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Selena had been fiddling through her luggage--the things she'd simply left in her suitcase--when Glory walked in. She peeked at her, then winced at her burns. "Eeeeehhh...yikes. Here." She fished around a moment more and then held out a bottle of aloe lotion. "This should help. There's a light green bottle of aloe body wash in the shower you can use, too. It's mine."
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"Thank you so much," Glory breathed. She took the bottle and immediately began to carefully rub it into her sunburn. "This is going to hurt so much tomorrow..."
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"No problem. Was it worth it?" Selena was sharp. She was suspicious of how Glory had gotten so sunburned, and a million different ideas were running through her head. "Maybe you should take a nice cool bath."
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"That sounds like a great idea," Glory agreed. She blushed a little when Selena asked if it was worth it, but she was fairly sure that the other girl couldn't see the blush under the sunburn. As she passed the mirror on the wall, she could see wide, pale stripes going across her waist and shoulders, from where Léan was holding her. Well, if that wasn't obvious...
"Yeah, I think it was," she finally replied as she went into the bathroom. |
"Good for you." Selena's tone was neutral. It wasn't congratulatory, but it also wasn't nasty or spiteful. Neutral was better than the latter, after all. It was refreshing to see that she was losing the spite she'd held before for Glory, and for Léan.
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Glory could tell that Selena was being neutral instead of spiteful, and she was grateful. She'd already planned on not saying anything about the kissing. She knew she wouldn't want to hear about it herself, so she wouldn't inflict that on Selena, either.
Once she let the cool water rinse away all the sand on her, she smoothed some more aloe into her skin and got dressed in her lightest clothes. "Much better," she said once she was back in the bedroom. |
"Aloe works wonders, doesn't it?" Selena herself was very fair-skinned. But she didn't burn easily, and she always used tons of sunscreen. She was terrified of getting burned.
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"Aloe works miracles," Glory agreed. "It makes me kind of glad it's getting close to winter back home." She hesitated for a moment before continuing. "Speaking of... Remember when you offered to lend me that spare wheelchair? Is that offer still open?"
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"Yeah. My mom always has two or more extras in case hers breaks. You can have one of them--they're brand new and haven't been used yet," Selena confirmed, closing up her suitcase.
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"Thanks," Glory said. "I owe you." She glanced out the window at the beach. It was empty, which didn't surprise her. He said he'd be a couple hours, after all.
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"Welcome..." Selena noticed her glance out at the beach, and then took a look around. "I wonder if Curry let Viktor back in. I haven't been back here long, and he wasn't here when I got here. Where's Léan? Still out at the beach?"
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"With Viktor and Curry, I've gotten to the point I just assume 'yes' and go from there," Glory snorted. "Léan is out exploring for a bit. He said he'd be back in a couple hours." She didn't notice how her entire posture and expression got a bit softer as she talked about him.
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"Maybe you should take a look around the island while he's out. And maybe you should wear sunscreen this time," Selena added, grinning. "I've got some real powerful stuff if you want it. I'm probably going to relax for the rest of the day."
She glanced over at the tank with the shark in it. It looked flustered, for some reason, and hungry. "I think your friend is really hungry. Sharks eat a lot..." |
"I'll make another run down to the kitchen, then," Glory said. "After that, I might take a walk around the island." Getting up, she headed to the door. "I'll be right back."
It didn't take her to go to and from the kitchen, since this time she knew where it was. The people who ran the kitchen gave her an odd look when she asked for the fish, but they gave it to her. Taking it back up to the room, she dropped it into the tank for the shark. She made a mental note to make a third run to the kitchen later that night. Grabbing her wallet from her bag, she slipped it into her pocket and put on some of the sunscreen that Selena had offered. She took her time walking through the island. Since it was the last day she'd really think about shopping, she picked up a few souvineers, including some things for Nana. It was nice, being amongst other humans again for a bit, but it didn't take her long to want to head back to the beach. |
Léan's run around the island was eventful, but devoid of signs of his father--very relieving.
He had indeed located a settlement of his kind beneath the waves, far away from where humans did their scuba-diving. It was a big, friendly settlement led and governed by a young mermaid named Java. She welcomed Léan in and revealed to him that she had welcomed a merman with a dark green tail--his father--in a few days ago and offered a place to stay. He was long gone, according to her. Léan had found many beautiful stones and shells on his way around the island, and when he returned to the beach, he started on some jewelry at once. He kept the large pile of stones and shells in one of the small caves beneath the rocks. |
Once Glory got back to the beach, she settled herself on the rock that was half in the water and dangled her feet in the water. The cool water felt nice, and her feet weren't burned, so she wasn't all that worried about the burn getting worse.
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Léan didn't hear her coming, being underwater in the cave, but he heard her feet plop into the water. He gathered up the jewelry he was working on--it was almost done, since it was just a simple ring, and slid out from under the cave. He came up to the surface, shaking the water out of his hair, and set the nearly-finished ring on one of the smaller rocks. He used it as a table to keep working on it.
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Glory didn't jump when he appeared next to her, since she was used to it by now, but she was a bit surprised to see him back so soon.
"What are you working on?" she asked, curious. |
"A ring," Léan replied simply, moving so she could see it more clearly. It was made of some clear, sky blue stones and one white shell that he'd picked up earlier. "My swim around the island brought many nice stones and shells to me, so I thought I'd make a few more things to ease boredom." He paused. "I found a settlement of my kind below one of the islands. They told me my father had taken up a few nights there...but that he is long gone. I didn't find any traces of him. We should be safe."
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"Alright," Glory replied as she listened to him talk about his swim around the island. Leaning over, but being careful not to fall in, she looked at the ring. "It's beautiful."
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Léan smiled at her. "You may have it, if you'd like. I'm almost finished." He ducked below the water and resurfaced with one of the other stones. He ducked below water once he returned to the surface--he'd needed the ring--to fiddle with everything and then resurfaced again, turning the ring around in his fingers. It was finished, as long as nothing fell off of it.
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"You're going to spoil me if you keep giving me so many pretty things," Glory said as she watched him work on the ring. "First the necklace, then the bracelet, and now a ring."
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"I don't wear jewelry, and I don't sell it, either. So, you may have anything I make," Léan hummed, pleasantly. He shook it up and down, to make sure everything stayed in place, and then held the ring out to her. It sparkled in the light.
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Glory took the ring and slipped it onto the ring finger of her right hand. It fit perfectly, making her wonder slightly if he'd memorized the size of her fingers.
"How does it look?" she asked. |
Léan watched her, tail swishing back and forth contently. He was glad to see that she seemed to like it. "It looks nice on you. Does it fit well enough?" he asked in return, tilting his head. He'd taken notice of the size of her fingers, but hadn't memorized their size just yet.
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