"You look..."

"Stunning?" I said before Ryan could complete the sentence. A smirk was plastered on my face.

Ryan's brows shot up and he tilted his head to one side. His hands were in his pockets and he looked at me with amusement in his eyes. "Magical," he said. I snorted at that. If anything, I was looking like a cotton candy.

"Magical is quite the flattery, don't you think?" I looked down at the dress I was wearing. Then, I looked at him.

Ryan came towards me and holding me in front of him, he looked at me with an intent expression on his face. Our eyes met. "I think- " he started slowly, "- that it is the perfect flattery for you."

"Oh Ryan," I sighed. My eyes went to my dress again-it truly looked magical and I supposed it had the ability to make me look magical too, even though I was not-both literally and metaphorically.

The dress was pink-a colour I rarely wore, since I believed pink did not quite match my personality-but that dress had at least three different shades of pink, the lightest shade near the neckline; and the skirt was streaked with the most beautiful shade of lilac. It made me look bubblier than I really was, but I liked the dress, nevertheless. It even seemed that the wide hem of the skirt was woven with original lilacs. The lilacs might have been imported from the Land, otherwise it was not possible to get those under the ocean.

Ryan might have noticed my fingers that grazed over the soft material of the dress. "You'll look magical in any dress, Spark," he said. I huffed out a laugh, without meaning to. I did not want to laugh, really, not when he spoke with so much sincerity, not when his eyes reflected so much care and attention.

"Thank you," I muttered, then flashed a broad and genuine smile at him. I hoped the smile would convey what my words could not-that I did not mean to come off as rude, that I really cared for him, and appreciated him for giving me the dress.

Yes, Ryan had brought the dress from the City. After I had finished eating, he told me that he wanted to take me somewhere-obviously I did not want to go at first, afraid what might happen-but finally agreed, after about fifteen minutes of reassurance from Ryan, and also because after spending two weeks at Myra's house without really going anywhere, I wanted to go outside, to explore more of Kingdom of Water. I could see the relief on his face when I had agreed to go; and the cautious excitement that was radiating from his words as he told me that he had brought a dress from the City.

Ryan was at least able to guard his excitement, but I was not-I could not remember the last time I got that excited over a dress. I realized that I got so thrilled because at Myra's, the clothes were not really suitable for me to wear-I did not feel very comfortable in her tops and for the bottom, I had only my trouser and a couple of skirts and underwear that Myra had sewn for me. In the Mer Colony, the shops did not sell any bottom-wear, and Myra had not wanted to leave me alone and go to the Fae Colony to buy me clothes-the City was never an option-and so she had to sew.

I was really grateful to her for what she did. I was grateful to her for so many things-for taking care of me, for treating me like I was her own, for at least trying to make me comfortable in this strange kingdom-but the prospect of finally be able to wear something different and comfortable did funny things to my feelings.

"You are welcome," Ryan's voice broke me from my thoughts. He slid his arm down mine and pulled back. There was the barest brush of his fingers over mine. "Shall we?"

I was about to say yes, but then stopped, remembering something. "How did you get the money for this dress?" I could say looking at the dress that it was definitely not cheap.

Ryan shrugged. "I traded some at The Obsidian."

"What did you trade money for?"

"My dagger," Ryan answered casually.

I smacked him on the arm. He shot me a questioning glance and I rolled my eyes. "And you thought it best to squander it on food and clothes from The City?" I felt somewhat guilty-he had, after all, spent the money for my food and my clothes, too. Still, I could not believe that he could be so careless.

"Relax Spark. I still have an ample amount of money with me." So he was not that careless.

Ryan went on, "I got this dress from a seamstress I personally know. Lira is one of the Royal seamstresses and I have known her my entire life."

I opened my mouth to say something, but stopped. Ryan continued, "I had a rather fortuitous encounter with her at The Obsidian that day-she frequents the place to collect the rarest possible materials for her dresses-we talked and I requested her to make something for you."

A sweet, warm feeling filled my heart at that, flowing through every vein of my body. If I were to describe the feeling, I would say that it had the sweetness of nectar and the surge of warmth you feel when you go under a blanket after a long, cold day-the comfortable kind of warmth, the kind of warmth that drown you in drowsiness.

I found Ryan grinning at me. "Continue," I said briskly.

His grin never wavered. And his eyes never left mine-not until I decided to sit on the couch. Ryan stood leaning on the wall across from me. "Lira would not take money from me," he started, "She said she was already being paid at the palace, though on my insistence, she took only but four gold coins from me. Yet, I cannot say she took anything from me, for she arranged my stay in the library as well as arranged for my food-"

I cut Ryan off mid-sentence. "Library?" The word was pained out of my mouth.

I hoped I could visit a library. I imagined that the library at Kingdom of Water would be spectacular too. I knew that the pages of the books in the library were - the pages were smooth, glossy, made of vellum and were all handwritten.

In the two weeks I was supposed to be resting at Myra's, I came to know many things about the Kingdom of Water by reading different books- those books were handwritten too, though not as glossy. The publishers used magic to duplicate the handwritten pages, and afterwards made them into several copies; and though vellum was somewhat resistant to water, an added protection of spell was also used to make the pages waterproof.

Most of the faeries involved with books- publishing, writing etc. were native to Kingdom of Air, just as most faeries related to cooking were native to Kingdom of Fire- the finest of them came to different kingdoms for jobs in the City or at the palace, and after a year or five became a member of that kingdom- those fae possessed powers related to their jobs.

"I needed to look for a thing at the library." Ryan replied nonchalantly. He kept saying about a thing- I needed to ask him what it was, but I decided to pester him about that on our little trip. "So... I was saying, Lira helped me a great deal to stay at the City, without being seen by one of Aeron's guards."

I swallowed a lump in my throat, thinking what would have happened if he were caught. But clearing my throat, I tried to shake the despairing thought out of my mind; and finally stood up, smoothing my dress.

***

It was as if I was looking at the houses for the first time, and quite frankly, I was. I had never before bothered to actually observe the Mer Colony, but now that Ryan, Kia and me were going through the canals of the colony, I could see that they were very colorful and jovial.

Kia was a dolphin and my transport for the day. I had already decided to take her with me to wherever I went- she was the sweetest and the most adorable dolphin, and was the one to give me the friendliest welcome in the Kingdom of Water.

Myra had informed us that Kia was already at the canal. Indeed, we saw her at the small canal just outside the house, chasing some small fishes. As Ryan and I had approached her, she made a clicking noise and stopped chasing those fish. I had never seen a real dolphin before, and was hesitating to go near her. Kia and Ryan, they both noticed that, and before Ryan could say anything, Kia swam to me in a swift motion and circled me twice, enclosing me in a swirl of water.

Ryan had laughed and I remained transfixed there, my mouth left open in amazement. Kia had then kissed me on my right cheek that elicited a laugh out of me, and I did not stop until she whistled and flapped her fluke, once, indicating me to take my place on her back.

I smiled thinking about my new friend at this Kingdom- I would miss her the most after returning back to Cambridge. I caressed her shimmering back.

"Careful! Careful!" Several voices floated toward us sounding like that of children's and in no moment, I saw four mer children, two girls and two boys, swam to our side. They halted at a safe distance from us, probably intimidated by Ryan- whose tail was unlike any other mer- much bigger, beautiful and regal, but there were small lines of sadness on one girl's plump face and the eyes of one of the boys were wide with anticipation.

Before I could assess the situation, one of the little boys cried out, "Nooo! Our bubble." That made me look forward, and I saw numerous tiny bubbles around us which were disappearing into the water one by one. Kia had unknowingly burst a large bubble that the children were playing with.

Ryan swam to the mer children. I patted Kia on the back and steered her to the children as well. Ryan gently smoothed the long, golden hair of a girl whose lips were starting to quiver, meaning she was on the verge of crying. She seemed the youngest in the lot.

"What is your name?" I asked in my kindest voice.

The girl turned her attention to me. Her lips stopped quivering for a moment. "Lynn," she said.

_____________

⚜Hope you liked this chapter. Please vote/comment/ share if you enjoyed it.😊😊

💫Today is my 18th Birthday!
So, I'll post double update, another one in the evening.✨

⚜ So...this was a cute chapter, I guess? Also, we came to know some more things about Kingdom of Water.

⚜ Give me a ship name for Ryan+Venus