Chapter Ten

It took all of Jasper’s control to contain his delight, keeping his behavior within the bounds of what was publicly acceptable for a Crown Prince Consort. Peering over the deck railing, it was as if his dreams had come to life. Sea creatures of every shape, size, and color moved serenely through the sea. None of them hit the ship’s sides, or even seemed to want to. No. They were just there, going about their business next to the ship.

“Does this happen very often?” Jasper didn’t even try to hide his smile from his husband. He wasn’t sure how long he’d slept, but simply seeing his dream come to life in such a beautiful way – that was enough to fuel any tired soul.

“I can honestly say I’ve never experienced anything like it before.”

Jasper was conscious of Avalon watching him, but the scene in the sea below the railing kept drawing his eye. “Oh, look. A stingray. I remember one of them from the book I read.” He pointed over the side eagerly. “They usually live and swim along the seabed. How incredible to see one so close to the surface. And see there. The thing with the squishy tentacles. It’s like he’s trying to tickle the stingray and get his attention.” Jasper laughed out loud. “So many different creatures and none of them are harming each other at all.”

“There’s whales, too.” Avalon pointed to a spot beyond the glow of the lamps. “They don’t usually come close to ships. It’s almost as though they know their bulk could hurt us, or that our ship’s design could damage them.”

“Look at the size of them.” Jasper covered his mouth with his hand, worried he’d look like a child with his mouth wide open. “No wonder you love traveling the sea so much. To share this space with all these amazing creatures… it’s humbling, don’t you think?”

There was a loud rumbling noise, as if something was being pulled along with chains. Jasper was just about to ask what it was, when a man called out, “Your Highness, we’ve opened the canon portals. Waiting on your command.”

“Canons? This ship has canons?” Jasper was sure his shock was showing, but it wasn’t the happy kind he’d felt seeing the wonders of the sea.

“All large sea-faring ships have canons, my husband.” Avalon’s smile was one a man might give a child. “Some of the crew are just concerned that the whales are swimming so close to us and want to be prepared…”

“You’re going to shoot them?” Unable to believe his ears, Jasper did the only thing he could think of in his desperation. The creatures meant them no harm – his magic told him that. But the man who’d called out didn’t have the same kindly disposition. He tugged off his boots, and shrugged his jacket off his shoulders, dropping it on the deck. “I’m damn sure it’s against the World Council Laws to shoot at a Crown Prince Consort. Make sure they don’t.”

Leaping up onto the railing, Jasper trusted in his magic and plunged over the side, Avalon’s “no,” ringing in his ears.

The water was cold enough to take Jasper’s breath away - a lot colder than he’d expected it to be. Hitting the surface of it with flailing limbs, Jasper realized how hard it was, too, hitting the sea with such force. That’s going to give me bruises in multiple places.

He sank. Jasper knew he would, but he had to hold onto the idea that if he was in the water, then no one on the ship would fire into it. Letting his limbs relax, Jasper’s arms and legs brushed against the creatures as they swam close, probably wondering what he was doing. The sea was not a natural element for non-swimming humans.

I should breathe. Even as he thought it, Jasper’s magic kicked in, making that possible, clearly more concerned with his survival than he was. Jasper was focused on the sensation of falling. The water was incredibly deep, but there was so much more. It was incredible, the freedom and the intense silence the water offered him. Is this why my mother warned me away. Did she know how seductive this feeling might be for me?

It would be so easy to just stay here. In a lot of ways, Jasper knew that would be for the best. His mother would grieve, but she’d faced grief and moved past it before. Felicity and Luigi would probably hold a private party – outside of their mother’s hearing of course, but they would be pleased all the same. Jasper always knew how weird they believed him to be.

What about your new husband? Jasper’s magic was prodding him, so Jasper dutifully thought about the man he’d only known a handful of days. The man who had been nothing but kind to him. My passing might be the kindest gift I could offer him.

Fool. A large fish, bigger than Jasper’s torso brushed past him, jabbing him with a fin. He has already lost one he was betrothed to. Would you condemn him to mourn a husband now just because you’re too tired to keep going?

That made Jasper pause, and he sat up, surrounded completely by water and the various creatures who were watching him curiously. I can’t do that to him. Excuse me for being here, but I’m trying to save the whales and the rest of you from someone scared in the crew, he projected mentally, because he knew fish couldn’t speak. How do I get to the whales?

Move your arms and legs – pull yourself through the water. It wasn’t words that came, more impressions of movements that Jasper clumsily tried to emulate. He had the feeling he was being laughed at, but he was moving, and one would hope, in the right direction.

/~/~/~/~/

“Swing out the longboat,” Avalon roared the moment he saw Jasper going over the side. “Move it. Now. I want to be in that boat in the next three clicks.” He wasn’t foolish enough to dive into the waves after his husband, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t going after him.

“Your Highness.” Merlin had tears in his eyes as he grabbed at Avalon’s arm. “There’s no point in going after him. You saw how quickly he fell. Jasper was likely stunned by the force of hitting the water. He should’ve surfaced by now, but he hasn’t. Sire, you must accept he’s gone.”

“That’s ridiculous.” Avalon’s heart had literally stopped the moment Jasper disappeared, but he could see the creatures milling around a certain spot about four feet away from the ship’s side. “Jasper has magic. He won’t be dead.” I’m not strictly sure what he thinks he’s doing down there, he thought as he peered over the side again. The creatures were still gently swirling around. “He’s going to need help getting back onto the ship.”

“Sire, no.” Now Duncan was standing in front of him, hands loosely by his side as if ready to pin Avalon to the deck. “You’re the Crown Prince and only heir of Cijan. You employ us to stop you from doing something stupid, and going after Jasper is the silliest thing you could ever do.” He leaned in, lowering his voice. “Don’t you realize Jasper’s giving you an out from this marriage? Did you ever consider that maybe he went overboard, knowing he can’t swim, to save you from a life of whispered asides, and pointed looks?”

He nodded over Avalon’s shoulder, and Avalon turned, seeing three of his guards in a huddle whispering about something. It didn’t take any imagination to know Jasper was the topic of conversation. As soon as they saw Avalon had noticed them, they quickly straightened, standing to attention.

Turning back to Duncan, Avalon poked his friend’s chest. “Would you still be standing on this deck if it was Merlin in that water?”

“You know I wouldn’t.” Duncan glared. “Merlin and I have a relationship of deep respect and understanding. You know how much he means to me. But you barely know Jasper, you never wanted to marry in the first place, and now, with this magic business…”

“If you have an issue with my husband, I suggest you sort it out before I get back on board,” Avalon said, his tone as menacing as he could make it. “Jasper can feel what people think about him – their true feelings, not the masks they show him when they interact with him. How do I know Jasper didn’t go overboard because he could feel how disliked he was by you and this crew?”

Duncan’s frown deepened. “I wasn’t thinking anything like that. I can’t speak for the rest of the crew, but Jasper went into the water because he thought you were going to order the whales to be shot. But now he has gone, and he hasn’t surfaced…”

“I lost someone dear to me once, and there was nothing I could do about it at the time as I wasn’t there. But this is different. I am here, and if you think I’m going to stand around and debate concepts that have no bearing on…”

“Your Highness,” Merlin called out from where he was still watching over the rail. “The creatures are on the move, out towards the where the whales are, and they seem… it’s as if they have some sort of light source with them.”

“I knew it. You tried to tell me he was dead. Not this time, my friend. Not this time.” Avalon’s grin split his face. “Close those canon covers and lock them,” he ordered loudly. “I want lights on every rope and along the railings. Light this ship up so it can be seen from the mainland. I hardly want to lose the ship once I find my husband, now do I,” he added in a lower voice to his staunch looking friend.

“I’m coming to.” Duncan shook his head, likely at Merlin, who would object. “You need someone to use the oars to hold the boat steady while you drag your husband’s body on board.”

“You can bring extra lamps.” Avalon sprinted to where the longboat was suspended over the ship’s railings. Climbing on board, he barely waited for Duncan before he gave the signal for the boat to be lowered.

The longboat wasn’t big. Barely a man and a half wide and with seating for only four men. The narrow width made it possible for one man, or two, to use the oars on both sides rather than the wider bulkier models many other ships used that required two men sitting side by side to propel it.

Avalon had maneuvered a longboat on his own many times and grabbed the oars confidently now. As Merlin had said, the swimming entourage had moved away from the ship, and peering through the light thrown by the lamps, Avalon could make out the faint glow of an elongated shape moving through the water at speed. As Merlin indicated, he was heading straight for where the whales were still swimming around in circles likely in the deeper part of the channel from where the ship was anchored.

“You are acting like a madman, do you know that?” Duncan hissed angrily as he worked a second pair of oars.

“Jasper fires instincts in me I thought long dead.” Avalon’s shoulders burned as he moved his oars to keep pace with Duncan’s. “I’m not going to let him, or those feelings go without a fight.”

“People were already going to shun him because of his eyepatch. When they hear about the magic, and this stunt with the whales…?” Duncan’s scoff was easily heard over the splash of the oars. “You’ve spent decades building up a solid reputation…”

“Then isn’t it about time that reputation stood for something?” Avalon puffed. “Slow up, we’re getting close. I don’t want to hit anything.”

He thought he heard Duncan mutter something about wanting to hit him, but Avalon ignored it. A huge whale’s body slid up and over, its wet skin glistening under the light of Avalon’s boat.

I’m trusting you, Jasper. Don’t let me down. Avalon swallowed the lump in his throat as he registered just how large the majestic creatures were.

/~/~/~/~/

Still submerged in the water, Jasper opened his psyche sensing the emotions and feelings of the creatures around him. They were curious, and clearly, they didn’t think a lot of his abilities to move through water, but they brushed against him, guiding him, nudging him along, all working together even as they got close to where the hulking whales were slowly circling the ship.

They won’t hurt me. Jasper knew that as surely as he knew his own name. Seeing the majestic creatures in their element – Jasper felt small, insignificant, but he also felt incredibly blessed. One of the larger whales looked in his direction and yes, Jasper knew he’d been right. He could see the intelligence, like an ageless wisdom, shining from that bright black eye.

Images flooded his mind – men on ships, men walking the land, ships sinking, and the destruction that devastation caused to the peace of the sea. More importantly, in Jasper’s opinion, the deep sadness the whales as a collective felt at the loss of human life. All life. In that moment Jasper felt a part of something bigger – when he closed his eye, he could see the threads of the energies humming around him.

But as fast as he felt it, he felt other energies, too. My husband came after me, he sent to the giant creature. It’s time for me to go.

The huge whale nodded, and Jasper felt the energies of goodbye as they slowly melted away in the dark water. Jasper wasn’t sure if it was tears or salt water that coated his face as he finally broke free of the water’s surface, but he knew he’d been incredibly blessed with his encounters.

“Jasper. Thank the Goddess. Here, take my hand.” Avalon’s hand waved in front of him, and Jasper took it, kicking his legs to propel him closer to the narrow boat his husband was in. Avalon’s hand was warm, and so was the man’s chest as he was pulled out of the water and held close. His husband was shaking, Jasper realized.

Buoyed by his encounter with the whales, Jasper looked across at Duncan who was glowering as he flexed his muscles, rowing them back to the ship. The man was wrestling with demons of his own, and Jasper swallowed the words he was going to say, focusing on Avalon’s warmth instead.

“I’m so glad you’re all right,” Avalon whispered in his ear, and Jasper could feel how much he meant it.