Sea Breeze

Talk Splash

Marie nodded clutching her sister's hand, "Sue nothing can make me feel again without him, I'm so glad you're helping me."
Her younger sister giggled like a schoolgirl and bounced around obviously excited beyond belief, "Oh my god oh my god oh my god!!!! I'm so~ super excited! My big sister, the Pr-"
Marie lunged forward and covered her sister's mouth and Sue instantly understood but collapsed under Marie's weight, "Mphmn Mmm nmh"
Marie heard a car and swore, "Shit! Sue I need you to listen to me. No one can know about my secret or our love, okay? If they find out they'll tear us apart."
The elder sister's blue gaze bore deep into the younger's eyes and an understanding was immediately reached. Marie dove into the water as Sue ran up to father and son with a smile, "Hey, I'm Marie's sister Sue. She just got a little wet when a wave surprised her and is changing at the moment so I came to greet you."
The father examined her closely, there was no denying the resemblance between them. He looked towards the beach and saw nothing so he hugged Jamie tight, "I'll be back to see you soon my boy. I love you."
"Love you too daddy." Son hugged father and the younger sister wondered at this connection as they grudgingly parted and as the father left Jamie immediately ran to the water, "Marie!"
The blue eyed woman popped out of the water and sat on a rock with arms wide open and a grin on her face, "Jamie! Welcome home, how was your day with your dad?"
He hugged her and the scene touched the viewers, Shell even had no desire to take them away at that moment. Is this what they mean when they say there's an unbreakable bond between woman and child, he wondered, then what about the kid's real mother?
Aenon watched and felt something grudgingly click, he'd never get them to give each other up. He'd never fully complete his sent goal.
Marie on the other hand sat and listened to Jamie intently laughing along with the curious brown eyed boy. She didn't even seem phased at this change of pace. Seeing this Sue knew that her sister could have gone through with the arranged marriage but she just hadn't wanted to so she didn't. Sue knew that her sister could make it in any town and any place, so why did she choose here instead of a big city where it's easy to hide?
After Marie finished listening to Jamie she looked at the sea, "I bet you're wondering why here of all places, right?"
Sue nodded and Marie continued, "Because the sea has a strong wind coming from it and it reminds me why I can stand up to mom and dad and everyone else."
Sue laughed at such a simple reason, "You're so weird, no wonder you could never keep a boyfriend."
Marie stuck her tongue out at her sister but this struck the mermen, why would a human be so drawn to the sea? They wondered this for a while before Marie finally dried off and changed back. She took about a step before another wave crashed over her making her face plant into the sand, the boys all laughed and Sue grinned, "How about I make sandwiches?"
"Oh and some of that lemonade stuff too!" Shell put in and Marie gave the thumbs up from the sand. High tide was here so she pulled herself to the grass line where the waves were coming up too. the boys did the same and Aenon spoke, "So uh, I've been wondering where are you really from?"
"Well..." she bit her lip and thought about her answer, "I uh, I'm from a small place called Cape Corona. It's not very wide or big but it's home."
"Where's that at?" Shell leaned against the bank in his lax way.
"It's on the coast of this sea, but a few hundred miles away from here."
They nodded and Aenon searched his memory, did he learn something about a cape like that when he was in school?
Shell grinned with an idea, "How about we go visit it? It'll be a fun swim."
Marie shook her head, "No I can't leave Jamie alone."
The blue haired man huffed but the elder brother said nothing, well if they could lure her away the other could snatch Jamie. No, she'd know something's up. He instead focused on the platter of sandwiches Sue had brought over, he hadn't had ham in years and suddenly fell in love with it all over again. If ham tasted this good after his all seafood diet them what would a burger taste like? Oh and fries or a big juicy steak- he cut himself off before he really did go and want one but he didn't have any money, he'd left all that behind when he went to live in the sea.
Marie dipped her tail in and out of the water in thought as her sister and Jamie went back inside to take baths, "Hey..." Her voice was quiet as she spoke and the starlight illuminated a sparkle in her eye and danced on the water, "what's it like... living in the sea all the time I mean?"
"Aw it's great," Aenon was relaxed against the shore, "there's no rules, no people telling you what to do at every corner, no one to tell you no that you can't jump off that cliff or no you can't swim that mile. It's like freedom Marie."
Shell scrunched his nose, "I happen to think there's a lot of rules," he mimicked an older man and pointed at nothing in particular, "no you can't talk to that girl. No you can't see your sister because she's mated to some guy. No you can't eat that because it's for some five year old guppy. Shell you're a disgrace go swim with the bottom feeders."
Marie laughed at his imitation and put an arm around each of the guys, "Then I guess there's classes among you guys too. That makes three outcasts."
Both men glanced at her, there's no way she'd be an outcast with her looks. Shell didn't mind her arm around him though but Aenon found it a little awkward so he spoke, "Hey I wasn't an outcast, I just got no respect because I'm half human by their standards."
He realized his mistake too late and Marie caught it and squeezed him, "You're not getting away this time," her eyes sparked with determination and the moonlight lit the drops of water that clung to her hair, "what do you mean by that?"
The big bad merman looked down then far out at sea. He was quiet for a while before Shell answered, "Ya gotta tell her sometime, maybe it'll help with the Jamie thing."
Marie tensed up but both the men knew it was useless to try to separate the woman and child by now. Aenon sighed and shot a half hearted glare at his blue haired friend before speaking, "I'm like Jamie. I was born without tail and raised by humans, by people and when I was seventeen I went into the world of merfolk. The only difference is I went in willingly, I don't know why Jamie doesn't, it's so much better and if he'd only try it he'd see that too."
Marie processed this before she spoke, "Well," she looked out to the sea, "it's probably because he knows he has a life here and people that love and will miss him. Besides," she glanced at him from the corner of her eye, "you can't tell me that you can only try it once for a field test. There's no going back, it's one of those things isn't it?"
Aenon grudgingly nodded and Shell snickered at her logic even though it was obvious. The woman wouldn't lose an argument.
The three sighed and chatted about random little things until a glimmer on the horizon caught Shell's azure eye. He squinted at it and recognized the palace guard, "Marie get out of the water now and get inside."
"Why?" She felt disturbed that his normal lax attitude was suddenly demanding and stern, kinda sexy if you like that kind of thing but it didn't go with his whole look...
Aenon now saw it, "Because if they catch you here as a mermaid they'll drag you back to the capital and mate you off to the highest ranking noble they can find or add you to the king's harem."
She was disturbed and pulled herself out and began trying to rub the water off with grass, "But I thought you said it's free."
She wasn't panicking or anything but calmly confused. Shell huffed, "Only if you're male. For mermaids it's completely different."