Sorry for the delay, but I think the best rate I can upload chapters is once per month. Also, I consider Link to be mildly self-depreciating.
"M-Miss Tetra! Are you alright!? Are you injured in any way!? Do you feel sick!?"
She made a playful scoff and smiled. "It takes more than a heavy rain and some waves to bring the Queen of the Seas down, Nudge. Of course I'm alright." Although, it was technically Link who saved her. She didn't know what would've happened to her if he wasn't there.
"W-We saw you fall over the side of the ship! And we tried looking for you but you weren't anywhere! I thought you were dead for sure!" Niko cried.
"We followed your last orders, miss. The mast of the ship was cracking, and we had to get to land fast. So we set for Windfall until we could search for you again. I...I hope that's what you would've wanted us to do…"
Tetra was surprised to hear Gonzo, of all people, so calm and collected. And her crew followed her orders even when she wasn't present. Well, she guessed there was a reason her mother hired them after all.
"I'm...impressed with your performance while I was gone. You guys get the day off today. I'll be on deck keeping watch if you need me."
"Yes, Miss!" they all said in unison. She could hear their excited conversations as they went below deck. Probably off to drink a few bottles of gin or something.
She climbed onto the crow's nest to find solitude, closed her eyes and concentrated her thoughts onto the gossip stone she gave Link.
"Hey, Link, are you there?"
Silence.
"If you changed your mind on whether or not you want to stay with me, I would like to know."
More silence.
"I could always take that necklace back…" she said quietly as her voice started to get wary.
She waited for about several seconds, realizing that he left her forever because she was stupid enough to invite him over on her ship. Of course he would leave the gossip stone on the bottom of the ocean. Probably according to him, it would have sounded like she was inviting him to be contained and looked at for the rest of his life. Sure, he was nice to her, but that was because he didn't want to provoke her into a reason to drag him onto that boat. She hated her tough personality sometimes.
"Tetra? Is it you?"
Her entire body shook as she heard his voice channel into her head. He talked to her!?
"Link?"
"Hello, Tetra. I had to get up to the surface to talk to you, like you said. I do not see any ships nearby, so it's safe."
"Oh. Well okay. I'm glad you're safe, I guess."
"I made up my mind when you said you wanted me to stay on your ship."
"Wh- Really? I, uh-"
"I will stay for a little bit, but I want to be able to get back in the ocean after. I don't want anyone else seeing me… please."
"Um. Sure. You're welcome to come over. I just wasn't expecting you to say yes."
"Why?"
"It's nothing. Are you coming today?"
"...Yes. Today."
"Uh, that's good I guess. How are you going to find the ship though?"
"Do not worry. I will find your ship. Goodbye, Tetra."
"Bye Link."
She felt the connection break and opened her eyes. Her hands were sweaty and her heart was pounding. It was practically a bombardment of surprises dumped on her. First, he actually said yes to spending time with her on the ship, and second, he's going to come today.
Tetra spent the rest of her time on deck trying to figure out where Link would go on the ship. Because after all, he was still half fish. And she noted how he had to stay near the shore on Greatfish so he wouldn't dry out. How could she put water on the ship?
The drinking water barrels were out of the question. Even though they were surrounded by water, it was obvious that they still needed to stop by Windfall to get water her crew could actually drink. Besides, she felt a hunch that a saltwater creature wouldn't do well in freshwater.
So that idea didn't work, but she felt like she was going on the right idea with a barrel. She grabbed an empty barrel near the now end of the ship and tied a rope around it, making sure that the knot was tight. Heaving it over the side of the ship, she let it sink and fill with water. She struggled a bit to pull it up to the deck now that the barrel was filled with water, but she managed to get it up without much trouble. Yes, this would be big enough for Link to sit in. She was lucky he was a boy, and not a fully grown man.
Now that she took care of that, she wondered where he would go. The crew would mostly stay below deck, but there's no telling if they'll come up on deck to report that Gonzo got too drunk or something. She wanted to keep her promise to not let him be seen by anyone but her.
She realized how good that sounded. A secret that only she would know, a beauty that she would only be able to speak to and see. And somehow it felt more special than being able to travel across the Great Sea for adventure.
So she thought of secluded areas on the boat where only Tetra and Link could be. The storage room would be a bit weird, and the other pirates could always barge in looking for some more liquor. Her room? Actually, yes. It was quiet and secluded, and none of the other crewmates would dare to go in there. And anyway she had a changing curtain she could hide the merboy behind if any of them suddenly had the balls to barge in from their drunken stupor.
Tetra was already lugging the heavy barrel to her room when she suddenly heard a quiet voice in her head.
"Tetra? I'm here."
"Ah- Link. I'll be in there in a minute. Just sit tight ok?"
"Sit? Where?"
"I mean, just wait for a bit."
She huffed as a bead of sweat dropped down her face. She knew how heavy water was, but carrying an entire barrel of it was another story. She was glad when she finally went down the flight of stairs so she could push it to into her room.
When she arrived back on deck, she was more eager than ever before to meet the merboy again. Looking over the railing, she could see him looking back up at her. Her breath quickened a little bit seeing his big cat-like eyes staring back at her. Although there was one problem… She didn't know how to get him up. His eyes were still looking at her patiently, waiting for the almighty Tetra to come up with a brilliant solution.
Hastily, she threw over a rope near him. Link tried to climb up, but his hands slipped from the water.
"Link, can you hold on tight?" she called.
His attention shifted to her, and she could see his hands grasp firmly around the rope. Taking a deep breath, she pulled him up, inch by inch. He was much lighter than a barrel, but goddesses, her muscles ached like HELL. She sucked it up though. No need to be weak when she was going to be able to spend time with a mermaid.
She felt him slip a little here and there, but for the most part he held on. Finally, she managed to pull him over the railing and onto the ship. She saw how he dug in his claws in the rope to keep him from slipping. One detail that set in was he was a little but wary, checking around to make sure nobody else was nearby. I guess he gets more nervous on land. He can't really move quickly after all.
Oh right. He can't move. Well technically he could. But she felt like if he crawled all the way to her room, he would get a pretty nasty burn on his tail from grinding on the dry wooden floors. Tetra sighed. As if her arms didn't suffer enough already.
"Tetra, I-"
Link yelped as strong arms reached under him and lifted him up. If he wasn't so oblivious to human culture, he would've known he was being carried like a girl, almost like a bride. Her hands shook a little, but eventually stopped and relaxed. At the same time, they entered a somewhat large room that contained a few staircases. So humans did know how to get up and down places. But the place where the stairs went further down was noisy with human voices. He stiffened up a bit.
He instead chose to focus on his bangs bouncing motions as Tetra carried him down a flight of stairs and toward a room covered up with curtains. Just as they went through, he reached out to feel the velvety surface of one. So soft.
The smaller room was actually quite charming. It had a bed, and some cabinets. There were a few pictures of people he didn't know. And another curtain in the room, that was covered by curtains, which he thought was quite cute. He realized he was being taken behind the curtain though, where he saw a barrel filled with water. He looked back at Tetra, who beckoned him to go in. Carefully, he slid off her arms and into the water. So she did this for him? That was...nice. Although it was a bit cramped for his tail, he didn't want to complain.
Tetra's arms were sore, and she was pretty sure if Link was any heavier they would fall off. At least he was light. She looked around the room and found a chair to pull up beside him.
"Tetra? Are you okay? You're all red and you're leaking water!"
"I'm just tired from carrying stuff. And it's just sweat," she said flatly.
"Is that a bad thing?"
"No, but I feel hot."
The merboy scooped some water from his barrel and smeared it across her face. She closed her eyes as the water ran down her face, while his hand pulled away. "Wh-"
"So you're not hot anymore."
She was silent for a moment, then chuckled. His naivety was amusing, but at the same time, it actually touched her a little bit. All this time she was afraid of him being heartless and running away from her, but he was so sweet now. She really had nothing to worry about.
But now they were alone, and his big black eyes kept staring at her curiously. It was the perfect time to ask the question she was thinking about.
"Link, who's the special person in the ocean?"
He smiled, and goddesses, it was adorable. She couldn't tell if her cheeks were tingling because she was still hot and sweaty, but either way, she felt the same. He was happy. She made him happy.
"Ah, well, the special person is my sister. She's younger than me." Wait, he had a sister? Well, it wasn't as bad as a lover. But it was nice to know more about him.
"She is growing up, so I can leave her alone for a little bit, but I still have to be with her," he said. His speech was all choppy and a few times he paused trying to think of what to say.
"Don't you have a mother?"
"Our mother left us when we were little. I think that is normal."
Tetra was a bit taken aback. Normal? Did he not know that she could've died? Or left him out of cruelty! The merboy was so human that surely, his kind would have humane ways of raising their young.
She gulped. "Your father?"
"I remember my mother saying that our father got sick and died. I never saw him though, so I don't know. I think that's why the only other kind of being I ever saw is my sister."
Her body stiffened at this new information. So his kind were dying out… That means him and his sister could be the only ones left. It was chilling to her, to say the least.
"I'm sorry, Link."
He threw his hands up and shook his head. "No! No! You don't have to be sorry! Aryll and I do ok! We're happy!" He did his best to put on a smile, and his face lit up when Tetra's frown was gone.
"Tetra… Do you have a mom?"
She flinched suddenly and looked down at her feet. Should she tell him? It wasn't like he had many people to spread the truth to, but goddesses, if she told him, she'd probably cry again.
"I'll tell you another time, when we've talked more."
He was silent for a moment, but then he nodded. His gaze slowly averted to a shiny object leaned against the wall of her room. It looked like it was silver, but it also shined.
"Tetra! What's that?" A hand extended outward from the barrel he was in, and soon half of his body was leaning out, with the barrel barely supporting itself.
She looked in the direction he was outstretched to. "Oh that? It's a mirror. I use it when I need to see my reflection."
Although he wanted to ask what a reflection was, he was too busy wanting to see a reflection.
"Tetra! I want to see your reflection! Take me!" he gasped. Not long after that, he started making chirps and squeals. Link heard a chuckle from the girl and she stood up, her arms were held out for him, signaling for him to climb in her grasp. He happily obliged, doing the best he could to jump without legs. It was a short walk to the mirror, but it was nice to be in her strong arms again. He felt safe.
Link realized that the mirror wasn't silver at all, but it looked almost clear. There were a few scratches here and there, but he still was shocked at what he saw.
He could see what looked like.
He knew he had blonde hair, he knew what his upper body looked like; lean, but not so muscular that you could clearly see his muscle lines either, he knew his tail was blue and scaly. But for the first time in his life, he could see his face.
He reached out and saw a hand in the mirror that corresponded to his, but he didn't feel his hand when he touched it. Instead, he felt cold glass. Link dropped his arm down to look at his face. He could see that his reflection's eyes were black, which probably meant that his eyes were black too. But right now they were sparkling with fascination. A hand went to brush a bit of his hair behind his ear and he smiled. It wasn't narcissism, but he was rather fond of how his face looked like. The merboy liked his boyish features and his black eyes.
Link could also see that Tetra was still carrying him. She was quiet the entire time he stared at himself, allowing him to drink up his reflection. He looked at her in the mirror, carrying him with toned arms. That was something he admired, he realized, and it made him a bit jealous. If only he was strong too...
Her eyes, unlike his, were a sapphire blue. And he thought yet again, that she was better than him. His eyes were blank and colorless, while hers with glistening jewels. In a way he was happy for himself, but also envious and saddened that he wasn't as good as Tetra. He remembered the first time he saw her; he even admired her then.
Her hair was also tied in a bun that was perched near the back of her head. It made her more dignified, he thought. She was well deserving of the respect if she was a captain.
Link sighed inside his head. If Tetra was this strong and beautiful, he wondered why she would ever want to be with him. He barely had any muscle, he wasn't as dignified as her, and he was just something she picked up from the sea. He was a mermaid, just surviving in the ocean with his sister, eating fish and mollusks and other slow sea creatures, while Tetra; she was a pirate. Her life was exciting, because she didn't have to worry about survival. She was a human who got to do her own things, and make her own personality.
He suddenly turned to face Tetra. The REAL Tetra, not her reflection.
"Why did you invite me to come here?"
