12 The Tag-A-Long

"Fine," Venus was as curt and forward as she had always been. Even though she'd been thinking about this for quite some time, leaving the captain restless in his own shoes.

As the boat rocked back and forth she looked at the answers she needed and who she needed them from, 'if those tails have been there since his father, then I should be able to find out why they started attacking my people. More importantly,' she glanced back at the tails again as Caspien began packing them away, 'maybe I can fit in some vengeance for my family as well. It's important to find out exactly what Vulcan said to them to make them think we were extinct. He could've stayed behind to help me cultivate newborn sirens but there was something. Something he wasn't telling me.'

Caspien stacked the closet in silence up until he saw Venus stand up and walk towards the door, "hey! Where are you going? You just agreed to come with us." He put up his arm to block her but she just pushed past him.

"I'll return before the next sunrise." Without another word to the captain, Venus strutted out of his quarters out onto the deck to see men scurrying back and forth carrying crates and barrels while others prepared the sails. As if out of thin air, Scotty popped up in front of Venus as Caspien chased after her.

The blushed young man asked, "what's going on? Are you not traveling with us to Arla?" His eyes sparkled with something resembling hope as he awaited her answer.

She skipped up to him with a cheeky smile and murmured next to his ear in a sweet vanilla voice, "don't worry, I'll be back before you start to miss me too much." She blew in his ear before skipping past him towards the edge of the boat.

Scotty squirmed as he covered his ear. Coming face to face with his captain, Scotty's face was flushed with a beet red color going from his nose to both ears. He scrambled, "I'm sorry, captain! I was just asking her a question but she must've misunderstood my intentions. I swear I wasn't trying to pull anything with her, I know that you've been talking to her since your childhood so I wouldn't--"

Caspien pushed past him and head towards Venus only to see her jumping from the side. Many other sailors ran to the side at the sight of her jump only to see her blue tail flopping around the waves with her scaly green hand waving goodbye to those looking down to her. The crew that saw her all turned to Caspien and apologized profusely, "I'm sorry for doubting you, Cap. I really thought she was a myth."

Others congratulated Scotty for finding her before they even docked. Though, most of them apologized, "we shouldn't have jeered at you the other day. Seems you were right in seein' a lass floating in the tides!" They patted his shoulder and scrambled his dark hair into a loose mess.

Caspien looked down into the water for any sign of her and thought, 'she left so abruptly without any proper goodbye. It seems she really hasn't come to the surface before. What a strange-' Caspien's eyes locked onto where Scotty stood still bearing a blush beneath his green eyes. His hair drifted in the wind like clouds rowing across the sky reflecting on the water. Stomping closer he pulled him under his shoulder and drenched his words in gasoline waiting for a light, "what exactly did she say to you, Scott?"

The two stopped and turned to each other, one wearing a questionable grin while the other's face lit up brighter than the sun he lived under. Scotty trembled and stuttered as he scrambled to think of a good enough excuse for his captain only to come up short. He didn't want to outright say what she had gracefully whispered into his ear before hopping off of the side of the ship but he also didn't want to lie to his well-respected life-long friend. Caught in the crossfires of the moon trying to pull the waves closer to him, Scotty's cheeks lit up like the sun separating the two from clashing together. "Well, Captain,�� he tried his best not to tick him off more than he already was.

But Caspien had no desire to listen to his excuses. He knows Venus' personality even though it's gone through such drastic changes over the years. His memory of her still washes through his mind like it was yesterday that she started visiting every day after his accident. The two became friends quickly even knowing they may never be able to see each other if Caspien hadn't been at sea with his parents all that time. The young innocent boy still lived in him while the charismatic and loving siren still lingered within Venus somewhere.