Haley Thistle
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Merman Boyfriend: Ty 2 (complete)
🕑 Added 2020-07-29 19:00:02 +0000 UTC
I’ve seen ships many times in my life, but never have I been aboard one. It feels strange to be on the water and yet so far away from it. Haytham has prepared enough medicine for my colony, as well as extra should the disease still linger. Daddy also has supplies ready, in case there is a need for food or anything else since the outbreak started.
“We have other merfolk in the carnival, but we don’t want to risk them getting ill, so Authaire and I will join you,” Haytham says.
“I’m not sure how my people will take to landwalkers among them. Most are quite afraid of them. Who knows what the disease has done to their way of thinking?” My wife, Seira, has a strong distaste for landwalkers. Ever since her sister ran away with one and never returned, she’s held a very harsh opinion.
I want to get back home so badly. I have no idea what happened since I’ve been away. I know I left in a hurry - I wanted to get gone and be back as fast as possible so my family didn’t have to suffer any more. What if I failed them? What if there’s nothing left to go home to? I would be lost forever. I wouldn’t ever want to be in the ocean again.
“Will you miss your legs?”
Echo’s voice brings me out of my dark thoughts. She looks at me from her seat, wearing a bright orange life vest that looks too big for her skinny frame.
I smile at her and shake my head. “I don’t quite know how you get around on them.” I stretch my legs out. More scales have grown since last I looked, and it seems the spell is wearing off. “They make no sense, especially the feet. How is someone supposed to balance on those?”
Echo leans forward slightly. “What’s it like to have a tail?”
“Well,” I sigh. “When I compare the two, knowing now what legs are like, I would have to say a tail is much better.” I wink at her. “To me, the tail feels weightless, just a natural continuation of me. I’m not in separate pieces - it’s a unified whole working together.”
Echo tilts her head to the side. “Do you get tired?”
“Of course. Everyone does. But that’s why I have a large nest for me and my family. It’s where we go to rest and be safe.”
Echo’s smile grows a bit. “Can I see it?”
“I’m afraid not,” Daddy says. “Where we’re going isn’t very safe for you. We have to swim very far down, and I don’t want you getting hurt.”
Echo begins to pout, and I recognize the same look I’ve seen in my own daughter. “It’s okay. I get it,” she says, but it clearly bothers her all the same.
“Maybe one day,” I say to placate her. “Who knows what the future holds?”
Echo thinks about this. She nods at me, then gets up to look over the railing as the ship takes off.
My legs are beginning to ache, and the further out to sea we get, the more they cramp and make me limp when I have to walk. I suppose it’s the spell wearing off, but it could also be my need for the sea as well. As the stars come out, I start to remember their positions from my view back home. They fill the sky as it grows blacker, and the moon is full and bright.
“I think we’re close,” I say to Daddy. “Let’s stop here.”
Authaire stops the boat while Haytham drops anchor. The world is quiet - nothing but the sound of the waters lapping against the boat. Ruby is sitting with Echo, gently stroking her hair while Echo lies sleepily in her arms. Something seems wrong.
“Is she alright?” I ask.
“Echo gets a little sick during full moons,” Ruby says. “She still hasn’t shifted yet, so the full moon affects her.”
I furrow my brow. “Shifted?”
Ruby nods, gently brushing Echo’s hair away from her face. “Echo is a werewolf. She’s a fish out of water too.”
There’s a heavy splash in the water, and a stone is tossed up on board. Another stone crashes through a window, and I hear a scream from below. I run to the railing, with Haytham and Daddy close behind. “Get Echo inside!” Daddy calls back to Ruby.
I see something yellow in the waters. A moment later, something like a bolt of lightning flashes up above the water, and I’m struck across the head by a sharp shell.
“Get out of here!” someone screams. “Leave now! Get out!”
I look through the pain in my temple and Isee my wife. Seira is brandishing another large stone, and the look in her eyes is terrifying, angry and hateful. But I am so happy to see her. I want to jump off the edge of the boat, but Haytham holds me back.
“Monsters!” Seira screams. “Animals!” She throws the rock, and it very nearly hits me again.
“Seira, it’s me!” I call out to her. “It’s Tybrus! I’ve brought help! Please tell me, is Nixie okay? Have you had the baby?”
Daddy and Haytham push me to the deck as Siera hurls more shells and stones our way. “You know her?” Haytham asks.
“That’s my wife!” I exclaim. “I need to go speak with her. If she could just see me...”
I try to rise, but Haytham holds me down. He gives me a harsh glare to end my struggling. “The spell has two more hours left on it. You can’t go out there. You don’t know how to swim with your legs. If she has no memory of you, she could drown you without a second thought.”
“But she needs me!” I say, near tears. “Let me go! I have to try!” I break free from his grip and leap from the boat. I hit the water, and then the side of the boat as Seira slams up against me. I barely manage to catch my breath before she hits me again. I flail to the surface. “Seira! It’s me! You have to remember me, please!”
“Evil landwalkers!” Seira screams. “I hope you die!”
I loved Seira at first sight. She had been an angry, bitter sort. She lashed out at the world, especially me, since I represented the world she was trying to fight against. Her sister had run away with a landwalker, so she felt she had something to prove. She built up a small gang that did an alright job of that, so much so I had to go and talk to her. She was vicious to me, but kind to her own, and treated them like family. I realized that most of them were young, injured and outcasts of other colonies. I agreed to give them a place to live and work if they were willing to accept the protection of a colony.
Seira was uncertain, so she followed me around to make sure I wasn’t just feeding her followers false promises. I’m not sure when I earned her trust, because it seemed like one day, she wasn’t following me, but accompanying me. The first time she kissed me, I could have knocked the moon from the sky. And when she presented a pearl to me, asking me to be her mate, I had never been so happy. To me Seira had always been, and will always be, the most beautiful jewel in the sea. Even now, when she’s hurling stones and shells at me.
I remember the night when she gave me the pearl, how beautiful and confident she was. The pearl nearly filled her palm. She must have been searching for such a thing for hours, maybe even days or weeks. She was so proud, I couldn’t say no. “You didn’t need to give me a pearl. In fact, I was certain you would tell me we were mates, rather than ask.” I took hold of her wrist and pulled her close.
“Of course I was going to ask!” Siera scoffed. “I may be mean, but I am not barbaric.” She looked at me with those beautiful black eyes. “So, what are you going to say? Tell me already, so I can go about my night.”
I kissed her, pulling her into my chest. She pressed the pearl against me, melting into the kiss so her whole body relaxed.
“Of course I say yes. It was always going to be yes.” I slipped my hands around her waist. “You’re my pearl. That’s all I needed.”
“Goof,” she chided me before stealing another kiss. “Take me to your nest. I can’t wait a moment longer.”
“I’m surprised you have,” I teased.
“I wanted to make sure.” Her long arms looped around my neck. “I had to be. I didn’t want to mistake it.” Her expression then was so unlike her - soft and vulnerable, and so precious. “I needed to know I loved you.”
“Do you?” I whispered.
“More than anything, Ty.” Her hand slipped up the back of my neck. “Do you love me?”
I pressed my forehead to hers. “More than anything. I did from the moment I laid eyes on you.”
The kiss she gave me next took my breath away. The water stilled, and I could barely control my natural urges. We rushed to my nest, where we spent the night tangled up in one another. We conceived Nixie that very night, and from that moment on, Seira and I were never apart.
The day Nixie was born, I had been out visiting some of the elderly members of the colony. I heard that Seira had gone into labor, and I rushed home as fast as I could. But Seira wasn’t there. It turned out Seira had gone into labor while out hunting. I had told her to let someone else do it, or at least let me when I was done for the day, but she was so stubborn she couldn’t bear it.
I found her in a cave, holding baby Nixie in her arms. Nixie was so tiny, we were both terrified we would lose her. Her tail was malformed as well, so we were on constant alert with her. But Nixie proved to have her mother's will and rarely let us forget it. Despite her troubles swimming, she was eager for everything else. Her appetite for exploration was voracious, and her inquisitive nature led her into all sorts of trouble. She was the most important thing in the world to me, my pride and joy.
“Is Nixie okay?” I try. I can’t tell the salt water from my tears anymore. “And our new baby? Has it been born? Is it okay? Seira!”
Seira screams and lunges, diving through the water and ramming me back against the side of the boat. Then she drags me underwater. I’m not strong enough to fight back, nor would I want to. But I can see she’s still pregnant. She’s not had the baby yet.
Someone jumps into the water and manages to drag Seira off me, and I’m pulled back to the surface by Haytham. Meanwhile, Daddy pulls Seira away from me. She bites and claws at him, screaming and hissing.
“She’s still pregnant! Be careful with her!”
“Her nesting instinct has taken over. She won’t stop.” Haytham helps me get back on board. “It’s okay, you don’t need to worry.”
“Yes, I do!” I insist. “That’s my wife and child out there! I can’t wait two hours. This is unbearable as it is! My family, my colony needs me. I don’t even know where my daughter is!”
“Don’t worry. Authaire is going to calm her down, he has that ability with women.”
Haytham looks up as Daddy comes up the ladder with Seira on his shoulder. She’s unconscious and twitching as he lays her down on the deck. I quickly pull her into my arms and hold her close. Her scales look pale. The vivid yellow is dull, and the blue spot on her back is barely visible at all.
“She’ll go into labor once we administer the cure,” Haytham says to me. “Your baby will be born, perhaps a bit early. But this isn’t my first merchild. I’ve delivered at least ten.”
“Please, you have to help her.” I kiss her forehead and lay her in my lap. She twitches and grimaces in her sleep.
Haytham gives her an injection just below her gills. She hisses and flops, then falls into my lap like a stone. “It should start working in an hour,” Haytham says. “But by the time she goes into labor, the spell on you will be wearing off.”
I shake my head. “I’m not leaving her. I’m staying right here.”
“That’s why we’ll have to move into the water. The baby needs to be born underwater.” Haytham takes a deep breath. “You see something new every day.”
Once water starts to pour from Seira’s ears, she begins to stir. She slowly opens her eyes and looks up into my face. “What is that?” She reaches up, slapping her entire palm over my face. “I know that shape.”
I kiss her palm. “It’s me, Seira,” I whisper. “I came back.”
Seira rubs her eyes. “I can’t hear you. What’d you say?”
I lean down so she can see me better. Her eyes go wide, and she cups her hands around my face. “Tybrus? Is that you?”
“It’s me, my love!” I whisper happily to her.
“Ty, it’s time,” Haytham says.
I nod and kiss Seira softly. “You’re about to have the baby. We need to get you back into the water.”
I pick her up, and she wraps her long arms around my neck. “I’m scared,” she whimpers. “I don’t know what’s happening.”
“It’s okay. I’ve got you.” I slowly ease down the ladder, then slip into the water. “Where’s Nixie?”
Seira is trembling, and her sharp claws dig into my shoulder. “I can’t remember. I don’t...” She lets out a pained scream.
“It’s alright, it’s alright.” Haytham joins us in the water. “It’s normal. Just try and breathe through it, Seira.”
“Who is this? Where are we?” Seira sobs pitifully. “I want to go home, Ty.”
“I know, I do too, but our baby. Think of the baby. Think of Nixie, too.”
Seira screams again, thrashing her tail and arching her back. Haytham slowly eases himself under water. As he does, I feel a sharp pain shooting through my body. It goes down my spine and through my legs. I scream, and Seira screams. I descend underwater, tasting blood on my tongue. As my tail fuses back together, I am in agony, but I still cling to Seira.
I take a breath, and everything is clear. Seira reaches down into the bloody water, lifting a small, perfect shape. It’s wrapped up into a tight, round ball, but it slowly uncoils. The tail is covered in slime, and the smallm pale body is almost translucent. The baby clings to Seira’s hands and starts nibbling on them.
“It’s another girl,” Seira whispers.
I take the baby into my hand, where she fits perfectly. She grabs my thumb, sucking on it. I see stripes on her, and a big red spot on her tail. I kiss her softly and welcome her into the world.
Seira and I take Haytham and Daddy to the colony. All around us merfolk are wandering around, frail and lost as they try to collect their thoughts. Seira takes us to the nursery where the children are kept. Right away I find my Nixie, but she’s so weak she can barely open her eyes.
Haytham gets to work right away on treating them. He administers the cure, then watches over the children for the next hour. I keep Nixie in my arms while Seira and the new baby rest against me. By dawn, Haytham has administered the cure to almost all of the colony, but he has to return to the surface to rest.
“Who are these landwalkers?” Seira asks me. “Where did you find them?”
“I didn’t,” I murmur. “They found me. They saved my life. I almost died up there.” I take both daughters in my arms. The baby nibbles on my arm while Nixie sleeps. Haytham said he would return after he got some sleep, and would check up on the progress of everyone, but especially the youngest.
I kiss the top of Seira’s head. “I know you hate them, Seira, but without them, none of this would be happening. We all would die.”
“I know,” she whispers. She touches the top of Nixie’s head. “Which was the one that saved you?”
I think for a moment, then smile. “Her name is Echo. She reminds me of our Nixie.”
Seira rests her cheek on my arm. “I missed this great big arm. I didn’t even know I did.” She closes her eyes and nods. “Let’s name our baby after her.”
“You would do that?” I ask excitedly.
“I would be honored.”
Later in the day, as Seira and Nixie rest in our nest, I take my new baby up to the surface to introduce her to her namesake. Echo leans over the side of the boat, eyes wide with wonder as I present to her little baby Echo.
“She’s so small,” Echo says with tears in her eyes. “So cute.”
“Seira said, since you saved me, she thought it would be the best way to honor you.” I smile up at her. “Thank you, Echo. Without you, none of this would have been possible.”
“Will I ever see you again?” Echo sniffles.
“I hope so,” I smile up at her. “This will not be goodbye.”
Once Haytham is done with his checkups, the boat leaves to head back to shore. For a while, the colony sleeps. Things are quiet, but the stillness is peaceful. As Nixie grows stronger, baby Echo grows as well. I take care of my girls, making sure they eat well and get strong.
“Daddy,” Nixie murmurs one night as she lays on my chest. “What was land like?”
“Very strange,” I say to her. “They have these things called croissants that look like fat, beached seals, and they eat them with an oil called chocolate drizzled all over them.”
Nixie’s eyes grow wide. “Did you eat them?”
“I tried them, but they don’t compare to lobster.” I rub my fingers down her neck. “They also have these itty-bitty tridents called forks, and they use them to spear their food.”
“Not their hands?” Nixie exclaims.
I chuckle and shake my head. “Nope! They don’t! They think these little tools are better.” I lean in close to her. “I grew legs, too!”
Nixie’s expression is too sweet to take. She looks bewildered and wild for a moment. “How did you grow legs? What were they like?”
“They were the strangest thing of all!” I reply. “I still don’t quite know how they really worked.”
“Could we go back one day?” Nixie asks. “Maybe I could grow legs, too.”
“Don’t get your hopes up,” Seira sighs. “You have exactly what you need to get around in this world.”
“What about the landwalkers?” Nixie asks quietly.
“The ones I met were the best of people,” I say softly.
Nixie snuggles up close to me. I know she’s getting ready to butter me up, because she has always done this ever since she was little. She curls up between my neck and shoulder, laying her tail down my arm while her head rests on my chest. “Could we go on land someday?” she asks sweetly. “I would like to meet the girl who saved you.”
I smile. “I think the two of you could become best friends, so I would like you to meet her too.”
A few months later, I receive a sort of ‘knowing’ from Ruby. I’m not sure what it is, but it’s a feeling deep inside me, and it tells me to return to the beach. Siera needs some convincing, but she does want to thank the people who saved us in person. When we arrive, we discover a party under way - Echo’s birthday. She cries when she sees me, and I cry when I see her. “This is my daughter, Nixie,” I introduce the two. “She’s been so excited to meet you.”
“I like your tail!” Echo says excitedly.
“I like your legs!” Nixie chimes back with the same exuberance.
The two are instantly inseparable. They play on the beach together, making sand castles and drawing pictures. Nixie takes Echo swimming into the waters, and they fall asleep on the beach holding hands.
“We’ll have to do this more often,” Daddy says to me.
“I’d like that,” Seira replies ahead of me. “Does your carnival take in merfolk?”
“All the time.”
Seira looks at me. “I wanted to show our daughter the world, remember?”
I kiss Seira lovingly. “Let’s see that the colony heals properly. Once we’re ready, we’ll see the world.”
