MERMAIDS ARE REAL

Never in her life has she been out of breath before, it always seemed like a weird concept, a terrifying concept. Now that she’s here she can confirm it’s just as every bit terrifying as she thought.

But its also thrilling and exciting, this version of it. Not deeply involved his holding him and kissing him that she can’t breathe, that her breath hits against his and their warmth mingles and washes over each other.

She keeps her eyes closed for a few seconds after while she catches her breath, face hot under his, embarrassed by their closeness but so very much in love with it at the same time. In love with him? He’s, he’s right, that’s absolutely what this feeling has to be.

Her eyes slowly open to take in his face again, but nearly like looking to him for clarification on what just happened. She wants to do it again.

The tips of her fingers drift back over to his lips, brushing over them. They’re warm, like you’d expect, but more so than usual, some of her heat lingering in his skin, along the soft pink skin. Her other hand touches her own lip while she continues to feel his, noticing that her lips feel much like his but it’s his warmth in her skin.

A faint curious little smile pulls at her mouth while she continues to ride these feelings.

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When she draws her fingers across his lips sweetly, curiously, a tingle shoots down his spine and suddenly he's not content at one kiss. Her eyes are amazed, filled with this childlike wonder and desire to explore and he wants to hold her face in his hands and just stare into those eyes, see the world through them.

But he also wants to kiss her again. And again, and again, but her fingers play over his lips again like she wants to memorize how they feel from every angle, and as she brushes them across the skin, he kisses her fingers quickly, lingering as long as she'll let him.

It inspires him to bring his hand up, brush her wet hair off her forehead, and let his thumb rove across her forehead and feel every bit of the smooth, perfect skin, how she's warm now, and he runs one finger down her nose to tap the tip of it, outlining her whole face, skimming over her long, dark eyelashes.

"You're so beautiful."

He knows he'd said it before, but this time it's under his breath, almost to himself, like he's musing on something impossible that he's trying to wrap his head around. He's never seen anything like her before, but he's also never had anyone treat him like she does, this soft, insistent care and affection. He's not sure what to do with it, how to handle it, and it makes him feel a little embarrassed.

But the warmth from that embarrassment also feels good, like something warm to eat on a cold and wet and miserable night and in everything miserable that is his life, she's everything good that he's ever dreamed about.

Like magnets, her eyes lock onto his again, a sweet smile on her face at his words, like he had just stolen them right out of her mouth but he'll never know it, as unfortunate as that may be.

You'd expect a sailor's hands to be rough and irritating, but his aren't. They're not as soft as hers, it's true, but they're firm and strong, all the strength in the world to never let go and to always keep her here with him.

Now she's remembering that they don't get entire days at a time to be together, that their interactions are mostly limited to these few hours during the evening before he sleeps and that seems unfair. She wants to watch him for hours, hold him for days, rest under him for the rest of her life.

But all she has is now and she's willing to make the most of it. When his hand has passed closer to her cheek again, she takes his face in her hands yet again and pulls him down to her, letting him completely brace and lay over her. Their lips meet and it's like a spark all over and that fading warmth in her skin ignites again.

They'll need to break for air but she's not sure she's willing to let that happen so soon so, instead, whenever they need to breathe, she lets their faces pull away just enough to inhale and exhale rapidly, lips brushing, then pulls him back to her after a short moment. At this point she nearly feels like she's gasping in those moments to catch up, but she doesn't care.

Shand feels like he can go all night like this, all week, maybe his whole life, with their lips pressed together, only pulling apart to keep their foreheads close and their breath shared.

Her lips are soft, sweet, so incredibly gentle. Like each part of her that's touching him wants to love him in a special way, independent from all the others. And he doesn't know how to handle so much care in her touches, so much affection in her kisses.

All he knows to do is return it to her, letting his hands run over, smooth her hair and tickle across the skin of her shoulders and her back, memorizing the way her flesh falls and rises and dips, all the curves of it and her shape.

His thumb runs along her jaw, and the shape of it, the way the bone slopes, something about it makes his chest flutter and he can't help but pull his lips from hers to kiss her jaw up and down, nuzzling his nose against any skin it finds.

She's warm everywhere and only getting warmer, and he shifts his body so that he's even closer to her, so the two are pressed together and sharing warmth and he can feel her heartbeat in her stomach and every part of her. It's steady but quick- secure but impatient and excited like he is.

Luna gasps a little at his exploring mouth, not really expecting it though she’s not sure why with how easily he kissed along her body wherever there was the smallest scratch. Even the surprise is nice though and she releases a shaky exhale at the feeling of his face against her skin, turning her head to kiss the top of his head, hands running through his hair, pushing it back from his face so she can glance down and see him better.

It feels a little unfair, though. She can’t explore him how she wants if he’s going to stay away from her face now to go where he pleases. The tips of her fin slip under the hem of his shirt, pulling him up with the cloth ever so slightly so she can readjust under him, smiling at his surprise when he figured out what’s going on, figured out she’s just easily lifted his entire body up with the smoothest movement of her tail.

The slightly smug expression doesn’t last long because, when she sets him back down, his neck is right above her face. She looks up at him first then presses her ear to him, listening to him breathe, catching the smallest hints of his voice in each one. Her face heats up at the sound of it so close but she wants to hear it better, hear it more.

Now her lips explore the front of his neck softly like this part of him specifically, more than anything else she’s given devotion to tonight, is the most sacred of all. The noise he makes in response is louder than before and she can hear his voice better, just like she wanted. She loves it, loved each low note of his tone, when he’s talking, when he’s humming in thought, or when he’s breathing, she could get lost in listening.

He’s a little tense at first but easily melts into her tender mouth caressing him, relaxing yet again, the weight of him pressing on her chest and making it a little more difficult to breathe but, in an odd way, it’s calming to have this steady warm pressure. She could stay under him forever if he let her.

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Shand lets his lips linger on her forehead as she kisses along his neck, and the sensation is like a half tickle, half caress and it makes his stomach feel hot and his head feel light. He doesn't mean to be making noise, but his body is doing it for him and he's way too preoccupied with the feeling to try and stop himself.

Her lips are impossibly soft and warm, and despite the fact that she'd moved him there how she wanted him, he dips his head for just a moment because he can't fight his desire to feel those lips on his again. He kisses her deeply, lets the shiver from it run down his spine.

The pain from his back is just a ghost now, all the other sensations drowning it out like it had never even mattered in the first place, like her hands and her lips can heal anything they touch.

She's paying a lot of attention to his Adam's apple, and it makes him breathe a shaky sigh into the top of her head, add a gasp into his moan at realizing how sensitive he is, and it's starting to make him feel self conscious of how he's laying over her, of how she can probably feel other parts of his body reacting to her without his express permission.

More heat springs into his face as he tries to roll to the side a little bit so he's not pressed so hard against her, his eyes shy, looking off to the side as if she'll berate him for what she feels.

His body hadn't gone unnoticed and that's made known by the redness on her face and the slight unsure shake to her hands around his jaw and neck. Even more confusing is how he stops looking at her and tries to slide off her in response to it.

Does he think she's upset with him about it? She's the one kissing over his neck, she knows she's not exactly helping the situation, so why would she yell at him over this?

Maybe that's all he knows: Being screamed over and beaten for both minor things he's done and things beyond his control. Maybe he doesn't know patience and kindness and someone willing to take fault in a situation rather than put it all on him. The idea pulls her face into a frown, deeply upset by the life he's lived to get him to this point.

She can retroactively fix it but she wants to change it from here on out. If anyone deserves that chance, it's him.

Her tail wraps a little more around him, pulling him back to where he was, hands now on his shoulders to help guide his body to hover over hers again. When he finally looks down at her, she just smiles gently, letting her fin rest and cover almost all of him, creating a roof, a blanket, something that keeps them hidden from all the world outside this rowboat. Something to keep him safe.

Luna kisses at his neck again but only for a moment, moving her mouth up in soft little pecks until she gets to his lips again, staring up at him before pressing their mouths together again, hands tenderly trailing up and down his back until they rest knotted in his hair.

Something in her touch makes him tremble, shiver, like the lightness and the gentleness is driving his body wild with longing, with wanting more of that and not knowing how to handle it at the same time.

She clearly doesn't seem to mind how deeply all of this is affecting him, pulling him even tighter to her as she kisses him deeply, hands soft and weightless across his back.

Although he feels powerless, like he doesn't really wield much capability in this world, he feels this fierce desire grow in his chest to protect her, to keep her from everything that has made her gaze drop in sadness, her smiles turn to frowns.

He's never wished for more for himself, but in this moment as she's teaching him the meaning of tenderness with her lips, her hands, with the way she wraps him up to something precious, he wants to have the world just so that he can give it to her. He wishes he was more important, more rich, more special so that he can give back to her what she deserves.

But all he can do right now is kiss her back with every piece of him, with his whole heart in it, hands cupping her face to him, wanting to tune the entire world out of this sweet moment.

He wants to find a way for them to stay in this rowboat forever, for the two of them to have this and never have to let it go. He moves his face slowly from hers, letting small kisses linger around her lips, so he can press the side of his face above her chest, hear her heartbeat.

It's the steadiest thing he can think of, and the way that her tail is hovering over him, covering him, the way her hands play through his hair, the way her heart hums in his ear, he feels completely surrounded by her and the sense of security she seems to be able to make out of nothing.

Luna's chest shakes under his ear with a silent soft laugh, watching him listen with the most content of expressions, the happiest of smiles. It's a good look on him, she only wishes she could keep it there.

Her hands play with his bare shoulders a little, trying not to mess up the seaweed wrapping job she did but she is still so curious to see him without it. Apparently, her state of dress is bizarre for humans, or so she can tell of the humans she's seen, and it makes her wonder why. Why do they wear those things over them all the time? Why is it important they not get wet to the point Shand threw it off to jump in the water with her? It seems more like an inconvenience.

Is there a reason? Yes, she's seen him without it but she's never taken a good look at him, not the way he can her, ear pressed over her heart with nothing in between but her cool skin. But now she wants to. Not enough that she'd be so foolish as to take the work on his raw back off just to satisfy this growing curiosity, but enough that her hand slides down over his chest, palm resting fully over his heart, feeling it beat.

Maybe one day she'll see, but, for now, she's content to just feel. Her lips press against his forehead and stay there, eyes slipping closed as her other hand trails and tickles up and down the side of his next lovingly.

The steady thump of her heart and the way her hands continue in their gentle exploration over him continues to lull him, and he can't remember the last time he felt this satisfied in his tiredness.

He's always dreading going to sleep. The idea that he's not alert, that anything could happen before he would be able to wake himself. But here with her is a safety that makes all those feelings of anxiety seem like they belong to another life.

He can't get over this feeling, this being cared for. It feels like soothing, warm water rushing over him and covering him, coating all of him in comfort and safety and happiness.

Just like how she's covering him, her tail wrapped around him, how she'd wrapped his back in her careful treatment of each raw place. It's so strange to think that, for the first time, he's seen. When she looks at him, she sees him.

His eyelids are so so heavy, and her skin is warm and yet cool at the same time against his burned face, and the rhythm of her heartbeat and the consistent pace of her soft hands only serves to entrance him more, until he can't even keep his eyes open anymore.

The last coherent thought his mind forms is that he doesn't want to pin her there, in the rough bottom of the rowboat, and that if he falls asleep on top of her she'll be uncomfortable and stuck. But as he tries to move off her with the little energy he has left, her tail pulls at him to keep him in the same position.

So he hums contentedly deep in his chest, right where she's got her hand, and lets his eyes close slowly as her touches draw him into the deepest sleep.

Luna falls asleep no long after him which is odd considering she doesn't normally sleep at this time, but the events of the day, including their sudden kissing session, has worn her out and she finds it easy for her mind to relax.

Sometime early in the morning, the boat shakes and a long scrapping noise can be heard against the bottom of it, stirring Luna awake first. Her eyes flutter open as she takes in the soft light of the freshly rising sun. Shand is still secure on her under her tail, hidden away, even curdled under it like a child tucked into bed and, while it makes her blush to pull her fin up and see his face on her chest, it makes her smile.

Until the boat rocks again and she starts figuring out what woke her up. The sound is familiar, so much so that she sits up in a sudden panic, clutching Shand to her so he doesn't go flying off with the movement, but also securing her tail around him. This isn't figuratively hiding him from the world, her fin is actually covering him to conceal and completely hide him away from something now and, even when he wakes up, she won't let him move from the cover.

Her eyes are frantically scanning over the sea in the morning light, searching for something, not meaning to ignore Shand but she is other than keeping him safe. Then, she sees it, the flick of a deep green tail above water, large and almost snake-like. Her heart stops right against his ear.

Shand is jostled awake by Luna's sudden movement under him, the way she curls her tail around him and sudden the early morning light is blocked out and it's like he's in a cocoon.

He can hear her heartbeat quicken and he knows something is wrong.

"Luna?"

His voice is muffled even to him under the cover of her tail, how he's pressed underneath her skin. And the only thing he can hear is her heartbeat and a hollow scraping noise that sounds here and there, and then stops.

He's getting paranoid now, because he knows that she's out in the open and daylight is coming. Anyone could look over the side of the ship looking for him at any point and see her instead.

"Luna!"

She's not answering, and he's trying to move a little bit, trying to find a place to peek his head out from the cover of her tail, but her fins are strong and insistent on him staying put.

His voice makes her flinch, head snapping to look down under her fin at him, noticing he's trying to look around it. She shakes her head firmly at him, guiding him to hide down on the floor of the rowboat, motioning for him to stay there, low and hidden. When all he can do is be how she's placed him, looking at her quizzically, she takes that as a good enough sign to throw herself back in the water, but not without pressing her forehead to his quickly, lingering there for just a second with her eyes shut tightly, trying to absorb and take any last moments of peace she can with her.

In the water, her tail is heavy with the splint but she manages, slowly swimming out to where she saw the fin not too far from the boat, which bothers her more than she'll let on. There, in the cover of the open sea, floats another mercreature like Luna, golden hair even longer than Luna's, which should be impossible, tail a deep emerald green that snakes out more like an eel than a mermaid, and striking green eyes to match. Her body is adorned with treasures of human creation, gold and silver bracelets, rings, random items like silverware, watches, other small jewelry in her hair, and she has a flowing white cloth wrapped around her shoulders like a cape.

The unnaturally beautiful woman smiles sweetly as Luna approaches, hands clasped in front of her like she can't contain her excitement.

"Fengari, my dear, I've been looking everywhere for you."

Luna stops when the creature makes it the rest of the way to her, treading just a little too close for comfort and personal space. Sudden surprise flashes across her face, as with concern... But something about it doesn't seem right. Something about it is unsettling.

"Your tail- And all those cuts! Oh, my love, what happened?"

She swims down and takes Luna's fins gingerly in her slender hands, brushing over them obsessively, observing the splint but ignoring it for now in favor of touching the iridescent scales. When Luna can only avert her eyes, the woman yanks on her tail like it's a leash, pulling her down to be back on eye level with this person. It shoots a sharp pain through Luna when the bend in her tail is ignored and pulled on but nothing makes her freeze as much as the hand suddenly on and massaging her waist, thumbing over one of the many cuts. She tenses up then, turning her face away as if she can ignore what's happening.

"It was humans, wasn't it? I told you to stay away from them, didn't I? And now look what they've done: They've nearly ruined your flawlessness- your perfection."

It honestly looks like the woman is about to cry, easily letting her hands wander possessively across Luna's pale skin, obviously just using the cuts as an excuse to feel her over. Despite the discomfort and knit in her brow, Luna doesn't fight the woman on it, though. There's an air of fear and ownership in play below the surface of the water.

Even so, with eyes downcast, she still shakes her head to dispel the woman's conclusion, trying to coverup what had happened, coverup that Shand exists, that she's been interacting with him.

She'd left so quickly, deposited him gently in the bottom of the rowboat and then slid out of it and into the depths so quickly and quietly, it's almost as if she'd never been there.

Shand sits up with a bit of a wince, looking out over the placid surface of the water, trying to imagine where she is underneath of it, what she's doing. What had happened to make her leave so quickly, abandon that piece of heaven they'd discovered together.

The blurriness of sleep still hangs over his brain a bit and he mops at his eyes with the backs of his hands, trying to wake himself up, trying to decide what to do.

She hadn't done much swimming at all since he'd put the splint on her tail, and he's concerned about whether or not she can swim well with it, if it will hold up for her underwater, or whether she's down below the surface stuck and struggling now.

That mental image is all it takes for him to balance on the edge of the boat, take a deep breath, and break the calm surface of the water with his dive.

Once the bubbles under clear away and the water settles, he can see her down below, off in the distance, but there's another creature there with her- another mermaid?

Every movement sends his muscles into protest, and the water has the edges of the seaweed wrapped around him licking up, but he makes himself kick and stroke in the water as he moves closer to where she is.

The noise draws her eyes over the woman's shoulder, finally lifting her head just enough to see what had happened even though she's sure she knows.

Luna's eyes widen in horror when she spots Shand swimming towards them and she tries to shake her head at him, to tell him to stop, but the movement nearly catches the other mermaid's attention. As she turns to look back where her attention should be, Luna snatches her hand, resting it against her neck and face.

The motion does the trick and the blonde-haired beauty is wrapped up in her all over again, pulling her closer, trailing her free hand around skin, even over her back and chest, face close to her ear, but Luna tries to hide her discomfort from Shand, ducking her face into the woman's shoulder to conceal her expression.

"Awh, I know, I know, you missed me, too. It's okay, now, I'm here. No need to be upset."

As the woman pats her head, her long green snake-like tail coils around Luna's waist and constricts enough to force a few bubbles right out of Luna's mouth in place of where a yelp probably would have been as her skin is pulled and muscles and bones are pressed under the pure muscle strength of this woman's tail.

"Come now, let's go home. I believe we have a lot to catch up on."

A sickeningly sweet laugh escapes her as she kisses Luna's cheek, pulling her the rest of the way down to her then uses what's left of her long tail, which is still a considerable amount, to kick and wave, moving them through the water away from the boat.

Luna fights back a little on this one at first which makes the woman stop, tilting her head in mock curiosity and concern.

"Oh? Are you not done exploring? You're still in this independent rebellious phase?"

The tone makes Luna swallow hard, obvious fear in her eyes at how mocking the words are, but the woman doesn't budge on the matter, tightening her tail further.

"No, dear, that's alright. I'm sure we can just catch up here, then. After, I'll be on my merry way to give you some of that freedom you long so much for but I'll check back in."

With that new plan in motion, the two start sinking down to the reef below and Luna swears she can hear her bones strain under the green tail as it stays looped around her. Just before they disappear into the shadow and darkness of a small little cave within the reef, she looks back up to Shand pleadingly, begging him to stay where he is, to stay out of this.

This woman has power beyond any sailor's knowledge, beyond myth and legend. If she gets upset, if she sees Shand, she could whip the sea up into a storm that could sink the ship and drown every sailor in just a quick minute. He needs to stay up there, on the surface, in the rowboat, and just wait this out and she's hoping he can see that in her eyes just before she's out of sight.

Shand catches just a glimpse of what happens, of the other creature pulling Luna down, wrapping her in her own tail. And if that mermaid can overpower Luna, whose tail is strong enough to move him around, then he can only imagine what kind of strength the other creature is capable of.

He sees the look on her face as the two descend, and he recognizes her warning to him, like this is something bad she wants him to stay away from, but there is a deeper layer, a fear and an anxiety and an uncertainty that pulls his heart into the pit of his stomach, makes him nauseous.

He bobs back up through the surface to catch his breath, watching the sun paint the sky with early morning pinks and oranges, the deck slowly starting to come to life with workers. Thankfully, the cuts in his hands render him useless to the crew today, so hopefully they won't even come looking for him.

Once he catches his breath, he dives again, ignoring his muscles the best he can to descend more quickly, to make the most of his time as he follows the path the two had left going toward the small cave.

It's deeper than he'd estimated originally, and once he gets to the opening, he realizes his time will be even more limited. But he presses ahead anyway, looking for any sign of Luna and the monster that took her.

Shand can't see it in exact detail, the cave is too dark, but he can see enough. On the floor of the little space, the other mermaid is resting with her back to the wall, a calm smile on her face but a certain deranged look in her beautiful eyes.

Luna is resting with her back against her like laying on her lap but not by choice. The long green tail that had just been looped once around her waist is now coiled completely around her exactly like a python with its prey, slithering, turning, and tightening further, from the tip of her tail up to her chest and neck. The splint Shand had created is shattered and splintered under the pressure of it all.

"Sometimes I do miss your voice so dearly. How you'd say my name, how you'd beg and plead. 'Olvreign, please!' Do you remember that? I'm sure you do. Your face still looks the same but I can't hear you."

The woman, Olvreign, runs her fingers the length of Luna's hair but Luna seems more occupied with clutching the tail around her neck, trying to pull it from crushing her throat.

"Now, now, I haven't seen you in some time. I know this is a lot of love to handle at once but it's the price to pay for letting you swim around freely."

She plants a kiss into the flowing purple hair, opting to let her hands wander back down and around Luna's pale skin, leaving light little scratches from her nails.

Luna's brow knits at how freely and greedy the gripping is but she's powerless to fight it. She's always been powerless against this, it's not like this is anything new. How her body twists and contorts as the green tail stretches her out then bends and folds her in on herself is commonplace now. It's not like she's pulling on the section around her neck to get away, she knows how fruitless that would be, but more so she doesn't just die right here and now.

Neither of them notices Shand but, at the same time, even if they did, it's not like it would matter. They're too deep for him to dive to, all he can do is watch before needing to go back up for air.

Shand stays, tries everything he can to push himself deeper and deeper.

The more he sees of the blond woman running lingering hands along Luna's body, how he sees her discomfort under it, the way she struggles to simply breathe at how tightly the woman is holding her, it makes his blood boil and he feels desperate for her.

These kinds of feelings and how badly he needs to breathe are a bad mix, and it's making his world fade to black around the edges and his head feel light, but he doesn't want to leave her, especially when it's clear that she's in danger.

But he knows he'll stay down here and do no good, right up until the minute his lungs give out and he drowns without being any help to her.

He treads his way slowly and cumbersomely back closer and closer to the surface, his mind churning the whole way, tuning out the acute pain in his body, about what he's going to do to save her.

He can't leave her alone, and he won't leave her to the whims of that obsessed creature. But what can he do? He can't even reach them.

As if to punctuate that worry, that despair, his lightheadedness increases as he gets close to the surface, so much so that right before he's about to reach the surface, the whole world goes black.

It's nearly halfway through the day now with no sign of Luna for hours on end. Clearly, she's still stuck down in Olvreign's grasp but every detail of the experience is hidden from the world above, though Shand can probably guess at most of it.

By the time anything changes, the sun has just gone past the middle of the vast blue sky. There's a soft, hesitant, tapping at the bottom of the rowboat, like just the slightest knock of nails on the wood.

Luna very intentionally only pokes the top of her head above water so only her eyes are seen, keeping the rest of her hidden. It works for multiple reasons, but she's more willing to latch on to the one about staying out of sight of the other sailors.

While that's nice, the unsteady way she treads the water and the circles under her eyes speak loudly to the other reasons she keeps herself concealed. She's just hoping Shand will ignore those, not having realized that he had seen more than she wanted him to, that the only thing left for him to observe is the evidence in large spiraling bruises all along her body, nail scratches, red marks, and the broken splint and how her tail bends out again like it did before.

When he sees her head poke out of the water, he nearly reaches in to grab her and pull her into the rowboat with him, wanting to inspect every place that he knows will be hurting, but the idea of sailors still milling about freely during the day prevents him.

He watches the sailors criss crossing back and forth across the deck, waiting for an opportune time to slip into the water with her to keep her safe from eyes that shouldn't see her.

In the meantime, he leans over the side of the boat, trying to get as close to her as possible. He speaks a million miles a minute, voice hissing in a loud whisper and his eyes wide with rampant concern.

"Who was that? Why did she drag you down to that cave with her? Are you hurt? Why did she do that to you? She broke your splint, didn't she? Can't we find a way to keep you away from her? I'll make you another splint, I️ just have to wait until nightfall. You can't go back to her, okay? Why did you go out to her before? You should have stayed with me, you were safe."

She flinches at the attack of his questions, dropping a little lower in the water until even her eyes are hidden, purple air swirling out like an oil spill on the surface.

There's no way for her to easily answer most of these so all she can manage is to shake her head in response while hiding her pained, guilty, conflicted expression. It's not until she hears the rowboat shift that she moves.

Luna bobs back out above the water, much more this time, seeing him readying himself to dive in with her. Her hands are up waving at him, trying to tell him to stop, eyes wide, stinging a little in the air and with some leftover fear and anxiety. She doesn't want him to see her like this, not at all. In fact, she was considering not even coming back up to the surface to see him for the rest of the day at least, but she knew he had seen Olvreign, seen her at least be dragged down into the depths against her will. He at least deserved to know she was alive and, mostly, okay.

But that doesn't mean she wants him to see all the details of it.

He knows why she's protesting, but he ignores her and slips into the water beside her anyway.

Only hours before, she'd gotten frustrated at him for hiding his back from her, and she should know that it'll frustrate him all the same if she tries to keep these hurts from him, too.

The first thing that's apparent is how destroyed the splint is. Bits of the wooden rods are still hanging off her awkwardly bent tail, and it's swollen again, clearly not in shape for her to be swimming in the state it's in.

He sees the other marks left along her body by the other woman's possessive grip, and he flinches back a little at the thought of the tightness, of the forcefulness and imagines the dread, the feeling of being stuck. Of no one coming to the rescue.

He pops back up out of the water close to her face, where she hovers right at the surface, her eyes cast down. Below the water, he reaches for her hand and with the other brushes some hair from her face.

"Why does she do that to you?"

His voice is soft, like out of all the other questions he'd ambushed her with before, he's boiled them all down into this one important one.

He wants to tell her she'll be okay, that he'll fix all of it and he'll keep her safe and protected and that he'll turn the world over to destroy anything that tries to touch her.

But he doesn't even know what he's dealing with, and it makes him feel small and powerless and furious.

Luna is blatantly refusing to look at him right now, even as he brushes her hair away. There's no way she can meet his gaze, not like this, not in this state, but he does deserve some answer, though she's not exactly sure how to explain.

Her eyes sweep across the surface and then over him, looking for something to use as an example, stare resting on his pearl. She takes it up in her fingers, pointing at it then at him, trying to motion that it's his. When he still doesn't get it, she takes his hand and brings it to the surface, holding the pearl up for him to see then places it in his palm and closes his fingers around it.

Own.

She mouths the word, trying desperately to get across the idea of ownership in silent motions to him

Her life isn't her own, it's Olvreign's and it's been Olvreign's for as long as she can remember. And all those memories are like this, painful and possessive. This was actually a casual, relaxed time in comparison to some other run-in's but she can't exactly speak to tell him not to worry because she's lived through worse. That will only concern him further.

But Olvreign can do as she pleases because she owns Luna and that typically means hungry hands, near suffocation, bruises, and, the icing on the cake, losing her voice. Forever. She's at the whim of the other mermaid.

Shand struggles to understand her for a few long moments, but as he starts to get her meaning, his brow furrows and he shakes his head hard.

"That's not true. People can't own other people."

There's a burning fire behind his eyes that she hasn't seen yet, and it threatens to tear across his otherwise controlled expression and bring out rage.

"Some people think they can. But they can't."

He stops trying to make eye contact with her now, staring at the way the waves lap against the both of them gently, softly. It takes him a moment, but he swallows, clears his throat, and tries again, this time with that look in his eyes controlled and under check, although it's obvious that he's having to struggle to keep it there.

"She can't have you if you don't want it. We can find a way to keep you safe from her."

The look on her face is defeated, completely unbelieving, and it makes him even angrier, like the last thing he can accept is her feeling defeated.

He wants to tell her that he'll stop the earth from turning, that he'll open hell itself to keep her from having to go back to that monster, but he knows in reality, in a different way, his life isn't even his own either. But still, it makes him want to fight instead of shut up and give in and he wishes he could lend her some of that fire.

She tilts her head at his determination like this free will and fire is something completely out of her realm of understanding. Even more outside of it is the thought of him trying to keep her from Olvreign.

Luna shakes her head, refusing to believe or allow that. Her hand touches the surface of the water and then points up to the sky, trying to tell him just how powerful this creature is that they're dealing with. If he angers her, she will kill him and the entire ship and crew with him, no questions asked. The ocean is hers.

But how do you make a human understand a concept like that? A concept like a being powerful enough to control the sea and the weather above it? How is she supposed to explain that, in a way, Olvreign owns him and every sailor that crosses these open waters?

In a lot of ways, Luna serves as the safety net for humans. If Olvreign is upset or bored, rather than take it out on the innocent humans trying to make a living, she finds Luna and plays with her instead. Humanity must have noticed how calm the seas have been for the past twenty years opposed to all other recorded history and they really have Luna to thank for that.

If Shand takes her from the picture, if Olvreing has free reign and no distraction... What happens then? And Shand would have to live with the guilt of knowing he causes that, if he lives at all.

No, it's not his fault she's in this position and she's not about to make him suffer for it. She shakes her head again, staring pleadingly at him now, wanting him to put this all behind him and forget about it for his own sake.