We Dream of Hope

Now there's Mermaids

The offer wasn’t something he was particularly interested in at that moment, really he was wanting to just grab her and finish what he started with that kiss. Her new little itinerary seemed important, but he just couldn’t get behind it, “Seriously dove? You want to throw me to the wolves, literally. Here I thought that you liked my kiss.”

“What!?” she exclaimed, “That’s not it! No, I-”

“No. No, you didn’t like it?” he was finally able to return her to that little flustered innocence he had cherished since he first saw her. Smiling he tossed around his suave demeanor he knew she couldn’t resist. “Fine, guess I’ll take it off of the list of things I should do again.”

“I never said that!” flustered didn’t cover it, she didn’t want to say it out loud, but she wanted to spend the rest of the day in his arms. She just needed to get her friends behind him and right now they were stuck very much against everything he was. If anything was ever going to work out right she would have to have Odion and Maat backing her up. Sera said to dive in but be careful, this was the best thing she could think of.

“Oh?” he raised an eyebrow, “So you do want me to kiss you?” Where Nadia had a plan in place Aidan had a counter. He wanted her to express some desire rather than bottle it up. She was a thinker, he loved that about her, she never seemed to express anything without first thinking through but this was to a fault. She wanted to know too much about everything. Aidan had spent so much time alone he already knew himself and knew what Nadia did for him. She gave him a feeling that he was still trying to figure out what it was. He knew he loved the feeling, at least his human half did. He wanted that to stay with him, but he only felt it when he was around her. That kiss it gave him the feeling stronger than he ever felt it before, so why still could he not place a name to this emotion? He wanted to tease her and make her flustered, she did this to him and he needed to have some form of come back. she thought less and spoke her mind more when he tossed out his charm.

Those stupid little smirks and snide remarks, she hated the games, he was just toying with her and knew every button to push, “You know what.” She straightened herself and took a few deep breaths to compose her feelings and attitude, “If you want to kiss me again you’ll have to ask. No more stealing them. So no, as of right now I do not want you to kiss me.” Sera would have been proud of her, she was taking a stand for something, sure it was a little victory, but to her this was the start of something that would hopefully be a sign of bigger things to come. 

“Psh,” dismissive but still playful he couldn’t help but toss her an unimpressed look, “You can pretend all you want little dove, but I know you’re into me. Maybe even a little more than I’m into you.”

“Think that all you want, I’m still heading back, who knows what trouble I could get into on my way.” She started to walk and he immediately caught up with her.

She tried to stay in front but he was too quick, his feet danced around her spinning him in front of her path he grabbed her swiftly taking her into the narrow alley and backing her against the cold damp wall. One arm stretched over her head and he held himself towering above her resting his horns with a click against the brick. “You mean right now, in this moment I would not be allowed to kiss you?” His head remained still but his other hand slid up and down her arm. It reached her fingers and his nails twisted around her wrist guiding her hand to his shoulder where Nadia kept it clinging to his shirt. Running back down her arm he rushed his hand back to her waist sliding it behind her to the small of her back. “Not even a small peck on the cheek?”

Every ounce of her wanted more, but she had to stay strong. “Was that you asking me for permission?” She said it a little less than affectionately, but she figured it would make her point. 

Rearing his head back and clanking his horns against the wall in frustration. He pulled her close and lowered his head, eyes meeting hers, “You, my little dove are just something else.” He smiled and released his grip gaining ground between them. “Come on,” he called “I’ll take you back. I’ll even take you sightseeing so you don’t have to think buildings and weird trees are all this town has.”

Nadia was happy she had stayed strong, but even more gleeful it was over. Another few seconds and she would have tackled him and forced him against the wall. She blushed thinking about it. Would he have liked that? Imagine the shock on his face when his little dove fought back. He might not have been able to handle her. Maybe then she would have silenced the issue?

Aidan made sure to take her toward the water, the sun was pretty high right now, so it wasn’t ideal, but he thought he could still show something special. “This is the waterfront. It’s the port where the boats would dock, they’d drop off various things, but the reason I brought you here was for something else.” He took her hand and guided her close to the edge of the dock so she could lean down watching her reflection wiggle in the ripples.

"This is really cool I guess," Nadia tried hard to keep her disappointment from showing in her reflection, "Do you not think I know what water looks like?"

"That's not it." rolling his eyes he took a seat on the edge letting his feet dangle but made sure to keep them from touching the water. "Come on sit, but don't touch the water."

"Or what they'll grab me?" chucking she quickly stopped as Aidan didn't seem to get the joke.

"They wouldn't grab you, but I just don't want you to get wet."

"Who wouldn't grab me?" Nadia took a quick look around, the area was completely empty, there were a few pieces of jetsam, but it wasn't anything dangerous. 

"They are usually out earlier, you can't really hear them away from the docks, but sometimes I like to get down here before the sun comes up so I can hear them singing." He turned to her, "I'll get them to come up, but don't get scared, they won't hurt you."

Curious about what he meant Nadia nodded and he tipped the point of his shoe into the water a hint of steam came whistling upwards and then a strong stream of water sprayed directly at them both. Nadia ducked out of the way just in time but Aidan not being so lucky got his shirt completely drenched. 

"Thanks for that one, who did that?" He stood up glaring at the water ready to fight whatever manner of beast emerged. 

Nadia wasn't quite ready for the massive black and white head to emerge. The creature was easily three times the size of Aidan, and her hands dwarfed his. His smile grew extra wide when she continued to rise out of the water showing her brilliantly designed body. The skin was smooth reflecting the light as water dripped from her chin. She spread out over the surface of the water sliding like oil and just as black. 

"Nadia, this is Eir. She's a mermaid." Aidan held up a hand and the giant woman nodded. 

She opened her massive mouth revealing a clean row of coned teeth both on the top and bottom, "Don't think too little of me. I'm half orca, which is why I'm a bit larger than the average mermaid." Her voice sounded like it was gargling water but still cut through the air like sonar.

"You're a war beast?" Nadia continued to look her up and down, surely meeting something like this would send a demon running away scared.

Placing a hand on Nadia's shoulder Aidan turned her to face him, "I wouldn't call her a war beast, merfolk prefer the term hermit healers."

"So you don't fight?" turning back to Eir she was confused, such a large able-bodied woman had to have at least some was of fighting.

"Oh no, we have our ways, but we were created to heal. Back in the day, people would travel miles to our waters so we could heal them up after a battle. Now we are just a fun thing to look at I guess." she tossed a glare back to Aidan who clearly was using her just as a special attraction. She tossed her head back and landed heavily back into the water creating a massive wave. Popping back through the surface she tossed her head back and forth, "So, what brings the little prince down to my little water hole?"

"She's never seen a mermaid, just thought you or Cali would be a fun first encounter."

Eir rolled her eyes massive black pupils tossed around in the white void, "Cali can go eat kelp for all I care. That girl thinks she's so special."

"Who's Cali then?" Perking up Nadia could only imagine how this mermaid looked. 

"She's a Koi, nothing special, she just likes to think she is." Eir tossed again refreshing herself, "Well, I do apologize I'm not much more fun."

"No no no." shaking her head Nadia stepped forward right to the edge of the dock, "This was really interesting, you are literally like nothing I've ever seen before. But I just assumed that no other war beasts were around."

"Well to be fair," Eir shrugged, "We don't really do much anymore, just inward fighting. Don't think we haven't heard what that wolf girl has been up to either. We just don't have the luxury they do. You're still alive, our angel died a very long time ago so we don't really get to rally behind anything anymore."

"So you guys just sit in the water? What do you do?"

"Oh you know, we have our fun worrying the stray demonic vessel that tried to cross the sea. Just a few nights ago we tossed a very large boat, want to know who was on it Aidan?" The smile was almost playful, mocking Aidan's lack of knowledge.

"Who?" Thousands of thoughts ran through his head, if it was the lesser of two evils he could manage, "Where did they land?" How many soldiers they brought would also make or break an opportunity or a deal. "How many were there?"

"Just two. I'll give you a hint." She winked and threw herself down into the water sinking slowly and fading away from view into the murky depth. 

Aidan knew exactly what it meant and took Nadia's hand, "I need to get you back to the others. We don't have much time."