A Crash, A Song, A Wave

Chapter 19

TW in the description

Chapter 19

Alberto POV

Traveling alongside Tartanum and Yura proved to be slow-moving and quiet. Tartanum could have gone twice the speed they maintained, and even Alberto found himself slowing down for the young boy.

"Do you need a break?" Alberto asked as he noticed the young boy's gills pumping water in and out quickly.

Yura nodded, still panting. They found a nice reef to take refuge. There were a few lemon sharks hunting nearby, but they quickly disappeared as soon as Tartanum made an appearance. The stallion shook his mane and whipped his tail lazily. He found a nice patch of seagrass and lay down but kept his head high, alert, and watching.

"Let's stop for lunch. I'll get us something." Alberto offered as Yura took a seat on a soft coral pad.

Alberto hadn't anticipated Yura would join him when he planned his departure. And while having the boy tag along was pleasant, and he was genuinely excited to show him Portorosso, it made progress slow.

Several times Alberto broke the surface of the water, testing the temperature of the air. It was cold. So cold he worried he would miss the first snow. They had to keep moving.

It'd been a week since they left the Azlo farm, and since then, Yura had scarcely spoken three words. Alberto knew the boy was homesick, but to his credit, he never complained. Occasionally Tartanum would disappear for up to ten hours, hunting for prey. But he somehow always knew where they were no matter how far they'd progressed in his absence. The stallion proved to be immensely helpful when a pod of dolphins swam by them.

The pod stopped, their natural curiosity getting the better of them, and descended to check out the two Merfolk. Alberto knew that humans had a particular fondness for the aquatic mammals, but to a Rusal, they were a nuisance.

They chattered and clicked around them, circling in tighter and tighter circles. A few braved a nip to Alberto's tail, and one even shoved Yura.

"Get lost!" Alberto yelled at them, "We aren't toys to play with!" He flared his fins and barred his fangs. But seeing as the dolphins were a bit larger than him, they paid no mind to his warnings.

That was until Tartanum returned from his hunting trip. The Kelpie pinned its ears back, flashing its dangerous fangs and slicing the water with its raptor-like talons.

The pod scattered and never bothered them again.

Alberto searched until he found an outcrop of rock close to the surface. On it was the familiar spikey creatures with hollow needles. Sea urchins, as Alberto discovered, were Yura's favorite meal. The delicate orange meat inside was sweet to the taste and melted on the tongue. Alberto never bothered with them because it was difficult to crack them open and access the meat. He was still learning how to do so properly and poked himself many times. But if it would lessen the boy's homesickness, Alberto was more than willing.

After gathering roughly a dozen urchins into his bag, he made his way back to the reef.

An Echo.

No,... a memory.

Something stirred inside the Rusal. Alberto flinched, dropping the bag, the urchins scattered across the sea floor.

The feeling in his chest. He'd felt it before. It'd been so long that he'd forgotten what it was like.

The Bond rang inside him, but distantly. He was still too far away from Portorosso to get the full strength of it. But it was there, a reminder of home. Of Luca.