Hello guys! How have you been? Okay, I know this took a while, but it was hard to come up with a new idea... But i think it is slightly bigger, so I hope you enjoy it. And, as it will be continued, I already know what to do next, so the next update won't take so long! :D
Now, let's go on with the story...
VIII
The lime colored grass waved calmly, caressed by the sighting breeze. Not a single sound could be heard besides the subtle breaths of the surrounding landscape and the distant bells tied up to the necks of grazing sheep.
Then suddenly, the steps of a hurried climb traveled up hill, accompanied by the heavy pants of the running boy. The glowing sun, shinning intensely upon him, seemed to alert to the fact that he was currently late.
It was noon already.
And though his mouth remained open, trying to take in all the air his longing lungs desired, an unmovable excitement kept tugging up the corner of his lips. His wide step carried the young shepherd's light structure as swiftly as it could, proceeding quickly towards his destiny.
However, even as the warm rays of light made the tiny droplets on his forehead sparkle slightly, some ugly-looking clouds, dense and tumultuous, made its way towards the sunbathed shores.
Jack hurried in his way, eagerly clenching the soft fabric in his closed hand. He could hardly wait to see her reaction, as the boy suddenly became conscious of the weight in his arm.
He smirked knowingly at the completely filled bag.
Thankfully, he noticed, the hidden bay was near, as the familiar path continued to reveal itself in each new turn, the clear line of too much stepped grass showing just how many times he had walked these fields, lately.
With a long intake of air, his slim legs gave a last sprint, gravity surely helping, as the hill descended towards a welcoming blue sea, anticipating the boy's arrival with gleeful splashes of water and spume in the steep calcareous cliffs.
A lovely mermaid was waiting.
...
..
.
The air kept warming up, sun glowing hard on the bare rocks that laid under its hot mantel of light.
Toothiana's now constantly flushed cheeks showed just how much the heating weather was affecting her colder necessities. Therefore, the mermaid spent more and more time submerged, longing for the freshness of the ocean, trying to escape the unforgiving sun.
Even Jack, who now always wore lighter linen clothing, kept showing up with those huge straw hats his mum made him wear – to which Tooth would laugh whole-heartily – in the effort of protecting his pale complexion from the merciless rays.
And it was nearly impossible to imagine the look of wonder in the mermaid's face, when one day, the boy's shoulders and nose appeared colored in a bright shade of red.
She immediately inquired when did he gained that specific ability of skin-shifting. The shepherd had dismissively stated that it was the sun's fault.
At the beginning, young Toothiana couldn't understand how one can blame the Sun for anything.
But the next day, when Jack's burnt skin started to flake off, the worried girl launched herself towards him, abruptly tugging his hand, immediately whispering apologizes when the boy winced at her sudden touch.
With careful wet fingers, she stroked the crimson areas, rapidly hushing him whenever he tried to assure he was fine.
"You don't play with the sun!", Toothiana had chided, and then hurriedly pushed his form to the cooled shades of the cliffs.
Then, with one last glare to the bright disc up above, she too sheltered herself from such masked dangers.
Today thought, the air felt cooler, Toothiana absently registered, as her head broke the water's surface. Cautiously, her eyes wandered through the private area of the bay, always checking on some kind of hidden danger.
Her violet orbs ended up settling on the heavy clouds that came from the faraway flat horizon, the ocean shimmering in the light of the ends of spring. She squinted her eyes with a frown, but eagerly dismissed it.
Instead, she let her body submerge again, laying her back on the sandy floor of the bay, irises watching as the bright beams played with the undulation. In her bored form, she vaguely started playing with the sand, letting the soft sediments continuously drain between her fingers.
It was "sun-day", as the boy had called it, so the mermaid patiently waited.
Because of young Toothiana's new imposed tasks and Jack's responsibilities towards the herd, a single day of the week had to be settled for their encounters. A single day when they would chat without a single drop of worry in their hearts.
Neither one had liked the idea at first, thought they wouldn't complain about it out loud; but there was a quiet agreement that it would be better if their secret meetings remained secret. Both were exceptionally conscious of what each community might think of this friendship.
Yes, Tooth dared to call it that... Because after all these months of getting to know each other, she ended up finding in the human boy a dear friend she had never had the chance to encounter back at home, in her society.
And now, looking backwards, Toothiana noticed that her entire childhood had been spent with her own self as company! Not that it had bothered her, most of the time.
She had always loved to explore the surrounding environment in which she grew. And look where that curious nature had brought her!
In spite of all these reflections, the mermaid was not in her bubbliest moods.
She was usually extremely excited, longing all week for the settled day. The times she spent up here with Jack, she would have to admit, were the highlights of her activities.
But today, thought, it was as if all this energy and enthusiasm had suddenly drained from her, leaving her persona lazily resting on the seabed.
She made her pinkish eyelids hide the lavender-colored irises, and Toothiana sighed, causing a fresh gush of water to enter her gills.
For the first time in her long existence, her brow slightly creased unpleasantly at the thought of her respiratory surfaces.
She caught herself feeling as if they imprisoned her somehow, making her dependent on the constant presence of water, instead of allowing her to lay on the warmed rocks, next to her dearest companion.
For the first time, Tooth grimaced at her condition, as she would never be able to see the magnificent fields Jack always toke his herd to. She would never explore those woods and mountains he kept telling her about. For the moon, there was so much more she would never see!
And in her already gloomy state, these thoughts only made her even less happy, as her body seemed to sink more on the sandy soil.
Suddenly her eyes snapped open, as something was promptly caught by her acute hearing.
There, right above her, features distorted by the undulating surface and undulating light, a bright grin with gleaming eyes called her from out of water.
She felt her own lips curl up a bit, while she used her arms to raise her form towards the beaming creature.
But it was when her rosy cheeks softly broke the surface, that she noticed just how close his own face had been lingering the water.
Wet nose and not-so-wet-one gently touched, tip to tip, and the joyful smiles were immediately replaced by wide eyes and flustered expressions.
Suddenly, all she could see was crystal blue, and a rush of heat, with an unknown source, painted her entire body in warm hues.
She could feel her head-fins flutter from de shock, and just as fast they shot up in their stance, the translucent structures completely stretched out in the bright light, leaving the bashful-looking mermaid blushing madly.
The boy, on the other hand, seemed to be able of recovering slightly faster, and the stunned look on his face quickly morphed into an amused smirk, mischief making his eyes gleam in a special kind of way.
And before the girl even had the chance to react, a cool brush of lips was left on the very tip of her nose, causing a shiver to cross her immersed body.
In the blink of an eye, the boy was already innocently pacing in the rocks ahead, looking as oblivious as he could muster. But that grin, however, filled with mirth and a naughty delight, couldn't help but play in his lips, the soft shade of pink that dusted both his hears and cheeks being the only trace left of his improper gesture.
Well, that and the flustered mermaid he left behind, tinged in an impossible shade of crimson, eyes just as wide as they could be. Toothiana just stood there, blinking her huge eyelashes twice, gaze stuck in no specific point of the agitated waters that splashed against the bare rocks in which the boy roamed. And his own gaze never left her dumbfounded expression either, piercing blue irises staring at the girl that stood in the sea below.
A low chuckle shook his chest, and, as if the sound had awakened her, Tooth's reddened body morphed into the colors of the surrounding environment. And with a shy smile and ever-flushed cheeks, the mermaid's wish to disappear right then and there, was partially fulfilled.
Although this time, the boy allowed himself to laugh full-heartily at the girl's reactions, loving the way her entire body would respond to each emotion.
It amused him immensely.
But just as he was about to go look for her, a sudden wave of cold salty water engulfed his entire being, soaking Jack's fresh summer cloths until they were nothing but a thin sheet of almost transparent linen clinging to his drenched torso.
He immediately started coughing out the salty liquid, and it was with dripping arms wide stretched to both his sides, and equally sopping bangs clung to his brow, that his shocked eyes lifted slowly, catching sight of the laughing mermaid ahead.
She giggled so hard that one of her slim arms was wrapped desperately around her midsection, gills fluttering madly.
Jack got frightened at first; he has never seen her body shake so much since she almost suffocated, when he had left her to her own fate on the beach sand.
But when the nearly angelic sound of her laughter reached his hears, he understood that she was not even close to be dying.
In fact, in his still soaked form, frozen in place by the mere surprise of the action, Jack found himself smiling as well, absolutely overwhelmed by the other's elation.
- Ok, I guess we're even… - he ended up stating, making the girl's joyful giggles fade slightly.
- That's what you get for mocking a mermaid. – Toothiana mirthfully replied, raising an eyebrow, her usual coloration back to her skin.
The sun glowed brightly, warming their smiling features just as much as their heated hearts would.
- So… - the boy started, beaconing the mermaid's attention, causing the girl to swim closer, until she rested, with both arms crossed hoisting her weight, on the hot rocks.
He then proceeded to remove the wet cloth from his body, squeezing the salty water out of it. Next, he laid it in an exposed rock, leaving the rest of the drying job for the sun itself.
With an anticipating smirk he turned back to the mermaid, hands proudly set on his waist, pale skin glowing brightly in the midday light.
He wanted to tease her, to bring any sort of reaction out of her, to leave "young Toothiana" completely flustered again, before the sight of a man's half naked body. As stated before, the relative intimacy that grew between them, allowed the boy to feel comfortable enough to have fun just by seeing her head-fins shot up in the air, or her entire complexion change to a different kind of color.
Either way, whatever he was waiting for didn't happen, as the mermaid's features remained just as peaceful as before, violet irises staring directly at his own expecting ones, completely ignoring his bare chest.
- Well, go on! – she pushed, unaware of the reason of such dramatic pause.
The boy's mouth hung open for a second, as he struggled to recover his train of thought. Meanwhile, it was his own conscience who mocked him: Why would she care if you're wearing clothes or not? Haven't you notice: she is pretty much naked all the time!
The thought made his face heat up again, and Jack shook his head mightily, as if the gesture itself would shake the image away.
- I… I was going to ask you if you are hungry already. – he stuttered, focusing his attention on Tooth's face once more.
A smile graced the girl's pinkish lips, and with that she nodded.
…
..
.
- So… we have some rabbit stew, with cabbages and carrots…. There is some bread and sheep cheese. – the droned mutters kept coming out, as the now-not-so-flushed shepherd continued to remove the goods that he had previously placed in the wide square of fabric.
- Oh, look, I also brought some milk, if you want to try! And of course, water. – he finished, flashing a quick smile to the curious mermaid, whose eagerness to see such strange products had made her lean closer in her elbows, bringing her body slightly out of water. Thankfully the tide was coming up, and soon she wouldn't have to make such effort while supporting her tail's weight.
Jack looked through all the displayed edibles with a pleased smile plastered on his face. He had successfully managed to pilfer all this amount of food without his mum questioning anything.
Lately, and due to the heavy cloud of sorrow that seemed to hover the family, the boy had been excused a day out, so he could ramble around, all by himself, without the weight of reality to pin down his previously lighthearted nature.
His wise mother saw this as the only way not to lose both her children, because she knew, with all her heart: if she tried to hold Jack there with her, in the climate of sadness that persisted in submerging the house, he would end up drowning as well…
So, the boy was given permission to every Sunday, be free from all his responsibilities. And it was with nothing more than a farewell that his dear mother saw her only child run away, with just enough food for an entire day.
Now, here at the sunny bay, the young shepherd blinked the foggy daze out of his eyes, staring instead at the struggling creature below him.
With wide eyes and perched torso, Toothiana had begun to lift one arm, trying to reach the food the boy had carefully displayed. But before her fingertips could even touch a gleaming apple, her hand was gently slapped away.
- Oh no, my darling! – the boy elegantly stated, making his voice come out with a strange accent, shaking his head with a chin held up high. And he truly had to resist and keep his act going, when he saw the pouting face of the girl before him.
Jack then laid on his belly, head held between his pale palms, staring directly at her, with faces inches apart. Afterwards, with a smirk tugging his thin lips, he stretched a slim finger and poked the mermaid's nose.
- Now, my fair lady, if you wish to taste my food… - he continued with a smile on his voice and a twinkle of teasing in his eyes. - … you ought to give something in return.
He then took back his finger from her wet nose, and saw with an amused grin as rosy shade blossomed in the girl´s cheeks. But this time, she recovered faster, and mirroring him with a playful smile of her own, Toothiana tilted her head questioningly.
- And what would the payback be?
And as the teasing in her dulcet voice reached his hears, the boy brought a finger to his jaw, tapping it thoughtfully.
His crystal-blue irises left hers for the first time in what seemed like ages, as he pretended to stare ahead in deep contemplation.
- Hum… Let me see…
So... if you liked it, please review. If you didn't, tell me what I should fix. XD
Also if you would like to see some of my drawings related to this fanfic feel free to check here:
- Deviantart: gallery/48134469
- Tumblr: search/my%20art