A development

Vel awoke to singing. He was in bed in his quarters, a naked Dina cuddled up next to him, the seed from their earlier coupling sticky where it had leaked from her onto his thigh. His sister was still fast asleep. The song he knew was for his ears only, or rather, for his mind only.

Gently, so as not to wake her, Vel extricated himself from Dinas's grasp and got out of bed. Quickly throwing on some clothes, he took one last look at the muscular sleeping beauty and smiled before hurrying from the room.

The crisp and cool air felt good against Vel's skin as he stepped outside. He found the deck sparsely populated, only a few men on night duty. Making his way to the ship's railing he looked over the side, scanning the placid ocean.

One of the men, clearly the one in charge of the night's crew, came over and joined him. Vel could tell the man was nervous without needing to use his powers.

“Good evening, my lord, I hope you’re not thinking of jumping overboard again. You gave us all quite a fright last time.”

The man followed it up with a **** and nervous chuckle, Vel did his best to give him a reassuring smile.

“I have no plans for any aquatic excursions tonight. Not that you’d need to worry if I did, I came back unscathed last time, did I not?”

The man nodded and looked away, Vel had the sense he wanted to ask him something but was scared to.

“Aye, so you did, my lord…”

He trailed off, clearly not brave enough to ask Vel about how exactly he had made it back or what had taken place that night. Vel was in no hurry to divulge it either, let the men speculate and wonder, let his legend among them build.

He turned his eyes back to the water just in time to see a head break the surface. The crewman next to him followed his gaze, then gasped.

It was unmistakably one of the merfolk, but it was not Vel’s most recent wife. A messenger, then. He spoke without looking at the man next to him.

“Some privacy, if you please.”

The man hurriedly retreated, leaving Vel alone at the railing. It hadn’t been necessary to send him away, all communication between him and Nerea’s emissary would be telepathic, but he still preferred to be alone for this. And it would help preserve the mystique of it all. He reached his mind out for her and felt the mermaid accept his connection.

“Greetings, Promised One, I bring word from your consort.”

Vel let her deliver her message, and it was everything he could have hoped for. After leaving her with a reply he returned to his quarters, eager to be back in the warm embrace of sleep and his sister. He’d finally have something worthwhile to report to his aunt in the morning, but that was luckily still a few hours away.