Inane Verbiage

XIII

Swimming with a tail is… weird. It's like doing the dolphin kick when swimming the butterfly, only instead of feeble little spurts, each small kick sends me hurtling through the ocean. Huh. Apparently Azure had been holding back to keep up with us. Holding back a lot.

 The speed at which we rush past the kelp also means less time for talking, however - which is a good thing, because it gives me time to mull over the situation I now find myself in.

Now that I think about it, the whole thing seems kind of surreal - after all, being half dead and unable to die is one thing. Those half-zombies are the same (although those can die if I throw them in a fire, and usually do nothing more than moan and groan and run around finding a bed to warm or a body to eat - usually both at the same time, since they somehow always turn out to be good-looking males) - although who would actually sleep with an actual zombie I don't know (or want to do so, as a matter of fact). Being chased across whole mythical kingdoms by mutant cats, magic chewing gum, time-travelling pirates, gay mermaids (mermen - same thing) and getting a tail, on the other hand, is another. 

Although I'm pretty sure the whole surreal bit is going to wear off once the cats start launching themselves at us - nothing like some good old fear to drag me into the here and now (and often unwelcome reality) of the situation, I suppose.

 But for now, well. I decide to make the most of it I can, considering how I'd probably go back to my biology and Latin books once Ay is kicked back into his sarcophagus. A thought that suddenly seems utterly depressing and dull, although I could have sworn that my life was perfectly interesting with all those before Eros decided to turn up. 

We emerge out of the kelp forest (apparently we couldn't swim above it because it isn't protected by the Mer gate so we could get scooped up by deep sea trawlers or gobbled up by another shark) and into another little shell town (this was apparently called Broth because 'all Mertowns are named after words for 'liquid''. Huh) just as the last rays of the sun fade away and the jellyfish lights lining the area light up. 

"We'll settle in an inn for the night," Az informs us, swimming ahead to the (aptly-named) 'Broth Inn'. 

Said inn seems decent enough (at least the shell walls aren't cracked, like some of the houses we'd passed by) and we don't have a place to stay either way so we do so, entering a warmly-lit room filled with an assortment of Mers. The owner, a slim (it seems as though all Mers are lean here - probably because of their fish and kelp diet), red-tailed Mermaid, spots us and comes swimming over, greeting us heartily. "Newcomers! Azure, Ash and… Chestnut, I presume?" 

Great. Apparently all mermaids had colour-sensing abilities. Probably why they chose to name themselves after colours - makes for easy recognition. "Sienna, actually," I 'correct' (even though she is right). "It's the lighting."

 "Ah." She nods in reply, evidently humoring me. "Good choice you made there - Chestnut is such a terrible name." 

Yep. Definitely humoring me. 

"Thanks." I pointedly ignore Eros's - no sorry Ash's - snickers as I smile politely in reply. "We're looking for two rooms, actually - do you have any available?" 

"Of course of course!" She beams at us, momentarily reminding me of Payne all the way back at the Seagrass residence as she swims over to the counter at the corner, all brisk and business-like now. "What beds would you prefer?"

 "One single and one double, please," Az responds before I can do so, grinning broadly for some reason. Huh. I chance a look at Eros - Ash. Same difference dammit - to see what he makes of all this, but to my surprise he's smiling just as widely. I feel myself frown in confusion at that - wasn't he all but leaping away from Az last night? Maybe the long swim here had finally knocked some sense into his inflated head and gotten him to embrace his homosexual side. My frown deepens - somehow that thought wasn't all as satisfying as it would be.