“I don’t know why you’re so interested in those,” Kaiden’s gruff accent rumbles through his gills, trying his best to be quiet in the late night. “They’re just shells.” He doesn’t mention the fact he spent nearly five hours yesterday searching for them. He’s the chief of Altinoà tribe, he had better things to be doing. It’s not like he picked out seashells in your favorite color for you.

He’s sitting in a secluded cove with you, one illuminated by various glowing mosses, algae and small sea creatures around him. Watching you flutter about, mulling the different unique colors of shells in your hands, eyes wide with the same wonder and amazement they had been the past hundred times he brought them for you. His long tail swayed in the dark water behind him, lying on his stomach with his head resting in his hands as he watched you.

Kaiden had memorized every freckle, every strand of hair in you, and he didn’t know why. He was never a man for romance, after all almost every woman in Altinoà was begging to be his wife, yet he focused on his work. Perhaps the long lonely years were getting to him, or perhaps it was just something about you. He had met dozens of different creatures over the years even being sea-bound, so why did you have such an effect on him?