Chapter Summary:
Have you ever seen those videos where the owner sets up spy cams around to see what their pets gets up to when they're not at home?
Author's Note:
I've gotten a few requests for a Rey-POV chapter. I don't want to give away too much of the plot, but I hope you all enjoy this brief interlude into the mind of a curious mermaid.
And also a little bit of some M rated content! Just a touch though, pun very much intended.
Chapter 13: When the Knight's Away, the Mermaid Will Play (Interlude)
The head was gone.
That was a disturbing discovery. The head was gone, and so was her human. Rey at first had been angry with him for that, but then the worry had set in.
No human. No head.
He hadn't eaten it, had he? That would be bad. You don't eat the head. Everyone knows that.
Or, at least, Rey had thought that everyone knew that. Unfortunately, her human wasn't especially bright. He was strong, she'll give him that. She liked looking at him and seeing how strong he was. When she'd gone to his sleeping cave and he wasn't wearing that black thing he always had on himself, she'd seen then how strong he was. He looked like a merman from the waist up. A really good, strong merman.
Strong. Good looking. Nice to her. All the qualities that she could ask for in a potential mate. Pity he wasn't her kind. Pity he wasn't very smart.
He'd proven that when he'd gone and gotten himself bitten. Bitten by a lowly shallow-reefer, of all insults. Back before this thing that had happened and Rey still had her tail, she could have demolished a whole herd of shallow-reefers. She'd done pretty well now, even without her tail. These other appendages that she has now- Rey didn't know what to call them, maybe lower arms? Anyhow, they seemed to do very well on land but were rubbish in the water. And even with her lower arms getting in the way she'd still gotten her head. Her prize.
Sure, she'd taken a few wounds. That was fine. She was deep-water. No karking low-reefer should have dared bite the maybe-mate of a deep-water.
And no maybe-mate of hers would be stupid enough to eat the head, and Rey really, truly wants to believe that her human didn't do that. Maybe he took it with him, then?
Rey had been deeply asleep when he'd left, but the light of dawn and the heavy sound of the entrance barrier closing had woken her up.
By the time she'd gotten out of her nest and down the stone shelf to the bottom of their home her human was long gone. She'll have to sleep next to the barricade next time. Rey really wants to see where he's going. She'll need to follow him so she can protect him. Protect him because he's really not very bright, if she hadn't mentioned that before. Her human might just stupidly walk right into a gang of low-reefers. They might see him and think to themselves that hey, he looks like he might make a good mate for them. Especially if he had taken that black thing on his upper body off again.
Unacceptable. Absolutely unacceptable. If she's going to keep him, she may have to mark him as hers soon.
But he wasn't there and the longer Rey waited the more she found herself getting bored. She'd eaten the rest of the food he'd brought her last night. It was cold and it didn't have fish in it so it wasn't very good. She ate it all anyhow, and then her tummy hurt.
She'd gone outside next. Her human had thought that big heavy thing in front of the entrance would keep her in? Pffffft. Dummy. He was lucky he looked so good, that was for sure.
The fresh sea air had helped. Maybe she had eaten too much. She couldn't move as fast as before, even if her strange new lower-arms weren't very fast to begin with.
But she did her duty. She patrolled. She carried the metal circle she'd found before in her hands. It seemed to work really well to cut off the low-reefer's head, so maybe she would luck up and another one would come too close and let her get another trophy to show to her maybe-mate.
No luck, though. The waters she could get to easily were quiet, almost as if all the merfolk had left for somewhere else that day. She'd thought about catching some fish and bringing back some proper food with her. Mating was supposed to be a give and take, right? She'd need to show her human that she could provide for him, too.
Of course, she had already brought back a head with her. Not that she was bitter that her generosity had just disappeared the next day or anything. Not at all.
It was too cold, though. Land was much colder than water. When she'd been fighting the low-reefers the pretty white thing he'd put on her had gotten torn. Without it, Rey reluctantly had to admit that her dumb human was right. It was too cold to be outside without it.
When she'd gotten home he still wasn't there. The big hot box where she'd seen him put wood in wasn't hot anymore, but Rey knew not to touch it. She'd tried before, the last time her human had left. She'd opened it up just like she'd seen him do but then it had been much, much too hot. She'd tried to reach her hand into the glowing red inside but she smelled the little hairs on her arm start to singe and she'd quickly retreated.
So that was fire, right? The other deep water mermaids had told her about fire. Or at least the few that would talk to her. They had explained that 'fire' was something you might see on a human ship as it was sinking. To not go too close to the flames even if they were very pretty. The other mermaids had said this was a great opportunity. If the ship was on fire, pretty often the humans would jump into the water to get away from it. It was literally like their meal diving right over to them.
Maybe that was fun when you were in the water, but now that she was inexplicably bound by land the black fire box seemed too dangerous. Better not touch it.
Then the day had gotten even more boring. It had rained, and she didn't want to go out anymore. The fish would be hiding, and her human wasn't even around to enjoy it if she brought him another gift.
Fine then. Nothing else to do. Time to take a nap.
Rey tried first in her own sleeping den. Her human had made it for her and had gone to some effort to try and make it nice for her. See? That was good, right? He may be kind of dimwitted, but there was good intentions. Maybe he was trying to show her that he could be a good mate even if he let himself get bitten by something even dumber than he was?
It was too bright up here, though. That was the problem. Even if it was raining, she couldn't sleep like this.
His den, however… She'd seen how nice and dark and quiet it was. And, if they were going to be mated, she should test out his nest, right? Nothing wrong with that, just checking out what all her options were.
And it smelled like him too! That was nice! Rey could just curl up tight in his nest and be warm and maybe she would even surprise him when he got back and pop out from here when he started to look for her? That would be fun. He didn't seem to like it when she wasn't around, and that was pretty ironic and selfish of him, once Rey got to thinking about it.
Then she had gotten to thinking about other things as well. She'd spent some time before studying her new form. She missed her tail something fierce, but these new lower arms of hers weren't so bad. They were confusing, though. Things like how to relieve herself had just sort of come naturally. It seemed like all her old parts were still there, just not tucked away safely like they had been when she'd had her tail.
She'd poked herself there a few times. Curiosity had gotten the better of her and she'd given a few exploratory passes with her hands. Sometimes her curiosity had rewarded her with an ouch, but then another time… another time it hadn't been too bad.
Maybe she hadn't been comfortable enough before? Her human's nest was definitely more comfortable than her own. Maybe she should try it again here?
This time it had seemed to go better. Rey had closed her eyes and just concentrated on what she was feeling. Her human's room was nice and dark and warm and smelled like him. That all seemed to help. Her first few prods at herself hadn't been too fun, but then she discovered a new spot. A place on her new body that really liked to be touched.
Oh! That was fun! Rey liked that. Fun, but frustrating. She knew what was supposed to happen, but it just wouldn't. No matter how she circling that new spot. Rey could feeling her body coiling up, that part was familiar. How to see herself through to the end, though, was becoming a very infuriating mystery.
Mysteries have answers, though. Rey was determined. She was on a mission. She was- she was- she was so damned close and she still couldn't do it!
Rey had kicked at the covers then, clawing them and ripping them as she threw her tantrum. Why wasn't this working? Was it her new body? Was this just something she couldn't do anymore? That would be terrible. She had almost started to like her lower arms, but if they were defective like this and she couldn't-
No. No. Don't give up. One more try.
This time Rey tried to hone in on the problem. Part of her hurt when she jambed her fingers at it, part of it felt really good. She just needed to figure out exactly what was what. It was like… like her fingers weren't quite long enough. Another design flaw? Her human had long fingers, though. She'd noticed them before, when her face was in his palm earlier. Not in this context, but she'd noticed. Back then she'd thought then that they'd looked tasty, but not as tasty as the wiggling things at the end of his arm legs. Those had been short and chubby and bite-sized, but her human's fingers? They were long. Agile. Thicker than her own.
Could he do this better for her? Would he? It was starting to get really good now, the longer she was picturing his hands. She could almost see them now. Almost feel how they would be on her. His fingers could reach much better than her own. Her human may be dumb, but he had to be good for something. Rey had a hunch that this something might be exactly what he excelled at.
It had come as an incredible relief to Rey when she discovered that yes, her new form could do that. All it needed was her imagination and a little extra time to get down to business.
She'd torn up her human's nest even more during the throes of it. Hopefully he won't be angry with her for that. No matter, she'll find a way to make it up to him. It'll be be fine.
Andn ow that she had proven her point to herself, it was time to make her next one: that what had just happened wasn't a fluke. Once she'd come down and caught her breath, her new form seemed to be telling her it wasn't done yet.
Time for practice to make perfect. And she'd already ruined his nest so she might as well just keep going until he got home, right?
The rest of the afternoon passed by not nearly as dully as it had began.
Night came and her human still wasn't back.
Rey started to grow concerned. She'd fallen asleep after repeated rounds of playtime, and when she'd woken up there were stars in the sky and the house was quiet.
Quiet, cold, dark, and empty.
This was her fault. She should have followed him this morning. Rey had no idea where he was. All she could do was hope he came back soon and in one piece.
He would probably be hungry, though. She'd eaten all the food he'd left for her, and now she was starting to feel bad about that. She should have left him some. Shown him that she could be a good mate, not a selfish one.
She can fix that, though. Her human was strong, he'll be alright. He has to be. And, when he comes back to her just fine and safe, she can surprise him with the fish dinner she's about to go out and catch.
Author's Note:
So I spent a good part of my Thursday afternoon writing a chapter of a hyperactive mermaid running around outside before rubbing it out and falling asleep. Yep. Adulting. Good stuff.
Next chapter we're getting back to the real Reylo plot, though I may have another Rey-interlude every now and then too just for fun!
Comment Reply:
.Feathers : I'm very lad you're enjoying this story! It's been very popular on AO3, but not so much here on FFN so it really means a lot to hear that readers here are still sticking with it! More of a badass Kylo? Alright, I'll see what I can do! He got a little distracted with his thoughts last chapter, but soon it may be time for laying down the law with the merfolk on frenzy.
Thanks so much for commenting!