Brennan internally debated for few moments before sighing. "You can't tell anyone about this. Or touch them. They're delicate."
Talori nodded eagerly. "I understand!"
He let his glamour fall and heard her gasp as they shimmered into existence. That was to be expected. She had never seen anything like wings before. She watched them slowly open and close as he hovered in place, looking rather dazzled.
"They look like water!"
"Well, yeah. I am a water fairy."
"Do all fairy wings look like their element then?" Talori asked eagerly. "They are beautiful!"
Brennan blushed. No one had ever called any part of him beautiful before aside from his mother. She used to refer to him and his brother as 'my beautiful boys' but that was a very long time ago.
"…thanks. And yes. Fire fairies' wings look like flames, wind fairies' look like clouds, and earth fairies' look like leaves."
"I do not know what any of those look like."
He supposed she wouldn't. They were all above-ground things. There was a cloud drifting lazily toward the moon right now though. Clouds looked different at night than they did during the day but it was the best he had.
Brennan pointed at it. "See that? It's a cloud. It looks darker because it's nighttime but normally they're white unless it's about to rain."
Talori looked up at the cloud curiously. "I see! There is so much more to the surface than I ever could have imagined. I have seen these before the handful of times I have been to the surface but did not know what they were called. I wish I could know what flames and leaves looked like too."
"Sorry, can't help you there. Though I suppose leaves are somewhat similar to kelp. They're both green at least but leaves have a different texture and hue."
"So leaves are somewhat like kelp. What does fire look like? Can you describe it to me?"
"I don't think there is anything you've seen that I can compare it to," Brennan said apologetically. "Fire is usually orange or yellow, though it can come in different colors. It flickers and glows.
"It's very important in my world. Before electricity, it was used for both light and warmth. It's mostly used for cooking food these days. We don't eat very many things raw like you do. We put things together with other things and often warm them up."
Talori sighed. "Your food sounds so interesting. I would love to try it."
"I would bring you some if I could but if I tried to take it underwater, it wouldn't taste the same," Brennan said with a shrug.
She eyed him curiously. "You plan on visiting me again after you go home?"
Oh. That had been a careless comment, hadn't it? He didn't truly have plans to return here. He was offering because it was the sort of thing you tended to say in situations like this. Though he couldn't deny that it would be interesting to come back when he was allowed to explore more of Talori's kingdom.
He knew it wouldn't be possible unless her brother succeeded in his plan and she became the liaison between the merfolk and the witches. That was a pretty big if.
Brennan shrugged again. "I'd like to see more of your kingdom once you're able to move about more freely. I wouldn't mind talking to your brother about working together to fix some of the ocean's problems either."
Talori squealed in delight. "That would be wonderful! And you would bring me food from the surface?"
"Yes but you would have to eat it above the water to get the full effect."
"That is fine! I look forward to it. Thank you, Brennan!"
It was just food. Though he supposed she might also be excited about the prospect of having someone come visit her. He got the sense that she spent much of her time alone. She could probably use some friends.
Brennan wouldn't categorize them as such right now. They were acquaintances who were mutually benefiting from each other. But if he visited often enough, they probably could become friends.
He had friends all over the continent, though he had lost contact with most of them along the way since fae typically didn't like using human inventions such as social media. Many he knew didn't even have cell phones unless they needed them for work.
He had a cell phone but it had been a relatively recent acquisition. He didn't have one before moving to Florida because a landline had sufficed.
"No problem. It's just food," Brennan said simply.
Talori shook her head vehemently. "No it isn't! You would be going out of your way to bring me something."
He found himself unable to argue with her and the subject changed. They continued talking about various things until the sun started coming up over the horizon and she reluctantly said they needed to get back before her absence was noted.
Brennan did one last flip, not knowing when he would be able to do them again, and dove into the waves before putting on his bubble. It would be nice if his wings could help more with swimming but that wasn't what they were built for. He had been using a lot of relatively unused muscles lately to do this much swimming.
He hoped he was able to get a good nap in soon. He was exhausted.
How much longer would he be able to get away with staying here? He knew he needed to head back home soon if he didn't want to lose his job but there was still so much more he wanted to know.
Realistically speaking, he really shouldn't stay more than another day or two. As soon as his curiosity was mostly satisfied, he needed to get back to his life.
Harmony might have noticed his absence by now too. He never went more than a few days without contacting her in some way. If she wasn't able to get a hold of him, she could get worried…or she would be too absorbed in her current magic project to notice. Honestly, it could go either way with her.