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"Oh, don't worry." Kindan interjected. "He will."
Taka laughed and pulled away. "Shall we walk you to your ship?"
"No," said Nankyo. "You'd just have to listen to us bicker." He slid his gaze to Raiden, who had remained by the fire. "We'll
keep you informed."
"Of course. Be careful. Go no closer to Schatten than you absolutely must."
"As I said before," Kindan said dryly. "He won't be getting into trouble."
Nankyo rolled his eyes but said nothing. With a last farewell, they departed.
Takara stood watching the door for a moment, then shrugged and returned slowly the fireplace. "Everything seems
strangely normal, all things considered."
"The stranger things are, the harder people work to make them appear normal. Would you feel better if I assumed my
dragon form?" Raiden smiled and dragged Taka back into his lap, wrapping arms firmly around his waist to keep him there.
"Would that be suitably strange for you?"
His comment gave Takara pause. "You can do that?"
Raiden laughed hard. "Yes, Taka. I'll show you sometime."
"As hard as Nankyo tries, I can see it's all rather disconcerting to him at times. Kindan, I think, will never be entirely
comfortable. But you seem fazed not at all. It really is like you were finally made whole, isn't it?" He stroked Raiden's
cheeks with his thumbs, sliding his hand back to bury them in Raiden's thick, dark hair.
"It's true I never forgot what it felt like to know the winds and the sea - but Taka you never saw me before I saw you.
Perhaps now I have the last piece that was missing, but you were the one that brought me back to life."
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Taka shook his head, bemused. "If you say so. All I did was fight you for a necklace." But he didn't protest when Raiden
drew him closer, but wrapped his arms around Raiden's neck and curled against him.
"I do say so, and as I am a god what I say is final."
Taka gave a soft laugh. "I love you too."
Epilogue
"Having fun yet?" Nankyo asked with a playful grin, arms spread wide as he stood with his back to the wind. His hair and
pale blue robes flew out before him, as his grin turned into a laugh at the glower Kindan gave him. The sun was high above
them in a clear blue sky and the water stretched on endlessly around them.
"You're just gloating."
"So?"
"So stop it," Kindan replied, trying and failing to remain annoyed. It was hard to in the face of being able to control not just
his ship - without a crew - but also the ocean. That aside, it was hard to resist the man before him.
Nankyo lifted his chin in challenge. "Make me."
Kindan's eyes grew heated at the words and he closed the space between them to do just that, cradling Nankyo's head in
his hands and taking the mouth that was offered to him. "You taste awfully sweet for someone with such a tart mouth,
Koori," he murmured against Nankyo's mouth, nibbling at his lips before tasting deeper, swallowing his soft chuckle.
But he stiffened a moment later, good humor vanishing like a clear sky taken by a squall. "I don't want them on my ship," he
said firmly.
Nankyo pulled away, expression reprimanding. "You knew all along this would come up. You can't avoid them forever."
"I can avoid them longer than three days," Kindan snapped. "It's easy for you to tell me it has to be done - but you're the not
the one battling with love and hate."
Nankyo turned icy. "Certainly I know nothing about warring emotions."
"That's not what I meant."
Whatever Nankyo might have said in reply was prevented by the sound of splashing water and feet on wood.
Face tight, Kindan looked toward the bow of the ship. He didn't protest when Nankyo moved to stand in front of him. If he
was willing to take the lead, Kindan was more than willing to let him.
Nankyo realized he recognized the nearer of the two mermaids - the one who had climbed aboard their ship what seemed
like a lifetime ago. But this time her strange, beautiful face was unclouded by anger and disgust - instead she looked at
them in fear and wonder. Her waist was still wrapped round and round with shells and all manner of pearls, more of the
same at her wrists and throat, and tangled in her light green hair
Just behind her was a shorter, more full-figured mermaid. Rather than loose, her pale lavender hair was braided with thick
ropes of dark pearls. More of the black pearls were around her throat, wrists, and ankles. But at her waist she had nothing
but dark colored shells.
The green-haired mermaid took a few cautious steps forward, eyes wide with shock as she realized what she was seeing.
"It-it-it can't be."
"It is," Nankyo said coldly. "And you, daughters, have much for which you must atone."
The lavender-haired mermaid lost her wariness to anger. "We did everything for the Storms! We were not the ones who
betrayed you!"
"One man betrayed us, not all of humanity. Not only did you abandon your brothers, you fed on them to sustain yourselves.
Perhaps you did not betray us, daughters, but you let us down. That is little better." Thunder echoed across the sky, distant
but effective.
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The mermaids dropped to their knees, heads bowed in contrition. "What must we do to atone, Lord& " the mermaid
hesitated, realizing she no longer knew the proper names.
"I am Nankyokukai." He motioned to Kindan, silent and tense just behind him. "This is Kindan. And as you well know,
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