I turned 21 yesterday and finally found an apartment for this summer and next year. Which means on top of finals that start up this week and next week, I'm going to be moving into a new spot and gotta pack all my shit up. Today has been pretty damn productive and kick ass though, and my Momma even came to visit me Sunday and Monday. (Which never happens cause I go to school like five hours away from where my parents live and that's a ridiculously long way to drive for only a few days visit.) So we went shopping and got drinks and did girly shit that I never get to just do, cause I'm poor as Hell and not overly indulgent even when I'm not. Good times were had by all.

So this is for all of you who are patient, and even those of you who aren't. Thanks for bearing with me and for understanding that I'm erratic as Hell with updates. I'm so happy to have all of you out there reading, and according to my stats, that's way over 3,000 of you out in the world. So thank you very, very much.

Chapter Twenty-One: The Restless Waves

Commandant Jim Moriarty was by nature a curious predator.

Which meant that in order to fully satisfy himself when he finally caught hold of his prey, he had to know everything about them. What sort of tea they liked, why they had children, where they preferred their ale from; the works. So not being able to get all of these relevant facts out of John the Merman upon capture was at best irksome and at the worst completely infuriating. He needed to know why John looked so different from the other hideous Mermen in the society of the Isles. He needed to know who had done the damage to his shoulder and just how they managed it. And he bloody well needed to know just why John had chosen Sherlock of all people to show himself too. After all, wouldn't it be smarter to show yourself to someone who had it in their power to protect you, feed you, and allow you to hunt whenever the situation called for it?

So then why had the story played out like it had, if there were such inconsistent variables that had yet to be accounted for? These questions, and indeed quite a few more, were a constant buzz in Jim's skull and were starting to really give him a headache. And no one cared for his company when he had a full blown migraine going, which was what was threatening to rear its ugly head.

Jim sighed.

"Commandant?" Moran's voice was always the same even tone, even when he was upset of flustered. In fact, Moriarty had never even heard him raise his voice for the most part, unless it was needed to belay orders. "The Merman has been brought ashore. What do you want done with him?"

Moriarty thought about it of course, he had long before he'd given to order to Moran to have John brought here, but the problems he faced while trying to keep the thing chained up were greater here than even on the boat. He had to take into account the fact that it was much stronger than humans were, and that his body held more muscle mass and was greater in length, not to mention when angry the beast seemed to call upon every ferocious and feral instinct it had. Combine all those facilitation problems with the fact that he had no idea if there were any completely closed off pools in the entire Isle and the need for the Merman to be in water in order to breathe, and you'd only be facing about half of the problems Moriarty was at that very moment. Because as usual, his brain was moving almost eight moves ahead of everyone else's. Which wasn't a lot by his standards, but was more than plenty against the likes of semi-intelligent fish people.

But he rather needed a solution to this problem, and he needed it now.

"If I may suggest, sir?" Moran ventured, never overstepping his professional boundaries by outright telling Moriarty anything, but first asking permission to help him with whatever he was working on mentally, and Moriarty nodded. Sebastian was more than well aware that Jim could always best him in the intellect department. "There is a rather large pile at the very end of the dock, nearest the rocks, driven into the depths of a rather shallow pool surrounded on almost all sides."

"Yes, do continue." Jim instructed, waving at Moran over his shoulder, not quite getting what he was suggesting but having the faintest of brushes of an idea forming. "What about the pool?"

"Well, Sir, it is secluded from the others of the Isle and can be easily guarded by your men, while being nearly impossible to swim to or from by anything aquatic due to the shallow depth and the jagged rocks." Sebastian continued, dipping into his stash of dry snuff as he talked. "If you were to chain him to the piling there, he could not break or pull away from it, and he's not strong enough to bend metal by himself. He would still be in the water, safe and sound, unable to hide or go anywhere."

Moriarty clapped his hands once in delight, a bright smirk flashing across his face as he did so. It was a rather good plan, he thought, and not for the first time Jim was glad he'd chosen the rougher man for his Commander when no one else would have him. His insight into his surroundings were unmeasurable in both words and gold, and his dedication to his ship, crew, and Captain were unparalleled in any other man on the sea. Plus he knew his position well and rarely overstepped his boundaries when carrying out his duty. Jim had never had to publicly flog him before, though they had gotten into a number of small verbal spars over the years, and had considered no other person suitable for the job -no the position- that Moran filled. He was invaluable, even to someone like Jim Moriarty.

"That will work perfectly, Seb!" He hummed his approval of the plan as he almost hopped up off the rocks he'd been sitting on thinking for a majority of the last hour or so, having become inquisitive about the Isle's structure upon waking that morning. "Do your think then, and make sure he won't go anywhere. Irons on his arms should work wonders, and use the great chain for added measure. It seems to work better, after all."

"What of Tethys?" Moran asked as he bent at the waist only slightly, his own form of acknowledgement, one eyebrow raised curiously. "Surely her majesty has been anything but complacent since her reassignment."

"Oh, I think she's a bit put out, but nothing we can't handle." Jim responded while he gave off some undignified squawks of laughter into the back of his sleeve, his regal coat adding to the picture he was sure he was making for his crew. "All in all, she's be rather good about staying put where the crew can keep an eye on her. Even though I know that she could swim under the netting and back out into the bay at any time, I think the magic keeps her in place."

"But not complacent." Moran was smirking now too, his eyes twinkling brightly. "At least she's still a challenge for you."

"True, true. I hate to be bored."

And Moriarty did. He hated, hated, hated to be anything close to resembling bored.

Moran knew it.

"Speaking of which, why don't we wander on down there and pay her majesty a visit?" Jim continued on gleefully, waving at Moran eagerly. "I'm sure by now we have something to talk about!"

Sebastian only hummed his supposed agreement.

xXx

"I am the Matriarch of this society, the Queen of Mermaid Isle! I bow to no one!" Tethys hiss out as she flashed her tail again, beating it against the underwater planking of the docks Moriarty stood on, the same reaction from her since he'd arrived down here a good ten minutes prior. It didn't faze Jim any. "And I certainly do not bend to their will! Answer your own questions, mortal!"

"All I want are answers, Tethys. Call me...curious." Jim hissed out, patience wearing dangerously thin the longer he spent time in this wretched thing's company. Her beauty was a thing of nightmares now, and he wanted results now. "You will answer my questions about John, and then we can continue on our merry way? Ay, what do you say?"

Play time was over. Daddy's had enough now.

"I do not know this John you speak of! You say his name and yet it means nothing to me!" Tethys did another one of those tail flips, the quick silver movements of her tail splashing water at Jim, his frown morphing into more of a scowl. "And I will not be badgered into the will of a mere mortal!"

"Alright, see, look here." He started happily, but his face changed half-way through, the lizard like mask ripping away to show his true underbelly, his ferocious nature, and his clear impatience. "You will answer my question, all of them, without further complaint, or I'll kill you now and have my Commander here turn you into a jacket for me to wear. Does that get through that thick Mermaid skull of yours, Tethys dear?"

Tethys' movements stilled as she glared daggers at Moriarty.

But she had grown unusually silent.

"Good, good! Now then, John is the lovely fellow we had drug in here earlier and chained to the long pier just down the way here." The Commandant explained slowly, a sign of mockery to Tethys' intelligence, even though he knew she was very smart. "The lovely bloke with the sunburst scar on him. Now, what I want to know, is why you and your colony don't like him. Why was he banished? And why does he look so god damn different from all of you?"

"Humans have such pathetic names for their people. His name is not John, it is Ladon, and he was cast from our society when I took my rightful place as ruler and Queen of the Isles." Tethys spat with hatred, as if John's true name left a bad taste in her aquatic and teeth-filled mouth. "Ladon is the child of Brizo and Phorcys, the previous rulers of the Isles. He and his siblings were driven out or killed when I came to claim the throne, for being inferior and spawn of an unworthy mate killed by humans.

You see, Brizo is my matron as well, but she took a different mate to create my line after Phorcys was captured and killed. Volturnus, one of the great guards to Triteia -the daughter of Triton and my Grand-Matron- was her second mate when Phorcys was murdered. Phorcys was week and produced strange offspring, the males and females all looking alike instead of the females being beautiful and the males being stock, as things should be. Some of the males could even speak a few words and wished to search for a Human Clutch Bearer, Ladon was one of those. When I succeeded the throne by killing and devouring Brizo, I took it upon myself to rid the population of the weak and strange."

"So his beauty is a genetic oddity, like I had expected? He's the odd one out of your little group, not the other way around." Jim hissed out, fascinated by the strange and murder filled tale, science and scenarios running rampant through his head. "But a few of the offspring escaped, out into the open waters? John, and one of his siblings that was captured in Tortuga a while ago for luring a bar maid to the water's edge, and probably a few more still hiding deep beneath the waves, just out of sight. You did not complete the job."

"Once they were out of the home we've had for centuries there was no need to kill them. Other colonies will not take them in, for they know the danger of outsiders and strange offspring well, and they will be forced to live in solitude if Humans do not hunt them first." Tethys flashed a dangerous grin filled with a thousand sharp and jagged teeth. "There was no need to expend energy hunting for them when the outside world would do my job for me. That Ladon and his few siblings that escaped lived this long is truly unfortunate. That you brought him back here, to my kingdom, even more so."

"You would see him killed for his lineage, then?" Moriarty was earnestly curious now, both about John -Ladon- and just how Tethys had ascended the thrown of her Matriarchal Society. "Even though he could be an asset when dealing with humans?"

"He is dangerous in his strangeness, and worthless as a potential mate because of it to any of our kind. Not to mention he is grievously wounded now and even more undesirable because of it." She responded with a air that reminded Jim of the English monarchy back home, aloof and uncaring in such a petty dispute. "I would feast upon him myself, yes."

Jim was a predator, and his smirk proved it so.

"What if I were to offer you the chance to take your revenge upon him, Tethys?" He purred the last bit of her name out through his teeth, her confusion evident in the pale green of her inhuman eyes. "What if I gave you his death, and we feasted upon his flesh together? I had already planned his death, and there is far too much of him for me and my Commander alone."

"You would devour his flesh?" Tethys sounded vaguely nauseous at the very prospect. "I would do it because it is my duty to not allow his inferior matter to infect our waters. It is not a pleasure, but a requirement to my service to my people. And yet you say you would do this freely? Why?"

"Because I'm completing something with a...friend of mine." Sherlock, oh the man who fell for a beast of the waters only to be claimed in slumber by them. Poetic really. "He is dead, and I will fulfill the promise I made to him. I would do so by eating John, eating Ladon."

"Your ways are strange, mortal. But I see merit and strength in your choices." Tethys slithered through the water closer to the dock's edge, keen eyes watching, assessing. One pale hand extended and Moriarty saw the intention before taking it firmly, his hand in her claw. "I will accept your deal, and in return, you may not hurt any of my people or myself. You will have Ladon and no one else."

"Ah, you wound me, dear Tethys. But you have yourself a deal." Moriarty felt a sudden serge of something strong and ancient wrap itself around his pinky finger, eyeing it carefully in time to see a small red band appear there where the magic agreement settled in. "Now, let the games begin."