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Description
"Let me GO!" The boy yells as a tall, scarred woman forces his bound body into a chair in a strange, dark room. Doffing her belt, she uses it to strap him to it.

"SAY something--what do you WANT?? Umph!?" Sighing, his captor claps a leather-gloved hand over his mouth.

"You know, Jean, I usually do this only for those who come to me of their own free will." A very old woman enters the small room. Seating herself across from the boy, she leans her chin on her hands, meeting his concerned and frightened eyes with her own penetrating gaze.

"Please, Madame Barris." The woman asks quietly. "It has been nearly twenty years; I am desperate for this message to go through."

She sighs. "Very well. But please keep your hand there until he's breathed enough of this."

Madame Barris lights up a stack of herbs, blowing the smoke at the wide-eyed boy. He shakes his head, but cannot keep himself from breathing. In mere moments he relaxes, and Jean cautiously removes her hand from his mouth.

"Why...why." He murmurs.

Madame Barris' hands move in a complicated and hypnotic dance.

"Remember," she whispers. "Remember when you were someone else..."

The boy's eyes squeeze shut. "A merman," he whispers, "wild and beautiful, propped up on a ship's deck.

And he is...me, somehow. Resentful, believing himself to be kidnapped. But the woman who captains the ship heals him, is trying to protect him--protect me..."

His eyes fly open, and they are the deep blue-green of the merfolk. "Jean." He whispers. "Forgive me for not believing you.

Forgive me for running from you."

Jean has cut the boy's bonds, and embraces him. "Forgive ME, Veridan." She says. "For if I had had the courage to tell you all I felt, I might yet have convinced you to stay. I might have kept you safe.

And I have only this stolen moment of time to say what I should have then. I Love you. And all these years have not diminished it."

There is a moment of perfect understanding. Then there is a flash, and the boy's eye are back to a lighter more human shade of green.

"You are free to go," she tells him, "forgive me, if you can, for the fright I gave you."

But the boy has seized her hand.

"Make it up to me, Captain Jean." He says. "And take the time to get to know me as Joshua, the person I am now."

Madame Barris smiles to herself as the two exit her little shop hand-in-hand.

Description
"Let me GO!" The boy yells as a tall, scarred woman forces his bound body into a chair in a strange, dark room. Doffing her belt, she uses it to strap him to it.

"SAY something--what do you WANT?? Umph!?" Sighing, his captor claps a leather-gloved hand over his mouth.

"You know, Jean, I usually do this only for those who come to me of their own free will." A very old woman enters the small room. Seating herself across from the boy, she leans her chin on her hands, meeting his concerned and frightened eyes with her own penetrating gaze.

"Please, Madame Barris." The woman asks quietly. "It has been nearly twenty years; I am desperate for this message to go through."

She sighs. "Very well. But please keep your hand there until he's breathed enough of this."

Madame Barris lights up a stack of herbs, blowing the smoke at the wide-eyed boy. He shakes his head, but cannot keep himself from breathing. In mere moments he relaxes, and Jean cautiously removes her hand from his mouth.

"Why...why." He murmurs.

Madame Barris' hands move in a complicated and hypnotic dance.

"Remember," she whispers. "Remember when you were someone else..."

The boy's eyes squeeze shut. "A merman," he whispers, "wild and beautiful, propped up on a ship's deck.

And he is...me, somehow. Resentful, believing himself to be kidnapped. But the woman who captains the ship heals him, is trying to protect him--protect me..."

His eyes fly open, and they are the deep blue-green of the merfolk. "Jean." He whispers. "Forgive me for not believing you.

Forgive me for running from you."

Jean has cut the boy's bonds, and embraces him. "Forgive ME, Veridan." She says. "For if I had had the courage to tell you all I felt, I might yet have convinced you to stay. I might have kept you safe.

And I have only this stolen moment of time to say what I should have then. I Love you. And all these years have not diminished it."

There is a moment of perfect understanding. Then there is a flash, and the boy's eye are back to a lighter more human shade of green.

"You are free to go," she tells him, "forgive me, if you can, for the fright I gave you."

But the boy has seized her hand.

"Make it up to me, Captain Jean." He says. "And take the time to get to know me as Joshua, the person I am now."

Madame Barris smiles to herself as the two exit her little shop hand-in-hand.