His pod often travelled, circled several currents over the course of a cycle or two, but Nero quite liked the network of caverns they had been staying in for the past half-moon. Though he sometimes missed the sun and stars, there were pretty crystals and striped rocks that glowed softly in the dark, and all sorts of strange, small fish that scuttled by along the corners of the tunnels. He enjoyed chasing them down. Some he would release, others he would catch and bring back. Every little bit of hunting helped.

  Today was calm, however, and Nero found himself lounging comfortably on the ground. He had found a buried flat rock that had been rubbed smooth and felt pleasant against the rough skin of his tail. Without scales, Nero’s tail grew a thick, dense hide. It shed every few cycles in long, itchy strips, and he still had some flapping pieces of leathery hide clinging to his tail that were still to tender to just rip free, so he enjoyed lounging and rubbing his tail against the smooth groves of the stone to ease the itch.

  His mother and father were relaxing on the sandy floor of the cave not too far away. They were sitting a few tail-lengths apart and were coaxing Kera into practicing her swimming between them. Infant Mer were usually swimming short distances by the time they approached their first cycle, but Kera was nearly to her second now. It had taken a long time for her to hit various milestones in her early life. Her speech was limited, her swimming awkward and clumsy, and it had even taken moons longer than it should have for her scales to grow in. She was still small and frail, and she tired easily, but none in their pod had anything ill to say about her. Not when Kera almost always had a huge smile and her bright, happy giggles often permeated the water.

  Despite her uncertain start in life and the stunt in her growth, Kera was thriving now. She was always a happy kid and Nero adored watching over her. He watched as she stumbled across the gap into his father’s outstretched arms. Nero smiled when Kera’s fin lashed and she squealed with delight as their father swept her around through the water and praised her. Then he turned her back towards their mother and urged her to go back. As soon as he released her, Kera sunk like a stone through the water and had to flap her tail franticly so she would not crash into the sand.

  Nero covered his mouth so that his amused snort would not be overheard. He knew young Mer often had trouble keeping themselves stable in the water – did not quite know how to control their swim bladders – but it was always a little amusing to watch. Instead of returning to his mother, however, Kera twisted in the water and began crossing the clearly, heedless to Rebecca’s urging calls for her. Her smile was wide and her cheeks were puffed as she rose and fell in the water, bobbing closer and closer to him.

  He pushed himself upright as she got closer and opened his arms to his little sister. She had managed to work up a little bit of speed and could not stop in time, and she crashed into his chest. He wrapped his arms around her and bowed his head to nuzzle her cheek while she giggled and squirmed. “Are you alright, Kera?” he checked.

  “Nedo!” she hummed as she settled in against his chest. “Got you!”

  He hummed back and rubbed a hand over her spine. “Yes, you did,” he agreed. “You are swimming so good now.”

  Kera pushed against his chest, so he loosened his grip on her and she pulled back enough to stare up at him with wide, sparkling eyes and a solemn purse to her lips. “I big now,” she told him with a slow nod of her head.

  Nero grinned and it pulled a wide smile onto Kera’s face too. Her tiny fangs were still coming in, but the rest of her little teeth glistened as she gaped up at him. “Yes, you are, baby sister,” he agreed as he tousled her short brown hair.

  Kera stuck her tongue out at him and huffed some bubbles in his face. “No, Nedo!” she protested. “I not a baby.”

  “You will always be my baby sister though,” he told her. He poked a finger into her tummy and began to tickle her until she squealed and swatted at his hands.

  “No! No, Nedo! Bad, top,” she protested in between giggles. “Not a baby.”

  Nero chucked and pulled her close to his chest again. He purred deep in his chest and felt her begin to relax in his arms. She grew tired easily, but had been getting more and more energetic over the last few moons and it made Nero hopeful that she was going to grow and catch up to her age. He worried about her. “How about my ‘little sister’ then?” he asked as he continued to rub her back. He snuck a glance at his mother, but she was simply smiling and watching them from afar. She did not usually like having Kera out of her sight for too long. “Would that be okay?” he added as he returned his attention to the toddler cuddled up against him.

  She nodded and cooed softly as he continued to hug her. “That okay,” she agreed. “Love you, Nedo,” she murmured with a yawn before beginning to drift off in his arms. He settled back down on his rock, letting his tail sway softly to help ease some of his shedding irritation, and held her close. She usually wound up napping during the day anyway, and unless his mother came over to collect her, he was in no hurry to be rid of her warmth. He had been skeptical and bitter during his mother’s pregnancy and birth, but now, Nero would not trade his ‘big brother’ title for anything in the world.

You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

***

  Nero smiled softly as he gazed down at Luna. He knew she was having a hard time with Katie still gone – they were all concerned over the other girl – but Luna had enough anxieties as it was. He still wished sometimes that he could pull her back to her youth, strip away all of her pain and suffering of the last several cycles. He had failed his promise as her brother to protect her, but he wanted to make good on it as best he could now.

  It was late, and Karina was sound asleep beside him, but his younger sister was the one holding his attention now. She normally slept curled up with their parents, though he wondered if it was to make up for lost time or if she just finally felt safe when she was with them. She had a lot of nightmares, and she had woken everyone else more than once with them, but it grew less and less difficult to rouse her and calm her down from them as they adjusted to the fact that it was a struggle she faced now. She was sweet and special, and though she was still stunted and far too scrawny for his liking, she had grown and yet, for part of his mind, she never stopped being what she once was.

  He assumed she must have had another bad dream or been distressed in some way, because at some point, she had crawled over to him and was now passed out with her head on his tail and her arm draping over his side. He reached down and smoothed back some of the long locks of hair that had fallen in her face.

  As he did, her eyes fluttered open and she blinked in confusion. He quietly shushed her and tangled his fingers in her hair. She hummed as he rubbed her skull, so he sat up – slowly to avoid waking Karina – and pulled his sister up into a proper embrace. “Are you alright?” he inquired in a low whisper.

  Luna nodded and leaned her head against his chest. “Yes,” she whispered back. It was a lie, he could taste it on her, but he did not wish to press her immediately for a truth he already knew. She was scared. He squeezed her close and began rubbing her back like he used to when they were both younger and she would nap beside him. He was not sure if she subconsciously remembered or just liked the sensation, but she melted in his embrace and wrapped her arms around him. “I am sorry if I disturbed you.”

  Nero shook his head. “No. Never,” he replied. “I know it has been a long time and we do not yet know each other well again, but I never stopped caring for you, never stopped missing you.”

  The words caused a sharp, sour tang to fill the air between them as Luna’s sorrows slammed into him. “It was not me,” she muttered back. “It is not the same. I am not the same.”

  “Yes, you are,” he argued gently. “You may not remember much of our youth or have any connection to the name given to you at your birth. But Kera and Luna are just names. It has been a long time. You have grown, you have suffered, and you have struggled, but a name does not define who you are. Your name may have changed, your memories, but your soul is the same. You are the same sister of mine who was born into our world thirteen cycles ago. The same sister who smiled up at me the first time I held her despite everyone saying you were too young to do so. The one who would stumble through the water to me while learning to swim and force me to take naps at your age because when you were little, you insisted on napping with me or not at all half the time. Who I would tow around by my dorsal and would giggle in my ear the whole time. I know you do not remember much of that, but I will teach you all over again if you wish. Who you are has not changed, Luna, only your name and what you have been through. But I have hope that you will heal if given time. You needed time when you were a baby and you need time now, and that is fine. For me, it is like getting to know my baby sister all over again,” he admitted.

  Luna frowned as she peeked up at him. Something in her gaze glistened hopefully and he knew then that she longed for her present and past to merge in her head, and he wished he could take all the memories he held of her and just push them into her mind. But he could not, so instead, he held her close. “But Nero, I am not a-”

  “Baby, I know,” he interrupted. He pressed a kiss to her brow and continued to rub her back. “Not anymore, but there is one thing above all else that will never change, Luna. Do you know what it is?”

  When she shook her head against him, he hummed. “I will always be your brother, Luna. And you will always be my little sister, no matter what else happens or changes, that will always be a truth, so never forget it.”

  “Okay,” Luna choked. There were tears on her cheeks, so Nero wiped them away with his thumb. Sleeping above the water was a strange notion, but he did not mind it as much as he thought he might. “Nero? Thank you. I-I like having a brother,” she admitted. Her grasp on him tightened so he squeezed her back until a panicked giggle ripped from her lips and he had to gently shush her so they would not wake anyone else.

  “And I love having a sister. Go to sleep now, alright? You are safe and I will watch over you.” He did not truly need to reassure her. She was already falling slack against him and soon her breathing deepened and the only thing that broke the silence was her occasional murmur in her sleep. It brought him back to all the times she used to fall asleep against him when they were kids. He had strived to be the best brother he could to her back then and he would do so again now. He smiled as he kissed her brow and shifted her so she was lying down between him and his mate. Karina would not mind. Nothing had changed. “I love you, little sister,” he whispered.