Deep Sea

Chapter 2: MS Haltija

Chapter 2: MS Haltija

Kai had his eyes closed, his hands out palm down against the surface of the water. He stood naked in the water, enjoying the cool and refreshing swish of it around his legs.

He was a bit of an oddity. Most of his brothers and sisters never stepped foot or fin on dry land if they had a choice. But working with MCRC meant that Kai spent a great majority of his time speaking and dealing with land dwellers. Walking had been hard at first but it grew easier with time. And now he even liked walking and dancing with the stubby appendages.

But he was born a sea creature first and the ocean was his home. He loved the water and it was very relaxing to even just stand in it.

The MCRC Observer he was to ship out on today didn't leave until noon. And his new partner had yet to arrive.

He felt his blood stir at the thought of the red headed woman.

Mermaids all had white or gray or silver hair, merfolk didn't really have much in the way of pigmentation. And most of the humans he worked with had brown, black, or blonde hair. To see a human woman with such vibrant hair was unusual. And it was long and gently waved, it reminded him of the ocean at sunset.

But her eyes, those bright almost gold eyes, those were very unique. He had never seen such eyes. They were beautiful. And enormous. Through his explanation back at base, her eyes never left his face, like she was observing and absorbing everything he said and did. No one had ever looked at him like that before.

And such an odd name.

Joe.

'Joe' sounded so much different than how she looked. Joe sounded round and plain, not alluring and delicate. Jack had filled him in a bit about 'Joe'. 'Joe' wasn't a fighter, she was a thinker. 'Joe' had no aiming ability. 'Joe' could think herself out of almost any situation.

"Joe." he said out loud.

"Yes?"

He turned slowly and hid his surprise at seeing her standing on the beach behind him. She was wearing a two piece bathing suit colored deep blue with a lighter, sheer sarong around her waist. Her feet were bare and her hair was swirling around in the wind.

By the waves above, she was beautiful.

"What are you doing here?" he asked calmly.

"Well, I went to the ship and they said you went down here." she smiled a bit. "I figured since you're my new partner, this would be a chance to get to know you before we set sail."

Kai said nothing as he observed her. The time lapse from the last few days hadn't made her looks any less interesting.

Humans, in relation to mythical species, were quite odd. A centaur could never mate and produce viable offspring with a mermaid or an elf. But they could do so with humans. The humanoids of the mythical creatures could mate successfully with humans and produce half-human children. It was a very strange scientific anomaly that geneticists and scientists worldwide wondered at.

So it wasn't wrong for him to look at this human woman and feel desire.

But it was very odd. He had never been attracted to the wildly colorful and flamboyant humans before. Even the tame ones were still more colorful than any of his brothers or sisters.

And this human wasn't tame at all. She liked colors, that was obvious, and her hair alone was brighter than any of the mermaids' back home.

She was glorious.

Joe fidgeted a bit as his stare elongated. He didn't speak, didn't react, just stared at her.

And he was in the water up to his waist, quite a ways from where she stood at the shore. She didn't like yelling to be heard.