He had been staring at his hand in, pardon the pun, shock, but he obediently turned it her way when she asked.
She grabbed it and stared at the mark before flipping, literally, backwards into the deeper part of the pool. "Oh please, no. This shouldn't be happening. I am not supposed to be this attached to a surface dweller. My grandmother is going to kill me!"

Wally looked back and forth between Regalia and Robin. "Ummm... Would someone mind telling me what's going on here?"

Regalia sighed. "Look, the mark... Wasn't supposed to happen. It's supposed to bind me to the person I would die for, which, in Solaria, is another way of saying my soul mate. Being royalty, albeit low ranking royalty, my soul mate was found when I was little and I'm supposed to be with them forever. Cheesy, I know. Surface dweller royalty has a similar custom called arranged marriage. It stinks, but that's life. Anyway, the mark is some seriously powerful sorcery. We're talking the kind of magic that Doctor Fate himself can't even come close to working. It binds me to him. I can't be away from the person who shares my mark for more than a week or we both get sick and die. I am so so SO sorry about this. I don't get to choose who gets my mark." She was rambling.

Wally jumped into the pool and swam out to her to calm her down. Robin started to follow, but she let out a panicked "Don't!" and he stopped.

"The Lecaglan Mark, just the mark for short, was made by a sorcerer thousands of years ago when a mer fell in love with a surface dweller. Terribly, cliche, I know. I believe that's what the story 'The Little Mermaid' is based off of. This sorcerer, his name is long forgotten, forged the mark to allow the two to cross over into each other's worlds. Meaning that if you come in the water there's a good chance you'll get a tail. And believe me, it hurts way too much to be worth it."

Robin was, if you'll pardon the pun, a bit out of his depth. But Ruby, his friend, was panicking and he was the only one who knew how to calm her down. That was far more important than any amount of possible pain. So he jumped in. And immediately regretted it. His legs felt like they were on fire. He would have screamed, but he was gulping water at this point. His lungs were full of the stuff. He felt Ruby's arms encircle his waist. She hugged him and he clung to her with all his might.

"Shhh," she soothed. "It'll be over soon, I promise. Just hang in there, Robin. I promise you it will be okay. Hush, little bird. Look at me. That's right. Look at me and don't look away."

The pain subsided and he loosened his grip just a little.

"There, you see? That wasn't so bad. The first time is always the worst."

He nodded.

Wally swam over and dragged them both to the surface. "Robin, dude, are you okay? Please tell me you're okay. Aw man, Batman is gonna kill me."

Robin managed a weak chuckle. "I'm fine. Just need to catch my breath."

Ruby supported him as best she could. "This is my fault. All of it. If only I hadn't been stupid enough to shake your hand."

Wally put an arm around Robin to help keep his head above water. "It's okay. You didn't know this would happen. I mean, it isn't like you planned this."

She ran a hand through her wet hair. "No, I didn't. And I'm going to have to live with it. My question is: Are you going to be able to live with this, Robin?"

Robin shrugged and coughed weakly. "I'll be fine, I suppose. I can deal. Batman is going to be so mad, though. I can't keep something this big a secret from him, so what do I do?"

Ruby and Wally towed him over to the edge of the pool and heaved him up onto it. "For now," Ruby told him, "What we're going to do is get you dried off and changed back. I don't think you want the team seeing you like this just yet."

Robin shook his head.

Ruby pulled herself up out of the water and hissed as her tail melted back into legs then she walked over to a stack of towels and grabbed two. She held on to one and tossed the other to Wally. "Help me dry him off. Robin, you're going to feel really bad for a couple minutes, but I need you to stay calm, okay?"

Robin nodded. Wally and Ruby gently rubbed the towels over his tail until it was completely dry. Then they watched as it changed back into legs.

Ruby sighed in relief. "Thank goodness. I wasn't sure if that would work. But it looks like since I can change back and forth you can too. I know this probably doesn't help, but I like your tail. Silver is a good color on you."

Wally picked up his best friend. "Help me carry him to the sickbay. And keep him awake. I don't want him going into shock."

Ruby complied and started talking about anything and everything she could think of. Her life in Solaria, the mark, the team, how they were going to tell Batman. Everything. She didn't stop until they got him to the infirmary and he fell into an exhausted slumber.

When that happened, Ruby left the room and went back to sit on the edge of the pool. Wally stayed for a while before going after her.