---Echo’s POV---
Sitting there having heard what Silves said, my mind was confused. There was so much I’d never thought of. I’d never really thought about having a relationship before. Especially after the incident with my father, and everyone pulling away from me. Silves was the first friend I’d made in a long time. Thinking it over, I wasn’t opposed to the idea, just shocked that he would be okay dating me.
My face must have shown my emotions because Echo seemed upset. Getting up from the bed, saying “Don’t worry about it Echo, everything will be fine.”
Before he left the room. It hurt to watch him leave like that, my eyes widened in shock thinking that he might have been feeling the same amount of hurt, thinking I didn’t want to date him. Swimming out of our room, and not seeing Silves. Leaving the dorm, seeing a flash of silver disappear behind another building heading to the Siren side of the school.
Rushing after him, but not getting to him before he crossed over. I slammed into the wall that kept Tritons from that side of the academy. Saous came up to me, “What’s going on?” She asked.
“It’s all your fault that he’s mad at me,” I said turning on her. “Because of you, he said something and I was so shocked he took it badly and ran. You know who my father is, thinking that anyone might be interested in dating me was a shock. And you didn’t wait until we were ready to find out on our own. Meddling like you did without parents when you embarrassed him.” I was fuming.
“Alright follow me and calm down, acting rashly won't help anything.” She said swimming across the barrier.
I followed after her, “How?” I asked.
“I am a guardian of the school, there are few places I cannot go. Similar to a teacher, though they rarely leave their side. Being able to bring others, is just a perk of my rank.” She said not slowing down.
“How do you know where you are going?” I asked.
“I told you before, there is little that goes on here I don’t know about. At least for the comings and goings of people.” she amended.
We traveled for a little bit until we reached the end of the academy. “Why would he be going this way do you know?” She asked.
“I do, but he has to be careful.”
“Where and why?” she demanded.
“Our cave is this way, where we practice away from the prying eyes of the other students. But it wasn’t sharks we ran into there, we saw some humans, one a small one, possibly a child saw me. I am unsure if anyone else saw us or will believe him.” I said softly.
“Then we have to hurry, show me the way,” Saous demanded.
We traveled quickly and were able to catch up to Silves partway, he had been slowed by a shark. But instead of attacking him. Silves seemed to be talking to the shark. As they swam in lazy circles. We couldn’t hear them at first but when we got closer it didn’t seem that they were really talking. Silves just seemed to be saying what was on his mind, and a lot of it didn’t make sense.
Saous got close and the shark swam off. Silves turned to look at us. Looking at Saous she backed off a bit as I moved closer to Silves.
“I’m sorry,” I said.
“No, it’s okay, I understand if you don’t like me like that.”
“That’s not what I’m sorry about,” I said harsher than I intended, causing Silves to flinch. “Sorry,” I said softly. “I was so worried when I saw the direction you were heading, there could still be humans there.”
"I know I shouldn’t go, but it’s so peaceful there and I need time. To get my feelings under control.”
“I don’t dislike you, I would be happy to date you, Silves. You are amazing, My hesitation was from surprise that someone would want to date me. After my father was labeled a traitor a lot of friends turned their backs on me, so finding out someone like me like that was a surprise. I didn’t notice.” I finished softly.
“Oh,” was all Silves said.
“Now that you two have talked show me this cave,” Saous said coming up to us.
Glaring at her, we lead the way. It took about an hour to get there Silves holding my hand the whole way. I was pretty sure Saous took another picture that would probably end up with our parents. When we arrived we showed her the inside of the cave then we circled the island. Not seeing any threat on the water Saous surfaced and looked at the beaches, but it seemed that the humans were gone.
Though this area would probably be heavily looked after seeing as humans were seen so close to the city. Which meant our cave wouldn’t be private anymore. On the way back to the Academy, Silves and I enjoyed the scenery while Saous was leading the way.
“I won’t tell anyone about that Island or cave. However, you must report to me if you find more humans there. Humans haven’t been seen in this part of the ocean for so long. I hope they were just lost.” she said quietly.
I had a feeling it was a breach of protocol for her to not tell anyone about the humans, though there were probably few who would believe her. Saying we were just trying to get out of trouble. We agreed to her request, there wasn’t much else we could do. When we got back to the Academy, it was late in the day most of our rest day spent. We settled down to eat and then made our way to our rooms, before stopping for a cleansing session in one of the bathrooms.
I helped Silves wash his hair and his back, and he returned the favor. It felt nice having him run his hands through my hair, simple and relaxing. We finished quickly when we heard others coming. Leaving the room, before they showed up. Not that we were shy, but it was easier not to deal with the other Tritons. Especially with the semi-finals tomorrow.
Getting back into our room, I sat on the bed next to Silves. My tail swishing back and forth. The silence was awkward, to say the least. Seemingly neither of us knew what to say. Wishing for something, I took his hand.
“I’m happy, about this,” I said softly.
“Me too, I guess we should thank Saous, even though she did force us.”
“Maybe we hold off thanking her. It might go to her head,” I said with a smile.
“Yeah, that wouldn’t be good at all.” Silves agreed.
I looked at the merman beside me. While I had slight muscle development and definition, his body was lean and toned from hours of swimming. On top of that, his scales were a beautiful shade of silver and blue. His hair was a pure silver that captured the light. Following my train of thought, I was surprised I had not noticed my feeling for him before. It should have been simple for me to see, he was the first person other than my family I let close. Yet the same could be said for him. I was the only person who could touch him without him freaking out.
In some ways, we were made for each other. That was a thought I liked, it would also make sense. Seeing as I was his guardian. Together we had already proven to be a strong team. With more practice, we could become incredible. Though the thought of being sent to the arctic sent a shiver through me. Getting to be next to someone I cared about and helping them become stronger made me smile. We would become an unbeatable team.
Silves laid on the bed looking at me with a smile.
“So today was fun, but not very relaxing.” He said.
Chuckling I laid next to him, “No not very relaxing, but very rewarding. I never thought I would have such an amazing partner.”
“I didn’t either,” Silves said with a smile.
While we had talked about it neither of us made the relationship official yet. We were definitely working towards it, but there was still some time before we were ready to face that hurdle. Right now knowing we had each other was enough. As we curled into sleep that night, I heard Silves whisper.
“I’m glad you crashed into me, and knocked us to the ground,” just before his breathing evened out.
Smiling slightly, “I’m glad too.” before I drifted off to sleep.
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