scott street

6: TEDROS

Espada had sent them to the gym for the second half of their lesson, suggesting they get a head start on their mandatory Gym and Exercise period, since they could only spend so long riding in circles in the fields. Lots of the Evers that couldn't swim had taken the opportunity to try and learn, and those who could, had volunteered to help. So, now, Agatha was standing in the shallow end of the pool, in a kind of black singlet, with far more leg coverage than he thought women's swimwear usually had (not that he'd know, since this was the first time he'd swum with any of the Evergirls, and none of the young women in Camelot were given to stripping down for a bracing swim in front of the King). Her knobbly knees were turned in and her bony arms were folded across her chest against the cold, but whatever she'd been telling Reena and Flavia, it was clearly working, since neither of them looked like they were at risk of drowning anymore.

"I didn't know Agatha could swim," said Beatrix, leaning on the wall. Tedros squinted.

"She said it was because she'd been through so many witch trials by water, but there's probably just a lake in Woods Beyond..."

Around the edges of the pool, gilded the long, bright pink shape of Kiko, passing as a blur of scales and fins. She'd had to be talked into even approaching the pool, apparently mortified by her true form in front of her two-legged classmates, but she'd gotten in eventually, and had recieved a fascinated round of applause once she'd made her first lap, which had made her blush. Tedros had seen water faeries before, but not a real mermaid, and Kiko was a proper Neverland mermaid, one of the ones that had gotten so popular after Pan, the ones all the other water spirits copied...

She slowed as she approached them, then popped up, spraying them with water.

"Impressive," admitted Beatrix, admiring the shiny, translucent fins on Kiko's tail. "I always wanted to be a mermaid, when I was a little girl..."

"Never seen a real mermaid before," said Tedros, considering Kiko's odd ears. He got the impression she hid them with her blunt haircut on purpose, then was proven right when she looked mortified and covered them with her hands.

"...what do you think?"

"Think all the mermaids in the books aren't as pretty as you," said Tedros. "I like your tail."

Kiko went red and disappeared under the water, then came back up again a second later.

"...has Yara ever seen one?"

Tedros made a mental note to add that to Chaddick's EVERS GO DATING: 2ND YEAR EDITION poster on the back of their door, where they were completely shamelessly tracking everyone's current entanglements. It made negotiating ball proposals easier, they claimed as their cover. The truth of the matter was that Chaddick was a meddler, and Nicholas and Tedros suffered from the kind of nosiness that only developed when you were raised in the cradle of royal court gossip and scandal.

"Don't reckon so," said Tedros pointedly. "Avalon Towers is too cold. They only get the Lady of the Lake."

"Oh..."

Yara's family lived in one of the far-flung Camelot outposts, close to the hidden entrance to Avalon. They were devoted to guarding Avalon, so Yara's father was one of Tedros's captains. Tedros had already known Yara when they'd come to school, which meant he had precisely no delusions about how this whole thing with Kiko was shaking out. Even if they did.

He craned his neck back, saw Yara with Chaddick and Ava at the archery station, thought about shouting her over–

"But Camelot's coastal," said Kiko, saving herself from her fate of YARA COME HERE COME AND LOOK AT KIKO'S COOL MERMAID TAIL. He'd wait for another time.