My stubbornness and odd love for Svel's food, all reason as much for me to refuse. While time passes, we sit in the carriage, waiting for my acceptance of hunger. Svel, concerned, leans in towards me from the opposite side, hoping I give in.
"Lix, please, you need food." Svel insists.
"All I need is some rest from everything." I pout more. "I'm a picky eater now that I've tasted your food, you're at fault!"
Svel sighs and ends up leaving the carriage, but quickly comes back with a small box.
"I wanted to save these for later but…" He opens it and a scent of heaven filled the carriage. "They're some cookies, I'd hoped to eat them after the trip, so they wouldn't go to waste."
"Cookies?!" I spark in excitement. "Can I have one?"
"Of course, there are plenty for the trip." Svel smiles. "I want to give some to Al Krelin as a gift, they're his favorite."
"Did you make any more?" I ask.
"I have four whole batches, each are 20 cookies, so take as many as you'd like." He says.
"Thank you!" I smile wide.
"You will need real food after this, Lix, remember." Svel says.
"Alright, fine…" I say.
Throughout the trip we stopped by places to eat, it wasn't bad, but I still wanted Svel's cooking more than anything we had. Svel really wanted me to try new foods, so I did, only because he said so. Truly I feel like there was a connection sparking between us, I couldn't figure out what it was though. I just liked almost everything about Svel, mainly his cooking, but that's because it's amazing!
We stopped at the bay to get on our ship and started to load things up. Svel brought me with him to sit on the top over the sails. He called it the "top castle" and put his bag down against the short wall. There was a nice breeze and a beautiful view of the landscape. Just before we started taking off to sail, Svel asked me something out of the blue.
"Lix, have you ever loved someone?" Svel asks.
"Love?" I think for a moment. "Not really, I can barely remember much of my past life, and I doubt I loved anyone if you mean it in an intimate way."
"Oh." Svel looks up.
"I don't really know how it feels to fall in love at all, why ask though?" I look at him. "That was kind of random for you."
"No need to worry." Svel gives off a slight smile.
"If you say so…" I sigh.
I was surprised I didn't feel sick after sitting so high up on the ship, but after a while I rested my head on the wood. There, I sat with Svel right beside me, the silence was a little awkward. Though the calming sounds of the wind, water, and birds eased all my stress. My eyes suddenly close and I start to see Svel swimming around with a tail. It ended up being another dream, Svel was a merman this time. I couldn't move, seemed as if I was only able to watch from a distance as I floated in the water. It felt like I was only going to have dreams of Svel, regardless of what may be going on. I woke up though, again, to his handsome face, eyes closed, he fell asleep too.
The sky was dark, behind him I noticed how the stars shined brightly. If only it would have been possible to touch them, feeling their generous warmth. I was quite warm, in Svel's lap, covered by his coat. The moment was still, just the two of us, alone. My heart was beating softly, and my mind was at ease. Though I noticed Svel's eyes beginning to open, lashes fluttering, and directing his attention to me. My face felt a little warmer, and my heart skipped a beat, while Svel gave off a sweet smile. It was obvious, we were both tired, so not much of a reaction came out of us as we stayed still over each other.
"Lix," Svel's voice was soft. "I feel as though my heart was stolen by you."
My eyes and his looked into each other, I was tired, so it wasn't very clear to me, but it felt like he said something important. I smiled back to him as he did to me and let my eyes close, as my head continued to rest on Svel. I still dreamt of him, swimming, but that was all. The next morning, I woke up again, but this time, I was on Svel's side, lying next to him. It took me a hot second to be fully awake, but I shot up once I was. I couldn't clearly remember what happened the night before, but I stood up, looking around. We were still at the top of the sails, surprisingly. I then notice all the water surrounding us, recalling that we were headed somewhere. Faintly, I hear a noise from behind and I look back, Svel had woken up, stretching and yawning. He looked towards me and gave off a little smile. Instantly, I remembered what happened and I look away, feeling my hot cheeks. Then, I noticed that there was movement in the water below, so I paid closer attention, seeing tails with upper bodies of male and female human like proportions. I felt my eyes widen in amazement and hear Svel next to me.
"If you'd like, you can join them for a bit while I help prepare our morning feast." He says.
I look at him, widely smiling, "Really?!"
"Of course." He smiles to me.
In an instant, I quickly go down from the top to the rigging and safely got to the deck. Then, I ran, jumping into the water as I feel a quick coolness rush over me. My tail formed instantly, and I was greeted by the few merfolk swimming by.
"Why, hello there, fair maiden!" The joyful voice of a male says. "Have you come to visit our greet?"
"I have." I smile. "But this is a greet, are you greeting the men on the ship?"
"Yes, in fact we are most importantly greeting our lord and savior, Svelte Difoue!" A female swims in excitement. "I assume he helped you as well?"
"Well… I escaped a cave, and he saved me from staying out in the sun alone." I nervously say.
The merfolk looked at me in shock and surprised. Quick, sharp gasps, and concerned faces all towards me. I don't know what I could've said that would make them react so odd like that. Though, I see another swim around from the other side, bulked, handsome, he wondered what all the commotion was. Then followed their attention to me, now the center of the conversation.
"She was rescued by the lord, Captain Feltros…" The female states. "She must be the chosen one…"
"Wait, no, you have to be talking about someone else-" I start but stop as the merman quickly came closer to my face, inspecting it.
"What is your name, mermaid?" He asks calmly, his face showed no danger.
"Lixlore…" I say quietly.
"No given name, hm." He backs away sighing. "She may be the chosen one but not by our lord."
"Are you saying that it may have been our lord's cousin…?" The female says. "Ufret?!"
They all look at me again, with the same shocked expressions before, whispering to each other. I hear a voice calling my name and look around. It was coming from above the water, so I swam up to see Svel. He was sitting on a plank of wood with rope to bring back up the boat. I looked to the merfolk and swam back to say goodbye, but I heard a splash and looked back. It was Svel, in his merman form. Short haired merman, a little rare, but it really suited him. He slowly swam to me and gave me a quick pat on the head.
"My Lord." The captain bows along with the rest of them.
"Now, now, no need for that title at this time." Svel says. "Please, rise."
"But you are our lord, you have helped us greatly!" A female says.
"Silence, if he wishes us to, we will refrain from doing so." Captain Feltros speaks. "We are blessed by your presence, but who is this?"
They all look back at me again, the amount of attention I was getting started to make me nervous. I look away and slightly fidget with my fingers, but then I feel a hand around my shoulder. It was gentle and firm, he pulls me closer to his chest. I looked at Svel as he started taking me away back to the surface.
"This is Lixlore, but we must be going now, I will chat with you all another time." Svel says. "Farewell."
"Understandable, everyone, return to your posts." Captain Feltros says. "Keep watch and guard the ship."
I hear them all separate as we swim away. Svel helps me get up on the plank and helps himself after. His tail was shining and sparkling in the bright sun and turned back into legs. I quickly looked away as he dressed himself. I hear little giggling coming from him and look back.
"You can't be laughing, it's not funny!" I pout, flustered. "Should've warned me…"
"Quite understandable for you to react that way. You are new to this world, but you should practice." Svel says. "For merfolk, changing forms is much easier said than done."
"You can change on will?" I was surprised.
"For royal blood, it is a necessity." Svel sighs. "Not many are able to do it, but I feel that you can."
"Why is it so important though, for you?" I ask.
"As you may have noticed, I don't swim very often." Svel says. "I am a Lord of the land in most of my doing."
"Oh yeah, I guess you're right about that." I say.
"Here, close your eyes, I will unlock it for you." Svel says.
"Oh, okay." I close my eyes.
There was a slow change of weight on my lower body, and I felt something soft on my skin. I opened my eyes to see a blanket covering me. 'I guess he already had that prepared…' I thought to myself as we were pulled back up on deck. Svel helped me get up, making sure the blanket stayed on me, he held me tight, as we went slowly. We walked across the deck and gone into a room. Svel places some clothes for me on a countertop and leaves. I put the blanket somewhere else and started getting dressed. There was a mirror next to me, and I looked at it, seeing what beautiful patterns where on the dress he gave me. It had almost reminded me of waves, blue strides all over, and a few little flowers lined up near the collar. They were all handmade, I could tell by the feeling of the string, it was by Svel…
There was knocking at the door, and I hear Svel's voice. "May I come in?"
"Yes." I respond.
Svel looked at me and smiled, he seemed so proud of his work. It was sweet of him to make me a dress, it really felt like my own. From the waves of the ocean to the petals of the flowers. My body felt all warm and fuzzy, I was so happy that I smiled back without realizing. I even shed a tear of joy, the fact that someone cared enough to make me a gift like this was very new, I treasured this moment.
"Thank you." I keep smiling. "I love it so much."
"I'm glad." He keeps smiling too.