Work Text:
Most of the time, Brandy was perfectly content to stay around town. The bar kept her busy enough, familiar in its physical space but ever-changing with the daily dozens of stories from sailors passing through, intermingling with the rolling rhythms of gossip and growth and goings-on and goings-away of the harbor community. Not unlike the same beach receiving the waves every day, the intricacy of offshore currents sending sand and salt from the world over to wash through the same unchanged yet every-shifting space.
But when her man had visited just this past week – August, coming on the northward currents – he had suggested they meet in a new place.
After dark, of course.
Brandy knew that, usually, locals and travelers alike would take ferries to get here. Orcas Island was offshore, its own town relying on transit by sea for any comings and goings.
And she had considered that manner of travel; it wasn’t a short journey overland from the westward bay, and a ferry would certainly have saved some time.
But her method – and her waiting companion – made a slower, more leisurely pace worth it.
The small outboard motor surged as she turned, squinting in the radiant sunset, toward the inlet of Deer Harbor. Westsound was larger, but that meant more people. The island’s shore was in sight, tall green trees swaying in the cool evening breeze.
Almost / turn – see!
Her heart skipped a beat – even 17 years into their long, patient romance, Brandy still could be taken breathless by his strange and special ‘voice’ – as she ‘heard’ him, beckoning and excited, from somewhere ahead. She pushed the engine a little harder, speeding ahead.
Orcas Island was not, as most tourists thought, named for any such whales. Instead, it was an abbreviation of some Spanish colonizer’s words. Brandy had never really cared to learn that history.
Her man had not told her what the surprise he wanted to share was, but Brandy had been around long enough to have suspicions. She doubted they would be visiting any actual orcas. Her man was part of the sea, but in every way – not mystically floating through the complex ecosystems and foodwebs untouched, but deeply part of them. Orcas did not always take kindly to outsiders, mer- or otherwise.
She was into the mouth of the harbor now, when another pulse of thought from her man surged – somehow, she knew he was much closer this time.
/ more / off – quiet -
He added the image of the outboard, so Brandy cut the power off, letting her small boat continue drifting forward, pressure of the water pushing back, slowing it to a graceful glide -
- just in time for a pair of green-silver finned arms to appear over the starboard side.
Welcome! - love/light ~ darkness, greeting
you look beautiful
There was a softness in the way he followed that up, dark eyes and bright grin both wide, an earnest bashfulness of an undercurrent in her mind. He pointed to the pair of oars laying lengthwise at the bottom of the boat.
Brandy, however, had more important things to do in the moment than consider a new means of locomotion for her craft – which, she knew from the shimmering flutter that danced through her mind, her man appreciated just fine.
They had all the time in the world, after all.
She carefully slid down the central seat, conscious of keeping the boat in balance, and leaned down, aiming to kiss his forehead.
With a quick flip of his tail and tiny splash, he surprised her, eagerly rising in the water to meet their lips together instead.
His kiss was the same wonderfulness she’d always loved, fondly remembered in the long months away, dreamed of on nights where her sleeping mind was kindest. Soft, salty, the scent of his warm breath and skin washing over her, pulses of warm-love-light / giddiness swishing through her heart and mind like the rushing surf over the sand at low tide.
One of the special treats of her man’s strange language was the way he could share so much, all at once, at just a touch. Every delicious note of love, excitement, ways he remembered her on his long adventures, painted on her mind as he kissed her back.
She laughed into the kiss, simple happiness, loving the way his smile curled against her moving lips, his own ‘laughter’ flickering in her mind.
Much to her surprise – normally, her man liked to stay in the water whenever he could – he suddenly heaved himself up, slinging his gorgeous tail upward in a rather unsettlingly-powerful arc. The boat rocked hard, and for a moment, Brandy was certain he was about to capsize it, but he was far more agile out of the water than she’d expected: a moment later, and he was seated alongside her, shiny tail luxuriously out in front of him, fluke resting on the prow.
He gestured with both hands, out to the sides like a jazz dancer, telepathically preening boastful-joking at his flamboyant trick.
“You almost flipped the boat!” she playfully chided, speaking out loud for a rare change. She couldn’t place exactly how – their languages were different, of course – but more than once, she’d had the strange feeling that somehow, she’d started to pick it up too.
He silently laughed again, and wrapped his arms around her waist to cuddle her tight. Brandy, still new to having her merman on her boat, jumped a little in surprise as she fell back against him. The boat rocked again with the sudden motion, but stayed stable enough.
Still hugging her tight, he kissed her temple, a tender ripple of love and warmth shining through her mind at the touch. At this angle, she couldn’t kiss him back, so she settled for lightly stroking over his chest and down his stomach, smiling to herself as he quivered under the touch and flicked his tailfin at the sensation.
Another few wonderful…maybe moments, maybe minutes…just lying there together, passed as the sun finally shone its last brilliant orange, dipping all the way below the western horizon, stars peeking into existence on the black sky above.
ready – it’s time / c’mon!
night / shimmer / surprise
He playfully nudged her up into a sitting position, wriggling his tail slightly to ‘sit’ next to her. Brandy knew enough of her man’s physiology to know that, inside his tail, he was all fish-boned, so sitting in the way a human might was impossible. Still, he could bend quite sharply at the waist, so with a few adjustments he was alongside her, perfectly comfortable as he picked up one of the oars.
She mirrored him with a hesitant, curious smile.
He said nothing, but tilted his chin once to a forward heading, drawing the oar through the dark water with a remarkably powerful stroke.
Brandy did the same, privately wondering – maybe she’d ask, maybe he’d tell, maybe it would stay a mystery – where or how her man learned to row a boat so deftly. She knew….vaguely, the way one might know a lover’s half-remembered dream…that his kind, when young, were like humans, but her man did not ‘say’ much about that.
They were further into the harbor after a few minutes of comfortable silent rowing, where the inlet curved and the water became shallower. Suddenly, he picked up his oar, and silently advised Brandy to do the same.
She did, letting the boat drift slowly forward…when she spotted it around where the prow cut the water.
A brief flash, almost quick enough to seem like a trick of the light: an almost-neon green, dancing over the tiny wake.
watch!
This time, her merman curled one arm around her middle to lean her in his direction, as he gently swished the oar through the water, conjuring a swirling wave of further light.
Brandy gasped, suddenly recognizing what he had wanted to show her. She knew about the glowing algae in the inlets of the Pacific northwest – enough tourists and travelers came through her harbor town for that.
But seeing it was something else.
Sensing her wonder, he swished the oar through the water again, slower, the algae glowing like a fanciful spell cast by his motion.
you try!
Brandy shifted a little on the seat and picked up her paddle again, then did the same, fluttering the flat side like a fish’s tail: sure enough, the algae flickered again, brighter this time. The boat had continued drifting inland to shallower water: they could see the small waves washing over the distant beach – and the blue-green-glow washing in wavy arcs with the movement.
Around them, as the night grew darker and the tides moved, the glowing became more and more prevalent, lighting up the black-blue waters like swirling star-dust nebulae.
Brandy watched, entranced, only looking away when she felt his scaly hand pick hers up and thread their fingers together, pulsing flowing-feelings of love and light through the clasp.
night – dark – once a season
beauty / love / ~ you ~ ~ you
like you / beautiful / special / certain - \ - forever
At that, Brandy looked up into his eyes, noticing the ways the glowing algae around them caught in his hazel irises, lit up his smooth brown cheeks with a soft bluish light. She reached up and stroked her thumb over his cheekbone.
“They’re beautiful.”
He smiled, slow and perfect, before leaning in to kiss her again.
Around them, the ocean continued to come to life in the harbor inlet – a silent symphony of light, accompanying the silent dance of love between their touching minds and hearts.