You know? But I could feel it. I don't...I don't think I'd be here if you had left it on my finger."
Morgana frowned. "That...that is powerful magic. I don't know any sirens capable of something like that..."
Of course, just because she'd never heard of it didn't mean it was impossible; the ocean was a vast, dangerous, wild thing.
Shaking her head, she added as her frown deepened, "And it sounds like Thaleia knew, somehow. She knew about your mother..."
Nik shrugged feeling more than slightly confused and a bit defeated, "I don't know. Of the two of us, you're more magic savvy than me."
He swam past her to look out for Bubba who still hadn't come back, but could be seen quite a distance off still zig zagging through the water close to the seafloor.
"Have you heard of a siren bringing someone back to life?"
Morgana shook her head as she drifted after him. "No. Never. We—I know many sirens who gain magic from deaths at sea, but giving life..."
She shook her head again, slowly. "I don't know, Nik. That...it doesn't sound like siren magic. None I've ever heard of, anyway."
Nik frowned, still watching Bubba sniff about in the sand in the distance and getting further and further away. He cocked his head towards the seahorse to signal Morgana that he was going to follow and then slowly started closing the gap between them. At the very least to keep the guy in sight.
"I don't know what any of that means." He admitted while lifting his hand in front of his face and inspecting the intricate scales that lined his hands and traced up his arms until scales mingled with flesh and then disappeared just beyond his elbow. His eyes followed the curve of his shoulder until his sight was hindered. There were scales there, too, and he assumed they stretched up to the gills he had felt on his neck. His chest was covered, but that was more like a giant scar than anything else.
And then he stopped suddenly, his breath catching in his throat. He could see his feet sticking out of his pants but nothing else. In a moment of panic he pulled at the waist of his pants, looked down, and breathed a sigh of relief.
"Oh thank Gods." He muttered to himself. He was still human there.
"It means..."
Morgana trailed off, both because she wasn't certain how to voice her suspicions and because Nik was suddenly very preoccupied with examining himself.
When he exhaled in relief, she huffed quietly and flicked her eyes toward the surface, lips forming soundlessly around an exasperated comment.
"Satisfied?" she asked dryly as she swam up beside him.
"Yes, thank you." He responded straight faced, "And I don't appreciate the snark. You'd be worried too if you suddenly transformed and then possibly missing your....uh...boobs. No. Tail. Your tail."
Probably a better analogy. At least in his head.
"You were saying?" He replied while continuing to follow after Bubba who was now making his way around the circumference of the circle.
Morgana snorted, gills along her ribs fluttering.
"Do you think I have any particular attachment to my breasts?" she asked, amused. As far as she was concerned, they were purely decorative.
At his continuation, changing it to "tail", she laughed outright. "Nik, every time my shape changes I lose my tail," she pointed out with a smirk. "How else could I walk on land?"
The humor bled from her expression when he pressed what she had been trying to say earlier. She sighed and looked away, lips a thin line. "I just...I don't know...your mother must certainly be a creature of sea magic. A powerful one. I'm just not sure...she doesn't sound like a siren, exactly."
Nik shrugged, clearly not really understanding what she was trying to imply, "I mean...she had a tail. I think. It was all fuzzy and I didn't have a body and was just kinda floating around like a blob of consciousness and there was a lot of light. But also, I told you I remember a lullaby yeah? So that kinda screams siren.. ?"
Bubba was wacking at the sand with his tail.
"And I don't know what you're attached to, but I do know that you at least know what your body's gonna do when you change. This is all new for me and I'd rather like to keep the important bits for....uh....important stuff."
"Important stuff," Morgana repeated, deadpan, then shook her head and muttered something that sounded vaguely like an exasperated "Men."
She went quiet again, trying to figure out what she could—or should—say. "I don't—" She sighed and shook her head again. "I don't know who your mother is, Nik. I don't know what she is. But what you're describing...sounds more like a sea witch than a siren."
Nik stopped when Morgana mentioned sea witch and frowned but kept his gaze towards Bubba. It made sense. It made a lot of sense. But that also meant he needed to accept things that he wasn't really ready to even think about. Gods, what had this day become? One adrenaline burst after the other. One bad decision after another.
"I'm not sure what I think about that..." he admitted after a time, drifting close to the seahorse who was still digging in the sand. He hadn't moved for a minute or two so Nik assumed that he had found something and was curious to see if it was, indeed, the ring.
"So...I'm assuming then....that my coming back was probably at the expense of countless others."
Morgana wanted to tell him no, she really did. But she didn't want to lie to him either.
"I don't know," she answered on a sigh after a long moment. "It...might. But only might. Not all sea witches are like Selari..."
Granted, she'd only ever met the one. She was hardly an authority.
She bobbed a little closer to him and Bubba, glancing down at where the seahorse was sweeping away sand with his tail. "Do you...want the ring back? It sounds like without it your mother might be able to—to find you?"
He kind of knew that she was just being nice to him. What other kind of magic could bring someone back from the dead? None that he'd ever heard of before other than necromancy, but this didn't feel like that kind of thing. This felt like something different, something other, like...maybe he hadn't actually been really dead? Or maybe something had preserved his body well enough to accept his soul again.
"I just want to see it." he admitted, not really sure why. Maybe as a last connection to Thaleia. Maybe to see if the magic it held any answers. Maybe just out of pure curiosity. Maybe for closure.
"How did you know to take it off?"
Morgana shook her head. "I didn't." She gestured to Bubba. "He...sensed it, somehow. At least, I think he did--he was quite insistent about it."
She smiled briefly at him, an expression that just barely flickered over her lips and certainly didn't reach her eyes. Then she looked away again quickly, expression falling.
"I'm sorry," she whispered after a few moments. "I didn't--I didn't mean to..."
She didn't know what to say, how to say that she hadn't meant to kill Thaleia; she'd fully expected the more powerful siren to kill her. She just...hadn't cared. She'd been so angry, and hurt, and she just hadn't cared.
Nik's attention was drawn away from the seahorse when Morgana started apologizing. At first it was because he just couldn't understand why she even felt she needed to. She had literally helped bring him back to life! Not only that, but she had done so much for him up until this point that he didn't think he would ever be able to pay her back ever. Then he realized what she was apologizing for and he felt his stomach lurch.
"No...no, stop." he gave his newly formed legs a kick and was beside her so quickly it startled him. He reached for her and gently held her cheeks in his hands, "Stop." his words were so quiet they were almost inaudible, which was a good thing because it helped to hide the cracks that formed as he spoke, "Morgana, no. You have nothing to apologize for. Thaleia would have killed you. You did what you needed to do - what you had to do." the lump in his throat made it hard to speak, "I am so glad that she never got the chance. I am so glad that you are here."
"But why?"
Morgana stared at him, shaking her head slowly, though she didn't try to pull away from his touch. It was...nice. Comforting, almost, though she'd never thought of that as something she would have liked before.
"I don't understand," she whispered, dark eyes boring into his as though she might find the answers she was looking for there. "I don't understand why I--it hurt, Nik. I saw that beam go through you and I felt it." She pressed a hand to the center of her chest, just over the split of her ribs. "I felt something here crack, I don't... I've watched so many die, and it never hurt like that..."
She wasn't an idiot; she knew she cared more for Nik than the countless nameless sailors who'd been drowned either by her hand or a fellow siren's over the years. But it shouldn't make that much of a difference--the sea took her due, she knew that.
She'd just never wanted to take it back before.
"Why?" she repeated quietly. "It could have just as easily been her with you now. She would have figured out the ring. Why...why are you glad it's me?"
Nik's thumb absently ran back and forth across her cheek and his own ocean-blue eyes stayed locked with hers. Why? She was asking. Why? That was a question that he hadn't even had time to explore let alone explain to someone else. He had just said it and knew that it was true the moment the words left his tongue.
But could he explain why? Could he really do that without mixing some well sounding words together that actually meant something, that had some semblance of truth?
A soft chuckle burst from his lips when she mentioned Thaleia, "She wouldn't care if I lived. She's the one who gave the ring to me in the first place and my mother made it sound like it was purposeful." And then he sighed and found himself leaning forward to touch his forehead to hers and just existed there for a moment never sure if he'd gone too far and she'd pull away. He didn't want her to. Now that he was something else, something other, her skin almost felt warm against him.
"I don't know why." He finally answered,"I just....I am."
Morgana let her eyes close for a moment as his brow touched hers, and she pressed forward just slightly into the contact.
Her hands had come to rest on his shoulders—she wasn't quite sure when that had happened—and she let her head tilt into his hand so her cheek pressed more firmly against his palm. She could feel the slight texture of his scales against hers, and silently marveled at it.
"...I'm glad you're here, too," she whispered after a long moment. "I'm so glad you're still here..."
Nik closed his eyes and let the feel of her - both skin and scales - imprint into his skin and his mind. Her hands on his shoulders sent his heart racing almost as much as her practically melting into his touch. And he was doing the same. His body naturally drifted closer and curved every so slightly so they would just fit together, in this moment. And nothing else seemed to matter. He didn't want anything else to matter. Not yet.
His eyes opened and he took a long, slow breath as she spoke. He couldn't be the only one with these feelings, right? She wasn't pulling away. If anything she was doing the opposite. She was saying words that sent his heart racing and brought fire to his skin.
And she was so close...his thumb wandered closer to her lips and lightly traced the line of them.
"I...." he started and then stopped. What was he doing? Men killed her kind. He was no better than them and she wouldn't accept his advances. She couldn't accept them. He was the enemy.
And yet he still found himself shifting his hand and lifting her chin. Their lips were so close. He was intimately aware of every tiny movement.
He pulled back slightly and met her eyes with intensity.
"Ask me your question." He told her softly, but firmly.
Her question.
Ask her question.
What else could she do? He wanted her to ask, and she needed the answer. Needed it even as a part of her feared what it may be.
Slowly, Morgana took a breath and lifted her eyes to hold his. She let that hint of magic sweep up from the core of her belly to permeate her entire body, let that sense of awareness become her whole self.
Heart-reader.
"Would you have forsaken me?"
The meaning of the question thrummed through them both: on a dark night, in a storm, through illness, when the worst of what the sea had to offer rose up to claim her due... If Morgana had been one of those "unlucky women", would he had left her to her fate?
Not even "would you have killed me?". No, that was too easy. Would he have bound her hand and foot? Would he have pushed her into the water? She didn't believe that.
But would he have stood by? Would he have done nothing?
Would he have forsaken her?
Maybe he was imagining it, but he almost felt electricity sweep over her skin beneath his fingers. The water around them felt suddenly changed; alive.
Would you have forsaken me?
The words echoed within him and he was suddenly overwhelmed by sorrow, by anger. This was the question so many failed. The simple test that she gave to mortal men to see if they met even the lowest bar of decency. It was easy to live life in denial. To live life believing that no one could possibly say yes to this question because everyone was good deep down. But she had collected souls before. She only collected souls of those who failed this one question. Nik could pretend in the goodness of humanity, but Morgana knew better. Time and time again she saw them fail.
The weight of it all came crashing on his shoulders and his eyes burned thinking about the hate and despair she saw every day. How could anyone move beyond that?
"Never." He responded with a ferocity that would have surprised himself only a few moments earlier, "Never." he repeated without breaking her gaze. His words had unexpected power to them and the current around them shifted slightly like a deep sea wind.
Never.
The word echoed through her, heart and mind both, thrumming alongside her pulse: Never. Never. Never.
She closed her eyes, drawing in a long, shaky breath. Her brow furrowed, and for just a moment she almost looked to be in pain.
But it was true. Not just the truth as he believed it, but true.
The relief of it was almost as powerful as that feeling when she'd seen him start breathing again. Her shoulders curled forward, head dropping as she released the magic and a brief but powerful exhaustion flooded through her.
Her hands on his shoulder shook, then steadied. She lifted her eyes to his again and drew him in closer, until her brow pressed to his.
"...I've another question, Nikkolai," she whispered. "I cannot read a heart again so soon, but I'd beg you to answer truthfully."
Her hands slid to cup lightly around the back of his neck, and she let her eyes slide closed.
"Would you like it if I kissed you?"
Nik felt her hands shaking on his shoulders and he was momentarily filled with dread that he, too, had somehow managed to fail. He was less worried about how that would forfeit his own life and more concerned about the overall effect that kind of betrayal would have on Morgana. Truth be told, if he had failed, he wouldn't want to go on living and would gladly give her his soul.
But then her eyes were open and the shaking stopped and, once again, he found himself drowning in the depths of them. A shudder ran down him from neck to tail as she pulled herself closer and their foreheads touched. She was beautiful, powerful, dangerous... and yet she held him with an unmatched gentleness. He wove his fingers into her hair and waited.
Had he passed?
Then she spoke and dread transformed into fire that started in the depths of his stomach and spread though his limbs and his mind. His breath caught in his throat as he processed what she was saying; what she was implying.
And as the meaning of sunk in, he didn't wait. He didn't hesitate, not anymore, not this time. He pulled her tightly against his body and let his lips find hers as passion and desire flooded through him...and he kissed her with one hand still tangled up in her hair while the other pushed against the small of her back to pull her as close as possible.
A quick, sharp inhale was muffled between their lips as he answered her question with a kiss. Heat seemed to suffuse her body, starting at the point of contact and then sweeping all the way down through to the tip of her tail fins.
She'd been kissed before, but she didn't think ever quite like this.
She moved easily when his hand pressed against her back, dropping her own hands from around his neck to place one on his hip and letting the other drift up to cup his jaw delicately. Her head tilted to deepen the kiss, and her tail curved forward to twist halfway around his leg, pulling him even closer, as close as she could.
One of the benefits of gills, he might find, was that they didn't even need to pull apart to breathe, so long as they were in the water.
Morgana could have lost track of time for hours, just like this, doing what they were doing—were it not for a sudden and insistent peeping near her left ear. A peeping that was swiftly followed by a curved tail flicking against the top of her head, then batting at Nik's shoulder.
The whole experience for Nik in his new body was one surprise after another. He still had the same desires and the same feelings as he had before he came back, but everything felt new. Or maybe it was because it was with her and had nothing to do with his body at all. Gods he wanted to pull her closer, but there wasn't much else he could do besides press his hands firmly against her to try and dispell as much space as he could. His hand traced the line of her jaw, then her neck, then settled against her waist and he melted into her as passion filled his brain.
Until something, Bubba, zipped around them and started flicking his tail onto his shoulder. But Nik didn't want their connection to end. He opened his mouth against her lips with a heated sigh and waived his hand at the seahorse. Whatever it was could wait.
But Bubba disagreed and he peeped angrily and tried to burrow his way inbetween both of their faces. His fins whipped against Nik's face. Bubba was so large now that it actually hurt and he was forced to pull away.
"Gods dammit, Bubs." He was surprisingly not breathless, but his heart was racing and his breathing deep. When Bubba moved away again, Nik took the opportunity to lean into Morgana once more, but the big guy was already there, peeping wildly between them like a reprimand.
"What?" he snapped, annoyed, and then immediately regretted it as Bubba flipped his tail in the air and a small golden ring was tossed in Nik's direction, which he caught, but barely. He looked down at his palm where it sat and he noticed it was duller and a tiny crack had appeard on one side.
Morgana sighed, first in pleasure as Nik's mouth moved against hers, then in annoyance when Bubba tried to force himself between them. She winced and growled a quiet complaint at the enmaki's insistent batting of his fins against their cheeks, finally admitting defeat and pulling back with a frown.
"Oh." She blinked, looking down at the ring in Nik's palm when the seahorse flicked it to him.
Right.
They'd been looking for that.
Something that had only happened to her maybe twice before started to happen: her cheeks colored with the beginnings of a blush, and she cleared her throat a little awkwardly. Her own breathing was still a bit heavier than usual, and the tip of her tail flickered back and forth through the water like an agitated cat as adrenaline still coursed through her.
But she looked at Bubba and muttered a vaguely sullen, "Thank you." They had asked for his help, and he had given it.
Nik muttered an apology that had no substance behind it, his mind still lost in the feel of Morgana's body pressed against him. It was incredible. He felt incredible. But now he was also suffering from other discomforts that came from moments of such excitement and he did his best to take subtle breaths to try and come down from it. He still wanted her terribly, but it seemed they would need to wait and he needed to be in control.
The ring buzzed lightly in his hand in a way he'd never noticed before and chalked up to this newfound side of himself. He wondered if it was all magic that he'd be able to sense now, or just ones directly tied to the sea.
"So...this is it, huh?" He said softly, flipping it back and forth between his fingers. He traced the fracture with his index finger and wondered just what had happened to cause the blackened quality it now had.
"None of it really makes sense, Mor." He said absently, taking much more interest in the damn thing than he should have in order to get the feel of her out of his head, "I was with a crew when I met Thaleia. There was the massive storm that all but destroyed us and she was just there carting us to safety. She saved a lot of us but...."
He frowned and, impulsively, slipped the ring back on his finger.
Instantly, his fins vanished, his scales disappeared - even the scars - and water flooded into his lungs.
"She saved you?" Morgana repeated with a slight frown. Curious. She knew sirens could be capricious, but that was an extreme shift in attitude from Thaleia compared to the woman she had met.
It was intriguing, but perhaps not so much that it deserved the amount of attention she was giving the thought; like Nik, she was looking for a distraction, something to help calm her heart and refocus her mind from him.
She'd taken lovers before, but almost exclusively other sirens, once a triton from the depths. She'd never been with someone like Nik, someone who'd lived most of their life above the waves. Was that why it felt different?
Her efforts to distract herself seemed to work too well, as she didn't notice what Nik was doing until the ring was nearly on his finger. Her eyes widened.
"Wait—!"
Too late.
She gave a soft cry that was half worry and half exasperation as his fins and scales disappeared, and she snatched up his hand to try to yank the ring from his finger.
A siren's kiss could save a man from drowning, but she had no idea if that applied to a man like Nik. And she wasn't much interested in testing the theory just then.
The ring slipped from his finger without struggle and almost as quickly as they disappeared, his new body returned. With a violent lurch, his gills began filtering oxygen while his lungs continued to expell the water that had entered. It was an odd experience. He coughed, hacked even, but never felt breathless because he didn't need his lungs in this form.
But that made him wonder what would happen if they went above land. Would he transform like Morgana, or would he be stuck as a full-time creature from the depths? The thought of not being able to return home, because that's what land was, sent a wave of panic up his spine.
"Sorry." He finally was able to say as the coughs slowed, "That was stupid. I thought it just wouldn't do anything anymore or, if it did, it would give me extra fish..." he laid back in the water and let himself drift down until his back pressed against the sand. Curious how keeping no air in your body allowed you to just sink like that.
And then Bubba was in his face peeping angrily over and over until Nik forced out a quiet apology. He eyed Morgana as the big guy huffed away.
"I think I just got scolded by a seahorse."
Morgana sighed heavily with relief when his gills returned and he began coughing. It must have been uncomfortable, but she infinitely preferred him uncomfortable to dead.
She watched him drift down into the sand for a moment before letting herself stretch out on the seabed next to him.
She couldn't help chuckling tiredly when Bubba peeped in clear irritation as he circled up away from Nik, perhaps seeking some space to cool off away from his idiot human.
But--no. Not human. Not entirely.
"I do believe you did," Morgana agreed softly, watching the strange creature a moment longer before looking back to Nik. She reached out, hesitated, then cautiously allowed her fingertips to brush over the line of his cheek. "To his point, it was very foolish."
He turned his head to look at her when her fingers traced his cheek and he reached up to catch her hand in his own before bringing it to his lips for a gentle kiss before grasping it tenderly and bringing it to rest on his chest, still holding onto her.
He chuckled, "It was pretty dumb, wasn't it? 'Very foolish'" he did his best to mimic her own accent and cadence. "I am foolish as a rule and hope that won't ruin whatever this is." He thought for a moment and a grin spread across his features, "You did pick me up in a rowboat, though, so that probably isn't that surprising."
Morgana chuckled quietly at his attempt to mimic her voice and, without really thinking about what she was doing, leaned over to press a quick, light kiss to his cheek.
"Yes, I had rather noticed that about you," she agreed wryly. "You gave a siren candy. That was also very foolish."
And it had made her look at him differently than she'd ever looked at a mortal man before. Perhaps...not so foolish, after all.
His smile grew when her lips touched his cheek. He felt heat growing in his core and gently traced the line of her palm and up and down her fingers as he held it against his chest.
"That wasn't foolish." He argued, "that was generous. Those were my last ones and you looked like you needed some joy." He turned his body towards her and drifted closer to once again cup her face in his hands.
"Now, taking a random human to see a sea witch....that seems foolish."
He leaned forward and let his lips brush against hers gently. It took all of his self control to pull back and his breathing was deep and heavy. "Following a seahorse to try and save you from a vengeful ex....that seems foolish." He leaned in again and let this kiss be a little bit deeper, but once again pulled back.
"It seems we're both fools."
"I needed joy, did I?"
Morgana smiled crookedly and caught his fingers as they traced up her hand, twining hers through his. The webbing they now both had made the process a little awkward, but she held tightly anyway.
She turned when he did, unsure why she liked it when he held her face between his hands, just knowing that she did. It felt...safe. It wasn't a feeling she would have expected, or was used to. She sighed quietly into the kiss, the gills along her ribs fluttering in a rippled dance as she caught her breath.
It had been foolish to take him to Selari--she'd been foolish enough to believe that the sea witch's interest would be piqued, and so her price might be less daunting. And she hadn't considered how Nik might react to the price, the danger that would put him in.
But she didn't have time to dwell on it before he was kissing her again, and she reached up to wrap her arms languidly around his shoulders.
"Perhaps we are," she sighed when he pulled back again. "I find I don't much mind being foolish. Just for this, perhaps..."
She drew him down to her, the length of her tail arching up to brush against the outside of his leg before curling halfway around it gently.
And he let her draw him in and scooped his arms around her to pull her into him as he kissed her again more passionately than he had before. A low groan rumbled in his chest and he drank deeply of her like a man deprived of water being offered a fountain. She filled all of his senses but Gods he wanted even more.
"I quite like being foolish." He agreed between slight pauses where he just pulled back just enough to look into her eyes and smiled before going back for more. His hands wandered down her sides, careful to avoid the gills that fluttered there. He just wanted to know every inch of her.
Morgana sighed again, happily this time, and arched her back slightly as his arms came around her so she was pressed as close against him as she could manage. She whispered his name into the curve of his neck, drawing a curved line of light kisses just under the gills that spanned his throat.
The tip of her tail flicked back and forth, fins brushing over his legs as she tried to find the best way to pull him close.
The faint line of her gills fluttered even faster as his fingers skimmed down her side, and her chest hitched against his with the small gasp. Swallowing, she took another breath before murmuring, "You can...touch closer. Along the edges, just...carefully." Another little breath. "It...feels nice."
Nik hesitated at her request, not wanting to hurt her or do something wrong that might ruin the moment, but when she had kissed near his own set of gills a groan escaped him. It was a feeling like nothing he'd experienced as a human and he wanted to return the feeling.
Gently, almost too gently, he let his fingertips inch closer until he could feel the soft woosh of water filtering in and out. He let his middle finger slide across her skin just on the edges and the pulled away from her to ask, "Is this...ok?"
Morgana's body arched into his touch, and a soft, contented sound slipped from her lips. By necessity, the scales around her gills were thinner, allowing his touch to seep through to the skin beneath and making her shiver pleasantly.
"Yes," she murmured, looking up at him through half-lidded eyes. "More than okay."
She reached her fingertips over the planes of his face, pausing to let the tip of one sharp claw follow the shape of his bottom lip, carefully not to press too hard.
"I don't..." She paused, considering how to ask the question. "Is there...something like that for you? I've never actually... Not with someone mostly human, I mean."
Nik didn't know how to answer her question. He never been asked something like that before and he also didn't exactly know what kind of feelings Morgana got out of his fingers along her gills. Was it similar to the feeling of hot breath and teeth along an ear or was it something much more intimate? Like third date intimate?
How far into this were they?
"I don't... um... what does this feel like for you?" He asked feeling stupid while continuing to trace along her sides in small loop- like movements, "how uh... intimate is it to touch you like this?"
Morgana laughed. She couldn't help it--she understood why he was asking, she even appreciated his concern about it...but it was also just funny. The whole situation was patently ridiculous, especially considering what they'd just gone through.
Letting her hands slide up to cup around his neck--careful to keep just below the line of his gills--she tilted her head and smiled at him. "I don't do this with just anyone," she answered, a bit playful. "But you haven't made yourself my mate yet, if that's what you're worried about."
Sobering slightly, she gave a clearer, more sincere answer: "I've...only let three people touch me like this before. It's...vulnerable. You could hurt me, if you wanted to. But I know you don't, and you won't."
He lifted both hands to her face again and pulled her into a long, lingering, passionate kiss and let his mouth open against her to breathe her in, to explore every bit of her. Then pulled back and let his forehead rest on hers.
"Just tell me if you ever want me to stop." He knew how lucky he was with her. He knew how difficult it must be to trust someone like him, even if he wasn't fully human anymore. Or, well, ever. But it felt like he hadn't been anything but human until a few minutes ago.
"And...I don't think humans have anything like that. But...I guess I have some similar...uh...parts now. If you wanted to...."
Morgana nodded, understanding what he was getting at, and allowed two fingertips to trace just outside his gills for a few moments before she dropped her hand down to his chest.
"Show me?" She tipped her head to one side, eyes moving curiously over his face, reading his expression closely. "What you like..."
They didn't exactly have a lot of time, but Morgana was rather of the opinion that they made good use of what they did have.
By the time Bubba had spiraled his way back down through the water to check on his people, there were at least decent--or whatever passed for "decent" for a siren, Morgana had actually never worn proper clothes in her life.
And he obliged.
Everything between them was new and exciting for Nik both experiencing pleasures in a body completely foreign and simply being with her. She knew things that he didn't and the results were explosive; mindblowing.
And when they were finished he didn't know which way was up so he just floated near the seafloor and focused on the glow that followed. His limbs felt like jelly, but he still reached for her, not wanting the contact to stop even if it was just the connection between their smallest fingers.
"Wow." He breathed. He didn't have any other words to say and even that one didn't accurately convey his feelings.
Morgana laughed again. It was the most she'd laughed in...well, in a long time. She twisted onto her side and pushed herself up on one arm, tail curled up in the sand. "Wow," she agreed with a small, slightly lopsided smile.
She started to lean over to kiss him, but a rather disgruntled seahorse bobbed over to nudge at the side of Nik's head before darting back and forth over both of them.
Morgana sighed and glared faintly at Bubba. "Fine, fine. What is it?"
Bubba peeped and zoomed off towards the surface for a few feet before returning back to peep again. Nik used that moment to steal another kiss off of Morgana, passion still smouldering in him just waiting to be kindled. But sure enough, Bubba was back, clearly trying to tell them something.
Nik glanced at Morgana and absently buttoned his pants. His shirt was back on the little sandbar from before and he couldn't even remember when he'd kicked off his shoes. Not that he needed them anymore.
"I don't know what you want, Bubs." He admitted exasperatedly, "I suppose you want to show us something?" He scooped the ring up from the sand where it had laid forgotten during their escapades and slipped it in his pocket. He didn't really know why he kept it, but something told him it could be important later, even if it was damaged.
"Should we follow?" He asked with a sigh, taking a moment to absently trace her collarbone and then down between her breasts. Gods that was something he'd dream about for years.
Morgana sighed quietly as he started pulling himself together, waiting with most of her tail still brushing back and forth through the sand while her upper body drifted slightly with the movement of the water around them.
She smiled a bit and leaned into his touch when his fingertip traced over her collar, then arching up in response to the line of he drew down the center of her chest.
"I suppose we should," she admitted with a sigh of her own. "He usually has an important point to make." Even if it was made in adorable peeps. "We should see what has him so agitated."
She finally lifted herself from the seafloor, draping one arm around his shoulders to kiss just beneath his jaw before she pulled back and flicked her tail to rise a little higher so she could keep an eye on Bubba's darting form. "Where are you taking us, hm?" she asked the seahorse, and received a few impatient squeaks in response.
He shuddered as she kissed his jawline and felt himself begin to rise again which made him both uncomfortable and excited. She could probably get things going with a look at this point and then they'd be able to...his mind wandered back to their time together and he struggled to supress a groan as she pulled away. He playfully grabbed loosely onto her arm and let his fingers stay connected to her all the way to her fingertips before they separated.
"We could just go up on land and then he'd leave us alone." He told her, only half joking, but wouldn't admit to the other half unless she also agreed of course.
Bubba continued looping through the water towars whatever it was he wanted them to see.
The siren watched his hand slide down her arm, and twisted her wrist so she could catch his fingertips with hers for a just a moment before they pulled apart.
She smiled at his suggestion, dark eyes glimmering like sunlight off deep water. "Perhaps later," she murmured, before giving her tail a brisk flick to send her after Bubba.
"What have you found, hm?" she asked as she drew closer to the magical seahorse.
He peeped and spiraled away to the East, then back. She squinted in the direction he indicated. There was a shadow near the surface, something large, with...
Her eyes widened and she scooped Bubba under one arm before wheeling back around to Nik. "We need to get out of here," she told him quickly. "Fishing trawler—if we don't get out of its path, we'll be caught in the nets."
After all this time under the waves, this was the first time Nik had actually seen a boat from this vantage point. He stared up at it with his mouth slightly ajar.
"Is....is that really what it looks like underneath?" He asked, missing the urgency in Morgana's voice. It seemed so far away, they clearly had time before it was any real danger, right? "It's so....ominous."
"Yes, ominous," Morgana agreed sharply. "As in an omen of danger. Let's go."
Bubba had seemingly been more curiosity of the ship than wary—he wriggled out of her arms and darted back toward the shifting shadow.
Morgana grabbed for him, but he was too quick for her. Cursing, she flipped around to swim after him, calling urgently, "Get back here, it's not safe!"
Nik chuckled a bit when Bubba decided he wanted a closer look, still not grasping just how dangerous a boat could possibly be. They were practically on the bottom of the ocean, that was like the safest place for them when it came to boats.
He kicked after the two of them, not feeling any true sense of urgency which meant he was still a good ways off.
"Bubba! Come back!" He called from a distance, doing at least that much to try and help. Even with his newfound merman get-up he doubted he was faster than Morgana. If anyone could catch Bubba, it would be her.
It happened so fast. That was the danger of these large fishing boats—it was what her mother had taught her since she was young. They seemed to be moving slowly, but it wasn't the ship you had to be watching for, it was the massive nets they dragged behind them.
Or, to be more accurate, it was the casting of the nets.
Because one moment she was ushering Bubba away from his attempted investigation of the underside of the boat, the next nearly a hundred pounds of woven rope came slamming down around her, forcing her to the sea floor in moments.
She gave a short, instinctive cry, then snarled as she twisted her fingers in the rope. It was a loose weave, she just had to stretch it a bit...
"Get back to Nik," she urged Bubba, shoving him out through a hole in the net's weaving. He just barely fit. "Make sure he doesn't do anything stupid!"
She wriggled herself around, trying to see if she could claw her way to the edge of the net—then snarled again as she realized her tail was twisted so tightly in the rope that she could only move about an arm's length before the tension grew so taunt that it started to rip at her scales.
Fine. She'd loose a few scales if she could just get out.
One moment Nik was chuckling and the next the net came crashing down on the two of his closest friends. It was like he watched in slow motion and there was nothing he could do about it. He had been so nonchalant about the whole thing and now he was frozen.
But only for a minute before he was racing towards the nets that were moving so ungodly fast. Impossibly fast. How could the boat seem to move that slowly and yet here on the bottom it was like a tornado ripping across the countryside.
"Morgana!" He dashed towards the side, doing his best to stay out of the moving side of the ropes, but it was too gods dammed fast. "Morgana!" He cried again from one of the far sides. He held on and let it drag him along, but he couldn't see her. Couldn't hear anything but the roar of the nets sweeping across the ocean floor.
And then something heavy slammed into his face sending stars dancing in front of his eyes and his grip failed. The net ripped from his hands and continued forward leaving him behind.
"No!" He tried to swim after it, but Bubba flew in front of his face in a frenzy of flapping fins and angry peeps.
Morgana thrashed, twisting and clawing at the ropes like the wild creature she was, but it made no difference. The weaving of the netting was wide enough that she could stick an arm through easily, but not both shoulders. She tugged desperately at a single hole, rough rope biting into her fingers and palms until the water around her hands was dark with blood, but she still tried to wrench the ropes apart.
She'd just barely managed to loosen the hole enough that she thought she could squeeze through when the net started moving again. She tried to shove her head and shoulders through, but was stopped both by the jarring movements of the net and the way her tail was still twisted up in the section beneath her.
As the net rose higher, faster—damn, they must have mages on board, it was moving too fast—she caught a glimpse of Nik struggling to swim after the ship, a frantic seahorse keeping pace.
"Don't!" She called as loud as she could, hoping he heard her. "Don't, they'll catch you, too!"
He was more like a siren now than a human man; she had no doubt he'd be hunted as one.
The net began lifting and Nik could do nothing but stare in horror as everything he had just gained was being wrenched from him. She was being taken away. And he knew, though he wished he didn't, that once she was discovered there wouldn't be anyone on that ship who would save her.
He thought he saw a flash of black scales and a cry ripped from him and he tried to swim faster but he would never get there in time. She would be lifted onto that boat before he even got close enough to find her.
So he changed course.
He veered at a diagonal towards the ship itself. If he couldn't free her now, he would get on that ship and help her above water. The ring was heavy in his pocket and if he didn't transform like she did, he would be able to use it to walk among them like a human.
As the net was leaving the water, Nik's hand touched the bottom of the ship and he followed it along the sides, looking for a handhold that would allow him to climb. This was what captains truly admired about having Nik on a crew - he always seemed to know how to sneak about undetected, and he was a master and finding unusual entrances.
This would be no different.
The net swept upward, and Morgana was tossed back from the edge, pressing tightly together in with the school of large silver fish that has also been caught up in the ropes. She could barely move, scales ripping from her body when she tried, and then—
Then air. Sunlight. The ocean retreating beneath her as the net was hauled up and over the side of the boat. She knew she must have been right, they had at least one mage in board, when the net hung suspended in the air for a moment but wasn't actually tethered to anything.
Then the world turned upside down and the fishers' catch was spilled out across the deck.
Morgana gasped, twitching as her body started to change even while she tried to squirm her way back to the side of the boat. Gaping, dying fish flipped around her, and she tried to use the silvery bodies as cover while she moved.
"OI! Wassat?"
"What's what?"
"There, you eejit, in with the fish!"
"There's nothin'—well I'll be damned."
No.
No no no no no.
Large, sea-roughed hands closed around her arms, yanking her up and back. She screeched, slashing wildly and ineffectively with her claws and thrashing what was left of her tail—which was quickly fading to silver-skinned legs—as she struggled to free herself.
"Captain! Ya might wanna come take a look at this!" the man who held her shouted. She twisted her neck to try to bite him, but he just tightened his grip on her arms and laughed. "Fierce little thing, aintcha?"
"Let me go!"
"Not just yet, I don't think."
The moment Nik's hands left the water his newly formed scales disappeared, almost as if being sucked into his skin through a straw. It didn't hurt exactly, but it left him feeling itchy in a way that scratching wouldn't be able to quell.
His fingers scrapped the sides of the boat and grasped onto months of buildup from the sea and he began to climb, using every small bump to his advantage. It wasn't a fast ascent, nor was it straight by any means, but eventually he found himself a window and hoisted himself into an empty room.
Perfect.
It was someone's quarters and he quickly helped himself to a pair of too-big boots, dry pants, a set of daggers, and a plain shirt before opening the door to scan the hallway. Besides being wet, he could easily blend in with a crew needed to man a ship of this size, but he wanted to blend even more if possible. He needed to find something people generally overlooked.
Creeping quietly, he followed his nose and eventually the hallway lead to the galley where a large pot of something sat simmering over a fire and there, in the corner, was a man snoring with his hat over his eyes. It didn't take a lot of brain power to see that he was clearly drunk and probably sleeping it off. Nik could smell him from here.
He crept closer and reached to borrow his hat and coat that rested over his knees.
"Oy. Yeain't gon steal fru-me..." he slurred and Nik stooped down.
"Aye. Ain't steelin' mate." He slipped into a seamless accent like a second skin, "Just that it be cold and yer coat could be a blessing."
"M'coat?"
"Aye. Ye got an eye for fashion."
The man grinned stupidly, "Thasrigh I do. Jus bring'ih back."
And then he was snoring again and Nik slipped the ale reeking coat over his shoulders and the hat onto his head. He embodied the drunkard immediately and stumbled his way onto the deck where they had just called for the captain to show off their find.
Morgana.
His heart nearly stopped when he saw her amongst all of those men grabbing her, trying to contain her...to tame her.
But he needed to be smart. He hated killing on principal, but even if he loved it there was no way he'd be able to fight his way to her.
"Oy, Seamus!" A hand smacked Nik's shoulder and he swayed accordingly, "Up from the kegs are ya?"
"'Eard the ruckus." He slurred, "Wann'ed t'see."
And he stumbled closer, never letting her leave his sight.
The captain was shorter than Morgana expected; without her fins she was a bit below average height for a land-walker woman, and this fisherman was only half a head or so taller than her. The only thing that seemed to distinguish him from the rest of the crew was a large, tricorn hat perched on top of his mop of salt-and-pepper hair.
"Well, well." He grinned, revealing yellowed teeth, as he approached Morgana and the now three sailors keeping her restrained. She still fought, snarling and snapping at their fingers, but one had yanked her hands behind her back, and the other two had strong grips on her shoulders, trying to force her to her knees. "A real devilfish, hm? I'll be."
Morgana bared her teeth. The captain laughed.
"Not so easy to kill a sailor once you're on the deck, is it, lass?" He strode forward and grabbed her chin, jerking her face up to look her over. She twisted and writhed, but it was now four men holding her, and she just wasn't strong enough to break their grip. "Why's she bleeding?" he asked over her shoulder.
The man holding her hands grunted. "Must've happened when we dragged her up."
"Mm. Any find those missing scales? They'll be worth half the catch on their own." He grinned down at her again. "The devilfish herself...we'll be sitting pretty for months."
Morgana stared at him for a long moment, then jerked her head back, twisted, and sank her teeth into the meat of his hand.
The captain yelled, trying to pull back, but she dug in harder. She only let go when the back of his hand cracked across her face--and she took a chunk of flesh with her.
"Damned bitch!" Panting, clutching his bleeding hand to his chest, the captain barked, "Tie her, knock her out if you have to, then bring her down to the cargo hold."
There wasn't anything Nik could do but watch in silent horror as Morgana fought. It took everything he had to not react, but even he couldn't keep the hiss from escaping his mouth when she was struck. It drew a few suspicious looks and he forced a few drunken burps that made the sailors roll their eyes, wince, and give him a wide birth.
The one good thing was knowing that they weren't going to kill her. That bought time and time is what they both needed.
That also meant he needed to take care of the drunkard, Seamus, before someone realized there was an imposter. Nik took a swig from a flask he'd pilfered during the commotion and began his stumbling shuffle back towards the kitchens. One massive positive with his current character was that people didn't look closely because it was expected. He could bump into people, practically run them over, and no one would do much more than mutter a curse or crack a joke about drinking too much, before moving about their business.
Because of that, Nik had managed to pick pocket a good number of items including some hidden scales they had already decided to filtch and hide before the Captain's orders even occurred. He also somehow managed to get his hands on a hand gun that an idiot thought was safely secured in a coat pocket. Now it was his.
While they rest remained in deck, Nik-turned-Seamus disappeared back to the kitchens where he closed the door and rested his head against it for a brief moment. "I'm sorry, Mor." He murmured, guilt flooding him for leaving her. But he had to. He had to do something about the man he was going to become.
"Hey." He made his way over to the drunk and bumped his foot with his boot, "Seamus."
The man groaned, but didn't open his eyes.
"Oy! Seamus!" He tried louder and gave him a massive kick.
"Argffgh!" Seamus cried, "Whatyu do tha fer....?"
Nik kneeled down so they were eye level, "Where's your quarters, mate? I wanna getcha back there, aye? Afore the cap'n sees ya."
"O'aye...aye...bloody bollocks cap'n don'like me all....this." He waived haphazardly at his entire torso. Nik grabbed his arm and slung it over his shoulders to help him up.
"Where is it?" He asked again, and then proceeded to take Seamus' half coherent directions through the bowls of the ship. It worked out even better than Nik had hoped and by the time they'd circled back the third time, he knew the layout of the ship. More importantly he knew where they would most likely be keeping Morgana and who would be on guard.
And what kind of bribe would work.
"Ahhhh here'is." Seamus breathed pointing at last to his actual room.
"Gotta key?" Nik asked and thanked the Gods when the drunk pulled out a key and put it awkwardly into the lock.
Nik didn't want to kill him. He was smelly, but currently was the only person who didn't seem even remotely interested in the siren who was on board. In fact, on their walk, he talked Nik's ear off about how the rest of the crew were idiots and they'd bring death and destruction on them all and should just let her go.
Once he was situated on his bed, Nik gave him another full bottle of spirits and took the key from his hand.
"Sleep it off, mate." He murmured to his new friend, then turned to leave but had one more nagging question, "Hey...Seamus. What do you do exactly?"
Seamus grinned and downed a quarter of the bottle in a single swig, "Maps."
With a chuckle, Nik slipped back out into the hallway and locked the door behind him. These were old doors and, without it, Seamus would be stuck inside. Now he just had to get Morgana out before the drink wore off and he started banging.
Morgana fought as they bound her hands, shoved a rag into her mouth to stop her voice; she fought the whole way down into the "cargo hold", as the captain had called what she knew would be her prison. She dug her feet into the deck until her heels bled, scratched and bit at the three men frog-marching her along even when they slapped her. The crew called insults--devilfish, murderess, whore, animal, sea-bitch--and leering jeers--pretty thing, spell-singer--in equal measure. There were whistles and calls for exactly what they thought the captain should do with her mixed with murmured oaths and prayers. A few spat in her direction.
One or two looked away, their jaws clenched and eyes tight. There was even one who met her eyes for a moment, opened his mouth, started forward as though to say something--but then the man on her right glared him down and he ducked his head, backing away.
This was why she asked.
Would you have forsaken me?
Two decks down, almost the very bottom of the hull, they reached the door to the cargo hold and her "escorts" shoved her inside. She hit the wooden floor, unable to catch herself with her hands bound, and the impact was sharp enough that she felt something in her hip shift and creak. Biting back the pain, she struggled to get back to her feet and throw herself at the door, but it was already closed. She could hear the click of the lock, could hear them chatting and laughing as she slammed into the door. As though they'd just tossed a sack of potatoes into their hold rather than a living, sentient creature.
She screamed into her gag, whirling around in place while her eyes darted around, searching desperately for something, anything she could use to escape.
By the time the real Seamus was tucked up in his room, Morgana had been moved to the cargo hold and the celebratory shouts that came from the crew made Nik sick to his stomach. He wanted to throw them all into the ocean for what they were doing, for what they'd done, for what they planned to do, but it would end in bloodshed. Not just bloodshed, but both he and Morgana would be massacred by the end.
Dark clouds had begun rolling across the sky and the ocean seemed upset about their plight as well and knocked the boat heavier than normal. After everything that had happened, Nik was finally beginning to think the weather was a reflection of him and not the other way around. He wondered if he would be able to call down a storm like a sea witch...
But would he be able to live with himself if the whole ship went down because of him? Not everyone was evil, even if it seemed to be the majority.
He ran a shaky hand over his face and took a breath before continuing down the hall back to the kitchens. Like before, people got out of his way. He was even able to weasel some stew out of the chef.
He needed to wait some time before he could act. He couldn't save her right away, not while the day was upon them and the thrill of the catch still raging in the sailors, so he slumped against a wall and pretended to sleep until things appeared to calm down.
And then he moved towards the lower decks.
He let a gut wrenching hack explode from his lungs as he rounded the corner to the exact door Seamus had pointed out earlier. Sure enough, a large man stood watch with a sword glinting at his hip. A very large man.
Nik did not want to fight him under any circumstances.
"Seamus, what the hell." The man grunted as Nik stumbled around the corner.
"Jus lookin'..." he slurred, letting the sway of the ship slam him into the opposite wall with a drunken giggle, "'eard ya caught a siren."
"Aye. Now get. Y'ain't seein' it. We've all heard yer blatherin over the weeks about leavin'em be and lettin'em go." That alone solidified Nik's initial assumption about the drunkard. It seemed the whole crew knew, too.
"Yer gon'curse us all, Breighten." He replied, digging into the character he was playing and hoping this was, indeed, the same man Seamus thought would be here.
"Ain't no such thing, now get." Nik took a swig from his canteen full of stew and as luck would have it, the ship lurched and sent him flying towards the Muscle who caught him easily. And then Nik let out a massive grown and spit the stew all over the giant man with a sickening sound to make him believe that Seamus had just vomited violently.
"The fuck!?" He exclaimed and practically threw Nik against the locked door in disgust. In the shuffle, Nik managed to slip the key into his pocket.
"Don't you fuckin move" Breighten shouted before disappearing around the corner cursing loudly.
Nik didn't waste a moment and slipped the key into the lock and pushed his way into Morgana's cell.
As soon as the door opened, Morgana threw herself at the sailor who entered, screeching against her gag and driving her shoulder into his gut.
Both she and the fisher went down in a tangle of limbs and a booze-reeking coat.
Morgana caught him by surprise, though he should have realized she would attack, and the air exploded from Nik's lungs as she struck him - hard. He fell into a heap on the floor and his head rang from where it hit with a sharp crack. His borrowed hat flew from his head revealing disheveled blonde hair.
He tried to talk, but it was taking awhile to regain his breath and there was no way to tell her who he was. Instead, he kept one hand protectively up around his head and the other he tried to hold her back
It wasn't until the hat fell off and she caught the flash of blond hair that Morgana started to realize. Then, laying practically on top of him, the scent under the booze started to reach her.
Her eyes widened and she sat back, rolling off him to sit with the leg on her injured side sprawled out awkwardly beside her.
Nik?
Oh stars and seas, this idiot!
Nik's ears were ringing, but he managed to push himself up with a groan once Morgana got off of him. "Ow." He muttered slightly, wrapping an arm protectively around his stomach where she had hit. He was fairly certain a few ribs had cracked and was inwardly beaming that she would have potentially inflicted that on an assailant.
It took some effort, but he managed to make his way over to where she sat and pulled the gag from her mouth. He instantly noticed how she was sitting and felt an anger growing in his stomach; they needed to pay.
"Are you ok?" He asked softly, taking half a heartbeat to press his palms onto her cheeks before turning to work on her bonds.
The second the gag was out of her mouth Morgana growled—not at him, but simply because she could make the sound freely now and if she didn't do something she was going to explode.
It didn't take long for the rage to be joined by concern when Nik leaned around her to cut at her bound wrists and the full implication of what had just happened hit her.
"Stars, I'm sorry," she gasped, leaning into him just a bit, but careful not to do it in the side where she'd struck him. "I didn't know you'd—oh, you idiot!"
She pulled back to glare at him, not bothering to answer his question. "What are you doing here? They'll kill you!"
Before, when she'd taken human form around him, it had been in the dark. Now, he could see her clearly—and could likely see that "human" was a bit of a stretch. She had legs, sure, and her scales were gone, replaced by grayish skin that most closely resembled the pewter scales of her upper body in her true form. But her fingers were still webbed—as were her toes, if he looked at her injured leg—and nothing had changed about her claws or teeth.
It was really the "skin" thing that was different, and it was why she hadn't bothered to tell him if she was okay or not. He could see it: small cuts from where her scales had been ripped out by the nets, bruises forming in the shape of fingerprints on her arms, the definitive beginnings of a back eye, and a split lip from one of those slaps.
She shifted uncomfortably, hating for him to see her injured. Hating it almost as much as she hated being confined. For her breed of "Devilfish", being seen in such a vulnerable condition was arguably more intimate than what they had been doing before this whole horror show began. More intimate if significantly less pleasant.
Nik took a moment to look her over and gently traced the bruises forming on her face with his fingers while anger continued to simmer beneath the surface.
"I'm so sorry, Mor." He felt so much guilt knowing that he had been there before many of these injuries had even occurred. The logical part of him knew there was nothing he could have done to stop them, but that didn't stop the pain it caused him, "I couldn't do anything...I was there when they pulled you up but I...I couldn't help you."
He lifted his protective hand to hold her face tenderly, eyes intense, "I wasn't going to leave you here. Of course I came, but we need to leave now."
The sound of Breighten's curses echoed down the hall and reached Nik's ears and he turned back towards the door, heart pounding in his ears as he pushed Morgana behind him. "Fuck."
"Nik..." She sighed and closed her eyes as she let her head tilt into his touch, just a bit. "You shouldn't have come after me," she whispered. "Nik, you're like me now. More like me than them, anyway. If they find you, find out what you are..."
AS his hand moved up to properly cup against her face, she reached out to lay her own hand along his jawline, dark eyes showing an emotion she hadn't even allowed to the surface when she faced Thaleia.
Fear.
She couldn't do anything about it now. He had come, he was here, and he was right: they needed to leave.
Her whole body tensed when the sound of her guards voice came floating through the door, and even while Nik tried to push her behind him she tried to do the same, instinctively attempting to put herself in a defensive position in front of him.
It didn't work particularly well; the hip she'd landed on wrong twinged in protest, and her leg buckled, leaving her swaying awkwardly and clutching at Nik's arm to keep herself upright.
She felt helpless, and she hated it.
"How many?" she whispered. "When you came in, how many were out there?"
Nik caught her without thinking and supported her with one hand. Adrenaline coursed through him so much that he no longer felt the pain from his ribs and only could think of what he could do to get out alive. To get out alive without setting the whole ship on alert.
He turned to Morgana and gave her a quick, but heavy, kiss on her forehead.
"Hide. I know it goes against every instinct you have but please trust me."
"No--!" Morgana started to protest instinctively. But her self-preservation impulse was stronger than her pride, and after a heartbeat she growled and admitted to herself that she had to trust him.
More miraculously, she did trust him.
Taking his face in her hands, she kissed him hard for half a moment before pulling back. "Be careful."
It was half a plea and half an order; she didn't wait for a response before scurrying to duck behind one of the stacks of crates scattered about the hold, curling herself into as small a ball as she could manage and waiting with her breath caught in her throat.
Please, please don't let this be a terrible mistake...
Nik absently kissed her back, but his mind was on what he was about to do next.
The moment she let him go, he grabbed his hat and shoved it on his head before pulling the key from the lock and began twirling it around his finger haphazardly while stumbling in a half circle. Almost as if on cue, Breighten was back and came charging into the room with a string of curses. His hands closed roughly around Nik's arms and slammed him into the wall.
"Th'fuck did ya do, Seamus?" He bellowed and gave Nik a rough shake that sent his head bouncing against the wall again. Thankfully the hat stayed in place and the rattling in his brain helped sell the drunkard even better.
"Y'left yer key." He slurred, "jus wanned see 'er." He coughed loudly and wretched which caused the big guard to practically jump back after their last encounter.
"Where is the devilfish, y'drunken fool?"
Nik shrugged and slumped against the wall which wasn't entirely acting at this point, "Not 'ere" he reached into his coat and pulled out the flask with the stew and pretended to be taking another swig of alcohol.
"What d'ya mean not here?" He hissed.
Nik tried to keep his heart from racing as he shrugged again, "Dunno." Gods his head hurt and things were still ringing. What was that...three wacks to the head in a short span? "Jus came in an..." he stumbled off the wall and did a dramatic turn with the flask still in his hand.
"Fuck." Breighten looked around and ran a hand through his hair. "FUCK!" And then he punched the wall so hard the whole room shook. Nik couldn't stop himself from jumping.
"This is yer fault!" The guard shouted coming towards Nik once more, but he still had a bit of stew in his mouth and let it fall at his feet which was plenty a deterrent and kept him from getting slammed a fourth time.
Breighten let out a frustrated cry and turned towards the door.
The moment his back was turned, one of the daggers Nik had found earlier was in his hand and he moved quickly behind him and smashed the hilt across the back of his head. Breighten fell to his knee, but didn't go down.
"Shit." Nik muttered and went back for a second blow when the guard's fist came up in a blur and cracked across his jaw which caused him to crumple instantly to the floor as his vision blacked for a few seconds; just long enough for the large man to get back on his feet.
Hiding be damned.
For a moment, it had seemed like Nik had knocked the man out--but then he only went to his knee, turned to strike at Nik and sent him to the floor, and Morgana leaped from behind the crates to slam into the man's side.
It was an ungainly motion, her injured hip hindering her, but it was enough of a shock to her opponent that she managed to bowl him over. They rolled across the floor, the siren snarling as she twisted to sit on his chest while he struggled to get back to his feet and slammed him back into the floor.
"You. Don't. Touch. Him," she growled, one hand on the fisherman's throat, claws starting to dig into his flesh.
His mouth moved, she could feel his pulse stuttering under her palm. She knew his face. She remembered the feel of his hand striking across her face.
Another growl, and she ripped her hand back, taking most of his throat with it.
She didn't bother watching him die, turning quickly to scramble off him and drag herself across the floor to Nik. Murmuring curses and softer pleas in her mother tongue, she crouched beside him and cupped her unbloodied hand against the side of his face.
"Nik? Can you hear me? Are you alright?"
The guard's blow had hit close enough to Nik's right ear that everything went silent in addition to going black. Not only that, but by the time the darkness lifted, his face was pressed against the wooden slats of the floor and he could taste blood in his mouth. Gods dammit he was hit hard and that was with Breighten having been at a disadvantage. Nik didn't want to think about where he'd be if the guy had punched him at full force.
He struggled to push himself back up and reeled against the balance issues caused by the blow. Too slow. He was too slow. He knew that a finishing blow was soon to come and all he could do was keep trying to get up before it was too late. A kick to the side – or worse yet, a swift kick to the head – would be all it would take to down him for good.
But it never came.
Instead a flurry of limbs and shrieks pierced the fog as he used a nearby crate for support to attempt to stand. Morgana set on the guard and had him down faster than Nik could think.
Good. he thought dully. She deserved revenge after what they'd done. A dark red bruise was already growing along his jaw where he'd been struck; not even a bruise so much as blood vessels that burst near the surface upon contact. The actual deep bruising would show up in a day or two.
His legs buckled under him and he sunk back down to his knees and closed his eyes in an attempt to force his head to cooperate. They were making a lot more noise than he liked and that probably meant someone was going to come and investigate. He needed to be able to move.
Morgana's hand on his face brought him back to the present and he answered her, "Fine. I'm fine." but he struggled to focus, and his words were oddly slurred - not because he was pretending to be a drunk, "We need to go."
"Oh stars." Morgana searched his eyes, her stomach dropping when she realized how unfocused they were. "Nik, you're hurt. We—we need to—"
They needed to get back in the water. She didn't know if his mother's blood would save him, but most sirens and their ilk healed faster in the sea's embrace. She just had to hope that same would hold true for him.
"Here, lean on me." Despite her own injured hip, she knew she might actually be the steadier of the two of them. She ducked down under his arm and started to stand. "Do you think you can lead us back the way you got in?"
"I'm fine. I'll be fine." He breathed. And he needed to be. If he had to lean on her they wouldn't make it two feet before they were both caught and Nik would just be murdered on the spot while Morgana faced a life-time of torture.
Despite his words, he still needed her help to get to his feet and swayed slightly. After what felt like a lifetime, but was only thirty seconds in reality, Nik was able to open his eyes and forced them to focus, letting adrenaline do its work.
"C'mon." He pulled away from her and moved towards the door while pulling both daggers from his belt. They were grasped tightly by the hilt in a firm grip that would allow him as much power as possible. He had made the mistake to try and knock out Breighten, but they couldn't afford to make it again. Nik didn't like killing, but he would do it to save her.
The boat was still rocking with the storm brewing around them and, thankfully, it almost meant that most of the crew were on deck securing everything for safety.
But not everyone.
At a corner Nik paused, pretending to wait and listen, but in reality he needed to catch his breath and he did everything he could to try and hide that fact from Morgana. That is, until the footsteps were upon them and he only had a moment to react. His head jolted up and the blade in his hand flashed before disappearing into the neck of the man rounding the corner.
Nik caught him by the arms and was forced to stare into his eyes as he quietly lowered him to the floor. Then, on the floor, the light died from the sailor's eyes and Nik dropped him with a grunt as something barrelled into his chest like fire. Nik clutched at his shirt and held in a muffled cry as the fire seemed to spread and a light blossomed under his hand before disappearing into himself.
"I'm fine" he said. Morgana didn't need her heartreader abilities to know that was a lie.
She hissed quietly at him, the sound more worried than angry, and watched carefully when he pulled away from her to make his way to the door.
They just needed to get to the water. To get home.
She followed close behind him, keeping one eye on his back and other on their surroundings, trying to keep herself equally ready to jump in and support him or fight if any of the crew appeared. Her sore hip made her progress slower than she would have liked, but she limped along as quietly and quickly as she could.
When Nik paused to look around a corner, she took the opportunity to lean briefly against the wall and look behind them. She didn't hear any footsteps, but—
A soft sound in front snapped her head around just in time to see Nik's dagger sink into one of the fishers' neck. She started forward, but the man was already dying as Nik lowered him to the ground; despite being on a ship, they were close enough to the sea that she could feel his life ebbing.
A sharp breath caught in her throat when Nik cried out and clutched at his chest. She dropped quickly beside him, hands bracing his shoulders. "Are you alright? What happened...?"
Even as she asked the question, she started to realize.
A death at sea.
A soul for magic.
But she'd never seen it like that, like a physical thing that entered a siren's body. Did it have something to do with the fact that he was half human?
The fire died, but there was still a warmth he could feel in his very core like an itch he couldn't quite scratch. He pulled his hands away from his chest half expecting to see charred skin, or embers, but all that was there was blood from the dead man before him. A choked sob escaped him before he could contain it; his hands shook.
He knew, instinctually, what had happened and what the warmth inside of him was, but his human brain couldn't wrap around it. Around the implications. Around any of it.
"What am I?" He breathed, half to Morgana and half to the Gods themselves. What had he just done? Then his eyes found hers, "Take it back. Take it back."
Morgana's own chest went tight at his distress. She changed her grip on his shoulders from bracing him to holding him, drawing him against her as gently as she could.
"I'm sorry, anan'mar," she whispered into his hair. "I—I would if I could..."
It was something she'd worried he may have to face eventually, but she hadn't expected it to be so soon. Or so violent; the souls she claimed for the sea simply slipped their mortal shells and joined the great reservoir of ocean magic. She was their conduit, not their container. She couldn't even imagine how that must feel.
And she chose her souls carefully, each one heartread.
"I'm sorry," she repeated softly. "But Nik, we have to go. We're both hurt—we need to be in the water, away from here."
She wished she could let him process this, but they just didn't have time.
He wanted to argue and even openned his mouth to do just that when the reality of her words hit home. She was right. Whatever this was, whatever he was would have to wait. The longer they stayed, the worse it would be for both of them. Hell, if they didn't move soon he wouldn't need to worry about the soul that smouldered inside himself.
"You're right." He said after taking a shaky breath, "You're right." He repeated less to confirm he was listening to her and more to convince himself.
He pulled himself gently from her arms and grabbed the blade from the man's throat with a squeltch that he tried not to think about. He didn't even look at him, but let his eyes focus on the floor around him instead. Then he stood and reached down for Morgana's hand while spreading bloody smears against the wall to support himself.
"It's not far." He promised.
Morgana took his hand, but only so she could loop his arm around her shoulders and help him limp along.
"Just tell me where to go," she murmured to him. She could do this—they could do this. And once they were back in the water, they could put this ship behind them and never look back.
Without quite realizing she was doing it, she'd started murmuring to him encouragingly, a mixture of Common phrases and endearments in the language of the sea.
They made it to the next intersection of corridors and Nik stopped, his brain so rattled he couldn't recall which way would take them to Seamus's room. He glanced one way and then the next but the fog was becoming heavy and his thoughts were sluggish.
"I don't-" he started to say before stopping suddenly and pressing his thumb to the bridge of his nose. He'd walked this trail so many times earlier that it should have still been fresh in his head. "I think-"
He stopped again and the world lurched, but only for himself, and he was forced to lean on Morgana more than he wanted. She was hurt, probably worse than he was.
"This way." His words were slow. He needed to keep moving. He couldn't stop. They couldn't run into anyone else. He couldn't kill again. He wouldn't.
Thankfully, it was the right way and he fumbled with the key but it eventually went into the lock and they were able to get into the room. A window was directly across from the door and a single bed on their right with one very passed-out Seamus laying on top cradling the now empty bottle of spirits in his arms.
Nik locked the door behind them and waived towards the window.
"Nik!" She grabbed for him when she felt him away and lean a little more heavily into her, but by the time she'd started fussing he was already moving them along again.
She helped keep him upright as he fumbled with the key, and then they were stumbling over the threshold into what appeared to be a small personal chamber of some sort. She automatically shifted into a defensive position when she saw the human sprawled on the bed, but by the time she realized he was unconscious Nik was already licking the door and gestating to the porthole window.
Morgana shook her head frantically. "No. You first, I'll folllow."
She would not leave him on this floating hell.
"No." His mind rushed into focus at the thought of not seeing her get to safety first. They couldn't go together, it was too small, and he'd force her out himself if it guaranteed her safety.
He pressed both hands against her face and looked deeply into her eyes, "No." He said more firmly, "They're after you. They couldn't give two shits about me. You need to get out, do you hear me? I'll be right behind you. The door's locked and Seamus he's..." he glanced over at the man, "I'm certain he's not our enemy. A drunk and maybe a fool, but not evil."
Nik pulled Morgana into a tight embrace and kissed her hard and long. A promise.
"Go. Please."
"Nik, please..."
He kissed her, and she clung to him like an anchoring rock in a storm-tossed sea, heedless of both their injuries just for that moment.
When they broke apart, she cured his face in her hands and pressed her brow against his.
"Right behind me," she growled quietly, fathomless black eyes boring into his. "You are right behind me."
She finally pulled back complete and turned she shimmy herself through the window, teeth gritted against the protests from her cuts and bruises. Her strained hip creaked, bones grinding together, and she had to bit down on a cry of pain just as she managed to push herself through the porthole and went tumbling down into the water below.
"Right behind you." He agreed, brushing her hair behind her ear before their contact broke and she made her way to the window. He did what he could to help her up and felt a twinge of fear as she made her way through and plummeted into the sea. He poked his head out, but by the time he got there, she had already been swallowed up by the waves.
His turn. He finally slipped the coat off his shoulders and laid it gently across the edge of Seamus' bed before making his way back to the window. He kept the daggers. But he was halfway up in the window when he remembered the boots.
Dammit, they wouldn't work once he changed back and he imagined it would end up being extremely painful seeing as his fins were much, much larger than human feet.
So down he went, back onto the floor. He leaned down to unlace them and the world lurched again, but this time his blood rushed to his head from his position and everything went black.
She struck the water hard; her aching body protested, but her soul nearly shouted with joy. She was simply frozen for a moment, sinking down into the waves. Then her legs twitched and began to fuse, and her back arched as scales raced up from her feet and down from her brow to cover her form.
It only took a few heartbeats, and she was herself again, panting lightly in the aftermath of the change. She still hurt, the scales along her upper body were thin enough to see the bruises beneath, and the places where scales had been ripped out entirely stung as raw flesh was soothed by saltwater, but she was back. She was home.
They were home.
She turned her face up, hovering near the surface of the water as she waited for Nik.
And waited.
After a full minute passed, she risked poking her head above water.
He wasn't in the window.
Her stomach dropped.
Where was he?
And then the alarm bell started, shouting voices from the upper deck. They must have realized she'd escaped.
And in their search, she was sure they would find the only "human" on that ship who didn't belong.
What neither Nik nor Morgana realized was that Seamus was very much awake when they'd entered into his room. At first, he was annoyed at being disturbed – he was having such a terrific dream – but then when he realized who and what they were, he remained still on his bed and just...listened.
Truth be told, he was glad someone had been able to rescue the 'devilfish' as his fellow crewmembers liked to call them. He was a superstitious bloke and knew that the moment they'd decided to lock her up was the moment they had doomed their own ship. You never messed with the sea. That was the only reason Seamus was still alive after nearly twenty years on boats and he had seen things. Hell, when he was just a lad he had actually watched sailors jump to their deaths at the sound of a siren's song.
No. He didn't mess with that.
But then the blonde one – the man who had borrowed his coat and understood the ins and outs of fashion – just fell over and didn't move. That was concerning. The big welt on the side of his face probably had something to do with it, too.
With a groan, the drunk pulled himself off his bed and stumbled over to where Nik laid in a heap and checked for a pulse. Still breathing. Then he went to his window and looked out at the ocean. She had to be there somewhere, yeah? She was basically magic so that meant she could probably sense him or something.
So Seamus cupped his hands over his mouth and bellowed, "He's here! He's...kinda...fine. Jus'takin a quick nap! I'll get'im t'ya when I can!" Then his head disappeared back inside and he sat down next to Nik and did his best to position him more comfortably. "Aight Mr. Fish-Man. Gotta wake up afore yer ladyfriend brings down th'ship."
It was just about that time that the two bodies they had left were found and two and two were put together – one was clearly killed by the siren, the other by man.
Morgana was just about to retreat back beneath the waves, to regroup and come up with some sort of plan, when she saw a head pop from the porthole. Her heart leaped--then sank again when she realized it was the man who had been reeking of drink, not Nik.
She heard him say something about "getting him to her when he could"; she had to assume "he" was Nik.
She also had to trust that this man, whom Nik had claimed was "not evil", would actually do what he said.
She wasn't much inclined to trust human men under the best of circumstances. And this was certainly not the best of circumstances.
She decided to give him three full minutes. That was all she was willing to wait before she took matters into her own hands.
Seamus continued to try and urge Nik awake. The spirits were wearing off and he knew that their time was limited based on the yelling and thumping of feet around the ship. These two had clearly made a bit of a mess on their escape and there was anger buzzing in the air. Heavy boots were kicking down doors and checking every cupboard, every closet, every person.
"C'mon, mate." His voice had an edge of panic. He'd made his stance well known over the years and had no doubt the captain would eventually link him with their disappearance. He gave Nik a good shake, but his head just flopped side to side and his eyes stayed closed.
"Gods be damned." Seamus cursed and stood to poke his head back out the porthole, "He ain't wakin!" he shouted "Imma keep tryin!"
And then he was back inside and pulling out his secret stash of drink from under the floorboards under his bed. It was there for the times the crew tried to cut him off, but this seemed like a bit of an emergency, too. So out it came and he held it up against the man's lips and dribbled some in. When that didn't work, he tipped it back some more until his whole mouth was filled and...
Nik started to cough and sputter as consciousness spun around his head.
"What..." he managed to croak between coughs. When his vision settled he blinked in surprise when the person hovering in front of him was a really ugly version of Morgana because it wasn't her at all. "Seamus?" Nik struggled to pull himself up and Seamus leaned forward to help him up, his shirt rode up in the process revealing the large patch of scales from where the metal shard had pierced him.
Seamus blinked, mouth open, and looked at it and then back at Nik's face a few times, "Well I'll be damned. Yer one, too"
Nik felt the first pang of fear at what he'd become - no, what he'd always been - and the repercussions that came along with that. Was he wrong about this man? Would he turn him in? Would they turn around and treat him the same as Mor if they found out? Because they had found out. At least one of them had. And Nik didn't know what he was going to do with that information.
Seamus let out a laugh, "No no, I ain't gonner hurt ye. But we gotta getcha out. Yer ladyfriend is waitin."
Morgana!
"How long was I out?" he asked once he was solidly on his feet.
"Maybe five minutes, coulda been longer."
Nik slid down the wall and worked slowly at his boots, managing to get them both off with more effort than it should have taken. His head was pounding and everything had an ethereal kind of glow to it. Seamus, to his credit, helped him up again and helped maneuver him to the window.
With assistance, Nik's face appeared in the window - haggard and hurting but otherwise unharmed - and then Seamus's door rattled as something heavy slammed into it. The hinges splintered and both men jumped and turned.
"Shit." Seamus muttered, "Fuck fuck fuck. GO!" he turned to help hoist Nik up, to just push him unceremoniously out the window.
Another slam and the door practically exploded inward as the mages on board shattered the wood and sailors poured in. Nik's first leg was on the window ledge when they grabbed him and pulled him back inside. Seamus had been detained and was trying to tell them something, but Nik's head was still too foggy and his grip so poor he was barely able to resist.
"You with her?" the captain was up in his face with angry red splotches appearing on his skin as his rage grew. Nik remained silent as his hands were painfully bound behind his back and the daggers pulled from his belt, but they didn't lift his shirt any higher and they missed the scales. "You under her spell?"
Again Nik didn't respond.
"Take him up! Make sure he's visible on deck!"
And the next thing he knew he was being marched through the ship and roughly bound against the rail on the main deck in plain view of where, he assumed, Morgana would be.
Morgana was doing the aquatic equivalent of pacing, swimming in tight circles and every few seconds popping her head up above the water to stare at the window where she hoped to see Nik.
He kept not being there.
Wait, there--! No. No, it was the other man, Seamus, calling down that Nik wasn't waking up.
They'd hit the three minute mark, but Morgana hesitated. The man appeared to be trying, but Nik was still unconscious. If she started singing she might do more harm than good...
The thought flickered across her mind that she wished Bubba was there; the not-just-a-seahorse had an uncanny knack for sensing danger, and she could have used his intuition. Of course, she was pleased Nik must have left him somewhere safe, but at the same time... She would have been glad of his opinion.
Who'd have thought.
She surfaced again--just in time to see Nik's face appear in the window. Her heart leaped into her throat and she breached further from the water, automatically starting to reach up to him before she caught herself.
He was there. He was there, and soon enough he'd be back in the sea with her and she could...well, she didn't actually know what she would do. Kissing him ranked higher on the list than she would have thought.
But then--then he disappeared again, and didn't reappear. For too long.
Something had happened. Something was wrong.
There was shouting on the upper deck again, and Morgana felt a sickening swoop in her stomach as she had a horrible suspicious what might be causing it. She ducked back beneath the water's swell and swam as fast as she could to the bow of the ship before surfacing again.
A faint cry strangled its way up from her throat as she saw Nik bound to the rail, could just make out the shifting bodies of the sailors behind him.
No...
No no no no no, what could she do?!
Nik could hear the captain conversing with his crew in hushed tones. At least, they seemed hushed to him, but with his head the way it was it was just as possible the man was giving an impassioned speech. A few of his words filtered through the fog in his brain: two murdered, devilfish, fish-lover - he assumed the fish-lover was him. That actually made him chuckle; was it supposed to be an insult? It sounded like an insult but...well...he kind of was wasn't he? And it brought flashes of joy in an otherwise unjoyful situation.
"What are you laughing at, fish-lover?" and then came another blow right against his ears. Why did they keep doing that? Why couldn't they go for his gut or an arm or something other than his face?
"You." Nik replied with a lopsided grin, "Whatya thinks gonna happen?" was that his voice? It sounded distant, muffled, but it was definitely coming out of his mouth.
The captain shouted at the man to stop just before another headblow landed and, thankfully, Nik was spared for now. But that also meant if the captain didn't want him hurt...what was he planning? He wanted Morgana to see him and he was certainly in a prominent spot to be seen. A bargaining chip maybe? But why? They couldn't expect a siren to come back on board because of a human who helped her escape. They had no way of knowing their connection and how deep it ran.
Right?
The Captain stood at the rail and scanned the sea, clearly looking for Morgana. He gestured towards his men and they pushed a very-beat up Seamus to stand at an opening. Nik's blood ran cold and the smile fell from his face.
"Sea bitch!" the captain cried to the waves, "I have the man who tried to save you, right here, under my control. My command! He murdered one of my men in cold blood in your name and by the laws of the sea his life is forfeit." Nik found himself nodding. He wasn't exactly wrong. An eye for an eye was pretty common practice among sailors. At least he was predictable.
"This man right here," he pulled Seamus next to him in a tight grip. Nik noticed his eyes were glassy and saw the large flask at his hip. Someone had given that to him...someone had allowed him to drown himself in alcohol, "He betrayed us by helping you. He is our best navigator."
Nik's blood ran cold and he started pulling at his bonds for the first time since getting caught. No. They couldn't. He couldn't.
"You don't need to do this." he called to the captain, panicked, "He was drunk. He didn't betray anyone. He-" his words were cut short when a massive kick landed against his side and all of the air emptied from his lungs. At least it wasn't his head....
The captain pulled a knife across Seamus' throat and then pushed him into the water, "If you try to harm us, the next one will be him." he pointed to Nik who stared dumbfounded into the water where Seamus's body had fallen.
What the fuck were they going to do now.
The "sea bitch" in question floated just at the surface of the water, her pale hair blending in with the white caps of the swells as they grew progressively more wind-tossed around her. The storm that had started to gather--she assumed when Nik had first seen her taken--had sort of stalled, but it hadn't dissipated entirely.
She rose up a little higher when she recognize the outline that the captain brought forward: the drunk who'd been trying to help Nik. And he truly had been helping, by the looks of things, or his captain wouldn't be holding a knife to his throat.
Nik started shouting, telling the captain not to, but he cut off so sharply that she had no doubt someone had struck him. Raged flared and she rose up further out of the water, head and shoulders breaking the surface--
Just as Seamus' body hit the water, just a few lengths away from where she floated. She stared for a long moment, simply struggling to process the cold brutality of it.
The sea was merciless. The sea was cold and dangerous. She could take needlessly, savagely.
But she didn't do it for her own gain. It was never a manipulation, it was simply her nature.
Morgana wasn't very skilled in manipulation herself--not outside of a siren's song--but what she had just seen made her think that she needed to be, and as suddenly as she could manage.
She flicked her tail, rising just far enough that the water lapped at her waist. She was fully visible from the ship now, and she could seek out the captain's eyes with hers.
"And what makes you think I care?" she asked with a curious tilt of her head. She was rather abruptly that same cold, alien creature that Nik had first met in his little rowboat. "Perhaps it will amuse me to watch you end your crew one by one for the simple crime of falling prey to a siren's enchantment."
Forgive me, Nik. She had to hope he knew she was bluffing.
Everything around him felt dull, but the sound of Morgana's voice cut through it like a knife and his breath caught in his throat. She was alive. She had made it. Of course he knew she would be, he saw her leave the ship, but to get the confirmation made everything better.
And the words she was saying sent a massive wave of pride flooding through him. Good girl. Good. Their threat only worked if they believed he was important to her.
Though...it also might end up back firing if he wasn't careful. Once he was expendable they could always just kill him, but hopefully they'd gotten their fill of blood and would just toss him overboard.
By the look of the captain that didn't seem likely.
Nik needed to do something. He needed to sell the bluff, for surely that's what it was, but not to convince them to spare himself. No...he needed to sell it to sow doubt. The crew were following the captain who had just slaughtered one of their own.
But his brain wasn't wired for deceit after multiple blows to the head. He couldn't find the part of himself that could embody characters and trick an entire ship. All he had was himself.
All he had was truth.
His eyes found Morgana in the choppy waves. His next words would cause the crew to exchange looks and start shifting uncomfortably.
"I love you."
His eyes found hers, and she felt something in the center of her chest go tight as she somehow felt she knew what he was about to do.
Oh, you fool...
Her fool. Her perfect, wonderful fool.
She couldn't even be angry with him—not just because she strongly suspected that he was only half-conscious, but because hearing those words opened up something deep inside her that she hadn't realized was there.
Sirens like her weren't supposed to love. Not humans, anyway—or even half-humans.
But she did.
She did.
She knew the bluff wouldn't work—and so she resorted to a threat of her own.
She didn't seem to raise her voice, her tone didn't sound as though she was shouting...and yet suddenly she could be heard clearly across the whole deck, as though she stood directly in front of ever sailor, was talking to him specifically.
"Hurt him. I dare you. I will drag you to the depths myself." She lifted herself a little further from the water, holding the captain's gaze with her own. "If he dies, what makes you think I won't kill every last one of you for it?"
She may not have had Thaleia's magic, but she was still a siren.
Nik leaned up against the post where he was bound and closed his eyes. He knew he shouldn't have, but he was so tired. So bone weary that even in this precarious situation he found it difficult to remain present. He was just a passenger to fate at this point and firmly in the hands of others, what did it matter if he was awake when the captain decided to slit his throat and throw him to the sharks?
Morgana's voice sounded clear as day in his ears and he smiled. There she was. His warrior. His own little slice of the ocean. His sea and stars, to use her own term...though probably incorrectly.
The captain was also smiling, but for a different reason. Her tune had changed dramatically which meant he was right. This man was precious to her, whether truly or as an object to be controlled didn't matter. He had won.
And he turned away from the rail, leaving Nik bound as he barked orders to his crew as if he hadn't just been threatened by a creature who could bring them all down with a single word. Because he truly didn't believe she would; not while they had her man.
"Make for port!" He cried, "You." He pointed to another fisherman, "If she so much as opens her mouth - kill him and throw his body into her arms."
The crew scattered, but about a quarter did not follow his directions and instead disappeared to find safer places - if such a thing even existed in this scenario.
Nik's personal assassin knelt beside him, clearly contemplating the task he was assigned.
"Mutiny." Nik murmured through hooded eyes.
"Th'fuck you say?" Ah, so his face betrayed his inner thoughts but he was still playing the part of the good sailor.
"If you don't trust your captain. Remove him. Mutiny."
A few other men nearby began exchanging glances and muttering to one another under their breath.
"No—!"
She tried to swallow back the cry an instant too late, and still a strangled sound echoed in her throat a she bobbed helplessly, uselessly in the water.
Then her face set into hard lines of determination and she abruptly disappeared back beneath the water.
She would get him back.
She had to get him back.
The sailor kneeling beside Nik gave him a sharp look. The damned fish-lover was barely conscious. Or maybe he'd always been simple—he'd fallen prey to a devilfish after all, whether that be her song or her seductions.
Still... He couldn't believe the captain had just...ended Seamus like that. The man was a drunk and a nuisance, sure, but a damned good navigator.
"Quit your jawin'," he snapped at the men who'd started muttering, and they subsided. But they still exchanged looks as they began filing away, either to their respective stations, or am to whatever they thought was safe haven from a siren.
"...Will she sink us?" the sailor beside Nik asked abruptly, but quietly. "With you on board, will she sink us?"
Nik forced his eyes opened and struggled to focus on the man with the knife. A goofy smile spread across his face and he leaned as close as his bound hands would allow.
"In a heartbeat."
And then he laughed.
"...Shit." The sailor looked out to the water, where the siren had disappeared. "Shit."
He looked back over his shoulder, where the captain had disappeared into his quarters—then back to Nik, calculating.
"...How long?" he asked gruffly. "How long until she brings us down?"
Nik realized that being severely concussed was an awful lot like being incredibly intoxicated. He also realized that once he started laughing he couldn't stop. He couldn't even stop to answer the sailor's question.
Even after he closed his eyes again and and slumped down, the laughter still continued.
More fishermen lost their nerve and disappeared below deck.
"Shit!" the sailor swore once more, explosively, then abruptly shifted his grip on his knife and brought it down--
To slice through Nik's bindings.
Hauling the other man to his feet, the would-be assassin dragged Nik to the rail. Shouting went up on deck, but he called over it: "Here! Take him! Take him and fuck off, the both of ya!"
And with that, he tipped Nik over and into the water.
He just had to hope the siren would take it as a peace offering. And that he could talk the captain out of skinning him alive.
Even as he fell into the water, Nik continued to laugh. He knew that he was rattled, probably much more injured than he even realized, but he just couldn't stop. Even now he didn't know what Morgana was going to do with the ship or her crew and, frankly, he didn't much care. Their captain had doomed them all with his greed.
He tumbled as he fell and hit the water head first and straight on his upper back. Any other person would have snapped their neck upon impact from such a high fall, but the soul inside of him flashed as the water touched him and he ended up no more injured than he had been above water.
He transformed and the laughter finally died on his lips as he finally allowed the darkness to claim him.
Almost the instant Nik's body hit the water, the song began. It was low and soft at first, almost blending in with the sound of the wind and waves.
And then it rose, steadily. Became one with the wind, until it drowned it out. It was...perfect. It was everything anyone had ever wanted, if they could only reach it...
It started with one sailor: the one who had bound Morgana's hands behind her back, actually. She didn't have that sort of control over how her siren's song affected people, but she couldn't have planned it better if she did. The man stepped up onto the rail, heedless of the shouts from his crew--and then simply stepped off.
Bones broke as he struck water; he didn't have Nik's heritage, or the healing power of a pilfered soul. Still, he tried to swim toward that song, until the waves dragged him under.
Then came another. And another. The sailors who had fled below deck were shouting at one another to plug their ears, someone had run to find the captain--and then finally it was pandemonium on all decks as the man at the wheel started to move toward the ship's stern.
And then it just...stopped. So suddenly that the affected sailors swayed in place, shaking their heads and looking around, trying to understand what had happened, before someone--the man who had freed Nik--had the good sense to shout, "Turn her about! All sails! I want that sea bitch at our stern yesterday!"
The song had stopped because Morgana, swimming circles around the ship, had seen a shape she recognized drifting down through the water. Any thoughts of vengeance or justice vanished as she realized the one man she wanted to leap into the sea was already there, and she darted toward him through the water.
She managed to wrap one arm around Nik's chest and started swimming, angling away from the ship and back toward that tiny islet where she'd left him to rest what felt like a lifetime ago. She just had to hope his seahorse companion would be able to find him as he had done her.
Nik was a rag doll in the water and didn't so much as groan when Morgana found him and began pulling him away. The water did help him heal faster and the bruise along his face seemed less angry within a few minutes, but only just. His body still needed to mend the damage done to his brain after the abuse it had sustained. Even still, he was only half of the sea and the effects were only half as helpful, but being in the water alleviated what might have otherwise killed a normal man.
His would-be-assassin had cut him from the rail, but his hands were still bound together as Morgana raced away. When his scales reappeared, they offered immediate protection against the ropes that would have otherwise ripped at his skin.
The soul pulsed weakly within him, having used most of its power to save him from the fall, but what little light remained worked to stop internal bleeding before dissipating completely to leave behind an emptiness in his core that he had never felt before and would be forced to reconcile upon waking.
Every soul that jumped from the fishers' ship was Morgana's to claim by right--or rather, hers to deliver to the sea. The first five were her payment to Selari; and she was sure the sea witch received their power much faster than she had been expecting. Morgana was typically quite a bit more particular about the souls she took.
Each soul after that was the magic of the sea poured into her. Her injuries healed as she swam--almost all of them, her tail still seemed to be sprained in some way from how she had fallen onto her hip in humanoid form. But that still meant she needed a way to make sure Nik would heal properly. A quick glance down at him in her arms showed her that he wasn't healing as quickly as a full mer-creature would have.
Tears and blood. Her tears and blood could save him, she just had to make sure they went to the right place. With Bubba it had been easier, his injury had been clear and on the surface. With Nik...
She paused about halfway between the stretch of ocean where she'd left the ship behind and the islet she'd been trying to reach. They were over a stretch of reef, and she pulled Nik down with her into a little alcove between a rocky outcrop and a growth of coral.
Carefully, she set him down on the seabed, then started running her hands over his form, trying to find the worst of the injuries. His ribs seemed to be healing--slowly, but steadily--and most of the bruises had disappeared, but those blows to the head...
She brought her palm up to her mouth and bit into the meat of it, then quickly pressed the bleeding heel of her hand to his mouth. She had no idea if it would work, but she hoped introducing the healing affects of her blood to his system might help speed his own healing along.
She also had to hope that the scent of blood didn't attract any unwanted attention.
While hovering in the void between life and death time passed in seconds to Nik. Weeks could have passed and he would have thought it only a minute or two. He had no dreams, had no thoughts, but he felt. Somewhere deep inside he knew he was safe, that Morgana had found him and even caught her scent, if an unconscious man could smell.
And then he was certain, truly certain he could taste her. It was something he would never forget no matter how hard he tried after their interlude on the ocean floor. She existed within him now and the sea witch in him enhanced his senses and he just knew.
Morgana was probably left waiting for a sign of success or failure for fifteen minutes before there was any change. At first it was subtle, easily missed, as his breathing became less shallow. The color started returning to his skin until the grey palor disappeared entirely.
Then his eyelids fluttered and he instinctually leaned into her - leaned into safety.
Morgana could do little more than hover over him as she waited for...something, for any sign that he was healing, that he was going to be alright. It looked like the bruises might be fading faster than they had been, but she couldn't be sure...
She reached over to stroke his face delicately, carefully, counted each ripple through the gills along his neck. Hardly daring to touch him fully, she let one hand rest just barely on his chest, feeling his heartbeat against her palm as reassurance.
Then finally, blessedly he started to move--just a bit, a hitch of breath and a flutter of his lashes against his cheeks. Then he leaned into her and she wrapped her arm around him gently, guiding his head to rest on her chest as she shifted to curl around him in the relative safety of the little alcove.
"I have you, anan'mar," she whispered. "You're alright. You're alright..."
Nik smiled contently when he felt her wrap around him and he existed there with her for a time. He was by no means cured and would hurt for some time, but he was alive. She was alive. No...they were alive and that....that was a beautiful, beautiful thing.
"You smell nice." His words were so quiet they were almost inaudible, "Never noticed before. Like...aubergine."
He sighed and was quiet for a time, breathing deeply so she could exist within him. No...he'd never forget that smell.
"I'm sorry." He finally said, eyes drifting open to find her through the haze of pain and exhaustion, "I told you I was right behind you. I'm so sorry."
"I don't know what that is," Morgana murmured with the barest ghost of a laugh in her voice, "but thank you."
She held him just a little tighter when he started apologizing, craning her neck to kiss his temple and curving the end of her tail around him just a bit. "No," she whispered. "It--I know it wasn't your fault..."
He never should have come after her in the first place, and she might be angry with him for it later, but for now... For now, she was just so relieved they were off that damned ship, they were both safe, that she didn't have room for feeling anything else.
"Rest, anan'mar," she urged gently. "I'll be right here. Rest."
He shook his head, but nuzzled deeper into her embrace with a sigh.
"I tried to take off the boots...then I fainted. I fainted. I'm the princess in this story...." he reached up to try and hold onto her arms but realized with a start that they were still firmly bound together, "Oh. That's....a thing that's there."
But he decided he was too tired to care much and closed his eyes while focusing on her heartbeat which gently lulled him into the twilight stages of sleep.
Morgana couldn't help chuckling slightly, and she caught his bound hands gently in hers. Carefully undoing the ropes and letting them drift away, she murmured, "Perhaps you are, my princess. Now hush. Rest."
He already seemed to be half asleep. She settled herself a little further into the reef's alcove, drawing him gently with her, and finally allowed her own exhausted mind and body to rest.
It truly had been a hell of a day.
And there they stayed for some time. Hours, longer even, as the very needed sleep of healing fully encompassed Nik. He dreamed often of floating through the air and laying down on clouds. He dreamed of stars and warmth. He dreamed of Morgana actually agreeing to ride a horse with him into the sunset. That last one was lucid and he knew the moment it began to be a dream, but he enjoyed it nontheless and a small smile pulled at his lips as he slept.
There under the reef time didn't seem to exist and even the sun's rays struggled to inform them of just how long they slept. There were no visual cues to wake up except for their own natural instincts...and one large shadow that appeared off in the distance and was closing in with a surprising amount of speed, almost as if the creature knew they were there.
Almost as if they were being hunted.
It continued to get closer and moved almost silently through the water. From a distance it was clear it couldn't be a shark, but it was too big to be a fish.
The shadow fell over them and the largest seahorse they had ever seen squeezed up next to Morgana and wrapped his arms-length tail gently around her waist while taking an exorbitant amount of care to keep from making any contact with Nik.
Bubba peeped softly and nuzzled her cheek.
The siren slept dreamlessly, as she usually did--though she could feel Nik's weight and warmth against her even in sleep, and it offered a certain amount of comfort that helped keep her lulled in sleep longer than she usually would have been.
The faint feeling of something hovering over her started to bring her back to consciousness, a process that moved exponentially faster when she felt something actually touch her waist and came fully awake with a small start.
There was half a heartbeat where she started to instinctively move into a defensive position, one arm bracing out to Nik's other side to keep him sheltered under her body while the other started to come up as a claw--but then she heard the familiar peeping, and started to put together what had happened. The movement of her hand changed to an affectionate stroke against the little creature's nose.
Well. Definitely not little anymore.
"...Bubba?" She blinked, then stared. The seahorse was nearly half the length of her body! "What in--how long did we sleep?!"
Bubba peeped again, this time a little louder, and then proceeded to continue peeping with different inflections like he was telling her a story. A few times he shot seemingly angry looks at Nik who was stiring after the sudden movement.
Nik's eyes opened slowly and a soft groan left him as the headache began to register. Gods he felt like he had the worst hangover ever. For a moment he even tried to remember how much he'd had to drink before remembering most of what had occurred. If he tried to really think back he would realize that there were parts of his memory that were missing.
"E'rything ok, Mor?" His words were full of sleep.
Bubba peeped loudly and clung tighter to Morgana.
Morgana twisted herself so her tail was cradling Nik's lower body, one arm around his shoulders, and her other hand reached up to scratch at Bubba's cheek and stroke along his side as he started peeping emphatically.
She tried not to smile at the tiny sound coming from such a large creature, because he was clearly trying to convey something very serious...but it was rather funny.
When Nik stirred against her shoulder, she told him wryly, "Your son has returned." She scratched the tips of her claws under Bubba's chin. "And I do believe he's rather peeved with you."
"My.....son....?" He wasn't lucid enough for whatever nonsense, "But I'm always so careful...."
And then he finally caught sight of a massive seahorse wrapped tightly around Morgana. If it hadn't been Bubba he might have been jealous but...she wasn't lying when she said he seemed peeved.
"Uh....hi Bubs." He started, but the seahorse literally turned up his nose and refused to make eye contact.
Nik exchanged a look with Morgana before gently shifting from her hold to get closer to the guy.
"Are you angry with me?"
Bubba huffed.
Nik blinked, "Uh....ok....? I got her back, buddy. I'm sure you were scared." Bubba actually huffed louder. "What the hell....are you a teenager?"
Morgana snorted a brief laugh when Bubba turned his nose up at Nik's offered attention. She pressed one hand over her mouth in an attempt to keep her amusement at least potentially hidden when the seahorse's fit of pique only seemed to grow from there.
"You know...he very well might be, or at least something equivalent," she noted when Nik commented incredulously on him being a teenager. "Enmaki are...strange. Some are born as they are, and some are made--I'm not sure which kind he is, but if he was "made", then...that was probably fairly recent. When we went to see Selari, I should think. Depending on how fast they grow..."
She stroked a hand down their odd companion's back, playfully ruffling at his dorsal fin. "He could very well be considered an adolescent."
It dawned on Nik that Bubba was clearly not upset at Morgana. If anything, she had become an object of intense affection where before he had almost just tolerated her. The seahorse was angry with Nik.
"You're upset with me." He said outloud. Bubba peeped in what Nik could only assume was agreement, "I did something." Another peep.
Oh. Oooooh.
Nik glanced apologetically at Morgana before returning his attention to Bubba, "I left you. You were scared when she was taken and then I left you, too. I'm sorry, Bubs. I'm really and truly sorry." Bubba peeped again, but it was softer and his hold on Morgana lightened significantly.
"Oh, poor baby," Morgana cooed, cupping one hand around the seahorse's head and cuddling him to her cheek. When she felt his grip on her waist start to loosen, she shifted so he could more easily separate himself from her. "If it's any consolation, I was angry with him, too," she told Bubba, with a wry look in Nik's direction.
The teasing bled from her tone and expression, and she added in a softer voice, "You...really shouldn't have come after me, Nik..."
She didn't sound angry, just...tired. And maybe scared.
Nik couldn't help the guilt that rose in himself as Morgana spoke, but he wasn't sorry. Not for going to help her at least – that was something he would do again and again. Would you have forsaken me? was her question and he had meant his answer with every fiber of his being. Never.
He twisted around to face her and once again took her face into his hands before kissing her gently, "Yes, I should have. And I'd do it again." He searched her eyes, questioning, "Can you honestly tell me that you would have escaped on your own? That you wouldn't be halfway across the ocean on your way to be tortured by the humans that took you? They were planning to sell you and other fucking terrible things."
His voice shook with anger just thinking about it and he turned that restless energy into another kiss, firmer and more passionately than before, as the idea of losing her overwhelmed him to the point of needing to prove to himself that she was, in fact, free and here in front of him.
"It doesn't matter if I could have escaped or not," she protested softly. "Nik, you're like me, now. More like me than like them, at least. They would have..."
They would have done to him probably everything they had been planning to do to her--maybe worse, because he could still pass as partially human, and they might have seen that as a betrayal of some sort.
She still leaned into his kiss, just as desperate for the comfort of touch as he was. It was an odd thing, to want to seek that sort of comfort. Odder still to know he would give it, and happily.
Was this what it was like? To simply...not be alone?
Her body lit up under his hands, buzzing with a sudden, frantic energy. She kissed him back just as passionately, needing to reassure herself that he was alright. When they broke apart for a moment, she closed her eyes and pressed her brow to his.
"I've already watched you die, Nik," she whispered, voice rough. "I can't--I can't bear that again..."
"I know." He responded softly, running his fingers through her hair absently, "I know and I'm sorry. I can't promise it won't happen again if you're in danger. I won't promise to just let you be taken or hurt."
Gods, the feel of her chased away the cobwebs and made the residual headache bearable. Even injured and healing he still felt the need for her, the want of her against him. In any other circumstance he might have tried to have her again, to trace his hands along her body and feel her urging him on.
"I know you wouldn't leave me either."
If it hadn't been for their lingering injuries--and Bubba's softly peeping presence--Morgana might have surrendered to the comfort and catharsis that intimacy would provide. As it was, she allowed herself to press just a little closer against him and let her head tilt into his hand when he stroked her hair.
"No," she sighed after a long moment, eyes fluttering closed. "No, I wouldn't leave you...I won't leave you..."
She traced her fingertips over his cheek, then cupped her palm against his jaw. "...Did you mean it?" she asked quietly. "What you said on the ship?"
He nodded again. They had come to an understanding. No, they had been at an understanding but until things were spoken it was easy to make those kinds of demands and expectations. In the end it wouldn't matter, he would not desert her and he didn't need to be able to read hearts to know she would do the same for him. Hadn't they just made that abundantly clear to each other back on the boat? Her life had been in his hands and she had trusted him without question and then she could have just left him there, gone away and been safe but she hadn't.
He closed his eyes and breathed her in again. How had he come to this? He hadn't done anything to deserve her...he was just a drunken sailor who island hopped to keep from getting caught for theft. He was an idiot who jumped in a row boat to escape the guards and just happened to run into a siren who didn't kill him on the spot.
She was incredible.
He was a fool.
"hmmm?" he hummed in question, his body already forcing him back into the healing embrace of sleep, "On the boat?" he forced his eyes open, thinking about all of the things he had said and what she was referencing. Then it clicked and a warm smile spread across his face. He reached up to trace her jaw and then the line of her lips until his finger trailed down her throat; his eyes never left her.
"I love you." he repeated.
Morgana closed her eyes, and a faint shiver ran through her body.
"...You shouldn't," she whispered. "You really, really shouldn't. I'm little more than a shark with a pretty face."
She nuzzled into the crook of his shoulder. "...I didn't understand how someone like me could love until I met you. I—I didn't think I ever would..."
Nik just chuckled and rested his chin on top of her head while wrapping his hands around her to hold her close, "Then I guess I'm in love with a really really pretty shark."
He closed his eyes and felt a giddy uncontrollable smile growing as she spoke, "Are you saying you love me, too? You don't have to, of course, I can just go on land and drown myself in candy and spirits..."
She huffed quietly and pressed a little closer, then nipped lightly at his shoulder. It was a mostly unconscious gesture on her part, just a light scrape of teeth against skin—certainly not intended to hurt in any way.
"...I'm not very good at it," she murmured into the curve of his neck. "At...love. I've never really...tried it before."
She took a breath, then tipped her head back to look up at him. "But I—I could try. For you, I can try."
He couldn't help the small yelp of surprise that followed the playful bite. It didn't hurt and, though he wasn't at a point where he'd admit it out loud, it sent a thrill through him he didn't expect. He shuddered as goosebumps rose from head to toe and then kissed the top of her head.
"That's the wonderful thing about it." He replied softly, feeling his eyes droop again, the headache was back, "It's something that just....happens."
"Oh!" Morgana jerked back when he yelped, eyes going wide. "I—I'm sorry! Did I hurt you?"
She brushed her fingertips over his shoulder, making sure she hadn't left a mark. He was already starting to drift again, though, and that was comforting—obviously he was comfortable enough to sleep, at least.
"I suppose it does," she sighed, leaning in to peck his cheek. "More fool me..."
Love.
It was such a simple word.
It didn't feel simple at all.
He chuckled tiredly, "It makes fools of us all."
And then he slipped into unconsciousness once again. Morgana's blood had helped kick start his healing and now the ocean continued it. It was a slow process for one not fully descended from the sea, but he was also not fully human and She took care of her own. By the time he next awoke, the bruise on his cheek would be gone and his ribs fully healed.
Despite Bubba's slight grumbling and wriggling around to find a comfortable place to rest, Morgana drifted off to sleep fairly quickly herself. Her own body was still healing, though it was certainly materially helped by the gentle push and pull of ocean waters.
She didn't know how long they slept--she honestly probably would have slept longer, were it not for a faint, thrumming hum that vibrated gently through the water around them and twined its way into her head.
Her eyes fluttered open and she started to look around blearily.
The hum came again, followed by a low, melodious moaning sound.
Her eyes widened and she started to smile. Careful not to wake either of her companions, she disentangled herself from Nik and floated up out of their alcove to look around.
There. Massive shapes moving through the deeper water, but far closer to the reef than she would have expected.
Grinning to herself, she darted back to their makeshift safe haven and gently shook Nik's shoulder.
"Anan'mar, wake up. I think you'll want to see this."
Once more Nik's eyes were forced open well before he would have preferred. Though, to be honest, he would have easily been able to sleep for days while the ocean continued to mend his broken body. It wasn't until Morgana returned to gently rouse him that his consciousness resurfaced and his eyelids fluttered.
The moment he saw her he smiled. It hadn't been a dream, then. That was still a marvel, truly.
"What is it?" He asked, reaching up to rub his eyes while stretching his stiff muscles.
"Come see." Morgana smiled secretively, eyes sparkling, and took his hand in hers to guide him up out of the alcove and over the reef. She gave Bubba a little pat in passing, encouraging him to follow if he wanted.
Once they had a view of the open water, she gestured to the large, dark shapes slowly undulating along an invisible but clearly set course.
"See?" She looked to Nik, keeping her voice low. "Listen."
The soft, musical moaning sound came again, followed by a quick trill and a series of squeaks. The pod of whales didn't seem to be feeding, and they weren't moving with the steadily paced purpose of migration; as far as she could tell, they were simply...existing.
Singing.
Still rubbing the sleep from his eyes, Nik let Morgana pull him along to whatever it was that she wanted to show him. He didn't sense any urgency in her so he let himself wake slowly; no need to jump up and be ready.
Bubba accepted the invitational pat and looped lazily along beside them as they reached the upper side of the reef. He heard them first. Under the waves they were louder than he would have ever imagined them to be. At first he didn't even know what they were. It was a sound so alien, so new, that he had no previous basis for what he was hearing.
Then he saw them at the end of Morgana's finger pointing towards the surface.
"Oh my Gods...." Nik's eyes were the size of saucers as he stared up at them. "That's....those are...." he didn't even want to finish his sentence because his own voice was ruining the concert occuring before them. He could feel their song vibrating through him.
Morgana closed her eyes and curved her fingers around Nik's, basking in the whale song as it echoed and thrummed both through and around them. "Isn't it beautiful?" she whispered with a small smile, tipping her face up and out toward the great creatures as they glided effortlessly through the open water.
She let herself drift a little closer to his side, her tail stroking slowly back and forth every few heartbeats—just enough to keep her floating in place. She tipped her head to look at him sidelong, hair drifting around them both in the faint tug of the water.
"Do you want to get closer?" she asked softly, with just a hint of her own wonder and excitement shimmering behind her eyes.
Even as someone who'd lived her whole life in the ocean, she'd rarely seen something like this.
Nik looked up at them in complete and utter awe. Had anyone heard whales like this before? He knew that he probably could have had the chance with the ring's power and everything, but even with Thaleia he'd spent most of his time above water either on a boat, or in one of her many underwater hideaways much like that cave Morgana had found that first night they spent together but often...bigger.
"What?" he jumped at the suggestion and looked down at Morgana and then up again at the whales, "Closer? To them? Won't they...can't they...eat us?"
Morgana laughed lightly and squeezed his hand. "I doubt it," she replied with a quiet chuckle. "They don't even have proper teeth. I suppose one could swallow you, if it wanted to, but they won't eat you."
She gave her tail a little flick to rise a few feet through the water, but didn't go further than her grip on his hand would allow, waiting for him to follow. "They mostly eat plants," she added by way of assurance, before glancing out toward the pod again.
The whales seemed to have noticed their presence; two of the larger shapes were hovering in place in the water, attention turned toward their patch of reef. The small shapes—calves—had been ushered closer to the surface by their mothers. They seemed wary, but not aggressive.
"I don't think being swallowed versus being eaten makes much of a difference." He said wryly with a large eye roll. Sailors told stories about being eaten by a whale and he wasn't exactly in the market to become a meal regardless of intent.
But he didn't fight her when she began drifting closer. At least, not for long. He lingered below for a few heartbeats but eventually curiosity won. So up he went closer to the majestic creatures.
Creatures who "mostly ate plants" but also still might decide to just swallow him.
Morgana chuckled quietly and continued tugging him gently up through the water, moving on a diagonal away from the reef so they could approach the whales. She glanced back a few times to make sure Bubba was still with them--the last thing they needed was another tantrum.
About one whale's body length away from the pod, who hadn't moved but were observing them warily, she paused. She glanced at Nik, then looked back to the whales and trilled a few soft notes.
It didn't sound exactly like siren song. The magic in her voice was different, softer...kinder. It almost sounded like the music the whales had made themselves, though on a much smaller scale, with a humanoid sense of what music was.
One of the two massive creatures that had been "guarding" the pod drifted a little closer, and half turned its body to eye them better. A questioning sort of whine rang out through the ocean, and Morgana smiled. She answered the call with another brief song of her own, gesturing between herself and Nik.
The whale eyed them a moment longer, then gave a brief wave of her pectoral fin in what must have been some gesture of acceptance, because the rest of the pod allowed themselves to drift down closer and begin curiously examining the tiny creatures who had swam into their midst.
"Oh Gods, Oh Gods, Oh Gods," Nik found himself chanting over and over again before realizing his inside thoughts were definitely not inside and closed his mouth with a snap before shallowing loudly. These things were huge and they were getting closer. So damn close.
His hand gripped Morgana's like it was the only lifeline he had, but he didn't pull back. She wasn't afraid so he couldn't be afraid. That's what being a man was like, afterall. Couldn't be shown up like that.
But Gods did he want to turn around and look at them from a very safe distance.
Besides, the last time he'd been unconcerned Morgana had literally been snatched up by fishermen, so his own instincts clearly meant nothing anymore. On land he knew what to do and what to be wary of, but here? He had no basis for any of this.
When Morgana began to sing, he just gaped at her and felt a warmth spread through him. Awe. Awe at her beauty. Awe at her ability to just create beauty. Awe that the whales were actually responding.
"What did you do?" He whispered, not wanting to ruin the moment, "Are you talking to them?"
Morgana smiled at him and squeezed his hand in reassurance. "In a sense," she murmured in reply as one of the younger whales edged cautiously, curiously closer to them. "It's not talking, exactly, but I can communicate basic ideas." She shrugged. "I told them we mean no harm, and that you are a guest here. That we only wanted to admire them from a closer distance."
The large whale who seemed to have been the one giving cues to the rest of the pod rolled slightly onto her side as she swam passed them--still several humanoid body lengths away, but closer than the others. That seemed to be an unspoken signal as well, as some of the younger ones made curious moaning noises and dipped their faces down toward both siren and sailor.
"See her?" Morgana pointed to the whale who was fairly clearly in charge. "She's the matriarch--the grandmother. Most of the rest are her daughters and their daughters." She smiled when one of the granddaughters in question--a calf, maybe two or three times the length of Morgana's body--squeaked and completed a slow barrel roll to observe them from another angle.
"Is it....a language? Magic? How do you know to do that?"
And then his breath caught again as they seemed to drift closer, at least the little ones did. What must it be like to just trust someone at their word or...their song?
"Is it something I could learn?" His eyes didn't leave them while he continued to hold Morgana's hand but now to share the moment rather than from a deep seated kind of fear at their sheer size. He was still wary, but that seemed to be the human part of him. The part that belonged to the sea could almost sense their calm. It was an odd existence where brain warred against soul.
"A little of both." She shrugged slightly, and reached one open, webbed hand out toward the closest calf, happy enough to meet the connection with Nik with her other hand. "Communion with sea creatures is a common gift for sirens—but most of my magic comes from my song, so I have to use it to communicate."
The calf whistled softly and drifted closer. Close enough that his bumpy nose nearly brushed her outstretched palm. His mother watched from a slight distance, but didn't seem concerned enough to intervene.
"Oh—watch below," Morgana chuckled, nodding toward Nik's flippered feet, where an older calf had circled around beneath them and was trying to angle close enough to nudge at what must to her have seemed like tail fins.
Nik eyed her sideways and was just about to ask another question when she pointed out the calf below his feet just as she got close enough brush against his feet. His instincts made him recoil at first, but he caught himself and let his legs drop again and he swept his....not-toes....against her back as she passed.
"Oh Gods...I just touched a whale. Morgana, this is a school of whales."
Another calf seemed to get braver and looped around them close enough that her tail fins swept across them with a gentle woosh and a slight tickle. It was almost like they were a part of the pack. A very very small part considering the calves thelmselves were bigger than them.
"Where are they going?" He asked, "Do you know?"
Morgana laughed and squeezed his hand lightly. "You did," she agreed. "Or rather, I believe a whale touched you."
The calf who swept her tail over them gave a low call, and Morgana returned it with a few quick trills. The young whale circled back to nose at her briefly, then glided away again.
"I believe they're heading to their breeding grounds," the siren answered Nik's question as the pod continued to circle them, the more daring of the animals drifting directly over or under them. "It's not time for them to migrate--and see how there are only three calves? There's at least two or three females of breeding age without their own babies to care for, they'll be looking for mates this season."
Nik whistled. Or at least he would have if he hadn't been under water. Instead a series of bubbles blew out of his mouth and swirled around them before dispersing into the open water and out of sight.
"So there'll be more of them soon enough." The awe was still present in his voice as he tentatively reached forward to let another calf brush against his fingertips.
"There is so much down here that people just...miss..."
Morgana nodded, first in agreement with his assessment of the impending multiplication of whales, and then at his comment that land-walkers simply missed so much of the wonder that the oceans had to offer.
She glanced at him sidelong, and suddenly beamed.
"Do you want to go with them?"
Nik just blinked at her for a full minute while his brain tried to catch up with exactly what she was implying.
"Go...with them?" he finally asked. He spun slowly in place, letting Morgana's hand go, to look at the creatures that surrounded them, "Will they let us? Is that weird? Would we be imposing...?"
He couldn't talk to them like she could so he had no idea what was appropriate in this situation. It would be super creepy if a bunch of humans followed you to your bedroom and...that was kind of what they were going to be doing if they decided to join them. Of course, animals had different values and instincts compared to humans and other more sentient creatures, but it still felt....wrong.
Morgana chuckled lightly. "Not all the way," she assured, shaking her head. "It will take them a few weeks to reach their proper breeding grounds. We could just go with them for a day or so."
She shrugged. "If you want to, of course." That was part of the joy of the ocean; yes, she could be cruel and cold, but she was also just...freedom. They could go where they wanted, when they wanted, without worry.
He bit his lip for a moment before finally nodding and reaching for her hand once again, "Yeah, ok then. Let's go."
Traveling with the pod was a new experience, even for Morgana. She had communed with whales before, but usually in passing, and most often from a distance; while they were typically gentle creatures, they were also large, and without a proper introduction she never wanted to risk coming in too close and startling them.
With this particular group, they had been lucky enough to give them fair warning of their presence, and luckier still to have gained their curiosity rather than fear. The calves were particularly sociable, even trying to bait Morgana and Nik--and then Bubba, as he steadily grew large enough to attract their attention--into games of chase.
On the third day of traveling with the whales, one of the youngsters--not a calf, but not old enough to be rearing one herself--started batting around a ball of drifting kelp that had caught on her pectoral fin while they swam. This instigated a sort of "keep away" game with the rest of the pod, which turned out to be a quite vigorous form of exercise for their smaller companions.
As the game started to die down, Morgana realized she was actually panting. "Perhaps we'd best rest soon," she noted to Nik. "A proper rest, I mean."
While they'd been swimming with the pod, they'd slept on an obliging whale's back when necessary. The whales themselves didn't sleep, so they'd covered quite a stretch of ocean in the last three days.
The entire experience was mind numbingly incredible and each day that passed Nik couldn't believe he was able to be a part of it. The games brought tears of joy to his eyes, or he imagined there'd be tears if he were above water, and he found himself more invested than he ever would have guessed.
As they traveled, the last of the headaches subsided as the ocean continued healing the injuries he'd sustained back on the boat and he felt almost as good as new.
Almost.
As his physical body returned to normal he began noticing other subtle changes that had been hidden under a general veil of discomfort. More specifically, the finger that had worn the ring when he had died now sported a black band of skin that itched something fierce on occassion. He found himself absently rubbing at it without thinking even when doing other things. Then there was the place inside of him that had held the sailor's soul for a time. When it had been a part of him there had been a constant warmth, maybe a tingle of electricity, he wasn't exactly sure because it had been so chaotic and it had gone away the moment he was thrown out to sea.
The emptiness it left behind, however, was something else entirely. It was cold. Dark. If something you couldn't actually feel or see could be either of those things. He found he could almost lose himself to it if he focused on it for too long, so he did his best to ignore it.
More often, though, he would just go quiet until Morgana, Bubba, or one of their new traveling companions brought him back with a word or a nudge. It sometimes took more if he went too deep.
Playing with the calves, however, took all of his mental and physical capacity so he threw himself into their games. It wasn't unusual for him to swim himself ragged before being forced to stop. It was just as much fun as it was a distraction.
Not that he ever won. They were whales for Gods sakes.
"Leave them?" He asked with a startled jerk, "Now? Already?"
The siren smiled a little sadly and reached up to cup his cheek. "Yes, my love," she said quietly. She'd taken to let names over the course of the last few days—and done it with surprising ease, all things considered. "It's time. Their path will lead them through waters where we might draw...an unwanted sort of attention."
One of the calves swam up behind her to glide along and bump her tail with his nose. She smiled and extended a hand to stroke his side as he drifted by.
"Perhaps we will see them again, someday."
He felt the gnawing darkness grow at the thought of losing them. They had become something of a family to him and he had given names to the calves: Slips, because he always slipped past everyone; Melody, because she sang more than everyone else; Sketch, because he had caught her cheating on occassion.
Conceivably less obnoxious than the name he'd given Bubba, but Nik wasn't exactly one for creativity in that department. Shenanigans, absolutely, but not names.
"Sorry, Sketch." He swam in a slow corkscrew and into the calf in an awkward human-whale kind of embrace, "Seems like we're gonna leave you here."
He wasn't sure if they actually understood him - probably not - but they, at the very least, picked up on his energy and the other calves gathered around until Nik was obscured from view and partially squashed in the middle of the three whale-children.
Morgana watched his bid farewell to the calves, a strange tightness in her chest. She hadn't expected him to take to them so quickly, or so deeply. Not that she was discouraged by it--rather the opposite--but it would make their departure more diffcult than she had been anticipating.
The matriarch of the pod drifted up beside her, watching the farewells, and gave a low, moaning call. Morgana reached out to place her hand on the massive animal's "cheek", just beneath her large, soulful eye.
"Thank you," she told her in the language of the sea. Though she knew the whales couldn't understand her in the same way another siren or humanoid would, she allowed her magic to slip into her voice to convey the emotion behind the words.
The matriarch cooed softly--well, softly for a whale, anyway--and Morgana smiled. She continued stroking their host's bumpy hide and looked around for Bubba. The once-tiny seahorse had grown exponentially over the last few days, and so usually wasn't that difficult to spot.
Bubba wasn't far off, in fact, he was right in the midst of the big whale farewell hug circle, peeping happily while bumping their sides with his nose. Nik didn't want it to end, but he was finding they were getting more and more aggressive in their pressing that he was struggling to breathe.
Thankfully, he was able to slip his way out and gave each of them a stroke along their sides as he passed by. They added their own songs to the matriarchs as she responded to Morgana, then turned to swim past Nik one more time, but this time slower and less aggressive in their goodbyes. He gave a short wave and tried to ignore the lump in his throat. This was it....
And the ocean was a vast place. He wasn't fool enough to think they would actually cross paths again.
"Goodbye." he murmured, letting his fingers press against them as the circled, "It's been grand."
Morgana drifted up to take Nik's free hand in hers as Bubba came up on his other side to nuzzle into his shoulder briefly.
"The ocean is wide," she murmured as the whales bid their last farewells and the pod turned to continue their journey, "but you'd be surprised how often she brings one to exactly where they're supposed to be. We may still see them again."
Nik absently allowed Morgana to take his hand, but there wasn't much to his grip as he watched the pod continue onwards. If he had been above water he'd have had to hide tears, but as it were they just mingled with the sea and he didn't even need to blink them away.
The void within him seemed to grow and he found himself drowning in it while his eyes stared ahead. So vast and expansive was the darkness that he remained that way until someone brought him out again.
There was something about Nik's listlessness that felt...off. Morgana understood his sorrow at parting from the whales--she shared it--but this seemed a bit...extreme.
She glanced at Bubba, as though the seahorse might have any answers. The creature just stared back at her vacantly.
Well, you're no help, she mouthed at him, which earned a huffy peep--although his peeps sounded more like proper birdcalls, now--and she rolled her eyes.
"Nik?" She squeezed his hand gently, tugging slightly to try to get him to face her. "What's wrong, anan'mar?"
There was a part of him that heard her but it was muted by the darkness that he'd jumped into. Why had he done it this time? No...it wasn't really a choice it was just more prominent with the loss of their friends and he'd let it. It had been getting stronger, deeper, like an intense sense of loss that he couldn't quite place.
It made his head feel foggy, misty even, but it made everything just...stop...for a time. It was terrifying but also, in a way, freeing. He was able to just exist without a single thought, a single worry, a single well...anything.
Her voice didn't pierce the veil, but the squeeze and tug of his hand did and, slowly, sluggishly, until he blinked a few times and the vision of the whales off in the distance. Then he felt the direction he was being pulled and was able to regain control of his head enough to face her.
"What?" he blinked again, still battling cobwebs and confusion, "Wh...oh...sorry..." a few breaths followed, "Did you ask a question?"
He chuckled nervously and briefly rubbed the bridge of his nose.
Morgana's frowned deepened, and she exchanged a glance with their enmaki companion.
"I asked you what's wrong," she repeated slowly, her eyes searching Nik's. Something was definitely off. "You seem...not yourself? Are you--are you feeling alright?"
Oh stars. What if he was ill? She had no idea how to cure human illnesses, much less...half-human, half-sea-witch ones.
"I'm fi-" he cut himself off and frowned. It was a lie and he knew it, but how on earth could he even begin to explain what he was feeling? He wasn't even sure he understood it himself and he certainly couldn't pinpoint what it was. Was it residual from, quite literally, dying and coming back to life? Was it simply a deep rooted sorrow? No...definitely not sorrow. Since re-aliving he had been happy. Truly and completely happy. So happy he was almost tempted to call it joy.
Sure bad things had happened - he certainly didn't like to dwell on the fact that both he and Morgana had almost been killed right after discovering one another on that deeper level people sang about in ballads - but they had still connected; coupled. Even now the touch of her hand against his own sent electricity through him. She could just give him a look and he'd lose himself in her eyes.
"I don't...know." he finally settled on, "And I don't know how to...it's weird, alright? And I feel stupid. There's this...this..." he touched his hand to his chest, frown deeping, "Cold. It kinda just lives here, in me, it has for awhile now....and I sound crazy. Gods, I think I'm going crazy."
Morgana's brow furrowed a little further, and she cautiously reached up to place her hand over his on the center of his chest. "Cold?" she repeated, trying to keep the rising worry from her voice. "Cold how?"
What if... He'd died. What if this--him coming back--exacted some sort of physical price from him? Or, a possibility so horrifying she didn't even want to properly consider it: what if it wasn't permanent?
She shook the thought away as quickly as she could and tried to refocus on the specific facts in front of them. "When you say awhile, how long do you mean? Since--since Thaleia? Before that? After?"
He shrugged, "I...can't describe it. It's...dark. I know it never happened before I came back, but I don't know when I first felt it."
He moved his hand from under hers and rested it on top while pressing it firmly into his chest. He didn't meet her eyes and continued to frown in concentration. His next words were barely audible as if what he was saying would summon some demon if spoken too loudly "It's been growing." He admitted, "It's always there. I can ignore it most times but then it....it's like a buzzing in my head and then...then..."
Inadvertently he reached into the cold and the darkness crept into his mind. The white noise grew louder as it took over and the nothingness covered him again. His hand remained on top of hers, but the pressure lightened considerably as his eyes grew distant once again.
"Nik?" Her concern grew as he spoke, then spiked when the pressure of his hand over hers suddenly lightened. "Nik." She reached up with her other hand to cup her palm against his jaw and turned his head slightly so she could search his eyes. "Nik, stay with me," she pleaded quietly, a fear that was all too familiar now starting to gnaw at her breastbone. "Can you hear me?"
He didn't know when the darkness overtook him, nor did he know how long he was gone before Morgana's hands pressed against his cheeks. After that, her voice started piercing through the fog and his eyes slowly refocused and he blinked few times before she came back into view.
"I'm sorry." He murmured with a shake of his head, "I touched it. It's fine when I ignore it. C'mon," he grabbed her hand with a grin as if nothing had happened. It wasn't that he thought everything was fine. Truth be told he was competely freaked out but....what could he actually do about it?
"Distract me."
A soft breath of relief rippled her gills when he seemed to come back to himself, and she gave his hand a tight squeeze when he took hers.
"Distract you?" She frowned, not sure that was the best idea. Something was clearly wrong. But...well, he didn't know what it was, and neither did she. And the only person she could think to go to for answers was...
Well. That was something of a non-starter.
But Selari wasn't the only sea witch in the world. Far from it. And there were ways to find such entities, if one knew where--and more importantly, how--to look.
That was something she'd have to give longer thought. Perhaps not just now, when Nik was giving her that look, utterly guileless, and her chest went tight with the desire just to keep him smiling.
"There's a small set of islands not far from here," she found herself saying. "No humanoids, as far as I know. I've never actually been there, but I knew a selkie once who said it has the most amazing view of the sunset..."
A mischievous glint appeared in Nik's eyes as she spoke and he grabbed her hand to pull her closer. Then both hands were upon her cheeks and he planted a deep, passionate kiss on her lips in a way that he hadn't been able to do since they had started traveling with the whales. If they had been on land, he knew he would be breathless which was still completely bizarre to realize that he wouldn't feel that as long as he kissed her here.
But...he missed land. And the thought of being in the sunlight filled him with longing. What was more was how excited it made him that Morgana would be with him to experience it together.
"That sounds incredible." He murmured against her lips, "And then....maybe...." He kissed her again and pulled her tightly against himself. He didn't really need to say what he was thinking.
She laughed quietly into the kiss as he pulled her closer and reached up to wrap one arm languidly around his neck. "Maybe," she agreed coyly when they broke apart. She'd only actually done that once before on land, with another siren. It would be...interesting to try it with him.
A pointed, coughing sound came from behind her, and she twisted slightly to looked at a very judgmental Bubba over her shoulder.
"Oh--" She rolled her eyes. "It's an island. There's plenty of water around it! You could probably come right up into a tide pool, if you wanted."
His grinned widened at her playfulness and he dragged the back of his hand down her cheek, then down her neck and across her collarbone, "I hope I can change that maybe to a yes." He went to kiss her again when Bubba decided to make his presence known and he rolled his eyes.
Good. This was just the distraction he needed. He needed her. He needed Bubba. Just like he'd needed those whales.
"We're not going to leave you behind, Bubs. You're coming with us." The seahorse was so large now it was impossible to miss him. How big would he get? Nik wasn't sure, but if he grew based on the amount of magic in him and around him well....the guy had been through a lot of magic. Bubba shook his fins at them and cooed before turning his back almost in a huff.
Nik took the moment to look back at Morgana and lean closer to her ear, "Lead the way." and he ran his lips along the edges before nipping at it playfully.
Morgana sighed contentedly, arching into him just a bit when he brought his mouth close to her ear and then shivering when she felt his lips and teeth against her skin. Her finned ear flickered lightly back against her head, and her mouth twitched up on one side as she turned her head to look at him.
"Follow me, then." She started swimming at a languid pace, allowing Nik and Bubba to keep up with her easily as she started leading them toward the islands her selkie friend had told her about.
Well, acquaintance, perhaps. Or was she? "Friend" was such a difficult thing to define.
The small chain of land that she led them to barely qualified as an island, really. Certainly not the size of the Yoreiqi chain, but each pocket of sand and stone was a bit bigger than the rocky islets that had surrounded Selari's caldera.
She approached the nearest embankment and turned to address their now manta-sized seahorse companion. "Will you be careful, and not go too far?"
Bubba squawked, indignant, as though to say When have I ever don otherwise?
She chuckled a bit and waved a hand toward the length of the island. "Then go explore! There should be a reef on the southwest shore--I'm sure you'll find something to eat there, if you're hungry."
Nik didn't have a single episode as they made their way to the islands Morgana had mentioned. He focused all of his energy chasing after Bubba and making a game out of grabbing his fins and spinning him around before letting him fly off in the distance. Bubba couldn't speak common, but the song that bubbles from his snout and the amount of times he zoomed back for another go spoke volumes.
The journey was filled with laughter and distractions. Beautiful, perfect distractions that kept him present and made the cold mangable.
Truth be told Nik was a little sad when they reached their destination, but only because now he'd need to change course. He hoped that the transition back to land, the sunset, and Morgana would be enough.
Once Bubba accepted his role in their adventure, and after Nik told him to pop up above water and call if he needed them - he was sure he'd be loud enough at this point - Nik reached for Morgana's hand and smiled.
"Ready?"
"If you are." She let her fingertips brush against his, but pulled her hand back gently. Perhaps it was a little odd, considering all the other ways she'd allowed herself to be vulnerable with him, but...she somehow found herself almost embarrassed by the idea of touching him as she went through the process of trading fins for legs.
The shore of the island sloped gently into the water, so she only had to flick her tail once to bring her head up to the surface, and then it was a simple enough matter to pull herself up onto the sand. That tingle started in her fins and scales, and she watched as raven-black sluiced away into seawater, revealing pale gray flesh beneath with an almost pearlescent sheen.
She wiggled her toes, frowning at them. They always felt odd. How did humans manage with fingers on their feet?
Nik let her go and began his own ascent onto land. It seemed as if his own transition was faster than hers, but it was the first time he actually was able to stare at himself as it happened. His fins, or flippers? He still wasn't sure what they would be called. Regardless, his feet became, well, feet, and by the time his toes were restored, the other scales and fins across his body had been absorbed back into human skin.
Except for the scars, of course. The lines from that big sea snail attack wrapped around his calf along with the claw marks Thaleia gave him on his back. Not to mention the wound that killed him.
He was a right, proper freak he was. Even outside of the water he was still part fish.
Then he waited for Morgana to approach him while pushing his toes into the sand. It was a rocky sand, not like the type people would visit with family and friends, but he didn't mind the pebbles and sea-worn stones that made up the beach. He even spotted a few pieces of blue and green seaglass that had washed up on their little patch of land which he scooped up and rolled around in his fingers.
And he breathed.
Gods it felt good to actually breathe.
Once she was fully transformed, Morgana rose carefully to her feet, arms out slightly to keep her balance.
She made her way over to Nik with careful steps, though each one was more confident than the last.
She still looked distinctly inhuman, particularly with that slight shimmer to her skin that hadn't been noticeable in that fishing traveler with a storm blocking the sunlight. But she had legs, and skin instead of scales.
Which meant the only thing covering her was her long, silver-white hair. A breeze blew in off the water and she shivered, then frowned.
"Stars and seas, how do you lot manage without scales?"
Nik laughed and scrambled to his feet when she approached and shivered.
"Well, normally," he placed an arm around her shoulders and pulled her close, partially just to hold her, but also so she could siphon off some of his warmth. He still wore pants that cut off just below his knee, but he'd ditched his shirt ages ago. Truth be told he only kept the pants for modesty. It wasn't like Morgana who had a full tail to hide the more risqué parts of a human body because...well...she wasn't human, "We wear clothes. Sometimes big coats when it's particularly cold. But skin against skin, like this....it works better."
He did his best to keep from looking her up and down. She was beautiful everyday, but here, on land? He was struggling to keep himself composed. He kissed her on her forehead and immediately regretted it as he was given a full view of her which sent a shiver through him.
"So.....ah....is there a special place for this sunset?"
The siren wrinkled her nose up in distaste. "Clothes," she repeated, as though discussing some unsavory sort of fungus. "I do believe I might rather freeze, actually."
She was being dramatic; even with the occasional wind off the ocean, it was a balmy evening. She just wasn't used to the feel of air against bare skin.
Though the way Nik was looking at her sent a soft flush of heat spreading down from the top of her head all the way to her webbed toes. That was also new—not the reaction itself, but feeling it in this body—and she found that she quite liked it.
Oh yes. There might be a few things about life on land that made it worth the trouble.
"We're on the western shore," she murmured in reply to his question. "All we have to do now is wait."
She curled herself into his side, letting her head rest on his shoulder as her eyes scanned out over the open expanse of ocean and tiny sandbars that stretched before them.
"Wait....ah....o...ok." he needed to breathe, but Gods she was intoxicating. His arm pulled her in tightly as she settled in closer and let his hand slide lightly over her arm and her shoulder. He took deep, pointed breaths and looked intently out on the horizon.
Based on the sky they had some time before sunset.
"We could find a...uh....comfortable spot. Might be a bit." He cleared his throat and hoped she didn't notice just how difficult this was for him. He closed his eyes and leaned his cheek into her head and just....let her scent exist within and around him.
"Nik?" She tilted her head at him slightly. "Are you quite alright, anan'mar?"
The concern in her voice was just a bit too perfectly placed, and her eyes glinted with a teasing sort of mischief.
She hummed quietly and nuzzled into his neck a bit. "We could find a comfortable spot," she mused, rather pleased with herself. "Or perhaps we could...pass the time another way?"
Her words sent fire through his veins and a deep groan rumbled in his chest. He wanted to grab her and run his hands across her body right then and there. Every nerve in his body screamed for her, needed her in a way that was almost uncontrollable.
But he also knew that control made everything so much better. He wanted to be with her slowly, carefully, calculated until they both couldn't stand it for another second. He wanted to coax her pleasure out of her.
Gods this was so hard.
His limbs trembled as he found her chin and lifted it up before hovering there, close but not quite touching, for a few agonizing moments before pulling her into a painfully gentle kiss.
"I think we could find another way," he agreed, unable to keep the tremor from his voice, "Have you....do you know how this works on land? With someone like me?" His eyes were hungry and his fingers dipped below her collar bone towards her chest but stopping just shy.
She closed her eyes and leaned into the kiss easily, letting her body melt against his for a few blissful moments.
When they pulled apart—she had to remind herself that she actually needed to breathe on land—she sighed quietly. "I've done this on land," she murmured, letting her eyes drift over his face. "But...not with someone like you, no. Another siren."
She smiled crookedly and let her head tip to one side. "I understand the basics, if that's what's concerning you." Her hand drifted up to skim lightly down the length of his neck, along his shoulder, then down to the center of his chest, feeling his heartbeat.
"Though I'll admit to some...gaps in knowledge." She huffed quietly, the faintest hint of a blush in her cheeks. "At least when it comes to, ah...someone like you." She let her hand slide back up to cup his jaw. "Show me?"
He couldn't help himself. His hands started roaming across her skin as he pressed her into him, certain she'd be able to feel the firmness of his excitement.
"You make me dizzy." He leaned down and laid a line of kisses from her temple to her ear to her neck before letting his teeth drag across her skin, his breath hot as he pressed his lips firmly just above her shoulder. "Properly intoxicated."
He lifted his head to find her eyes, stuggling to maintain a calm demeanor when his entire existence called to her.
"You'll let me know if anything isn't ok." It wasn't a question. He didn't want her to agree to anything just because he enjoyed it. Her pleasure made his own triple and he had full plans to make her feel incredible by the end, "You'll tell me what you like."
He leaned in and kissed her deeply while his hands continued to explore her completely. Then he pulled back one more time before fully committing to her, "Can you...could this cause....uh...little consequences? I can finish without you."
Under the ocean there was zero chance of that, but here? He could see that things would work the ways he was familiar with, but he didn't know if she could even get pregnant like that. She wasn't human afterall. Though, strictly speaking neither was he.
Morgana arched into him with a small, sharp intake of breath. Oh, that felt different when they were skin-to-skin. The slight scrape of his teeth against her throat raised gooseflesh in its wake, and she realized that quite without consciously deciding to do so she's tangled the fingers of one hand in his hair.
"And you," she murmured, struggling to focus through the haze he was conjuring in her. "That—I've not done this with someone with your, ah, physicality." Her eyes met his, dark pools of want. "You'll tell me what you like, too. What's okay..."
Her eyes fluttered closed when he kissed her again, and she tightened her grip in his hair. She was so thoroughly lost in the touch that it took her a moment to process his question.
"Little...? Oh." She laughed, almost despite herself, which did very interesting things to the way they were pressed together and quickly redirected her focus back to the matter at hand. "I suppose it could," she replied with the careless shrug of someone who wasn't overly concerned with immediate consequences, "but there's plenty of ways to ah, avoid that. Herbs I can take, that sort of thing."
She let her other hand slide up the center of his torso, pausing for a moment on the scaled scar where he'd been impaled, before moving up again to trace one fingertip along the space where his gills would have been underwater.
"Show me, anan'mar. Let me know what you like like this..."
It was certainly...different. Wonderful, but different. She hadn't thought it was possible to feel that good when she was out of the water, when she always had that lingering sense of vulnerability. It certainly hadn't before.
Then again, she'd never been with someone that she trusted the way she trusted Nik.
With a soft, contented sigh, she turned onto her side and pressed a series of soft kisses up over the curve of his shoulder to the dip of his throat.
"...Nearly sunset," she noted softly as she turned her head to rest against his chest.
Being with Morgana was an experience. Quite possibly one of the most amazing experiences he had ever had the pleasure to have. She responded to every touch, every breath...they were in sync by every definition of the word. And then....Gods he'd had sex before but the feel of slipping inside of her and watching her eyes as they joined....
There was joy there. So much joy intermingled with pleasure. And now he held her and basked in the after with a smile he couldn't control and didn't want to shake.
"I love you." He murmured against her hair before pushing himself into a seated position while offering to help her up and gesturing for her to slide in next to him so they could continue to hold eachother while the sun dipped low.
He didn't say anything else as he watched the sun fall closer to the horizon. The orange bled into shades of red and then purple and then blue that kept getting darker and darker as the sun continued to set. It was magical just being here, holding her. So magical his breath caught.
Yet, inside him the darkness continued to grow. As he watched the sun, it crept in and wisps of cold ensnared his mind. He wasn't even touching it this time, nor thinking about it. It had grown so vast in the time they'd spent together that ignoring its existence meant nothing. Not anymore.
And to Morgana it would just look like Nik was quietly staring at the sunset. His eyes grew distant, but the small contented smile remained on his lips.
"I love you," she half-whispered in reply as she settled herself against his side when they sat up and he gestured in invitation.
She tucked her head against his shoulder and let her legs curl to one side as the sky blossomed into a riot of color. Another contented little sigh escaped her.
It really was beautiful. The island sat in a patch of ocean that was almost glassy in its calm, reflecting the changing sky above as the sun kissed its horizon.
"I'm glad we came here," she murmured with a small smile, and tucked herself a little more securely against him. "For a lot of reasons," she added with a small laugh, reaching over to take his hand in hers.
She'd rather expected him to make some sort of quip at that, and when he didn't she tipped her head back to look at his face rather than the sunset.
"Nik?"
Nik's head was filled with buzzing, like hundreds of flies' wings flapping against eachother as they swarmed around. He could hear nothing, feel nothing. He couldn't even bring himself to think about anything whatsoever. His entire existence just...stopped.
But his body was clearly still alive. His chest rose and fell steadily and his skin was still warm to the touch. The only oddity about him in that moment, besides not reacting to Morgana, was the fact that his eyes didn't blink. And then, if she looked closer, the skin around the scaled-scar on his chest had begun taking on an ashy palor and was expanding slowly. Not so fast that it would overtake him soon, but the spead that made you wonder "is this getting bigger?" And ultimately deciding you were fine and you were crazy.
But you weren't crazy. You just didn't know it yet.
Morgana would find that shaking this episode from him would take much more effort, if she could be successful at all.
A gift....
Soft words like wind drifted through the buzzing.
West....
"Nik," Morgana repeated, a little more frantically when he remained unresponsive. "Nik! Nik!"
She shifted to kneel in front of him, taking both his shoulders in her hands and giving him a firm shake. "Nik, look at me, please."
When that didn't seem to work, she shook him harder. She refused to look at the wound that had killed him, terrified of what she might see.
It took her too long to realize that the person whispering, "No no no no no..." was her.
"Nik!" she pleaded desperately. Properly frantic now, she resorted to a siren's instincts.
She leaned into his shoulder and bit him. Hard.
Nothing broke the cold, white noise until the flash of pain from his shoulder cut through like fresh air infiltrating a tomb. It didn't hurt, he didn't even wince, his eyes just slowly came back into focus and his lids blinked lazily as if he were simply waking from a deep slumber.
Everything had a greyish haze that didn't dissipate even after he fully returned to himself. It was like the world itself was losing its color.
"I have to go west." He croaked, not even sure what he was saying or why. He just knew that he needed to. The darkness in himself was pulling him to...to what?
He didn't even notice the blood on his shoulder from where Morgana had bit him. Truth be told, he couldn't even feel it to know there was a problem that might need addressed.
Then he was on his feet and walked, no, more like stumbled, into the water and began swimming.
"West....a gift....west...." he muttered over and over. He didn't even notice Bubba when the giant seahorse showed up singing worridly.
Morgana exhaled sharply when his eyes seemed to focus--and then just as quickly she was on her feet, stumbling after him as he moved into the water as though in a trance.
"West, what--Nik!"
She was so caught up in her worry that her transformation from legs to fins caught her by surprise--she yelped, splashing rather ungracefully into the water as her legs locked together and scales began to ripple across her skin.
"Bubba!" she called, already swimming before the change had even fully completed
Luckily, the seahorse seemed to have astounding luck--or an uncanny nose for danger--and was already circling Nik worriedly. "Bubba, stop him," Morgana called, feeling helpless. She didn't know what to do, but she couldn't just let Nik swim out into the open ocean in his state.
Bubba was more than happy to obey and put his giant body right in front of Nik's face. It should have stopped him, but Nik just ran into him and pushed him aside.
"West." he muttered again, "I have to go west."
He knew what Bubba was trying to do. He even understood why he was doing it and agreed with both Morgana and his aquatic friend, but...the urge to keep swimming was stronger. It was like nothing he'd ever felt before - the constant pulling on his very being - like an addiction.
And he couldn't stop, that much he knew with absolute certainty. If he stopped, it would all be over - he would be over.
So he swam. Every so often he would adjust course like whatever he was chasing was also moving. Bubba eventually stopped trying to stop him and instead followed at a distance while sending up occasional mournful coos.
"I'm sorry. I'm sorry." Nik responded quietly, knowing Bubba probably couldn't hear him, but he had to go.
It wasn't a stealthy swim either. He was traveling quickly, much faster than he would have been capable of as a human, and his shoulder where Morgana had bit him was leaving a wispy trail of blood in his wake.
And then, just as quickly as it had begun, he stopped. Seemingly in the middle of nowhere. There was nothing but open ocean surrounding him. No schools of fish, no coral, no islands, just....nothing. He spun in place once, twice, hoping that something would reveal itself.
"It should be here. It needs to be here...."
Morgana swam after him, and to her surprise—and not an insignificant amount of fear—realized that she was actually having to work to keep up with him. Even with his augmented flippers and gills, he'd never been quite as fast as her in the water. Now, it seemed he could outpace her, if he put his mind to it.
"Nik! Nik, please!"
She kept calling to him as she and Bubba swam after him—she might have been able to stop him, to physically grab him and hold him in place, but she was worried that would just make the whole situation worse.
So she just kept with him, gliding along beside him through the water as he swam, and swam, and seemed not even to know why he was swimming. She just had to how that the trail of blood he was leaving behind didn't attract any hungry sea creatures.
When he finally stopped, she rushed forward to take his shoulders, covering the bite mark she had left with one hand.
"Bubba, get some silverweed—the kelp with the—yes, you know, thank you," she said quickly to the seahorse, sighing in relief when he crooned an acknowledgment and sped away. Looking back to Nik, she reached up to cup his jaw in her other hand.
"Nik? Anan'mar, what do you mean? What should be here?"
Desperation consumed Nik's features as he continued to try and look around, even after Morgana had grabbed his face. He didn't know what he was looking for. He didn't know how to answer her question.
"I don't know." he half sobbed, half screamed, with a force that was so unlike him even he was surprised. The buzzing was back, it was louder and it was trying to drown out everything. He clutched his head and closed his eyes in a desperate attempt to make it just go away.
"It won't stop. It's louder." But trying to shut it out wasn't helping! Nothing was helping!
A gift...
The words filtered through the noise and he whipped around in the water and shouted, "What gift!?" There wasn't anything here!
"Nik, just tell me what's--"
He whirled away from her to spin in the water, shouting about a gift, and she skittered back instinctively.
Stars and seas. What was happening?!
"Nik, talk to me!" she begged, surging forward to throw her arms around his neck and hold tight--both trying to offer an embrace to simply to keep him in place in case he suddenly decided to dart off again. She backed off quickly, but kept her grip on his shoulders in an effort o meet his eyes. "Please, just...tell me what's happening. I can't help if I don't know what's happening."
He tried to take some breaths, to try and sort out whatever was happening with his head, but the buzzing and the cold was always right there waiting for him to weaken so it could take over and consume him. He had followed the voice all the way out here but even now he couldn't escape it.
He looked her in the eye and pressed his hands to his temples as if that movement would help convey what was happening, "The cold, Morgana...it's...I can't fight it. It's here...It's here and it's growing and...and there's a voice telling me there's a gift that should be here." His voice cracked and the darkness swelled.
Nik felt himself drowning in it; felt his mind being swept away by whatever was happening to him. The gray around his scar had grown a half inch since the beach.
In a desperate attempt to stay lucid, he pushed aside her hand that was pressing into the wound on his shoulder and dug his fingers into it with a grunt. He could feel the skin ripping with the pressure, but the pain helped push the darkness back. His head tipped back with a gasp and he continued to apply pressure, not caring how much damage he might cause in the process. It was working...the pain was working! His eyes began to clear, focus returned and...
There was a boat, a small boat not much bigger than the rowboat he had commandeered all those weeks ago, right above their heads.
Her stomach churned, heart dropping as he spoke. That--that sounded bad. Very, very bad.
"The voice," she said frantically, "does it sound like--is it the same voice you heard when...before you came back? That you think is your mother?"
She made a soft noise of protest when he pushed her hand away, at first assuming it was simply the discomfort of the wound itself, and started to say, "Just wait a bit longer, Bubba will be back with the--"
He dug his fingers into the torn flesh and her soft protestation became a near shriek. "Nik, stop! What are you doing?!"
She tried to tug his hand away, so intent on the task that it took her longer than it should have to notice the shadow of the vessel above them. When she did she froze, caught between the instinct to flee and...and what he had said about a gift.
Oh no...
"What is that...is that a boat?" He croaked, eyes red but fully focused. The cold was simmering just below the surface, hovering, kept at bay only by confusion and surprise.
As soon as he looked, he knew this was what he was being drawn to but...
"Why is there a boat?"
Gods. He knew. He knew, but he didn't want to know. He didn't want to admit....he didn't want it to make the ridiculous amount of sense that it did.
"Morgana..." he croaked, unable to tear his eyes away, "why is there a boat. Why did she bring me to a boat." His fingers were still knuckle deep into his shoulder.
The siren was trying to pry his hand away from the wound, lacing her webbed fingers through his in an effort to simply force space between his fingers and his shoulder.
"I don't--" She looked up, first to his face, and then to the shadow above them. She shook her head slowly. "I don't know..."
It felt like a lie. She knew. How else could a sea witch maintain such a spell.
She cupped her palm against Nik's cheek and tried to force him to meet her eyes. "Do you...do you want me to ask my question, anan'mar?"
He was panting, gasping for air he didn't need, and his eyes were burning with tears that mingled with the sea. He knew he was dying. He knew that soon the cold and the dark would consume him and even if Morgana ripped his limbs from his body he wouldn't resurface. It had been growing for days, ever since they'd escaped that boat.
"What question." He didn't try to stop her hand, but eventhough his fingers weren't fully immersed in flesh, they were still pressing against the now freely gushing wounds. "I already told you I'd never...that hasn't changed. I swear it hasn't changed...."
"No, my love, no." She tugged at his hand, drawing it away from the bite mark to clasp against her chest. With her other hand still cupping his cheek, she flicked her tail to press forward and let her brow touch his softly.
"I know," she whispered. "I know. I meant..." She swallowed. "I could...ask the sailors. Before—before we...you have to..."
She trailed off, unable to finish the sentence.
This didn't feel fair. Nik wasn't a killer; yes, she knew he could, if he had to, but this... He wasn't a hunter of the sea the way she was. It wasn't his nature, and her chest ached at the thought of what he must be going through.
He heard her words but he wanted to block them out. She confirmed the darkest thoughts he was having without having to come right out and say it.
The feel of her brow against his helped quell the panic that had driven him since reaching this point, since realizing that there was nowhere else to go. He had found his gift.
And he didn't want it.
It wasn't fair. None of it was fair. He had died for for Morgana and that had felt right. Ideal? No. But he was ok having that be his last act. But this?
He had to kill to stay with her. He had to...had to....if he didn't he would lose everything.
"There's no time." He closed his eyes and took a shaky breath, "There's no time...."
And before he could talk himself out of it he kissed her firmly on the forehead before pulling away from her and swimming toward the boat. Swimming towards what Morgana must have seen that first time they'd met when she decided to talk to the crazy man in a rowboat in the middle of the ocean.
Yet he was going to do the exact opposite. The irony was dizzying.
The little craft was nearer than he expected and he only paused a moment to run a hand along the bottom before reaching up with both hands and capsizing the entire thing.
"Wait--"
The word escaped her before she could stop it. Morgana reached after him as he swam up, but she didn't follow. What was there to wait for? It was clear now what the price for him coming back had been--what it was now. A price to be paid again and again...as any siren would have to sacrifice life to the sea to keep her powers.
She watched him rise, watched him press his hands tot he bottom of the boat. The least she could do was bear witness.
It wasn't even that the idea itself was foreign or abhorrent to her. It was just...she knew it wasn't ever what he would have chosen for himself. And knowing that hurt.
The passenger of the small boat went into the water with a splash, and she winced. She was so wrapped up in watching Nik, unsure what to do--if there was anything she could do--that at first she didn't recognize him.
And then she did. And suddenly all her hurt for Nik was joined by a surge of rage and disgust.
"You."
The man who fell from the boat was barely a shell of his former self. He was deeply sunburnt and even the way he thrashed in the water when the boat tipped lacked energy and caused him to roll in circles rather than resurface. Nik was too shocked to do anything but stare at him. His mind was so dense with fog and noise he might not have recognized him at all if it hadn't been for Morgana's voice echoing from below.
Nik continued to stare as realization dawned. Gods that was....that couldn't be...
Their eyes met and all doubt fled.
"You." He gasped a few too many heartbeats after Morgana.
A gift. the voice had said. How...? How had she known? He was certain it had to be his mother at this point. Who else would go through this kind of trouble? To know that exactly what he needed and to present the perfect choice? He wouldn't even feel guilty about his death.
Why was the captain of that fishing ship in a rowboat in the middle of the ocean basically left for dead?
Nik made a snap decision. Possibly a stupid, stupid decision, and one he needed to be extremely quick about. He grabbed the captain under his arms and propelled him to the surface.
"W...why are you saving me?" the man sputtered.
"I'm not." Nik snapped, still holding onto him firmly, "Why are you here?"
When he didn't answer, Nik gave him a firm shake that sent the captain's head whipping back like a ragdoll, "Why are you here?" He demanded again, squeezing tightly into the man's shoulders.
"They came for us....sank our ship....killed us all...."
"But not you." Nik continued, ignoring the buzzing that was getting increasingly louder. He didn't have time. He needed to pull him under now.
The man shook his head, "Put me in a boat. Said I had...had things to do."
Nik still had so many questions, but he couldn't wait any longer. The cold had reached his fingertips and was spreading like pins and needles up his arm. The color was bleeding from the world again. It was now or never.
At least is was him, he thought as he grabbed onto his arms and pulled him under the waves one final time. But this time when he thrashed, Nik held firm and let his own weight drag them further and further beneath the surface until the man stopped fighting and his eyes grew dark.
Then, just like before on the ship, a force slammed into Nik's chest causing him to grunt as the soft gold light blossomed against his chest and disappeared. The grey around his death wound was gone in an instant and the cold was replaced with a warmth he hadn't felt in days.
He closed his eyes to block out the dead man floating before him and tried not to think about what his future existence meant.
Morgana could do little else but hover in the water as Nik dragged the captain to the surface. She knew he was asking questions, but she couldn't make herself listen--there was a vicious, lonely part of her that wanted to drag the odious man under herself, and she had to work harder than she would have liked to keep it in check.
By the time she felt she had a handle on herself, Nik had dove down with the ex-captain in his grip. For a moment, she could do nothing but watch the man thrash. Watch him die.
Then Nik grunted, his whole body jerking as though with a sudden impact, and she flipped around in the water to dive down to him. When she took his shoulders in her hands he had his eyes closed, and she twisted slightly to turn him away from the corpse bobbing in the water.
Her eyes dipped down, and she couldn't help but exhale a small breath of relief when she saw that the skin around his scaled scar had returned to a healthy, living shade. She looked back up, searching his face.
"...Are you alright?"
He didn't answer right away and didn't even open his eyes at first, though he did let his hands reach up to cover hers so she didn't think he was unconscious or....dead...
While they floated there he let the warmth in his chest wash over him. He wasn't sure what he thought or how he was feeling. The soul of that man now fueled him, gave him life, so...did that mean he was a part of him now? When Nik had to kill to survive, would the souls he chose change him?
Was he even himself anymore?
"Alive." He finally murmured and let his eyes open to focus onto the one he chose to love. Everything seemed crisper, brighter, no sign of gray or darkness anywhere.
"Alive..." he sighed again, giving her hands a gentle squeeze.
Morgana let him take all the time he needed before he answered--his hands over hers were reassurance enough that he was at least still with her. Both literally and metaphorically.
when he opened his eyes, he'd find her watching his face carefully, worry and relief warring for dominance in her expression. She knew that couldn't have been easy for him, but she was just so damned glad he was alright.
Well. Perhaps not alright. Alive.
She drifted closer and wound her arms around his shoulders tightly, curving her tail up over his hip and then around the back of his leg in as enwrapped an embrace as she could manage in her current state.
"Alive," she repeated softly, and pressed a gently kiss to the bite mark she'd left in his shoulder. "You're alive..."
One interesting side effect of consuming thr soul that Nik wouldn't know until he was looking into a mirror was the golden ring that outlined his otherwise ocean-blue eyes. It would be extremely helpful in avoiding the mad dash against death, though the cold and the darkness would always be there as a warning.
The wound on his shoulder was already starting to heal, leaving yet again another patch of scales where there had once been flesh. The color pattern continued to match those on his fully encompassed areas. In fact, even the scales seemed to match his own markings so intricately that if he had been covered head to toe with scales, they would match up perfectly and not even look like scars anymore.
"Alive." He repeated, winding his arms around her and burring his head into her hair. He existed there for awhile, taking in the soft smell of ambergris that he got from her. This was what made it all worth it. Her.
"That could have been me, you know. If you hadn't decided to talk to me that night. You could have easily flipped the boat and that would have been the end of it." He paused. "Is there a part of you that wished you had? Or at least swam by and not stopped? You could have avoided all of this....Selari, the fisherman, Thaleia..."
"No." Morgana shook her head and kissed his cheek before pulling back to hold him at arm's length. "If I had sunk your boat, I would have read your heart before you drowned. That wouldn't have been the end of it."
She let one hand slide up from his shoulder to cup his cheek, her eyes searching his. She saw the gold ring, but didn't know if just now was the time to point out yet another physical change. The scars--scales--were likely quite enough of an adjustment for now.
"And if I hadn't stopped," she continued softly, "Selari would have found me eventually anyway. There's every chance I might have been caught by that fishing boat on my own--and without your help, I might never have escaped."
She didn't comment on Thaleia; as far as she was concerned, he was the one who should regret meeting her when it came to that particular detail. If he hadn't, if he hadn't had to save her from the other siren, he never would have...
She let her hand slide down to press her palm against the patch of scales that covered his death wound. "...Maybe I should have kept going," she whispered, eyes downcast. "This--this was my fault..."
Nik started with a jolt when she touched his chest on the scale patch, but not because of the touch, no, because of her words. He grabbed her hand and placed his other hand under her chin to draw her eyes up to meet his.
"What? No!" He reprimanded her, "No, this is not your fault. Morgana....Thaleia has been chasing me for years. I still don't understand why, but she has hurt and killed more people than I want to remember. She's nearly killed me at least three times. Why do you think I was in a rowboat that night? It wasn't for shits and giggles. Whenever I'm on water she finds me, or rather found me, eventually. She gave me this," he reached over his shoulder to touch the claw marks on his back, "When I told her I was leaving. And this," he touched his side just under his ribs where there was a thin scar that looked to be from some kind of blade, "She has sunk, or nearly sunk, every ship I've ever crewed...
"This isn't your fault. It was only a matter of time." He took a breath, "I'm just glad....that when it did happen...it was for you."
She let him tilt her chin up, but there was still conflict raging behind her dark eyes as he spoke. She growled quietly when he mentioned all the ways Thaleia had hurt him, all the times she'd nearly killed him.
"I'm not," she hissed softly. "I never want you to--you shouldn't have to--" She sighed and growled again, more a sound of directionless frustration this time. She shook her head, but didn't move back from him.
"A siren who cannot protect her mate is no proper siren at all," she muttered eventually, the tip of her tail twitching with an anxious, angry energy. There was so much that could--that had--hurt him, and she couldn't stop any of it. And now there was this, the price he had to a pay for a death he never should have suffered.
Suffered trying to protect her.
"Hey," he caught her eye again with a crooked grin that didn't quite meet his eyes, "From what I remember we weren't at that time. Mates, that is." He let his thumb slide gently across her cheek.
"And I am." He added emphatically, "If she had killed me without you....nothing would have changed. I think...I think I'd still be here, paying this price, but with no reason for it. You are my reason."
And he meant it with every fiber of his being. Without her, he wasn't sure he would ever do that again. He wouldn't tell her that, of course, it was too much for someone to know that they very well could be the only reason you were alive. He wouldn't want her to use that as a reason not to leave if she found she wanted to.
A soft sound that was dangerously close to something like a sob caught in Morgana's chest, and she surged forward to wrap her arms around him again.
"I love you," she whispered into the curve of his neck, feeling the faint movement of fluttering gills against her cheek. "I--I want to help."
She pulled back to look at him properly. "We'll find a way to--to fix this. To do something."
He smiled and then pulled her close again, more to hide his own face so she couldn't see the range of emotions that played across them.
"There might not be one." The moment his face was hidden, the smile disappeared and it took everything in him to keep his voice light, "And it's ok. It'll be ok...
"I love you, too." And he could continue to love her as long as the warmth remained in his core. As long as he used souls to fuel his life. As long as she wanted him, he'd do it.
For her.
"There will be," she vowed, and the conviction in her voice could have stopped a hurricane in its tracks.
If a way didn't exist now, she would make one.
After a long moment, she pulled back from the embrace and took his face in her hands. "We should...go," she murmured. "If he was telling the truth— the wreck might be nearby. There might be other sailors coming to investigate..."
"It can't be that bad, right?" He asked putting the smile back on his face when she pulled back, "I mean, it's not like I fell in love with someone who uses souls on a regular basis or anything. Heeeeey, maybe I have some super powers or something now and can make extra special candy."
He forced himself to be the part of himself that he'd lost since Thaleia...no, ever since Selari. He wasn't some weird hybrid soul sucker then, he was a retired sailor with an unquenchable love for candy and shenanigans. Well...sort of....he supposed that was also a character he played to ignore the ever looming shadow of his siren ex-girlfriend.
Gods, who even was he?
He did love those candies though....that at least had always been true.
As if on cue, Bubba bumbled his giant seahorse butt up to the pair and began singing softly while gesturing in a way that clearly read "this way."
"Well...looks like Bubba might already know." Nik raised an eyebrow, "Should follow....?"
Morgana huffed softly and rolled her eyes--more for the form of the thing than anything else. "Of course. Candy."
When Bubba swam up to them with that piping, singing sound, she glanced at the seahorse and tilted her head.
"I suppose we should," she sighed, finally disentangling herself from Nik. "He does have an uncanny knack for finding what we need..."
Nik smiled, trying to hide the fact that he was struggling to do so, and brushed her hair behind her ear.
"You just don't have an elevated palate like me. It's fine though. I'll open up a floating candy shop for humans and seafolk alike and then you'll see." He winked. It was only half joking...because that would actually be pretty cool.
"Off we go then?" And he turned to follow Bubba as he zipped, not so nimbly anymore but definitely faster now that his fins were so large.
"Off we go," Morgana agreed, summoning up a small smile and taking his hand as she turned to follow their strange companion.
Bubba seemed to be tracking something--if it was a scent, she couldn't catch it, but she supposed whatever it was might be magical in nature, as the massive seahorse himself was. She tried to focus on keeping up with him, but consistently found herself glancing sidelong at Nik in concern.
She tried not to make it too obvious, not wanting to worry him more than she was sure he was already worried...but it was difficult not to be nervous that his state might suddenly change again. Every so often, she squeezed his hand a little tighter for a few moments before relaxing her grip.
Nik knew what she was doing. The continuous touch, the gentle squeezes that she tried to make seem natural...none of it was natural for them. Not that they didn't enjoy each other in simple touches during the day, or more passionate moments when the desire struck, but this felt different.
The last time she did it, he squeezed her hand back and held it tightly as a way to nonverbally let her know he knew what she was doing.
"I'm fine." He murmured without slowing pace as they followed Bubba, "I'm here, I'm with you, I'm ok."
And then Bubba started to slow and crooned quietly before stopping completely.
"What is it, boy?" Nik reached up and gave his head a gentle scratch, "Is it this way?" Bubba sang softly, but didn't move, "You don't want to go any further?" He guessed.
Bubba just floated there silently in response.
Nik looked at Morgana, "we can always just leave...if Bubba doesn't want to go what do you think we'll find...?
The siren shook her head slowly. "I don't know," she murmured, looking from Bubba to the stretch of ocean before them. "You don't want to come with us?" she asked the seahorse.
He shook his head.
Morgana frowned. "You...can't come with us?"
Bubba crooned and bobbed in place, dipping his head in what she assumed was a nod.
She looked to Nik, mildly baffled. "Well, that's...something."
Nik didn't like the sound of that at all. What were they swimming into that Bubba didn't want to, or couldn't , follow? The big guy didn't like to be left behind and now it seemed to be an almost willing choice.
"I...don't like the sound of this, Mor." He murmured, looking from Bubba and back to her a few times before pressing his index finger and thumb to the bridge of his nose with a sigh.
"Ok...but I'm also intrigued...so...guess we're going." He looked at Bubba for a moment before asking, "It's not going to kill us, is it?"
The seahorse huffed indignantly as if the mere suggestion he would bring them to a dangerous location was ludicrous.
"Ok, ok, ok, my bad, sorry." Nik held up his hands to try and placate him before reaching for Morgana's hand to begin the, seemingly, last leg of their search. Could this even be considered a search? Bubba had done all the work. He was like a giant magic detector. A giant, intelligent magic detector.
Nik started inching forward. The water was oddly murky in front of them which was in complete contrast to the clear waters where they had found the now-dead-captain. It was suspicious to say the least, and even though Nik had limited experience with the sea under the surface, the whole thing reeked of some kind of magics.
Still he pressed on, moving slowly while trying to scan in every direction for anything that might wish them harm. No matter what Bubba intended, anything could be in here and they might not realize it until they were set upon.
"What...is that?" Nik pointed ahead of them where a massive shadow was looming. The outline almost made it look like the underside of an iceberg, but the water was much too warm for that kind of thing.
Morgana gav3e Bubba one last, confused look before swimming after Nik. "You'll keep close?"
The massive seahorse crooned, and she could have sworn he looked...regretful. Or perhaps reluctant. Like he wished he could go with them, but simply couldn't follow.
That was...ominous.
"We'll be back soon," she promised, utterly unsure if it was a promise she could keep or not, then turned to follow Nik.
For a while, she couldn't make out much of anything in the algae-thick water. She frowned. "This is...odd. This sort of algae growth doesn't normally happen out in open water like this..."
When Nik pointed, she jerked her head up, tensing preparation of a new threat. Her eyes widened slightly. "I don't--I've never seen anything like that," she whispered, unconsciously drifting closer to him. "It looks...like..."
An ominous creaking of wood echoed through the water, and the shape...shifted slightly. Drifting with the swells like--like a ship. Only it was far too large and irregularly shaped to be such a thing.
Nik held onto Morgana's hand tightly as he stared at the looming...whatever the hell it was....in front of them. The more he looked at it, the bigger it seemed to become. Not to mention every piece of wood was fitted together in a way that strictly did not make logical sense. Planks ran perpendicular, diagonal, but never actually overlapped just...formed together. Pieces of what looked like houses jutted out in random places.
And it was moving. Not quickly. Not even at a pace that was even truly noticeable, but it was. The creaking and groaning wood was like the dirge of a felled forest and the algae parted as the structure passed. It was something straight from a horror story.
"Mor..." he pointed, "It has a door."
Sure enough, right on the bottom, was a bright red door with a light glowing enticingly at the top like you would see on an angler fish in the deep oceans.
As the sun slipped below the horizon, the waters grew continuously darker until the only light around them was from that singular light above the door and the gold rings around Nik's irises.
Morgana swallowed. It was a strange reflex, but one she couldn't stop as trepidation crept up her spine. "A door," she repeated quietly, her eyes drawn to the light.
Why did it have a door?
"Should we...?" She looked from Nik to the door and back. It was getting dark. She didn't know these waters.
But there was every chance what was in there was just as dangerous as what was out here.
The water grew cooler around them--far too quickly for it to be simply from the setting of the sun. Morgana stiffened.
Ice was Selari's magic.
"We need to move," she whispered harshly. "We need to get out of here."
Whatever this structure was, she was fairly sure Selari wouldn't be able to follow them onto it.
Nik could feel the water get colder, but he attributed it to the giant structure before them rather than some other kind of threat. How could anything else occupy his brain when he was looking at that thing? The light on the door kept grabbing his attention in an unnerving sort of way that called him to come closer.
Gods dammit, what if the whole house was some kind of illusion and they would just swim right into some sea monster's jaws? That's how those deep sea creatures worked, wasn't it? And that light was certainly messing with his brain enough to not feel strictly normal.
"Mor...I don't think we should go in there." He grabbed her hand tightly, "What the fuck even is it? It feels wrong and...fuck!"
The door creaked open and a woman with a head of dark hair stepped out onto the threshold. She had legs, looked wholly human, except for the wisps of magic that encircled her much like the ring did for Nik when he had needed it to be underwater. She was wearing a loose shift-like dress that fell to her knees and swirled around to match the movement of the water.
She smiled.
"What are you waiting for?" She called and gestured for them to come with her, "We can't stay here all night."
Nik held onto Morgana's hand tightly and didn't move. He would attempt to hold her back if she decided to swim closer to that door.
The woman gestured for them again, "We've been waiting for you, Nikkolai, Morgana, come."
The...fuck.
"She wants to see you."
Well.
That was possibly the most ominous statement she'd ever heard in her life.
Except she didn't know that they had much choice; the water was getting colder with every breath, and she would not lose Nik to another powerful sea creature's tantrum.
"Let's go." She started swimming for the door, not caring about anything else but getting Nik away. If the creepy mismatched too-large ship was their best means of escape, she'd take it.
Nik didn't want to go, the woman at the door solidified the dread he felt in his stomach, but he wasn't about to let go of Morgana's hand and let her go in alone. Gods dammit!
The dark haired woman stepped aside, because despite being clearly submerged in water, she wasn't swimming. At all. Her feet her firmly planted on the floor.
She beamed at them as they swam past and then closed the door and turned the lock with a sharp click.
At first it was dark, completely pitch black, but then what felt like stars began appearing above and around them. They pulsed gently until the light built grand enough for them to see.
To see what appeared to be a cave of sorts. There was much more space in here than Nik would have ever expected. The ceiling was at least 12 feet above them, the walls were far enough away that it would take a moment to swim from one side to the next.
"I'm afraid we'll have to go up." The woman continued to smile. One hand was pressed against a particularly large crystal on the wall that Nik could only assume controlled the lights or...something. Whatever was happening, it was making his skin buzz and the hair on his arms stand up.
Was he feeling magic? It felt more intense than just feeling scared and anxious.
"I need you to position yourself for land-legs if you please. I promise it isn't for your entire stay, but it does make the ascent easier from here."
Morgana was not exactly anymore excited about the idea of entering this strange space than Nik, but she knew they couldn't stay out in open water if Selari was out there.
For just a moment, as they crossed the threshold of the door, she thought she heard a faint, frustrated scream.
Her breathing was coming a little sharp and quick, and she started slightly when the lights flickered into existence around them.
"Position for...land-legs?" she repeated, before the meaning of the words actually processed. When they did, she slowly sank down onto the floor of the...well, cave, she supposed, and curled her tail to one side so she wouldn't be caught off-guard.
She stared at the strange woman, still clutching Nik's hand. "Who are you...?"
Nik didn't let go of Morgana's hand even as she sank to the floor. In fact, he even found himself lowering down to a seated position despite not actually needing to since he still had two pretty functional legs. He kept glancing around at the cave and at the woman before them who was still firmly standing on the ground despite the water around them.
"All good?" She asked sweetly, completely ignoring Morgana's question, "Marvelous! Here we go!"
She pulled a necklace from under her dress and then blew gently onto it which caused it to emit a soft golden glow. Once satisfied, she held it up to the gem and smashed it. The gold light broke from its shell like wisps of mist that then swirled together like a tornado into the wall itself. The cave began to rumble, to shake, and then much quicker than Nik would have ever expected, the water drained out leaving them soaking wet on a damp cavern floor.
The dark haired woman looked completely dry.
"All good? Wonderful! This way, if you please." And she made her way to another door on the far side of the cave. Upon opening it, a tiny room would be seen beyond. Just barely big enough for four, maybe five, people to stand in.
Morgana had never actually been in a situation where the water left her, as it were, rather than she leaving it. Whenever she traded fins for feet, it was always because she pulled herself--or was pulled--out of the sea's embrace.
It felt different when the water drained from their surroundings. Like she was less prepared for it. Her gills fluttered along her ribs in an odd half-gasp before sealing shut, and it took a few moments longer than she was used to for the tingling in her new legs to fade.
She looked at Nik, wide-eyed and wary, and wrapped her fingers securely around his. Slowly, she got to her feet and stared after the strange woman into the small room.
"...What is this place?"
Nik's transformation was much less drastic than Morgana's and he was prepared to stand before her. Yet still he waited for her to rise before he followed suit, making sure to continue holding her hand.
"I don't know, Mor." He murmured, "but it feels weird...maybe wrong even. The air feels charged......and she's gesturing for us to join her in that box..."
He took a breath, gave Morgana's hand a squeeze, and then began walking towards their destination.
"Why are we going in there?" He asked the woman loudly as they made their way.
Her smile grew brighter as she beamed at the pair of them, "So we can go up of course. Hurry along, now."
Morgana held onto Nik's hand even tighter as they followed the woman into the small space.
"Hold on a moment," she protested when their enigmatic guide said they were going up. "Up where? What is this place?"
She planted her feet—as firmly as she could manage—and wrapped her arm around Nik's to keep him close.
"We aren't going a step further until you explain what's going on," she growled, baring her teeth in a brief flash.
The dark haired woman continued that same unnerving smile and Nik wasn't sure if he was making things up but did her eyes look almost...dead? Hell, was that even a thing? She was like a doll...a moving, talking doll...
Fuck it was creepy.
He held Morgana's hand a little tighter.
Then the woman leaned forward a blew into another crystal on the wall before turning back to them, "oh don't worry. Walking won't be necessary. We understand it it's the most comfortable skill for seafolk. Ah! Here we go!" And she giggled and clapped her hands together in apparent glee as the entire box shook and began moving upwards.
"The fuck!" Nik exclaimed as he struggled to find his balance and only a quick hand against the wall saved him. The other wrapped tightly, protectively, around Morgana's waist and pulled her firmly against him to keep her upright.
Morgana gave an undignified yelp that she would likely be mortified to remember later and wrapped one arm around Nik's shoulders while the other flung out to the side in an effort to help steady herself and keep her balance.
"A little warning might have been nice," she snapped at the seemingly unflappable woman who had welcomed them into this impossible place. "And you haven't actually given us any answers here--where are we going? Who even are you?!"
Her arm around Nik tightened protectively, despite the fact that she was still a little shaky on her own feet.
"Oh! You want my name?" She asked, realization seeming to dawn for the first time, "It's unimportant, I just man the door, but I'm called Lia."
The little moving box groaned ominously as it continued upwards but Lia didn't seem to be concerned. In fact, she just stood there with that infuriating grin plastered on her face like this was the most normal thing ever.
"What is this place?" Nik tried, after she either didn't answer or hadn't heard the other part of Morgana's question. When she didn't respond again, he repeated himself, "Lia!" She blinked and finally met his eyes, "What is this place?"
Her smile grew and the box stopped, "home." She replied earnestly and opened the door.
Morgana was about to demand "Whose home?" but she got the sudden and persistent feeling that it wouldn't do any good. There was something...off about Lia. Even aside from the general strangeness of the whole situation, something just didn't feel right.
But what choice had they really had?
When the door opened, she moved instinctively in front of Nik. It seemed perhaps a futile impulse, considering she was just as naked as he was now that they were on land—in a sense—and her knees still trembled a bit. But she put herself into a guard stance nonetheless.
Beyond the door was another room, this one quite expansive, but it was lined with wooden shelves that were covered in all sorts of bottles filled with odd things Nik couldn't place. One looked like sand, others had liquids of varying colors. Yet another had what seemed to be small black beads, but he had a sneaky suspicion they were eyes.
But that wasn't the oddest feature of this room. Where they entered, there was floor, but only a few feet in the floor dipped under water. Even the sparse bits of furniture were half submerged, but they weren't floating.
"If you go to your left, you can wait comfortable in your scales. If you go right you can keep your legs." Lia explained, and then gave Nik a shove that sent him, and Morgana in front of him, stumbling into the room while the door shut behind them.
Nik turned after regaining his footing and went to push against the door they'd just exited only...
There wasn't a door. It was a solid wall made of damp wood and painted with a swirled design of varying shades of blue and white. The room was lit by the same star-like gems as they had seen in the cave below.
"Wait! fuck!" He banged against the wood, hoping it would give, that it would do something.
They were going to die here. Wherever here was.
...Maybe Selari would have been the better option.
Morgana found herself still and staring for a long moment, utterly baffled by what had just happened. Then she pressed forward next to Nik and started feeling along the painted wood, as though she might find some evidence of the vanished door.
"What in--what was that?" She spun in place, panting lightly as her eyes darted around the room. "Where are we?!"
there had to be something, some other way out, there had to be...right?
"Oh, don't be so dramatic, the pair of you." A deep alto voice echoed from behind them and when Nik spun, and grabbed onto Morgana's arm in a desperate attempt to keep her safe, he was met by a woman he had never seen before.
Her hair was a warm blonde and fell over her shoulders and down to her hips in soft waves adorned with braids and small trinkets that glittered in the star-like lights. Her torso was covered by her hair but was otherwise unclothed, and a thin wrap was tied around her waist - that too had been decorated with the same kinds of trinkets that were in her hair. A tray with three mugs was clasped before her and revealed lines of blue and green scales that merged with skin that ran along the outsides of her arms.
She looked them both over, slowly, uncomfortably, with a single raised eyebrow.
"Clothes. On the hook to your left. If that will make you more comfortable." Her eyes lingered on Nik's torso a little too long and he felt himself flush with the scrutiny. After their coupling everything had happened so quickly he hadn't even had time to grab pants and was now stuck in this odd murder house completely naked...though his package hadn't drawn her attention so much as the scar.
Without loosing Morgana's hand, he reached over to the clothes that, sure enough, were hanging on a peg, and began pulling on a pair of pants.
The woman set the tray on the half-submerged table and gestured to the seats beside her.
Morgana went instinctively into defensive mode, teeth bared and a low, oddly feline snarl hissing between her teeth as they faced this new threat.
Or...anamoly, perhaps. While she didn't trust this place at all, she couldn't yet figure out which parts of it were actually threats.
Clothes were not something she normally categorized as making her "comfortable", so she opted instead to place herself firmly between Nik and the strange woman as he started pulling on a pair of pants.
She cast an almost derisive look at the seats the woman was offering, and didn't move a muscle. "Who are you?" she demanded instead. "What is this place?"
The woman met Morgana's eyes with a steady, unnerving calm as she placed the tray heavily onto the table that made the mugs rattle and the steaming liquid slosh just slightly over the rims. She waved a hand and a bracelet of stones glowed gently which seemed to cause two of the chairs around the hi table to move out.
"Sit." her words were power and Nik, only having just buttoned his borrowed pants, felt his feet lurch out of his control and walk over to the chairs where he sat down, confused.
"Drink." She commanded again, but this time there was no power and her voice had returned to a calmer more welcoming tone. She sat across from them with a grace Nik had rarely seen outside of creatures of the sea in their natural habitat. While Lia had been walking, this woman felt like she was swimming as she walked.
"You've had a difficult run of things. Please, drink." She brought her own mug to her lips as if to prove there was nothing odd about it, "This will help revitalize. Heal the soul."
Morgana felt herself jerked forward along with Nik, much as she tried to resist the sudden surge of magic. And she had to assume it was magic--not like any she'd experienced before, but magic nonetheless.
She all but collapsed into the chair beside Nik. Glaring at this strange woman, she couldn't quite hide the flash of fear that skittered across her face and shivered down her spine.
Since she had control of her own movements again, she cast the offered drink a dirty look and deliberately refused to reach for it.
"Who are you?" she asked, trying to keep her voice steady. "What is this place?"
The woman sighed which sent steam wafting off the top of her mug as she sat it down before her. Her delicate fingers remained laced together around it as she looked her guests up and down.
"You're safe here, Morgana. Nikkolai." She nodded to them both in turn, "I've spent a long time making sure witches like Selari can't get in." She smiled as if remembering a fond memory, "Not that she'd even try."
She took another sip of her drink and closed her eyes for a moment. Nik didn't know what to make of her. She seemed to be acting like they were old friends and was annoyed when they didn't do the same. And it wasn't for lack of trying, Nik felt like he had to know her somehow...right? It was like an itch he couldn't quite scratch; just out of reach.
He wasn't sure if it was completely subconscious or if he was just looking for something to do, but he found the mug up against his lips and the warmth slipping down his throat. It...was...
"What is this?" He blinked into the cup and only saw what looked like tea of some sort but...
The woman leaned forward eagerly, "What does it taste like?" She urged.
"Apples. And...raspberries? No...strawberries? Some kind of berry...and hints of...caramel?" He took another sip and swished it around his tongue, completely ignoring the part of his brain that was screaming to stop being so trusting. That one sip could easily kill him but...
"Ooooh!" She crooned, her smile growing, "Very human flavors, unsurprisingly. Take another sip. Tell me what else you feel."
Again, though he knew he shouldn't, he did, and frowned - perplexed.
"Go on!"
"Sunset? And..." he glanced at Morgana, "You. But that doesn't make any sense."
The woman just continued to smile and took another sip of her own drink, "Deep sea bioluminescence." She mused, "Sea salt and sunlight."
She then locked eyes with Morgana and her smile remained, though perhaps tinted with annoyance.
"You can stop looking for ways to attack and escape. You're free to leave if you so choose, but I promise that I won't hurt my son nor his mate."
Her son.
Morgana wasn't surprised, exactly--a part of her had rather suspected this strange woman was Nik's mother. It was the only explanation that made even the remotest amount of sense in this entirely nonsensical situation.
That didn't make any difference about her readiness to trust her, though.
"Forgive me my wariness," she said slowly, still not having taken a sip of her own drink, "but I am no stranger to a sea witch's promises. They have a habit of being upheld...unpredictably."
She raised one eyebrow, head tilted just a bit. "That is what you are, isn't it? I can't imagine Selari giving up a hunt for anything less."
Nik froze with the cup halfway to his lips when the woman's words finally registered in his brain. He couldn't believe it...it didn't make sense that she...this woman was...but why now? After all this time? After all these years?
If she truly was who she said she was, did she only now care about him because he had almost died and now she felt something? Felt what? Surely if she knew he was injured to the point of death and now just showed up right where they were with a gift in the shape of an evil man she had to have known where he was all this time. Right?
He felt angry. It was a white hot rage that grew in his stomach but he wasn't even sure if it was justified.
And now this? This place? Why the theatrics? Why send Lia to find them when it could have just been her instead?
The woman laughed at Morgana's comment as if she had just heard a terrific joke, "I prefer the term enchantress. Sea witch has such negative connotations don't you think?" She took another sip of her drink and leaned back in her chair while crossing her leg over the other. She looked completely at ease and if it weren't for her extremely sharp eyes, one might easily believe she was completely nonchalant.
She waved off the comment about Selari, a secretive smile and a chuckle bubbling at her lips, "Oh no, Selari wouldn't dare." Then she placed her cup down and smiled warmly at the two of them.
"I am so happy that you're here. I wish it had been under different circumstances, but I'm just so glad it doesn't need to be pushed any longer. I'm sure you have questions that Lia couldn't answer for you – she's a nice girl but simple. I believe you want to know where you are and what this place is?"
She stood and waved her hand, the bracelet on her wrist flashing gently again before the water on the floor next to them rose gently to form the semblance of the very massive undersea dwelling they had stumbled upon outside.
"This is Home." She said quietly, proudly, "A project of mine...a very long project...it's taken decades but here we are and while it might still need some tweeking here and there but it serves it's purpose." She waved her again again and the water shifted, the bottom door opening and then transforming into the cavern they had seen only moments before.
"This is our entrance for seafolk, the one you were brought into. I found that something more organic tends to help our kin feel more comfortable and at home than swimming into something more...human....in its design. In fact, most places here can be customized to your own preferences. We have about four hundred souls on board and there's still room for more. Now this..." the water shifted yet again and formed a small boat on the surface, "Is our human entrance."
Morgana was still and silent as the woman—enchantress, if she was so picky about the word—talked. Explained, she supposed. She didn't react to the magical shaping of the water, beyond a hint of tension creeping into her shoulders.
That hint grew stronger as Nik's mother continued with her explanation. Specifically at the way she phrased it: four hundred souls. Not people. Souls.
"But why are we here?" she pushed as soon as there was a moment of quiet. "What is this place for? Why did you bring us here?"
"It's a sanctuary, Morgana." She replied with fire, "One I've spent my whole life creating. One I had hoped to share with my family. With you, Nikkolai. You and your father...rest his soul."
She took a moment to blink rapidly at the ceiling before standing swiftly and beckoning them to follow, "Come. See for yourself."
With that, she stood and walked behind the shelves to their right and disappeared from view. Nik looked over at Morgana, mouth open as his brain still processed everything that had been revealed.
Could this really be his mother? And if it was...could he trust her? Should he trust her?
Morgana stared after the woman, eyes wide, though she at least managed to keep herself from going slack-jawed as Nik had.
She looked at him and shook her head slowly--an expression of disbelief and confusion rather than any sort of denial.
she glanced after where the enchantress--his mother--had gone, then back again. "I don't..." She shook her head again. "I don't know..." She looked back the way they had come, then to Nik yet again. "I don't think we can leave," she whispered.
So...it seemed their only option was to follow. Wherever it was she led.
Nik reached over and took Morgana's hand, nodding in agreement. They did need to follow, if only to get answers because every time she talked he had more questions. Those questions were lost in a giant swirl of brain confusion and he couldn't pull them out when he needed them, but they were there.
"She saved my life so...chances are she's not going to kill us...right?" it seemed like solid logic to him. And she had said she wouldn't harm his mate...Gods that was the first time anyone had put it like that before. It was so much more official sounding than girlfriend, or lady friend, or some other less savory descriptors for what they were...but those didn't apply because he actually cared for her. No, cared was too small of an emotion. He loved her. He would die for her. Hell, he'd already died for her. Now he just had to keep murdering every so often for the mere pleasure of continuing to be with her.
And maybe that was the real reason he wanted to follow. Maybe there was a work-around. Maybe his mother had some way to take away this price.
"Ready?" his words were quiet and he didn't want to actually go but...
The blonde woman's head poked around the corner to look back at them, "Stop dawdling. You'll have plenty of time to enjoy each other's...ah.... company after the tour. Speaking of, should you decide to stay, would you prefer ocean, land, or perhaps a hybrid?"
Morgana nodded slowly at Nik's assertion that his mother seemed unlikely to kill them. She agreed in principle...but there was an instinctive wariness that had a cold grip on the base of her spine.
But they didn't have much choice. And besides, even if they had--this woman was responsible for bringing Nik back to her. However she'd done it. And maybe...maybe she could fix whatever had happened to him after. What was happening to him now.
She started a bit when the woman stuck her head back around the corner, instinctively moving partway in front of Nik. She blinked at the unexpected question, and glanced back at her companion over her shoulder.
"Ah..." She didn't know how to answer; while she could keep her legs for several days at a time, she didn't exactly like doing it. But Nik might be different--and he'd been out in the ocean for several weeks now. Perhaps he missed land.
"Hybrid, then." She nodded as if she hadn't needed to ask the question and then gestured for them again. Nik held onto Morgana's hand as he followed, not wanting to lose touch of her for even a moment. He was still wary, still scared even. Magic wasn't his strong suit. In fact, it was one of his least favorite things in the world because it just did what it wanted half of the time. Every good thing was always accompanied by bad...
But he was also magic. He just didn't know it yet. Or hadn't known. Or...it was all too complicated.
He wanted some candy.
"Cora!" A woman ran up to the blonde witch and clasped her hands excitedly, "I worked! It worked! Thank you thank you thank you." She pressed something into her hand and then sped off after giving her a massive hug.
Nik exchanged a look with Morgana. She looked...human.
Cora. The woman's name was Cora.
Or at least, it was a name she used. Morgana wasn't sure she trusted anything about this place at face value.
She gave Nik a helpless sort of look in return, shoulders rising in the minutest suggestion of a shrug.
As she watched the woman who had thanked Cora hurry away, she asked cautiously, "How many people are here? Are they guests too, or do they...live here?"
"Nylah?" she asked, looking up at Morgana almost as if surprised that she was still there, "She lives here. Her mate suffered extensively at the hands of slavers and was likely going to die. I found them, brought them here, and worked to heal him. It took...time...and patience...they insisted on limited magic use which made things...difficult." She frowned at that, "Curses aren't easy to dispell without it, but we did it. Finally. It's been months."
She held out her hand and took Nik by the arm. He shrunk away from her instinctively, but found that she was walking and there wasn't much more he could do but follow and desperately try to keep hold of Morgana at the same time.
"As for how many? See for yourselves." She opened a large double door with intricate carvings of seafolk and creatures swarming around, but they all seemed...happy...existing amongst one another as it it was perfectly normal and not at all the life that Nik had quickly come to understand since being with Morgana.
When they stepped through the threshold they were standing in a hall far more expansive than Nik would ever have imagined could exist in the hodge-podge floating house they had seen from the outside. It was both filled with water and not. People walked around the walkways against the wall while others swam in the middle. Merfolk, humans, tritans, so many. Dozens. No, more than dozens, hundreds.
"What....the fuck...." Nik stuttered as he stared. People started noticing them and waved.
Ohhhhhhh dear.
Morgana didn't like much attention at the best of times--luring a ship to crash on rocks was one thing, but the sailors didn't pay attention to her, then, not really. Just her song.
This was...something else entirely.
Granted, it seemed the swarm of people in front of them--landwalkers and seafolk intermingled, what wasthis place?!--were mostly noticing Cora, but she and Nik were standing close enough that they caught the edges of people's attention.
Thrown entirely out of her element, the siren found herself shrinking back against Nik's chest, simultaneously seeming to futilely try to make herself unnoticeable while also positioning herself protectively in front of him.
Nik caught her as she pressed closer to him, wrapping his arms protectively around her as he sensed her unease. No...unease was too small of a word but his mind couldn't function properly at the moment to coming up with something better.
What was this place? How had so many come to live here? Because he didn't doubt for a moment that they lived here. Wherever here was and whatever here was. Gods he didn't even know what to think anymore.
"Y...you brought them all here?" He finally found himself able to form words.
"Me?" Cora asked with a startled chuckle, "By the sea, no! But also a little bit yes?" She pursed her lips in thought for a moment and then shook her head, "This place has its own song, much like a siren." She nodded towards Morgana, "Only, you can't hear it or feel its pull unless you need it. The world is full of hatred and bigotry that threatens us all and I simply helped build a place that accepts us at our lowest. So you see...you have to be at your lowest to see it at all.
"So, really, though we happened to be nearby, if you weren't at your lowest...." She frowned and took a step forward to lean around Morgana and take Nik by the chin and staring into his eyes, "That shouldn't be happening." She murmured.
"Come." Her smile had faltered and she set off down the walkway with a brisk pace without even waiting to see if they were following.
Morgana found herself starting to bear her teeth in an instinctive threat display when Cora took Nik's chin in her hand. She forced herself to swallow it down, but she didn't move from her protective stance in front of him.
"What shouldn't be happening?" she tried to demand, but the other woman was already striding off down the hall. She twisted to look back and up at Nik over her shoulder. "She--I don't--"
She growled quietly, frustrated. "Do we...follow?"
Should they follow?
...Did they have another choice?
Nik was just along for the ride at this point. He hadn't even really processed the fact that this woman, no, this witch, was his mother. A part of him still wanted to deny it despite the fact that they looked related not only in coloring, but in the shape of their eyes and the slope of their nose. Even the scales that danced across her skin was the exact same color as his scaled scars.
He licked his lips, "I...I don't know..." he admitted. He felt weak. He felt stupid. "I feel like I don't know anything anymore, Mor..."
But he didn't sound sad, he just sounded...lost. Confused. His words weren't laced with darkness or sorrow but rather spoken as if they were cold, hard facts. He ran his thumb across her cheek for just a moment before water slammed around them both so quickly it was almost like they were bugs being squished between the pages of a book. He gasped sharply as he was surrounded by cold for just a moment before his body reacted and transformed back into his hybrid self.
"Stop wasting time!" Cora's voice was sharp; biting. Then, Nik felt himself jolt forward and a string of surprised curses escaped his lips.
"There will be plenty of time for sight seeing, but if you'd rather not absorb another soul by sunrise, come now."
"Hey!"
Morgana lurched forward after Nik--not because she felt forced, but because judging from the cursing and his stilted motions he clearly had been. She grabbed for his arm--not trying to hold him back, but wanting to keep some sort of physical connection between them--and glared at his mother's back.
"Don't do that," she started hotly, anger making her eyes go from deep, inky obsidian to flat black, reminiscent of a shark. "You can't control him like that, it's--it's not right!"
"The spell didn't take." Cora snapped, not even looking back to look at Morgana as she continued to swim forward and drag Nik behind her on some kind of invisible leash. Her teeth were clenched and the stress was audible in her voice as well as visible in her posture and overall speed with which she moved.
"What do you mean?" Nik asked, holding onto Morgana's hand tightly as he sped along. At this point he wasn't even fighting the magic that bound him and was just along for the ride. Literally.
"I mean, that something went wrong." She turned a corner and Nik's body jolted in the same direction and he flopped a little to the side almost like a child's doll. "Souls contain magic. A large amount of magic. As you get older the magic dwindles and you die."
Nik looked at Morgana, making sure to keep hold of her hand as tightly as he could, "I guess....that makes....sense...." he chewed on his words, trying to process everything that was happening. The spell didn't take. He might need to absorb another soul by morning. Gods, what was his life? How had he gotten to this point? How many people would he need to kill in order to stay alive?
Another corner sent his head rolling as he was dragged along, still grasping at Morgana's hand like a life-line. As long as he could feel her, he could see his reason for doing all of this. He was doing it for her. He would continue doing whatever he needed for her.
Then they were at a door that opened into a cave-like room that was also half wooden house. Shelves lined the walls and a table sat at the unsubmerged section of the room on planks of damp flooring. Cora waved her hand and the water parted as they stepped up onto the dry section and she sat him down on a chair before bustling off to begin pulling things down from the shelf.
"Mor..." he couldn't hide the fear that had crept into his eyes, "Are you ok with this? Being with someone like me? I'm....I....I'll have to absorb souls all the time won't I? Constantly. Otherwise I'll lose you."
Morgana gritted her teeth, but things were moving too fast for her to continue arguing with the sea witch about her control over her son--not that she was even entirely sure what she was arguing, she just...this just felt wrong.
When Nik looked to her, she tightened her grip on his own hand in silent assurance. She was half-jogging to keep pace as Cora--quite literally--seemed to be dragging them along. She stumbled when they wheeled around a corner, but held onto him all the tighter.
The moment they were inside the next room and he was all but shoved into the chair, she sank down next to him on her knees and moved her hand up from his to clutch at his arm.
Dark eyes once more liquid and bright, she reached up with her other hand to cup his cheek in her palm. "Anan'mar," she murmured. "I--I will help." She leaned in to press her forehead to his. "I'll help you. Whatever this is...we'll do it together."
Cora sighed heavily from the shelves and muttered something about Nik being overly dramatic, but it was quiet and he couldn't hear her very well. Unbeknownst to him, the golden ring around his pupil had become significantly less bright since first absorbing the captain's soul, but it would be readily visible to someone like Morgana. What he did know was that buzzing in his ears had started again, but quietly and easily ignored.
He sighed and leaned against her forehead with one hand reaching up to touch the side of her head and just closed his eyes for a moment.
But a moment was all they'd have because Cora was back and pulled his chin to face her as she studied him like a scientist studies an experiment. Then, she ran her fingers through an odd smelling concoction mixed in a large clamshell and began drawing an intricate circular pattern in the center of his chest. The mixture was oddly warm against his skin as she worked.
"What are you doin—" she shushed him loudly and continued to work, not even taking a moment to answer him or assuage his fears. She was focused solely on the pattern against his skin before taking a step back to observe it.
"This might hurt." There wasn't even a pause between that statement and the next stage. She pressed two fingers to her lips and whistled softly while extending those fingers towards him as a thin thread appeared from her lips to her fingertips and then onto the pattern on his chest.
At first he didn't feel anything, but that only lasted a few moments as the thread expanded and made the pattern begin to glow, first softly and then brighter by the second.
As the light grew, so did the heat. He clenched his teeth and his grip on Morgana's hand grew tighter.
"Hold on."
Nik's whole body jerked forward as if being electrocuted and all he knew after that was light and pain.
Morgana had to bite back a hiss when Cora grabbed Nik's chin to turn his head. She was willing to believe the sorceress knew more about Nik's condition than either of them, but she really didn't like the way the woman kept jerking him around. Literally.
She swallowed down any number of complaints, deciding now wasn't the time--they seemed to have something of a deadline, and she didn't want to interfere with it.
That is, until Nik's grip on her hand tightened, and then he suddenly lurched forward as though pulled by strings. She cried out wordlessly and grabbed for his arm with her other hand, trying to keep him steady.
"What did you do?!" she demanded, snapping her head around to bare her teeth at Cora.
Cora didn't even acknowledge Morgana as she focused all of her attention on Nik and the magic that she worked within him. Her brow was furrowed, eyes glowing brighter than the clearest ocean on a sunny day. In fact, her entire body began taking on an ethereal quality that intensified the closer she was to her son. Nik, himself, was soon flooded with golden light until only his outline was visible beneath blinding rays of magic.
Within the field, Nik couldn't move, couldn't think, couldn't do anything but exist. Every nerve in his body was on fire and there was nothing he could do about it. Even his voice refused to work while he felt his skin stretch and pull seemingly from all different directions. At the center of it all was the design that Cora had drawn on his chest. It was like a black hole that sucked in everything: color, emotions, light.
The golden light that illuminated and consumed him began swirling gently around the circular design growing faster with each breath until it was a vortex of power spinning into his body. The light began to disappear, sucked inside faster and faster until it was gone.
His body collapsed into the chair and haggard breathing escaped from Nik's lips as he lay limply.
He was changed.
The scales that scarred his human body were gone, replaced by smooth unblemished skin. His wrists up to his elbows were now the only indication of his heritage as silver with a hint of ocean blue gently decorated the outsides of his arms before fading away like a whisper of the scales that lived within him waiting to be unleashed by the waves. And, just above his heart in the middle of his chest, remained the circular design that Cora had drawn but it was no longer a drawing, it was like a silvery brand upon his skin.
Nik groaned and his eyes fluttered open.
"Fuck."
Cora smiled. Then crumpled to the floor in a heap.
Morgana couldn't feel the magic, exactly, but it was like there was a soft buzzing wherever her skin touched Nik's. It grew steadily stronger, and in turn grew harder and harder for her to keep her grip on Nik as the glow around him became more intense, until finally she was forced to let go and stagger back with a small cry.
"Nik!"
He collapsed back into the chair and she stumbled forward to land on her knees just beside him, reaching up automatically to search him for injury. "Stars and seas, are you alright? What--how do you feel?"
She heard the soft thump as Cora collapsed behind her, and managed to spare the sorceress look over her shoulder.
She sighed. "I...should help her," she muttered, but seemed reluctant to move away from Nik's side.
The moment Cora went down a large, burly man rushed in and scooped her up in his muscular arms. He was covered in black tattoos against his deeply tanned skin that crawled up his arms and across his naked torso. At first glance it was clear that each part of his body was a depiction of some story that seamlessly weaved together with the one next to it, and the one next to that, and so on and so forth. He looked to be in his forties and gave no indication to be anything but human. His hair was kept close shaven to his head, but he had a well groomed beard and mustache that put Nik's stubble to shame – not that he cared.
Before Morgana could even finish her question to Nik regarding helping the sea witch, she had been whisked away and the two were left alone in the room. Nik closed his eyes and leaned back on the chair while doing his best to control his breathing and calm his racing heart. He could hear Mor fussing around him and all he could manage for a time was a weary nod. Yes, he was fine. He was exhausted and his entire skin felt electrically charged in a way that made him itch but the buzzing was gone. In fact, for the first time since dying and coming back to life he actually felt human again.
"Hey," he caught her arm after a few grounding moments and opened his eyes but didn't lift his head from where it tilted back over the edge of the chair. He smiled at her. That stupid, drunken smile he got whenever he had a moment to truly think about the fact that this amazing and wonderful woman...er...siren....was a part of his life if even just for a brief moment. Nothing ever stayed with him long. Eventually they'd be ripped apart by...
But Thaleia was dead. She was dead. That meant the only thing that could screw this up was himself.
His smile grew wider, "I'm fine. I'm here. I...I feel fucking great."
Well. That seemed to take care of that.
There was a part of Morgana that rather wanted to be concerned about how quickly an efficiently Cora's people seemed to operate--and the fact that someone had come the moment she needed them, as though they'd been able to...sense it somehow.
But a much larger part of her was more concerned with Nik. And now with the fact that he was smiling at her in a wide, dopey way that made her suddenly wonder if he had somehow managed to consume a large amount of alcohol in the brief moment when she'd watch Cora carted from the room.
"I--I'm glad you feel...better," she said slowly, cautiously. What sort of enchantment had that been? Was it having some lingering effect on him?
She reached over to brush her fingertips carefully over his cheek, gently pulling her arm from his grip so she could run her other hand over him as though checking for injury. "Do you think you can stand?"
"Hey!" He protested quietly, but without stopping her inspection and with a mischievous glint in his eye as he finally lifted his head up from where it was lolling behind the chair, "I promise I'll let you inspect every inch of me when we're actually alone." He continued grinning at her.
He sensed her misgivings and realized he probably should have them as well but he just...didn't. He felt revitalized. He felt as normal as he possibly could given the situations. He didn't know what that meant in the long run -if he would owe Cora in some way or if he would have some kind of lasting side effects- but that didn't matter!
"Hey." The humor had faded from his voice and he reached to grab her hand and gently pulled her towards him as he stood in answer to her question. He pulled her tightly against him and wove his fingers through her hair. "I'm fine, love." He murmured, "More than fine. The pull is gone. The buzzing is gone."
He pulled away and gazed down at her with a gentle smile, "Let's just....take the win for now, yeah?" Gods knew they needed one.
Morgana gave him a very stern Look when he joked about her inspection of him, but it faded quickly back into a vaguely worried frown, even when he took her hand and pulled him into her as he stood from the chair.
She did start to relax against him when his fingers twined through her hair, nuzzling into his shoulder for a moment before she pulled back enough to tilt her head up and look at him properly. "It's gone?" she repeated, the faint undercurrent of her tone torn between relief and suspicion.
Her shoulders slumped a bit when he said they should take the win and--and she couldn't find it in her to argue with him. There were still so many questions, she was still worried, but...
She sighed and leaned into his embrace, pressing her face against his chest. "I'm so glad you're okay," she whispered, a hint of the fear she'd been doing her best to bury ever since he walked away from her in a trance on that beach bleeding into her voice. "I'm just...so glad you're okay..."
"Believe me," he chuckled into her hair, "I am, too." And he hoped it was a permanent solution and not just a bandage tied tightly over a gushing wound that would look promising for a time before blood began spreading across the muslin. But, he needed to take his own advice and not dwell on the what ifs or the questions that still lingered.
So, he pulled back slightly and lifted her chin so he could look into her eyes. As he gazed down at her, he couldn't help that goofy smile that spread across his lips again – that uncontrollable kind of smile that only appears in moments of intense happiness – the kind that lights up eyes and sets one's skin on fire. He leaned forward and kissed her so deeply that he could forget everything except the feel of her for a time. It was a kiss so passionate, so joyful, that nothing else mattered – not his death and resurrection, not his mother, not this weird horror story of a house....just her.
And then a pointed throat clearing interrupted his revere and he was forced to pull away and look up at the tattooed man who had come to spirit Cora away. He was back, alone this time, and had the look of someone who had been sent on the worst kind of chore imaginable.
"Come." His voice was gruff and gravely, "Your rooms are this way. The Lady's orders."