Nero flicked his powerful tail and shot off over the sandy dunes. Ahead, Karina’s scales sparkled in the daylight and her bright hair flowed behind her as she lurched ahead just out of reach. She was quick, though Nero could probably catch her easily enough if he wanted. He did not, however. The way she would glance back at him with light brown eyes glistening with joy and a wide smile pulled across her lips kept him hanging back. She was enjoying the game far too much for him to end it by catching her, even if each narrow miss he feigned made her giggle and stick her tongue out at him.

It felt good to stretch his muscles again as he pursued her. Though Nero was always content to sit and watch the rest of the ocean around him, he had never sat still as long as he had these past several moons. He had been gravely injured in a terrible storm that had launched him out across the waters, far beyond the range of his own pod. He had wound up in the care of a small stationary pod that guarded their reef jealously for fear of a larger group pushing them out. He was not sure what prompted them to care for him so generously, but under the attentions of a strict, grumpy older Mer who was just as prone to whacking him with a stick of dolphin bone if he shifted the wrong way as she was to actually treat his injuries.

It had not been long after his arrival that Karina had begun to come to the small cave – more a dark overhang of rock and sand half blocked off from the world by kelp – where he was being treated. At first, she had come and silently aided her grandmother, then began to linger alone with him for longer periods of time. At first she did not speak – it was as if she was concerned about disturbing his rest and healing process – but once she worked up the nerve, it was like a tempest. Karina could talk for ages about anything and everything.

In his time, Nero – who tended to be far quieter and less social – may have found in annoying and uncomfortable, but with Karina it was endearing. She seemed to catch on quickly that he was shy and struggled with making conversation because she never expected his opinion, never prompted him to speak if he did not wish to. She merely kept him company, as often and long as she could. He began to look forward to her visits, and the silence no longer seemed comfortable to him like it had all his life. It was lonely without Karina’s presence.

He had certainly startled her when he finally did work up the nerve and comment quietly on something she was saying. She had stopped mid-sentence with a slack jaw and wide eyes, and his subdued voice had actually seemed to scare her as she jumped. He knew she was just surprised. After a few heartbeats of silence, she had simply smiled, agreed, and resumed talking. Nero felt better after that about chiming in and now – so long as no one else was around – he would talk freely and easily with her.

They had been on a few swims before. It was good for him to stretch healing muscles, and Karina was always eager to be his escort. She would link arms with him and guide him slowly over their reef, shooing away any of the three curious little merlings who would come racing up to explore the newcomer. Nero still felt uncomfortable with crowds, but he never admitted just how much his heart fluttered whenever Karina pressed up against him and locked their arms at the crook of the elbow. He would have been content if she never let go.

He had gotten stronger quickly and was now swimming on his own and confident in his ability to take to travel currents. He could leave at any time, and he knew that many in Karina’s family unit expected him to. He had his own pod, and theirs was a very different culture from his own, so no one anticipated him remaining. It was something that had hung in the air between him and Karina lately. She never brought it up, but he could tell she longed to ask. There was a certain sadness that sparkled in her gaze when she looked at him most times now, and he knew that she would not go with him if he left. But he had no desire to leave her. She had become the single most important thing in his life. He longed to return to his family, to see his mother and father and Kera – who was previously the only soul who lit his smile – and assure them that he was alright, but if it meant leaving Karina, even for a moon, then he would go a thousand cycles without seeing his blood again. She was more important, and he feared if he left, he would no longer get to enjoy her company as he did now; even if he were to return. He had made his choice, the only thing holding him back was the worry she would not choose the same. But it was time he worked up the courage to ask. He needed to know. They could not linger safely in a drift current forever.

As she hollered out again, smiling back at him with that radiant grin, he lashed his tail again. Her cry of delight morphed into a call of surprise as he crashed into her, barrelling them over in the water until they crashed into the sand below.

Karina’s laughter was breathless beneath him, and bubbles trailed up from her gills as she squirmed. “I guess you win,” she relented. She reached up and placed a hand on his chest. “You can get off me now, you know,” she teased with her tongue poking out between her teeth. She pushed on him gently, but Nero was frozen in place.

Her skin was pale compared to his own, like the pearly polish of clam shells, while he had a dark gray-brown hide of rougher skin that complimented his muscular dark gray tail. Karina’s scales glimmered like the brightest orange of sunrise, and he loved it. He could not bring himself to move, for they were rarely physically closer than they were now.

In his silence, Karina’s eyebrows dipped forward and her smile twisted into a small frown. “Nero?” she repeated. “Is everything alright?”

He shook himself from his daze and nodded. Reluctantly, he twisted to plop down in the sand next to her. Without his weight pinning her down, Karina sat up and brushed some sand of her midriff. “That was fun,” she decided, her bright smile returning. “You have gotten a lot stronger now. Grandmother says she has never seen such an effective recovery.”

“She also calls me a brainless mackerel,” Nero replied. “I believe she thinks I am simply too stubborn to perish.”

“Maybe you are,” Karina agreed. “But I am glad you are better. Grandmother is too. I think she just wants her alcove back.”

Nero hummed in agreement.

He watched out of the corner of his eye as Karina picked at a loose scale on her tail. “My father said since you are better, you will probably want to get back to your own pod now. He and the others are planning to send you off with some supplies for the trip, so you should see him before you go,” she admitted with a strangle in her voice. There was a long pause as she took a few deep breaths. Nero let her work through whatever it was she wished to say. “Will you be leaving soon?”

“Do you want me to?” Nero asked.

Karina shook her head. “No, I…” she broke off. “Never mind.”

“What is it?” he pressed.

Again, she shook her head and bowed her chin. “It is far too selfish of me to ever ask. Forget about it, okay?”

Nero gently took her hand and squeezed it until she looked up at him. “Ask,” he insisted.

Karina’s lip wavered into a pout and the crown of raised scales on her head flattened with distress. “Please stay,” she whimpered finally. She put her other hand over the one of his holding hers, and he added his other on top. “I…I would really like for you to stay. But I should not ask that; you have a family to get back to who love you and are probably very worried about you. I know that, I just…” she broke off again and sighed. Nero waited patiently. “Our pod does not travel. We are too small and too vulnerable. I have never left this reef and I am afraid of the open ocean or I would beg to accompany you. This is all I have ever known and I cannot leave it. We nurture kelp and seaweed tendrils, and forage clams and crabs, and small reef fish, but we do not hunt. We do not navigate currents or know how to avoid the dangers of deep waters. In my family, we have always put security as the priority. My sister bonded for that security, not for the love of her mate. My little brother will likely do the same should he find someone. Our only contact with others is migrators, pods and travelers passing through. There is rarely the time to nurture a deeper affection. We can choose to go or one may choose to stay, but that is how we choose our mates or we do not at all. I do not wish to mate for such a shallow reason, or to be selected for ease by those who know our ways. I want to know what it is to love and bond before being joined. I do not know for sure what I feel, I do not understand it and perhaps my mother would label me a fool, but I had accepted I would live my life alone. Now, I would simply be very sad to see you go,” she whispered. “You have made me feel I could have a chance. But I cannot ask it of you, it is not fair.”

She leaned against him and closed her eyes, and Nero’s heart squeezed at her distress. He wrapped an arm around her and pulled her a little closer, absently tracing circles over her shoulder. “When I was younger, I was fascinated with the sun,” he told her. She turned her head to look at him, and confusion sparkled in her gaze. “I used to hover as close to the surface as my mother dared to let me, simply studying it and basking in its warmth.”

He could tell by her squirming that Karina wanted to ask what his point was, but he rarely ever told her stories or talked at length at all, so after a moment, she settled against him and simply proceeded to listen. He appreciated it. He was not very good with words, but was glad she was willing to hear him out. “I used to ask her about the night; about why the sun would set and it would grow dark. She always told me that the moon deserved to shine too and that if the sun blazed all the time, none of us would ever get any rest. She tells me that when I was very young, I used to hate that answer. I used to tell her that I wanted to hold a piece of the sun always, so that my life would always be bright and it would keep me warm even on the darkest, coldest nights when there was no moon.”

Karina giggled softly beside him and he hugged her closer. “Yes, she laughed too. She told me it was impossible and impractical, and would tell me to go back to sleep. I obsessed a lot less over it as I got older, but I think I always held onto that dream in the back of my heart; to someday find out what it would feel like to grasp a piece of sunlight.”

“That is sweet,” Karina replied.

“It was the silly desires of a child,” Nero countered. He turned to meet her gaze. “Or so I thought. I do not know. But I do know that now that I have had the chance to hug the sun close, I never wish to let go. She is as warm and wonderful as I could have ever imagined, and my life has never shone with more radiance. I would be a fool to abandon that now.”

Karina’s eyes widened with shock and she shook her head. “But Nero, I am not-oh,” she paused as he pressed a finger to her mouth. He hated when she put herself down. Karina always smiled, was always cheery and always quick to help others and show them kindness. But when she was alone – or forgot Nero was still listening – she would open her heart deeper and admit to her perceived flaws. She worried over beauty, shallow as she felt it was. She worried that she was too energetic, too happy, that it would annoy others. She was lonely and did not perceive herself good enough to ask for the company of others or to wish for companionship. He loathed that those dark thoughts dare eat at her heart and mind.

He shook his head. “You are,” he corrected. “You are beautiful and bright, and you have reminded me of the sun when dawn first cracks since the first moment I met you, Karina. You are warm and accepting, and never seem bothered that I am quiet and shy and uncomfortable in groups. I would give anything, do anything, simply to see you smile. You are the brightest sun to me, you surpass the one in the sky, and I would hold you forever if you would let me. I know your pod joins for security, I respect that. I would hunt for you and protect you from any threat. You will never have to travel unless you wish it, and I would escort across the oceans if you did.”

Karina shook her head. “I do not need gifts or favors and promises of showered treats, Nero. I do onto want them. I simply wish to have the heart of my mate, and to feel cherished for who I am, and I want to give the same.”

Nero nodded. He had already said more words and spouted more pathetic attempts at poetic, wooing words than he ever cared to utter. He wanted her to understand and did not fully know how to say what was in his heart. So, he gathered the courage that he had – though a large part of him wanted to flee and not risk the friendship they had – and he leaned a little closer. “I ask only for the chance to love you,” he whispered before he bent his head properly and kissed her. She stiffened beneath him and a soft whisper of surprise left her lips, but it was cut off.

Kissing her was as soft and sweet and wonderful as Nero imagined it would be, and after a moment, Karina relaxed and wrapped her arms around his neck. She fell back in the water and pulled him with her, and he raised an arm to cradle the back of her head. He broke the kiss reluctantly, but was rewarded with getting to see her warm brown eyes staring up at him with amazement and joy.

“But what about your family?” she asked.

He shook his head and raised a hand to cup her cheek. He stroked the subtle flesh with his thumb. “Perhaps one day – if you feel comfortable – we can visit so you may meet them. I think you would like them, especially my baby sister,” he admitted. “But I would rather not part from you long enough to make that trip alone. I love my family, I do, but everything I need is right here. I have my perfect ray of sunlight. If she will let me hold onto her, that is. I believe she wanted to ask something.”

Karina hesitated and chewed on her lip, rolling it between her fangs. Nero hoped she would not cut herself. She held his gaze with such longing that Nero almost forgot to feel overjoyed, instead feeling the urge to fix the emotional turmoil within her. “Karina,” he breathed. He loved the sound of her name as he said it. It was his favourite word to say. “It is okay to be selfish sometimes. I want to know your thoughts if you will allow me.”

“Please stay,” Karina begged finally as whatever was holding her back broke. She lurched up and threw her arms around him and began to sob softly. “Please do not leave me, Nero. I want to stay with you always. I love you.”

Nero hugged her close and sat back on his tail to cradle her in his arms. “I will never leave you,” he agreed. “My heart is yours, Karina. It has been for a while now,” he admitted.

The surge of emotions that shone in her eyes was almost overwhelming to see, and he could not imagine how she was experiencing so many. Her head tilted and her eyes closed as she kissed him this time. When they parted once more, Karina sat up taller so she could lean her forehead against his. “I would be honoured if you chose to hold onto me,” she agreed.

With the permission granted, Nero’s heart soared and he squeezed her to him until her laughter became an amused wheeze. “Perhaps not quite so tightly,” she gasped. “I promise not to flee.”

He joined her in her laughter as he reluctantly loosened his hold just a little. He hummed deep in his chest as he hugged her. She was warm, and he knew he would never feel the chill of night or the cold currents again. Not so long as he had her by his side.