Evening fell and a knock came on his door. He blinked but answered. It was an errand boy that came up with a pair of sandals. "The cobbler made these as a hold over pair for your lady friend."

  "Oh, thanks." They were soft leather sandals with some straps to keep them on the feet, but it was better than nothing. She could still feel the ground through them as he hadn't had time to really stiffen the leather, but it was better than nothing. They'd have to visit the royal jeweler tomorrow. He had come from the royal castle, so they still referred to him as such even though they weren't royalty…

  The boy withdrew and Sun went over to Weiss, gently patting her shoulder. "Hey, Weiss, you awake?" he asked softly.

  She rolled over and looked at him, blue eyes wide. "Yeah... I'm not sure how well I'm going to sleep in this position until I get used to it... It's weird. Or being on my back. It's uncomfortable to not be stretched out fully." He could only imagine. He was used to curling up on his bed personally so he felt it comfortable, so it must have been incredibly different for a mermaid who was used to sleeping completely upright…

  He explained about the shoes and she nodded a bit. She sat up and struggled to tie them, so she helped her out. She was gonna need a lot of help... He knew that basically once gem ropes were tied, they just didn't come off. Tying didn't come naturally to a lot of mermaids. She looked completely forlorn as she glanced at the jewels. He'd have her come with him after dinner, assuming that didn't go as poorly as he thought it would. Well. It was probably gonna be objectively worse than he thought. His parents absolutely despised mermaids so learning that his fake fiance was one... That wasn't gonna go over well.

  "Anyway, it's almost dinner time. We should head down to the dining room." He didn't like eating with his parents, but they insisted for breakfast and dinner. And if he didn't, well, it was worth a beating. He hated how much control they had over him, but there wasn't much he could do about it. He was the only one of his generation that hadn't either died or simply disappeared. He wished he had set up a disappearance quite a few years ago... Weiss would've been fine without him…

  "Okay..." He stood up and offered his hand to her and helped her off the bed. He held her hand and interlaced their fingers, heading down to the dining room. Weiss looked mystified in a lot of ways. Paintings littered the walls and the carpet felt soft underneath their feet. He supposed paintings would be interesting or confusing to her (or both) since that sorta stuff just couldn't exist underwater. Paints needed to dry and harden which they couldn't underwater. Let alone the logistics of something equivalent to canvas... "What are those strange things on the walls?"

  "Paintings. They've been commissioned by either my parents or dukes past. They're a way to show off wealth." Considering how much went into commissioning a painting, yeah, they were primarily a way to show off the wealth of the family. There were none of him, but plenty of his parents. Lots of still lifes and large landscape pictures... Absolutely gorgeous, but ultimately pointless and stupid. He would need to get a painting once he got married though... Hopefully Weiss would be enough to scare off this girl his parents had hooked him up with. He didn't want anything to do with some random woman his parents had hooked him up with. Why hadn't they told him when they started the process? Oh right, because he would've protested at every step of the way. Nothing would've stopped them and he would've just gotten beaten more, but still... He wished he could have at least some say in who he'd marry. He really couldn't marry Weiss, but if it could at least give off the appearance of him being engaged, he'd do it. Though on that…

  He let out a breath. "Weiss... We're gonna have to pretend to be in love in front of my parents. Hugs, probably kisses, being close to each other..." He didn't want to violate her consent or anything, but still... They would absolutely need to act lovey dovey in front of his parents and this new girl.

  Weiss blinked and her face took a slight pink hue. "O-Oh, I hadn't considered that part of things... It's...pretty sudden to realise that but if that's what it'll take to get your parents off your back..." She squeezed his hand, looking down a little.

  "Are you okay with that?" He really didn't want to violate her boundaries or anything... He wasn't sure if first kisses or anything had a major role in mermish society or not... He was trying to be respectful of her. Granted, not asking her permission before any of this wasn't particularly respectful, but he was trying his absolute best to make the best of a bad situation. Weiss seemed fairly willing to help him out since it meant she could get away from her step siblings, but still... He was trying his best to not take advantage of her desire to be away and just her general trust in him as she had almost always trusted him…

  "Well... If there's anybody I'd act with that way, I'd rather act that way with you..." Her tone was shy and she offered him a small but warm smile. He felt his own cheeks warm up a little bit and rubbed the back of his neck. Of all the replies he expected, that was not it. He was trying to make the best of a bad situation, but at least she wasn't completely turning him down and away.

  "I... Thanks, Weiss. I really appreciate it. And keep in mind you don't need to accept me doing something to you that you aren't comfortable with. Do you want me to kiss you on the lips at all or should we just keep it to cheek and holding hands and kind of hanging all over each other?"

  "We can kiss." Her response remained shy. "Think...we should try now?" He felt his face heat up entirely and he could only imagine he looked like an apple or tomato. He hadn't expected that response immediately. It did make some level of sense but even so...

  "I mean better sooner rather than later, I guess..." He shifted to face her fully and cupped her cheek with his hand, then pulled her into a soft kiss. He could definitely feel uncertainty in her response, but it was warm, soft, and gentle just like she was. She pulled back after a moment and looked at him.

  "I mean it's not like it's anything horrible," she commented. Yeah, it wasn't too bad... "If you want to do it more, you can."

  He nodded. "All right then." He wasn't trying to force anything on her she didn't want. She didn't sound enthused about it, but she didn't sound like she hated it either. Well, as long as it was a neutral action, he wouldn't mind doing it to help ensure his parents thought they were close together. Well, she was his best friend, but it didn't really go beyond that. But if worse came to worst...he might have to actually marry her which would be...complicated. Mermaids and Faunus were not compatible in terms of bearing children and he would need to continue the family line. EIther she stayed out of the water to carry a pregnancy to term and died during the process or they just didn't have children. She'd lose the pregnancy on changing to mermaid form... And, well, they just weren't compatible developmentally when she was in mermaid form. Things were so beyond complicated...

  She shivered a bit. "What's this weird feeling I have...? It's making me... I don't even know the word for it."

  "Oh, you're shivering. You're chilly." That did only make sense. It was mid spring but it wasn't the warmest day by any means. She had a lot of anti-temperature enchantments to make sure she felt comfortable at all times. Betting cold in the winter would be bad, though in the summer, she'd remain warm since she was in the water. She had never really experienced the changing of the seasons and temperatures like he had.

  He got up and went over to his closet, then pulled out a robe to offer it to her. "Here. This should help you warm up a bit." He had put away his heaviest covers since it wasn't the dead of winter anymore. Why bother keeping them out when he would overheat? He had his spring and fall covers out... He wouldn't really use them once it started to get really warm though. No cover was cool enough to be used during the hot, sticky summers. She'd have to endure the nightly temperature shifts so...this would be all new territory for her. She was used to being one temperature and that was it.

  She put the robe on and looked down at the sleeves. "It's too big for me..."

  "Well, it's my clothing, so of course it's not going to fit you quite right, Weiss. But it's better than being cold, right?"

  She nodded a bit. "Yeah, I guess so." She tied the sash around the waist and pulled her knees to her chest. "When am I going to meet your parents?"

  "Well, dinner's soon, so we'll need to head down... You won't be able to stay in the robe, though. They'll consider it highly inappropriate." He had been beaten more than once for trying to come downstairs and leave his room in anything less than fully dressed. Some mornings he simply slept late and tried to get to breakfast on time. Well, being late and being not properly dressed were both worthy of at least a verbal beating in their books. THere was no winning with them unfortunately. Weiss would quickly learn just how terrible they truly were. She had heard his stories, but she hadn't seen it for herself... He wouldn't stop her if she tried to protect herself. He'd just...really learned to accept it a long time ago unfortunately. Fighting back just earned more beatings and punishments. But they wouldn't hold down the spunky mermaid he'd befriend all those years ago...

  "They're stupid. This is so comfy! You should be allowed to eat in it!" She made a face, puffing her cheeks out. Yeah, robes were comfy. But they were inappropriate for meals as far as they were concerned. It was one thing when it was the dead of winter around the castle since everyone needed to bundle up a little bit even with fires being available in every room. Oh, that'd be another big shock for Weiss, the first time seeing fire... He shoved that out of his mind for the time being, just worried how his parents and Weiss would interact.

  "Well, I've learned that it's best to just not push the topic." He sighed and folded his arms, looking up at the ceiling. He hated where he lived so much. HE really wished he would've been able to escape under the sea with Weiss. That probably would've been so much better despite her step siblings and how they acted. He would prefer to be anywhere but here. But he knew if he ran away, then his parents would pursue him doggedly until they found him. And they would severely punish anybody that harbored him... Even if they had truly done nothing wrong.

  "You parents are dumb. I'm not gonna let them push me around." Her eyes hardened as did her tone. He knew better than to cross Weiss at this point. Once she set her mind to something, she wouldn't let it happen. She just wouldn't. He doubted it would turn his parents around since, no matter how much people had talked to them, they refused to see anything but their own way. They just refused to. They'd had four children disappear on them with the others dying of illness. It was probably because they were such shit parents in the end... He would've mysteriously disappeared had he known they wouldn't try to hunt him down as if he were some sort of criminal or seditionist.

  "I know you won't." He smiled at her and patted her head. "We should probably start heading down unfortunately." Being late was also an offense... Weiss frowned and took the robe off, rubbing her arms. He didn't blame her... All she had on was a thin strip of cloth across her breasts and some sort of wrap skirt around her waist and the upper part of her legs. It was really just enough to cover what was necessary for the land-dwelling world. She'd get a full wardrobe in a couple days (magic was useful for producing things quickly) but until then, she'd probably be relegated to his room since his parents would see what she was wearing as inappropriate. They considered next to everything inappropriate... It was stupid.

  Weiss sighed and took the robe off, leaving it on the bed. He offered his hand and she took it, following him out of his room. As they walked down the hall, the servants gave them a confused look and Weiss returned it with a stern one. Yeah, he couldn't really blame her for any of that. They would probably discriminate against her if given the chance at all. The people here followed his parents' opinions so they definitely had an uphill battle ahead of them. If they tried to bar her from getting basic necessities like clothes, though, there would be hell to pay. He would not let Weiss be not allowed to have basic necessities. There would be a lot of...adapting she had to do, though.

  They met down in the family dining room and his parents looked at each other, then at the pair of them. "Sun...who is this girl and why is she dressed like a mermaid?" His mother frowned.

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  "Because I am one," Weiss said, holding her head high. She could definitely be a bit silly and mostly soft spoken, but she really wasn't someone to cross in the end. He knew better than to try to not tell her to do something. She could and would do damn well anything she put her mind to. And she had already made up her mind that she wasn't going to allow his parents to push her around. She already got it enough underwater from her step siblings and her mother not believing her. She wasn't going to tolerate it up here.

  "A mermaid? How uncouth, Sun! Tell her to go back to the water! She has no place here among us!" His mother's expression turned severe and her tone matched. He felt himself starting to fold but Weiss stepped in front him.

  "I'm not going to let you push him around anymore and I'm not going to let you push me around period! You hooked him up with someone he doesn't even know and you're expecting him to get married? If anything is uncouth, it's your behavior! Sun is the love of my life and I'm not going to let you hurt him any longer!" She pulled on the front of his shirt and pulled him down to her level, only to place a very heated kiss on his lips. He blinked but he leaned into it, trying to keep up the charade he had started. It felt strange to be kissing anybody passionately, let alone his best friend in front of his parents. But he wrapped his arms around her waist, pulling her flush against himself. She threw her arms around his neck and molded herself against him, throwing everything she could into the kiss. He has expected a bit but...not this. He wouldn't necessarily complain but... Wow, was this bizarre.

  She only pulled back when she needed to breathe and threw a look at his parents, just daring them to speak. He saw his father's hand grip the silverware tightly and the man visibly shook in rage. "Sun, this is absolutely unreasonable. A mermaid? In our family? There's no way in hell we'll allow this! You will marry the young woman we sat you up with, no ifs, ands, or buts about it. That is the only way we'll allow you to leave our home."

  "Well too fucking bad about that! He's marrying me!" Weiss snarled, keeping her arms wrapped around his neck and pressing in as close to him as she possibly could. He knew she could get aggressive, but he hadn't expected this... Not that he was complaining. SOmeone needed to stand up to them... It just couldn't be himself unfortunately.

  "If you think you're going to marry her or she's going to come out of this alive..." The threat from his father was dark and he held Weiss close.

  "If you think I'm gonna let you kill her, you got another thing coming to you!" he snapped. He wasn't going to let them harm Weiss at all. He felt bad that he'd have to keep her under constant surveillance, but if he didn't keep her close, then she would end up dead. His father had just outright threatened it. She would have a hard time not being able to go where she wanted and doing what she wanted could on her own choice, but it was she died or he protected her. And the guards would be loyal to his parents, not him. He didn't have friends outside of the castle, so he couldn't get mercenaries... Even meals could be suspect...

  "She's not walking out of this castle alive and that's that! You will come to our room after dinner. Do you understand?" his father growled.

  "No, I won't." He wasn't going to take a beating while she probably got killed. His room technically had a lock on it, but they had a key to his room. He technically had no privacy... They didn't often go into his room, but he knew they held a key. He couldn't even rely on a locked door to keep them out.

  Weiss stepped out a little bit and raised a hand, the water coming out of her father's glass, forming a hand, and starting to strangle him. "Weiss!" He couldn't help but be alarmed. No he didn't care for his parents, but murdering them wouldn't do any good! He'd just get in trouble and so she would she! This wasn't worth murder charges!

  She dropped it and his father spluttered and hyperventilated, trying to regain his air. "That's just a taste of what I'm capable of doing with my magic! Water is my friend and I can command it in any form--including from the air." An arrow of water formed and pointed directly at the back of his father's neck, making the man still as much as he could between his spluttering. "You can never disarm me as long as there's water in some form." She stared at him hard, making the water arrow disappear. He knew she'd stand up to them, but he hadn't expected a murder attempt and threatening their lives... She really was something else.

  "She isn't welcome in this dining room again! She's not allowed to eat any meal with us!" his mother shrieked. "She'll kill us if she's around! WHy are you in love with such a murderous wench, Sun?! I thought we raised you well enough to not fall in love with somebody so dangerous!"

  "You didn't raise me at all! All you did was beat me into compliance!" He shook his head. "I'm done dealing with you two! I'm not eating with you any more!" After seeing them treat Weiss that way, he wasn't going to eat with them again. But he couldn't trust the cooks... Thankfully, he had spent time in and around the kitchen, so he could cook their meals for them. He couldn't trust anybody to prepare their meals that wasn't him. He was just sick and tired of being ordered around and told what to do, then being beaten when he wasn't good enough.

  He took Weiss' hand and stormed into the kitchen with her. He sat her down in a chair and started gathering supplies for their dinner. The cooks stayed out of his way since it was pretty obvious he was beyond angry. It was impossible to not have heard the commotion from the other room. The kitchen was loud, but they'd been shouting pretty effectively.

  Eventually, he finished cooking and sat the plate and silverware in front of her with a glass of juice. "One of the cooks told me it's fresh from the unicorn forest." The unicorn forest grew fruits and vegetables year round. His parents had a terrible relationship with Moonstone (was it any surprise?) but she allowed the cooks to make use of her forest since they generally weren't the ones treating the unicorn terribly. He was pretty acquainted with the kitchen staff and they were good people. But they were afraid of his parents, so they would do what they said... Frustrating, but what else could he do about it?

  "What is it?" She held up the glass and rotated it. "What...is this thing you put it in?"

  "Uh, fresh squeezed apple juice. And that's a glass.... We have to drink things up here to keep our bodies working. If we don't, we get dehydrated and can get sick or even die. It holds the juice or other liquid." He was gonna have to explain so many things to her... Did she even really understand the function of a table or silverware...? She wasn't stupid; she just didn't understand how life on land worked.

  She took a drink from the glass and smiled. "Oh, this is very nice." She let the glass go and it clattered to the table, dripping juice. "Oh... What happened?"

  "Things fall up here, Weiss. They don't stay suspended in place. This is a table. It's used to hold objects closer to yourself when you're eating or whatever."

  She frowned. "That's...kinda weird. I'm used to food and other things being buoyant..." That made perfect sense. She was used to a world of full three-dimension movement. Things could technically move three dimensionally in the air too, but there was the consequence of them dropping back to the earth...or whatever was nearest, at least. LIke the table. She had grown up with things being weighted in such a way that made them sink or be buoyant... She wasn't really used to this entire 'falling' thing.

  "Not really. YOu'll get used to it in due time." One of the staff handed him a rag to wipe up the juice, then passed him a fresh glass. "Just put things down instead of expecting them to hang in place, okay?" She wasn't stupid... He knew that much. She was wonderfully intelligent and he'd seen her ramble on about things and discoveries she'd made with magic. She just hadn't been taught about the world above the aves since most mermaids never went past shore. Would her mother even know what it was like to teach her up on land? And he'd have to explain all of this to the girl that his parents had hooked him up with... He wanted nothing to do with her, but would he really have a choice in not interacting with her?

  "What are these things for? I've seen them in sunken ships sometimes..." She picked up the fork and rotated it in her fingers. "Is it for your hair? Why would you deal with your hair at dinner?"

  He chuckled and shook his head. "No, it's called a fork. Let me show you how to use the silverware." He explained and showed her how to use each one. She was definitely awkward as she tried to cut the steak that he'd made for her. She wasn't used to the pressure that was required to cut something, at least not on land. Plus, steak was kinda tough... But he figured it'd be a good introduction to non-fish meats.

  After she struggled to get a bit off, she bit into and her eyes widened. "Wow, this is really good... I mostly eat greens from underwater, though we do hunt fish and eat them raw. Why are those things over there?" She pointed to the stoves.

  "Ah, they cook our food. We aren't really able to handle things that aren't cooked. Well, at least meat wise. We have to cook fish too. Pig, chicken, cow, and fish all have to be cooked before we can eat them. Some people do eat fish raw, but it's not a staple of our country's diet." Fish were a staple of his diet since he lived so close to the coast, so they had a steady stream of it, but even so, he was glad when he got beef, chicken, and pork. Sometimes he got wild game, but that was only if his father had organised a hunting expedition and they came back with a lot of game in the bag. His parents practiced falconry, but he hadn't ever really picked the sport up. He just wasn't really one to revel in killing things. His father, unsurprisingly, really adored hunting in many forms. "We can eat plenty of fruit and veggies raw, but most of our food is gonna be cooked. And, well, I'm gonna cook it for us."

  "Why?"

  "Are you familiar with poisoning food as a method of murder?" That got Weiss to still and she looked down. She wasn't stupid. She could pick up on the implication of that. "Yeah. I can't trust any of the cooks to not follow my parents' orders." He knew most of them were in earshot of him, but it wasn't really their fault. They were afraid of his parents and they could lose their job and be blacklisted across the kingdom if it was found out they refused a direct order from their former employer. He felt bad... He really did. They were doing nothing wrong by being cooks. But They could potentially kill Weiss if he trusted them with cooking her meals.

  "I see..." Her voice was quiet. He got up and walked over to her, then pulled her into a hug. He wished she didn't have to be so on guard, but his father had outright threatened her life in front of her. He had to be on guard and make sure nothing could happen that would end in her death. He could only imagine what would happen if her mother found out her daughter had died on his watch... She'd only met Willow a few times but she was a lovely woman. A bit too naive for her own good when it came to her daughter and how she interacted with her step siblings, but a good woman all the same.

  Weiss returned the hug and rested her head in the crook of his neck. "This sucks..." she muttered. "But it's this or I get abused by my step siblings..." She sighed.

  He petted her head and nodded. "Yeah. It really does suck. If you want to back out at any point, I won't hold it against you. Your life is on the line here..." He really hadn't thought any of this through before he'd lashed out like that. Now Weiss' life was in danger if he left her alone for even five minutes. He felt he could trust the juice since it had come from a pitcher before his parents had known. But unless he saw it prepared in front of his own eyes, he couldn't trust anything coming from the cooks anymore. For all he knew, they might try to poison his food as well. There was really no winning here. And he enjoyed the fresh fruit juice... Fresh lemonade was amazing and he could have it year-round due to Moonstone's forest. But now... He'd have to prepare a glass for himself every time he wanted it. He just could not trust anything coming from the cooks.

  She shook her head. "I'm not going to abandon you, Sun... You've done so much for me over the years. Let me do something for you in exchange."

  "If anything, it's the opposite... You've done more for me than I've done for you." But he didn't want to get into an argument over it. He was just pointing it out from his view.

  "Regardless, I'm not just gonna abandon you. I knew your parents were awful, but brazenly threatening my life? I knew they were bold but..." Yeah, he hadn't expected them to be quite that bold either. But they really did hate mermaids for some reason. If they could've exterminated the entire race from the face of the planet, he knew they would've. They specifically hunted them down to try to kill them all off. Thankfully, they were just deep enough that they were out of the range of most ship nets so he didn't have to worry about Weiss and her family's safety. Well. He didn't particularly care about her step siblings, but that didn't mean they deserved to be killed in a brutal, horrific way like he had heard was usually reserved for mermaids.

  He'd heard the awful tales. They were often captured alive and just split straight down the middle while they writhed and tried to escape. What an awful way to go. He'd heard Weiss talk about it since she'd actually witnessed it more than once... One of her friends was captured with her narrowly escaping. And then they just cut the still-alive mermaid straight down from the rib cage to their tail. He hoped that fate wouldn't befall Weiss. He was now extremely reluctant to let her out of his sight, but he couldn't control her and she did need to return to the water at least once a week for a little while so she wouldn't get sick.

  "I want to finish up eating then go back to your room." Weiss frowned and he nodded a bit. He didn't blame her. That interaction with his parents had been horrible. She would no doubt feel like she was unwanted here which... Well. She was.

  They finished up and passed the silverware back to the cleaners then headed back to his room. She tugged the robe back on and they curled up in bed. Eventually, both of them fell asleep as night came. He could sense Weiss' rest was incredibly uneasy, but she did nothing to wake him up.