Page 52 of The Noble's Merman

“Doesn’t change…” Davies pouted, crossing his arms. “All right, I suppose it doesn’t. I’m just shocked, that’s all.”

“Same for myself,” said Walker.

“Does that mean you, yourself are a merman?” Kent asked Allen.

Mo’s heart thudded madly as all of this was unfolding. That’s why his hair is so strange. He’s mer.

“I’ve only been a human my entire life,” said Allen, striking Mo even curiouser. “My mother was a full-blooded human. Which would make me only a half-breed, or less, if my father possibly wasn’t full-blooded merfolk.”

“I never realized humans could breed with merfolk. What!” Davies chuckled.

“I hadn’t fully realized either, but I suppose it is possible,” Walker offered. “Because Allen right here is proof, if what you say is true.”

“That was my mother’s word, and I would never call her a liar. She was a very honest woman, always doing everything she could for me.”

“Please, tell me your story. This is so fascinating to me,” said Mo. More than anything, his chest buzzed with anticipation to hear what Allen had to say.

“All right.”

Everyone huddled in a bit closer, as Allen spoke softly.

“At first, the person my mother had met had the appearance of a human man. She had no idea he could be anything other than that. He was a fisherman, or so he said. He had no home, so Mother took him in to shelter him and soon enough, they spent time together, and then they had me.

“But they were not married, and things being how they were, Mother insisted on it. She said Father was incredibly hesitant, and that’s when he revealed the truth. That he wasn’t human at all, and was actually born a merman in the sea.”

That got a few gasps out of everyone in their circle. “So he already knew how to shift into a human before he and your mother met?” asked Mo.

“Apparently. With having me, and the prospect of getting married in the human realm, it frightened him. That’s how Mother described it. That he felt incredibly guilty for leaving his ‘true home’ in the ocean, and he felt a calling to go back. So, not long after I was born, Father abandoned us. I’ll never forget how Mother told me how she watched him shift into a merman on the beach with her very own eyes, holding me in her arms, as he swam into the sea, never to come back.”

“Oh, wow… I—I’m so sorry that happened to you,” said Mo.

Allen shrugged, giving a lopsided smile. “It’s all right. Since then, my mother married a full-blooded human, and had more children—my half-siblings. My step-father provided for us well. But I’ve always had a strange relationship with the sea because of my biological father, and… I don’t mean to offend you, but I’ve been wary of merfolk in general. With what I explained, I hope you can understand.”

“Yes, yes, I understand.” Mo looked down at his lap. That explained all of Allen’s curious glances, how there was something in his green eyes that seemed to know more. He did. Mo’s heart felt for him, twisting.

Yet this story contradicted what Noon had told him about the human-merfolk connection needed for the shift, and every other tale that told of such a thing. Despite the fact of a merman shifting between one form or another, it still didn’t answer his question as to how.

“Even though you have mer-blood then, you have not been able to become mer yourself?” asked Mo as he looked up.

“No, but at the same time, I’ve never desired to. I enjoy the water, enough to become a sailor myself, but living down there? I could never.” He gave a lighthearted laugh.

“I just had a very strange thought,” Davies interjected. “You don’t suppose that… I was thinking of Lyla and Brooks, but you don’t think perhaps that while she was on board, he,” —he hushed his voice to a whisper— “he impregnated her? And that to have his child, since she wasn’t human herself, she needed to stay in the water?”

“Now that is a theory I’ve never heard, but it does sound very plausible,” Walker agreed.

“This is all so fascinating,” said Kent, a smile full of wonder on his face. “But Allen, what strikes me still so strange is how you said—your father somehow was a human when your mother met him. That meant he was able to shift before he’d ever met her.”

“I’m wondering about that too,” said Mo, looking back to Kent. “K—Fareham, last night, my friend Noon told me something valuable when it comes to becoming human.”

“Really? What did she say?”

“That in order for a mer to become human, they must have a deep connection to either humanity, or a single human. And that human—or humans—must reciprocate that connection back. But that was all she knew, and couldn’t go into further detail.”

“A deep connection?” Kent’s face flushed red again. Mo’s face felt hotter as well, knowing just what Kent was thinking—what their connection to each other was like, and talking about it when all these other people were near. “Well, I see. But if what Noon said is true, then…”

“Then how was Allen’s father able to become human, and yet wanted to return to the sea?” Davies finished Kent’s thought. “I’m sorry, but I’m following along with everything you all are saying, and it’s so very interesting to me.”

“No need to apologize,” said Allen. “I’m not so sure as well. If he felt the need to return to the sea, I doubt he felt a strong enough connection to humanity, like your whale friend said.”

---