Glory gave a bit of a sigh of relief when she saw Léan. She'd been worried about him while he was gone. She wasn't leaning over the side anymore. Instead, she'd been playing Tetris on her iPod to pass the time.

"Well, you don't look like you need to be patched up," she teased. "What happened?"

Glory nodded and managed to get Viktor out of sight under a blanket. He didn't wake up, which didn't surprise her. She would wake him up a bit later.

Azilis watched the young female on the boat from just under the surface, still a bit wary. She did look a little like how he remembered Clarissa looking, though her skin was a shade paler and her hair was straight and dark. He couldn't tell the color of her eyes from the angle he was at, though. He had to admit, it was possible she was related to Clarissa... Slowly, he broke the surface.

Glory didn't hesitate in sitting down next to Léan, though she got the feeling that it wasn't quite the time or place to give him a kiss. She felt much more comfortable next to him, though.

"You're lucky my jacket is waterproof," she murmured to him as she leaned against him.

Azilis watched the two for a moment. It was obvious that they were in love with each other, and it brought back memories of him and Clarissa. He focused on the girl. Now that he could see her clearly, there was an obvious resemblance between her and his memory of Clarissa.

"Who are you?" he asked slowly. It took him a moment to remember how to speak English, since he hadn't used the language in many years.

Glory jumped at the unfamiliar voice and turned to look at him. Her heart jumped a bit when she saw him. Now that she knew what he looked like, it was obvious where she got her coloring from. She wasn't sure who she got her eyes from, since both of them had dark eyes, but her skina nd hair were obviously from him.

"I'm Gloriana," she said, trying to keep her voice steady.

Glory relaxed when Léan's hand tightened on hers a bit. She was still nervous, but she was gradually relaxing more, and she felt much better with him next to her.

"My name is Gloriana," she repeated, a bit stronger. "Clarissa is my mother."

Azilis was quiet for a moment. The girl definitely sounded similar to Clarissa, almost the same.

"How do I know you're telling the truth?" he asked. The girl raised an eyebrow, and in that moment she looked very much like Clarissa.

"Really?" Glory asked tartly. "Do you really think I would be all the way out here for absolutely no reason?" She wasn't giving herself too much time to think about her answers, because she knew that if she did, she would make a fool of herself. "I would much rather be back on my beach right now rather than sitting on water entirely too deep for my comfort."

Azilis had to admit that she had a point. And she did look very much like him... He thought about what she said. There was only one beach in the relative area that was secluded enough for the human girl and the younger merman to spend enough time together to fall in love, and he was pretty sure he knew which one it was.

"Your beach..." he said, testing his theory. "Rocky, near the reef?"

Glory blinked. He knew her beach?

"That surprises me," Azilis replied. "I would not think that a pair would want their child so close to where humans might be."

"My grandmother and I live on that beach," Glory said. "And Nana doesn't mind sharing the beach, I know that." This surprised Azilis.

"You don't live with Clarissa?" he asked. Glory shook her head.

"No, I haven't lived with her since I was ten," she replied. Before he could ask, she continued, "I was sent to live with her sister, and after I ran away a few times, I was finally allowed to live with Nana."

"That... doesn't seem right," Azilis mused. "Why would you have been taken from your mother?" Perhaps something had happened to Clarissa, and she couldn't take care of a child?

"She... I don't think she was really the same, after I was born," Glory said carefully. "She never married, turned to some bad habits... It was better for me to be in a more stable home." She couldn't believe she was defending Clarissa, but she did. "She's gotten better, lately, but by now, I don't have to live with her anymore. I'm old enough that I'm allowed to stay where I want."

"Speaking of," Azilis said. "Obviously, you are not a child any longer. How old are you?" Glory blinked, and reached into her pocket for her phone to check the date. She raised an eyebrow when she saw it.

"I completely lost track of the date," she said. "As of two hours ago, I'm eighteen."

Glory blushed slightly and grinned.

"Thanks," she said. The thought occurred to her that he might have forgotten, but she didn't mind much, as long as she was with him.

"Happy birthday, then," Azilis murmured, thinking. Gloriana's age was right, if Clarissa had been pregnant when he left. There seemed to be no more room for doubt. It seemed so surreal that he had a daughter that he hadn't known about, but it made a strange sort of sense, if she hadn't been living with Clarissa, and hadn't been near the shore at all until recently. Or rather, he assumed it was recently.

"Hey, it slipped my mind too," Glory pointed out. She cuddled into his side. "No worries."

Azilis considered the offer for a moment. He knew the area around the beach, so he knew very well that the beach was secluded and safe. What he wasn't sure about was if he would be able to see Clarissa again. He glanced at the two and decided that even if he didn't, it was a good chance to get to know his daughter a bit better. He nodded.

"I would like to go with you, if you don't mind," he said.

"I'll call her when we get closer to land," Glory said, standing up reluctantly. "I don't get reception all the way out here, we're too far from any cell towers, and my phone is nowhere near expensive enough to be satellite-capable. I'm lucky it still has any battery power left to begin with." Going over to where Viktor was asleep, she kicked one of his feet. "Hey, you, wake up."

Azilis watched warily as she went to wake the other human. He'd known about the other human from the beginning, since it was hard to miss the faint snoring, but he didn't quite trust him. He noticed that Gloriana trusted him, though, at least enough to let him pilot the boat, so he was willing to at least give him a chance. He didn't understand anything she said about her 'phone', so he decided to ignore most of it.

"I didn't kick you that hard, you pansy," Glory said. She grinned, teasing, "if we hurry, we may make it back in time for school in the morning." She turned and gestured for Azilis to come up onto the boat with them, then sat down next to Léan and snuggled into his side again.

Azilis looked at the boat warily. He didn't like boats, and never had, but Gloriana's friend had a point. It would be much easier to get to the beach if he was on the boat. After a moment of debating with himself, he pulled himself awkwardly onto the boat.

Once he was on the boat, Viktor sat back down and started to get the boat ready to move. "You guys should find something sturdy to hold onto if you aren't going to be buckled in. We don't want you to fall off, now..."

Léan gripped the side of the boat in a death grip, then leaned against Glory contently. "That should do for me..."

Glory hooked one of her legs around the closest seat and braced her feet against the side of the boat so she wouldn't slide backwards. This way, if she started to shift backwards, she would end up against the seat instead of off the back of the boat.

"I think I'm alright," she said. "I can always find a proper place to sit later if I have to." She really didn't want to move from where Léan was, not after having gone so long without cuddling with him.

Azilis held on tightly to the side of the boat as well, his knuckles turning white. He wasn't comfortable on the boat to begin with, and he had no idea how any of the others WERE comfortable, even the two humans. He would be extremely glad when he was back in the water.

Léan could see Azilis' discomfort, even from the distance. He didn't comment on it, however.

Viktor had the boat going in no time. After a minute or two of preparation, he strapped himself into his seat and sped off, heading for land. If they kept going, they would be there in time for the sun to rise, or just before it. They would make very good time.

((I'd better get to bed. I'm falling asleep.))

((I should probably do the same))

As it got later, Glory drifted off to sleep against Léan. She was used to how the boat moved by now, so she didn't notice it anymore. Granted, it wasn't the most comfortable place to sleep, but she was exhausted.

Azilis watched the two. It both surprised him, and didn't, how they were so comfortable around each other. He could tell that falling asleep together was a regular occurance for them.

"You love her, don't you?" he asked softly, so as not to wake Gloriana. "It's hard to miss."

Viktor snickered from his seat and gave Azilis a pointed look. He'd been around Léan, when he was with Selena, far too long not to know what happened to him when that particular emotion was brought up.

Sure enough--despite a brief, heated glance at Viktor for laughing--Léan flushed a brilliant shade of rosy pink and averted his eyes, staring at the ground. His tail, which seemed to have a mind of its own when he was flustered, began to flick back and forth quickly.

"...Urk." His voice appeared to be caught in his throat.