Ruby couldn’t believe what she was hearing from Nerice. “You stopped our lovemaking for what?”

  “Tanya Rankles!” Nerice started treading water. “Stop your belly aching and do as I have asked. It’s adorable, damnit.”

  Ruby dipped under water when Nerice stopped holding the pair up. “Oh no you don’t.” Ruby pyfully announced and grabbed Nerice, just to drag her blind mate back. “I am not letting you swim away from me. I will get dolphins to chase you down or something.”

  “I haven’t taught you that yet, now will you touch your ears?” Nerice huffed and pretended to pull away.

  Part of Ruby wanted to keep the little banter of fun going, but ultimately Ruby caved in and touched her ears. Where they were once round and shaped perfectly to the sides of her head, Ruby’s ears had expanded and grown little points akin to what a seahorse’s spines looked like. “Oh, wow.” Ruby pced Nerice’s hands on the side of her head. “Thicker fins or something.”

  Committing her lover’s new form to her memory, Nerice walked her fingers up and down, side to side and hummed while she learned her dymate’s new shape. “They feel so beautiful, I bet they have a little red translucent membrane that shimmers in the water.”

  “You honestly stopped our progress for my ears?” Ruby teased and pulled Nerice into a tight hug. “I could just fuck you silly right here…”

  Laughing and squirming, “Tanya…” Her voice was full of joy and feigned horror, “Oh, please don’t make me jump and quiver…the emotional-” Nerice tilted her ear, “I hear something…well a bunch of somethings.” Nerice clicked her tongue and spun in the direction where she heard her click get muffled. “That way my love, I think it’s a small fleet of ships.” She clicked a few more times, then nodded. “A very big one in the middle, with four more around it.”

  Ruby held tightly to Nerice and flipped backwards in the water, and dove deep into the Atntic’s murky depths.

  {“I have seen groups like that. I suspect that two of the four are warships, and the other two are merchant vessels. That is a bunch of cover for only two ships though.}

  Ruby finished what she was saying the moment the four galleons passed over the two mermaids, once they were clear, Ruby swam with Nerice back to the surface. “They are riding the current, aren’t they?”

  Nerice smiled and nodded, “Yes Tanya, just like we were.”

  “I have been meaning to ask, where are we? I have not been out here before.” Ruby spun in the water and looked up at the stars. “I see the north star, but that is about the only one I know, since I’ve never been a navigator.”

  Nerice waited for Ruby to turn her back while looking at the stars, then jumped on her back, and hung her arms over her dymate’s shoulders. “We are just a few miles off the coast you wanted. I knew where the human town of Coral Harbor was. I have been here a few times.” Nerice giggled, “At night some come out and py music to the water. It’s endearing.”

  “You’ve been here before?” Ruby asked with shock evident in her French accent, “Why did we do all that swimming around the seabed?”

  Nerice leaned close to one of Ruby’s star-patterned and red membraned ears. “So you could learn, silly.” Nerice giggled and kissed Ruby’s ear. “I have gone back and forth for years using my little clicking talent.”

  “That is amazing, you never learned the stars?” Ruby asked and about a minute ter heard the sound of cannons booming in the distance. “That's from the ships!” Her voice nearly squeaked at the possibility of watching a naval battle. “We have to get closer!” Ruby held onto Nerice’s hands and plunged into the water, butterfly kicking as hard as she could to gain momentum and close the distance to the ongoing battle.

  {“This is going to be great, Ner-Ner.”}

  {“What….what is going to be great Tanya?}

  Nerice responded with her mind link to the chaotic pirate and her concern growing each second that the two zoomed towards the sounds of cannon fire.

  Judging the distance to be less than a mile away, Ruby pumped her tailfin for all it was worth and by the time she’d popped out of the water and went airborne, the couple was within a few feet of the small armada firing. Cartwheeling in the air, Ruby felt Nerice let go and go in the opposite direction so they wouldn’t collide as they reentered the water. They hit the water at the same time another volley of cannons roared. Ruby pyfully spit water out of her mouth and ughed. “Now that was fun!” Using a light breaststroke, Ruby closed the distance and circled Nerice. “Look at that, isn’t it just….” Ruby’s skin tingled with the memory of how she swung lithely and aided Jaques's troop of marines during a boarding party. “Ner-Ner.” Ruby’s voice was light and excited while she watched the exchange, “I want that again…” Ruby’s words trailed off as she finally saw the full scale of the battlefield.

  “Tanya! We need to get back…please, sweetheart… let's just make love surrounded by schools of yellow tangs, feel their gentle passes as we touch each other…” Nerice begged until a canon fired and made her cover her sensitive ears and yelp in pain.

  Suddenly in complete agreement with her dymate, Ruby’s first instinct was to bolt and get as far away from the unfolding battle as she could. “No..we swim too fast and we are dead.” She wrapped Nerice around her once more and gently kicked her fin, making as little wake as possible. “You can’t see this, Nerice…” Ruby’s stomach clenched and she coughed so she could speak. “...you don’t want to either.”

  “You…sound worried. Love…yellow tangs are just fish, they won’t-” Nerice muttered off half confused.

  Opening her mind so that Nerice could see the full scale of the battle, Ruby steadily swam backwards until she heard Nerice gasp and start whimpering. “Nerice, Not now. We have to…” Ruby felt something creating an undertow below them and finally kicked as hard as she could. “Nerice! Kick…hard…go…”

  “It can’t be…” Nerice shivered in pce until she heard the plea from her dymate and matched Ruby’s frantic pace. “Who..how is there a kraken…a KRAKEN!” Nerice screamed as she felt the rush of movement beneath her and Ruby, followed by a loud crash that seemingly missed them by a foot at best. “Tanya! Hold…” Nerice tried to caution Ruby a little too te.

  A small knot formed in Ruby’s stomach when she saw the thick tentacle rise up and sm into the water where she and Nerice had just crossed and barely had the time to brace for the huge wave created by the ripple of the creature's massive attack. “Shit. Shit. Shiiiit.” Ruby heard herself and quickly scanned the approaching wall of water. Fear of the huge white-topped wall wasn’t the concern Ruby had, it was being smmed into the rocks and coral that made up the bottom of the area. “Hold on tight.” Ruby gave her lover a quick warning and dove straight into the base of the wave, and much to her delight was able to get the two through the initial strike. Tumbling head over fin, Ruby heard Nerice using her click and relinquished control to her partner.