Sirens And Sins {HIATUS}

8. Querencia

Orpheus was the love of Ariel's life.

Of course, he didn't know much about love. He loved his sisters and he loved treasures, sure, but he didn't know if there was a difference between those two types of love. It wasn't something he thought a lot about, but he knew that like and love were two different things.

Ariel loved a few things, and one of them was Orpheus. So in the same way that Mira was the light of his life, Orpheus was the love of his. He didn't need to understand what that meant as long as he cared for the other, right?

Orpheus lived secluded from the other sirens. His cave was small and covered in seaweed and barnacles to camouflage itself from predators. Ariel wasn't sure who would try to kill the healer. He was pretty sure Orpheus was immortal.

Ariel entered his cave without invitation. The inside was spacious, with scattered instruments Ariel didn't recognize littered on the ground. There wasn't a lot to look at, and for a few seconds, Ariel was hit with a spell of loneliness. The cave looked like the home of a dead siren. There was barely anything in there.

"Orpheus?" Ariel called out, drifting around the open space. "Are you home?"

He found himself drawn to a treasure chest padlocked heavily. It looked new. Ariel didn't waste time in probing around to get a good sense of what was inside. He placed his slender hands on the chest and hummed quietly to himself. Magic tingled at his fingertips. It flickered and flowed from the pads of his fingers to the soft, wooden surface. If Ariel wanted to, he could've pushed harder and broken the wood, but Orpheus might get angry.

"Gold," he muttered to himself. "Gold, gold, steel, gold, pearls strung upon a string, more gold-"

"Ariel, what are you doing?"

The way he said his name made tingles run up Ariel's spine. Ah-ree-el. Ariel jumped up, ripping his hands from the chest. Orpheus looked at him with one eyebrow quirked, large arms crossed. Ariel did his best not to look guilty, but it was quite hard with the way Orpheus looked at him. Any angry feelings Ariel felt earlier melted into fear.

"Orpheus, the love of my life," Ariel began nervously.

Orpheus slowly shook his head. "You cannot call me that if you don't know what it means."

"I know what it means," Ariel argued. "Mostly."

The healer chuckled tiredly. The sound made Ariel study the other. Orpheus was undeniably beautiful. His skin was the color of charcoal and gold flecks powdered his cheeks like freckles. Gold and deep blue pearls were strung upon his short hair, matching his strikingly sharp eyes. His chiseled torso melted into two tails, swishing back and forth languidly. Orpheus wasn't a siren, but whatever he was, Ariel had never seen anything as beautiful as him.

Although the human's eyes were a close second.

"Love is a complicated emotion," Orpheus said, running a hand through his hair. His narrow face was haggard and there were bags under his eyes. Ariel had never seen him look so tired.

"How so?" Ariel asked, moving towards the healer.

"There's love and then there's love. It's a human emotion. Unless you were human yourself, you wouldn't understand it, peutcha." Peutcha had been a fond nickname for Ariel for as long as he could remember, yet the healer never explained what it meant. He could be insulting Ariel for all he knew.

"Try me." Ariel didn't stop until he was mere inches away from Orpheus. From this distance, he could see the white flecks in his eyes.

Orpheus laughed, clearly not taking Ariel seriously. "I could not. Love is very dangerous, Ariel. I had witnessed someone close to me fall into a black hole called love and it killed her. I would hate for that to happen to you."