Xanus's Arc

Chapter 2 of 2

Xanus turned to Thoren in the entrance hall and said what needed saying. Go up. Tell the elders the treaty is set. He kept his voice low so the guards would not read it. Thoren studied him a moment, then nodded once and pushed off the stone floor toward the surface. His crystal staff trailed a thin line of light behind him. When the water above stilled, Xanus turned back to the merman with the trident. The water breathing Thoren had laid on him still held. He had hours. He meant to use them. Nereus led him through the coral halls and into a smaller room lit by teal crystals set in the walls. They sat on a stone bench. Xanus spoke first, because silence felt like a test he did not want to fail. He talked about the drowned hunters, and about the children on the shore who watched the water and would not swim. He said he wanted a peace that outlasted him. Nereus listened without moving. When Xanus finished, Nereus said he had not expected a warrior to speak of peace with that much heat. He said it plainly, the way he said everything. Then he was quiet for a long time. Xanus asked about the leaf he saw pinned to a shelf behind them, a dry brown thing out of place in a room full of water. Nereus said he had taken it from the surface as a boy. He did not explain more. They spoke of their guardians, of hunts, of the shallows both tribes claimed. Hours passed. The crystals dimmed and brightened with some tide Xanus could not feel. Nereus set the trident across his knees and said merfolk fell in love fast. He said it as a fact, not a warning. Then he offered marriage. One binding, two peoples, no more spears in the shallows. Xanus felt the water press against his chest. He thought of the elders counting days and refusing to name him. He thought of the man who had walked away without a word. He looked at Nereus, at the blue hair drifting, at the steady yellow eyes, and he found he wanted to say yes for more than the tribe. He said yes. Nereus took his hand and pressed a thumb against the pulse in his wrist. It is done between us, Nereus said. Now we tell the ones above. Xanus pushed off the bench toward the surface with a husband waiting below and no idea how to walk into the grove and tell the elders he had traded a season of peace for a life.