Captivated Ch. 06

Her eyebrows shot up as she paused in her task. "You want me in the water, don't you?" she said, and although she said it softly, she saw that he had heard her because he paused with that water slapping before he drew his hand under water again. "Yea," she said scoffingly, "don't think so. I don't care if you stay there all night, I ain't going back into the water until you're gone, so you might as well leave now and not waste your time."

"You speak as they."

She froze and stared in shock as he tilted his head, clearly waiting for her response.

"Did you...did you just speak?"

"You understand what I speak," he noted.

"Yes. Because you're not barking like a seal now," she pointed out. "You're actually speaking in my native tongue."

He tilted head again but then he but slowly shook his head. "My speech not changed. I speak not as the land creatures. I cannot."

"You just did!"

"No." He shook his head. "I speak only the language of the sea."

"Language of the sea?"

"This...what you call...tongue. Sea creature tongue. It is the tongue spoken in the sea, and you understand and now speak it as well."

She was totally confused now. What she heard was English not 'mermaid'. Did she somehow begin to speak "mermaid" without even knowing it? She had to. This merman said as much and he understood her. Was speaking mermaid a natural thing for all mermaids, even hybrids?

"Why did you flee from me?"

"Huh? What?"

"I chose to come to you, and you flee. What female are you to flee when a male comes upon your beckoning?"

"Beckon—what?" She shook her head. Then she looked upset. "No. I didn't "beckon" anything or anyone. You attacked me!"

"Attack?" He frowned as he cocked his head again.

"Yes. Attack. I thought you wanted to harm me. That's why I fled."

"Attack? Harm?" He looked genuinely confused. "I came, for it is your time."

"My...time?"

"You are ready to receive me. Your scent...never have I tasted such a scent as yours. It is very beautiful. It is the maiden scent, thus, you beckoned and I have come for you."

Stunned, Charly merely stared at him with unblinking eyes. Then, when the full meaning of his words sank in, her jaw dropped. Now she got it! He hadn't careened into her by mistake. He careened into her to mate!

"Now you understand," he said. "And now you must return to the water."

"Excuse me?"

He frowned in confusion. "What is this "excuse me"?"

"It's a figure of speech."

"I do not understand."

She waved a hand. "It's not important."

"Then why did you speak it?"

"Never you mind," she said with a firm and impatient look and tone.

"But I wish to understand your tongue and...figure of speak."

"Figure of speech," she corrected, "and the only thing you need to understand is that there's not going to be any "receiving" of you and absolutely no mating between us."

"You do not wish to receive me?"

"No."

"You do not wish to mate?"

"Absolutely NOT." Then she took on a kinder disposition. "Look," she began, "we can talk if you like." There was so much she wanted to ask him, talk to him about, beginning with if there were more of him—them—out there in the vast oceans, and if they were homogenous or are there separate 'tribes' of different kinds of merfolk.

"Talk?" He frowned. "You are in heat, and talk should not be most important—"

"—It is going to be talk, or you can leave right now," she cut in firmly.

He slowly relaxed and got curious. "Does Charlene not wish to receive me?"

She blinked in surprise. "Y-You know my name?"

"You must learn not to speak when I speak." He looked cross and she looked stunned back at him. "But I will tell you even as you deserve scold, not answers."

Her eyes went limp with a wry look, but it was lost on him.

"You are similar to your birth-maid in look." he said.

"—Birth...maid?"

"The maid you are born of. Your mother."

She felt herself choke up and she quickly looked away. "How would you know?" She asked softly before she raised her gaze and looked at his unemotional face. "I was told she died giving birth to me."

"Died?" he asked, puzzled, and she shrugged slender shoulders, but he shook his head. "She did not die, Charlene. She speaks of you much. She longs to be reunited with you and she awaits your choice to return to our world, far, far below."

"My...choice?"

"Your mother has told our people of you. She has told them that you have a choice you must make," he said with a calm wise look and tone, "to remain on land or to return to your people. It is a choice neither merman nor mermaiden is given but you, for you are part land creature, part sea creature."

Charly looked quietly at him. "You know my name, but I don't know yours. What is your name?"

He paused for a moment, sensing something melancholy about her. "I am called Argur."

"Argur," she repeated softly as she looked at him. "Tell me about this world, far, far below. Tell me about my birth-maid. And tell me about this choice my mother speaks of."

* * * *

Although Charly would've never guessed, not in a million years, that that self-imposed sabbatical in her secret grotto in order to get away from the Mastersons would have resulted in an eye-opening event, it ultimately rejuvenated, strengthened, and made her wiser in ways she could have never achieved on her own.

She never knew another mercreature, so she learned all she could now she met one.

She decided not to overthink how she and Argur met. More importantly, why they had met—at least, from Argur's perspective. No. She didn't go there although she could feel he wanted to explore this possibility with her. Instead, she spent all this time, night and day, in the grottos with him, with this strangely unemotional merman who appeared unable to come out of the water the way she could.

While he remained in the water, she transformed back into her human form. Thanks to this cavern being her secret place, she'd brought a treasure chest there, had dried it out, and had placed towels and a simple toga in it for those times when she wanted to stay there a while. They now came in handy.

She never transformed in front of him, though. She'd crawl her way to hide behind a rock where there was enough water to help her transformation, very much aware what he wanted from her. The last thing she wanted to do was give him a hint she was open to that. She wasn't, even though he was strikingly handsome and would make heads turn back at Mount Desert. But she just didn't feel attracted to him.

Since she wasn't sure if he could become aroused in the same way human men did when seeing a naked female body, she believed it was her safest bet not to parade naked in front of him. She needed answers and information, not seduction!

They spoke of this other world where her mother now lived, and about the other merfolk—which counted in the mere thousands, much to her surprise. Although she refrained from talking about her twins, she spoke of her father but Argur couldn't help her there. He knew nothing about a "land creature" of the description she gave him.

But he did tell her he was a prince. His father was king and he was the only male offspring. He proudly told her that he's fathered "a great number of merchildren". That 'great number' was ten, but they were all living which was something he was proud of because it appeared to be an anomaly. Apparently, merfolk death rates were extremely high. Apparently, also, he wanted to add her womb to the list of mermaids who would bear him more merchildren.

Not. Going. To. Happen.

They talked for hours and hours, and when they were hungry, he'd sometimes leave her and return with seaweed, shrimp, fresh fish, and even lobster. He was surprisingly caring even if he had trouble showing his emotions.

When she felt comfortable enough that he wouldn't try anything with her, she chanced a dip, and when he made no move to wrap her in his long tail, she even went with him to hunt for food. As the days and nights slipped by, she began to feel a bit more comfortable with him, and she transformed into her mermaid form with him watching. He didn't seem aroused by her transformation but rather more interested in how it happened. She couldn't help but notice how her transformation captivated him as he watched in silent awe. And feeling confident that he wouldn't want to try and mate with her, she eventually let her guard down and they actually began to be friendly with each other.

She learned so incredibly much in that short period of time with him. They talked, ate, swam, talked, ate swam, till the wee hours of every morning until, finally, she succumbed to sleep and laid herself in her human form by a small fire that she had built on the sand to keep her human skin pleasantly dry.

Argur never exited the water, and she believed it was because he couldn't. He told her that mermaidens—as he called the females of their kind—possessed powers the males did not.

She believed that transforming their aquatic part into land legs was part of that exclusive arsenal of awesome female powers because Argur remained in the water and never attempted to come out or transform...but he was fascinated by the flames when she built herself a small campfire.

She didn't know how long she was with Argur, but she discovered he wasn't much for good-byes when, one late afternoon after she awakened from a nap, she found herself alone. She called out to him and searched for him, but it soon dawned on her that he was gone. She waited one more day and one more night, and when the next morning she still didn't see any sign of him, she knew he'd left.

"Am I that undesirable?" she had muttered to herself.

Well, it was high time for her to return to Mount Desert Island, anyway.

Early that morning, even before the sun rose in the horizon, she hauled her heavy mermaid's body up the big rocks. Once there, she pulled and finally pushed herself up to sit before she gave one last look back at the spot where she's spent so much time with this merman and where she learned so much.

She sighed. She felt a sense of unrequited longing. Then she shook her head and that gloom from her head, swept her large and beautiful tail fins out as if opening a spectacular fan, and gave it a good shake.

"All good things do eventually come to an end," she whispered just before she threw her arms and her shoulders forward before propelling herself off the rock and into the foaming surf to begin her journey home.

To be continued

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