18 Years Ahead

Eighteen years had passed. Lu looked more and more like Aki. Each day that passed had cause for her mother Luon and her sister Mio to beat single males away from the innocent beauty. Though her baby blue eyes had long since faded.. turning into something darker, more of a stoney gray hue, just shy of being glassy black when she was sad.

Lu had expressed non too fondly that she did not want mates. She didn't want to have to deal with the drama that inevitably came from sharing her time between so many spouses.

In their travels, back when Lu had been only about ten years old, they'd come across a wandering traveller and his family. The families eldest son had immediately taken a liking to Mio, Lu's older sister. And given that this family was a blend of otters and mermaids, they wholnheartedly approved of the union netween Mio and their son Taiyō.

Taiyō had been a part of their own family ever since.

"Are you well?"

He asked Mio gently, looking at her with a soft smile. He was a handsome man now. Had grown up from a lanky boy into a sturdy tree of a man with long silky hair, ripped muscles and ever kind eyes.