All That I Know #2
This witch who spent her days caring for the sea and all her creatures.
“You would still wish to be with me, knowing I have abandoned my family?” he asked, still disbelieving. “Would you not worry I might do the same to you in the future?”
“Reed, you’re not abandoning them. You’ve done everything you could to help them adjust to the inevitable.” His witch spoke softly, her hand on his.
Adoration swelled in his heart. That was how he felt about the situation as well, but no one in the pod seemed to agree
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with him. For too long, Reed had been treated as a child who simply refused to take the next step in growing up. As if bringing more mermaids into the pod would solve any of the problems they currently faced.
He had known that would not help things.
In fact, having his own wife and children to look after would have made him that much more anxious about the climate change issues that plagued their seas.
How could he have doomed his own children to such a fate?
He hadn’t wanted to—so he had held off as long as he could from marrying.
And now, as if the stars and moon had heard his endless pleas, Reed found everything he had ever hoped for. A safe place to shelter against the changing tides and dwindling food supply available to the pod, a way to protect his family from mortals who would seek to harm them.
It was everything he could have asked for.
“I’m worried they won’t listen to Elliot,” Reed frowned. “If they do not, it isn’t your fault,” Tempest said sternly. “You
are not responsible for their choices. Please do not blame yourself if they choose to stay stuck in a past that is rapidly disappearing instead of preparing for the future.”
That made him stop. “Do you really think that?”
“I know you would do everything in your power to save them. You are a good person, Reed,” she insisted.
“Is it not selfish to stay here with you, knowing that they will not survive?” his voice shook.
Tempest shook her head, narrowing her eyes at him. “I’m sorry your family made you feel that way. It isn’t all on your shoulders.”
They finished their meal and made the short walk back to her house on the beach, conversation ebbing and flowing like the waves.
Reed told her about diving for pearls and selling them to the jeweler, and how he hoped to be able to do that regularly to earn the money needed to bring his pod extra fish.
His sweet witch listened attentively as he spoke.
Once they were tucked into her home, he showed her the clothes he’d purchased for his new life on land. Or at least partly on land. He had no intention of giving up his tail or the sea, but he wanted to live in both worlds.
The rest of the night passed in a blur as Reed asked Tempest a million questions about the human world. Each time, she did her best to explain things in a way he could understand. For many things, though, there simply was no equivalent under the sea.
She promised to teach him and that was enough for Reed at the moment. After rinsing off quickly, she joined him on the couch once more. He cherished the feel of her soft, curvaceous body pressed against his side, the firm hip under his palm as he held her.
When they could no longer keep their eyes open, they crawled into bed together. He lifted his arm, allowing his witch to snuggle up to him, and she did just that. As Reed wrapped his arm around her back and settled his hand onto her hip, she made a happy little sound.
Perhaps things would not always be this simple or this happy, but it was more than enough for him. Sleep claimed him as her soft, warm body snuggled ever closer. A dreamless sleep, no worries or nightmares to interrupt his rest, when he slept beside Tempest. Truly incredible.
By morning, Reed felt more rested than he could remember being in a very long time.
Two nights in a row beside Tempest had had a wonderfully relaxing effect on him.
He bid her goodbye when she left for work and allowed himself to sleep a little longer.
He would certainly need his strength for tonight.
The day passed slowly as he practiced using various items around Tempest’s house, getting the hang of all the strange new land things he would need to become accustomed to.
She had explained to him the process of reading the clock and what time she would get home from work.
Elliot would meet them there when he was ready to go.
In the meantime, Reed did his best to stay busy.
Anxiousness knotted his stomach as the day wore on, realizing that this meeting might well be the last time he saw his parents.
Lady Serena had every right to banish him from the pod for his choices, and even if she did not, he would likely be shunned for them all the same.
“I’m home!” called Tempest as she stepped into the house and pulled the door shut behind her.
“Finally,” he sighed. “I hate being apart for so long.”
She giggled at that. “Alas, you’ll have to get used to it. My days are long.”
Though Reed pouted at her, Tempest only flashed him a shy smile as she made her way to the bathroom. He trailed behind her, asking about her day, and leaned against the bathroom door when she ducked in to start her shower.
“You had another good day at work with Elliot?” he asked.
“Oh, yes,” Tempest said, the smile in her voice evident. “I love what I do. I love my team. I’m so blessed to do this every day.”
“That makes me happy. I hope to find something to be so passionate about,” Reed spoke louder as he heard her pull the shower curtain aside to climb in.
While he should be thinking about things like a job, a way to provide for himself and Tempest, and perhaps his pod, all he could do was imagine the way she must be untangling her beautiful teal hair out of its braid. Combing it out with her fingers until the waves flowed freely.
Reed could see the way it would tumble down her shoulders and cover her breasts, the same way mermaids wore theirs. Someday, he would earn his place beside her in those private moments. He didn’t need to rush anything—his Little Storm would let him in when she was ready.
All Reed needed to do for now was weather her moods and prove he could stand beside her. The merman smiled to himself as he thought about spending another night tucked in beside Tempest.
A little while later, the front door opened again, and Elliot shouted a greeting.
“Hey there! I’m ready to go,” said the sea lion shifter cheerfully. “I hope looking for join him.
this isn’t too much trouble,” Reed said again, any sign the shifter didn’t actually want to
Tempest sighed dramatically. “I wish I could go with you.” “Probably best that you don’t,” Elliot chuckled.
That was all it took before the two of them were out the
door, walking down the beach, and diving into the sea. Transforming beneath the waves, side by side. Reed led the way to the pod’s home, his anxiety growing like a pit in his stomach.
He briefly worried he might be sick. The trip had taken longer than he would have liked, due to the sea lion’s smaller stature. They had dashed up to the surface for Elliot to get one last breath of air before heading into the caves.
As he announced himself and the sea lion shifter, his family looked up from their evening meal, clearly surprised. His mother smiled warmly at him, then addressed the pod.
“It seems our young Reed has fulfilled his promise,” Lady Serena said. “Is this the shifter you mentioned from the land town?”
“Yes, mother,” the merman replied quickly.
Murmurs travelled through the assembly as the mermaids stared at the sea lion lounging casually in their midst. They would understand him in either form, though surely Elliot would be more comfortable speaking in his human form.
“My name is Elliot and I grew up in Crescent Cove, the magical town on the coast near here,” the sea lion said. “I understand you have questions about how the shifters and witches live side-by-side.”
“What is a witch?” asked Lumina, looking concerned. “A human with magic,” Elliot continued. “Our town is hidden from mundane humans—those without magic. A powerful spell protects us from accidental discovery by anyone who does not know about magic and magical creatures.”
Jupiter raised one bushy eyebrow, clearly skeptical. “Humans with magic? Humph!”
“Perhaps it sounds far-fetched, when you have never encountered one before,” the sea lion shifter replied coolly.
“Those massive storms the last few suns, the ones that appeared and disappeared with unusual speed, those were a nearby witch,” added Reed, hoping they had noticed the unusual weather.
“That was…a human?” Lady Serena inquired, surprise written on her face.
Elliot nodded. “She is a local in our town, Crescent Cove. Plant magic runs in her family, but an ancestor possessed storm magic, which appears every few generations. It is said that she is descended from mermaids.”
“What?” gasped the mermaids in unison.
“Is that true?” Reed turned to the sea lion shifter, his heart in his throat at the possibility. “She never mentioned it.”
His mother cast a questioning glance in his direction and he snapped his mouth shut, deciding to interrogate the sea lion shifter about this revelation later. He did not want to detract from the main purpose of their visit.
“Records from those days are hard to come by, but that is the story passed down,” Elliot continued. “We have many other kinds of witches in our town. Magical creatures of all sorts who would be happy to have you join us whenever you please.”
“How can that be?” demanded Lady Serena.
The shifter faced her. “It has been this way for over two hundred years. We have never known anything else. Shifters born in Crescent Cove grow up free to come and go as they like between the town and the sea. We look after each other.”
“I don’t understand how that’s possible,” Reed’s father spoke up at last. “No humans have captured the shifters to force them to perform? To live in tanks and be stared at by other humans?”