“And they can still transform at will? Legs or tails, whenever they want?”
“Anytime. I have trouble keeping pants on them. Six two-year-old children, and everyone of them a little mess of mischief.” Mai sighed, but she was smiling, and Flay couldn’t help laughing aloud.
“We have trouble keeping clothes on Lira too,” said Kestra. “She’s going to be so jealous of your kids being able to shift forms.”
“I have no idea why they can,” Mai said. “Maybe something to do with the fact that I used the belt a few times before I realized I was pregnant. It’s a wonder they survived those early days. But they did, and I’m not ever getting pregnant again. At least I have Shale, Rake, and others to watch them for me when I need to work. Speaking of work, how is Lira progressing with her mathematics?”
Flay went outside and hurried down the steps, letting the two women converse and follow at their own pace. Kestra’s mother and Takajo stood in the plaza below, talking with a few of the settlers from the City Above. The pair seemed to have gotten their land legs back after the long voyage aboard theWind’s Favor. Seven years’ worth of trips to and from Kiken Island, and this was the first time Flay had been able to persuade them to come along on the voyage to Twin Cities. He suspected Lumina had only agreed because she wanted to hug Jewel again, and because she longed to see the six little ones Rake and Mai had produced.
The first time he’d seen the babies in their little pool of saltwater, he’d laughed—not mockingly, but from sheer joy, because they were the cutest things he’d ever laid eyes on. Golden tails, enormous eyes, tiny sharp teeth—just one row, not multiple rows like Rake. Small gills, enough for temporary underwater breathing, but they had to come up now and then for deep lungfuls of air. Intelligent, adorable, sweet and savage little things, just like their parents.
Flay waved his left hand to Lumina and Takajo, and they both exclaimed loudly over the marvel of it.
“I’m going to make one for Jazadri the next time he brings theAscendantby here,” Mai said, coming down the steps with Kestra in tow. “Two new fingers. I’m sure his lover will appreciate that.”
“Lovers,” Flay corrected. “He has two. Demi and Sayle.”
While Mai spoke to her aunt and Takajo, Flay kept moving, around the side of the house, to the shallow pool where Rake and Mai’s children were playing with Jewel and Lira. A flurry of greetings, some very wet hugs, and then he dashed on, down another set of steps, past the small garden Mai kept for Kestra while she was away. Down more steps, to the long swath of beach that divided the City Above from the City Below.
He paused to take in the view.
Behind him jutted the round rocky hill, like an egg with a piece broken out, revealing the city. Two more hills beside it had been partly excavated by miners who had migrated from Kiken Island.
Before Flay stretched the glittering expanse of the sea, darkening now as the sun set in a glory of purple and orange. In a few places, gray clouds overhead cast the water into deeper shadow, and in those spots Flay glimpsed a sparkle of turquoise lights down below, in the mermaid city.
After the linguist at Audised had helped Mai decipher the mermaid writing, her progress in understanding their technology had been exponential, aided by a few scientists Flay had recruited on his voyages and brought back to Twin Cities. With their help, Mai had figured out how to restore parts of the City Below’s power systems, and they ran on their own now, monitored by Shale, his mate, and other mermaids who had left the waters around Kiken Island.
A different gleam of light caught Flay’s eye, and he stepped forward, his boots squelching in the wet sand.
A golden flash of scales, and then Rake appeared in the shallows, hurling a rope bag full of fat fish onto the shore. He dug into his satchel, snapped on his belt, and walked out of the sea, his skin gleaming wet and his dark-blue hair slinging diamond drops of water.
“Fish,” said Flay, picking up Rake’s pants and handing them over with his left hand.
“Friend,” Rake answered, pulling on the pants. Then he stopped. His large eyes darted from one of Flay’s hands to the other. “It worked!” he said. “Mai tried it on you without waiting for me, the little eel. So impatient, she is.” He shook his head, but there was fondness mixed with his exasperation.
Impulsively Flay stepped forward and folded Rake into a hug. He felt like hugging everyone today. A good day, the very best of days.
Rake stiffened at first, but then he relented, clasping Flay carefully. One of his claws snagged on Flay’s shirt, and he had to work it loose, with many a colorful swear that sent Flay into peals of laughter.
And then he found he could not stop laughing, and tears oozed from the corners of his eyes. He sat down on a rock and leaned over, elbows on his knees, gasping. His shoulders shook as he stared at his hands, both his hands.
Rake sank onto the sand beside him, a quiet, steady presence. And Flay let himself go, because he knew this friend would not judge him for the surge of emotion.
After a while, when Flay had composed himself, Rake said, “All went well with the voyage?”
“Yes. We brought Takajo and Lumina with us. They finally agreed to it, despite Lumina’s many fears and doleful pronouncements of doom upon our trip.”
“Ah,” Rake breathed, smiling. “I will be glad to see them again.”
“Speaking of seeing people again—we took a detour to the Sky-born Isles and visited our winged friend. He’s well. His people have recovered from the death of a wicked ruler, and they’re healing. Like your race.” He nodded to the pale lights glowing from the City Below.
Rake nodded. “I’m glad to hear it. And no trouble from your father or his captains?”
“No, nothing. I think that battle we had with them three years ago finished it. The Magnate is in poor health, and I think he has finally let me go. The slave trade is being banned in many ports now, and I do believe my father will live to see his foul empire crumble. I hope he does.”
Flay leaned down and pressed the fingertips of his left hand into the wet sand, then lifted them and watched seawater fill up the dimples.
“I can feel all of it,” he murmured wonderingly. “How is that possible?”