Sea and Sky

Chapter Fourteen

When Harry got home he was exhausted and sore, he placed a hand on a particularity sore spot on his side and wrapped the other around his bump as he waded through all the Merfolk and sea creatures waiting to greet him. He smiled warily at them as he gingerly swam forwards, leading Ayla and Laurel towards his tiny house. He sighed as he entered his home, a small smiles on his face as he reached down to stroke his seals head, who was blowing air bubbles towards Harrys face. He laughed and scratched her head before continuing on, the seal close on his tail (quite literally).

"You guys can crash wherever, I have a spare room and a Murphy bed in the office" he says "make yourself at home" he smiles at them and swims off carefully, in pain. Ayla and Laurel look worriedly after him, at the way he was swimming but Ayla shrugged, going and getting a bowl of cereal. Laurel shakes her head and gathers her eggs better in her arms before heading to the guest room.

Harry wanders into his room and nearly screams in fright before he realizes the person sitting on his bed was Nadia. She doesn't ask anything just opens her arms. Harry smiles and swims forwards into her arms and they sit like that for a while, then Nadia pulled them sideways and Harry just lets her hold him until he falls asleep, comforted by the fact he had friends all around him.

Louis on the other hand still has the young harpy to take care of. He brings her to his nest and catches some fish for them, finding some apples and berries for them to share as well. Once she had eaten her share, fern fell asleep curled to Louis side. He finished his meal and sighed.  He didn't sleep a wink that night, so early in the morning when fern woke up, he was wide awake, exhausted but unable to sleep, afraid if he did he would wake up and find out this was all a dream.

"Louis?" Fern asked rubbing her eyes

"What love?" He asks pushing the hair back from her face

"Will I ever see my daddy again?" Louis frowns at her sadly trying to think of the best thing to say.

"I'm not sure love, do you know where you used to live?" He asked her knowing perfectly well she probably wouldn't remember. She shrugged

"They took me for a long time, it was probably a hundred years!" She says with her eyes wide. Louis chuckles

"It wasn't 100 years love, let's go see my mom, maybe she knows something" Louis suggests and she nods, clinging to him as he takes off with a grunt of pain, shifting her to his other side, the one that didn't get run through with a bullet. He flies off to his mothers, knocking before walking in, spotting his mother on the sofa. He walks over to her, and when she notices there's a child with him her eyes widen.

"Who's this?" She asks as Louis sits down, the little girl smiling brightly answers before Louis gets the chance

"I'm fern!"

"Well fern, that's a very pretty name"

"I found her when we rescued Harry, she was separated from her dad I think" Louis informs her and she frowns

"Are you cold love?" Jay asks, noticing the rips and tears in the little girls shirt. She nods and Jay frowns, standing and disappearing down the hall. She returns moments later with a plain blue T-shirt, crouching down in front of fern and pulling off her t-shirt. Jay gasps when seeing the state she was in.

She was bruised badly, a large infected looking cut spread across her waist, just above her feathers, she was pale and her torso was bloody.

"Does this hurt darling?" Jay asks and she shrugs lightly

"Not no more" she answers poking it with a tiny finger

"Can I clean it and give you some medicine to make you feel better?" Jay asks, putting a hand to ferns forehead, eyes cutting to Louis worriedly.