Page 69 of The Noble's Merman

While beneath the surface, he checked out the underside of the pirate ship. The Sterling Mer had a white paint splatter marking her, but this time he found no such thing. She looked just as plain brown and boring as any other ship. Great. He might lose her if he so much as fell asleep, but he couldn’t stay awake for the length of half a moon. If only he could find Noon again. Perhaps she was nearby.

Thankfully, there were no other ships around in this part of the water to confuse him. As long as he stayed in her path, he could keep up. Below him, he actually spotted the outskirts of a merfolk city. He didn’t remember passing by it before, but then again, he was on The Sterling Mer the entire night. Of course he wasn’t paying attention to that.

But as his stomach rumbled again, he knew he should at least stop for a moment.

He still had quite a bit of coin leftover in the coin purse in his carry-bag, seeing as he rarely stopped in cities and ate quite a lot of human cuisine aboard The Sterling Mer. That, or he simply caught fish himself. But with no prospects of getting any more delicious human-cooked meals any time soon, the least he could do to make himself feel better was to go buy some comfort food.

As he swam away from the food vendor and munched on some delicious squid tentacles, he mulled over the situation at hand. Kent was now captured by pirates. Mo understood that his plan was to be delivered back to England safely, and Kent’s father would pay the pirates money in order to let The Sterling Mer go free. All Mo could do was trust that the pirates stick true to their word and keep Kent unharmed. But how could he trust pirates? The most horrible stories stood out in his mind, the ones he remembered those old English sailors had told him, of how pirates torture their prisoners and violate their hostages. They were nothing but cruel and ruthless men who took joy in causing harm, which helped Mo justify his choice in sinking them with his Song.

But they did seem to at least have a sense of order and camaraderie. Democratic, as he remembered the pirate Captain Young said. Hopefully, that sphere of beliefs would hold strong and ensure Kent stayed safe. Really, all Mo could do was hope.

The day went on, and Mo swam along with the ship. Rays of sunlight cast their way into the water and highlighted the silver backs of dolphins, scurrying past in couples and families. He even saw some whales off in the distance, but none who were similar to Noon. There weren’t many merfolk out this way—most seemed to congregate in the city—only passing a few others who swam below him. He didn’t bother confiding his situation to any of them because, really, what would they do? Laugh at him for caring about a human? Tell him to simply use his Song and be done? It was useless.

But then—one of the whales in the distance swam at a slow pace, steadily closer. It was then he realized he recognized that silhouette: a long, flat back, with a dorsal fin near the rear, closer to her fluke. Could it be…?

“Mo, is that you?”

“Noon!”

He rushed toward her and threw his arms around her large head, rubbing his face against her coarse skin in a welcoming embrace. He couldn’t be more glad to see a familiar face.

“Noon, oh seas, I’m so happy to see you again.”

“I could not find you by the ship we were trailing. I was worried about what may have happened to you.”

He let go of her and backed up, circling around and kicking his tail so he could be closer to her eye. “That’s because I had to change which ship I’m following. Can you believe it, my beloved human got captured by pirates! Oh Noon, I’ve been so distraught.”

He then relayed the details to her to catch up: how he stayed the night aboard The Sterling Mer, how during his stay the ship was attacked, and how Kent offered himself up to the pirates to let their ship go free. At least Allen was with Kent so he wasn’t completely alone with those barbarians, albeit the sailing master was injured.

“Dear me, that is quite the predicament you have yourself in. I had not realized your beloved boarded the sloop. I am terribly sorry.” Noon closed her eyes for a moment as she regarded him. “I am right alongside you; I hope your human stays safe on the remainder of the journey back.”

“Thank you, Noon. I feel so foolish. If I wasn’t on the ship, if I came back to you for the night, perhaps none of this would’ve happened. We could’ve seen the ship and avoided contact with the pirates at all.”

Noon gently swayed her large head from side to side. “Do not blame yourself. That pirate ship is a sloop—a very fast one. Even if we may have seen her coming, The Sterling Mer may have not been fast enough to outspeed her. There is no way of knowing.”

“I suppose you’re right.” Mo nodded, rubbing his elbows. “All we can do is deal with it. Kent should be all right. I hope.”

They swam alongside each other in companionable silence for some time, staying close to the surface for Noon to breathe. Soaking up the sun rays, avoiding jellyfish, and Noon opened her great cave of a mouth to feed on unsuspecting schools of small fish.

“Did you ever tell your human what you needed to tell him before you two departed?” she asked after she swallowed.

“What I needed to…? What do you mean?”

“You needed to tell him you love him.”

“Oh!” How could he be so dense? Of course that was what she meant. His mind was just so scattered it was hard to think clearly. “Yes, I did. I told him I love him. He said the same thing back—he loves me too. I cannot tell you how glad I am that our feelings are mutual. But no sort of shift occurred after that. As you can see, I’m still a merman.”

“I see…” Noon hummed. “I am glad for you, too. But, like yourself, I am curious. You told him you love him? Without a doubt, he feels the same way?”

“Yes. There is no room for error. He said it multiple times, and we… we…” He could feel his face heating as he remembered the intimacy they shared after speaking those words. “We enjoyed ourselves.”

“I understand that. But he loves you completely? Wholly? Truthfully?”

“Yes, of course, he—” Mo halted.

Wait.

Truthfully?

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