A Christmas Miracle on Dewdrop

After a moment, it did and she laughed. But it wasn't a joyous laugh and she dropped the glove and his right hand with both of hers. "I sing. I killed de orka, but Teeooh died. May mate. I thaved Si's life though."

"I am very sorry, " Franck said and he pulled her hands to his mouth and kissed them. She broke the grip and leaned and wrapped her arms around him and he froze. After a moment he returned the hug. She had odd muscles on her upper back, likely to do with the gills and being aquatic. He felt the air as she let out a slow 'hoot' from her gills. Then she pulled back but kept her hands just around his shoulders. With her tail she was essentially as tall as him but her upper body was a bit smaller but her muscles were firm. Her face quickly morphed to a happy look. Or so he guessed.

"But you are here now," she said and her mood was indeed improved, "Teeooh, Ehbrhim."

She released him and leaned over the edge of the rock and pulled up a bag woven from what Franck guessed was seaweed fibres. Like the pack the previous evening it had a drawstring but didn't appear watertight. There was something bulky and hard in it but when she opened it slightly she reached in and pulled out a handful of something.

"May preverrehd," she held out a cube a couple of centimetres a side and he accepted it. She took one and popped it into her mouth. He sniffed it. He'd eaten plenty of seaweed and the wrapping could've come from any ocean on any Earth-like planet humans had so far explored. He used a fingernail to pick it and saw some sort of cured, orange flesh.

"Shellman," she said. Salmon. Of course she did. The Endymion had germ lines for salmon, along with hundreds of others derived from Earth's originals and adapted versions from Pacwah, if they found an appropriate environment. This couldn't be that. But it smelled... delicious.

"Franck, do not—-," Taylor's voice was in his ear as he popped the cube into his mouth. Despite being an ass, Jenkins was a solid chemist and claimed the juice he'd given Franck 'for your date' would allow him to eat limited amounts of the local food.

"You're my beta tester," Jenkins had said, "if you live I'll tell Taylor. If not, well, our secret."

Thanks, asshole. Of course, if this was some sort of poison, well, he would've died in the line of duty nibbling on snacks with a beautiful mermaid, they'd say, he went as he'd lived, bazooka barfing and causing the first interstellar war. Ah well. They'd found plenty of unusual proteins but also recognisable lipids and sugars in the local life and little that would actually be deadly. He smiled and Sirena grinned.

"That's delicious," he said as much for his team as his 'date,' "not quite like our salmon but their chilli spice is perfect."

She withdrew two new cubes and they each had another. How much did Jenkins mean with 'limited?'

Then she reached into the bag with both hands and pulled a white cylinder out.

"Oh, shit," he said.

"Lenssh," she said and put it to her face and twisted it as she looked up the mountain and stopped. She hooted.

"Crinkles,"she said with what Franck took was an amused lilt and pointed up the mountain. He turned and followed her angle and snorted then he turned back to her. She offered him the camera lens. He imitated her and found his two teammates. Damned red suits.

"It wasn't anywhere close to here the pterodactyl took down that drone," Taylor said, "how'd they find it?"

"Dey are Crinkles," Sirena said as she pointed at the lens when he turned and looked at her and she again reached into her bag and pulled out a round palm-sized lens, "bedder dan cristal."

She was very creative to have worked out to use the lens as a telescope. He took her 'crystal' and it indeed worked similarly but not as well as the high-tech piece, even with one of the lenses cracked.

"Fishing," said Cuthbert, "it's likely these creatures go fairly far. We know they live around that big reef on the other side of the island and outlying reefs all around it. But we've not identified any significant prey fish close by. We've seen large kelp and other plant patches around it. They farm too. But fish has to be central to their diet."

"You keep it," Franck said as he pointed to the camera lens as he tried to ignore his teammate's thesis.

He opened the little pouch at his right side as Sirena stored the camera lens then watched him. The assemblers could make an ersatz version that most of the crew found acceptable. This wasn't that. He unwrapped foil and had two almost black squares just over two centimetres on a side and about half of one high. He handed one to Sirena and held the other up.

"Chocolate," he said.

"Shocolate," she repeated. He bit half of his. She did likewise. She started to chew but he touched her jaw.

"No, just let it melt."

Her eyes widened and she looked at her piece then licked her lips. She followed him and they put the remainder in their mouths. She closed her eyes and he watched her swallow. It was a freakishly stereotypical expression repeated over millennia of human introduction to chocolate. She opened her eyes and licked her lips

Then she slid forward quickly and put her arms around his neck and kissed him.

It took his mouth a count of one, two, three before he fully adapted. Her lips were human. And felt like a human woman's. She pressed her awesome chest against his. What he wouldn't give to be as naked as her, he thought, as his brain finally caught up. He opened his lips slightly and she finished the job.

Her tongue was human. And she used it like a human woman would. He used his. After a moment the initial rush slowed and their tongues worked around the other. And then her tail had wrapped around his legs! She twisted her body slightly and moved her left hand more toward his chest and let out a slow and very soft 'hoot' through her gills. He knew he'd catch hell for this...

He cupped her left breast. She pushed it into his hand and a second hoot seemed to confirm he'd made the right choice. He caressed the nipple and it responded. Their tongues and lips worked together for a moment before he wondered. He pressed harder against the breast and broke the kiss and leaned quickly. She seemed to guess and put her hand behind his head and made sure he didn't change his mind. He cupped the breast and wrapped his mouth tightly around the nipple and sucked it into his mouth and worked his tongue around it. She let out a harder hoot but also an 'aahh' sound. It had been a while and the ship offered plenty of restrictions to relationships, but he'd not been short of lovers back on Pacwah. He worked the erect nipple and, apparently satisfied he wasn't going anywhere, she slid her hand down his chest.

And into his crotch. It was immediately obvious she knew exactly what to expect there. He'd already been hard and this wasn't going to do anything but encourage it to stay that way. Unless. Oh hell, she REALLY knew what she was doing. How the hell could a mermaid almost a hundred light years from the nearest humans and twice that from Earth know exactly how to stroke a man's cock? Or that it would even be there?

"Second base and stealing third, my MAN!" A sudden squeal in Franck's ear caused him to momentarily separate from the breast but he quickly recovered. It also told him Jenkins' mic was likely a melted piece of slag. And speaking of Taylor, because Franck needed to think of something other than the expert cock stroking, she'd apparently decided to let this go. First contact had always been theoretical but 'mutually beneficial terms' was buried in the regs somewhere. They'd deployed a number of mini drones but were keeping them near the treeline. They'd learned quickly the stupid pterodactyls took very unkindly to anything flying in the daylight.

"Sheash," Sirena said to Franck's confusion. Then he realized she'd found the seal on his suit.

He had no idea how he didn't blow at the touch of her hand on his exposed cock. She definitely knew how to touch it. He switched to her other breast and she let out another one of those soft hoot sounds. He tilted his head and opened his right eye. He pushed his hand down her abdomen and felt the transition from skin to scales. He'd seen her in the water, that her shape was perfection for her environment was undeniable. But that shape hewed to thousands of years of human imagination was... possibly freakier.

But. All he saw was that tail. Where? What? They'd seen babies suckling and toddlers. How? He pushed his hand along the centerpoint of her body and suddenly something. Her flesh had quivered. He pressed, she hooted again and used the tips of her fingers on the head of his cock. Her flesh rippled and seemed to part and he pushed his fingers in. He kissed his way down her torso and she seemed to purr.

He wished he were a trained biologist but he was a man. The view was... well, it was exactly what it felt like. He slid his fingers just between moist and fleshy lips and she definitely purred. At the 'top' of that slit was a firm nub and he used his moist fingers to caress it. She hooted and pulled his body straight then wrapped her arms around him and leaped backwards.

They splashed into the water and quick flicks of her tail had them close to twenty yards away almost instantly. She pressed her body against his and kissed him hard before she took them under the surface.

He hadn't prepared or taken a breath before he felt a hard push of air into his mouth. Did she know? Did she understand he didn't have gills? Then she released his mouth and he quickly adjusted to a slow exhale. She slid her body down and he found his rampant prick sucked into her mouth. He caressed that odd hair and her shoulder. Then he saw bubbles and a hoot and it was the most intense and incredible thing he'd ever felt. Shit. Nothing for it. He jerked his hips and she held him tightly and repeated whatever the hell she'd done.

His cock spasmed. He blew cum into the mermaid's mouth and she did nothing but suck harder. A second spasm turned into a half dozen before he moaned and lost what air he'd had left in his lungs. Sirena released his prick and rose.

"You taste good," he swore she said but he wasn't certain. Then she returned her mouth to his mouth. Whether it was to kiss or breathe for him he didn't care. He kissed back.

She had them a couple of meters deep, based on the light. She pushed them then wrapped her tail around his lower leg and worked her body until her exposed pussy found his cock.

He didn't know how but it had returned to full attention. Had it even momentarily slackened? I guess she's not going to request a condom, he thought.

He slid his hand between them and with their combined efforts they guided his very hard cock into her body. He had the idea that someone was screaming in his ear but he really didn't give the least fuck.

Some time later they floated in the bay a couple of hundred meters from shore as Sirena nuzzled Franck's neck and he caressed her back and ass. Since she'd put his hand on the latter he'd decided he should keep it there. Her musculature wasn't unrecognizable but he again wished he was an actual biologist. She used efficient flicks of her gold and crimson tail to push them to shore. As they approached the rock she twisted them and then she released him and found his footing and stood hip deep and turned.

She rose and held his cheeks and kissed him. He kissed her back before she backed off and smiled broadly.

"Ehbrhim," she sang before she did a backwards leap and he watched that tail disappear. Movement in the kelp farm told him where her consorts had been.

"Franck," Taylor's voice was relieved anger, maybe more anger than relief, but controlled, "you're obviously alive."

"Confirmed," he said. Snorts on the line and a grunt that had to be Taylor.

"Lui, go."

"Franck, she's human."

"I know," he heard speech in the background, seemed to be 'ran it three times!'

"Wha... huh? Her DNA. From that scale. It's not this planet's. It's human. Well, aside from the obvious changes. The merpeople are humans. What do you mean you know?"

"You didn't go where I just went...," he said. But he went silent and waved when Sirena shot vertically from the water fifty meters out and rose almost the length of her body above the surface and did a one-eighty and sang a perfect F major chord before she flipped and reentered the water head first and left nothing more than a tiny ripple.

"Lieutenant," he said, "we have work to do."

Christmas Eve

Beatrice's mouth opened and closed but she couldn't move. The ebullient Chelonia quit jumping around her and Alphonse and slid in front of her mother. Her mate sidled to stand tight and they clasped hands. Giant lampplants that glowed in reds and greens and whites and blues floated around the gathering.

Was this what transcendent meant, Beatrice thought, this solo her friend performed? Rather than enthusiastic children the best singers in the settlement were Sirena's choir. What the children lacked in talent they made up in effort. But right now Beatrice saw some of the 'best' singers amongst her people stare as amazed as Beatrice and Alphonse. As one, the mass of children had, like her own, stilled themselves.

Sirena had been changed by her fight with the orcas and the loss of Theo. Her singing hadn't been pedestrian since but Beatrice had known she'd struggled to hit the heights.

No longer.

She'd disappeared after the children's concert and she hadn't even let her best friend since childhood in on where she'd gone or what happened. But with her return the previous day's morning the singer had been awhirl of emotion and action and had recruited a cadre of teen boys and girls, hunters and some of her singing students, for something. But when the Orca Warrior orders you to not tell anyone what's up, you obey to the letter. The blonde had even caught the Old Melon and the Margaret in earnest discussion and they'd gone silent and smiled oddly at her when they'd seen her, apparently due to her known connection to Sirena. She'd acknowledged them and moved on.

And now? This was the finest piece of singing her friend had ever done. In fact, the finest Beatrice had heard. Anytime. Anywhere. It showed a breadth of emotion... Beatrice needed a bag to carry a tune but Sirena had trained her ear. This wasn't just hitting notes. Beatrice blinked and looked at Alphonse. Her powerful, loving stone worker mate, a man who could carve a new nest out of a solid rock wall in no time flat, had tears in his eyes. At least, she thought that, because her view was blurred by her own tears. Unlike Sirena's dirge during the Fairytale this was a soaring lament, not just for Theo but for all of their people anyone had lost. A lament that called for them to cherish those memories.

And then it changed. It was... if she'd thought the silent choir was in awe, now she saw fear. Fear that if Sirena suddenly called them to join... they had no idea how. But the song now called for their people to... stride forward with pride, with hope, with love. Beatrice looked at her friend on the stage, read her face. She bent and put her mouth next to her child's ear.

"Go with your daddy," she said softly and the girl slid. Beatrice nudged her mate's hand and he crossed his arms loosely around the child's neck and she reached up and held his powerful forearms. Beatrice noticed some sort of commotion that approached the gathered crowd. Sirena's attention was on it and her song soared with absolute joy.

Beatrice excused herself past awe-struck listeners and finally emerged beyond the crowd. She saw a barge being towed toward the gathering and saw the expected fake antlers carved from coral on the heads of the crew doing the towing. No. It wasn't a barge. It was... she'd never seen such a barge. It had high sides on it. There were people on it.

She squinted. She realized that it was Old Lobster seated at the front, the fake 'legs' of his red and white costume flapped. His red cap with the white ball flapped. Behind him were more red-clad Kringles in their caps.

No. Wait. What?

Sirena's song changed. After a moment the choir kicked on, their skill brought them in en-masse on the fourth word.

'Here comes the Kringle, here comes the Kringle, right down Kringle lane...'

'Vixen and Blitzen ...'

Old Lobster waved as the crowd turned and children screamed 'Kringle' but couldn't drown out Sirena's voice. A Kringle stepped next to Lobster at the front of the barge. No, wait, he was in red and had the cap but he had no beard.

Beatrice's jaw dropped. That man.

The 'reindeer' brought the 'barge' to a stop where it bobbed slightly. The blonde looked at the other people behind the lead two. They were all in red and their heads swivelled as they looked over the crowd. There were five of them. One had black skin like Aisha and seemed to be a woman, her tight costume swelled at her chest. Sy and Bebe sat at the back of the barge with broad smiles. Sirena brought the song to a sudden end and everyone turned at the sudden silence.

"The Visitor has arrived," Sirena's voice carried to the edges of the crowd and beyond, "the Kringles have come. Welcome them."

Sirena slid off the stage and went deep. Beatrice jumped and found the Margaret and the Old Melon not far from the stage. Their expressions were... shock. Oh, shit. What had her friend just done?

Sirena shot into the air just in front of the reindeer and did a three-sixty before she dropped straight. It was flawless but such exuberance was discouraged in the bounds of the Settlement, even the Orca Warrior might be in line for some opprobrium. Then again, after her performance moments before she might be forgiven anything. Beatrice smiled as she watched the Kringle next to Lobster hand his cap to another and perform a perfect head-first dive off that weird barge as his legs disappeared. Wait. His. Legs?

Then her face locked in absolute surprise when Beatrice and the Kringle popped up with their mouths and bodies locked together. They spun slowly as Beatrice stared. She felt pressure behind her and Alphonse slid his arm around her shoulder. The couple a few lengths away separated and Sirena rose to look around. The crowd had stopped their move to the barge when Sirena had done her acrobatics. Suddenly the Margaret pushed through the crowd with the Old Melon close behind, their expressions angry. Sirena leaned and whispered into the Kringle's ear and he nodded and jogged back to the barge. The singer's expression was firm, without the usual abashed expression when either of those two approached you in this mood, much less both.

"Theo," Alphonse said softly.

"What?" She kept one eye on the Kringle as he helped the she-Kringle with the black skin off the barge and the other on the scene that unfolded with Sirena. Beatrice noticed two, no three Sarahs at the edge of the crowd but they didn't follow their boss. The fretful expressions made clear their confusion. One was a schoolmate of her and Sirena and despite their training neither she nor the others had ever even seen a live orca.

"That man, the Kringle," he said as he and Beatrice watched, "he is... a Kringle. But. He is also... Theo."

Beatrice hooted. Yes. Theo hadn't been as broad as Alphonse, few were, but it'd been obvious he was strong, a master of speed and distance. This Kringle had the same shoulders, his costume tight and his body without Lobster's considerable extra weight. But. If there was an old Kringle, there must be young ones! But it was the face.

It was Theo's. Or, Theo's was his.

Sirena's Kringle approached with the other. She was a clumsy walker but he assisted her and came alongside Sirena.

"Margaret, Old Melon," Sirena's voice had a formal tone, "the Visitors have arrived. They are Kringles. This is Abraham Franck."