Eva couldn’t believe it, they had survived. She still felt sick but that was far overshadowed by being at the surface, being free. It felt surreal to feel the sun on her face, to see the endless blue around them. A worrying sight to be sure yet so much more delightful. She was on sturdier ground… metaphorically and Viola would help her back on her feet in this new place… again metaphorically.

Viola seemed equally content, a pleased smile on her face as she took in the sun. It was crazy how much Eva had never appreciated it until it was gone. A crushing weight finally lifted from her shoulders. They had survived!

She tackled Viola in a hug, excited whistles flowing from her without a second thought. “It worked, Viola, it worked!”

Viola nuzzled against her, her hands wrapping tightly around Eva. “yes… now find… pod. Can go home.”

Eva’s delight faltered, that was the question now wasn't it? What next? She had decided if need be she would let Viola go but now she could never go home, she wasn't human. She knew far too little to survive on her own, she wanted to stay with Viola. She wouldn't be able to handle everything without something familiar. Yet Eva had no idea how to bring it up, it seemed wrong to make this all about her after Viola had been a prisoner for months. Still, she didn't really have a choice, she needed to know where they stood and what the hell she was going to do even if the answer terrified her.

“What about me?” Eva asked, the reluctance scratching at her throat.

Viola's gaze softened and she pressed their foreheads together. “I chose you. Our home, our pod, yes?”

Relief washed through her and she nodded jerkily. Swallowing the lump in her throat before pressing her lips to Viola’s. She could do this, she could adapt, and get used to being a… blackfish.

She was trembling, not out of cold but out of everything. She had been so scared for so long and now… now things might be ok. For the first time, she was optimistic, they were free. She had had to give up land but she had gained a life with Viola now. Maybe not the healthiest of choices in a human relationship but she was alive… and she was happy. “I love you so much, Viola,” Eva murmured against Viola’s lips.

“Love you, Eva,” Viola replied with a smile. Eva could lose herself in those shimmering eyes.

Eva nibbled on her lip and glanced away, at least she couldn’t blush so obviously anymore. Had they just gotten mermaid married? It kind of felt like it. Either way, something had changed for the better. “S-so… how do we find our pod?” she asked, liking how it sounded. Ours.

“Wait for… stars. But we should… not close to..” Viola trailed off pointing to the Rig in the distance.

“Ok, which way do we go?” Eva asked, the endless blue seemed close to as disorienting as the total darkness.

“Do not know, waters new,” she sighed.

Eva could see how exhausted Viola was even if she was trying to hide it. Eva felt much the same way. “We can rest, let’s just start going this way,” she decided, tugging Viola in the opposite direction of the Rig.

Viola nodded and they began to swim, Eva did her best to mimic her. She had seen orcas swim while sleeping dozens of times, at least in videos. But trying to replicate it herself, especially when she wasn’t really an orca was far more challenging.

Viola seemed to simply lazily swim a few feet under the surface, not coming up for air every few seconds like orcas did. Holding one's breath while sleeping seemed entirely counterintuitive to Eva, especially as Viola had usually simply floated on her back at the surface in captivity. Despite her exhaustion, Eva did her best to learn.

Really the worst part was that they couldn’t be wrapped up together. It was one thing to simply float together but half asleep it was too complicated to swim while holding onto each other. Eva however found a compromise as she swam to Viola’s side and took her hand. They didn’t really use them for swimming anyway.

Viola gave her hand a little squeeze and they continued on. Eva slept less than she would have liked, but the experience was so new she couldn’t relax properly. Life swam around them, schools of fish passing below. Clouds of plankton drifting by.

Eva didn’t know enough to figure out where they were based on that but none of the species she saw she had seen in San Diego. That really didn’t mean much though, the oceans were so vast and different that even a few miles could make all the difference.

The sound of the ocean was soothing, the waves above, the thrum of currents. Occasionally they would surface for air but mostly they swam. It was cozy in a way the open ocean had never been before, thankfully things were calm. Then again, if she had been human or not an apex predator then things would have probably been different.

Eva’s stomach soon began to urge her to eat though she didn’t dare leave Viola’s side. Getting separated would be almost as bad up here. She had no idea how Viola planned to find their pod. Eva didn’t even know which direction was which. The sun was too high in the sky to even estimate.

She nudged Viola awake, “food?”

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

Viola blinked groggily before nodding and dove, Eva on her heels…er fluke. The world was a blur of sparkling blue and bubbles of warm water.

She could hear Viola clicking, searching for something to eat. Before glancing back at Eva and whistling for her to follow. Eva had started to grasp Viola’s whistles which had been very fortunate considering the world she had entered.

Eva followed Viola down, a shoal circling in the distance, feeding on shrimp or krill most likely. Viola glanced back at her, a toothy grin on her face before she shot forward with a burst of speed. Eva had seen videos before but it was another thing entirely to watch Viola flip in the water, smacking several fish with her tail. She could hear the thunk reverberate through the water.

Moments later Viola returned, a fish between her teeth and a glint of triumph in her eyes. She held out a fish for Eva, which was beginning to twitch, she gulped down the other.

Eva whistled in a way she felt communicated thanks and took the fish. She tried to take a bite however it began to wriggle which ended up with it entirely in her mouth… and then swallowing it whole. It didn’t taste like anything which was a bonus, still, it felt weird to swallow things without chewing.

Viola whistled at her and pointed at the shoal, kicking with her tail in mimicry. She wanted her to try. Eva shrugged but nodded. She didn’t even know if she could do a flip, her centre of gravity had changed.

Still, she was hungry and she needed to learn to hunt, plus it did seem kinda fun. She kicked forward towards the shoal and spun. Trying to wrap her head around kicking down against the fish with her tail she attempted to do just that. Her technique however was not up to par and she only sent herself down, missing the fish entirely.

She whistled in annoyance and twisted, swimming back up to try again. She would have to start with something simpler. The way orcas did it rather than the showing-off method Viola had done. She swam over as fast as she could to try and catch the fish off guard before twisting up and bringing her tail forward. The satisfying sound and feeling of her tail colliding with a fish was her reward.

She quickly reoriented herself and grabbed the stunned fish who was unable to make a swim for it like the other before swallowing it down.

Viola whistled excitedly. Eva returned and nuzzled against her before returning her attention to the shoal. It was time to gorge themselves.

----------------------------------------

Admittedly it had not been the smoothest hunt as they lacked the numbers to really herd the fish properly. Still, Eva’s belly was full and so was Viola’s, the fact that it had taken so much time didn’t matter as much as they were killing time. It was evening now, the stars would be out soon.

Eva wished she had spent more time studying astronomy. She knew practically nothing about constellations or navigation. Viola however seemed confident in her abilities having learned from her mother.

“You never really did tell me about your life before you were a blackfish,” Eva realized as they floated at the surface.

“Unimportant, remember so little. Name, foggy pictures, steamboat, was… small child,” Viola replied.

“Do you ever miss it?”

“No,” Viola replied without hesitation. “Was… eight, barely time. Do not… remember human parents. So much lost to time.”

Eva nodded, “well, I’m sorry about what happened anyway.”

Viola nodded, “was… another life.” Eva didn’t really know what to reply with. “Memories still hurt sometimes,” Viola said quietly.

“Sometimes sharing helps.”

Viola sighed. “Remember the end most. Cold, white.”

“It was winter?”

Viola hummed in agreement. “Bad weather, storm. Going on trip. Vi… Vicktoria,” she said, sounding out a word she clearly had not spoken in so very long.

“Victoria,” Eva replied, her mind racing to try and map that name. A city in Canada, far far north from San Diego. The opposite side of the country really.

“Steamboat fill with water. Put me and… human mother on… small boat. Storm make us fall into water. Was scared, Mother came, was scared of… monster. Then… save me, but human part died.”

“Is that what happened to me? Did… did the human part of me die in the abyss?” Eva asked.

“Does it feel like it?”

“Y-yeah,” she replied, her throat tight. Not so much that who she had been was gone but her human life has certainly died. She was doing her best not to think too much about what she had given up, she wasn’t ready to grieve. Not yet.

“I am sorry,” Viola said, kissing her cheek.

“Well… none of me would be alive if it wasn’t for you.”

“It does not mean it not hurt,” Viola replied.

“No,” Eva choked out. “No, no it doesn’t. Do you… what’s your name in orca?”

Viola smiled and whistled, it sounded quite similar to her own name whistled, except for the first low note. It was a literal translation of sound.

Eva mimicked it, “Vi-ol-a.”

“I missed this,” Viola sighed, glancing towards the sky, the setting sun turning it a shade of pink. The moon was now visible as more than an outline.

“Me too,” Eva replied. There was something very romantic about watching the sunset with Viola. She took Viola’s hand and pulled them together. “I’m glad I’m here with you.”

“I am glad was you who tripped in pool,” Viola smiled. “I would have drowned others.”

Eva chuckled, their meeting seemed so far away now. Though it was still weird to hear Viola say that so casually.

“Well… I’m glad you didn’t drown me.”

“I am glad to be here with you too,” Viola said before kissing her, running her hand through Eva’s hair before pulling away and looking back to the darkening sky.

Eva snuggled into her with a contented sigh. She didn’t know what the future held but she felt at least somewhat ready. The only thing that whispered in the back of her mind was that she had to assume Talbot knew they were alive. She had seen some cameras, he might even know she was a mermaid now. All they could hope for was that he wouldn’t be able to find them. She couldn’t imagine tracking them down would be easy in the open ocean.

“Eva,” Viola muttered.

“Yes?”

“We… we have problem. These stars… they are… different,” she tried to explain.

“What do you mean?” Eva asked, that sounded bad. Really bad.

“Some patterns are… not there… there are new ones. I… I do not understand. I have never seen this before.”

“Never?” Eva swallowed hard.

“We migrate from cold to hot waters but the stars have a pattern. It… there is a different one here.”

“Ok… so we’re… not close to San Diego. Is anything familiar?”

“Some is, there… are more patterns there,” she said pointing toward the sunset.

“Fuck fuck… the sun… fuck what was it. Oh,” she said with a snap of her fingers. “The sun rises early in the Early.”

Viola just blinked at her.

“Oh shit…”

“What?” Viola asked.

“Sometimes I would watch the sunset because there was often a good view of it over the ocean… which means that way is West,” she explained pointing towards the sunset. “But… if the constellations are only familiar in the West that means… we’re way further East. Right?”

“I… I am confused.”

“Viola… I think we’re in the Caribbean Sea, maybe the South Atlantic.”

“Eva, not know what those words mean.”

“Talbot flew us, in a plane. There’s an entire continent of land between us and home. The coast you migrate along, we’re on the other side of the land from there.”

“But… how are… how are we to get home?” Viola asked. Eva had seen a lot of expressions on her, despair had never been one.

“I-I have no idea,” Eva replied, pulling a stunned Viola into a hug.