"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. 541Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡj0V7Jm0PDD
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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. 541Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1MsXPVuekn
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"How do you cry?" he asked a moment after, eying a tear that cascaded down her cheek. 541Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsF6L7oizio
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.541Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIq5SE3TbpK
"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.541Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9wIaFJeHFm
"I do not." he answered just as promptly.541Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmil5xQgTKb
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."541Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡshN35yjJR3
“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. 541Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5ftyKeHmLc
"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. 541Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHVlZqUJK6Y
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. 541Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLLhnHUqPG1
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. 541Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwEhJffgRGb
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. 541Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ09KTSpBfpg
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. 541Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJ8q9pmUyxl
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. 541Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJZ1MxIH6fr
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. 541Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgliwn56u0G
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. 541Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqQLP1gMMpU
"Arynythoveoniq..." a low hush whispered from the waves.541Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuByqMBS0rT
Aryn’s eyes flurried open at the quiet calling.541Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5QkydL7UuQ
Myah was still reaching toward him, her eyes shut, no reaction to the call in the slightest. 541Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWwqJAx8sUm
"Arynythoveoniq." The voice was still soft beside the waves, but its sound was much sterner.541Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ581kY7mCfQ
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. 541Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKBDzXIibAo
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. 541Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJ5tr0f8Uxn
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. 541Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡF96xZ2p1qv
"ARYNYTHOVEONIQ." The voice called again, this time in a more authoritative tone, its muffled echoes reaching only his ears. 541Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBGB46Barxh
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. 541Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUuN1jzkuYX
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. 541Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡn5zAwI2uP7
Not reacting was her only response. Her eyes never even flickered his way. The fire on her face was slowly smoldering into embers. 541Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmve1PhI2Rs
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.” 541Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxPnYDNkS3B
She finally turned to him, brows twisted into a question mark. 541Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyCPvsajFZH
“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. 541Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYzhNC6yHG2
She watched him go, quiet, before giving a curt nod. “I’ll wait here…” she promised softly. 541Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwV9TRwZnHW
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.541Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPW3gwrLafn
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. 541Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡz8zEG1S9my
