Léan flashed a small smile at her, and then rested his head against her shoulder. "What should we do, now...? When do you think the others will be returning?" he added, curiously.

"They'll probably be gone for a few more days, at least," Glory said. "I wouldn't be surprised if at least my parents were gone for a week or so." She cuddled closer to him. "We can do whatever you like... we have the rest of today and tomorrow to ourselves before I have to go back to school."

Léan closed his eyes, and was quiet for a moment. "I'm fine with anything you want to do...there isn't much to do around here in the water, and I don't know anything about what there is to do on land..."

"There's not much around town, either," Glory replied.

"Perhaps...we should figure out what we're doing for our journey, to the Gulf?" Léan suggested. Then, he paused. "...Or, I could take you to the city I mentioned earlier...the city that the merman Lleu runs? It's an interesting place..."

"Whatever you want to do is fine with me," Glory said.

"I wouldn't mind either. I am, however, nervous about leaving him alone that long, where I cannot hear what he is doing." 'He' obviously meant Betelgeuse. Léan could hear him from here. He was currently napping, but at any time, he could struggle and end up shattering the tank and hurting himself.

"Then we have two options," Glory said. "We either stay here, or we let him go. To be honest, I doubt he'll go far if we do, because I'm the only one who knows where along the Gulf to go, and he wants that information."

"It isn't him leaving that I worry about. I don't trust him. And if we are going to be in the water at any time...he can't be near." The same strange and prevalent fear that haunted Léan's voice every time he spoke about his father was clear in his voice.

"Then we really don't have much choice but to hang around here," Glory replied, snuggling into his side.

"I suppose not..." Léan admitted wearily, closing his eyes. "...All right...we should try to plan, then. We should set a course to the Gulf from here..."

"It's pretty much a straight path," Glory said. "More or less. I just need to figure out which direction we need to go in, and how far."

Léan nodded, chewing his lip. "...We also need a way to keep my father under wraps. I don't want him having a tantrum on the way there, or causing trouble verbally...if we fight, one of us will die."

"I have no idea how to accomplish that, short of taking the shark with us or something," Glory said.

Léan chuckled. "We could take the shark with us. That's a good idea. Though, he'll be wanting to play the whole time."

"Not if he's busy exploring the new places," Glory pointed out. "That should keep him mostly occupied when he's not following us."

"That's true," Léan mused. "All right, then. We can bring him. I know what way we should be going--I simply don't know the specifics. General directions, I know..." He paused. "We still haven't named our shark."

"At this point, I doubt it matters much that we haven't named him," Glory said. "I think he'll react more to me calling him 'sweetness' or something similar to that than he would to a real name."

"Then simply name him Sweetness," Léan retorted, amused. "A deceiving name." He sighed softly, looking pleased.

"He is sweet, though," Glory protested, grinning. "Granted, he might only be sweet to me, but still."

"Pfffff...sharks are sharks, sweet or not. And they like to mouth other creatures, profusely. I'm surprised he hasn't tried that on either of us, yet, especially since he's growing so large at such a quick rate." Léan had some experience with sharks, but they had been little and hadn't liked him, in the least...

"Probably because he actually likes us," Glory pointed out. "He has no reason to mouth us, because he already knows who and what we are, for the most part."

Léan snickered, upon recalling the moment in Hawaii where the shark had come up to them with a chunk of his father's scales in his mouth. "Fine, fine. I understand that." He exhaled heavily, seeming relaxed but bored.

"You can go play with the shark, if you're bored," Glory teased.

Léan scowled. "I'm not that bored, I assure you," he replied, idly. He glanced up at the sky. "...I suppose we could go and visit Lleu's city. But we should check on my father first, to make sure he isn't up to something, or planning to be up to something while we're gone."