Sold Short

When she mentioned that the bears and moose were surface animals, she waited to gauge his level of interest in hearing further. His expression was hard to read, as usual, but didn't seem uninterested. She continued.

"These are bears," she said, tapping on the bear silhouette. "I guess you don't have anything comparable underwater, but they're basically apex predators. They're huge and covered in fur," he blinked. "Uh, like short hair, but softer." He nodded. "Like I said, they're huge. They can be taller than me even when they're walking on four legs, but they also can stand up on their hind legs if they want." Orm squinted at the outline. "I guess I should have brought pictures," she laughed.

"That might have been better," he admitted. "I have an idea of what you mean, though."

"You might actually like bears. They're fond of water. Really good swimmers," she trailed off, raking her brain for anything else that might be interesting to him.

"And the other?" he asked, pointing to the moose.

"Those are moose. They're not predators, but they're just as big as bears. Oh, and they like water too. They mostly eat water plants."

"And these protrusions on its head…?" he traced the antlers. She thought for a moment.

"Those are antlers," she began. "Picture…well, your sea dragons have kind of long faces, right?" he nodded. From the glimpses she had caught, they almost had horse-like faces, but she had wanted to confirm. "Picture if your sea dragon had two symmetric branches of coral growing on its head. Like, naturally. Pretend it's supposed to have those."

"Do they serve a purpose?" he asked.

"Sort of! They fight one another using their antlers sometimes. But they also shed their antlers seasonally; it's as harmless as getting a haircut. You do…get your hair cut, right?" Orm laughed.

"You think it just grew to this length and stopped after that? Yes, I get my hair cut,"

"Okay, okay" she laughed. "I don't like making assumptions,"

"You're fine," his tone became warm again. "I don't expect you to know things about me. I've withheld a lot of information in the past, before I was sure about you. It appears you know a lot about surface animals, though,"

"I was gonna be a biologist," she said. "I even went to school for it, but then I got this internship opportunity. And at first I was excited to be working in the field, but at the same time, I felt like…an impostor. Like I was taking a job position away from someone who deserved it more than me." She drew her knees up to her chest and wrapped her free arm around them. "I wasn't bad at it, necessarily. I did my best, but when the contract was over, well, my boss didn't seem to sad to see me go."

"Did you try again?" he asked. "With someone new? Somewhere else?"

"No…" she said, "I didn't. I finished college and I moved out here, because it seemed like it would be nice to try something less demanding." After she was quiet for a few moments, he squeezed her hand.

"You sold yourself short, (Y/N)," he said. She looked him in the eye again, expecting to find an expression of disappointment. Instead, his brows were gathered in concern. "I think you should find a way to try again."

"What if it's the same as last time?"

"What if it's not?" she sighed in response. "Listen to me. You already know what to do if it is like last time. You can just come back here, and keep working at a low-maintenance job, and go out on your boat every night and keep seeing me." The corner of her mouth pulled into a slight smile at the last part. "But if it's not like last time, that means it can only get better. Right?"

"I guess you're right. Maybe I'll look into it," she said. He squeezed her hand again, and she squeezed his back. "Thank you," she said.

"Of course. You shouldn't waste your potential, (Y/N.)" He paused for another moment, looking out at the sea. "I think you're the kind of person who could change things for the better."