"What is wrong, Myah? Why do you cry?" Aryn asks as the two settled down, hidden by the shadow of the cliffside where he had rescued her, in water just up to Myah’s ankles as she sat in the ebbing waves. 533Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡulnLrnQyc1
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Myah took in a shaky breath, raising her head from her knees to smile at the remarkable merman. “I’m sorry, Aryn. I'll be fine.” her voice shook as she wiped at her tears. 533Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2QLNsiLI00
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"How do you cry?" he asked a moment after, eying a tear that cascaded down her cheek. 533Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQYkekaFZWM
Myah held her breath in surprise at the odd question, remembering his first reaction at the sight of her tears. His empty tone held nothing but curiosity, just like before.533Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIvWmQ57yGJ
"W-well..." she thought about it for a moment, unsure of how to answer as she turned back to the ocean, ”How do you cry?" she asked him in return.533Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBJxHvk61Lv
"I do not." he answered just as promptly.533Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8yG5SsE7jO
This only left Myah even more at a loss for an explanation. “Its...hard to explain if you haven’t experienced it before.” she sighed, leaning into the crooks of her elbows once again. "It just kind of happens."533Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPjYcIu4Jyo
“What are the…emotions you feel when you are crying?” he asked, lying his head down into the cool sand, using his arms as pillows. His voice hesitated slightly at the word ‘emotions’ as he waited for her explanation. 533Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6QdvvKzgdv
"Hmm..." Myah thought for a moment, her mind floating elsewhere, her eyes spacing back out towards the sea. “People can cry for a lot of reasons. They’re sad, or they’re angry. They can be happy, or…heartbroken…” her voice cracked at the last word. 533Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1GjpHExJLF
Aryn watched her carefully, noting her withering voice at the end. Heartbroken. That was the emotion that intrigued him the most. “And which is it that makes you cry today, Myah? The day before, as I understood, it was the pain from my pull on your cheek.” He reached up, tenderly touching her cheek again with just the tips of his fingers, careful to apply no pressure at all as he did it. 533Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTHxaRJh3GB
Myah first jumped at his sudden touch, his fingers like ice cubes to her warm skin, even in the shadow of the cliff. She faced the merman with wide eyes, feeling heat reach her cheeks despite his cool touch. 533Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRVzJOq48I3
His steady gaze entranced her, and she was trapped in his sea foam stare. Her heart launched into her throat, beating wildly as his fingers slowly dragged across her skin, leaving icy trails as he cupped her cheek. She never realized how wide his hands were. She suddenly felt so small in this light embrace. She gulped, her breath held as she stretched down toward the merman, following his hand’s gentle pull toward him. There was so much loneliness in his pooling eyes, she found herself wanting to sink in them and never returning for air. She was instinctually just drawn to the merman, engulfed in feelings she couldn't muster into words. 533Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkjPL25cRvc
Aryn felt the heaviness in his chest again, pulling him toward her honey eyes. Again, there was the overwhelming need to be close to her, closer than he cared to ever know with any other merfolk. Closer than language can ever take them. He slowly propped himself up in the soft, wet sand with his free hand, eying the redness of her cheeks, patiently drawing her lips toward his. 533Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ53D7UunSld
As their lips were moments from meeting, she instinctively shut her eyes and let out her held breath, coating his glacier skin in warmth that sent a ripple of tingles to the tip of his scaly tail. 533Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3VhHS40dt9
He watched every change in her carefully, how the redness of her cheeks reached the tips of her ears, her soft lashes framed her gently closed eyes, how her skin grew warmer with every second under his palm. He not only wanted to know how all of these reactions happened, and the emotions she felt along with them, he wanted to be the reason she had each and every one. He’s never wanted so much out of anyone before like what he wants from her. He wants to know why she seems to brings up this pull in his chest, like they were magnets heavily attracted to just one another. 533Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxsa9IY2Jod
As the tips of their noses just started to brush past one another, he shut his eyes as well. He knew not why, just that he was compelled to follow suit. It just felt right, and that was equal parts exciting and frightening. He’s never known so many feelings before. 533Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtyKCfxfYf6
"Arynythoveoniq..." a low hush whispered from the waves.533Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMpbFoMKcUT
Aryn’s eyes flurried open at the quiet calling.533Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPdVpc6rstn
Myah was still reaching toward him, her eyes shut, no reaction to the call in the slightest. 533Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9Qu1MI8pCO
"Arynythoveoniq." The voice was still soft beside the waves, but its sound was much sterner.533Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡS0mLI5u9YP
He gently pulled away from Myah, his hand plopping into the lively ocean, his lips now tightly shut as he slowly came back to reality. 533Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMZVL9HhsUL
Myah’s eyes gently fluttered open as she realized he had dropped his hold on her cheek. Her soft brows furrowed together before she tightly shut her lips and straightened her back toward the horizon, her eyes darting around to avoid his gaze, the scarlet on her face spreading like wildfire. She attempted to hide her growing fire in the nooks of her elbows like earlier. 533Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3TPNQVpCsn
Aryn felt the heaviness sink into the abyss of his stomach like an old, rusty anchor, realizing she was showing a new emotion he had not witnessed before, and how much he did not like seeing her this way. He reached out to her again, salt water dripping from his fingertips. He wanted to comfort her. How he planned on doing so, he wasn’t sure yet. The idea was still as foreign to his as her language was. But he had the overwhelming need to try. 533Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSXPAzMV90P
"ARYNYTHOVEONIQ." The voice called again, this time in a more authoritative tone, its muffled echoes reaching only his ears. 533Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡo7f3ZsGxgm
Myah still had no reaction at all to the voice, as only the rhythmic ocean waves filled her ears. She continued to bury herself away from the merman, scolding herself for once again for falling for the instinctive pull toward him. She still wasn't sure if he was just some hallucination, remnants from her dying brain due to the near death experience. 533Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNMnZoae2CH
Without a flinch at the faraway voice, Aryn withdrew his fingers from reaching out to Myah, pressing his lips into a fine line. “Myah,” he finally broke the silence. 533Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZ5gpCZSvqh
Not reacting was her only response. Her eyes never even flickered his way. The fire on her face was slowly smoldering into embers. 533Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcF7JEDFbzi
He brought his hands back into the wet, sinking sand, understanding her continued silence but hoping he could ask one thing of her. “Please stay here. For a moment.” 533Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSVg4MS7aS5
She finally turned to him, brows twisted into a question mark. 533Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrlDzNY76U8
“I…would like to bring you something. But I will need to fetch it from my grotto. It would not take that long.” he pleaded, the ocean already pulling him into their watery arms. 533Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2nPZWUbW4i
She watched him go, quiet, before giving a curt nod. “I’ll wait here…” she promised softly. 533Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdZWnIlGJ9s
Aryn felt his tingling lips, eyes locked with her honey gaze, as he sank deeper into the ocean's grasp. She still had that sadness, that faraway look in her eyes. For some reason, his stomach felt as if he had eaten an urchin's crunchy shell. It was as if he disliked seeing her this way.533Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJK8Ud2EhAC
Then he slipped deep into the ocean current. He sank deeper and deeper until he was out of the sun's bright fingers and darkness swallowed him. He paused, the freezing waters not even giving him goose bumps, as he waited for the owner of the voice. 533Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaW7icWRNWm
