Fish Out of Water

Scene Twenty-Six

"Everything looks good," I hear the doctor telling James in the corner of the room. "There was one irregularity, though."

I suck in my breath, waiting for the doctor to scare away my benefactor- and the man I still need to convince loves me.

"Yes?" James asks, alert and ready.

But no ready to find out I somehow have a pair of fin hidden in my feet. Or scales lying under my skin. Or a pair of retractable gills Cerce somehow made not there when I needed them.

But how far could her magic have banished them, really?

"But her blood level is showing a particularly high omega-3."

"You mean, like the vitamin?"

The doctor nods. "She has 3.6-fold higher percentage of it in her blood than found in most adults."

"What? Why?"

Shrugging, the doctor glances back at me, and then to James. "Does she eat a lot of fish?"

I furrow my brows, wondering what kind of question that is. Of course, I eat a lot of fish; we don't have as much of a variety of foods as two-leggeds do- and they have the audacity to eat our fish anyway, so what does that have to do with anything?

"Is that a problem?" James asks, keeping his back straight, though his folded hands are starting to wring each other.

"Not that we can tell right now," the physician answers. "It's just... bizarre. The only blood samples we have with that kind of omega-3 levels belongs to dolphins."

"You're comparing her to a dolphin?" Now James is furrowing his brows.

I, however, am choking on apparently nothing. Never did that underwater. But apparently, air is made of sterner stuff.

"There doesn't seem to be anything else abnormal," the doctor adds. "Nor do we know if there are any negative symptoms to having high omega-3, but please don't hesitate to call if you notice any other abnormal behavior."

James frowns. "So, you don't know why she's been passing out?"

To my surprise, the physician actually shrugs instead of giving a dignified answer. Then he leaves.

-Signature by -krystallite