Lleu frowned, looking down for a moment. "...I believe it would be better to start with the stranger. He seems a lot less miffed than Léan at the moment..." he decided, finally.

"That doesn't surprise me..." Glory murmured. She hated that Léan was upset at her, even though it was over something she couldn't control.

"...I can talk to Léan for you," Lleu offered, gently. "You can talk to the stranger...perhaps, if he is a loner and in bad condition, you could invite him to stay in your territory."

"There's one issue with that," Glory pointed out. "Language barrier. And why would I be the one to extend such an invitation?" It didn't make any sense to her. She wasn't the one in charge, was she?

"I believe this one knows English. He has a terrible accent and it may be difficult to understand everything he is saying, but he knows simple English," Lleu assured her, gently. He then paused, and smiled.

"You are Léan's mate, are you not? And Léan, so far, has asserted his rank as alpha of this territory. That gives you authority over those who dwell here..."

"You have to believe me when I say I have no idea how any of this works," Glory said. "Maybe it would be better if I went to talk to Léan..."

"I...don't think that's a good idea. Give him just a bit longer to cool down..." Lleu cajoled, quietly. "It will be better if I talk to him, for now."

"Maybe I should have just stayed inside..."Glory murmured. She didn't feel comfortable in the slightest confronting the stranger, not without someone else who actually knew what they were doing. And if her own mate didn't want to see her...

Lleu paused, and then awkwardly patted her arm. "For now, just invite the stranger to stay in your territory for a few days...then, once Léan is calm, the two of you can decide what to do with him..."

Again, Glory hesitated. Somehow, it just seemed like a bad idea to invite the stranger to stay, and she didn't want to risk him getting violent for some reason when she couldn't really defend herself. Obviously, she didn't have much confidence in herself at the moment, and added to the fact that she was carrying two children that her mate didn't even want, and he was angry with her... Well, she was pretty close to just bursting into tears.

Lleu's expression softened just a bit more. "...You must try to understand this from the viewpoint of our people and our ways," he re-explained, hoping to make her understand. "Léan is the alpha male of this territory...and seeing as you are his mate, you are the alpha female. I am a visitor to your territory. The stranger will sense this, and will not take me as seriously as he would take you..."

Glory sighed a bit. It made sense.

"Alright," she said reluctantly.

"Just make sure to assert your authority...make yourself appear as big as possible, and try to intimidate," Lleu suggested, nodding. "I am going to find Léan. I wish you luck...the stranger should be somewhere in the area to your right..."

He turned and cruised off lazily to the left to find Léan's hiding spot.

"Easy for you to say," Glory grumbed as she turned and went towards where Lleu said the stranger would be.

The area where Lleu had indicated was very rocky, with plenty of nooks and crannies to hide in. About two minutes into her search, a tall, but narrow cave in one of the larger rocks was passed...

And a low, deep, territorial growling began to rumble out from it.

Glory immediately turned and growled back. She wasn't quite so upset anymore, rather, she was getting annoyed now. Her moods were changing quickly, most likely because of the children.

The stranger half-shot out of his hiding place, revealing that he was much older than Léan...age usually meant power, seeing as merpeople aged much more slowly than humans did. He was still growling, in a territorial sort of manner, and was straightened out to his full height and length, the very tip of his tailfin swishing back and forth rapidly--aggressively.

Glory drew herself up to her full height as well, although she was shorter than he was. She didn't show any fear, though. At the moment, she just wanted this resolved so she could go back inside and curl up for a while.

The merman kept up this aggressive, territorial stance for a while. Then, his shoulders slowly relaxed, and he fell completely still--his expression went blank, and his growling died down.

"Am I intruding upon your territory?" he asked, simply. He had a drawling sort of voice.

Glory didn't relax, not completely.

"Was your fight with my mate not enough of a clue?" she asked. Okay, so she was still in a bad mood.

"No need to get snippy with me." There was a tone of warning in his voice. "I'm attempting to be polite."

Glory took a moment to calm herself down a bit. No sense in letting her hormones get the best of her...

"Yes," she said finally. "You are intruding on our territory."

"My apologies. I wanted a safe place to hide." The stranger paused, apparently thinking he'd said too much, and then his shoulders drooped. "I used to live in a city down in the Gulf of Mexico. I have been falsely accused of murder, and chased all the way up here...so, I am trying to hide..."

His English was quite formal. Like the few other merpeople she had met, he seemed to already know she was a changed human...

"Why would we let you stay, then?" Glory asked. "Our group has a young child in the area, we don't need any trouble."

"As if I would make any trouble." The merman's voice was dull, bored. "As I said, I was falsely accused...the ones pursuing me are the deceased's brothers. They won't invade someone else's territory to search for me unless there's some solid indication that I'm there..."