Seafood Adventures

Peas in a Pod

Cranberry groaned and rubbed his belly.

He felt absolutely bloated, his flesh strained from the stretch.

It's been almost a year now. The next mating season was just around the corner and he was yet to give birth to the pups he conceived last year.

He didn't understand.

Not the long pregnancy, this was normal for his kind. When he still had been with his shiver he always dealt with the ones that had gotten pregnant during the season one year prior.

What he couldn't get was why he was so big. His kind only had one or two pups at once. Yet he felt like he was carrying as many as Cross had.

The laughter of the pups, playing oustside, supervised by Cross, Lust and several of Dust's pilot fish, floated in to him, light and bright like sunlight, playing in the waves at the surface.

While lively and impossible to ignore, the audible delight and happiness of the little ones soothed him and lulled him to sleep.

Back then, when Cross had his eggs, Cran had slipped back into his role as midwife easily.

Later, when everything had calmed a little, the pod as well as the resident couple had realized that they were stuck for at least a few years.

You don't go wander with a bunch of hatchlings. Even if the pod decided to stay in the area, which hadn't been decided on yet, it would take a few years for the pups to grow strong enough. That's why most wandering mer species had established travelling routes they hardly ever changed or wandered off, including nurseries, where the expecting parents could stay and raise their pups until they'd be old enough and join the pod with their parents when they came by again.

Two days after Cross, Lust had his clutch of seven, making it a total of nineteen eggs, later pups, for nine adults to look after.

Well, not instantly. Until the pups hatched it had mostly been Cross, Lust and Cran who watched the eggs while one or two of the pod kept watch and the others were hunting and exploring with Dust, learning everything he knew about the territory.

Cranberry chewed him out when one day Horror brought him back home after he passed out from exhaustion.

Like when he'd nursed Cranberry back to health, he'd ran himself ragged since the whole pod had been exhausted and hungry, gone a long time without enough food before they arrived at their territory.

Dust had insisted that he was fine but Cran wouldn't have any of this. "Th' others 're g'nna be okay. Ya nee' ta res'. Cr'ss 'n' Lus' have f've ma'es ta take care a'em, i've 'nly you!" Cranberry had broken down in tears, being emotional and afraid of what might become of him if anything happened to his beloved, strong, wonderful mate. He didn't say it but he doubted the pod would burden themselves with a shark that couldn't kill and, probably, two additional pups to feed and protect.

He got a little hysterical and it took a long time for Dust to calm him down. Cranberry only stopped crying when Dust eventually promised to stay with him for a while to recover and keep watch in the meantime. Cranberry allowed the watch under the condition that Dust would cuddle with him. Dust smiled, wiped the residual tears from Cranberry's face and kissed him gently, sealing the promise.

The both of them had lain pressed to each other as close as possible and traded sweet kisses and soft touches.

Nightmare had approved of Cranberry's insistence, having gotten worried for Dust. He patiently convinced Dust that he and his pod were in good enough shape to take care of things for a while, knowing every nook, rock and algae in the territory by now.