Troller

Royce had the coordinates for the location where we’d meet his parents. I was excited about meeting them and wondered what his fathers would be like. The whole month or so we’d been together Royce hadn’t asked me much about where I’d come from, or the pod. He kept his questions to my personal sphere, and I appreciated that.

I liked bread and pastries. Pasta was my favorite. I liked soup and loved just about any vegetable or fruit Royce managed to find. But most of all, I loved Royce. I knew I’d have to explain why I was here, and why I stayed with him instead of returning to the water. 

We dropped anchor about halfway to our destination. Royce was doing a final check for the night when I got an idea. 

“We should go for a swim.” I stripped off my shirt, then unbuttoned my shorts. Royce watched, looking distracted, then shook his head. 

“I don’t think that’s a good idea.”

“No one’s out here and it’s a nice day. We won’t go far from the boat. Besides I’m not taking no for an answer.” I removed the rest of my clothes, went to the aft of the boat, stepped onto the small dive deck and dove off. 

“Troller!” I saw Royce from under the water. My body wanted to shift but I was holding it off for now. “Troller, answer me.”

“I’m here. Are you going to get in or are you going to make me come back up there and pull you in?”

Royce gave me a look and shook his head. He took a few more minutes to get naked, then he jumped into the water. He came back to the surface spitting. 

I swam toward him and he smiled, then his eyes narrowed a moment. “You haven’t changed.”

“I was waiting until you were in the water. I didn’t want to scare you.”

“I’ll close my eyes if you don’t want me to watch.”

“You can watch.” I dove under the water and shifted. It probably took a few minutes but it always seemed like forever. When I came back up, I cleared my gills and blinked at Royce.

“You look exactly like I remember. Well, except your hair wasn’t braided.” He smiled, I smiled back, then his face shifted a little, his lips thinned but barely kept from being a frown.“I don’t remember the teeth though. Those look sharp.”

I grinned at him and he flinched, then laughed. “It’s a good thing I know you or I’d be pissing myself right now.”

Royce tread water until I wrapped my arms around him and swam for both of us. I gave him a soft kiss and a small trilling noise of excitement to be near him.

“Can you talk? Or is it different?”

I pointed at my throat and my gills that I had to dip into the water to breathe. Royce nodded. 

“Right.” He reached up and brushed his fingers along my face. I felt his fingertips trace my ear and then my cheek. It reminded me of what I’d done when I first met him. 

“You’re absolutely stunning.” I gave him another smile with a soft trill and he laughed. “I wish I knew what you were saying. Maybe you could teach me sometime.”

I nodded. It was possible, but I didn’t think Royce would ever be able to make the correct noises himself. We held each other a little longer, and while I wasn’t cold, I noticed Royce begin to shiver as the sun slipped over the horizon.

I swam us to the ladder and urged him to go up first. He nodded and I observed as he used his powerful arms and legs to haul himself out of the water. I had watched him the night he went overboard and Pete pulled him out. His determination and stamina was nearly unmatched even by my own people. 

I held onto the ladder as I shifted. The cold crept in the moment my scales floated away on the eddies that swirled around me. When I had feet again, I climbed the ladder. Royce stood there with a towel. He wrapped me into it the moment I stepped on deck.

I reached for him and he didn’t mind as I wrapped my arms around him. Royce held me while he dried us off, then wrapped the towels around us as we stood together admiring the stars as they appeared. 

“Was that the first time you’ve shifted back since you’ve been with me?”

I nodded. “Ports are tricky. Lots of places to hide, but also a lot of places I can’t. I didn’t want to risk it.”

“Does it hurt to be out of the water for long periods of time?”

“It hasn’t been a problem so far.” According to Halic and the elders, going to the surface meant a painful death. Drown in the air as our gills gasped for water. I know differently now. 

“It was enough for me to know that you wanted to be with me, Troller. I didn’t ask about anything else. Mostly because I didn’t want to explain my own circumstances. You can tell me when you’re ready.”

I lifted my head from his chest and looked up at him and pressed my hand to his face. My fingers slid along his beard and dropped to his chest. 

“We’re warned to stay away from the surface.” There was a slight chuckle from Royce and I tapped his chest and he quieted. I felt his fingers play along the plait in my hair. 

“I’d always been fascinated with the surface. I’d watch from a safe depth most of the time. Other ocean dwellers had freedom to venture close and even play with others, but my kind kept our distance. There were stories from a long time ago about how our kind were hunted for magic. There was a time when all of my people could shift, leave the water and walk on land. We were told it was no longer possible. We’d die if we tried. 

"The one that spoke of it the most, lied to us. He’d secretly come to the surface. He has abilities none of us have, which gives him power over the council, and our people. Everyone fears him.”

Royce held me tighter and I clung to him as I continued talking. 

“One day I followed him. I watched from a rock outcropping as he pulled himself up onto the shore and shifted. He said words I didn’t understand and went into a building that wasn’t there before.

When he left, I swam onto shore and discovered I could change as well. I was so weak the first time, but as I practiced and watched. I grew bold.”

“Royce,” I choked on the words in my human throat. The sorrow I wanted to express seemed too large for it. “I confronted him. For me, for my people. I asked him why he said such things if it was possible we could all walk on land again.” 

“He stared at me for a long time. Then he said more words I didn’t understand. I started to shift while I was out of the water. A large wave swept me off the beach. If not for that, he would have killed me. I have no doubt that he would have used me as an object lesson for the rest of the council and their pods.”

Royce held me closer and pressed me into his chest as I cried. I hadn’t realized how much I had held in by not talking about why I left everything I’d known. 

“Is that why you thought I had magic? That I could change you with it?” Royce asked.

I nodded. “We were told it was possible. That land dwellers had magic that would make us like them. And I would never have to go back.”

“Then you’d lose everything you were. You’d always be in your human shape. You’d never be able to see your pod again.” 

I nodded. 

“Then, it wasn’t luck that you were in the water that day.”

I shook my head. The words I had were stuck in my bipedal throat.

“You were following Halic?”

I nodded. “I was almost caught when I saved you. The whistle was Halic calling the pod. It brings us to him. Either it wasn’t as effective above the water, or something about you let me resist it long enough to not be caught.”

He looked at me with his soft hazel eyes. “After the accident, I always thought about you. I dreamed about you. I remembered how you touched my face." He held me  a little away from him and brushed across my hair, caressed my face, and cradled my head. "Like you were curious and scared at the same time. I kept hoping you’d come back. There was a moment that I thought about leaving the boat for good, but I didn’t, because I hoped you’d find me again.” 

I smiled at him. “It worked.”

“Yeah, I guess it did.”

“I was curious about you, too. There were a lot of places to look. The only thing I had was the name of your boat. I’m a fast swimmer, but I’m not as fast as a boat. At the time, I didn't know what Galveston was either.” Royce kissed the top of my head and that small reassurance was everything.

That time, before I saw Royce again, had been frustrating. I didn’t have the language, or means to look outside of the water. I had to find caves during the bad weather, avoid other pods and ocean dwellers that might betray me. 

“Now that you’ve found me, we’ll manage whatever comes next together.” Royce said.

“I hope you’re right.” 

He gave me another kiss on my brow. “I’m starving. Let’s make dinner,” Royce said, then he slapped my ass. I was not proud of the noise I made as a result.

“Can we have pasta?”

“We had pasta yesterday. What about tacos?” He asked.

“I guess.” Royce laughed as I shrugged. I loved his laugh and would do anything to hear it.