All that Glitters

[DragonSong]

The color drained from her already pale skin, dark eyes going blank and dull. "I need to get to the water."

Once more she tried to get to her feet, slower this time and with more care, though still with that shivering tension tight in her whole body. She managed to at least hold herself upright, but her legs still shook and every step sent pain lancing through her body.

She ignored it, gritting her teeth and forcing herself to take one step after the other toward the stairs that led up onto the deck.

[Paladienne]

Kasim watched her for a moment before he slowly moved to help her. He pulled one of her arms over his shoulder and wrapped his around her waist. Bearing most of her weight on his own body, Kasim half-walked, half-carried Morgana out of the room and to the stairs. Still half carrying her, he climbed with her up the stairs to the deck. Those on deck looked at the two curiously, but whatever expression Kasim had on his face warned them not to ask questions. They went about their tasks with a solemn slowness, all watching their captain and the siren.

Kasim paused for a moment under the sunlight, allowing Morgana to see the verdant island where they had put anchor, and the crystalline waters that gently lapped at the ship's hull and the beach that was some distance away. He didn't know what she needed to do, but he brought her to the opening in the rail where there was a rope ladder leading down to a small dinghy tied to the ship's rail to keep it from floating off. He let go of her then, moving to pull on the mooring rope to move the dinghy out of her way, so she wouldn't hit it when she jumped off.

He didn't know what to say, what to tell her, so he simply watched her. Then, softly, "We aren't going anywhere for a while. I hope you find what you're looking for."

[DragonSong]

If she had not been in a state of quiet panic, Morgana may have actually taken a moment to appreciate the scenery. She didn't bother to travel beyond her own territory much, and consequently rarely saw anything truly new. And the island was certainly beautiful, as far as landlocked vistas were concerned.

But she didn't have the time or the focus to even really consider that. Technically she should have until moondown to get into the water, but she'd never actually gone even this long without her tail before. She had no idea if the pain gripping her body was solely from the injuries she'd sustained during the battle or from something more sinister.

She had to grip the deck rail when Kasim moved away to lower the dinghy, and she found herself simply watching him for several long moments, an unfortunate realization dawning on her even as a potential solution presented itself.

A solution she did not like. But she couldn't think of anything else.

"Kasim..." She licked her lips, looked longingly to the sea below, then back up to the young captain. "I--I need you to come with me."

Jaw clenched, she cast her eyes down, a combination of shame and desperation burning hot through her core. Through gritted teeth, as though each word was dragged from her throat, she muttered, "I...hurt my tail. In the fight. I can't--I can't swim properly without...help." Her stomach clenched. She'd never felt so helpless and humiliated. "...Please."

[Paladienne]

Kasim blinked at her request, uncertain if he should accept. After all, it could be a ploy to bring him into her element, where she could devour him and regain whatever energy it was she had lost. But at the same time, those pleading eyes and that pain weren't fake. They weren't the symptoms a liar displayed when trying to convince someone to do as they wanted. Morgana was truly in pain, and she truly needed help. And, moreover, Kasim was plagued by a sense of guilt, because if she hadn't joined up with him for this stupid adventure for a treasure neither of them really knew existed, she wouldn't have gotten hurt. So, if anything, it was his fault she'd been injured, his fault she couldn't swim on her own, his fault she was in pain and plagued with whatever nightmare was first and foremost in her mind about not being in the water.

"Sure." Kasim said after a moment, his voice subdued.

He wasn't sure how she wanted to do this, but it didn't look like she was going to get in the water without help. Kasim pulled off his shirt and hung it across the rail, then pulled the dinghy further out of the way before he secured it. After a moment of searching, he found the rope ladder he and the crew used to get into and out of the dinghy, and slung it over the side of the ship, allowing the tail end of the rope ladder to trail in the water as he secured the top half to the rail's legs.

Then he moved toward Morgana, presenting her his back for her to grab onto. "Come on. We'll go down together, and then you can do what you need to do. I'll swim right alongside you. Is that okay?"

[DragonSong]

Morgana visibly sagged with relief when he agreed. She'd been a little bit afraid that he would assume she was only trying to lure him into the water as yet another simple piece of prey--a thought that strangely hadn't even crossed her mind until that moment--and that she would be forced to resort to truly begging.

She wasn't sure she could have survived the humiliation of that. It might have been less painful to just let her absence from the sea kill her.

"Thank you," she whispered, eyes still downcast. "That...that should be fine."

She did glance up when he put his back to her, and realized he wanted her to climb on. She swallowed down yet another surge of shame and gritted her teeth, then shuffled forward and hesitantly wrapped her arms around his neck.

Turning her face into his shoulder, she let out a sharp breath and gripped as tight as she dared. "...Ready."

[Paladienne]

Kasim nodded, and he hefted her up a little higher on his back before he hooked one arm under her leg and move to turn around to climb down the rope ladder to the ocean. It felt strange having her on his back, strange in the fact that she could easily kill him if she had a mind to. He'd carried plenty of people on his back like this before, men and women, so it wasn't that fact that bothered him. Rather, it was the fact that Morgana wasn't human. But somehow he remained relaxed as he climbed down, and as his feet touched the surface of the water, then sank below, Kasim eased Morgana into the water first before he jumped in, both holding on to her and the rope ladder for a moment.

Then he released the ladder and pushed off, swimming into the deeper water and putting some distance between himself and the ship. He still held onto Morgana's wrist, not letting her go for fear she might sink below the gentle waves and drown. But the other reason was that he wanted to see her transformation, for he'd never seen her regain her tail before. He'd seen her tail become her legs, but never the reverse. Still, he knew that she likely wouldn't enjoy an audience, so he slightly turned his back to her, treading water the entire time to keep his head above the undulating surface. However, he still kept a firm hold of her wrist the entire time.

"Do what you need to do," Kasim said gently. "I won't let go. I promise."

[DragonSong]

Morgana's jaw tensed even further as he secured a grip on her leg and began to climb down. Shivers wracked her frame, and with every inch closer to the water they became more intense, until she was practically shuddering against his back. She couldn't really tell if the shivers were entirely due to the stress on her body, or if they were from the deep-set fear that had settled into her breast the moment she learned how long she'd been kept from the water.

Probably both.

Luckily, Kasim need not have worried about her drowning; even though she couldn't swim on her own, the sea would never be the death of her. No, if her injury was going to kill her, it would be from starvation, preventing her from hunting. Or because another, stronger siren would happen upon her and kill her for her territory.

Regardless, the moment she was in the water and twisted herself off of Kasim's back, though she turned her hand in his grip so that she could hold his wrist as he held hers.

It only took a few seconds once her legs were submerged in the water for the transformation to take hold. First they seemed to lock together at the knees, forcing her to stroke more firmly with her free hand to keep herself above water. A soft, strangled cry forced itself passed her lips as her legs fused together in a matter of moments, feeling her injured side protest vehemently. In a gentle wave, lines of dark scales rippled down her skin, and at the same time her legs stretched and twisted into one long, sinuous finned tail. Midnight scales glinted in the water, easily visible through the crystal clear water.

Morgana was left panting and shaking, barely able to move her tail at all without sending arcs of pain shooting through her body. She had to clutch at Kasim's hand tighter, the webbing between the fingers of her free hand just barely helping her tread water to keep afloat.

"I--I just...need a few moments," she finally managed to gasp, eyes clenched tight shut. She would have liked to spend more time in the water, but it was just...it was too painful to be here and be all but crippled, unable to support herself, let alone swim or hunt. 

[Paladienne]

The moment Morgana launched herself off Kasim's back, his attention was pulled toward her like a magnet. He treaded the water, his eyes on her face, studying her expression of pain. It bothered him that she hurt because of him, that because of his own choices, someone had gotten hurt, someone that shouldn't have. He put distance between them, only as far as their outstretched arms, and he made sure to tense his muscles so that Morgana could keep her head above water with his help. Then, when her transformation started, Kasim watched with obvious interest, his eyes going wide as he watched her legs begin to fuse together, as her skin rippled and changed from human skin to scales.

The midnight color of her tail glinted in the clear blue waters, rippling with the sun's rays like a thousand black diamonds. It was absolutely mesmerizing, watching her legs become a singular appendage, as her skin shifted and changed, and as she resumed her natural form. Kasim was forced to look away lest he try to reach for her while she was transforming, and risk losing an arm to her. Probably would be worth it for the five seconds it would take to reach across the space between them and worth it for the sensation of flesh touching scale, but probably wasn't really worth the risk of bleeding out or becoming Morgana's meal.

Rather, Kasim shifted to float on his back in the water, bobbing up and down with the waves. He nodded when she said she needed a moment, not trusting himself to speak. He was certain he'd say something insensitive or insulting, and then she really would eat him, injured or not.

He still held tight to her wrist, not letting her sink below the surface of the water. He was certain that if he let go of her, she would drown, and that wouldn't bode well. He stared at the azure sky, waiting for her signal to let him know that he could look, that he could actually begin to swim with her. He didn't want to push her before she was ready, after all.

[DragonSong]

They were still close enough to the ship that Morgana could bob a little closer and reach out with her free hand to grasp the ladder. It felt marginally more acceptable to be able to support herself in such a way, but not by much.

And if she wanted to get more than an arm's length from the ship, she would certainly need Kasim's help.

Damnit all.

Letting out a short, low breath, Morgana tilted her head and watched Kasim where he floated, slightly confused. What was he waiting for?

Lips twitched up slightly on one side, she snipped sardonically--though perhaps with less venom than if she'd been at full health--"Afraid to look upon a sea witch, Bold One? I'd thought better of you."

It wasn't as though she could try to drown him or something, not in her current state...or even his, for that matter. Head tilted, she considered what she'd done before the attack, that kiss to protect him from the sea's embrace.

Did he even know?

[Paladienne]

Kasim snorted at her question, finally moving to tread water so he could watch her. There was an amused light in his eyes as he regarded her, his lips quirking up at the edges in a sardonic little smile. "Afraid? Maybe a little. You never know. You look upon a sea witch, as you call yourself, and you might just get turned to stone. Or your eyes will melt out of your head."

His expression offered her the ability to join in on the little joke. He wasn't sincere at all about his words, meaning them to be nothing more than air passing between his lips. Kasim treaded water for a while, then swam closer to Morgana, gently breaststroking his way through the crystalline waters toward her. When he was within arm's reach, he stopped and began treading water again, watching her.

"Of course, should I be afraid of you? I'm fairly certain if you wanted to, you would've killed me already."

[DragonSong]

"Mm. It is far more likely you will be beguiled than turned to stone," Morgana noted with a quirked brow, smirking slightly.

The expression softened though, just a bit, as she realized he genuinely didn't seem to understand what she'd done before the fighting started. Or, apparently, just how injured she really was.

Well. One of those things she was happy to keep him in the dark about. But the other...

That didn't seem entirely fair.

Shaking her head slowly, Morgana kept her eyes on his face, almost curious to the point of a strange intensity. "Perhaps," she conceded slowly. "But you would be much more difficult for me to kill in your current state, Bold One." Slowly, almost hesitantly, she reached out to brush her first two fingers across his lips, just for a moment.

Her lips twitched up in another small smile, sardonic and close to self-deprecating. "Have you never heard that a mermaid's kiss can save a man from drowning?"

[Paladienne]

Kasim blinked, treading water and studying her. "Have I heard that? Once in a while a story about that crops up, but I've never believed them. What use would you have for a man beyond the obvious? Why would you want to keep him around once you've gotten what you wanted from him? I wouldn't think that you'd want one of my kind surviving long enough to tell the story, and that those who did were out of their minds, baked too long in the sun or driven to madness by drinking too much sea water."

He drifted closer, then reached out and grabbed hold of the ladder, curling his arm and leg in the rope to keep him from dipping beneath the waves. He studied her face for a while before he turned his attention toward the island and their small cove, his fingers of his free hand idly trailing through the water as the waves undulated against his body. "But then, you know, I don't know much about you or your kind. What we have, they're just stories, after all. Stories might have a basis in truth, but who's really going to take the time to venture back to the origin of those stories, if the origin can even be found?"

Kasim returned his gaze to Morgana, meeting her eyes without fear or hesitation. "But I suppose I have it from the siren's lips, don't I? And you've never given me a reason to distrust you."

The question was now, did he trust her enough to put her words to the test? Kasim didn't know. While he was crazy enough to risk his life hunting down lost treasure or braving the stormy seas when no one else dared sail, he still had a healthy attitude of self-preservation. Fighting for his life, knowing there was the possibility that he wouldn't come out whole or even alive at the end of that fight, that was a different animal entirely. But giving himself over to the unknown, when he only had the word of a woman - well, she wasn't really a woman, was she? - to trust?

The irony wasn't lost on Kasim at all.

"Perhaps," Kasim began slowly, his eyes never leaving Morgana's face, "I'm not as bold as you ascribe me to be. Perhaps I'm not yet willing to experiment to see if what you say is true."

[DragonSong]

"Oh, it's not indefinite," Morgana replied carelessly, hooking her own arm through one of the lower rungs of the ladder so she could simply float in the water without use of her injured tail. "A few days at most. To be perfectly honest with you, I'm not entirely certain of the specifics. I've never actually tried it before."

She tilted her head back, letting her eyes flicker over to eye him sidelong. A flicker of a challenge shimmered in the depths of her gaze.

But she didn't seem all that invested in pushing the matter too hard, turning her eyes away from him again with a quick flip of her hair. "...I can leave the water now, if you wish to return," she said simply after a few more moments of silence.

[Paladienne]

Kasim tilted his head slightly to indicate that he'd heard Morgana's words. Despite that, he still didn't seem inclined to test her gift, rather staring at the crystalline waters that refracted the light of the sun onto the shifting sands below them. He knew she was challenging him, and perhaps he was a coward for not rising to it, but after the few days he'd had, he didn't really want to tempt fate. He'd thumbed his nose at fate a little too much and too often lately, and he knew that the debt would be called in sooner or later. No sense in giving that an opportunity to be called in now.

He looked at Morgana then as she spoke, and he raised a brow. "The real question is, do you want to return? I'm perfectly fine as I am. And we're not heading back out to sea for a little while longer."

Still, if she wanted to get out, he wouldn't argue. He knew that she was already feeling better if she had the wherewithal to act snarky. Still, he wasn't sure how much of that 'better' was because she was actually in the water or because she was starting to heal. Moreover, the water was warm from the tropical heat and the sun's rays, and it wasn't often that Kasim simply got to relax in the water like this. She was giving him that excuse, and he was glad to have it.

[DragonSong]

Morgana pursed her lips, debating how she wanted to answer that. After a few moments of silence, she let out a long, slow breath and turned her face away from him, closing her eyes as she allowed the sun to wash over her face.

"...I cannot swim, Kasim," she murmured after another taught moment. "I did not simply need your aid to get myself into the water--something is broken inside me. It will take a while to heal. I cannot drown as you could, but to be unable to swim is as sure a death sentence for a siren as it is a human."

She tilted her head toward him slightly and open her eyes. Flat black. Shark's eyes. "To answer your question: no. I do not wish to return. If I had my way, I would disappear back beneath these waves. Perhaps I would return to your ship eventually, perhaps not. But as it stands, my only option is to return. To find my legs while I allow myself to heal. And to be within the sea and yet still apart from it is...painful."

She looked away again. "...And I cannot climb the ladder on my own."