"You have some explaining to do." Oscar said.

Mer didn't think he had anything to explain at all, so he didn't move.

Oscar walked to the water and sat down at the edge of it, running his fingers through his black hair.

"Mer, you can't do that."

What? he signed, one of the few they remembered.

"Why did you try to drown him? I saw how he looked under the water. What did you do to him?"

Mer made his hand into an O shape and then moved it over his forehead. Oscar made a face because he had no idea what that meant. He didn't get that far in the books yet.

"I don't know what that means, Mer. I saw you letting him drown. You can't do that."

Why? Hurt you. he said, his eyes narrowing even more than Oscar thought they could.

Oscar sighed. "Yeah, he hurt me, but you didn't have to kill him. He was just an asshole..."

Mer stared at Oscar for a moment and then ducked in the water. He came onto the shore and crawled up beside his friend. Once he finally got there, he sat next to Oscar, tossing his tail to the side casually. He was really close and Oscar was a little put off by it when Mer turned to him, their noses pretty much touching.

"What are you doing?" Oscar said.

Mer felt around for Oscar's hand and grabbed it, pulling it to his chest. He seemed to think for a moment and then looked at Oscar.

I hurt, you help; you hurt, I help he signed.

Oscar smiled a little. "Of course. That's what friends are supposed to do... but they aren't supposed to kill their enemies." Oscar grabbed Mer's hand. "Thank you for trying to help, I really appreciate it, but also, please don't try to drown people. I can get in a lot of trouble for that."

He stood up and sighed as Mer watched him from the ground.

"I'm not really in the mood for signing today... You want to take a look at that encyclopedia I got? Maybe you can show me if there are discrepancies or something."

Mer made a small squeak and Oscar smiled a little.

"Alright then, just stay here. I'll be right back."

*********************

The two looked over the book for another hour or so, looking at each page individually. Although Mer couldn't completely explain anything, whenever there was something that wasn't correct, he would point and shake his head. They got through most of the book when they ended up on the reproduction chapter. Someone had gotten a little detailed and seeing the 'innards' of the merfolk made Oscar blush a little. Mer, used to seeing his fair share of naked bodies (human and merfolk alike), forced open the book to see what the humans had to say about them. So far, there were a lot of errors but the book was interestingly accurate about a lot of things. Mer couldn't read worth a flip but since he was learning, certain words jumped out at him, but the chapter seemed to mostly depict pictures of what the female and male reproductive organs looked like. Mer frowned and tugged on Oscar's shirt.

"What?" Mer pointed at the page. "Do you want me to read it?" Mer nodded. "There's hardly any words on here."

Mer pointed to the little paragraphs that were beside lines drawn to the mermaid and merman.

"You want me to read the diagram?" Mer nodded enthusiastically. "Okay..."

Oscar read the diagram one little paragraph at a time, pointing to each so that Mer knew where he was. He started from the heads on both sides but when he got to the torsos, he stopped. Mer pointed excitedly at the next part.

"Why do you want to know so bad? Are you like, perverted?"

Mer scrunched his nose. Book right? Me right? he signed.

Oscar furrowed his eyebrows. "Why this part?"

Always wrong. Mer signed.

"Oh... Alright then..."

Oscar read the rest of the diagram and finally finished at the tails. He looked at Mer, finding him a bit in thought.

"You okay?" Oscar asked.

Mer nodded a little but pointed at the bottom half of the images and shook his head.

Wrong!

"What's so wrong about it?"

A lot.

"Like what?"

Hard... Mer shook his head. Not right.

Oscar closed the book and sighed. "Maybe when we have mastered the art of sign language you can tell me what was wrong with the book. I'm going to head back into the house. I'm really tired from everything that happened today and I'm sure you're tired too. We'll meet back up here tomorrow, okay?" Mer nodded. "Do you want some help to the ocean?" Mer nodded. "Alright, I'll help you."

Oscar bent down and Mer wrapped his arms around his neck. Oscar grabbed his tail and hauled him out to see. Mer rolled off his friend's back and they went their separate ways.

*******************

As Mer swam back down to his home, he thought about the chain of events that happened that day. Oscar was right and maybe he went a little overkill with the other human, but Mer felt like he was suddenly out of control. It was as if another part of him suddenly took control of his brain.

"Hello?"

Mer jumped in fright, looking over to find an almost iridescent white mermaid swimming next to him. She looked like a shining pearl with her stark white hair and tail, a luminescent glow and a pearlescent shimmer making her extremely beautiful. Her eyes were clear like a bubble and were just as fascinating underwater as they would be on the land.

"Did you hear what I said?" she asked, looking at Mer. Mer shook his head. "Did you just come back from the surface?" Mer nodded. "I thought my father said not to go up there."

Mer made a face at her and rolled his eyes, continuing to swim.

The mermaid made a face and caught up with him, turning over to swim under him.

"What's it like?" Mer looked down. "I've never been."

Mer stopped and put his hand to chin. He held out his hand for hers and he wrote in their language into her hand.

IT'S BRIGHT... AND VERY HOT.

"I'm scared to try it. My dad keeps threatening to lock me away if I get anywhere near the surface."

I'M NOT SCARED OF YOUR DAD.

"Obviously." She said with a laugh. "Father also says that you were around humans." Mer nodded. "I thought humans were evil."

SOME ARE BUT OSCAR ISN'T. HE IS VERY NICE. Thinking about what happened earlier in the day and the fact that he almost killed a human, Mer thought maybe the mermaid would have an answer for him. CAN I ASK YOU A QUESTION?

"It depends on what it is. I'll try to answer as best as I can..."

IS IT... WRONG TO WANT TO HURT THOSE WHO HURT OUR FRIENDS?

The mermaid watched him for a moment, wondering exactly what he meant by that. She narrowed her eyes at him.

"Did you try to hurt someone?"

A NOT NICE HUMAN HURT OSCAR. OSCAR IS MY FRIEND. I... TRIED TO KILL HIM.

The mermaid's eyes widened a little and she put her hands on his shoulders.

"Did you kill him?" Mer shook his head quickly. The mermaid sighed. "Good... For one, it's against Merfolk Law to kill a human unprovoked. If a human hurts us and is the one in the wrong, we have the right to defend ourselves and our people. The affairs of humans are not for us to deal with... even if you may think they are your friend. What if you had killed this other human? Would your human be alright with that?" Mer looked away, remembering how upset Oscar was when the Trent left, and the mermaid slid her hands from his shoulders. "Humans deal with humans unless it harms our people."

WHAT ABOUT THE SIRENS?

The mermaid rolled her eyes. "Sirens are crazy and live by their own rules. There is a reason why they live near small islands in the middle of the ocean and we live too far for the humans to track us. The point is that even if you are friends with a human, a human will not understand. How did you try to kill it?"

WHY DO YOU WANT TO KNOW? he wrote with a confused look at her.

"I guess I should say it differently and ask what would drive you to want to kill a human without provocation?"

THE TRENT WAS A HORRIBLE HUMAN AND HURT OSCAR.

"Oscar is the name of your human?" she said with a disgusted face. Mer nodded. "That's an ugly name." Mer rolled his eyes at her. "So the trent tried to hurt your friend? What is a trent?"

I DON'T KNOW. THAT'S WHAT HE CALLED HIM.

"Okay, so the Trent tried to hurt Oscar and then what? What do you remember?"

I FELT HEAT INSIDE OF ME COME FROM MY STOMACH AND THROUGH MY BODY. ALL I WANTED WAS TO SEE HIM PAY FOR WHAT HE DID. I WANTED TO WATCH HIM DIE.

The mermaid gave him a bewildered look. "Were you surprised by what you felt?" Mer nodded. "How did you try to kill him?"

Mer went through how he tried to hypnotize Trent and everything that happened with almost drowning him. The mermaid listened as he detailed how he felt while everything was happening and she nodded a little.

"I think you like him more than just a friend."

Mer laughed. I BARELY KNOW HIM.

The mermaid looked at him in all seriousness. "[Mer], the way you acted, the things you did... those are things that... that bonds cause."

MY NAME IS MER. AND BONDS ARE FOR ADULTS.

"Bonds can happen anytime, dummy. Attraction is what starts a bond and a bond is sealed once you're an adult and can properly seal them together... Do you know what you are? Have you had any symptoms of anything?" Mer shook his head. "I would watch out and see if you notice anything else. It may have been just because you were so angry about your friend but I don't really think that's the case. The intensity is what I worry about..."

HUMANS DON'T EVEN KNOW HOW WE WORK. I HIGHLY DOUBT IT DOES ANYTHING TO HUMANS ANYWAY.

The mermaid swam close to him and locked eyes with him.

"Attraction makes bonds and bonds can cross boundaries. Don't think they can't." Mer swallowed a little as the mermaid started swimming away. "Come on, I asked Father if you could come to eat with us tonight. He didn't like the idea but it would be better than a kelp and sea cucumber sandwich."

Fancy food did sound nice and he was exhausted from all the potential drowning...