Karias entered the study, eyes narrowing as he saw Raskreia still at her desk. To think, as the sunset coloured even the waters deep here a lovely orange through the tall window behind her and made her hair gleam bronze and gold, that she was still working. It served him well. While she was busy with stacks of smooth grey tablets and the colourful chittering schools of fish requesting her audience, he could do as he pleased. Right now, though, he wanted her soft brown eyes on him alone.
"Raskreia-nunim! It's about time you went home-" his voice cut through the water just like he did, even if the water he rolled past made his fins float languidly all around him in a manner that made him seem slow instead.
Dramatic, Rozaria often called him. She wasn't wrong of course, but the pink-gold display wasn't something he could control to that degree. It was simply the type of merfolk he was, made for beauty and grace and lying in the sun to be spotted by humans and elevated to godhood. It meant all eyes were always on him, like now with Raskreia frowning at him.
"I have a little more to finish up. You can return without me," she said, grouchy.
It made her voice be just as gravelly as the spines and scales that covered almost every inch of her skin. Yet all that roughness only had her brush her fingers in the water over her tablets and hold them with the gentleness one would the more fragile fish and stay back from others in worry of hurting them. All this, and she was skilled at her work too. Strict and regal and merciful. More so than him, she laid the claim on divinity.
Grabbing her hand as he floated over the top of the desk, Karias pulled her up towards him- "You'll have a little more the whole night. Then tomorrow will come and your sleep won't. Let's go?"
Raskreia averted her eyes, saying nothing nor resisting the pull. Letting the carving tool in her other hand fall to the desk, she swam with him, her stony figure accented by his fins. Every day, they played this game. Some days were easy like today, others he had to do more convincing, and the worst ones, rare as they were, she would refuse no matter how he pled and he'd remain with her through the night so that his aid could ensure at least a few hours of rest.
As they weaved through the sea floor, Karias sang out loud and the whales sang back. Their melody, the currents they rode, all came together in a song for the night. For the pearls of the sea and the stars of the sky and how both made their home in the black locks of the sea king's beloved daughter.
"…This is a longer way," Raskreia murmured as the song came to an end, not wanting to have interrupted despite the red flushing her cheeks.
"It is. I wanted to show this to you," Karias said, pushing aside the last of the tall fronds they were in to reveal a grassy field.
"I've seen plenty of grass in my-" gasping as Karias pulled her down to lay with him in the soft swaying grasses, she went silent as she looked up.
The hour was late, the waters clear, and so it was dark. And so, even the bright twinkling stars were obvious despite the depths. Such a night was rare. Knowing that, how could he possibly let her miss her favourite sight?
They lay there in the quiet, tails intertwining. Raskreia's gaze devoted itself to the sky, entranced by the sight of the natural world. Karias devoted his to her, following every strand of her hair that floated in some direction or another alone or mingling with his, studying the silver light of the moon that lit her up and the dark shadows that caressed her close, worshipping the gift that the natural world had blessed them with.
After all these years, she still had him hooked.
"Karias," she said, still soaking in the stars, "Thank you."
He smiled, still soaking in her presence- "Anything for you, my lady."