Chapter 2: MS Haltija

Kai had his eyes closed, his hands out palm down against the surface of the water. He stood naked in the water, enjoying the cool and refreshing swish of it around his legs.

He was a bit of an oddity. Most of his brothers and sisters never stepped foot or fin on dry land if they had a choice. But working with MCRC meant that Kai spent a great majority of his time speaking and dealing with land dwellers. Walking had been hard at first but it grew easier with time. And now he even liked walking and dancing with the stubby appendages.

But he was born a sea creature first and the ocean was his home. He loved the water and it was very relaxing to even just stand in it.

The MCRC Observer he was to ship out on today didn't leave until noon. And his new partner had yet to arrive.

He felt his blood stir at the thought of the red headed woman.

Mermaids all had white or gray or silver hair, merfolk didn't really have much in the way of pigmentation. And most of the humans he worked with had brown, black, or blonde hair. To see a human woman with such vibrant hair was unusual. And it was long and gently waved, it reminded him of the ocean at sunset.

But her eyes, those bright almost gold eyes, those were very unique. He had never seen such eyes. They were beautiful. And enormous. Through his explanation back at base, her eyes never left his face, like she was observing and absorbing everything he said and did. No one had ever looked at him like that before.

And such an odd name.

Joe.

'Joe' sounded so much different than how she looked. Joe sounded round and plain, not alluring and delicate. Jack had filled him in a bit about 'Joe'. 'Joe' wasn't a fighter, she was a thinker. 'Joe' had no aiming ability. 'Joe' could think herself out of almost any situation.

"Joe." he said out loud.

"Yes?"

He turned slowly and hid his surprise at seeing her standing on the beach behind him. She was wearing a two piece bathing suit colored deep blue with a lighter, sheer sarong around her waist. Her feet were bare and her hair was swirling around in the wind.

By the waves above, she was beautiful.

"What are you doing here?" he asked calmly.

"Well, I went to the ship and they said you went down here." she smiled a bit. "I figured since you're my new partner, this would be a chance to get to know you before we set sail."

Kai said nothing as he observed her. The time lapse from the last few days hadn't made her looks any less interesting.

Humans, in relation to mythical species, were quite odd. A centaur could never mate and produce viable offspring with a mermaid or an elf. But they could do so with humans. The humanoids of the mythical creatures could mate successfully with humans and produce half-human children. It was a very strange scientific anomaly that geneticists and scientists worldwide wondered at.

So it wasn't wrong for him to look at this human woman and feel desire.

But it was very odd. He had never been attracted to the wildly colorful and flamboyant humans before. Even the tame ones were still more colorful than any of his brothers or sisters.

And this human wasn't tame at all. She liked colors, that was obvious, and her hair alone was brighter than any of the mermaids' back home.

She was glorious.

Joe fidgeted a bit as his stare elongated. He didn't speak, didn't react, just stared at her.

And he was in the water up to his waist, quite a ways from where she stood at the shore. She didn't like yelling to be heard.

So she untied her wrap and kicked off her sandals and waded into the water.

She smiled as she saw his eyebrow raise curiously as she walked against the waves to stand before him.

"Isn't that better?" she asked in a normal voice as she looked up at him. "What are you doing out here, Kai?"

"Joanne, right?" he asked and she nodded. "But you prefer Joe?"

"It's easier to say." she said. "And it's funny watching people expect a guy named Joe then see me coming."

"You don't look like a Joe." he said lifted his hands up and burying them in her hair.

Joe's eyes widened in surprise at the sudden contact but she didn't move back. It wasn't unwelcome, just unexpected. Many of the mythical creatures touched a lot. Elves seemed to touch anything and everybody they came in contact with. Joe hadn't ever had dealings with merfolk before, maybe touch was just as routine to them.

"If I don't look like a Joe, what do I look like?" she asked as he began playing with her hair.

Kai enjoyed her hair. It was silken smooth, soft and warm. "You look like...Kyma."

"Kyma?" Joe repeated. "What is that?"

"It is Greek." he said running his hands through the long strands. She wasn't stopping, in fact, her eyes were started to droop a bit as the movements of his hands relaxed her. "It means 'wave'. You remind me of one."

"Kyma, huh?" Joe repeated. It sounded...exotic. Sexy, seductive and foreign. A lot more interesting than plain old Joe. But that's all she was, plain old Joe.

It took her a few more seconds to realize that he was seducing her with no more effort than brushing her hair with his fingers.

Her eyes shot back open and she backed up a few steps. "W-we should go, Kai. The boat will be leaving soon.

He nodded in agreement but his black eyes never left her face. She had a feeling that the seduction she had been falling under hadn't been unintentional. "What is the name of our boat, Kyma?"

It took her a second to realize that he was refering to her. "Oh, uh, I thought it was called the Observer?"

Kai shook his head. "No, that is the class of boat it is. The name is different."

"Oh, uh, I didn't look." she admitted. "But I already put my stuff on board. You?"

Kai nodded. "I did."

"Well, do you need a ride back?" Joe asked.

Kai smirked a bit again. "I wouldn't mind one, Kyma. However, I do think you would mind my company on the ride."

"You're my partner." Joe protested. "Of course I don't mind your company."

Kai chuckled a bit. "I didn't mean it like that. I meant only that I came down here naked and my clothes are a few miles up the beach."

"Oh." Joe blushed and Kai thought it brought a lovely flush to her cheeks. "Well, then. I guess I'll see you on board."

She turned and waded out of the water, paused to grab her things, and scurried back up the sand.

"Quite interesting."

XXXXXXXXXX

Joe smiled as she stood at the back of the ship, watching the bank fade away into the distance. The MCRC Observer, the MS Haltija. The MCRC ships, Joe discovered, were named after the different mythical species. The other two ships accompanying the Haltija were the MS Griffin and the MS Siren.

"What's a haltija?" she had asked the captain when she first came aboard.

The bald man with an enormous mustache had told her that it was one of the not-so-common mythics like centaurs. They were much like elves in looks but, unlike the peace loving, musical, elf folk, haltija were capable of, and used, violence. "They're a bit like guardians." he had said. "They have this deep need to protect things that they consider theirs."

It wasn't uncommon for her not to have heard of a particular species. There were so many of them and a few were native to only a few places. It was like seeing a Rhode Island license plate. You knew they existed but you never saw them.

So Joe stood at the back of the ship, watching the white swirls of the freshly turned water from the propellers string out behind them. Joe had been on a cruise once but the ship hadn't ever really went into open water, it hugged the shore pretty well. The Haltija was going out into open water. As in no land for miles and miles.

A part of her worried a bit about sinking. But a larger part had absolutely no fears about it. There was something majestic about the open sea, the deep blue water with untold treasures in its depths. You never knew exactly what you were sailing over.

Besides, her partner was a merman. The sea was his home.

"Hey, hey! You're Joe, right?"

Joe turned at the sound of her name and saw a pretty woman walking towards her.

Actually, pretty was an understatement. This woman was Gorgeous, with a capitol 'G'. Her hair was so gold it was as if it had been made of sunbeams and her eyes weren't just purple, they were the most astounding shade of violet that nature had ever created. She walked with the effortless confidence of a woman who knew her beauty and wasn't ashamed of it.

And Joe was instantly jealous.

It wasn't her fault, it was instinctive. Fea folk had that affect on people.

"My name's Ilia." she said, pausing before, Joe. Joe felt like a poor kid's hand-me-down rag doll next to a princess's porcelain figurine. "I'm a fairy, in case you were wondering."

Joe had the feeling that Ilia started most conversations with unknown people that way. Women couldn't help but be jealous of a fea's beauty and men couldn't not be attracted to it. Leading with 'warning: fairy' probably kept her out of a lot of trouble.

She couldn't be much older than Joe herself, then again it was hard to tell with fea as they aged finer than rich wine. But Joe knew she was at least over twenty because the gossamer wings the fea were born with were not on her back anymore. They wilted and were discarded usually before a fea's twentieth birthday.

"Anyway, I've been sent to fetch you." she smiled at her. It was a very friendly smile, the kind of friend that you knew your whole life.

"Fetch me to where?" Joe asked, shaking off her jealousy. It wasn't Ilia's fault she had that effect on people.

"I'm part of Team Geek." Ilia said. "Actually, I'm leader of Team Geek. Alright, I'm second in command. Josh is ahead of me. Anyway, me and Josh thought it would be a good idea for you to come get acquainted with the equipment we'll be using for this mission."

"Oh, yeah. That's a good idea." Joe took one last look at the fading shoreline, then turned and followed Ilia.

The Observer class of ships was a mix of military and civilian styles. It was obviously not a military ship, but it was also clearly not for your every Tom, Dick, and Harry. And it was enormous, it carried a thousand people comfortably. And each of them, Joe knew, had a purpose here. Because, although her and Kai's mission was to observe the lights, the others were doing exactly what they said they were doing. Studying the ocean floor and improving human/merfolk relations.

"So, have you ever piloted a sub?" Ilia asked as her curled her arm with Joe's. They could have passed for lifelong friends.

"I've done a few simulations." Joe admitted. "I only crashed and burned about three times."

"Nice." Ilia said. "But, uh, try to not crash and burn at all, 'k? We only have the three subs. Two are unmanned, you'll be using those more often than not and controlling them from the sub room. The third can fit two people, three if you don't mind being cramped. We don't usually bring that one but since Jack sent you two I thought we should probably pack for anything."

Joe nodded and smiled. "Thanks. That will be very useful. So, have you been on the Haltija long?"

"Not really." Ilia answered. "I've only been here about a month, they flew me in when the guys here were having some tech issues. I was supposed to move on to my next assignment after we docked but then I got Jack's message about your mission. Turns out, this was my next assignment."

Joe found herself not really needing to add to the conversation at all. Ilia was holding it up fine all by herself. But she wasn't babbling. It was probably the power of the fea, but Joe really liked listening to her talk. Her voice was very melodic. Not like the elves, but soothing all the same.

"Anyway," she said, returning to their previous topic, "I'll just go over the controls with you. We have a squba training center where you can practice a bit if you need to. Not that I imagine you will since you'll be observing the sea floor. Then, how about a tour?"

"Why not?" Joe laughed.

"But, that's not why I volunteered to come fetch you." Ilia suddenly changed subjects. "I wanted to talk to you about Kai."

"Kai?" Joe repeated. Her thoughts immediately turned back to the very handsome merman. How incredible he had looked in the water.

"Yeah." Ilia nodded. "The fea's power of attraction doesn't work well on merfolk so he's the only guy on this damn boat that doesn't ogle me like I'm a piece of meat. I was kind of wondering if maybe you could help me get his attention a bit?"

"Really?" Joe asked, a polite smile on her face. Suddenly, and for no reason she could think of, she felt like someone had just wrapped their fist around her heart and was squeezing it slowly. "Well, you know, we only met about a week ago. We hardly know each other."

"That's alright." Ilia laughed. "I don't want you to convince him to drop down on one knee, fin, whatever. I just kind of wanted to play with him for a while. And if we both enjoyed it, what's the harm?"

"Really?" Joe repeated. She was having a little trouble breathing and her legs were getting wobbly. Maybe she just didn't have her sea legs yet...

But the thought of Ilia 'playing' with Kai was...uncomfortable. The image of the beautiful blonde with her pale legs around Kai's lean body-

The image in her head changed so that it was her own red hair and tanned legs wrapped around him and she felt the fist tighten some more.

"Oh?" Ilia recognized that look. "Unless, of course, you've already had thoughts in that direction."

"No!" Joe protested quickly. "Of course not! He's just my...partner! And if you're really interested-"

"Oh, please." Ilia waved her off. "I didn't say I wanted to keep him. I just enjoy the challenge of a guy I have to work for sometimes. I'll back off, give you a clear path, so to speak."

"That wasn't what I meant." Joe mumbled but she felt the fist loosen its grip.

"Not that I blame you." Ilia continued as they made their way through the belly of the ship. "He is one sexy merman. That white hair, black eye combo is surprisingly sexy."

Joe made no comment, but she didn't disagree.

"Have you ever seen him with his tail on?" Ilia asked.

Joe shook her head. "I've never seen a merman before him and I've only seen him on land."

"Oh, you have to see it. Come on. The merfolk like to swim a lot, I'll be he's down there on the squba training sight." Ilia changed directions and started going down.

"But what about the sub training?" Joe asked but she didn't fight Ilia.

"That can wait." ilia laughed excitedly. "This can't. Mermen on land aren't nearly as sexy as they are underwater. It's a good thing you're wearing a bathing suit."

"Why?" Joe asked, a little apprehensive.

"Trust me, you're going to want it." Ilia smirked a bit.