Triton's Destiny

Part Nineteen

"Feeling better?" Tristan leaned in to fill Maki's mug with more tea.

Maki nodded with a smile, lifting the mug to his lips and taking a sip of the honey-sweetened liquid. "Yes. Thank you. This is good tea. I like it."

"Have you had other kinds before?"

"No." Maki held Tristan's gaze as he took another sip. "But it's still good."

"It's peppermint, mostly. That plus fresh air usually works pretty well on my headaches, I've found." Tristan returned the kettle to the stove and came back to the table to sit down.

"Mmm," Maki hummed as he nodded, turning his face to the open window and taking a deep breath of the clean ocean air. "Very effective."

"I don't suppose you do herbal remedies at home, huh?"

Maki shrugged. "We have a few. But we don't typically ingest them. They're more for topical use. There's not much point in preparing potions when we have no need to drink anything. The water is part of us. It's constantly flowing through our bodies."

"Hey. Yeah." Tristan leaned his elbows on the table, gazing at Maki with interest. "How does that work, exactly?"

"How does what work?"

"Well, if you don't need to drink anything..." Tristan cocked his head in curiosity. "You do eat food, though, right? Fish and stuff?"

"Fish and sea vegetables," Maki said with a nod. "I eat a lot of seaweed salad."

"But you're underwater. How do you eat?"

Maki huffed a laugh. "The same as any other aquatic animal, Tristan. Food goes in with the water we're always processing. Nutrients are extracted and put to use. The rest is discarded."

"Does everything taste like saltwater?" Tristan's nose wrinkled as he contemplated that unappealing fate.

"Taste is..." Maki's face scrunched in an adorably contemplative expression. "...not much of a thing for tritons. Everything's pretty bland. We eat to fuel ourselves, not for enjoyment."

"That's kinda sad." Tristan suspected that was part of why Maki was so lean and wiry.

"It is," Maki agreed. Then a wide smile broke across his handsome face. "But that's one of the reasons why I love coming to the surface. Human food is... Oh my gods, Tristan. The flavors, smells, and textures... It's all so... wonderful. Even this." He pointed to his mug of tea. "I taste all these things in it I never have before but it's so delicious. And whatever makes it sweet... Mmm. I love it."

"That's honey." Tristan got up, grabbed the jar and a spoon, and came back, moving his chair around right next to Maki's. "It's made by pollinator insects called bees and it's one of the best things in the world. Here." He dipped the spoon into the jar and then held the utensil out for Maki. "Taste it."

Leaning in, Maki wrapped his lips around the spoon and licked it clean, closing his eyes and pressing his fingers to his mouth as he moaned low in his throat. "Oh my gods... That is divine."

A breath fell from Tristan's parted lips, his cheeks burning as he watched Maki's pleasurable reaction. The man was sinfully alluring. Tristan wondered if he knew how much he was affecting him right now. Pulling away from that devastatingly tempting mouth, he created some space between them, desperately trying to get his racing heart back under control. "So, um..." He swallowed hard against the dryness in his throat. "Can you talk underwater?"

Maki shook his head. "We can make sounds. And we have certain ones for specific purposes. But language doesn't travel well through water."

"Then how do you talk to each other? Do you do it with your mind, like when you rescued me?"