The first week of Ash’s school break was a near blur of excitement, one that kept the boys out of the house almost constantly. At one point, Abel and Alice said they’d take a breath at the breakfast table, the boys would be there in a frenzy, and on the exhale, they were gone with the slamming of a door, leaving a trail of laughter in their wake. Not that the parents minded, Ash had never been this enthusiastic about anything, or anyone, before, and his total change in personality and behavior was quite refreshing. Even the girls didn’t seem to mind it, especially since Ash and Coby got them involved in some of their more mild training they did in the backyard.

For the most part, however, Coby and Ash spent their time doing things on their own. That was, of course, following their morning training with Gema that often left them both sore and exhausted, though that didn’t last long with how quickly they recovered. Gema was impressed by how quickly the two were improving, and the almost ferocious drive they came to the lessons with. 

Ash still ended up with three more destroyed shirts and a scar on his knee from getting impaled by a piece of metal shrapnel he’d landed on by accident when dodging an attack by Gema. She’d felt absolutely terrible about it, doing her best to heal the wound, and promised not to go so hard on him next time.

Ash shook his head, sweat pouring down his ashen face. “No,” he huffed. “This was my fault, don’t blame yourself. If you go easy on me, I won’t learn.” He gave her a weak smile that was an attempt at reassurance, but the mermaid still felt awful, choosing to focus more on his awareness training the very next morning, along with more subtle energy manipulations. Ash didn’t argue.

Ash took Coby everywhere he wanted to go; the market, museums, the park, even an aquarium, which was an experience all on its own. The merman had been absolutely fascinated by the various forms of sea life that populated the giant tanks and glass exhibits. He’d even spied creatures he’d never seen before, almost pressing his nose flush against the glass to get a better look at them while Ash read off the description on the nearby placards.

Ash was struck by how excited Coby was, the way his face lit up when he saw something he recognized, and the way he would bounce up and down when discovering something new. 

“If this is exciting, I should take you to the wildlife preserve later,” Ash laughed at one point, their arms around each other’s waists.

“What’s that?”

“So, a long time ago, there were these places humans created called ‘zoos' that kept all sorts of wild animals for people to look at. Some weren’t bad, but there were a lot more that didn’t take care of the animals like they should have.”

Coby frowned, sadness in his bright blue eyes. “That’s terrible.”

Ash nodded. “It was. The enclosures were too small, the animals weren’t fed all that well, some were even being abused. It was pretty bad. Around the time of the Great Separation, some people got it into their heads that these things needed to go away, but they had no idea what to do with the animals. They couldn’t just let them go free, especially when shit was going crazy at the time. So, they found huge open areas, secured them, and brought the animals there. The one closest to us is something like a hundred and fifty square miles.”

Coby’s jaw dropped and Ash chuckled.

“It’s pretty big,” he said. “Not the biggest, I guess, but not bad. The animals there get to roam free, live their lives, and the visitors can see them behave the way they should while staying a safe distance away. There’s tons of walkways and bridges built in that don’t negatively impact the animals or the environment in any way, and the money they make isn’t for profit. It all goes to the animals’ care and research. It’s the same thing for this aquarium.”

Coby’s eyes went wide with excitement. “That’s so cool,” he breathed. He grabbed Ash’s hands and began jumping up and down, making Ash laugh out loud. “Can we go today? I wanna go, can we?!”

“Yes, we can go!” Ash said, trying to get his boyfriend to calm down. “But not today. It’s hours away and something we’d have to plan the whole day around. We’ll go later this week if you want.”

Coby nodded vigorously, beaming. Ash was pretty sure his heart was working itself into cardiac arrest at this point, but he didn’t care. Seeing the joy that effused Coby’s beautiful face was enough for him to die happy.

Behind the aquarium’s main building was a section set up with small pools of sea water filled with coral, sea stars, crabs, and other forms of life found in the shallow parts of the ocean. Ash explained these were meant for teaching kids about the importance of keeping the oceans clean, and the different types of animals they could find not too far off shore. Looking into one, his hands gripping the stones, Coby looked serious for the first time all day. Ash watched him, studying the thoughts that crossed Coby’s mind, the doubts and worries resurfacing in his energy stream.

He hadn’t touched sea water since he had been found on the beach over a month ago, and being this close to it filled a longing desire deep within him, one he couldn’t ignore. It had been so long since he had been in his natural form, and his primal need to return to it made his whole body react. Holding himself back from jumping into the pool was physically painful, an ache that reached right down their link into Ash’s very soul.

An idea slowly took shape in Ash’s mind, one Coby picked up on immediately, a sharp inhale catching in his throat.

“Should I?” he said, the words barely above a whisper.

Ash nodded. “Try it.”

Coby took a breath and swallowed hard, lifting his hand slowly from the rock, and letting it hover briefly over the water, his fingers trembling slightly. Ash glanced around, making sure no one was watching. It wasn’t that people didn’t know, or really care too much, that Coby was a merman; he just didn’t want his mate to become a spectacle, some surprise sideshow for everyone to gawk over if this worked.

Coby cautiously dipped the tips of his fingers into the cold water then drew them out quickly, his anxiety getting the better of him. He closed his eyes, bit his lip, and gave a tiny shake of the head, despair over another potential failure overcoming him.

“I can’t…” he whispered. “Ash, I can’t do this, I—”

“Yes, you can,” Ash said gently, his fingers gliding over the back of Coby’s hand and down to his wrist, encircling it while sending him as much comfort through his waves as possible.

“But…what if it doesn’t work? What if I fail?”

“If it doesn’t work today, we’ll try again another time.” Ash leaned over and placed a tiny kiss behind his ear. “You’ll be fine, Co-Bieasah. I’ll hold on the whole time if that’s what you want.”

After a brief hesitation, Coby slowly shook his head. “No…no, it’s okay…” He took another deep breath, and slowly lowered his hand once more toward the water, his arm sliding through Ash’s warm grip as he pushed the sleeve of Coby’s thin hoodie up along with it, exposing more of his soft, pale skin.

Coby’s fingers touched the water and, after a moment, broke the surface, his hand submerging into the salty sea water up to a few inches above his wrist. For a few, terrifying, heart-stopping seconds, nothing happened. Ash’s shoulders dropped with a soft sigh, seeing the grief wash over Coby’s face…but it didn’t last long.

A tiny gasp escaped his throat, his eyes going wide, his lips parting in shock as he watched shiny blue scales begin to appear in a gentle wave from beneath his skin. They rose from behind the middle knuckle, around the back of his hand, and up his wrist, stopping where the surface of the water began. Coby turned his hand, watching the thin webbing appear between his fingers, webbing he could grow and shrink depending on his needs. On the side of his wrist, two small blue fins appeared, translucent and shimmering in the sunlight.

His scales, solid and beautiful, glimmered under the water, the sunlight casting a rainbow of colors along the coral and other bottom feeders that resided in the shallow pool. Where there weren't any scales, his skin took on a faint, almost invisible blue sheen. A natural sunblock that faded the deeper down a merperson swam. Even at the surface, unless you were looking for it, it couldn’t be seen.

Ash watched a ripple appear in the water near Coby’s wrist, a second and a third joining quickly after. Baffled, he glanced up at Coby’s face, locked in disbelief, as tears coursed unchecked and silent down his cheeks. Ash smiled softly, tucking Coby’s braids behind his ear. The merman didn’t even flinch; Ash could touch him anywhere, including his sacred adornments, a privilege denied to all others in the entirety of the Universal Core.

Coby lifted his hand from the water, watching as the scales disappeared back into his skin, the fins and webbing sinking in with them. He curled and uncurled his fingers, turning his hand over and over, running the tips of his fingers over the place his scales had been.

He could do it after all. He could shift.

Co-Bieasah could return to the sea.

**