How to Catch a Fish (ManxMan)

Original Chapter Twenty-One: Welcome to the Cove

~Chapter Twenty-One: Welcome to the Cove~

The darkness around my eyes is pretty explanatory of how my night went. I would use my magic to heal them, but Nero should be returning soon enough, giving me no reason to care. Soon, I will be sleeping on a bed, cuddling my lover; bruising around my eyes seems pretty unimportant in comparison. The long swim yesterday did not help my energy levels and there is not a single part of my body that does not hurt in some way, which is sadly not something I can heal without sleep.

"Are you sick?"

I glance at Felix, who is sitting on the other side of the office at his desk. He has been filling out paperwork since I arrived half hour ago, but now I seem to have his full attention. Slumping back further into one of the plush chairs of his office, I grunt out a short, "No."

"Then why do you look like you're on the verge of death?" He asks, folding his hands over a small stack of papers as if to assure me that he will not be distracted. I kind of wish he would return to the paperwork, though, as I am only here to wait for Nero in case he arrives early. My fiancé would have to report to Felix before visiting me, which is why I have decided that sticking to his side is my best bet of knowing exactly when Nero arrives. While it will not get us to bed any faster, I will be rid of the uneasy feeling in my stomach the second I see that he is alive and well.

"Didn't sleep," I grumble, and then sit up when the chair's cosiness starts to lull me into a false sense of comfort that will inevitably lead to dozing off.

Felix looks like he wants to say something, but wisely remains silent. After a moment, he leans back in his chair and starts to spin around slowly. After a couple of minutes, the silence starts to eat away at my resolve to stay awake. Reluctantly, I stand up and walk over to one of his bookshelves to see if there is anything that might be worth distracting myself with.

Sadly, most of them are just journals, like the one Nero let me read a little while ago. There are a few strategy books which I might check out later, but I will have trouble remembering them later if I read them now. Reluctantly, I pull out a book with the title of Princess Diaries written across a pink cover. I expected there to be dirt on his sisters inside, but it appears to be about a fictional human instead. Rather than putting it back, I return to my chair to read it.

The sound of the door opening rouses me from my sleep, which is a relief since I did not intend to fall asleep. The book is lying on the floor, which is where I must have dropped it, so I quickly pick it up and set it on the small table in front of me. Rubbing the sleep from my eyes, I glance at the doorway to see a sheepish-looking Mer wearing a towel around his waist instead of pants. He is dripping water all over the floor.

Must be important news.

"Sorry, I forgot to knock," the Mer apologizes, and I realize why he would say that when I look over at Felix, who is fast asleep in his own chair with his feet propped up on the desk and his mouth hanging open as he snores softly. I would have found it more entertaining if the mostly-naked Mer did not look on the verge of panicking.

"What's up?" I ask quietly. If it is not an emergency that requires immediate attention, I see no reason to wake Felix up from his beauty sleep, which is something I will later tell him he desperately needs, just to irritate him.

The Mer looks like he wants to wake Felix up, but hesitates. After nervously biting his lip, he turns to me. "I was assigned to Nero-shinmet's sabotage team and," he pauses to look at the clock – it says it is 12:38, which is later than I expected – on the wall above Felix's head, "about thirteen hours ago, we encountered a problem when one of the team, Private Drest, was accidentally caught in some debris and tore his tail fin, allowing him to be caught by human authorities. In trying to help Private Drest, Nero-shinmet was captured as well. Captain Aiken stayed behind to keep an eye on things while I returned here for backup."