These Barren Lands

Chapter 3

Back down in the storage-closet-slash-bedroom I share with Finn, I find my best friend sitting on the edge of our cot, rubbing his eyes. His blonde hair is stiff with salty sea-air and sticks up at all angles. He looks more like a pufferfish than a flounder, but I bite back the comment. The last thing he needs is to be compared to a sea creature right now.

"Morning," he mumbles sleepily.

"Good morning. Did you sleep good?"

He shrugs. "You hog the bed."

"Sorry? I thought you liked cuddling with me." I hand him the small breakfast I snatched from the rations—fish and bread.

"I do." His voice is thick with sleep, and his eyes are barely open. Somehow, he still finds the wrapped package and takes it from me. "But as a mermaid, you couldn't kick me."

I grimace and sit on the bed beside him. "I'm really sorry. I'll try to do better."

Finn looks over at me, offers me a soft smile, and rams his shoulder into me. "Don't worry about it. Anything's better than being tossed around in a glass vial. I shouldn't complain."
His face is playful, but his eyes are dark and stony. They're storm-cloud gray this morning, a hurricane of memory and loss. As he eats, he remembers. That's been the hardest part: reliving the events he survived because of me.
Which is why I'm sending him home, even if he doesn't know it yet.

"Papa sent guards," I say, breaking the silence. Finn looks up from his roll.

"Seriously? Did you talk to them?"

I nod. "They were... as serious as always. Told me they couldn't let me wander Vandya without an escort."

"But you're the crown princess!" he squeals, shaking his head.

I shrug. "I guess I am. But when they looked at me, Finn, all they saw was my legs. To them, I'm just another human."

My best friend shakes his head even harder. "That's silly! Those same guards fought in the war. They know that we can change at will, if the Divine shows us how. Surely they understand that this body is just temporary."

"They probably know, but transforming like this is highly illegal," I remind him. "Maybe they weren't looking at me like a human but like a criminal."

Finn won't be swayed. He takes another bite of his bread and grumbles incoherently for a minute. "Just plain stupid."

Leave it to Finn to be insulted for me.

"Either way, we need to get dressed. Eero's at the helm; we'll be closing in on the isles in an hour or so."

He jams the rest of his breakfast into his mouth and moves towards the chest. Within a second, he's throwing clothes out at me—pants for the two of us, shirts, belts, socks. I run my fingers across the soft, worn material and let it calm me down. When he's satisfied with the outfits he's chosen, he returns to the bedside, and we change.

Both of us wear the same uniform. Black pants tucked into boots that are a bit too big for the both of us. Finn helps me cuff the too-long pant legs, and I straighten his upturned collar. It's a moment of unspoken intimacy, two kids playing dress-up together.

Finn laughs as he watches me pack my shirt into the waist of my pants.

"That's not going to work. It's all bunched up and makes you look swollen."

I glance down at myself, realizing he's not wrong. "Do you have a better idea?"

With a laugh, he pulls the shirt out, knots it at the base of my spine, and then tucks it back in. Surprisingly, it makes it fit perfectly.