"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. 564Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSYMlKcjQ8F
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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. 564Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUZ4UlrPPYo
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"How do you cry?" he asked a moment after, eying a tear that cascaded down her cheek. 564Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVBEdCYSkq6
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.564Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEXptZIiTFV
"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.564Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwXprov7TzG
"I do not." he answered just as promptly.564Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmf6Hh1SR0v
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."564Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4eDorXp5Dw
“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. 564Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDWSJuonb4k
"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. 564Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqff4e6kgMi
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. 564Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡugv3EjxtAJ
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. 564Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ82Z5CMVoyX
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. 564Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡk6wVmhKJvH
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. 564Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYwqFv9H1uB
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. 564Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvd5wDF3Wm2
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. 564Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKzykceW79r
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. 564Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqvYdytxI0R
"Arynythoveoniq..." a low hush whispered from the waves.564Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9E08NwOj6v
Aryn’s eyes flurried open at the quiet calling.564Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3v8bhNSVZj
Myah was still reaching toward him, her eyes shut, no reaction to the call in the slightest. 564Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiY9aOsiXrD
"Arynythoveoniq." The voice was still soft beside the waves, but its sound was much sterner.564Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxrgLDEEv5L
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. 564Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwsbsQVIOpV
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. 564Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQoeDTm8PYf
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. 564Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡj9Pn3X6mqs
"ARYNYTHOVEONIQ." The voice called again, this time in a more authoritative tone, its muffled echoes reaching only his ears. 564Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ373fUKqmZn
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. 564Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVsintEOt1w
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. 564Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbK2LMuOGNN
Not reacting was her only response. Her eyes never even flickered his way. The fire on her face was slowly smoldering into embers. 564Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡd4mxi4mMyC
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.” 564Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsRhsWqzCLC
She finally turned to him, brows twisted into a question mark. 564Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9cfjeGfWuS
“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. 564Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRA8cn2mGHG
She watched him go, quiet, before giving a curt nod. “I’ll wait here…” she promised softly. 564Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxVw3hTnKTJ
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.564Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfsPEaHCxyo
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. 564Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvujCKqXhmi
