Dancing On Ice

Free in the Night

"You... you're... you're a man!" Aeralie shrieked, a hand to her mouth, pointing at Kazimir, eyes so wide her eyeballs could have fallen out of her head.

"Yes," Kazimir said, frowning at her, "I'm a man. A very naked man. You." He pointed at Perry. "Go find me clothes."

"Why do I have to find you clothes?" Perry asked, glaring at him.

"Alright," Kazimir said, "I'll find myself clothes. And tell every guard I meet that Perry of the Black Dragon Pirates is responsible for the naked man walking around unchaperoned in the palace in the middle of the night. Do you want to explain that to the prince or your captain?"

Perry looked at him for a moment, then glared. "You're a nasty piece of work, you know that?"

"Yes; well that seems to be a running theme with merfolk at the moment," Kazimir replied blandly and Aeralie winced.

Perry grudgingly left and silence settled in the room.

"So..." Aeralie muttered, twirling a length of hair around her finger and avoiding eye contact, looking down then quickly looking up again then pointing down to his pelvis. "What's that?"

Kazimir looked down at himself, then clamped a hand to his face. "Of all the things you could have started a conversation with," he muttered, "I forget how much you need to learn... and you start with that... I'll explain later."

"Alright so then... Blue eyes?"

"Yes, blue eyes, this time," Kazimir replied, moving off his knees and sitting down, pulling his long hair over his shoulder and looking at the new ebony locks.

"This time?"

"If I change, my eyes stall on a particular colour – changing eye colour is as strange in the human world as it is in our world. For some reason – and I don't know why so don't ask – the colour will dictate what powers I retain in this form. Blue means I retain it all. Maybe because it's the colour of the sea? Who knows?"

As he spoke, Aeralie watched him gently draw the water from his hair, body and carpet, forming it into a contained ball before letting it drift upwards where it settled on top of the latch and slowly dripped back into the tank, leaving nothing behind.

"Why have I never heard about this before?" she asked, looking at him again, "Does it happen the second you go on land?"

"No, I have conscious control over it."

"Why?"

"Well, think of who my mother is. She can change herself. As can my uncle."

"My father can change into a human?!" Aeralie cried.

"And change you. Though we both know he would never."

"Why? If your mother can do it and as a by-product you can, why can't I?!"

Kazimir shrugged. "I don't know," he said honestly, "Your father's power was spread between several children. My mother's only needed to pass to me. Perhaps that's the difference. Besides, you're ridiculously powerful, I think you faired pretty well in the power share." Kazimir eyed Aeralie's feet that poked out from under her dress. "Well, you were until you became this."

"Why didn't you tell me?" Aeralie snapped, "You could have changed me so many times! Why would you hide this?"

"I can't change you," Kazimir snapped back, "My power doesn't extend to that, I'm not my mother. I can change myself, no one else and even if I could, I wouldn't have done it!"