“They’ll be fine. Three Guardians, remember?” Kamila pointed at Tyris, Zagran, and Salaark who were holding a baby each. “You need this and I want to share the underwater parade thrown in honor of my badass husband by a legendary race.
“This is the stuff of legends.”
Lith was about to reply that merfolk had no concept of parades and that the beauty of their cities was alien to human standards when he felt it again. He felt his right arm become sticky and wet with Phloria’s blood as the smell of metal filled his nose.
‘She’s right. I need this and maybe this experience will help Kami to overcome her depression. That or at least to appreciate sunlight more.’ He thought.
“I’m glad you finally understand how cool I am.” He actually said.
“I’ve always known, farmhead. It’s the reason I married you.” She gave him a sweet kiss that was cut short when she pulled back with a nervous expression on her face.
“By the way, are the legends true? I mean, how are we supposed to breathe underwater?” Kamila asked.
“Yeah, with all due respect, I’m a married man and I’d like to stay that way.” Orion went pale at her words.
He remembered all too well that, in all the fairy tales he had read to his children, merfolk shared their breath with passionate kisses or other vaguely described methods that ended with the female protagonist getting pregnant.
“It requires physical contact.” Rem replied and when she noticed Orion and Kamila taking a step back from the beach, she rushed to add: “Any physical contact. Holding hands works as well.”
Lith, Solus, and Tista couldn’t hold it in anymore and laughed their asses off at the expense of their friends. Solus was about to reassure them when Lith grabbed her shoulder.
‘Don’t. Both the merfolk and the members of the expedition would question how you know such things.’
‘You are right. I’m sorry.’ She replied, doing her best to keep the smile on her face.
‘Don’t be. I understand how frustrating this must be for you.’ Lith sent her the telepathic equivalent of an embrace. ‘Just put it this way. Even if you feel left out and nobody knows who you are, every accolade I have received and am going to receive for our past actions belongs to you as well.
‘Also, now that you have your own body, you can take credit for all your achievements. We are going to share the credit for everything we do on Jiera just like we’ve done on Garlen, dear Golden Knight.’
‘Thanks.’ Solus’ hand went for her own shoulder, finding Lith’s and strength in the contact.
“Don’t worry, Orion.” Tista said with a laugh, taking the words out of Solus’ head. “The legends are greatly exaggerated. It’s regular holding hands. I’ve been there twice, remember?”
“Right.” Orion nodded, yet picked Mal as his partner, just to be safe. “Let’s go then.”
“One moment, please.” Lith had no idea how long the trip would take or what might happen during the journey so he left a Home Stone at the camp, right outside the protective arrays of the Wayfinder.
Tista shapeshifted into her Hekate form and let the others climb on her back before taking off. Lith shielded them with a mix of air magic, Light Mastery, and Spirit Magic so that she could go at full speed without killing her human passengers.
Bodya was back in his Nidhogg form, using extra mana to keep up with her despite the lack of wings.
‘Can you breathe underwater?’ Solus asked him via a mind link, the only way to communicate while moving at that speed.
‘I wish. My species is earth based so we didn’t inherit gills from Fenagar. Luckily for me, in my human form, my whole body shrinks so my need for air is no different from that of a regular human. Otherwise Tista and Lith would have the same issue.’
Between high-speed flight and Warp Steps, it took them about ten minutes to reach their destination. Tista used water magic to freeze the surface of the ocean and give everyone the opportunity to prepare for the dive.
She, Lith, Solus, and Kamila pushed the gem right under the neck of their respective armor, shapeshifting their clothes into a skin-tight silvery diving suit with tempered lenses in front of their eyes and webbed fingers and toes.
“What’s that?” Orion asked in surprise.
“My species is sensitive to cold so as soon as I discovered the issue, I made modifications to the Voidwalker armor. With these settings I can seal off the water and the inner heating systems can counter natural cold temperatures to a degree.” Lith replied.
“This way, I can swim in any of my forms even though just for a while. Only my human form doesn’t suffer from the cold and that’s because Awakened are naturally resistant to extreme temperatures.”
Orion took a mental note of everything and nodded.
The merfolk had already dived into the water, regaining their fish-like features.
He followed suit, feeling the cold sting at his body which immediately started to shiver. The merfolk helped him to get accustomed to the ocean by drawing in tropical currents while Orion tried and failed to warm himself up with chore magic.
‘Shit! Now I understand why Lith’s armor needs a heating system. The water drains the heat from the metal of my Featherwalker armor faster than the cold-resistance spells can warm it.
‘The cold gets straight to my skin so my armor is no better than normal clothes. Here goes nothing!’ Orion gritted his teeth and used fire fusion to raise his internal temperature.
“We’ll stay near the surface until you get used to breathing underwater. If you feel like you are having a panic attack, feel free to emerge.” Mal said.
Orion nodded, putting his head down and holding his breath by instinct. The merfolk breathed through their gills filtering the oxygen from the water and sharing it with their guests.
One of their bloodline abilities allowed them to make minuscule air bubbles crawl along their bodies and those of their guests, sending them straight to Orion’s nostrils.
After a few seconds, he felt the air pressure and took a deep breath. Much to his surprise it felt no different from breathing on the surface. Then he took another and swallowed a lot of water.
“Breathe normally!” Mal warned Orion after he was done coughing and spitting. “I can’t always give you so much air without suffocating myself. I’m the one doing all the job, you just need to stay still.”
“I’m sorry.” Orion was actually doing his best.
He was a battle-hardened veteran and putting his life in the hands of a stranger went against everything he had trained his whole life.
Kamila and Solus had no such problem. They were already swimming along with their respective partners and getting used to the shared breathing rhythm.
“You two are amazing.” Rem was flabbergasted. “Where did you learn how to swim like a merfolk?”
“From me.” Lith raised his hand. “You taught me and in turn, I passed it on to them when I taught them how to swim.”
