The Mermaid and The Beast
Chapter 6- How To Train Your Shark
"Plummer, why didn't you say anything?!" Jake yelled in anger, making his friend shiver nervously, "You realize she's in great trouble, don't you?!"
Jake was completely hysterical, which rarely happened; he was always a calm, cool-headed Sharkanian, he rarely got angry over anything, and when he did he never made such a ruckus about it. This time, however, it was his daughter involved, so it was natural for him. After all, it was the first time he was actually able to worry for her and do something about it. Spark and Bluetail (and both Jessop and Seze as an extension) simply floated aside, watching as Jake paced around the stable.
"Calm down, Jakey!" Plummer held up his hands in defense, "What was I supposed to say? It was either that, or stay as a prisoner for the rest of your life!"
"But The Albino?! You know that shark is a beast, she won't last five seconds!"
"On the bright side, the swordfish will be able to visit her, she can roam Sharkania freely and she'll be staying with us-"
"WHAT?!"
Spark felt hurt when he reacted that way, "Am I such a bother…?"
"No, no, no!" Jake turned to look at her, "It's not that, you're no bother to me! You're welcome in my home, in fact, it's just that I'm not used to having a… mermaid around since a long time."
"Since the mermaid you fell in love with?"
Jake felt a squirming in his heart, "Yes."
"Well, then there's nothing more to say!" Plummer grinned as he wrapped around Jake's shoulder, "Sparky will be staying with us, Bluetail can visit her wherever he wants and Sparky will be The Albino's caretaker! Everyone is happy!"
"Wait, wait, wait! Us?" Bluetail raised an eyebrow, "You live… together?"
Jake groaned in dismay as took his palm to his forehead, "As awkward as it sounds, yes, we live together. We've been sharing the same home for five years."
"Anyway, Jake, how am I going to take care of that Albino?" Spark inquired, pulling the Sharkanian to the door of the white shark's door, "I mean, I've taken care of seahorses, but sharks? I'm not precisely an expert."
Jake sighed in defeat, "There are three things you must have in mind when taking care of a shark: clean its cage, brush its teeth and feed him. Most sharks are easy to handle, but him," Jake pointed at the Albino, who growled in return, "He is incontrollable. You already know this, but The Albino is only docile with Emperor Shaga, he sees everyone else as dinner."
"Speaking of dinner, I think it's already his time to eat." Plummer spoke up, noticing how the Albino was staring expectantly at them, as if waiting for something, "You better hurry, Sparky, if he doesn't eat he becomes crankier than usual."
Spark nodded, "What do sharks eat?"
"Most sharks eat fish meat, but The Albino has more… refined tastes," Jake continued explaining, "He prefers the rare taste of seagull meat."
"S-Seagull?"
"I'm afraid so, he won't eat anything else."
"Seriously? How do you get the seagull meat?" Bluetail inquired
"We have to go to the surface to hunt them, but it's very hard to catch them by surprise. Luckily, there's some seagull meat left, I'll get it."
Jake swam away, taking leading Jessop to his cage while he was on it. Spark kept staring at the Albino's curled figure, and the shark kept staring expectantly at her. Apparently, he already knew his feeding time. Bluetail swam next to the mermaid with a smile and rubbed his head against her.
"I missed you so much, Spark," he spoke softly, "I was already fearing you had been killed."
Spark smiled and wrapped her arms around Bluetail's neck, "I missed you too, Blue!"
"What happened in the three days you spent here?"
"Well, I was in a cell, but Jake snuck me out once to hang around Sharkosia. I've got to admit, Sharkanians are not as cold-hearted as everyone says, you just have to get to know them better."
"Jake told me something similar when we met; he said Sharkanians sometimes have to put their humanity aside for the welfare of their race."
"Here it is!" Jake swam to the front of The Albino's cage, carrying a large piece of seagull meat on his arms, "Spark, be careful. I'm afraid you'll have to feed him yourself, that way he'll know you're his caretaker, but that doesn't mean he won't try to bite your arm off."
"How do I feed him without losing my extremities?" Spark inquired as she took the large piece of meat from Jake, almost falling due to its weight.
"Just enter, place the meat a few steps in front of him and swim out as quickly as you can, but do not get too close to his mouth. I learned it the hard way when I was his caretaker," Jake blushed, remembering the first time he fed The Albino.
Plummer commented, "You should have seen his expression, it was priceless!" He let out a whine when Jake elbowed him hard on the sides.
Spark gulped as she opened the cage and swam inside, fearfully swimming closer to the giant shark. The Albino sensed fear emanating from his new caretaker, and amusingly let out a snarl, making her jump back; the shark would have laughed if he could. When she was a few steps away from the Albino, she quickly put the meat in front of him and dashed out of the cage as the shark took the piece of meat with his teeth and swallowed it whole.
"That shark is evil!" Spark yelled as soon as she closed The Albino's cage.
"Now you realize?" Bluetail rolled his eyes
"And you have to brush his teeth when he is done eating," Plummer added, "Speaking of which, my stomach is already complaining, so I guess I'll see you later guys," saying this, Plummer swam out of the stables.
Spark was completely speechless, "Brush his teeth? Seriously? What's next?"
Jake sighed, "This is really dangerous, most of his caretakers were injured when they brushed his teeth," he explained, "You have to brush them one by one, and clean all of the excessive debris from his meal, especially the feathers left on the seagull meat. The Albino already knows that his teeth are brushed after eating, so he'll open his mouth when you enter with the brush. But do not touch his gums, he hates that, it tickles him."
Jake handed the mermaid a large brush, similar to the brushes mermaids used for their hair, but this one was big and thick. Spark gulped for about the fifth time that day and opened the cage, watching as The Albino opened his mouth, expecting to have his sharp rows of teeth brushed…
"Is everything ready for the Sharkanians visit, Narcissus? I wouldn't like another misunderstanding with Emperor Shaga," King Triton asked his commander for the third time.
Every once in a while, King Triton and Emperor Shaga had to meet personally to renegotiate the treaty; sometimes King Triton and his guards went to Sharkania, other times Emperor Shaga went to Atlantica. This time, it was the Sharkanians' turn to go to Atlantica, and apparently, princess Artemisia would probably accompany her father this time, and since Triton knew how much she meant to Shaga, took all the precautions so that nothing would happen to her.
"The chambers for our guests are ready, your majesty," Narcissus replied, "But is it really necessary for them to come over? You know the citizens' opinion of… Sharkanians."
"I know, but it's time to let hostilities aside. My ambassadors barely managed to get the Sharkanians go sign the treaty, I have no intentions of risking that treaty. I'm sure the citizens will eventually warm up to the Sharkanians."
"What about your daughters, you Majesty?" Narcissus chose his words carefully, "I mean, most of your daughters have rarely had any contact with the Sharkanians, but what about Ariel? She has spoiled their past schemes to destroy our kingdom, do you not fear they may attempt to take revenge on her?"
Triton shook his head, "I know Ariel and the Sharkanians are not precisely on good terms with each other, but I'm sure they'll be able to put those aside as long as they stay here. The Sharkanians have already come many times, and they haven't done anything against any of my daughters, so I have nothing to fear this time neither."
Narcissus bow at his king, "I understand, your Majesty. I'll send a messenger to Sharkania to inform Emperor Shaga that we're ready for the peace talks."
The commander swam away from the king with a grim expression in his face. Probably, he would be among the Sharkanians who accompanied Shaga, he always was. Soon he would have his revenge on the Sharkanian for stealing her from him…
Jake attempted to contain himself from smacking Plummer to stop him his laughter; he was carrying an unconscious Spark on his arms, the mermaid had fainted when she accidently brushed one of The Albino's gums, and (miraculously) he did not try to chomp her arm, but preferred to roar at her, and the Sharkanians would never forget the amused look on the Albino's face as Spark fainted from fright. Bluetail had to return to Atlantica, but promised to visit Spark when he could.
"The look on her face! I can't believe it!" he could barely speak as he wiped a tear of hysteria from his eye, but yelped when Jake couldn't contain it any longer and smacked his friend's tailfin with his own.
"It's not funny! She almost got a heart attack!" he hissed, looking down at the mermaid in worry.
"I admit, I'm surprised The Albino just roared at her, he almost killed his other caretakers when they brushed his gums by accident. Perhaps he took a liking to her."
"The Albino?" Jake rolled his eyes, "I would rather believe Hookbait wants to enter in a serious relationship with a female! The only Sharkanian he actually likes is Emperor Shaga!"
"Hey, Jakey, taking advantage that Sparky is unconscious and she probably isn't listening… Are you sure about-?!"
"FOR THE THOUSANDTH-!" Jake closed his eyes shut for a moment, trying not to raise his voice, and whispered angrily, "For the thousandth time, I won't! She can't know!"
Plummer sighed disappointingly, "I just hope you won't regret it."
The rest of the way, the Sharkanians were silent. Unbetsknown to Plummer, Jake had actually been considering telling Spark all the truth, but he didn't dare to hurt her that way. The few times he had managed to catch a glimpse of her, he had often seen her interacting with sharks without any kind of fright. In fact, she sharks themselves were always docile towards her, sensing her Sharkanian blood, and some might go as far as to play with her. He had watched her play with sharks when she was five, but there was one time he had directly interacted with her, although she had probably no idea of it…
Jake watched his little Spark sadly watching the other merchildren playing with algae balls. She had tried to play with them once, but they never let her play, they all thought of her as a 'weirdo', as they put it. Not for the first time, he had wished to go and defend his daughter, but he had swore he would never let Spark know of her Sharkanian heritage. The head of Saltwater, a mermaid named Sky, had taken the merchildren on a short fieldtrip, letting them play outside Atlantica, under the watch of a few guards. Jake was hiding in a long algae bush, not too far from the merchildren, but not too close to them, he knew what the guards would do to him if they spotted him.
Jake noticed Spark was hugging a medium-sized plush shark of metallic blue and white tones. It was a gift from him, for the merchild's third birthday; he had bought it on Sharkania, then he snuck to Atlantica and silently swam inside Spark's room through her window, leaving the shark plush next to her before leaving. Apparently, she loved it dearly.
The Sharkanian's blood started to boil when he saw another merchild, a girl with blonde hair tied on two ponytails and a solid yellow tailfin, snatched the shark-plush from Spark and swam away quickly, Spark in hot pursuit. His anger was fueled when the other merchildren joined the blonde mergirl, throwing the shark to one another when Spark attempted to recover it. He clenched his fists, wishing with all his might to go and defend his daughter.
His heart started to beat when one of the merchildren, the one who was holding the shark-plush, swam dangerously close to the underwater cliff; Spark finally managed to tackle the merboy and snatch the shark-plush back, but in doing she knocked her head on a small rock and lost consciousness, and she fell from the edge of the cliff, holding the plush in her arms tightly.
"SPARK!" Jake couldn't contain it any longer.
He swam like a bullet towards Spark's small figure, not caring if the guards saw him. He shook his tailfin like never before and narrowed his eyes because of the feeling of the water pressure against his face. He managed to catch the mergirl on his arms, and quickly swam back to a small algae forest near the edge of the cliff.
Once safely on the edge of the forest, Jake looked down at his daughter's small figure on his arms, remembering when he first held her in his arms as a newborn. He looked around and saw Sky's figure coming closer to the algae forest, calling out worryingly for Spark; reluctantly, the Sharkanian gently placed his daughter on the ground, where Sky would spot her. Before leaving, he kissed Spark's cheek gently.
"See you later, Sparky."
Jake returned to the present as he and Plummer arrived to their home; a sunken ships, like most buildings in Sharkosia, but was very comfortable inside (on Sharkanian standards, at least). The two Sharkanians swam inside into the living room, decorated with weapons and wooden furniture made from the ships' old wooden planks. Plummer let out a yawn, showing his sharp, triangular teeth.
"I'm going to sleep, Jakey," he announced, swimming towards his bedchamber, "You should do the same. Speaking of which, where is Sparky going to sleep?"
"In my room," Jake replied, "I'm going to sleep on the couch."
"Your room? Are you sure? There are other rooms much more comfortable for her…"
"I don't mind sleeping on the couch, Plum," Jake smiled a little, "Besides, Sparky needs some rest after what happened with The Albino today."
Plummer accepted the answer and swam to his bedchambers, stretching his body on his way there. Jake swam towards his room, located on the upper corridors of the ship. He opened a door leading to his bedchamber, a medium-sized room with a rather worn-out human bed and a few wooden furniture, including night desks. Jake gently placed Spark on his bed, and covered her with the blanket; she looked so peaceful when she slept… the Sharkanian caressed Spark's wavy hair softly, careful not to awake her, and swam out of his room.
He needed to ask Plummer for a pillow and a blanket.