Haley Thistle
patreon
Hau the Merman: Part Two (rough draft)
🕑 Added 2022-03-16 20:00:04 +0000 UTCI repaired the front door as best I could, but while the storm raged I didn’t have the proper supplies to fix it completely. Rain still came through and puddled on the floor, and the house maintained a bone penetrating chill the entire time. Fixing the window Hau broke was another matter as well, I had no clue when I’d be able to order glass for it, or if my letters would even reach mainland.
Once the storms did cease I was able to go out to get lumber and perhaps make a trade with the harpies. I was still beaten and bruised, and I had to use a crutch to make it further inland. I was used to doing things on my own, so aside from some pain, this wasn’t an issue.
Mali and Hana followed me, chased me really. They weren’t eager to be left alone with Hau, so he was close behind as well.
“If you’re going to be coming with us, do you mind carrying this for me?” I held out the axe to him, which he just glared at. “I’m trying to repair damages that you caused. It could be the least you could do.”
Hau sneered and took the axe from me. In the sunlight, his colors appeared much more vivid than Hana and Mali’s, so were his scars. He was covered from head to toe in battle wounds that ranged from tiny cuts to ragged gouges and bites. He shone bright blue in the daylight, but in the shadows of the lighthouse he appeared more purple.
“If you go further inland, you’ll risk the harpies,” Hau warned.
“I have a tentative alliance with Nyris. As long as I give offerings, I’m to be left alone.” I held up the satchel I brought filled with fish that I would leave on the offering stone. “I am fully aware of what I can and cannot do here.”
Hau’s eyes narrowed, slanting upwards as his grimace turned further down. He had sharp frills that went into his sharp cheekbones and under his jaw, giving him a very severe look. Not that his size didn’t leave that to question.
I placed my offering and heard the harpies whispering beyond the trees. I moved aside, going further down where I often chopped my wood. I set my things aside and propped my crutch up so I could reach is easily later.
I held out my hand to Hau and wobbled. “I’ll take it back now.”
Hau handed it back and moved away from the treeline while Hana and Mali started collecting small stones and seeds from the ground.
“Stand back,” I told them gently. “I don’t want you to get hurt.”
They scurried further back, ducking behind a big rock to play. I started swinging at a tree, but I lost my wind sooner than usual. I stopped, clutching my arm around my side. After a few moments, I started chopping again, only to encounter the same problem.
“What are you doing?” Hau scoffed. “You’re supposed to breathe air and yet you can’t seem to do that right.”
I scowled back at him. “You threw me against the stairs. I’m not a fast healer as it is. If you have something more to say, I suggest you leave.”
Hau looked down at the children as they played, ignoring me as I turned back to my work. I chiseled away at that tree for hours, but eventually it came down, crashing onto the ground. I took a break, sitting down upon a stone as my body cooled and the stabbing pain in my leg became a dull throb.
I looked over and saw Hau was gone. I looked around for Mali and Hana, but I didn’t see them anywhere. I grabbed my crutch and attempted to rush back to the lighthouse, but my body had enough of it, and the slick ground helped assist it in keeping me from moving forward.
I fell to the ground and cried out in agony as I landed on my side. I curled up in a ball, choking on breaths as the pain racked through my body.
“Mama!” Through blurred vision I saw two small shapes run up to me, while a much bigger one followed behind. Their hands were soaking wet and, when Hau picked me up off the ground, my clothes soaked through.
“Useless,” Hau snarled.
“Where did you go?” I wheezed.
“I took them swimming, which is what they should be doing. They can barely dive! What have you been doing to them?” Hau walked harshly, jostling me and adding to my pain as he carried me back down the hill to the lighthouse.
The girls chirped and hissed at him, biting at his ankles every time I made a sound.
“Very good, children,” he told them. “But I am taking her home! You need to save your energy for a real attack.”
“Take me back, I have to finish this,” I scolded.
“You’re in foul shape. What do you think you could possibly do aside from advancing your own death?” Hau carried me inside and laid me back in bed. “If you die, I would greatly appreciate it.”
“Sweet talk gets you nowhere,” I huffed.
Mali and Hana climbed onto the bed with me, snuggling up against me and nuzzling to my face.
Hau snarled. “It would make things so much easier. But I fear you’ve rubbed off too much on them.”
“Is that all you have to say?” I huffed. “Can’t you be cruel elsewhere? You’ve been here several days and all you’ve done is snarl nasty things under your breath. Doesn’t that get exhausting? Because it is for me!”
Hau recoiled in surprise. I’d held my tongue the entire time, but I was not in the mood then. I was in agony and I had so much to do. I also needed to go up to the top of the lighthouse to refuel, which sounded impossible the way my legs felt.
“Mean,” Mali hissed back at Hau.
“Mean!” Hana screeched.
I sighed and patted their heads. “You don’t need to join in.”
Hau turned and left the room, storming out and kicking something as he left the lighthouse. I sunk back into the bed, able to relax genuinely for the first time in days. Ever since Hau arrived, I had been on edge, which is probably why my body felt like tightly coiled wire.
Hana kissed my cheek and laid herself across my chest.
“You don’t need to protect me,” I mumbled. “He’s your father after all.” I closed my eyes and rubbed the bridge of my nose. “We’ll rest a little bit, then we have to make those repairs. Who knows when another storm will blow up?” I put my arm around them on my chest as I drifted to sleep.
I was woken by the sound of loud, repetitive banging. Hana and Mali were at the end of the bed and looking out the bedroom door with intense curiosity. I got up and looked out to see Hau cramming a solid block of stone through the broken window.
I wrapped my arm around my side and held it while I moved. “What are you doing?” I snapped at him.
He turned around on the stairs and glared at me. “Making repairs,” he said mockingly. He went back to force feeding the block of stone through the window until it wedged itself and sealed it off. He dusted off his big hands and leapt down the stairs in front of me.
He rose, glaring down at me then sniffed and turned towards the door which was leaned up against the wall and had a weaved material covering the holes.
“It’s good enough for nets, it should be good enough for your door,” he snarled. “You can put it back in place.”
“Thank you.” I was in a state of awe. “Why did you do this?”
“Is nothing good enough for you?” Hau hissed at me.
I tilted my head to the side. “Yes, of course it is, I’m just horribly confused. You didn’t seem like you wanted to help me at all.”
Hau rose from the door. “I have to accept that this is the nest my children will be living in. For the time being, it must be a guarded and safe nest for them. Once they understand how much better it can be for them, then I will have nothing more to do with this place.”
A smile broke on my face. “I’m so relieved, thank you so much!”
He huffed and his great shoulder slouched. “I will not help you, only my children.”
“That’s something we can agree upon. All I ask is that you do what’s best for Hana and Mali. I don’t care about myself whatsoever.”
His mouth opened slightly. “Such a strange thing to say about yourself.”
“It’s my norm.” I offered my hand to him to shake. “We can work together on this. We will take care of them equally, and try to get along for their sake. And whatever the choose in the future, we both have to accept it.”
“Why are you offering me your weird little hand?” Hau snarled.
Was my hand gross? I knew it was small in comparison but surely it wasn’t gross. “To shake on it. You know? Like a gentleman’s agreement.”
“Neither one of us is a gentleman, so I see no need to do it. It is customary to exchange blows when we come to an agreement.”
I flinched and tried to step away. “You already hit me enough I don’t think we need to-” Hau came closer and I felt pinned into a corner. “Wait a second, wait-” Hau lowered himself down, pressing his lips to mine. I remained still, feeling his cold breath in my lungs. I breathed back, feeling his chest flare as he took it in.
Hau pulled back, wiping his mouth with his finger. “That is how we come to an agreement.”
I clutched my hand over my chest, still feeling his cold breath inside me. My face felt flushed from embarrassment and I wanted to void looking any more foolish in front of him.
“Alright, okay,” I cleared my throat. “Glad we can come to that...which is the agreement that we have agreed upon.” I stopped and shook it off. “Thank you.”
Hau narrowed his eyes and puffed out his chest. “Just so you know, before we enter into this, every human I have ever come across I have killed them.”
I stood my ground, but only because I couldn’t move myself as fast as I needed to get away.
“So one wrong move, and you’ll be one of them.” His eyes averted, catching the girls watching us from the bedroom door. He exhaled, relaxing his puffed chest, and he patted the top of my head.
“How do I make them like me?” He growled.
“This is a start.”
A few days later, Hau carried me and the children down towards the ocean. In an attempt to get close to them, I agreed to let him take them swimming, only knowing they wouldn’t go far without me.
I sat on shore, urging Mali and Hana to go into the water with Hau. “It’s fine, I promise. This is what you are made to do, and he’s so excited to teach you. I’m excited too, see?” I pointed to my smile which they looked unimpressed by.
“What have you told them to make them so afraid of their home?” Hau huffed in his impatience.
“I am trying to help! Chill out! Their first memories are of a storm tossing them about in the water, give them some time!” I then realized they wouldn’t go far out without me.
With a heavy sigh, I knew what I had to do. “Do you want me to go swimming with you and your father?”
Mali and Hana nodded excitedly.
I stood and stripped off my clothes. Hau watched, a perplexed and irritated look upon his face. His eyes lingered, seeing scars upon my body that made his eyes widen and reveal the golden ring around the black.
I stepped into the water and caught his eye. “This is the only thing I can think of to get them further into the water with you. I’m not a great swimmer-”
“Then enjoy your awful death.” Hau dove into the water, swimming further out.
Mali and Hana followed me, going into the water and staying by my side. It was painfully cold, and my teeth started to chatter. I swam as best as I could towards Hau who dove under again. He yanked Mali and Hana down and their tiny hands grabbed at my toes. After a moment, they rose back up with a look of wonder on their faces.
Hau rose up from the water, the edges of his scars glowed brightly enough to make him look angelic. “Come on now, children, we need to try and go deeper. We hunt on the floor of the ocean, you need to learn how to find your own food.”
“It’s okay,” I told them. “You’re having fun, right?”
Mali tugged on me, wanting me to go down with them.
“You’re a nuisance.” Hau grabbed me, pulling me down underwater so that Hana and Mali would follow.
Hau’s strong arm locked around my waist, swimming with me down through the depths of the reef forest. It was strangely beautiful, even if my vision was somewhat blurred. The tall, tree-like coral towers had never been so high above me before. They were beautiful, but that didn’t take away how dangerous they were.
We did this several times, as Hau had to bring me back up for air. He complained, but the more we did it, the more eager that Hana and Mali were to join him. Eventually, all I needed to do was get into the water for them to dive with Hau. And as more time passed, I could sit peacefully on the shore while they went on their hunts.
“Mama! Mama! I found you things!” Mali happily clamored on shore, her smile shining brightly as she extended her hand out to me.
So much time had passed, but I was still amazed at how much they had grown. They were excellent swimmers now, and were on their way to being great hunters.
“What did you find this time?” I opened my hand and Mali dumped a fist full of pearls into my palm.
“For your collection,” Mali grinned.
I smirked. “That’s so sweet of you, Mali.” I pulled her in and kissed her cheek. “Where’s your sister?”
“Still with him.” She pointed to the ocean. “Hana didn’t catch enough.”
I rolled my eyes and let Mali climb into my lap. “Hana’s not the fighter like you are. He’s going to have to learn that.”
Mali snuggled up against me, closing her eyes with a smile on her face.
A few minutes later, Hana came out of the water with a huge pout on her face. She ran up to me, slamming herself into my body and tucking her head down.
“Hana! Get back here!” Hau came out of the water with a severe glare in his eyes. “You’re not done yet.”
Hana whimpered against me, hugging me tighter.
“She’s tired, Hau. Let her rest.”
Hau kneeled down before me. “You are far too soft on them. No wonder humans are so easy to kill if they have mothers as soft as you.”
I gave him a warning look. “Trust me, soft mothers are not the reason people are easy to kill. Now let her rest, she’s not going to work any harder just because you tell her to.”
Hau sat down on the sand, watching as the girls snuggled up to me. The look on his face I could understand. He was teaching them to be one of their own kind, but like any parent he also wanted to be close to them.
“Hana, would you like to hug your father?” I asked softly. “Then that’ll be all for your training today.”
Hana glanced back at Hau and slowly removed herself from me. She went to Hau and hugged onto his arm.
“I don’t need your pity,” Hau huffed.
“You need something,” I said with a smile.
Hau snarled under his breath and brought Hana into his lap.
Mali and Hana went off to play after a rest, leaving Hau and I alone together. We had gotten used to one another, after all this time we worked hard at it, but Hau kept his distance from me. I understood why he did, but I wanted to close that distance between us.
“May I ask you something, Hau?”
He tilted his head to the side. “What do you want?”
I gazed out over the ocean, watching the sun sink into the waves and paint them shades of orange and purple. “What happened the night you were separated from Hana and Mali? You’ve never told me that.”
Hau scoffed. “Because it was a painful loss for me. It was the first time I had ever failed at doing my duty.”
I glanced at him, seeing his expression was filled with pain. I inched closer to him and placed my hand upon his arm. “I understand. More than you’ll ever know.”
“You told me you lost your children,” he grumbled.
The pain welled up in my chest. “At least you found Mali and Hana again. I can’t describe my jealousy.”
“You found them,” he snarled weakly.
“Were you hurt?” I asked. “I mean...when you lost them.”
Hau was silent, and he didn’t try to toss my hand away at all. “I had been out hunting. I hadn’t left them in days and I was growing hungry. Since I was the only one in the nest, it was much harder. I decided to go after something big, something I could feed off of for a long time and not worry about leaving the nest. My arrogance cost me-” He pushed my hand aside then.
“Why do you want to know this?”
“I just do.”
“I let my mate die, and I almost let my children die,” he snarled. “There. Now you know.”
“You didn’t let them,” I murmured.
Hau remained silent.
“There’s something I need to tell you, something I’m not sure how you’ll respond to.” I looked back out over the ocean. “I suppose I need to say it for selfish reasons if you’ll let me.”
“Go ahead with it,” he grunted. “I’m used to your blathering.”
I smiled to myself, watching his hand flex in preparation of me touching it. I placed my palm on his arm again, moving it down and over the back of his hand. “I love you. I realized I did a while ago, but I wasn’t sure how to approach it.”
Hau sighed heavily. “You really are a fool. You would fall in love with the death that stood in your doorway. I told you long ago I had killed every human I had come across and not to think you would be any different. What makes you think you can escape me now?”
I chuckled. “I’m not.”
Hau put his big hand on the back of my head. “I would really be a failure if I did.”
“Well, as long as I am alive, can I?”
Hau looked down at me right as the tears began to fall from my eyes. “Can you what?”
I sniffled and hiccuped, covering my face with my hands. Hau gently hovered over me, lowering himself down so I was cast in his shadow. He pulled my hand away from my face and wrenched my chin to look back at him.
“Tell me,” he snarled.
“Can I love you?” I blubbered.
Hau frowned but it melted away slowly. He wiped the tears from my cheeks and looked me over with a soft gaze.
“I can’t stop you from anything, Oshea,” he murmured. “I can’t stop the children from loving you. Nor can I help but see you through their eyes. Love me if you must, I just don’t know what to do with it.”
“That’s okay,” I smiled through my tears. “Come here.” I pulled him down, pressing a kiss softly upon his cheek. He made a small noise in his throat and I kissed again.
Hana and Mali soon returned, wanting to go home and have dinner. They saw me crying and became defensive, but they realized soon that I was okay.
That evening, after Mali and Hana had been tucked into bed I stood in the open doorway of the lighthouse. I watched the light from the beacon shine far into the distance, warning oncoming sailors to the dangers of the reef forest.
I felt Hau’s presence behind me, but I remained still. Even as his arms wrapped around me from behind, I did not move. His strong embrace held me firmly to his body and his head came to rest upon my shoulder.
“Why must you love me?” He whispered.
“Because I must.”
His arms tightened around me. “Then I will show you how to love.”
Hau forced me outside the lighthouse, closing the door behind him. He led me away from the lighthouse, taking me down into an alcove of stone. He laid me upon the cold ground and pressed his body into mine.
“I’ll show you,” he snarled into my ear. “You humans have no depth. You cannot possibly understand.”
“Hau, please-” I held onto him as strongly as I could. I feared he would fade away like a mirage. Last time I held on so tightly, I lost them forever.
Hau’s strong hands dug into my body, he ripped away fabric that stood in his way. His touch awakened my nerves, and I was reminded of a long dead desire inside me.
Hau pressed his great power upon me, driving it hard into my body so I would not forget. He left marks on my skin, bites he said would show I had given myself to him. He pressed harder and deeper inside me, taking my breath away. His low voice became a soothing song in my ear, deep breaths and deep growls that filled my every thought. His effort rasped his voice, the harder he worked, the more his voice broke and trembled.
I began to cry in his arms, but I begged him not to stop for a single moment. I wanted him to hold me fast and imprint the shape of my body into the ground. I was so starved for this touch and this lesson, I feared I lost my mind for a moment.
The dark hush of the ocean as it lapped upon the shore echoed my deep breathing. As i laid there looking up at the sky, tears in my eyes, I felt the world around me sigh. Relief settled upon me as the sweat on my skin began to evaporate.
Hau’s body rose over me, taking me again into his arms.
Mali and Hana were still asleep when we returned. Dawn would soon come, but I did not feel like resting at all. My body was still pulsing with Hau’s affections, and each breath I took could feel him inside me.
I smiled at them as they slept, feeling a comfort inside me that I would not lose them as I feared. I left them to sleep, stepping back out into the main room where Hau stood before the fireplace.
He was quiet and still as I approached him, kissing his back and resting my body against his.
“I don’t hate you,” he murmured to me. “Not like I should. Not even a little. I don’t trust this feeling, but I don’t know what else I should do with it. You’re mine now. You always were. Since the moment you took them you sealed your fate.”
Hau turned and placed his hand upon the top of my head. “My fate is yours to decide,” he whispered.
Comments
Scarlet Afire
Eeee! I love them so much. How long has it been in your mind? A few months? Almost a year? Several years? Hana and Mali are just so sweet 🧁
