At the same time Eric was drifting away from the kelp-beds and inexorably towards the shore, you and Clia were basking in the after-glow.
When suddenly, Thea and Lyla push through the curtain of seaweed together and into your nesting-spot, their eyes shining and smiles bright. "Oh good!" says Thea. "We've found you!"
"And not a minute too soon," adds Lyla. "I was worried we wouldn't make it in time. I'm pooped."
"Me too," says Thea. "Always happens after spawning."
Clia, who is still reclining on the sand next to you, props herself up a little bit on her elbows. "Both of you, already?"
Thea nods, and Lyla sniffs the water and says, "Smells like you've already gone all the way too."
Clia nods and says, "We almost did, but we, uh —" she takes your hand into hers, and you give her an encouraging look as she finishes, "we decided not to fertilize yet."
"That's probably for the best," says Thea. She looks at you and says, "You really haven't gotten your bearings yet. You aren't ready for fry of our own."
"No, not yet," you say, still gazing into Clia's eyes. "But someday. Maybe someday soon."
"Well in the meanwhile, we have some news," says Lyla. "Me and Thea, we've been talking it over, and we've both decided that we want to try for a polliwog of our own after all. We want to be moms!"
Clia brightens and exclaims, "Oh, that's wonderful!" She lifts up off the sand as best she can, given her lack of energy, and she takes her sister's hands into hers. "Oh, Thea, and know that you and Lyla will both be great mothers!"
"Yeah, and at least you get to be an auntie, if we manage to conceive," says Lyla. Before you can ask her who the lucky merman is, the gorgeous green-haired and dark-skinned mermaid looks right at you and says, "Well, how 'bout it, sailor? Think you can go another round while our eggs are still good? We laid them just a couple of fathoms over that way—and I promise, we'll both make it worth your while," she adds with a flutter of her eyelashes and a seductive pout.
You're shocked. Especially after everything that Thea had said to you earlier; she still clearly believed that you weren't ready to be a father. "You want -ME- to be the father of your children?"
"We want to you to sire OUR children," Lyla corrects. "They'll be ours to raise, mine and Thea's."
"But we'd like it to be you," says Thea, "because you're, well, you're strong and you're different from all the other mermen here—" she pauses and inhales the water deeply, and her eyes close from the aroma "—and you just, I don't know, smell so sexy. Plus, Clia really loves you, so we were hoping that she'd be willing to share."
"What you to say?" asks Lyla. "You have to decide quick, the longer we wait, the less of a chance the eggs will have.
You look to Clia.