Bound With The Water Dragon

Liia's Connections

As they made their way through various caverns, she questioned their uses as if she could read his mind. It was unnerving to a point. Ejder stayed quiet. Remarkably so which also put him on edge. 

“What do you know about this place?” he finally asked. 

Liia frowned, making the fins that acted more like hair crinkle forward as she did. 

“Just that it’s a have, but,” she paused, “It sounds weird… or, I don’t know,” she hesitated. 

“What?” Morgan pushed. 

“You’re going to think I’m strange for saying it.”

If it wasn’t for the blue glow surrounding them, Morgan was almost sure that the purply coloring in her cheeks was blush. Was she embarrassed? Questions about how much the human DNA could affect them all made him wonder just how deep of a connection they could have. It made Ejder retreat into him once more only furthering his interests. 

“Like you don’t even think I’m weird,” Morgan countered and she smiled. “Do you not remember how I left you?”

Her sigh sounded hopeful to stop her laughter but it failed.

“Alright, alright,” she settled herself but still had trouble telling him. “I think this place was a school.”

Morgan tilted his head to the side to regard her. 

“I can’t tell how. It’s more like I can feel it.”

“How?” Morgan stopped himself. He chuckled nervously. “I was listening. Just…”

“I guess my magic is linked to it. Kind of like yours,” she continued. “That's why you could fly in here, right?”

“I don’t know about that…oof.” 

Ejder stopped Morgan from continuing, jabbing him internally.

Concern riddled her face once more. It forced him to think of anything other than a white lie though. If Grant and Bryson were around, they’d force it out of him anyway and as far as he knew, Ejder didn’t exactly want to be found. 

“Nothing, never mind. I’m fine,” he shrugged off the moment as if it didn’t happen. 

“Okay...anyway,” she said, looking out to the side where a new snowy ridge met them. 

“You think it was a school?” he questioned, bringing her back on track. 

“Yeah. I just,” Liia paused again, “I can’t think of why.”

The two of them made their way down to the ground from where they were. The ice glinted beautifully overhead as the sun reached the tips of the iceberg. It felt like being just under the waves, caught in a beam of filtered light. It was something he always enjoyed as a kid, well before relocating to Maine. The moment passed as fast as it came and before he knew it, they were still arm in arm, moving through the growing group of magical beings. 

There they passed familiar faces. Many of which stopped their chatting to stare the two of them down as they passed. As Morgan swallowed, part of his pride left him as well. 

“What’s their problem?” Morgan whispered to Liia. 

Liia didn’t answer him right away though. She nodded to the dark horses beyond the group of Posiden’s women, then again to a larger than life, squid like individual, who furthered Morgan’s plummeting confidence. As the three of them moved in their direction, Morgan asked her again. 

“Me. Their problem is me,” she whispered back. 

Relief should have flooded him but his feelings remained. 

“Why? What purpose do they have?”

“It doesn’t matter,” she promised him. 

“Is it because you’re with me?” Morgan pushed again. 

She shook her head slightly. 

“What? Does the human not know how to let go?” The red kelpie huffed beside Liia, as he moved with them.

The purple one flanked Morgan on his left. His size concerned Morgan once more, but he tried to pay no mind to him. 

“They never do, brother,” the purple one replied. 

“We could always make him. What do you say Liia? Want your freedom?” the red one snickered. 

“Your service is not warranted,” Liia answered coolly. “Can’t you horse-brains see that I’ve chosen him? Not the only way around?”

Morgan couldn’t help the way he flushed at that. No one ever chose him. Still, the question begged to be answered. 

“Choose me for what?”

Liia’s blush seemed to return then. 

“You don’t have to choose me too; this isn’t what it has to mean…” she began. 

“I always knew humans were idiots,” the red kelpie teased while the other stayed quiet. 

“What does it mean to you?”

“She likes you for your magic…”

“Grant!” Liia hissed, turning away from Morgan to face the red striped kelpie. 

“It sounds like the truth…” he continued. 

“If a leviathan groans…” the other interjected, making Grant chuckle. 

“Speaking of,” a voice boomed behind Morgan, making him turn. 

The larger than life, squid looking man, didn’t bother looking down at them. Instead he pointed outward, just beyond the crowd. 

“It looks like Gwyn just got in,” he said, pulling Liia’s attention back towards her destination. 

A groan rumbled through the cavern, then the sound of rain poured on the spot. It slapped the ice below it hard and quickly but turned no heads. Unlike the way they watched Morgan himself. Some of them nodded at the newcomer while others ignored her. 

Morgan, however, couldn’t keep his eyes off of Gwyn. The rain surrounding her fell in near waves around her, lapping at the floor beneath her. She’s big, he noticed, even at their distance it seemed. Being tall wasn’t as unnatural as it seemed, he thought, but quickly derailed himself as he realized her broadness. 

“If you value your life, or have any interest in getting me back to my body, you will not stair!” Ejder hissed. 

Morgan looked away immediately after. Gwyn’s presence lingered though. He could still see her long white hair at the top of her head that darkened as it continued down her body. He could practically see the texture of her dark wash jeans, let alone the cable knit weave in her sweater. They were meters away, he urged himself to remember. There was no way he could see that. Not from that distance. 

“New guy?” Gwyn asked, her voice dripped a little too sweetly for this rowdy crew. 

It made him look up to see her clearly. She really was human. Or, well, he wasn’t sure now. What was the commotion before then? 

“Let me guess,” she nudged Grant with her elbow, right into his chest. “Too new to know his powers?” 

“More like, avoiding them,” the kelpie beside Morgan nodded knowingly. 

It infuriated Morgan the more they talked about him as if he wasn’t really there. Liia still held him though, arm in arm, while he listened to this exchange. 

“Hey Bry,” Gwyn grinned at the purple striped kelpie. “I got you something,” she knowingly wiggled her  eyebrows at him. “Do you want it now or…”

“You wanted something from the human world?” Grant scoffed at his brother who only rolled his eyes at him. 

“Who doesn’t?” Gwyn replied. “Am I right?”She asked the group but her eyes landed on Morgan himself. 

“Yeah, I mean. Our stuff isn’t that bad.”

“Our stuff isn’t that bad…” she snorted. 

“Speaking of,” Liia interrupted, gaining everyone’s attention. “You didn’t happen to bring back clothing… Other than what you’re wearing? Maybe some socks and boots, perhaps?”

“Uh,” Gwyn looked around at the floor when the squid like fellow pointed back towards where she came in. “Thanks, Albion… I knew I jumped into something out there.”

The group followed suit as Gwyn led them back to her horde. The release of Liia’s arm around his was unwelcome but necessary. Whatever their bond was, he wanted it back. 

“Anything fit?” Gwyn asked as she shucked her sweater off just in case it didn’t. 

Morgan found light wash jeans, worn work boots, socks and underwear that he helped himself to. He then found a black tee shirt that looked like a child could wear it. Given their current place, literally anything was better than a wet suit and fins, so he took it and the navy sweatshirt there too. 

“Where did you say you were from?” Gwyn asked as he made his way back into the darkness to change. 

“I didn’t,” Morgan began, then corrected himself with a sigh. She did just let him riffle through her human treasures. “Maine.”

“Not terribly far from here,” she engaged him while he dressed with their backs turned to him. “Got any enemies? Anyone I can fool with?” 

The boys grinned, surely waiting for a lie. 

“Suppose I did?” he replied, tickling her fancy. 

“All I’d need was a name,” she pushed.

“Names won’t get you much there. Lots of duplicates.”

“Oh, I can access it in your own mind.” 

“That’s her magic,” Liia added. Her tone sounded like a warning. 

“Don’t make it that dramatic,” Gwyn teased. 

“Oh like you? Raising the oceans’ waves as tall as your form before chasing your target into insanity? I’m pretty sure you’re as dramatic as they come.”

“And small,” Albion added. 

“Woah! For real, Al?” Gwyn looked at him in shock, to which he only smiled. 

“Don’t join in,” Ejder warned. “We don’t need another creature in here with us…”

“Uh,” Morgan cut in. 

“Don’t!” Ejder hissed once more. 

“This is great and all,” he said, waving over his clothes that he managed to get on. “Is there any way to get them dry though?”

He could feel everyone’s eyes on him. Dry must be the most human thing he could have asked them for besides clothes and there really wasn’t a way to stop the unease he felt because of it. 

“Shake, man…” Bryson whinnied, showing him once. 

As Morgan panned around to see if anyone else would show him a better way, he found himself straight out of luck. Shaking is so strange, he told himself. He shook his whole body from his shoulders down through his hips like a dog but nothing happened. 

Well… 

Laughter. Laughter happened. 

Their entire group, including Liia who tried to hide her entertainment behind her hand as it covered her face, laughed. 

“No… no. Okay, stop,” Gwyn said, reaching out for his shoulders to make him settle. “Just your head.”

Gwyn simply shook her hair, jostling it to and fro. It was just enough to add a little air between its strands. It seemed like it shouldn’t work. The moment he flipped his hair like those magazine models, his clothes were dry. Not one stitch was wet or ever felt like it touched water, not once. It was amazing. 

“No way!” Morgan grinned. “That’s unreal,” he added, studying the clothes that now warmed him. “What else have I been missing?”