Several days had passed since the end of the mating cycle. Clia and Aaron were back at Clia's family home, where the whole family had gathered to celebrate Thea and Lyla's first fertilization. Even if no merbabies came from it, it was still a noteworthy event. And Aaron, as the official surrogate sire of their offspring, had a central part in the celebrations.
Maybe a little too central for his liking: he was dragged over to a great sponge chair (the thing looked like a big pink beanbag chair crossed with a throne) and made to sit there in front of everybody, while Thea, Lyla, and Clia favored him with a sexy belly-dance. They were writhing around Arron, rubbing against him, even whispering naughty things into his hear when they leaned in close. To Arron, it felt like he were suddenly some kind of sultan or pasha, and these three mermaids were his harem.
It should have been awesome, but it wasn't. For one thing, he didn't feel anywhere near as turned on by the dancing as he should have, were he still human. That was both comforting in its own way, and disturbing. For another, there was literally Clia's whole family in attendance, old folks and little kids alike, watching the display in complete approval. Aaron thought that some of what the mermaids were doing was downright inappropriate for mixed company, enticing though it was.
He figured that it was just another one of those cultural differences that he was just going to have to get used to. And he wondered whether it were even possible.
When the performance ended and the merfolk dispersed around the yard to mingle and eat (there appeared to be the undersea equivalent of a barbecue going on here, which was odd to Aaron since nothing was being cooked), Aaron found himself alone, drifted away from the crowd, if only for a moment. Clia and Thea were off together with a few more of their sisters, giggling about something.
And that was when Aaron noticed a mermaid that he'd never met before, someone who wasn't one of Clia's relatives, someone who hadn't even been at the party, staring at him from a short distance away. (Across the "street," Aaron thought of it, even though there really wasn't anything like a road or even a path between mer-houses. Just.… space. A barren gap between cultivated seaweed-and-coral gardens and yards.)
The mermaid swam up and said, "You're Aaron, aren't you? Clia's mate?"
"Yeah. Have we met?" He noticed that the mer-girl had a hint of a southern accent—maybe Texan?—that was definitely unusual for down here.
"I'm Anna. I'm Eric's mate."
Aaron's eyes suddenly widened with alarm. "Okay, well I need to get back to this party—"
Anna rolled her eyes. "I'm not gonna hurt you, dummy! I just… wanted to talk for a moment. One ex-human to another."
"Oh," said Aaron, calming down. He looked sheepish. "What did you want to talk about?"
"Well—I heard the business with the magic necklace and what happened to you, and I just wanted to let you know that I found—"
Aaron held up his hands and said sadly, "If you found another necklace, you'd better keep it for yourself. I already used it once, it won't work on me again."
"Oh," said Anna. "That's… I'm sorry to hear that, but it's not what I was going to say. I found some other magic, a way to get up onto land without transforming back. I just thought you might want to know, in case it still works after I use it. If you had, like, family you wanted to contact, or whatever."
"Oh," said Arron. "That's really nice of you. But, no, I don't have anyone. Still, thanks."
Anna nodded. "Okay." Then, after looking around conspiratorially and making sure that none of the other merfolk were in earshot, she asked, "Do you ever… want to be human again?"
Aaron glanced back at Clia, then faced Anna again and nodded. "Yeah, I do. I haven't given up on getting my old life back. I love Clia and everything, but… I don't want to be a fish for the rest of my life. Still—I'll only go back if I can take her with me."
"You're really in love with her."
"It took her weeks to wear me down. Months even. But now—now I can't imagine my life without her."
"It was different with me and Eric. More like love at first sight." Anna sighed and brushed some floating hair out of her eyes. "Sometimes I wonder if it's real. Or if these mer-people just have a way of, I don't know, enchanting us? I can't even think straight when Eric is around. I see him and I just—"
"Love him," said Aaron. "Nothing wrong with that. It's different for everyone."
"I know," said Anna. "Still—I'll never get used to—you know." At Aaron's questioning look, she gestured vaguely at her midsection. "Fish business."
Arron nodded. "Yeah. That's… look, just don't give up. And if you find one of those necklaces, hang onto it. After I used mine, it was a matter of hours before Clia found me and turned me back again."
Anna's eyes widened. She hadn't known that. "Why does it feel like we're suddenly plotting 'The Great Escape'?" she whispered.
"Bad analogy," said Aaron. "Wasn't Steve McQueen the only one who got away?"
"Oh yeah," grumbled Anna. "Sorry."
By then, Clia had noticed them and swam over to embrace Aaron from behind. After a bit of pleasant small-talk, Anna and Aaron exchanged their "Nice to meet yous" and "Goodbyes." Anna left, and a plan was starting to form in her mind. But first thing was first—it was time to go make contact with her family.