Page 114 of Storm and Sea

“Halfling,” she finished for him. “That doesn’t bother me, Nyel.”

“It’s just that, when Nephi arrived, and Uncle Santé—” he trailed off, unable to finish.

“Nyel, I don’t believe Nephi’s arrival had anything to do with my mate’s passing. Skraith or no.” Her voice was firm. But the stiff set of her jaw made Nyel question the truthfulness of her words. Still, she was standing by him, and that was enough.

“Okay,” was all he could manage.

“Nyel?” she said, her face softening.

“Huh?”

“I’m proud of you.”

This time, he couldn’t hold back the sting in his eyes. He wiped at them, feeling utterly drained. He didn’t know if they were tears of joy or exhaustion.

It turned out his mother wasn’t ready to let go of him yet, and after much back-and-forth, Nyel agreed to stay for a couple of days and help with the baby.

“You sure?” Atreus asked outside the sand hut. Nephi was already gone, and Nyel suspected that after all that, they wouldn’t be seeing him for a while.

“Yeah, just for a while. I think Sonia needs someone to talk to who isn’t my mom.”

“Right.” Atreus stared at his webbed toes, kicking them idly in the sand.

“What is it?” Nyel asked, though Atreus wouldn’t meet his gaze.

“I didn’t know it was like that. I knew you had a family, but I wasn’t expecting…”

“It’s not all sugar and sea prunes,” Nyel said dryly.

“You could put it like that,” Atreus replied, his tone softening. “I’m sorry I misjudged you before.”

“When you assumed I was a spoiled brat running from a perfect life?” Nyel asked, knowing exactly what Atreus had thought of him.

“Well. Yeah. Sorry, Ny.”

“It’s complicated. But they’re my family. And I’ve got a baby cousin and an aunt that need me for a while.”

“Understood. But before I go, I wanted to ask you something.”

“Sure,” Nyel said.

“Back there, your mom said something.”

“Yeah?” Nyel stretched the word, waiting for it like an oncoming punch.

“What is Thalaren?”

It was so unexpected that a flurry of bubbles escaped his gills as Nyel laughed.

“That’s so random. How do you not know—” he stopped mid-sentence. “Sorry. I shouldn’t laugh. I forget sometimes that you don’t know these things. Just because I’ve known about it since birth doesn’t mean...well, I shouldn’t assume. Sorry. You probably felt the same way when I asked about the refrigerator.”

“It wouldn’t have been so annoying if you didn’t keep opening and closing the damn thing.”

“I needed to know if the light stayed on after it was closed!” Nyel defended through a grin. “But to answer your question, Thalaren is,” he chewed on the words. “I guess it’s a place?” he said, like a question. “It’s where our souls go when we, you know, die.”

“Oh,” Atreus said with a raised brow. “The context makes more sense now.”

“Yeah. Mom likes to bring up her impending departure to Thalaren anytime I do something she doesn’t like.”