Seeing is Believing

by Sasha L. Miller

  Kinsu nodded, staring at him wide-eyed. "Not … not bad."

  "—something physical?" Kell shouted behind them, and Lenol pulled Kinsu closer to the boat. If he could get them sailing, they could get away before Kell launched another offensive.

  Kinsu shivered violently in his arms, and Lenol realized belatedly that the water had to be freezing. It was late spring, but there hadn't been anywhere near enough time for the water to warm. Swimming faster, he carefully made sure that Kinsu's head stayed above the water. Kinsu just clung to his shirt, shaking.

  "You have to climb," Lenol told him, doing his best to ignore Kell's shouting as he berated his magician. Kinsu nodded jerkily, letting Lenol unhook his fingers from the front of Lenol's shirt. Kinsu latched onto the side of the boat with stiff fingers, and Lenol gave him a boost, shoving himself underwater as he shoved Kinsu up over the side of the boat.

  Surfacing again, he watched Kinsu's legs slither under the ship's railing before swiveling to watch Kell and Chethi arguing. Kell had dried, probably as a result of Chethi, and Lenol exerted his influence again, working extra-hard to block all magic in the area.

  "G-go home, K-Kell." Kinsu yelled, and Lenol jerked his gaze back. Kinsu had found one of the fishing harpoons, and was brandishing it menacingly. Almost menacingly, because Kinsu's features didn't lend well to menacing.

  Kell laughed. "Please. You won't throw it, and if you did you'd miss." Kell sneered. "Besides, you're shaking like a leaf."

  Kinsu scowled, his mouth twisting into a frown. Heaving the harpoon with all his weight behind it, Lenol watched, impressed as the harpoon flew. Kinsu abruptly fell over, unbalanced, but it wasn't a bad throw. Lenol debated the merits of climbing on board—pants-free, but he'd have that problem at any point, really.

  "Oh." The single word was loaded with shock and Lenol paused, sinking slightly in surprise. He wasn't the only surprised one—Kell stared disbelievingly at the harpoon embedded deeply in his stomach. Blood darkened the light fabric of his shirt, and he sat down heavily on the pier, his hand going to touch the wooden handle of the harpoon shakily.

  Kinsu clambered up, teetering a bit before tilting over the rail slightly to stare down at him. "Why are you down there?"

  "The place to be," Lenol offered, certain his tail was invisible in the dark. It wouldn't do to freak Kinsu out now.

  "Oh god." Kinsu sat down again, pushing the hair out of his face as he stared, wide-eyed at Kell. Dark streaks traced the movement, and Lenol couldn't figure out what it was. "I only meant to scare him."

  "It's okay," Lenol called up, probably not at his most comforting, treading water beneath where Kinsu was having a minor freak out about hurting his bastard of a brother. Lenol spared Kell another glance—Chethi was tending to him, and Lenol decided that now was as good a time as any to get lost.

  "Kinsu, start unhooking the mooring lines." Lenol directed, watching carefully as Kinsu levered himself to his feet and wobbled away towards the pier. Lenol took the opportunity to pull himself out of the water, shaking the water from his tail with two quick flicks as he pulled himself onto deck.

  His shirt was long enough that it pretty much covered the essentials, so Lenol moved quickly to help Kinsu free the ship from the restraints holding it to the pier. The tide was rushing out, at least, so it pulled the ship out as Lenol worked quickly to set the sails. There was a bit of a breeze—they could run with that. Magicians could only work within a certain distance, hence why he'd though Kinsu was cursed—it had never occurred to him that The Spirit herself had been cursed.

  "Lenol?" Kinsu's quiet voice came from behind him, and Lenol hoped beyond hope that Kinsu hadn't noticed the fins because Lenol really wasn't up to explaining how he wasn't really human.

  "Are you okay?" Lenol blurted, reaching out and tilting Kinsu's face towards the lantern at the back of the ship. Streaks of blood traced along Kinsu's forehead, back towards his ear. The magic trying to suffocate Kinsu was fading already as they pulled away, at least, and Kinsu frowned at him thoughtfully.

  "I—why … don't you have pants?" Kinsu peered at his legs curiously for a long moment before jerking his head back up with wide-eyes.

  Lenol laughed, tugging at the bottom of his shirt. "If you give me a moment or two to get us further from land, I'll gladly put some on, I promise."

  "Not what I asked." Kinsu swayed dangerously, and Lenol frowned. He knew Kinsu had better sea legs than that. Kinsu's knees gave way abruptly, hitting the deck with a crack as Kinsu crumpled, falling to his side.

  "Kinsu?" Lenol knelt immediately. Kinsu had passed out; he was breathing, shivering slightly, and completely insensible. Lenol sighed—he really should've expected something like this. Shifting Kinsu's arms, Lenol paused at the sticky wetness. Wetness he was expecting, but not… sticky.

  Frowning, Lenol drew Kinsu's sleeves back, one after another, revealing matching, deep gashes slashed into his forearms.

  "Not bad, my fishy mermaid tail." Lenol grumbled, tugging off his shirt and tearing it. Studiously ignoring that he wasn't wearing a stitch of clothing now, he carefully bound Kinsu's arms. He'd do a more thorough job later, when he'd dropped anchor later.

  *~*~*

  Kinsu woke up slowly, groggy and warm and with the world swaying soothingly around him. He drowsed for a bit, content to stay that way until Kell's plots made an unseemly entrance and woke him up completely.

  Sitting up straight, Kinsu knocked the thick blanket covering him into his lap. He didn't recognize the little room he was in, but he probably wasn't remiss in thinking he was on Lenol's ship. Wincing, Kinsu tugged his sleeves back, staring in confusion at the knotted cloth tied haphazardly around his forearms.

  Lenol must've done it. Kinsu smiled wryly; Lenol had always been less than fantastic at tending wounds. At least he hadn't left Kinsu to bleed out, though. That wouldn't have been fun. Drawing his left arm closer, Kinsu picked absently at the knot on the fabric.

  Kell … Hopefully he wasn't dead. He was close to hating Kell, but he didn't want him dead, and he didn't want to be the one who managed to kill him. Last night—or whenever, since Kinsu had no clue how long it had been since his confrontation with Kell on the dock—was mostly blurred.

  Lenol had leapt after him, though. Into the freezing cold water, the moron. Kinsu frowned—and come up without his pants. And had … had a tail? Kinsu frowned, pressing his mind to remember. It certainly had seemed that way. Kinsu hadn't gotten a good look, but no way could Lenol swim the way he had with legs. The wave-like motion just wasn't possible or efficient.

  The door to the little room opened slowly, and Kinsu blinked curiously at Lenol, who crept in quietly before spotting him.

  "Oh. You're up." Lenol smiled, and Kinsu stared at him thoughtfully. He definitely didn't have a tail now.

  "Stop picking at that." Lenol scolded, crossing the room in two long strides and batting Kinsu's hand away from the bandage.

  "You," Kinsu started, watching the way Lenol tensed just a little. "Suck at bandaging."

  Lenol grinned, relaxing again. "Yeah, I know. We can do it better later. Or now."

  "Now's good." Kinsu let his fingers find the knot on the bandage again. "You've got actual bandage this time? Not bits of your shirt?"

  "Yes, complain now," Lenol muttered, ducking down and tugging a small chest free from beneath the bed Kinsu sat on. Flipping the latch, he pulled out a few small rolls of linen. The knot fell free under Kinsu's fingers and he tugged the blood-stiff cloth away from his arm, wincing when it stuck a bit.

  "Ow," Kinsu grumbled, pulling the makeshift bandage completely off. His forearm was smeared with blood, surrounding a gash angled across the width of his arm. Lenol made a face and tugged free a handkerchief, soaking it with a canteen he pulled from a pocket on his pants.

  "Thank you for putting on pants." Kinsu grinned as Lenol started to clean the dried blood from his arm.

  Lenol paused for a second before tilting a wicked smirk at him. "Well, you've taken
off your shirt so many times in my presence, so I decided to up the ante."

  "You're not being very subtle you know." Kinsu told him seriously, wincing as Lenol started to clean the sword cut itself.

  "Subtle about what?" Lenol questioned, nearly casual but for the hint of strain in his voice.

  "I thought I was imagining things, really." Kinsu smiled a bit, amused when Lenol frowned at him unhappily.

  "You were." Lenol told him seriously. "There was—you lost a lot of blood."

  "What?" Kinsu narrowed his eyes in confusion. "Okay, I don't think we're talking about the same thing anymore."

  Lenol just stared at him stubbornly, and Kinsu scowled. "You're not leaving until my arms are fixed up." Kinsu ordered, thrusting his arm back towards Lenol.

  "Right," Lenol sighed, holding Kinsu's arm as he resumed cleaning the wound. "What were you talking about?"

  "Hmm, no, what were you talking about?" Kinsu tried, ignoring the way his cheeks were heating. He'd lost blood? That had nothing to do with Lenol flirting with him.

  "I asked you first." Lenol muttered, setting aside the dirtied handkerchief and picking up one of the rolls of cloth. Kinsu pushed his sleeve up a bit higher futilely, since it slid right back down to his elbow.

  Kinsu huffed indignantly. He really didn't want to say it. Lenol would laugh at him. "You're… obvious. I think."

  "About what?" Lenol asked, exasperated as he tried to wrap the bandage around Kinsu's arm. "Hold the end."

  "Okay." Kinsu held the end of the fabric bandage against his arm, watching Lenol loop the bandage around once to pin it in place.

  "About what?" Lenol repeated when Kinsu didn't say anything more. Kinsu shifted nervously in place. He wasn't going to say it. Making a face, he peered at Lenol suspiciously. Lenol just stared back blankly, his fingers warm against Kinsu's arm.

  "Just … you are." Kinsu sighed, wishing he hadn't brought it up. He was curious though, about what Lenol had thought. "You … you touch me a lot. You're nice to me. You didn't run off or anything. You've been protecting me."

  "Oh." Lenol's eyebrows rose for a moment and then he grinned. "Obvious, am I?"

  "Yes." Kinsu stuck out his tongue. "Very."

  "And you don't mind?" Lenol questioned cautiously, tucking the edge of the bandage under the loops around Kinsu's arm.

  "Ah, no." Kinsu flushed again, moving to tuck the bandage more neatly. Lenol really did suck at bandaging. "I mean, I was trying to be obvious, too?"

  "Oh, you were, were you?" Lenol grinned, letting his hand slip down Kinsu's arm to wrap around Kinsu's hand.

  "I was shirtless in your presence multiple times," Kinsu told him solemnly, and Lenol laughed, squeezing his fingers lightly.

  "Yes, I remember that." Lenol let go of Kinsu's hand to tug at the gnarled shirt fabric wrapped around Kinsu's right arm.

  "Ow." Kinsu hissed, making a face. "But what did you think I was talking about?"

  "Nothing." Lenol tried, pulling the stiff fabric away from where it'd glued itself to Kinsu's arm. Kinsu winced, and kicked Lenol in the shin.

  "Don't lie."

  "I'm not." Lenol muttered, picking up the handkerchief again. "Hold still."

  "I told you." Kinsu ignored him, eyeing the gash in his arm with a grimace. "You have to tell me."

  "I don't." Lenol sighed, the cloth pausing as Kinsu caught his eyes. "How much do you remember of last night?"

  "Um." Kinsu blinked, thrown a little. "From when? After I met up with you at that tavern?"

  "After Kell and his magician caught up with us." Lenol set aside the handkerchief and straightened, his back cracking twice.

  "Kell tried to kill me," Kinsu stated. "Again. Knocked me and him off the pier, into the water. I would've drowned, thank you for jumping in after me. That water was cold and how the hell did you lose your pants?" Kinsu demanded, watching Lenol carefully.

  "What else?" Lenol prompted, settling next to Kinsu on the small, narrow bed. Kinsu twisted towards him, fighting a silly smile when his leg brushed against Lenol's.

  "You got me out of the water and then you were without pants." Kinsu grinned. "I liked that part."

  "You don't remember—"

  "I'm skipping the Kell bit because I don't want to think about it." Kinsu told him firmly, thrusting his arm back at Lenol. "Fix it."

  "Right." Lenol muttered, retrieving the handkerchief.

  "There was … I thought I was imagining that you …" Kinsu peered at Lenol suspiciously. "Did you have a tail? Because you were swimming oddly and it didn't seem right and that would explain the pantslessness thing."

  "Kinsu—"

  "And I wouldn't care?" Kinsu tried, wondering why Lenol was so stressed about it. If he did have a tail. "Though I could've been—but you did say blood loss, and that's what I was thinking, except I threw the harpoon well enough so I wasn't seeing things. How did you have a tail?"

  Lenol didn't answer straight away, occupying himself with cleaning Kinsu's arm. Kinsu opened his mouth again, ready to try something else because Lenol was just clamming up with this approach.

  "Because I was in the water." Lenol sighed, finishing setting aside the thoroughly dirtied handkerchief and snagging the second roll of linen. "Whenever my lower half is submerged it … My legs change, so that I can swim properly."

  "Properly?" Kinsu pressed, holding the end of the bandage like he had for his other arm.

  "Yes, properly." Lenol favored him with a ghost of his usual smile.

  "But how? Are you—I didn't think mermaids existed." Kinsu beamed. "That's cool. Wait, is this how you do the magic-blocking thing? Do all mermaids or just you? Is that like, the equivalent of a mermaid mage?"

  "I'm not a mermaid." Lenol retorted, offended and obviously no small part relieved. "I'm a merman."

  Kinsu snickered, watching as Lenol tucked the end of the bandage under the rest of it. Lenol let go of his arm and Kinsu snagged a hand because he'd be damned if he was going to let Lenol sneak off now.

  "But yes, it's why I can do the blocking. And it's something all merpeople do." Lenol grinned and shifted closer to Kinsu on the bed so that their thighs touched lightly. Kinsu fought the urge to fidget, because this was what he'd wanted, even if he was utterly unused to Lenol's closeness.

  "That's neat," Kinsu told Lenol solemnly. "Why didn't you just tell me?"

  "Not something I usually share." Lenol frowned with a little shrug. "And, well, this makes me not human."

  "Uh … so? You look human to me. Um … you are … you have all the right parts, right?" Kinsu asked, flushing. Lenol started laughing, and Kinsu ducked his head, embarrassed as Lenol kept laughing.

  "Yes." Lenol gasped out, still snickering. "You saw me without pants, and you have to ask?"

  "Well, I didn't look," Kinsu told him, with the most offended tone he could muster. "And then I passed out."

  Lenol laughed again, dropping an arm around Kinsu's shoulders and pulling him into a quick half-hug. "Don't worry. I'll give you plenty of opportunities to see for yourself later."

  "Yay," Kinsu deadpanned, flushing again. Lenol raised his eyebrows, leaning close and peering at Kinsu.

  "That didn't sound enthusiastic," Lenol grumbled, and Kinsu grinned slyly.

  "It wasn't meant to," he told Lenol, in a whisper as Lenol's proximity seemed to encourage that volume.

  "Why not?" Lenol whispered back, his face too close. Only an inch from Kinsu's, and Kinsu was going cross-eyed trying to maintain eye contact.

  "Um." Kinsu shrugged, and Lenol grinned.

  "I'll chalk it up to lack of experience," Lenol decided magnanimously. "But we'll fix that."

  Kinsu's eyes widened in surprise as he registered what Lenol was suggesting, but then Lenol was kissing him, soft and sweet. Kinsu melted into it, because he'd been wanting this for ages. Lenol's lips were rough and slightly chapped, but he kissed wonderfully, guiding Kinsu easily with lips and tongue and a soft hand on his cheek, stealing his breath and wits at the same time
.

  "Oh, not fair," Kinsu breathed, narrowing his eyes at Lenol suspiciously. "You were looking to do that."

  "So?" Lenol grinned, and kissed him again. Kinsu decided he had a point, mostly because he didn't really want Lenol to stop kissing him, since that was much, much better than worrying about Kell or Lenol's fishy bits.

  The Guardian Dragon

  Zero

  Zhou sighed, tugging at the embroidered silk jacket he wore. The dragons chasing each other up and down the sleeves stood out glaringly, embroidered in bright gold against the somber red. Lóng would find the outfit hilarious, the bastard.

  Wandering out into the vacant gardens, Zhou crossed his arms. Maybe Lóng wouldn't notice. Zhou rolled his eyes; wishful thinking, but maybe he could distract the dragon before he commented. Or after he commented.

  Pausing before the ornate and ugly statue that the garden was built around, Zhou flopped on the grass. Likely he'd gotten streaks of grass on the knees of his red silk trousers, but he didn't care.

  "Oh, less-than-honorable and downright annoying protector of my ancestors and irritant to my daily life, I summon thee. Not for anything painful, I swear." Zhou intoned, boredly, smirking slightly.

  "That wasn't very sincere." Lóng observed, wandering out from behind his statue. Zhou shrugged.

  "Don't care." Zhou blinked up at the dragon. Lóng tsked.

  "Spoiled child," Lóng murmured, looking thoughtful. "Well, that deserves punishment."

  "Oh, really?" Zhou raised an eyebrow. "You're how old? You'd have to catch me first."

  "Fft. What's a few hundred years?" Lóng brushed it off casually. "Though, in light of your respectful tunic …"

  "Mother's idea," Zhou stated immediately, as Lóng joined him on the ground. "Apparently it's good luck."

  "Cute," Lóng murmured, tilting his head slightly. "Four claws, hmm?"

  "Yes." Zhou sighed. "She was threatening to put me in three, but father talked her out of it."

  Lóng snickered. "It's garish."

  "I know." Zhou shrugged.

  "Well, we'll just have to get rid of it now. Can't go offending the dragon." Lóng smirked, reaching for the clasps on the jacket.