"Very well, little mermaid, I shall accept your challenge."
"It wasn't a challenge you filthy-"
"I, Alexander vow to make you love me before the spell shall break."
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Neris had come to the strange conclusion that merfolk and humans had a few things in common. Among them was the art of ignoring. Neris and the prince had been carefully avoiding talking about anything close to their families for days and there his voice hadn't been inside her head at all. His thoughts would sometimes blast into her head, but he wasn't directing them at her anymore.
They were down at the wharf together sitting in silence. Neris had her head in her arms, resting against the edge of the dock as Alexander lay down practically right beside her on the docks.
He was staring at the stars, avoiding her eyes as Neris stared at him. She was only staring out of confusion. Had Alexander's freckles always been so prominent? Probably not, she reasoned. It was coming around to summertime and that was when freckles happened so it made sense that Neris had never seen the freckles before.
"I can hear your thoughts you know." Alexander mumbled finally looking at Neris. Maybe it hadn't been avoidance before, but simply letting the stars tell him their stories. Then again, this was the first time he'd come down to see her in days.
"No you can't." Neris replied in denial.
"You're right, I can't. But I can sense your emotions." He admitted.
"What do you sense?" Asked Neris as she shook her hair out of her eyes to stare into Alexander's.
"Longing."
Neris said nothing, and Alexander returned to gazing at the stars. The silence rested uneasily on Neris, she could tell that both of them were trying to think of something to say that wouldn't lead them towards unpleasant conversations.
"Why do you look at the stars?" Neris eventually asked Alexander.
"Because I like to find the constellations." He replied mildly.
"What are constellations?"
"Do merfolk not have constellations?" Alexander turned to Neris and she shook her head.
"No, what are they?"
Alexander pointed to the sky.
Neris screwed her nose up and glared at Alexander. "I swear to Poseidon if it's a fancy term for sky or stars..."
"They're very crude shapes formed by the stars." Alexander explained. "Like a puzzle."
"Oh." Neris sighed, the way Alexander explained it they sounded boring not at all deserving of the way he'd said constellations as if it was a magic spell.
