Beneath the Waves

It Begins

Sunday came faster than both of them would have liked, and they walked into Armin and Appo's house feeling ill prepared. They were offered something to drink as they walked in, but both being as nervous as they were they declined the offer.

Armin smiled, "You two have nothing to be nervous about, it's our first training session, things will hardly be perfect"

Both of them let out sighs of relief, looked at each other, Ria winked at Chris, making her blush.

They were ready for this, even though they didn't quite feel like it.

Appo came out of the kitchen and told them that they'd all have dinner before starting the hard work, that they needed their strength. So they sat down at the table for what Appo called a 'simple meal' but one that was once again so good that Ria couldn't believe it was just 'casually thrown together'. They finished their meal with light chitchat, Ria and Chris filling them in on their attempts to practice alone, and Chris' luck of almost getting stuck in the dungeon.

This made Appo laugh, "you two are quite the unlucky pair aren't you" he said, smile still on his face.

They then proceeded to tell the two old men about their first date and how Ria almost ruined the whole thing by destroying the entire picnic, which made everyone laugh.

"How did you two meet?" asked Ria looking at Armin

The two looked at each other, Armin reaching to squeeze Appo's hand. "It's a complicated story, but times were different back then" said Armin

"Y... you don't have to tell us if you don't want to" said Chris carefully

"No, it's not that, it's just hard to talk about" said Armin

"It was 1918, things were much different back then. I was getting ready to marry my best friend, obviously it was a sham of a marriage, one to just get our parents off our backs. She wanted to be with women, I wanted to not be with women, so it was the perfect arrangement. It was at the wedding that I met her brother, who had just come back from fighting in the war"

As he said this last part he looked up at Appo and smiled. Confirming their suspicions that this 'brother' was definitely Appo.

"We had just turned 25 and..." before they could continue Chris interrupted

"25 in 1918? That would mean that you're over 100 years old! You don't look any older than 60" she said with surprise in her voice

The two old men smiled at each other, "our kind ages differently, something to do with the heat that runs within us" replied Armin

"That's so cool" said Ria and Chris simultaneously

"Sorry for interrupting... you were saying" Chris added

Armin continued, "It was at the wedding that I met this cute little face. Grumpy and stoic as ever, nothing could penetrate that exterior. But i had my charms. We got to know each other throughout my marriage to his sister and the three of us became inseparable. I had, of course, fallen head over heels in love with him the very first time I laid eyes on him, but I kept it to myself, not knowing how he would react to something like that."

"What he didn't know is that when I saw him in that wedding suit it was over for me too, but I had a lot of feelings to come to terms with. He was my sister's husband after all, and I didn't know their marriage was one of convenience" added Appo

"The three of us did everything together, and knowing what we were, we decided to visit our homeland to see if we could find more of our kind. Let's just say things didn't go as planned. There was a Chayal attack in one of the villages and Aminah, my wife and Appo's sister didn't make it out. She ran to save the life of a woman she had met there, and both of them were caught on the wrong end of a Chayal blade." Armin finished, his voice catching in his throat, a tear running down Appo's cheek.