Neptune's Blessings Ch. 037-042

Chapter 37

The next morning Mathias took the time to fully tend his nest for the first time in months before heading to the shallows where he hoped to see one of the harpies. He had spent more time than usual on nest tending, so once they got to the shallowest area it didn't take long for someone to show up.

Mathias felt a warm glow when he noticed Cora's legs wading towards him through the water. He started to eagerly swim over but slowed as the happiness morphed into guilt. So when he got to her he slowly popped up out of the water to nuzzle into her belly as he let out a soft contrite, "Sorry."

Alarmed, she cupped a wing protectively around him and counted the swarming merlings before asking confusedly, "Why?"

He wasn't sure what to say, but he tried, "I've been acting..."

When he petered off Cora helpfully supplied, "Off?" At his silent nod her demeanor softened considerably. She combed the tips of her talons over the top of his head as she gently told him, "It's okay. Do you want to talk about it?"

Mathias shook his head and pushed himself up further so she could more easily reach the top of his head and he could wrap his arms around her torso. Sighing contentedly he rested his face between her pleasing little mounds as she caressed his head and sang a soothing lullaby.

Part way through the third repetition Mathias suddenly spoke up, "So do you remember talking about the girls competing to challenge me in a year?" He'd been thinking about what he could do for the harpies since the day before and he thought he might have something.

Chuckling Cora nodded and folded her wing back up as she spoke, "Yes, but we wouldn't want to keep you from your merlings that long."

Mathias shook his head against her chest before asking, "What if I asked Tito if he was interested?"

She hummed thoughtfully for a moment before asking, "Is he as good at catching things on the wing as you are?"

Smiling slightly, he couldn't stop himself from licking between her boobs before answering as she squeaked, "If anything he's better at it. Well at least the aim part. He's smaller than me, so he was able to hunt seabirds longer than I was."

Grinning, she teased a talon tip behind his ear as she said, "Well, we haven't been hired for a proper fight in years so the girls will be eager to compete over the chance." She hummed thoughtfully again as he turned his head to kiss her wrist before warning him, "The competition will take a week though."

Mathias gazed soulfully up at her as he hesitantly remarked, "I still need to talk with Tito, he might not want his first time to be after a fight."

Cora gaped at him, Mathias had given her the impression that merfolk were just as free with sex, although differently so, as harpies, and asked in confusion, "How is he still a virgin?"

With a brief wry smile Mathias shrugged a shoulder and said, "He wants to be his lover's equal, and he's not attracted to men."

"I see," Cora muttered darkly before brightly pointing out, "There are a handful of harpies that fish in the lagoon near the healthier coral."

Nodding thoughtfully he murmured, "I'll let him know."

Ruffling his hair she cheerfully reassured him, "Even if he doesn't want to spar with the winner, I'm sure the captain can come up with some sort of reward to make everyone do their best in the competition."

He relaxed at that and let out a soft, "Alright," before hooking her head down for a deep searing kiss.

Pulling away Cora asked huskily, "What are your plans for the rest of the day?"

"Hmm," Mathias said thoughtfully, "I was thinking of going up river and seeing if I could pull a deer into the water. And then depending on how that goes I might take the merlings further up to check out the swamp you and Callie told me of."

Her eyes lit up as she gushed gleefully, "Oh that sounds exciting to watch!"

Mustering up a chuckle, he gave her a wink as he teased playfully, "Maybe you should see if Callie wants to watch too."

"I should!" she exclaimed eagerly and pulled away to quickly wade back towards land.

Almost immediately she stopped to pat and greet each merling. When she resumed her journey Mathias called after her affectionately, "I'll see you in a bit!"

Waving a wing at him she called back cheerfully, "Most definitely."

He watched longingly until she took off, and then he sank back into the water to take his merlings up river.

He journeyed a bit further upstream than he had been doing, until he found a deeper meander with a grass covered slope that came right down to the edge. After making sure that there were no sharks lurking about, because if Juno had gone gravid then it was spring, and so the right time of year for sharks to be coming up river to birth their young, Mathias set his fry to hunting amongst the river weeds while he lurked near the bank.

After well over an hour, his patience was rewarded as a deer finally stopped for more than a brief drink. Tensed and at the ready, he watched the velvety muzzle tip until the head lifted up out of the water. Then he sprang towards it and grabbed the head clumsily, one hand gripping an ear and the other the back of its jaw. Sinking his claws in, he managed to drag the screaming animal into the water with him. Before he could wrap his coils around it and mercifully snap its neck, it managed to shake the hand on its jaw loose and strike him a glancing blow to the head with a front hoof as it tried to surge towards land.

As he struggled to maintain his grip, Mathias realized his mistake and adjusted tactics. Thinking back to what he'd learned while hunting seals and other mammals, he stopped trying to coil around the doe and grasped the mammal by its vulnerable throat with the same hand it had freed up by shaking him loose.

Crushing its neck with one hand, he yanked its head back with the other as he pushed himself forward to latch his teeth over the jugular near the base of the jaw of the still struggling animal. Ripping its throat open with one bite when he'd expected it to take several, he brought them to the bottom of the meander and held it until its struggles had completely ceased.

Mathias turned to where his wide eyed merlings were watching and called them over to enjoy a meal together. Babbling excitedly, they swarmed over to rub and nuzzle against their father as he ripped open the carcass. Smiling contentedly he pulled out the tougher bits to eat for himself and encouraged them to go after all of the softer, fattier bits.

Once nothing was left but broken hollow bones Mathias peeked up above the water to spot a trio of harpies on the shore. Not only had Cora brought Callie along, but Alula had tagged along as well.

He slipped back into the water, only to pop up again at the bank. Pulling a smile onto his face he propped his arms up on the grass as he greeted the trio with a simple, "Hello."

The sisters swiftly chorused out an excited, "Hi," as Alula leaned down to carefully examine his face.

Holding a slight smile on his face he blinked at her confusedly until she gestured to his forehead and asked, "Are you okay?"

"Huh?" he mumbled as he felt over his forehead. He'd nearly forgotten about the deer striking him there. Shrugging, he dropped his hand back to the grassy bank as he answered, "My head's not singing and there are no swimming lights, but it's a little tender so I suppose it might bruise."

Flashing him one of her rare smiles, Alula straightened up as she remarked, "That's good."

Mathias ducked his head briefly before he looked to the sisters who were giving him a matching pair of lusty gazes. Blushing, he shivered in anticipation before peeking at Alula who was peering dubiously into the deep, for a harpy, water. Guessing that Alula was here to watch the merlings Mathias blurted out, "I'm going down stream about three meanders!" Then he ducked back into the water and called his merlings to himself as they swam back to a much shallower meander.

Chapter 38

Finding the area and confirming that it was the right speed and depths, Mathias peeked out of the water to watch the three circle around to land. Knowing that they could've easily beat him here, a small smile tugged at his lips.

Mathias turned his eyes to the river bank, and just as he'd spotted a place to slide out, Alula beat him there and used that spot to hop into the water with a splash. He gave his head an amused shake and swam over to entrust his youngsters into the trainee healer's care.

Ignoring the amused gleam in her eyes, he clambered onto land and looked nervously back and forth between the two advancing, smirking, nearly identical harpies. He'd continued to be intimate with Cora for the past few months, although it hadn't brought him as much joy as it normally did. But Callie hadn't tried to do anything more than flirt and kiss in that time. And he'd never been with two maids at once before.

With a shrug of his shoulders he decided to dive right in and see what happened, so he scooched further onto land as Cora slipped around behind him. "So, how are we..." he started to ask before Cora turned his head so that her lips could crash into his.

Callie sidled up to him and trailed her hands and lips down his chest as he kneaded at the grass, unsure as to what he should be doing. When she got to the lightly flushed triangle leading to his scales she paused to huskily say, "When you're about to cum tap my shoulder."

"Mmhmm," he mumbled out a muffled acknowledgement as he reached up to hold Cora's head to him with one hand.

Callie's tongue flicked out to lick around the edge of his belly button that was sitting at the top of the triangle of currently extra sensitive skin. Mathias moaned softly into Cora's mouth, his other hand flying up to tangle into Callie's feathery hair as his flushed skin darkened under her ministrations. She trailed a talon tip from his belly button down to his scales, causing the rest of his tail to finally leave the water as it crashed into and wrapped around a nearby tree.

Cora's lips left his when she looked up at the shaking branches of the tree. With a soft growl Mathias buried his nose under her ear as he alternately licked and sucked on her neck. Cora closed her eyes, pressing her chest to his shoulder. Letting out a soft hum of pleasure she tilted her head to give him better access.

Callie was also briefly distracted by his tail. When she looked back to the other two, she chuckled and smirked before nipping at the skin just above his scales with her very human-like teeth. Mathias' abdominals quivered in pleasure as his hands reflexively tightened in both of the harpies' hair.

Delightedly Callie continued her teasing nips until Mathias let out one small desperate whimper. Then she turned her attention to his slowly circling, straining member. However, what she had intended as a teasing kiss on the tip ended with a startled squawk as his length surged into her mouth.

At Cora's laugh and smugly muttered, "Warned you," Callie looked up to spot Mathias staring down at her with a feral lusty look on his face. Duly impressed with his self control she stared provocatively up at him as she languorously suckled upon the shaft in her mouth.

Mathias let out a low throaty growl at that and with deliberate gentleness released both harpies' heads, before tenderly trailing one hand down Callie's wing to her hip. Once his careful kneading at said hip had her closing her eyes in pleasure, Mathias slowly slid his hand around to get a good grip and lifted her up to spin her around, eliciting another started yet muffled squawk.

Darkly chuckling Mathias stared at her twitching, dripping opening. As he was licking his lips in anticipation Cora nipped at his ear before whispering, "She does want you to manhandle her, but you should try teasing her first." Quirking an eyebrow, Mathias briefly looked over his shoulder, so Cora smirked and continued, "Start off with blowing on her clit, and then use the lightest of pressures."

With a thoughtful nod and Cora's warm presence at his back, Mathias adjusted his grip with both hands to tilt Callie to a better angle as she braced her own little hands on his hips so that she could slowly bob her head upon him.

Humming softly he took in her intoxicating scent before blowing gently upon her little bump. Her whole body shuddered and she clenched his skin briefly but otherwise didn't visibly react. Smirking now, he leaned in closer and blew more firmly on that little button. With a harder shudder she gripped him tightly as her tongue started moving in counterpoint to her increasingly paced head bobbing.

Groaning appreciatively, he traced the tip of his tongue along the ridges below her drooling cunt until she started squirming in his hands and whined desperately. Rumbling triumphantly he sucked her clit into his mouth, his tongue rolling and pressing over it as he allowed himself to get lost in her very eager upside down blowjob.

After about the third time that Callie's wings suddenly and briefly fluttered, Mathias felt that he was too close to cumming and he hadn't noticed Callie cumming at all. He was tempted to look to Cora, still tightly pressed to his back, for guidance. He chose instead to double down on Callie's pleasure. He could tell that she was enjoying herself from the way that she trembled upon him, and the dripping of her feminine juices over his face, and especially how her clit twitched in advance of her fluttering. Settling her legs against his shoulders he shifted to holding her aloft with one hand as he groped along her front until he found some pointy nipples to play with.

When her wings fluttered once more, and her breath, hot and heavy flowed over his shaft and into his slit, Mathias moaned desperately and hurriedly tapped on her shoulder before bringing his hand back up so that his thumb could replace his mouth on her clit.

Thrusting his tongue into her depths he dragged her slickness down so he could rapidly circle his thumb pad around her little pleasure nubbing as he massaged her insides with his tongue. He found it hard to focus however as she pulled back to suck on just the tip of his cock. Her tongue pressed and rubbed at it as she sucked eagerly. With only one hand bracing her up the other moved in a rapid firm circular motion up and down his cock, giving him quite a unique sensation from the oddly soft slipperiness of the soft scales on the inside of her fingers and palm.

Soon he had to cease all motion and simply hold onto her as, with a loud breathless moan, Mathias spurted into Callie's gulping mouth. Once his member started its slow retreat Callie rested breathlessly against his torso as he got back to the enjoyable task of trying to make her climax.

Callie quickly started wiggling delightfully against him only for all motion to cease a moment later, aside from her suddenly flapping wings and her pussy spasming around his tongue. Wondering if the breathless harpy was finally going to get her orgasm, Mathias increased his pace until a sudden squirt of fluids from her clit startled him into stillness.

"Goddess!" Callie suddenly cried out as she tried to pull away from his face. "Too much!" Chuckling behind them, Cora ducked down to dodge the suddenly kicking feet.

Alarmed and worried Mathias carefully set the wiggling harpy down. As her legs collapsed he pulled her against his chest and asked worriedly, "You alright?"

"Yeah," she panted out breathlessly, "that's just never happened before."

"Ah, sorry," he mumbled confusedly as he wondered what he'd done wrong, or how he could've made things better for her.

"Why for?" Callie asked dazedly as she gazed up at him, with her legs collapsed the top of her head only came up to his armpit.

"I uh, didn't manage to make you cum?" he mumbled guiltily as he glanced over his shoulder to check on Cora who was busily exploring the muscles on his back.

Cora started snorting and snickering as Callie spoke out in bewilderment, "But I came like five times?" She paused for a minute before musing out loud, "Although that last one was fucking weird, but even it felt good, although too sensitive."

Mathias looked back and forth between the mirthful and the bewildered harpy before Cora kindly stifled her snickers and told him, "Not all girls are loud when they cum. Some, like Callie, are quite silent during a good fucking."

Mathias furrowed his brows thinking it over before he slowly and thoughtfully, almost questioningly, said, "Cora and Clara also flap their wings, although far more erratically when they cum."

"I had to learn to do that," Callie admitted embarrassedly, "because everyone expects a harpy to flap their wings when they cum."

Mathias relaxed slightly at that, but before he could ask any questions Cora was distracting him by nipping sharply along his neck. Shuddering her let out a soft little sound of pleasure as he reached back to caress Cora's face. Huskily he pointed out to the eager harpy, "I do have a refractory period."

"A what?" Callie asked as Cora's mouth was too busy sucking on his ear to do so.

"A refractory period," Mathias repeated before twisting around to drag Cora to his front as he explained, "It's the time between when a man eej... um, cums, and can get erect again."

Hugging both of the harpies close Mathias buried his face into Cora's neck, who quickly resumed nipping and sucking upon his ear and neck while Callie mused aloud, "Lizard men can go twice before they need a rest, and then they need an hour. How long do mermen need?"

"Dunno," Mathias mumbled distractedly, "I've heard anything from five to twenty minutes." However, thinking about time got him thinking about his merlings and so he flopped his tail fin back into the water and lifted his head as he pointed out, "I should go check on the merlings."

"They're happy and playful," Alula breathlessly called out, "So go ahead and take care of Cora."

Mathias looked towards the blushing harpy who was peeking shyly at the trio. He had long gotten used to Callie boldly stealing glances at him and Cora together, so Alula's shy peeks garnered no more reaction than a mild blush.

After a moment's consideration he felt nothing nearby, even approaching the size of his merlings, so he let out a soft little, "Alright," before dropping his head back to Cora's neck to spread a trail of gentle little kisses there.

The sisters took that as permission to rile him back up, and so while Cora renewed her assault on his neck, Callie twisted around in his arm, still unable to support herself but shamelessly willing to use his support to run her talons over his ribs while sucking his flat nipple into her mouth.

Mathias gasped and shivered at that, no one had ever paid attention to his nipples before and he found it an oddly pleasant sensation. He wormed his arm under Callie's wings so he could more easily fondle her front, as his lips sought out Cora's in a deep searching kiss. The three of them stayed entwined like that for a bit, with Cora's front wiggling against one half of his torso while Callie teased the other half, and Mathias felt over both sets of perky bosoms.

Cora kept his lips firmly captured with her own for a while, until Callie regained enough control of her legs to push herself up and bite his neck right under the back corner of his jaw. With a shuddering groan Mathias switched to kissing Callie while Cora went back to nipping and sucking on his neck. They continued switching back and forth like that for a while, until Mathias' tail crashing into the tree again let the frisky harpies know that they'd fully succeeded.

After the pair exchanged excited grins, Callie wiggled free to slip around behind Mathias. Once there was only one harpy within his grasp, Mathias yanked her into his lap to grind her wet nethers against his belly and groin. Cora clutched at his shoulders as they moaned out their pleasure together.

Feeling Callie press her chest to his back Mathias shivered as he leaned back into her. Finally he gave in and pressed Cora properly into his probing cock. Mathias let out a soft sigh of pleasure as his cock shot into her depths. Then he simply held Cora still upon him until Callie whispered into his ear, "You know how she loves it." Letting out a soft hum he rubbed his cheek briefly against Callie before grabbing Cora's hips tight enough that his claw tips were digging into her skin and setting up a rapid, bruising pace.

Once Cora took over bouncing on his shaft, and with Callie playing with his neck and shoulders Mathias moved his hands to roughly fondle Cora's bouncing tits. Cora, for her part, encouraged this by arching her back with each bounce, thrusting her tits against his hands each time,

Mathias watched Cora's face entranced as Callie's attentions allowed him to stay more fully in the moment than he'd managed to be in a while. This was such a different experience that he momentarily forgot how rough Cora liked it and reached up to gently caress her cheek. Cora did lean into it briefly, before stretching her neck up in a not too subtle reminder as to what she really wanted that hand doing.

A small smirk tugged briefly at his lips as he allowed his hand to fall upon her neck, letting the motion of her thrusting aid in his teasing caress before he tightened his hand, carefully feeling the beat of her pulse and the reduced whooshing of air through her neck.

"You can squeeze tighter than that," Callie murmured teasingly as Cora let out a needy moan of pleasure. Mathias let out an acknowledging grunt as Callie sucked on his ear. He knew he could squeeze tighter, he knew she would even like it if he did, but he was unwilling to cut off her air flow anymore than this, and Cora seemed to take a certain perverse pleasure in knowing that he was going as far as he was willing to go.

Mathias studiously watched the bouncing Harpy's face until her wings started flapping erratically as she let out her loud squeals of pleasure. Then he shifted his hands to grab and hold her close so he could pay full attention to the extremely pleasant way her pussy spasmed and pulsed upon his member.

Once she had collapsed into a panting puddle within his arms, he started shifting his hips to thrust shallowly into her and turned his head to capture the teasing lips from his neck in a fierce kiss.

As she recovered Cora pushed herself upright, watching the other two kiss as she worked with Mathias' movements to try and get the merman off again. Moaning in pleasure, one of Mathias' hands flew up to tangle into Callie's hair as the other clutched at Cora.

Being so soon after cumming once, it took longer for him to cum the second time. His penis was starting to ache by the time it finally happened, but after what seemed like forever in perpetual slightly painful bliss, Mathias held the other two tightly to him as he came with a groaning moan. Then he let go and relaxed with a sigh as Callie muttered, "I'd love to ride your face while Cora is riding your dick."

Mathias pushed out a soft chuckle and watched Cora make one half hearted effort to pull off of him as he breathlessly responded, "Maybe... next time?"

Perking up Callie asked brightly, "There'll be a next time?"

He hummed a soft agreement before hesitantly interjecting, "Just not, every time?"

"Yeah sure," Callie said agreeably, "You'll want some alone time with Cora."

"And you." Mathias told her firmly as he reached up once more to caress her cheek.

Cora gave Callie a smug, "told you so" look. To which Callie stuck her tongue out at her sister before pressing her face into his hand.

Mathias dropped his tail back into the water and closed his eyes, letting their playful banter flow over him for a while until he felt Cora successfully climb off of him. After checking to make sure his slit had closed, he pulled a smile onto his face for the harpies and gave them a playful wink before slipping back into the water.

Chapter 39

That night Mathias went to sleep with his head up on the edge of his nest so that Tito would know that he wanted to talk with him. Otherwise Tito was unlikely to wake him when he came by.

Mathias startled awake at the soft touch to his temple. He blinked in sleepy confusion up at his brother until Tito chuckled and said, "Hey Matty, what's up?"

Yawning, he rubbed his eyes with the heel of his hand before shifting so he could lean against Tito's tail. "Sorry I've been so out of it," he mumbled as he snuggled up to his brother.

"It's understandable," Tito softly reassured him as he companionably rested a hand upon his shoulder.

Mathias gave a slight nod before he perked up and proudly said, "I caught a deer today!"

Intrigued, Tito inquired, "Oh yeah? How'd that go?"

A slight smile made its way onto his face as Mathias told his brother about his success with feeding himself.

Grinning, Tito ruffled Mathias' hair as he praised him, "Awesome!"

Mathias felt content for all of a moment before he remembered the main thing that he wanted to talk with Tito about. Looking down he started fiddling with his own claws as he anxiously asked, "What do you think of the harpies?"

Raising his eyebrows in surprise, Tito took a couple of minutes to think it over before he slowly responded, "Well, I've only met them a couple of times... Between that and what you've told me? They seem to be friendly, rambunctious, and all around good people." Then he fell silent and waited for Mathias to speak his mind.

"Well..." Mathias started, and then stopped to take a deep breath before trying again, "There are some of them that go fishing in the lagoon near the coral if you wanted to get to know them better." Tito nodded when Mathias peeked up at him but otherwise remained silent, knowing that that could not be what Mathias was so nervous to speak about.

After another moment Mathias spoke up in a rush, "The harpies like to challenge men to spar and then fuck in the hope of conceiving and I told them I'd find out if you're interested." Then he sucked his lower lip into his mouth as he waited for his brother's reaction.

A completely nonplussed, "Huh" popped out of Tito's mouth before he lapsed into stunned silence. After an uncomfortably long time Tito finally said to his fidgeting brother, "I'll think about it." With a thoughtful frown on his face he looked towards Mathias and elaborated, "I'll go get to know the harpies that fish and think about it."

Mathias quickly nodded and so Tito, in an attempt to ease his anxiety, wiggled down so that he was lounging on the edge of the nest and asked more questions about his day, and the merlings, and what he'd gotten up to with Darius which led to Mathias asking, "How is Darius doing?"

Tito shrugged one shoulder as he answered, "He's a bit like a lost pup, but I think he'll be alright."

Mathias nodded thoughtfully before hesitantly asking, "Has he found anyone to hang out with?"

Tito blinked at the unfamiliar phrase as he thought it over. After a moment he smirked and let Mathias know, "One of our older cousins made the mistake of mentioning how bored he was now that his youngest had started schooling."

Mathias pulled a small smile onto his face and let a trace of amusement color his voice as he mused, "I guess he isn't so bored anymore?"

Chuckling Tito shook his head and then changed the subject to something inconsequential, at least until Mathias started yawning once more. Ruffling his bigger brother's hair he bade him good night and left without giving Mathias a chance to say another word.

As Mathias drifted back to sleep he felt a little less like he was taking advantage of his brother and friends, and a bit more like he could maybe take care of himself, and so maybe next time he saw them it'd be just because they wanted to see him.

~~~~~

The next morning Mathias hesitated to tend his nest. He peered at it with a thoughtful frown before looking about. Weathering storms in this nest was not easy. Add in that his merlings were getting bigger and soon it might not be feasible for him to properly buffer them all from the roiling storm swept waves. He peered out into the deeper waters as he thought out the problem. If he were to move them too deep then they'd be more vulnerable to predation, so maybe somewhere in the middle.

But, while Chloe had not directly placed them here, this is where she expected them to be and so she might not react well if he moved the nest... Even if he were to stay in isolation.

Finally he decided that placing himself at risk was better than placing his merlings at risk, which is what he'd be doing if they stayed too much longer.

Starting towards the deeper waters Mathias whistled them to follow. As they flowed away from their own little hunts to follow after him Mathias had another realization, most mermen would've already transitioned to spoken directions, but the whistles and chirps were such a useful shorthand that he did not see himself ever ceasing to use them entirely.

Thinking it over he murmured absently, "I should really be talking to you guys more though." He nodded to himself, having decided to start doing so immediately he calmly explained to his merlings what was going on,"Our nest is not in a very good place so today we're going to be looking for a new nest. It might take a while though so you guys should hunt as we travel."

Mathias let out a little chirp to reinforce what he'd just said which soothed the confused babbling that had arisen around him. Then to further reinforce it he struck and lifted a stray frogfish that was in his path. As he bemusedly examined the colorful lumpy fish to make sure that it wasn't sick to be so bright in such drab surroundings, his fry crowded close to beg for a bite.

Once he had decided it was safe he tore off a small mouthful for each fry before popping the rest into his mouth and resuming his journey. As they traveled he sampled the seaweeds, and examined everything for storm damages, narrating every action and explaining what every item was as they went. In a way he was simply resuming his habit from before he fell into his funk, if not actively expanding upon it.

Eventually he found a zone with minimal storm damage. He looked nervously towards how close the dropoff with the healthy coral growth was. While at first he had found the dead coral to be quite desolate, he had eventually come to realize, which the day's exploration had only reinforced for him, that it was an excellent place for dispersed populations of small fish in addition to the hoards of small crabs and seaweed that seemed to be everywhere. It still wasn't a very robust environment, although maybe he could help it along as it was surely the merfolks' fault, but it was safer from larger predators than the healthier coral that he could see not too far off.

Mathias gave himself a small shake and pulled a smile onto his face as he explained to his youngsters what he was about to do. They didn't seem to pay very close attention, but that didn't matter overly much. With a small thoughtful hum he looked over the distracted merlings before he settled on the serious task of finding them a new nest. It took a while, since he was going slowly to allow the merlings to hunt and enjoy their exploration, but eventually he found an abandoned nest that was a decent distance away from the dropoff, and other healthier coral, and seemed sufficiently sheltered from storm tossed waves, It even had a more than abundant garden growing within it. He had almost overlooked it entirely, so dense was the vegetation, until Curious had completely disappeared into it. After he hurriedly yanked hir back out, he carefully looked it over. It would not need much repairing and there didn't seem to be anything nasty lurking amongst the weeds, but it was already getting late, and he wanted to tell Tito about the move before he completed it.

After finding a few landmarks that might help Tito find the place in the dark he harvested some of the abundant weeds to plant in their garden for the night and led his merlings back home.

~~~~~

Once again Mathias slept propped up so that Tito would know he wanted to talk and once again he was awoken by a soft touch to his temple.

As Mathias blinked the sleep out of his eyes Tito grinned and teased him, "Do you enjoy seeing my face that much?"

Pulling a smile onto his face Mathias couldn't help but admit, "Yours is the friendliest face in this ocean." Realizing that he'd gotten far too honest for his own comfort he turned his eyes to his sleeping merlings as Tito hummed absently.

Eventually he relaxed against his brother's tail and let out a small confused sigh as Tito soothingly pet the side of his head. After a few more minutes Mathias said, "I'll be moving nests tomorrow."

Smiling once more, Tito excitedly asked, "Where to?"

Mathias gestured in the direction of the nest he'd found and explained, "It's that way, down in a dip in the ground. There's a gray coral formation between it and the dropoff that is shaped like a hand with its thumb pointing towards the nest."

Tito hummed thoughtfully before responding, "Well it won't be as easy to find as that," he gestured to the enormous boulder that Mathias used to meet the harpies on before continuing, "But I think I can manage it."

Nodding, Mathias' brow furrowed as he gazed towards the boulder. After a moment Tito tilted his head and encouragingly asked, "What's on your mind?"

Letting out a deep sigh Mathias hoarsely whispered, "What'll Chloe do? She doesn't often seek me out, instead she waits here for me..."

Frowning Tito thought about it before reluctantly offering, "I suppose... you could always stop by here at the end of the day before heading to bed."

"It's not ideal," Mathias murmured as he hunched his shoulders defensively and leaned into his brother.

"It's not," Tito agreed and then thought for a few minutes before pointing out, "You could always wait and see if she still has a connection to them and therefore can follow you to the new nest."

Immediately Mathias shook his head and replied, "She hasn't harmed them, so they won't have rejected her."

Tito gazed skeptically at Mathias before he sarcastically spat out, "She's beaten and raped their father repeatedly. Traumatizing their favorite person and terrorizing them in the process. But yeah, sure, she hasn't harmed them."

Mathias flinched and drew in a ragged breath as he sorrowfully said, "They were too used to it even by the time they hatched to reject her over that."

Tito huffed and scowled off into the distance until a sleepy Glutton lifted hir uncle's hand to look for a meal. His expression swiftly softened as he guided the young merling to where he'd left the eel he'd brought them that night. The two adults watched as the other youngsters slowly awoke and joined their noticeably larger sibling in hir late night snack.

With a sigh Tito squeezed Mathias' shoulder and gave him a soft, "Sorry." Mathias nodded an acknowledgement as he silently stewed in his own misery. Sighing again Tito said something seemingly unrelated, "Juno is quite brave."

Startled, Mathias glanced up at him and let out a confused, "Huh?"

Tito waved his hand vaguely about as he said, "Think about it, if she accidentally kills you, or pushes the merlings too far and you escape, or even if she simply decides you're too much trouble, who do you think her next target will be?"

Blanching Mathias let out an anguished cry of, "But, but, why? Why us?"

Tito grimaced and rubbed soothing circles on his brother's back as he explained, "Those in our age group that did not follow her followed us. And unlike her, we never sought it."

Trembling Mathias stammered out, "Th-then you're in the most danger."

Tito firmly shook his head before soothingly reminding him, "Aside from the fact that most believe you were the brains behind most of my schemes... She has repeatedly shown great disdain for my small stature, and as everyone knows I have no interest in raising merlings. So she would assume that I would abandon the eggs at the first opportunity."

Mathias sucked his lower lip into his mouth and gazed at the merlings who were curling back up against his side to go to sleep. He could no longer imagine a world without them but he couldn't help but fretfully ask, "Do you think I should have..."

Tito did not make his brother finish the question before he was once again firmly shaking his head and telling him affectionately, "It was your decision, you should own it and be proud of it."

He nodded slowly before looking wide-eyed up at his brother and asking worriedly, "What about others, what do they think?"

Without any hesitation Tito said, "It doesn't matter what they think." But when Mathias' reaction was to merely pout and keep staring at him, Tito sighed, his shoulders slumping as he admitted, "No one questions whether or not you should have abandoned them, instead there are several people who insist that since you did not then deep down you must want this and so Chloe is doing nothing wrong."

Mathias stared at him in aghast incredulity, unable to articulate how very wrong that whole thought process was.

After a moment Tito drew in a ragged breath and leaned down to hug Mathias tightly. As he did so he whispered fiercely to his brother, "When you get an opportunity to flee, you take it, don't look back just get yourself and your merlings somewhere safe. Darius and I can help Linus move his eggs if we have to, we'll be fine."

With a strangled sob Mathias clung to his brother for a while. Finally he let go and timidly asked, "Can you stay until I fall asleep?"

Tito flashed him a smile and brushed the hair out of Mathias' face as he said with mostly genuine cheer, "Of course."

Forcing a return smile upon his face Mathias wiggled down into a comfortable position and drifted off to the soothing sound of his brother's humming.

Chapter 40

A few days later Mathias was nursing some freshly broken ribs. Chloe had been at the old nest when he'd stopped by the night before. She had not seemed to notice that it was abandoned, but he had not been able to hide his revulsion this time when she finished with him.

He gave his ribs one last exploratory prod as he tried to decide how far he could take his merlings. He could easily make it to the dropoff from their new nest, but he would not be able to move as swiftly, and that was where they were most likely to encounter danger. Whereas everything else seemed too far away.

He sighed and curled his left arm protectively over his broken ribs. He had probably pushed himself too hard returning the night before, but he couldn't stand staying there a second longer than he had to.

He eyed his nest critically for a moment before looking at his expectantly waiting merlings. They weren't eating as much at night as they used to, and he'd been preventing them from hunting in the immediate area. He could safely neglect the nest for a day or two, and there should be enough prey in the area to keep them satisfied for at least one morning.

As he made his decision he hoped he would not later need that buffer even more than he currently did. He gave his merlings a fragile smile and rasped softly out, "We'll be staying here for the morning at least, so go ahead and hunt." Then he gave them a little chirp to get them moving.

The group cocked their heads at him almost in unison and then swam quietly out of the nest to go hunting. With a soft sigh Mathias followed after.

~~~~~

Mathias was once again amazed at the harpies' eyesight as they dropped some large chunks of pork for them around midmorning. He hadn't even seen a shadow through the water and so his only sure clue that they'd been here was the sinking meat.

Thanks to the extra meat Mathias and his merlings stayed in the same area until Darius showed up around midafternoon.

"Finally found you guys!" Darius called out happily as he ruffled his nearest nibbling's short hair. Then he got distracted with greeting and occasionally praising the merlings before he could reach Mathias' side.

Darius glanced at where Mathias was pressing his arm into his side with a frown and gently asked, "Do you need to take a nap?"

A smile briefly tried to tug at his lips as Mathias shook his head and said, "No, but can you go to the drop off with us?" Darius was becoming about as quick at detecting and dealing with danger as Mathias was, so if he tagged along it should be relatively safe.

Darius puffed up with pride as he brightly responded, "Sure thing! But first, lemme see your new nest?"

Mathias pulled out an appropriate chuckle and turned to show off his new home. As Darius looked over the sculpted coral Mathias helpfully pointed out the repairs he'd made and explained how he'd done it.

Once Darius' curiosity was sated they called over the merlings and headed to the dropoff. After Darius cleared out a couple of small sharks and a large moray, which he happily shared with his brother and niblings, the brothers then settled in to keep an eye on the youngsters as they hunted and played. Well, mostly played for a few short hours.

Darius cast a worried glance at his obviously worn out brother and hesitantly asked, "Are you sure you don't need a nap?"

Mathias stubbornly shook his head as he answered, "I'll be fine."

Darius nodded slowly, clearly not entirely believing him, but he let it go and filled Mathias in on the latest gossip.

It didn't take him long to notice how unusually distracted Mathias was though, and so with a shoulder nudge Darius grumpily asked, "Okay, what's wrong? And don't you dare tell me, 'nothing'." Then he crossed his arms and turned a scowl onto the other merman as if he fully expected him to try that anyway.

Mathias rolled his eyes and grumbled, "Why didn't you demand answers when I was being all distracted before."

Darius narrowed his eyes at his brother before flicking him lightly on the forehead. Once Mathias had turned his indignant eyes upon him Darius bluntly said, "Before, you were apathetic and withdrawn. There was no reaching you!" He sighed and gentled his voice to say, "All I could do was be there and help with your offspring." He watched Mathias for a moment but when he said nothing Darius grumpily prodded him with, "Now however, something is eating you from the inside. So spit out whatever is worrying you and maybe I can help."

Mathias' only response was to sigh and look over his merlings with a furrowed brow. After waiting for a few minutes Darius testily snapped, "I'm not as stupid as I act!"

The briefest flicker of a smile graced Mathias' face as he dryly responded to that, "No, of course you're not, it'd be pretty hard to be that stupid."

"Flipping right it would be." Darius snorted out with a certain perverse pride before he fell silent once more and tried to be patient. This wasn't one of Darius' strong suits.

Just as Darius looked like he might start gnawing on Mathias if he continued his silence, Mathias gestured over himself and out at their surroundings as he said in a hoarse agonised whisper, "This isn't normal."

Darius relaxed a fraction as he grumbled in harsh agreement, "It isn't healthy either."

Mathias sighed and stared broodingly at his merlings as he took a moment to gather himself before he asked, "But how do I teach them what is normal and healthy?"

Darius leaned companionably into Mathias as he hummed thoughtfully, until suddenly he straightened back up and said brightly, "Oh! You could tell them stories about mom and dad. Especially ones where mom gets angry at dad."

Mathias gave his brother a baffled look and slowly said, "But, mom never got mad at dad."

Snickering Darius rolled his eyes and said, "Okay, I'll tell them stories about mom and dad."

Pulling another smile upon his face Mathias nodded his agreement.

Darius shook his head with a chuckle and murmured as if it was the funniest thing he'd ever heard, "Mom never got mad at dad." Then he flashed his bemused brother a smile and returned to telling him about everything that had happened since his last visit.

~~~~~

They were a little late getting back, but Darius was determined to tell his story before he left. So Mathias quickly got himself and his merlings settled down into their nest so that he could begin.

Mathias had always been distracted with talking with Linus while Darius told stories before, and Darius had spent more time than usual catching up with him last time he'd come and so had not told any stories. He wanted to find out how Darius viewed these events from their childhood though, so he thoughtfully gave him his full attention.

Darius sat on the rim of the nest to look his audience over before he began, "So, I told you about the time we snuck our younger siblings out to play when they were really too young for that. Now, I'm going to tell you about a time when grandma got really angry with grandpa instead of your daddy and uncles."

Mathias startled slightly as his merlings giggled at the exaggerated faces their uncle made while talking. From his memory of that event his mother had been rather calm when she'd found them, and had explained how dangerous and thoughtless what they'd done was without showing any signs of anger and it had been their father's disappointment that had really stung... but Darius had been the first among them to show any signs of remorse and guilt so maybe Darius had been the only one to see those signs.

Darius' goofy grin morphed into a grim and somber mask as he got into his tale, "It was a particularly dark night, and no one could sleep because your grandpa had not returned yet. He had gone hunting alone because the brother he usually hunted with was grieving and not feeling up to it. But even hunting alone, he should have been back already."

"Your grandmother's tail twitched restlessly as she popped up and down straining towards any sound in the hopes that it would be her delayed mate. Occasionally the light would glint just right that I could see her right cheek twitching in that way it did when she was particularly upset. No doubt the only thing actually keeping her in place was the fact that our younger siblings were still calm, which meant that your grandpa was at least still alive."

Darius' face shifted to a more hopeful expression as he continued, "But eventually he did show up, and your grandma shot away from our side to grab him in a fierce hug before examining every inch of him. Confused, he hugged her back and twisted about to watch her examination as he hesitantly asked, 'Is something wrong?'"

Then all of a sudden Darius looked extremely angry, causing the merlings to shrink back for a moment before they seemed to remember that this was part of his storytelling process. Darius' eyes drifted from face to face until they had all relaxed again and he somberly continued, "She glared at him, her jaw subtly clenching before she hissed out in an aggrieved whisper, 'Where have you been?'"

Mathias was quite fascinated as Darius' face went rapidly through expressions right around to embarrassed, and he took a brief moment to wonder if this was a skill that the bards the harpies had told him of possessed, before getting sucked back into the story once more, "Carefully your grandfather caressed her cheek as he sheepishly explained, 'I got something for Haris to eat too, and then spent some time trying to help him and his mate feel better.'"

Darius looked lost and uncertain as he continued, "Your grandma's face softened, she knew that she could never stop your grandpa from helping those he loved, nor do I think she would ever want to. But she had been scared, and what usually follows fear is anger."

Darius paused to pull out a truly exaggerated pout, and once the merlings giggles had died down he continued, "Her jaw clenched briefly in anger, then she drew in a breath through her nose and let the anger out with it. Because as she'd so often told me, you don't take out your anger on your loved ones, you save it for your prey and your enemies. Then she pouted at your grandpa, much in the same way your dad pouts whenever he's trying to get something." Mathias couldn't help but chuckle here, having always fallen asleep the second his father got back he'd never actually seen his mother pout, but it was amusing to think that he had this in common with her. Darius ignored him as he continued to direct his attention to the merlings, "So pouting she said, 'You should have warned me before you left.'"

Then Darius pulled on a guilt riddled expression as he said, "He laid a gentle kiss upon her forehead and wrapped himself reassuringly around her as he guiltily said, 'I'm sorry dearheart, I didn't think of it until after I'd eaten and I thought it'd be quicker to bring him food and then come back.'"

Darius' face quickly turned into a grumpy scowl and not a single merling so much as flinched this time, "Your grandma let out a soft huff before wrapping her arms around him as she grumpily pointed out, 'You should have known that they would need someone to talk with as well.' Your grandfather simply nodded his sheepish agreement and so she softened in his arms as she gently pleaded, 'Just, stop through and let me know next time you want to help someone.'"

Darius got a thoughtful look on his face as he finished his tale, "With traces of guilt still lacing his voice, your grandpa let out a relieved and agreeable, 'Of course.' They stayed like that for a while longer, both of them seeking and receiving comfort from the other."

Darius quickly resumed his goofy grin as he looked to his brother who was idly petting the sleepy merlings while staring off into space. Then he furrowed his brows worriedly and tilted his head as he softly asked Mathias, "What's wrong?"

Mathias turned a sad smile onto him as he hoarsely said, "I always wanted a relationship like mom and dad's."

A smile blossomed back onto Darius' face as he cheerfully pointed out, "Rommy's the only one that's managed that. But we have centuries. We'll get there eventually."

Mathias sucked his lower lip into his mouth to keep it from trembling as he simply shrugged in response.

Darius leaned in to press his forehead to Mathias' as he softly said, "Sorry I'm not sneaky enough to come around more like Tito can."

Mathias briefly clasped the back of his brother's neck as he responded, "Thank you for being around when you can, don't get in trouble on my account."

As Darius pulled back Mathias smiled bravely and said, "Thanks for the story, I'll be sure to repeat it."

Darius grinned at him, puffing up his chest proudly as he declared, "I enjoy telling stories."

As he continued to hesitate, Mathias forced out a cheerful chuckle and waved him off saying, "Go on back and find out what excuse Tito has for you coming back so late."

Darius nodded dubiously and gave Mathias a hug before he swam away to the sound of Mathias singing his youngsters to sleep.

Chapter 41

Nesting season passed without incident, and no adult sharks had swum the river in a couple of weeks. Mathias had his merlings playing in the sandy shallows as they waited for Cora to show up. Once she gave them a fly by they'd be going upriver to explore the swamp that she and Callie had told him so much about.

Mathias spotted a shadow circling overhead and popped his head out of the water to take a closer look. A smile flickered onto his face as Cora swooped low briefly, before taking off in the direction of the river. With a laugh and a wave he sank back into the water to follow with his youngsters.

With Cora flying above to scout for danger Mathias had only to watch where she couldn't see, so they made much better time through the water and up the river. Especially when the merlings all hitched a ride on his back.

It didn't take as long as he expected before the river widened and slowed down to the point that he could hardly tell that it was flowing anymore. He held still, looking around at the massive trees that were growing amongst the vegetation that he had gotten used to finding along the river.

Slowly he moved to the side, the water was also much shallower here, the harpies could if they'd wanted to wade through it without too much difficulty. Cora had told him that she wouldn't unless she saw something dangerous. So it would just be him and the merlings for the day.

There was no way that Cora could keep as good of an eye on them amongst these trees and weeds, so Mathias moved cautiously amongst them. He could see why the sharks birthed their pups here. There was plenty of prey, and hiding places, and the water was too shallow and crowded to make a good home or hunting ground for larger creatures.

Mathias was a merman however, and so could do things that most predators his size could not. He reached almost casually in amongst a tangle of roots and pulled out a shark pup by the gills as he swam by. He waited until he'd found a clearish area to settle down in before he dispatched the small thing, no bigger than Glutton's head.

His merlings quickly swarmed round and begged for a bite. Mathias gave them a brief smile and explained, "It's too small to share, you should go get your own." Then he popped it into his mouth and chewed as they pouted adorably at him.

Swallowing, Mathias let out a big exaggerated yawn and laid his head down as he pretended to take a nap.

They babbled among themselves for a moment, and Sleepless even tried pushing on his shoulder a few times before they decided to explore the area.

Because of the still water Mathias only had to occasionally crack his eyes open to see what they were doing when they darted behind some roots or other barrier. The rest of the time he could hear and feel what they were doing quite clearly, and so did not need to bother.

He had the merlings so convinced that he was asleep that when Quick called out, "Dad!" and he jerked up and around to stare at hir all of the other merlings startled in place.

Quick however proudly presented the catfish half hir size that ze and Rambunctious had taken down, to Mathias and repeated in hir soft little baby voice, "Dad!"

What was very likely the first completely genuine smile to grace his face in far too long blossomed from Mathias' lips as he moved over to caress Quick's head and asked in an awestruck voice, "Did you just call me dad?"

"Dad!" Quick repeated again while trying to thrust the unwieldy fish, with Rambunctious' help, towards Mathias.

Mathias chuckled and examined the fish before handing it back and ruffling the pair's hair as he praised, "Good job getting the catfish."

He left them cooing happily as they dug into their meal and moved back to his spot with a big enough smile on his face to hurt a little, but he couldn't even make himself want to stop. Add in that soon the water was ringing with the sound of various merlings calling out some variation on ad or da and he also couldn't stop his head from whipping around with each new iteration. When Quick and Rambunctious swam over to shove their half eaten catfish into his laughing mouth, was when he realized that he had been laughing nearly the entire time.

He sealed his lips around the snack and pulled the pair in for a hug as he chewed. Soon he was swarmed by other merlings wanting hugs, and to feed him, so he happily rolled onto his back. Eventually everyone settled down into a pile on his chest and belly and he just laid there grinning up at the sky. He could see Cora's shadow flitting by from time to time, and he couldn't wait to tell her all about it, but he also didn't want to break the moment.

And so, he just basked in it until the merlings got restless. Mathias then called out, "Common gang, let's get going." Rolling over he whistled them onto his back and swam off to find a shallow meander. Amongst other things, the day was getting late.

Coming upon the perfect meander Mathias playfully shook his merlings off before going over to sit near the bank.

By the time he got there Cora was already hopping into the water. Grinning still, he sat up beside her and pulled her into a clavicle nuzzling hug.

Chuckling, she hugged his neck and kissed the top of his head before cheerfully asking, "What's up?"

Mathias released her and sat back to eye the merlings swarming about them. Spotting Quick he scooped her carefully up, because the merlings still occasionally had trouble holding themselves up outside of the water, and settled hir against his shoulder as he cooed happily to hir, "Can you say it again?"

Quick blinked up at Mathias and then looked over at Cora. Ze gave Cora a big toothy grin and reached for her while calling out, "Ra!"

Grinning back Cora leaned forward to press her forehead to the little one's as she teasingly asked, "Oh are you speaking now?"

Snorting Mathias said in playful disgruntlement, "Earlier ze was saying, 'dad'."

He couldn't help smiling though as the other nine popped their heads up out of the water to demand Cora's attention as well. As things calmed down he released Quick back to hir siblings.

Grinning at him Cora asked, "Is that what all of that commotion was about?"

Feeling shy all of a sudden Mathias looked up at Cora through his lashes as he gave her a sheepish, "Yeah."

Cora chirped out happily, "Soon they'll be speaking in sentences."

"Yeah," Mathias said thoughtfully, a brief frown tugging at his lips before he could banish the surge of unease that thought brought.

Obliviously Cora continued, "Clara's seven won't start speaking for several more months at least."

Perking back up Mathias eagerly asked, "What are they like right now?"

Cora excitedly launched into talking about her nieces, "Well they're still adorable balls of white fluff, but sometimes when the light hits them just right I could swear that there's a bit of green to them."

Mathias chuckled and nodded as he asked, "Have they all managed to sit up yet?"

Cora cackled gleefully informing him, "Yep! Soon they'll start scooting around I'm sure. And then the flock's hands will really be full trying to keep them in their nest house. Oh... it's so nice to have babies around again!" Mathias smiled wistfully, unable to keep from longing to see them.

Cora nudged him playfully as she conspiratorially whispered, "I think if Clara weren't so milk heavy right now, she might wanna take a break and get a little physical relief with you."

Blushing, he let out a surprised laugh at that and turned the conversation over to elaborating on what Cora had viewed from above.

All too soon, it was time to part again. After exchanging a tender kiss and a hug Mathias slipped back into the water as Cora took to the skies.

As he swam, he could not help but turn over the thought that they would be speaking properly all too soon, and that in itself would bring him and his merlings great danger.

After he had gotten everyone settled into the nest he looked them over melancholically, he did not want to have this conversation with them, no parent should ever have to tell their children something like this, but it was the life he was living.

Letting out a tremendous sigh he spoke softly and sadly as he laid out their fragile reality, "Your mother, she doesn't like it when people do things other than the way she wants them done, and a lot of the things we do to survive... are not how she would want them done. You should never lie to her, that would be more dangerous than over sharing... But, it would also be best if you never volunteer where we go, what we do, who we talk with, and what we talk about... And when she does directly ask, because she very well might, tell her the bare minimum to answer her questions."

He watched his attentive merlings for a moment. There was no way they could fully understand yet, but if he kept repeating it then hopefully by the time that she bothered to pay attention to what they had to say they would understand, and heed his warning. He dispiritedly sighed again, hating having to warn his children against their mother.

He closed his eyes and pulled a trembling smile upon his face as he tried to recapture the day's joy before he told his merlings a bedtime story.

Chapter 42

Time passed far faster than Mathias liked, and before he knew it his merlings were speaking in short, though often incomplete sentences. Soon after, they started getting restless at night and had a hard time settling down to sleep as they stared in the direction of the kelp forest that they had never been to.

Frowning, Mathias stared off towards the kelp forest himself and with a shudder of fear he realized that it had been eighteen months since that night, and if he didn't soon take them to their mother himself they would seek her out on their own.

He looked broken-heartedly at his merlings and tried to sooth them to sleep as he thought, 'Not tonight, I can't. I'll try to brace myself for it tomorrow, but not tonight.'

Mathias did not get much rest himself, he worried about them trying to sneak off, and his nightmares hit him with a renewed ferocity. So he easily startled awake before Tito had even finished setting their snack of the night into the nest.

Tito blinked at Mathias, caught completely off guard for once.

"Hey Tito," Mathias mumbled groggily as he rubbed his eyes, before giving his brother a very nearly broken smile as he choked out, "I'll miss this."

Tito dropped the fish and pulled Mathias into a comforting hug. Rubbing his back he mumbled worriedly, "Hey hey, what's wrong?"

Mathias clung to his brother, shuddering and whimpering for a while before he was able to spit out, "They need to sleep near their mother."

Tito's face visibly fell and he hugged Mathias tighter as he whispered a sympathetic, "Oh barnacles! I'm sorry. I wish..." he trailed off and sighed instead of finishing his thought.

After holding Mathias for a while Tito patted his back and asked, "So what is your plan?"

Mathias twisted around while still holding onto his brother and looked at his merlings who had, without either of them paying attention, swarmed over the dropped fish. He didn't answer at first, just watched his youngsters broodingly until they snuggled back up to him. Then he sighed and said, "I'll let the harpies know tomorrow, and then... I guess I'll find somewhere near her to sleep tomorrow night."

He shuddered and whimpered at the thought, fighting the urge to let out a sharp, keening cry as he buried his face into his brother's hair.

Tito for the first time slipped into the now very crowded nest with Mathias, and held him as he fell asleep, and continued to hold him until he woke up again the next morning.

When Mathias awoke with his brother's steady heartbeat under his ear, he at first thought that perhaps the last year and a half had been one extremely long nightmare. Upon opening his eyes to see his merlings curiously watching the pair of them, he was simultaneously crushed and relieved that it had not been.

He let out a soft whimper of confusion and pain and then Tito's hand clumsily patted the side of his head as he half asleep mumbled, "Shhh, shhh, it's okay."

Drawing in a deep shuddering breath Mathias pulled himself upright before shaking his brother into groggy wakefulness. As Tito blinked the sleep out of his eyes Mathias mournfully told him, "You should get back."

Yawning, Tito stretched and searched Mathias' face before offering, "Do you want me to stay with you."

Mathias firmly shook his head and said, "Don't get in trouble on my account."

Grinning cheekily Tito waved it off with, "They'd have to catch me first," but at Mathias' stubborn pout he relented and gave his brother a hug and some parting words. "Do try and enjoy yourself somewhat today."

Returning the hug Mathias gave him an uncertain, "I'll try," and then watched the smaller merman swim away before turning to take the merlings away from the nest for the final time.

~~~~~

After some thought Mathias headed up the river to catch a deer. He did not know how his actions would be curtailed in the future so he might as well face it with a full belly. When he finished with that he settled onto the bed of the deep meander and nervously spun his hair into thread while he waited for someone to show up.

By the time a harpy showed up Mathias was finishing a fourth thread for his left hand, and had three more on his right. He noticed her swooping down to the bank and hurriedly wrapped and tied the string to his wrist before going over to join her.

He propped his arms on the bank and looked up at Alula as he sucked on his lower lip.

Alula's eyes caught on his wrists and she remarked with a small smirk, "Nice bracelets."

Mathias forced a trembling smile onto his face and let out a shaky, "Thanks."

Alula studied his face for a moment before lowering herself until she was almost laying in the grass to coaxingly ask, "What's up Mathias?"

With a deep sigh Mathias tried to force back the panic that had been overwhelming him since the night before and so what came out was a rather gloomy rasp, "I need to move back to the kelp forest. And I don't know where I'll be allowed to go afterwards." Then he slumped down, and rested his forehead on his arms.

Comfortingly petting the top of his head the harpy thought for a moment before she spoke, "Want me to gather everyone to come hang out with you for a bit?"

"Could you?" Mathias peeked up and asked with a bit of forlorn hope.

"Of course," she responded confidently before getting a mischievous glint in her eye and teasing him with, "Just meet us three meanders down."

Mathias choked out a laugh and nodded before slipping back into the water.

~~~~~

Mathias didn't have long to wait before four harpies were joining him, and then soon after he pulled himself upright to join the wading harpies and was enfolded into a set of comforting boobs.

He let out a sigh nuzzling into Cora's chest as he let her soothing scent wash over him. In the background he could hear Alula and Calie holding a whispered conversation and in front of him he could feel Cora drawing in a breath to speak.

There was nothing she could say that would help though, so he leaned back and pulled her down into a deep kiss. All he wanted at the moment was the comforting presence of his friends.

Surprisingly it was Helen who moved over first and leaned into his side, but it didn't take long for Calie and Alula to join them and lean against his other side and back. Releasing Cora's lips, Mathias relaxed a tiny bit as he closed his eyes and leaned his ear against her chest, content for the moment to simply soak up the silent comfort they were offering. Eventually the merlings interrupted the comfort cuddles to beg for sweets from Helen.

Helen chuckled as the group hug broke up and gave the merlings and Mathias some candy. After the little ones rubbed affectionately against her and dispersed to socialize with the other harpies Helen nodded to Mathias' wrists and said, "Good idea, did you tie them with slip knots?"

Lifting his left arm he peered at his wrist in bafflement as he mumbled around the candy, "Umm, no?"

Helen pulled his hand over and rested it on her extended wing as she retied the knots for him, explaining as she did so, "With slip knots you'll be able to take them off in a hurry, and then you'll have string ready faster when you need it. Like the sailors I told you about."

Blushing, Mathias admitted in a sheepish mumble, "I didn't even think of that."

Smiling, Helen told him reassuringly as she gestured for him to switch hands, "Neither did I till I saw them, but it's still a good idea."

The other three had been having a whispered conversation in the background which Mathias was politely ignoring until Cora loudly said, "He won't mind."

Curiously he looked over with an eyebrow raised questioningly.

Looking highly flustered and with a blush slowly blossoming upon her cheeks, Alula muttered, "This is stupid."

Even more curious now, Mathias hurriedly crunched and swallowed his candy. He licked his lips before starting to ask, "Wha..." before he could finish however Alula stepped forward and pressed her lips to his.

Snickering, Helen released his wrist. Newly freed Mathias cupped Alula's cheek with one hand while he caressed her neck with the other.

Looking if anything even more flustered Alula pulled back a little and Mathias hurried to reassure her, "I don't mind," before pulling her back into the kiss with his sweetened tongue sliding into her mouth to tangle with hers.

She relaxed into him for a bit with her hands playing over his neck and shoulders, before pushing herself firmly off of him and muttering, "But I've helped patch you up so many times."

"And you were very attractive doing so," he easily agreed and lifted her hand to drag his tongue over the soft flesh between her digits.

"Ah fuck!" Alula muttered with a shudder as she gave Helen a sideways uncertain look.

Helen snorted out a laugh and shook her head. She turned to pay attention to the merlings as she said, "Don't look at me, far as I'm concerned he's more a fellow student than your patient. You can get up to all kinds of fun with a fellow student."

Looking back to Mathias who waggled his eyebrows at her, she blushed even brighter and shyly asked, "Do you wanna go ashore?"

Placing a kiss upon her palm Mathias released her hand and eagerly said, "Yes!" before dropping back into the water.