Disclaimer: Gundam Wing belongs to Bandai and Sunrise Entertainment.
Author's note: I'd just like to thank a brief moment to thank the one person who reviewed this fic. Your feedback is much appreciated!
A Fish Out of Water- Chapter 3
Sally's "sample," as she called it was more potent than the physician had originally imagined it would be. Catherine slept well into the evening, and finally stirred at midnight, angrier than ever. This time, however, she found she had a guard. Lady Noin was sitting at their kitchen table, shoveling one crab cake into her mouth after another. She smiled cheerfully at Catherine and offered one to her, but the mermaid declined, the side effects from the potion making her nauseous and only adding to her grouchiness. But she refrained from saying anything, lest she excite the merwoman in her current state. Although the merpeople reproduced by lying eggs (which hatched tadpoles that turned into merbabies), there were still similar characteristics between expecting mermothers and mortal ones. Noin had that pretty, peculiar glow of one awaiting a child (though she had laid many, chances are only one would survive) as well as her eating habits. She also had the mood swings; and Lucrezia Noin was always a dangerous woman to cross, even out of the breeding season. So Catherine simply sat across from her and accepted another cup of tea to soothe her aching stomach.
Noin licked the last few crumbs off of her fingers, then said kindly, "I know it must be hard for you, Catherine, but you did the right thing letting him go."
Cathy frowned. "Sending my brother into possible danger all alone is the right thing to do? What ocean are you from?" she snapped, before she remembered to whom she was speaking. She'd be no good to Trowa with her head chopped off. "Begging your pardon, your highness."
Noin simply waved her off, not insulted. She knew that if Zechs had gone, she would've behaved in the same way. "No matter. I understand. I came here because I figured you'd want an update on what's happening."
Catherine nodded eagerly, taking a sip of tea as she did so. "Blech! What's in this? It's disgusting!"
Noin shrugged. "It's Sally's recipe," she said, by way of explanation. "She said to make sure that you drink it." Catherine made a face, but it made sense. Sally's medicines were famous for tasting nasty, so she resigned herself to drink it, conveniently forgetting the last time she had Sally's tea.
"Anyway," her friend continued, "according to Wufei's messenger, who came back this afternoon, they haven't found any trace of her. They're going to stay out there until tomorrow evening, then come home. The prince has sent emissaries to other kingdoms to ask for their assistance, but they haven't had any luck either. I'm afraid your brother is our only hope." Noin sighed wistfully, and Cathy patted her hand. She knew how close the woman was with the princess. They were almost like real sisters, not just sisters-in-law. The fact that she was gone must have been hurting her terribly, to state the obvious.
"Don't worry. Trowa and I will find her," Cathy assured her. She rubbed her eyes sleepily. "Once I get there, that is. Hmm, I'm tired. I'm going back to bed, I'll leave tomorrow." She plopped back into her waterbed and immediately fell into a deep slumber.
Noin chuckled. "I guess Sally was right about that stuff wearing off. Good thing she made me bring a higher dosage. You'll be sleeping like a baby for the next day or so. " Kissing her forehead in a maternal way, she left her friend to doze, undisturbed and out of the way for the time being.
* * * * * *
"AHHH!" Trowa let out a sigh of pleasure. "If we weren't in such a hurry, this would be the life, eh?" He was lying on his back, his tail propelling him across the water as he digested another fabulous meal, courtesy of his new chef. After Cathy's burnt grilled seaweed sandwiches and overly salty Split Sea soups (That's saying a lot for food eaten by people who drank ocean water.), it was a pleasant change. The cook in question (hunter would really be a more appropriate term) floated beside him, his little feet paddling rapidly every so often to pick up speed and remain next to his companion. Though the warnings about swimming directly after eating were just old merwives tales, both felt that they needed a well-deserved break after traveling nonstop all morning. Or rather, Trowa did, and the bird made no protest. They went on this way for quite some time, with Trowa occasionally reading passages aloud from his book. It would've been pleasant, but for the looming fear of danger behind their carefree masks. Trowa, of course, had logic behind his fears: if Princess Relena were kidnapped, her captors wouldn't wait for her rescuer to come. But for the bird, who had no relationship with the princess whatsoever (so far as Trowa knew) and indeed more knowledge about what he was getting into, something still troubled him. He fretted, Trowa determined, and if he had them, he'd be wringing his hands. What the matter was, Trowa didn't know, and even if the seagull could talk, he couldn't tell him. The only thing he knew as that he had a gut feeling something was wrong.
"Don't worry," Trowa reassured him, stretching out his hand to stroke the bird's feathered head. "I'm sure that whatever it is, we'll be fine." The seagull jumped up onto his chest and snuggled there, perhaps to show that he trusted his friend's judgement, or maybe that he felt safe in his presence. But his body was still tense, and Trowa wanted to distract him, if not reassure him.
"Hey, look," he exclaimed, pointing towards the sky. A cloud of white figures floated above them. "Are any of those your friends?"
The seagull looked up with interest to see tens, perhaps even a hundred of his kind flying through the air. The birds called to him in greeting and he responded, but made no move to join them. Here was another difference, Trowa noticed. Most animals jumped at the chance to be with their own species. This one, though, sat quietly like a dog who was unwilling to leave his master. Trowa frowned thoughtfully, but he wasn't disappointed.
"You are a strange creature, little one," he mused out loud. "Sometimes you act almost… human." He laughed out loud. It was one of the few times he had ever done so, not chuckle to himself but really laugh, because someone made him happy by just being him or herself. Only one other person could make him do that, and it wasn't Cathy, as much as he loved his sister. If he thought about it, the realization would have quickly sobered him, but at the moment he was too distracted by the bird's excited reaction to his comment. He flew up and down as if he were jumping for joy. It seemed that Trowa had said something dreadfully important, but the merman only thought he was laughing at that ridiculous statement.
"Oh, are you? Are you like the prince in this fairy tale," he pointed to an illustration in one of his books, of a young maiden kissing a frog, "who was turned into an animal by an evil witch and must be kissed to return to normal form, is that it?" The seagull continued bouncing until that last point and stopped dead in the air. He plopped back on Trowa's stomach, as if he'd been stunned. But his friend took no notice of the odd expression that had crossed his face. He simply picked him up and kissed him on the forehead. The bird didn't turn into a prince, but if he had, he surely would have blushed. Instead he just ducked his head under the water bashfully, pretending to look for more food.
"But," Trowa sighed dramatically, "I suppose we would need a princess for that, so we should ask Princess Relena if we find h-Hey, where are you going?" The embarrassed creature had flown the coop, so to speak, but he paused and beckoned Trowa to follow, as if challenging him to a race. He took the challenge, feeling well rested and in the mood for some speed. He chased the animal to a bend (They were traveling along the coastline.) until he could no longer see him. Trowa stopped and floated a bit, calling to him, "You got a head start, that's all," he teased good-naturedly. "Next time, I'll beat you." He waited for a moment, but there was no answer. Feeling that his friend was just playing a trick on him, he pressed on, only to bump into a huge white shape looming in the shadows like the fear that Trowa and his companion had tried for so long to repress.
To be continued…
