(11)
Yugi's human spoke to him!
His chest fills with warmth and he preens as he swims, a flash of deep-blue-sea and seafoam among shoals of bright fish like shards of sunlight.
He's heard his mate's voice before, but never aimed at the sea - at Yugi. It's unfortunate they don't share a language...
Yugi considers his treasures, human things acquired from shipwrecks or trade. Which one to pick? A special trinket, to celebrate this momentous step and to make his intentions clear...
Ah-ha!
He holds up the glass bubble, a tiny scene of undersea life frozen inside.
Perfect.
o0o
Yugi likes to conceal himself in the shadows of the corals and watch his human. He swims as if born to it, his hair a halo around his face, Yugi's courting gifts entwined with the swaying tresses. Necklaces of carved abalone shell, nacre gleaming like captured rainbows, adorn his sun-gilded chest, and his wrists are wrapped 'round with purple cord twisted through found jewels. His body is long and lean, muscled like a Dancer and just as graceful. Out of the water, he stands proudly, back straight and tall, head held high as he gazes out over the water. He looks every inch the prince he will be when he accepts Yugi's troth, and Yugi's heart aches with pride and the pleasure of knowing this man is his mate.
The language barrier is a problem he's not considered before; but he prays to Nirios Who Speaks, patron of traders and diplomats and messenger of the gods, and an answer is given. And so Yugi searches for two perfect pearls, carries them close to his heart as he swims, and prays to Nirios Who Speaks every night to set the spell that will permit him to communicate with his human when at last they speak.