Episode 185: Shore (Persy)

Persephone, or Persy if you had ever talked to her, liked to be alone. She liked to spend her days immersed with motherboards and hard drives and tiny little microchips. She liked wires and computers and forgetting that there were colors in the world, beyond greys and blues and reds.

Persy liked her organized chaos.

It had become fact in the palace: unless necessary, don’t bother Persy, unless required, don’t expect Persy, and unless you wanted her to not know who you were talking about, don’t call her Persephone.

It wasn’t an inability to be social, it was an inability to relate. Most of her siblings had kids.

She was born in a sea of babies named after plants. There was her big brother Fennel, there were her younger siblings Argan and Jasmine and Cayenne (but don’t call him that, he’s Cay) and Coriander and Rowan. There were others, like Bragi and Fenja. They didn’t have the same dad. Persy wondered if she had a different dad. She didn’t ask; that wasn’t a good question. She was white enough to be Alandrial, she was her mom enough to be her mom’s, especially with her curly hair and somehow tan skin (her hair was white, her skin tended more beige despite lack of sun).

She supposed it didn’t matter. She didn’t need a dad. Worst case, she could build one.

All of Persy’s life brought her to this one moment, when somehow everyone was too busy and necessary and required had come to fruition: Persy had a job.

Her job sounded simple, but it riddled her with knots. She was to go the Upper Dell, near the Selkie Temple, and greet some undines.

Undines tended to be a fancy term for mermaids. They were sort of mermaids, depending on the story you read. Persy liked comparing the differences. She had become enamored with them ever since she had discovered her favorite scientist, Ryukin, Pish, was from the sea.

He was one of the few quality scientists from the realm. His papers had controls and margins of error. She couldn’t understand what drove him to live in the sea, but whatever it was he was soon going to join them.

Persy supposed it would make the job more bearable: she would get to meet Mr. Ryukin. He was part of a large party, but it was his family. At least, she was told he was arriving with his family. She was also told her family wanted to hire him.

Like a good princess, or something along those lines, Persy got dressed in something that was clean and she went to meet them, with an armed guard. With the various issues that had faced their kingdom in the past few days, she was not one to turn down guards. It made the whole thing feel like a big deal, which would make Mr. Ryukin feel more welcomed and appreciated – she hoped.

She arrived at the shoreline while her mom’s dragon, Apa, circled overhead until she caught their path. It made the entire welcoming party seem creepy, to have them standing at the exact spot on the shore where the group emerged from, but it was effective in catching their attention.

The group rose from the water with wobbly legs. She suspected most had not used legs before, and so she was patient while they adjusted. She wanted to know which one was Pish, but she wasn’t sure yet. She ruled out the females, since he had been called a he before, in one of the papers he wrote.

There were nine of them. Five were male and four, three if she was trying to deduce things, were candidates for being Pish. She smiled at all of them, until her jaw ached. “Welcome to the Dells. I’m Princess Persephone.”

One of the males, with dark brown hair and blue eyes, moved to the front of the group. “How did you know to expect us?”

It was a strategic position, he was the patriarchal figure in the group she deduced. One of the others looked just like him, except with a more angled jaw and softer features that didn’t allude to wanting to destroy her if she misspoke.

The truth was, some magic had told them to expect them at this exact location. With everyone busy with the festival and other palace things, it had come down to her to go greet them.

She didn’t share her family’s secrets. Luck magic was rare in the realm and she wanted to ensure the group had as little critical information as possible, to maintain her strategic seniority in the encounter.

Persy pointed to the sky. “We had warning from the dragons.” She lowered her hand and smiled again. She was caught off guard this time, at something she knew she would someday experience. A bond, woven between her and one of the newcomers. She tried not to blush.

She had prepared herself to bond so someone on land, someone who would not be capable of bonding in return, on their own.

Here, she was faced with the possibility that she had just become married; in the sea a bond was a marriage.

She pulled at one of her curls and tried not to blush more. “We wanted to ensure you had a proper welcome.” She took a step toward the leader. “What brings you to shore?”

“We seek sanctuary in the Dells,” the leader replied.

“May we escort you to the palace? We have temporary housing accommodations until something more permanent can be established.”

The leader continued walking, more onto land. He must have accepted the offer. She looked around him, at the softer one she had a bond to.

“May we speak with the queen?” the leader asked.

“Soon. She is at the palace.”

Soon meant within a year, because her mom was busy with things like giving birth. Everyone knew not to send Persy, so she knew the issues they were working through were notable. Not too notable to prevent them from inviting guests to stay at the palace, but notable enough to warrant sending her to be the welcoming member of the family.

Someone had sent Persy, and she had bonded.

“Thank you,” the leader said.

She tried not to study the guy’s body. She didn’t know if she should ask him his name, wait until the others had left, or something else.

She handed out the towels they had brought instead. She stopped in front of the guy, his soft brown hair drying in the air, his jaw coming to an almost thin point, yet soft. She wanted to run her hand down his cheek.

Persy liked science, so it didn’t bother her that he was naked.

Persy had a bond, so it bothered her that he was naked.

She didn’t know what to feel, so she handed him the towel and walked away.

A young boy that she suspected was a sibling of the first two males, ran up beside her as the group walked away from the seashore into a space where they could stand as one. “Do you have tide pools?”

She had a job to do, and she could talk to the man about the bond once it became a concern.

If they were family, even if he weren’t Pish, she was now Mrs. Ryukin.

She felt flush at the idea.

The boy had asked her a question. About tidepools. “We have a water park, which you may find some enjoyment from using. It’s running as we speak,” she informed him. Then she raised her hands and looked to the group. Guards took her hands, but offered theirs to the newcomers.

“If you’ll all join hands with me, we’ll be at the palace in a moment.”

Thankfully, no one argued.She tried to position herself next to her mate, in hopes that she could see if he felt something too.

His hand was soft in hers. She felt her heart throbbing in her chest as she took in his pale blue eyes. He smiled a little, but focused on the group as a whole instead of just her.

Maybe he hadn’t bonded.

It didn’t matter. She knew the order of things: form a bond, convey your state to the opposite party unless you reject them, decide together what to do about it.

A few more minutes, and they could be alone.

“Welcome to the palace,” Persy said. “This is a conference room.”

The door opened and Corban, one of the guards, came in.

Corban had too many tattoos.

“How many rooms do you need?” Corban asked.

“Seven,” one of the women said.

Corban looked at her, like she was supposed to decide something.

“Do you want them here or in guest housing?”

They had set aside rooms in the main palace for the guests.

“Here, please. I believe the rooms on the fourth floor, #429 – 436, are available.”

Konrad was one of the strongest of the fairy races. He was gancanagh, which was a weapon against all undines and capable of bringing at least fifty-one percent of a population to its knees with one glance (the females, and any spouses that cared). He could kill any bonded undine, or partially undine, through his magic. She’d seen the history of his species and they were kept on an island. She had always wondered if the selkies did it to trap them or if the undines required it because if they were allowed to roam free their own lives were at risk.

Corban was a half fairy, she suspected, with shorter ears but notable fire magic. Nothing notable about him except he had earned the position through Konard’s training.

It wasn’t her place, and her own opinion against him was a reason to think she was right to not pursue a job that required her to hire people. She wasn’t even sure which of the men were Pish, though she hoped it was the one she had a bond to.

How she hoped her bond was to Pish. It had to be, because everytime she said his name she felt a smile spread across her face, unbidden by her own desire to not draw attention to herself.

She wanted his attention, though.

For a while, the group exchanged pleasantries and Persy waited. While she waited, she folded her hands on themselves and ran her fingers across her nails. Any minute they would be ready to go to their rooms. So many members of the family liked standing out, but Persy felt like her bright blonde hair and pale skin made her stand out too much. The group kept looking at her. Maybe it was her smile. Maybe it was how much she was looking at the guy, examining him.

She had taken some courses in biology, but Pish was a biologist. She could get her answer now.

“We understand that someone in your group is a scientist. We’ve been hoping to hire one,” she stated.

Then she blushed again.

“What do you need a scientist for?” the leader squared his body toward her. She tried not to shrink. She was a princess, even if she wasn’t part of the line that mattered.

Please don’t be Pish, she hoped.

“Multiple things. A school and to study populations primarily.”

“What will be done with the research?” the softer one asked.

She smiled, hopeful, and tucked a curl behind her ear. It was too short, and it fell back beside her cheek. She tried to tuck it back again, but resisted the urge to persist with the movement.

Her hand fell. She liked the way he looked, cautious and intelligent.

“Hopefully, animal diversity and numbers can be restored. Bees, especially, need help. Are you interested in the work?”

If he wasn’t the scientist, then the scientist would speak up. She hoped he was.

“Maybe,” the soft one, Pish, said.

She felt her skin glowing and she tried not to. She felt sparks, and she tried to hide them in the curves of her hands. She tried to stop smiling.

The leader stood taller. “Yes, he’ll do it.”

She cleared her mind as best she could and focused on the leader, not Pish. Pish’s family. Her family. Maybe. If he had a bond.

She was unaccustomed to such strong feelings of attachment and desire. She didn’t know biology that well, but she knew that there was something that tied them together. Perhaps it was their ability to reproduce or their interests in the sciences.

Perhaps it was something else, something she would discover in time, if he let her.

The job. She had to finish the job so she could be alone with him.

“Other opportunities for employment are available, but we have a festival going on at the moment and the queen has requested you enjoy yourselves for the next few days, to not worry about work until the end of the festival.”

“When can we speak with her?”

Corban stepped forward this time, which was a good thing because she didn’t know when her mom was going to be available again.

“Tomorrow. Do you want me to take them upstairs or will you?”

Without any thought, too fast, she agreed.

But they continued to talk, about where her mom was and what was going to happen with everyone. Most of the group didn’t talk, which was fine with her because it meant she didn’t have to keep track of so many people.

She could watch Pish. Persephone and Pish. Pish and Persephone. Persy. Pish and Persy, Persy and Pish. She liked the sound of their names together. Her brother Endymion had just married a girl named Eurydice. Their names sounded nice in the same way.

Once Corban was done talking to them, they began walking down the hall. She couldn’t help but gravitate toward Pish.

Their rooms were up one floor, but they were close. She was close. Soon, she could discover if her day was going to be one of marriage or one of loss.

A loss she hadn’t been expecting.

She walked in silence, while the group talked quietly except for the youngest child. He seemed excited and like he needed to be outside to play.

She hoped they group would see that and give him the chance to run soon, but it wasn’t her decision to make.

The air shifted. It was cool and her bond buzzed with proximity.

“What is the trouble with bees?”

She glanced to her side, where Pish was. She felt her body warm. “They’re rejecting their queens and dying.”

“Still.”

It wasn’t a question, she could feel himself sinking as he said it.

She could feel herself sinking too, because he was the expert and if he felt this way about the bees, the cornerstone of life in the realm, then it was worse than anyone had let on.

Other forms of life had already begun to struggle too, and diversity was down.

Her mom wanted them to wait until the end of the festival, but she wanted to get to work now. She wanted to know what he thought he could do.

“Still,” she echoed. “I’ve read your papers. We were going to come find you soon, and then you came. It was fortunate.”

“Mine? You read them?”

She tried to sneak a look at him, brushing her curls away from her face. Her cheeks felt hot and pink as their eyes met.

“What for?” Pish asked.

What for? Because he was brilliant and his paper were thorough. He was one of the few minds she had ever met and felt like she wanted more

“They’re excellent,” she told him. She stopped in front of a room. “This is the first room. The key is yours while you stay.”

Two of the group members took the bedroom, a male and female. One had short sandy caramel hair and the other had long sandy caramel hair.

“You are free to explore,” she explained before they disappeared into the room. “If the door is locked, it is restricted. Clothes will be delivered to your room soon, so you should wait until then.”

“We can wait,” the girl said before the two vanished into their room.

Persy turned back to Pish. His eyes were sparkly blue and he had a small smile on his face.

She had bonded. She could feel it now, not just the draw to who he was but to all of him. Her cheeks flushed pink. “As I was saying, your papers are excellent. We have copies in the library.”

“Thank you,” he replied. “Do you like rooms with books?”

Rooms with books. Rooms with books. Persy couldn’t think. She felt flush and ran her fingers across her nails. “Yeah. Yes. I like books.”

It was just them now. Somehow during her stumbling and blushing all the others had found their rooms.

His hand reached for the key and started to pull it from the door.

She took a step toward the doorknob and looked at him. “You’re brilliant, you know.”

The universe had fallen away from her, and it was just him. “I just mean…” her cheeks flooded pink. “You don’t live on land and you noticed. The bees.”

He blushed too. “I’m not brilliant.” His fingers fumbled around the key. “I… I just… noticed by accident.”

“Still. If you try, with a full lab and access to all of the realms here…”

Why was she saying that? He had already agreed to work there. She thought.

“I don’t understand why,” Pish said. “There must be someone else…”

Persy didn’t want someone else. She wanted Pish. She wanted to work on the bee issue with him.

She didn’t know what to say. She didn’t want to scare him with the bond. She moved out of the way of the door.

“Someone with luck told us to find you,” she said instead.

His hand reached for hers. “I can try, but I would rather my family’s security here didn’t depend on my success. I have no idea how long a solution would take to find.

“It doesn’t. We treat all guests this way. You could make it worse and there would be no punishment.”

His shoulders fell. “I can try then.”

Her hand was still held in his and her skin felt clammy. “Tomorrow?” she asked. “Have you been on land before?”

“I came on land to investigate the flowers. I was arrested.”

“You were? for what?”

His skin flushed. “Breaking into a garden, naked.”

They were still in the hall, and she wasn’t sure what to do. She wanted to talk to him more. She wanted to deal with the bond already. She wanted to move closer to him and experience her first kiss.

“I forgot your name,” he interjected into her rambling mind.

“Persy.”

She couldn’t deal with the bond conversation now. She liked him too much. What if he just needed a few days to bond back.

What if she needed a few days for her mom to casually notice the bonds and tell her if it isn’t reciprocated. Her mom would.

Yes. That was the method she would go with. Unless Pish brought it up first.

Or killed her.

Death wasn’t likely in the next hour or two, so she glanced at the door and then him again. “Clothes should be here soon.”

She curled her toes in her shoes. and teased him, “Then you can explore the gardens if you’d like.”

“I think I would. Start working.”

“If you would like a guide, I’m available.”

“Thank you.”

She knew she should go. She turned to go. Then turned back. “Do you…”

No, he hadn’t expressed anything in return. If he had a bond he would have told her.

“I’ll let you get settled. In your room.”

She wouldn’t be the first in the family to break their bond and have to find someone else.

If she wanted to. She hadn’t wanted to want anyone until now, and how she wanted Pish.

Maybe she always wanted Pish, but she wanted him as more than an idea.

Pish opened the door and walked inside. “What is everything for?”

She stepped into the room, and he didn’t didn’t say no. Instead he made more room for her..

Her entire being was aware of him in a new way she couldn’t explain.

“This controls the lighting,” she began. She turned the lights on using the dimming feature first so the lights wouldn’t be as bright. He had been out of the water, but he had such fair eyes and his last home was so dark. She moved to the bed, because a mattress underwater sounded like it would be soggy gross. “This is for sleeping on.”

She wondered if they just floated or if they wedged under rocks. For a half undine, she didn’t know much about the sea.

She moved away from the bed, her cheeks stinging pink at the idea of him lying in this one. Instead, she moved to the the dresser and turned the television sitting atop it on. “Television, for watching things on.”

Most of the guest rooms didn’t have televisions or computers, but her mom had set these aside just for this group to help them acclimate and give them new experiences if they wanted them. Plus, Pish could continue his research from a computer better.  He could cross reference things across the realms even, if it came to it, or the kingdoms.

She took a deep breath as she headed toward the important room.

In the sea, they definitely didn’t have modern plumbing.

In most of the realm, they didn’t have modern plumbing.

“The bathroom has running water or you can use your own.” She turned the sink on and let him run his hands through cold water, hot water, then a mix. She showed him the shower and how to change the temperature of that, then she showed him how to flush the toilet. “Here, most people shower every day or two. You should wash your hands after going to the bathroom or before working or eating. Clothes go in the drawers, if you’d like.”

Her cheeks were burning.

This was good, because she was with him and he would know how to fit in better. Not that he had to fit in, but she wouldn’t want to stand out and she wasn’t sure he would either.

He looked at her, from the bathroom doorway. “I feel like I know you from somewhere.”

She felt like he was everything, so she agreed.

She forced cool water to flood her hot cheeks, so they would turn a more pale normal color. “I don’t think we’ve met before, but maybe.”

“Have you been to the sea before?”

She took a step toward him, drawn to him. “Not the sea kingdom, but in the water near shore.”

If he felt like he knew her because of a bond, they were husband and wife.

She tried to resist the urge to take another step toward him. It wasn’t like her. She needed to follow the procedure: convey that she had a bond, determine if they wanted to be bonded or if she should break it, and…. What came after that?

“Have you ever bonded before?”

He had a soft laugh, that didn’t erupt but more bubbled over. “No. I think mine’s broken somehow.”

All the pink was gone, replaced with a cold pale feeling. “Oh.” She looked around the room for something else to focus on and took another step, but this time toward the door.

He stepped toward her. She could feel the bond drawing them together. She wanted him.

“Is there anything else I can help you with?” She needed to leave.

“Have you? Bonded? Before?”

Her skin felt almost icy with her anxiety. “Not before today, but I can take care of it. We have tea.”

Both his hands fell to, or existed notable, at his sides. The room was silent, except for the small humm of the television.

Then, he blushed.

“What is it like?”

She almost wished she could blush, or somehow hide, but she just looked at him. “It feels like I know you. But, maybe I’m wrong.”

“Well…” He looked around the room now. She didn’t move.

“How do you know you bonded and we didn’t just meet before?” he asked.

“A level of attraction,” she thought. “I don’t know. If you come with me, I can take tea and if it changes…” No she didn’t want to break it unless she had to, and he hadn’t said she had to yet.

“Or I…” She needed something that would prove the bond. The talisman! “Will you come upstairs with me?”

She stepped toward him to take his hand, and lead him through the passage. As she did, her hand grazed the front of his towel.

He was so present, so firm where he hadn’t been before.

“Yes.” He stood there, as frozen as she had been.

“It’s somewhat close,” she told him. She wanted to know, needed to know, if he had bonded back.

He trailed behind her, one hand holding his towel up.

She tried not to think about it.

“What’s upstairs?” he asked.

“My mom has a talisman that can block bonds. If it changes feelings, it’s … I should have tea.” She was too excited. She stopped in the passageway and looked at him. “I’m sorry. If you didn’t bond, I’ll have tea.”

She knew she had bonded to him. She couldn’t doubt it now.

She knew he wanted her, and if he wanted her did it matter if he had bonded?

Yes, it mattered to her. She needed to be his equal and to know their compatibility flowed both ways. She had never expected to bond to someone she already admired so much, someone who she knew she could spend her life with and be content. Happy.

She knew, aside from the issue of knowing him, the bond would ensure they were happy.

“Why?” he asked. There was a second of silence, while she was trying to think of how to respond. Then, he spoke again. “Maybe I should try it too.”

And he had a bond too, maybe.

She stepped closer to him and slid her hands around his neck. His hands reached for her waist and she felt his towel begin to slip. He tried to reach for it, but she caught his hand and wove her fingers with him. She kissed him, her first kiss despite being twice the age of many of her family when they married and began their own extensions of the family.

She brushed the thought from her mind and kissed him. He pushed her curls out of her face and looked at her for a moment, then kissed her again.

He felt good against her, and she reached behind her to undo the tie of her dress.

This morning, something decent had been for others. Now, it was convenient.

She could have just lifted it, but she wanted to feel him against her.

The dress fell with a little effort, and their skin was together. The bond was so close to satisfied, inches away. She moved against him.

He lifted her legs around him, her back angled into the wall.

After a sharp pang, he began moving. His lips were hot, his entire body alive against hers. Their bond strengthened and she could feel not only her side but his, like a tight braid woven between them.

She could never break it.

What could have been a few minutes or longer blurred in a mix passion and need and love and pheromones she knew were encompassing her their senses.

The bond pulled at her until her body sighed against his, her breath caught in a gasp.

“Your room…” she exhaled, before she changed her mind. “Do you want it?”

He let her legs fall from his hands and leaned against the wall next to her, his face turned just enough to see her. “Do you have one?”

Their lips were inches away, so she kissed him. His hand slid across her abdomen as he pulled her closer.

“I do.” She focused on the wall opposite of them, lit in the glow of their bodies. “You can live with me.”

“Permanently?”

This was it. This was the marriage question, and either by custom they were or they weren’t.

“I hope so.”

His so perfect eyes took her in and she blushed again.

He ran his hand across her cheek and kissed her. “Yes, I think I want that if you do.”

Her heart raced again and soft blue sparks danced between their bodies. “I want it.”

Their lips melded, just for the sake of it. Neither pushed for more, and at last she pulled away, in hope of privacy. “My room is close.”

He moved his body away from hers, just enough. “Okay. We can go there.”

His hand was still cool in hers, even though she knew he had fire. Water, calm, encompassed who he was.

For the first time in her life, she felt anything but calm.

“Who are you?” he asked. “A princess…”

“Not a dragon princess. I was born before the war. But a princess of the kingdom.” That could change into a salamander.

“And you like research? I need a new research partner.”

Persy had been presumptuous. Of course it would be his decision who his partner was, how many he had, if he had any.

“Could I be your partner? I’ve been studying the bees. I went to college, for other things.”

“I think so. We can try it.”

She knew he couldn’t see her glowing smile, because she was facing away, but she also couldn’t help it. She was going to be Pish Ryukin’s lab partner.

“What did you do college for?” he asked.

“Engineering. Robotics.”

“The metals, right. I’m not familiar with those.”

Persy opened the passage to her bedroom and locked it behind them. “I can show you.”

She wanted more of him, but instead went to her shelf and pulled a three inch robot down. It had flat paddled feet and red painted stripes down its sides. “This one can jump, just little jumps.” She set the robot on the floor and pressed the power button. It began jumping around, sensing walls and furniture and turning as required.

“How did you make it alive?”

She felt his hand moving toward her back and decided to move closer to him, like a hug from the side. His arm rested around her and she smiled at him, her cheeks warm and pink and her being happy.

They had so much to teach each other, so much work they could do.

“It’s a program. In a computer. I can teach you all of this.”

“If I teach you natural science too?”

Persy kissed Pish, and instead of falling away she kept kissing him. His other hand fell to her lower back and pulled her against him.

“Please,” she replied. She felt so at peace next to him, so at home. He kissed her again, and knew she was complete.

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