Felicia and Kyle swam for what felt like hours.
Kyle's guilt was still there. His had cost Felicia her humanity.
Swimming naked as the day he was born had a novelty and joy to it that helped to ease the emotional burden.
Kyle gained some perspective in those few hours. He'd brought this on Felicia and himself. Little mitigated Kyle placing his future in Jennifer's hands when he knew she'd be angry.
Any lesson about revenge seemed wasted. Humans benefited from such lessons, not walruses.
Felicia and Kyle surfaced for air. Kyle bobbed up and down, as he looked toward a shoreline that was too far to see.
Kyle gasped when he felt Felicia touch his back with a flipper.
Emotions flooded Kyle's mind. Understanding between two; one that had made a terrible mistake and one a victim of circumstance. Kyle felt Felicia's viewpoint; he knew what it was to be Felicia. The experience was bliss.
The connection failed when Felicia let go. Kyle felt lost for several moments.
"It's all right," Felicia said. "I understand and forgive you."
Kyle blinked and turned around. Had Felicia just spoken? Walruses couldn't speak yet he'd heard Felicia's voice. Only grunts and other animal like sounds left his mouth when he tried to speak.
"Don't *try* to speak, just let it flow naturally," Felicia said.
"But walruses don't speak," Kyle said.
Kyle gasped. Speaking disproved that theory!
"Natural born ones, no. Transformed ones for a time, also no. But that connection fixed us," Felicia said. "We can understand *each other*. Other humans won't understand us unless they know us really well."
"How do you know that?" Kyle asked. "Damn it, for a moment, I knew, but now I can't remember. It's like a dream or something."
"Because this has happened to me before," Felicia said.
If Kyle had water in his mouth, he'd had done a spit take.
"What happened? How did you change back?"
Felicia sighed. "You know those seals they have at water parks and other places that do tricks?"
Kyle nodded.
"I spent six months as one. It took months of therapy before I was able to function as human again," Felicia said.
Kyle hung his head.
"What are we going to do? What are, *you* going to do? This is my fault! I don't want you to go through this again! You should go back to land and I should stay this way for doing this to you."
"Kyle, stop it now," Felicia said. "Remember I know you too. You don't want me to do that."
"Then what are we supposed to do? Can't you get changed back again?" Kyle asked. "If not where are we gonna go? I don't know anything about being a walrus!"
"I managed to change back just by luck," Felicia said. "A kid tried the curse on me and changed me into a human. Little did he know that I wasn't a natural born animal. We could go back to shore and wait for someone to take us to the zoo or maybe a circus," Felicia said. "My time as a sea lion wasn't that bad. At least I was able to entertain people."
"So, what do we do? Try to find someone and then write something with our tusks?"
"Kyle, maybe we need to accept this," Felicia said. "Sometimes, you need to accept that you've lost, learn what you can and move on."
Felicia touched Kyle with both flippers this time. Kyle initially moved back as a reflex but relaxed.
Thoughts and feelings flooded Kyle's mind. He closed his eyes and allowed Felicia's memories, will and feelings to mix with his. It was a little frightening but also exciting.
He understood.
She pondered if it was fate for her to be this sort of creature.
Kyle wanted to keep this connection but Felicia broke it.
"Please, don't take it away," Kyle said.
"Kyle, I know it's wonderful, it's gives us a feeling of never being alone but in a wonderful way and not in a way that removes any privacy," Felicia said. "But, we can lose ourselves to it."
"Okay, okay, I guess we can talk like normal. So, if we stay this way, what about all the cool stuff we'd be leaving behind?" Kyle asked.
Kyle realized that even if he'd become a fish man and stayed with Jennifer that he'd have the same problem.
"Kyle, sometimes I wonder when it's time to pull the plug. We've become so connected to technology that I'm worried."
"Why are you worried?"
"We spend so much time playing games in fantasy worlds we'll never visit or with the internet talking to people we may never meet. Yet, we often act as though talking to our next door neighbor is a chore," Felicia said. "Or we spend so much time worrying about what some guy we've never met and never will meet thinks about us."
Kyle pondered the irony of Felicia telling him about fantasy worlds and games when she was currently a talking (at least to him) walrus and that they'd both been turned into walruses.
"Yes, I know," Felicia said. "Here I am talking about games when I spent months as a sea lion doing tricks and now I'm a naked walrus swimming with another naked walrus. We may not be connected at the moment, but I have a feeling you'd find that amusing."
"Naked *and* wet," Kyle said.
"Easier tiger," Felicia said. "Let's not get ahead of ourselves. You want to get help, all right, let's find some help. But if we're going to start experimenting with these bodies, then we'd better start thinking of where we're going to live."
Kyle thought about it before making his decision.