Norchón was peeking through the bedroom window, his heart was pounding like crazy inside his chest. Aliza was sleeping inside his old bedroom, and he was standing outside watching her sleep like a creep. What will his mother say when she found him here, maybe his brothers will be worse. Love was not so common, it was even quite rare. Females rather pick a male to mate with, then a live partner. But he has heard that there were some couples among their species, where the father sees his children every day. Where he is able to see them grow up, teach them important stuff, protect them against the cruel world above and below the surface.

"He, little brother." Sull appeared next to him. "Oh, oh. We have a love sick puppy shark, on our hands." Norchón sighed, his oldest brother was clearly worse than his mother. "Alright, baby brother. I am going to take you away from this, because mom will make delicious calamari from your member, if she finds you here." Norchón shivered, Sull slammed the rusty nail upon the head. Their mother would be capable of doing something like that. He glanced inside the room, she seemed to happy. Hopefully, her dream brought her towards the Realm of Dreams, towards her happy place. "Come on," Sull was right now pulling him with all his might. But still, Norchón didn't make it easy. But he was able to do it, Sull took him towards his house, where Náll and Brird were already waiting for them. With fermented seaweed fruit, they never invited him to get drunk with him before. He knew that every brother was invited after their first mating, but he didn't mate. He brought a human to their world, he kissed that human. And by the Gods, that kiss. Hot water geysers exploded from all sides, and even that was a weak description. "Sit down, little brother. It is time we talk like males. Uncle Dóillal did this with me after my first mating, and I passed that tradition down to our brothers, and now it is your turn."

"But I didn't mate?" Norchón asked. Sull nodded slowly.

"No, you didn't and from what I noticed about the females, in the limited time I spend above the surface. I know that it would take a while before she consent, to mate with you. But you made a very adult decision, and that makes you in my book an adult." His other brothers nodded, slowly. Norchón sat down and Brird gave him his first ever fermented seaweed fruit.

"Here you go, little brother. You are going to need it, because we are going to discuss the possible outcomes of your decision." Norchón looked at the orange fruit with a yellow shine on it, this was one of the lighter ones. Purple, who were also present, are stronger. But he didn't take a bite, knowing that he wanted to be sober for this. "Nál, needs to go to work in the morning. And he might face the wrath of Lord Chaim, so tell him why you did it. And do not come with the 'I do not know' excuse. That ship has sailed, when you saved her." Norchón lowered his head, Nál was one of Lord Chaim's guards and Brird was right he might face his wrath. Or, he needed to start the negotiations, and it is only fair that he wants to know why.

"I do not know," Norchón started, Brird wanted to interrupt him, but Sull interrupted him. "How to describe it, but there was something drawing me towards her. The strength she showed while fighting three males, the cleverness she presented after wards. The sharpness of her tongue, I know she those not take whale crap from anybody. She will do her best to learn everything that there is to know, and she will be able to defend herself." He started to smile. "I am losing all comic sense."

"Ohh, boy. He is further gone than I thought." Nál said, with a large grin upon his face. "I do not know if that is a good thing or not. But for now we are going to role with it. There is only one other thing that Lord Chaim wants, and that is the chance to mate with our sister." Norchón tensed up. This is not the first time that Nál said this, and it will not be the last time until Ochnia mates with that slim ball. Ochnia is one of the most beautiful females, and like their mother in her prime, very popular with the males. But she had four kids now, two sets of twins. Three girls and one boy, in other words, she didn't only provide new blood to their race, she also secured the future of the consortium. She still can choose to mate again, she can choose to select a new mate above or below the surface. She can reject any male, and still held her head high.

"Well, that decision doesn't fall upon any of us, I am not going to force her to mate with someone. Not that I could. But I believe that we need to prepare ourselves." Norchón said, and his brothers nodded.

"Prepare yourselves for what?" It was Ochnia, she entered Sull's house without an invitation, which was her right.

"For the possibility that, Lord Chaim demands to mate with you, in order to keep Aliza safe." Norchón said. "And you reject his demands, which is your right." Ochnia nodded.

"It is indeed my right, as the future leader of this consortium. But it is my duty to protect my consortium in every way that I can. And if I can offer Aliza my protection by mating..." Ochnia said.

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"No, I will not ask you to do this for Aliza. Protecting her is my duty." Norchón said, which was naive of him. But his sister doesn't have to do this if she didn't want to. Ochnia lay her hand on his shoulder.

"I am not only doing it for her, I am doing it for you. Our mother, brothers, uncles and my children." she said. Norchón crushed. Of course her children, she would do anything for her children. Their mother would have said the same thing, and still would. Sull nodded.

"Brird, you and I need to talk with the mothers of our children. We most likely need to visit them at their consortium if we want to see our offspring." he said. "Norchón eat that piece of fruit, you are an adult, act like one."

"I did, by staying sober until we were done talking about the heavy stuff." Norchón countered. His siblings started to laugh.

"Ohh, we aren't done with that," Brird said, and to Norchón's surprise he was right.

*********

Sull almost hated the fact that he missed out on his time with his boys. Nódea, their mother, always made it clear to him that their time with him was a privilege. And he hoped that he would be able to spend some more time with them, when he was at their mothers' consortium. But he was here for another reason, and seeing them would be a bonus. Nódea came out of her house, which like his mother's place was the largest building inside the consortium, and she took his breath away. Her hazel eyes and brown hair, she was so pretty and smart. He considered himself lucky that he was able to mate her twice, which resulted in their two boys.

"Funny to see you here, Sull. I wondered how long it would take you, and to my surprise you waited until the morning." she said. Oh, by the Gods from below and above the surface, she knew him so well.

"I hope the boys do not hate me for bailing on them," he said, but she shook her head.

"They said that you needed to help uncle Norchón, and I taught them that members of our own consortium comes before doing things we love or like to do." she said. He smiled and sighed, it was good to hear that his sons were understanding. Still, that didn't mean that it didn't hurt them. "So, what was so important."

"That is the reason why I came to you, Brird is currently at the consortium of Blath Allais. Norchón has rescued a human girl, and she is now at our consortium." Sull said, and her mouth fall open. He nodded, "that was my reaction too when I heard it. I can't lie, she is pretty and has a temper to match with it. But little Norchón is in love with her."

"I love?" she asked. But then chuckled slightly, "tell me more. Norchón was always an odd guppy, but how do you know that it is love?" Sull sighed, that was the same question he Brird asked Norchón yesterday while they were eating fermented seaweed fruit. Norchón did answer with some strange answer, an answer he was not going to repeat. So it was better to state what he has seen.

"Well there is the first time I saw her, and well I do not know how far things would have gone, if I hadn't interrupted them." he started. "But then there is the way he lights up when he is thinking of her, the way that I needed to drag him away from the bedroom window. How he speaks about her. Yeah, my little brother has turned into a love sick puppy shark." Nódea smiled brightly.

"I am glad to hear that he has found someone that special," she said, but then her happy expression faded. "What does Lord Chaim say about this?"

"Nál is on duty now, we will learn pretty soon what he thinks about it. And we are prepared to protect this girl, and I understand completely if you are going to say that it will be no longer possible for me to see the boys." he said. "It will break me, but I will understand." She stepped forward and wrapped her arms around his waist.

"I am not somebody who makes that kind of decision on a whim. But it might better if you visited them here, until we know what Lord Chaim wants. And I met that pretty girl." she said. Sull looked into her pretty hazel eyes, he was so lucky with her, and he thanked his lucky sea star that she was so understanding. He also thanked that same star for the fact that he was still allowed to see his children. He knew for a fact that Brird might not be as lucky, Blath made it already difficult for him to see his little girl. And now with this, he might face the possibility that she will cut him completely off. "I will also speak with Blath, to see what I can do for Brird."

"You do not have to do that," he said. She answered him with a small peg on the lips.

"I know, but Brird is a good male. So are you, it is not for nothing that I choose you as my mating partner, twice." She said. "You are respectful, and takes care of not only our sons. But you are also a fatherly figure for Ochnia's children. Which makes me want to mate with you for a third time." His mouth fall open, how was it posible that they landed here.

"Daddy!" Istenn swam out of the house, his arms stretched out towards him. Sull moved away from Nódea and caught him.

"Hello buddy," he said. Istenn was his youngest and was the most effectionet of his sons. Brerd his oldest appeared into the door. "Hey Brerd."

"Father, is uncle Norchón alright?" Brerd asked, showing his carring nature. He might not swim in for a huge, but that didn't mean that he was cold blooded.

"Uncle Norchón, is fine. More then fine, but he needed my help yesterday." Sull said.

"Your uncle has fallen in love with a women, and needed your father's help. We will meet the lady in question, when the dust clears up." Nódea said. "But for now, your father is coming here. Instead of you two going towards your father." Brerd nodded with a smile, and swam towards his mother. Istenn placed his face against Sull's neck.

"I love you, daddy." Istenn whispered. Sull's heart swell up and he breathed in deeply. He was pretty sure that there would be tears inside his eyes, if he wasn't under water.

"I love you too, buddy." he said to Istenn, he then made eye contact with Brerd. "I love the both of you."