Mermaid Gigantes
by StarCross
The Latter Part
To excuse themselves from the awkward situation, both Kana and Mather stated that they needed to go to be. They were indeed tired; tired of basking the presence of their ex-lovers and the pasts associated with them.
They sternly told the maidservants to leave them alone. The guest room on the upper level was luxurious, but there was no time for them to admire or take notice of it. One quick shower later Kana and Mather on the bed naked, intertwined, and forcing themselves to become wet.
This time, their tears they shed were not from sheer joy and pleasurable pain. There was sadness coincidentally amplified equal due the sudden reappearance of their former lovers, and it was not, to be certain, due to the fact they married one another. Kana and Mather wanted to see each other's faces as they mated, but it oscillated between that and the faces of Uuli and Iyanna. Even the experiences were frighteningly familiar, and ironically that only increased their passion.
"Kana," said Mather.
"Yes?"
"Do you love me?"
"I'll always love you no matter what."
"Don't let me go."
"I won't!"
"Always be with me. Always be one with me."
"I'll always! You're the only one for me!"
They kissed. In a tearful whimper, they ograsmed together for the night.
Even the first month-and-a-half of pregnancy did not slow Kana down. She clocked the sex with her lover at one minute under two hours Demiterran time. Not bad, she thought to herself. I'll surely miss it when our child gets bigger.
Kana and Mather lay in their bed for an additional hour until growling stomachs compelled them to head downstairs for a meal. At least two maidservants were awake to serve them a very late night dinner consisting of generally seafood marinated with an aromatic milky sauce.
"This is quite good," remarked Kana.
"It comes from breastfruit," said Iyanna as she walked down the stairs with Yuri (formerly Uuli) hand-in-hand. Just like Kana and Mather, both were dressed only in their matching flowery kimono-like robes.
"It does taste like milk."
"Marieno also exports breastfruit as substitute milk."
Iyanna ordered the maidservants to serve all of them freshly picked breastfruit. The fruit looked bulbous and tanned like flattened breast, with the stem looking remarkably like a nipple depending on the way it was cut. Of course, that was just the hard layer. With instructions from Iyanna, who was sitting across the table with Yuri by her side, Kana literally peeled to reveal a white and milky outer layer that was literally as soft as a breast. It can then be punctured easily with a straw, preferably from the top, and the innards could be drunk from there. It was sweet and sour, but not enough for Kana to become addicted to it like her three table companions.
Almost to her horror, Mather, Kana, and Yuri cut the softened breastfruit with a knife and began scraping off the coconut-like flakes from the inner walls. In response to this sight, she folded her arms over her breasts, and in her mind she prayed that her newborn child wouldn't get the idea to poke straw through her.
"Are you going to have that?" Mather asked her lover.
"It's not good for you?" asked Iyanna. "I guess it's an acquired taste for Demiterrans."
"Who can say?" asked Yuri. "You get used it when you live in a breastfruit plantation."
I think she's doing it again, Kana thought. Yuri had remarked a similar thing when she lived on Demiterra.
With their meals full, they retreated to the living room sitting on loveseats opposite of each other. They way the married couples sat was that their thighs were pressed together, and all their hands were stacked on the other.
Iyanna seemed to have a bright and outgoing personality, Kana had observed, and although she remained smiling uneasily, she mustered no courage to start a late-night conversation to break the awkward silence in the house. There were the occasional chirps of the reptilian seabirds, the swish of the crashing waves, and strange howls that certainly did not sound mammalian. The twenty-hour mechanical clock went on ticking for almost ten minutes.
"I heard from Iyanna that you joined the GGDP," said Yuri.
"I have," replied Kana.
"As expected, Mather is a perfect match for you."
"She's most certainly is."
Then silence. Five more minutes.
"How is Meta Fifth?" asked Yuri.
"Pretty lively," replied Kana.
"A lot of Demiterrans go there?"
"A lot."
Silence again. Ten minutes.
"I say we should take a dip in the pools," said Yuri.
"Great!" clapped Iyanna. "My skin is getting a bit dry."
It struck Kana as strange, for the air was just bearably humid. Even more stranger was Yuri's insistence on swimming when she hated it.
Kana soon found out when, after they all dressed in bathing suits, inhabited sixth of the eight rectangular pools in the backyard, whereas Iyanna and Yuri took the second. Swimming alongside Mather, Kana kept on staring intently at pregnant Yuri floating on her back aided by the presence of Iyanna. It might have been Kana's imagination, but Yuri, who had briefly saw Kana's eyes, pulled Iyanna over her head and had her kiss her. The sight alone drove Kana into a confusing heartache, which then sent her floating into Mather's arms.
"Kana?" asked Mather.
"Kiss me."
Almost as if to strike right back at Yuri, Kana kissed Mather and forced her up the pool's incline so that she was seated on the edge. In one glance at the other pool, Kana saw Yuri also sitting on the edge receiving Iyanna's romantic kisses. Then in response, Kana climbed on top of Mather and in doubling make out session she began pulling down her swimsuit to expose as much skin as possible.
The scene had degenerated in a contest that lasted almost an hour in the pre-dawn morning. When Kana and Mather came to, both Yuri and Iyanna were gone.
"Was that right for me to do this?" Kana asked as she stroked Mather's hair.
"It's the same as your culture," replied Mather. "So no."
"But you felt like doing it again."
Mather nodded.
"I didn't mean to bring you into this," said Kana.
"It's equally my fault. I'm too uncomfortable being with my first cousin."
"First cousin?"
"Iyanna is my first cousin."
"That must be why..."
"Cousins marrying on Marieno is not that uncommon, even if they are closely related. But even though Iyanna's the instigator, everyone blames me for making her sad. She was well liked in Bara Qu."
"Only because she's rich and that she's a princess."
"She is responsible for footing the bill for maam's hospital stay."
"The rich always do that."
"Iyanna is a nice girl."
"It sounds like you still like her."
"What about you? You keep on staring at Yuri."
"How dare you?"
Quickly Kana calmed down, realizing the apparent rise in each other's jealousy.
"Hold me," said Kana.
Mather embraced her wife with as much skin contact as possible.
"I'm sorry," said Mather.
"I should apologize," said Kana. "I didn't mean to yell. But it seems we got some ex-lovers to reconcile with."
"Should we do it together?"
"I don't know. We could rely on each other's strength, but we can't be strong unless we face the past by ourselves. It will hurt for all of us."
"Then let's do that when we're staying here."
They finally had a full sleep and woke up in the afternoon. After one lunch, Kana and Mather went out alone to the Bara Qu Hospital Hospice Wing. At the very least Mather's treatment was better due to Iyanna's influence. Then again, the building wing was brightly white and staffed by nurses garbed in full-body latex pink uniforms complete with flattened masks that had only two eyeholes. The patients, Mather had told to Kana, were the half-dead, elderly widows who were awaiting death so that they could join their spouses in the afterlife. They were garbed in white robes and white shrouds, and shuffled and sat about muttering prayers for death and for their relief from suffering.
The nurse led the couple to Mather's maam's room, but already inside were two of Mather's older sisters, Dirfia and Sugya, and their respective wives. Kana remained in the background listening into the cries and insults from the older sisters. She could barely understand the speed of their language as well as their accent, but from what she could tell that Mather was in a sense disowned and the cause of their falka's death.
Mather's maam, affectionately nicknamed Mina, was in a white robe like the others, but since she was in her own room she was allowed to lie in her bed without a veil or a shroud. Mermaids were said to live longer, and Mina was well over one hundred. Despite some wrinkles, she was still beautiful, and her hair, though graying, still retained the golden blond.
Mina did not want to face Mather, but she was stealing glances at Kana, who came in without any kind of face covering.
"Everyone," Mina said. "Leave my sight."
"Maam!" cried Dirfia.
"Go! But Mather and her new wife can stay."
They complied, and the door was shut once Mather and Kana was alone with Mina. It was now quiet despite the sounds of water waves since the hospital was close to the sea.
"Maam," said Mather. "Have you forgiven me?"
"I will never forgive you the shame you brought to us and our family," said Mina. "Anyway, can she speak and understand Marienese?"
"A little bit."
"Then you wait outside."
"Yes maam."
Kana was the only guest left. Mina beckoned her to sit on a wheeled stool and sit by her.
"Take off your headdress," Mina commanded.
Kana took it off. Mina then stroked the side of her head with her white-gloved right hand, and then felt Kana's round ear.
"Brings back memories," smiled Mina. "It seems that in the end we're always involved with foreigners."
"Pardon?" asked Kana.
"I was once a government assassin. I head out to other planets in the 7-Arc Starcluster to eliminate convicts from our planet. Do you know that behind every crime group has a Mermaid in control?"
"No."
"Mermaids have their hands in everything, and Marieno does everything to eliminate them. However, I went to a planet similar to yours and botched up a job. It seems that I accidentally injected my sex pheromones into a girl like you. Now that I reflect it, I recall falling in love with her, and after one week of constant sex she was pregnant. So I quit my job and returned home and had many children with her. You are seeking to have a lot of children with Myspphl, will you?"
"I do intend to."
"You have to. Once you are colored, you can't turn back, just like my wife. You are essentially a mermaid from hereon. Although it is a pity she had to die years before me. Darn it, why can't they legalize euthanasia. It's hell living like this."
"Oh, don't say that! Even if you are without your wife, you're not alone. You have your children. And me as well!"
"Heh. You're just like her. My wife and I promised that we'd see to it that every one of our daughters is married off. Now please, I would like to be alone. I need my nap."
Kana exited and met up with Mather, her sisters, and her sisters-in-law at the end of the hallway.
"What is it this time?" asked Sugya. "Was she a stowaway of a trading vessel? A bodyguard of the Fashion Cartels?"
"What are you talking about?" Kana asked.
"Maam is senile," said Dirfia, "so she'll always tell tall tales to newcomers."
"Then again, she has always told such tales when falka was still around," said Sugya.
The sisters and their wives left without saying goodbye.
"Mather," said Kana.
"It is true that maam is like this," said Mather. "However, this was the first time since I left the planet she has done this."
"Then you really didn't have a foreign falka."
"She may be short, but she was definitely a mermaid."
"You have seen her ears, right?"
"I don't recall..."
As they walked home, Kana thought about what it really meant to be a Mermaid Gigantes. The meeting of a two Demiterrans, Ariko and Yuri, implied that they had fully "gone native" when they were fully colored. Ariko spoke as she had always been a mermaid, and Yuri wolfed down seafood and loved swimming despite her past dislikes. She then recalled Mina's words on how Kana was now essentially a mermaid, although she would never possess any ability to impregnate others like Mather. Could it be that mermaids travel the stars to bring home women in order to combat globalized inbreeding in their own way? Or could it be that the entire planet was populated by descendants of a female inflicted with a virus who could overwrite the physiology of her foreign female mate in order to suit themselves and their environment?
It wasn't like Marieno was the only single-gender civilized planet in the 7-Arc Starcluster, although Marieno could essentially be the only one that was truly unique in that they were really single-gender through and through. There were many, but had a very small minority of the opposite sex that served as DNA donors or birthgivers, and there were those who were essentially hermaphroditic or true sex-changers in certain periods of their life.
"Mather," said Kana. "Am I essentially a mermaid?"
"You are," said Mather.
"And does that mean we won't be able to leave the planet?"
"You're still technically a Demiterran."
"But I can looked upon as a mermaid since I am colored."
"That is indeed a conundrum."
"Actually, I don't mind staying here with you. As long as I am with you, any place is home."
"We still have that problem to deal with."
"Yeah."
Later in that day, Iyanna gave Kana a tour of the breastfruit plantation, and since breastfruit grew on trees it felt like they were traveling through an ordered forest.
Deep in the interior there was one of the cabins used by the farmers, but it was vacated so that Iyanna, Yuri, Mather, and Kana could stay in for the night. That way, they would help the farmers gather fruit that fell from the trees.
After dinner, they retreated to a nearby hotspring, but Kana was surprised to see a croc-like creature wading in it.
"Oh, that's one of our pets," said Iyanna. "Yuri named her Sybil."
"Sybil?" Kana asked.
"She's practically harmless, although I think I forgot to feed her. Mather, can you help me with the food?"
"S-sure," Mather nodded hesitantly.
Sybil leapt out of the pool, and like a panting dog she followed the tall mermaids inside the cabin. This conveniently allowed Kana and Yuri to be alone inside the bubbling spring in their one-piece swimsuits. However, they lingered inside for quite a while, sitting opposite of one another as if they were strangers, given that their appearance had been altered by their new lovers.
Even pregnant with a scar over her left eye, Yuri still looked beautiful in Kana's eyes.
"They are sure taking their time," said Kana.
"We have more potbellied crocs living here," said Yuri.
"Ah."
"Iyanna keeps them as pets. However, their larger cousins are farmed for their meat."
"Like pigs."
"Yeah."
"Tasty?"
"It varies. Goes well with breastfruit."
"You really have gotten used to this planet."
"I have to since I am officially a mermaid."
"I see."
"Why are we sitting far away?"
"I'm afraid to touch you, especially when our wives aren't around."
"Biologically, we're still Demiterrans even if we're colored. Come sit next to me."
"O-okay."
Kana swam to the other hand propped herself against Yuri. Their shoulders rubbed together, and obviously Kana was rendered nervous with a beating heart. This wasn't due to the supposed pheromones they were exchanging. It was something of a deep nostalgia they had for one another.
"Just how did you end up here?" Kana asked. "And what happened to Lola?"
"Lola and I broke up six months after that incident."
"I'm sorry."
"Don't be. I was feeling lonely, and I cheated on you on a whim. Lola and I weren't a good match for each other anyway."
"Ah."
"After the breakup, I decided to become a interstellar trader. I had a few lovers here and there, mostly male, but I never got pregnant since my tubes were locked. Our ship ended up on Marieno at the Jerusalem Spaceport. I broke up with my fling of a boyfriend and wandered alone in the city when I spotted Iyanna leaning dangerously over a railing over a cliff. Or rather, she was planning on jumping over it. I ran and caught her just in time, and pulled over. Despite not having our translators, I yelled at her for doing something stupid as suicide. As I spoke, she just looked at me as if she had fallen in love with me.
"Her bodyguards from her parents' company arrived, and one of the retainers told me that right then I was now officially a citizen of Marieno and a registered mermaid. I did not realize what was going on until they explained that Iyanna and I exchanged skin-to-skin contact, and declared that I was married on the spot.
"So I was hurried to this town to participate in their formal ceremony. Quickly I was becoming attracted to her, and I was soon told that the pheromones were taking their effect in my body. After the ceremony, we had our two weeks of constant sex. And here I am.
"I learned about her previous affair with Mather, which only increased my sympathy for her. And so I decided that I would learn the language and be the perfect mermaid wife for her. It got easier once I was colored. But you know Kana, you're indirectly colored by Iyanna."
"Huh?"
"Mather's coloring was halfway. She used to be golden blond, like her maam."
"I didn't realize."
"I am curious though. Do you still have feelings for me?"
"Why would I? I am madly in love with Mather."
"I think you do."
"You don't need love from a monster from me."
"I forgive you Kana. I mean, things like that happens in our world, and on this one it's a total rarity."
"Except in Mather's case."
Kana grasped Yuri's hand. "Even in my hell in prison, I still longed for you. And even now despite the alteration in your appearance, I still love you."
"Oh, Kana."
"Yuri..."
Why did it take so long for Mather and Iyanna to come back? As it turned out, the refrigerator was out of hand-prepared meals for the litter of potbellied crocs slithering about the kitchen floor with gaping mouths. Both mermaids occupied the counter dicing up whale meat and wrapping various species of seaweed in them.
"This brings back memories," smiled Iyanna. "It used to be that we used stools to feed our crocs."
"Falka and I did work here," said Mather.
"And to my surprise you were also my first cousin."
"Back then, you proposed to me."
"It was the other way around."
"Hm?"
"When we were playing in the plantation, you promised me that we're going to get married."
"I did? I thought you proposed to me when we were in the spring."
"You're not selectively forgetting things are you?"
Mather lowered her head and looked away.
"Maybe I did take advantage of you that night, but I took your promise seriously," said Iyanna. "I was really happy that you were going to be my wife, and so I was eager to make you mine."
"We're cousins Iyanna."
"That shouldn't have stopped us, nor should it cause you to run away from me."
"It wasn't that. I was just scared."
"Scared? I really don't understand."
"I don't understand either, but it does happen in our race. Maybe we weren't right for each other."
"We are right for each other."
Mather sighed. "Not anymore. I have Kana and our child to look after. You have Yuri and her child."
"In some ways, your child is also mine. She will have a trace of my color."
"Iyanna, I did not mean to hurt you..."
"Don't talk that way. It's both our fault. So let's drop it from here. I hate having such things dragging me down."
"I guess you're right."
The pet food preparation was complete, and outside the mermaids lay out their sandwich-like meals for the litter of crocs on long metal tray. They watched their pets gobble their food savagely, and Iyanna's left hand drew closer to Mather's right. Mather felt a fingernail come in contact with hers.
"What are you doing?" Mather asked.
"Sorry," smiled Iyanna. "Force of habit."
Mather smirked. She went inside the cabin and procured a set of red silk gloves, and gave the left one to Iyanna.
They finally held hands once they were covered, and as they walked towards the spring Mather told Iyanna tales of the planet of Meta Fifth and the various aliens and culture she had encountered. At the spring as well, Kana also talked with Yuri about her stay on Meta Fifth. They then waved to their mermaid wives when they were in plain view. Suddenly, Mather shrieked.
"What are you two doing?" asked Mather.
"What?" asked Yuri.
"You're touching each other's skin!"
Kana grumbled. "What about you? You're holding hands with Iyanna."
"This? Oh, they're gloved."
"But your pheromones can still pass through, even with silk."
"Hm, it looks like we run ourselves into yet another awkward situation," said Iyanna. "We can resolve this by immediately embracing our wives or if we have a foursome right on the spot."
"No foursomes!" Mather cried.
"You look so cute when you're frustrated! Kana, this is something you have to enjoy, so tease her often."
"Will do!" Kana saluted.
"Kana..." whined Mather.
As it turned out, Kana was already registered as a mermaid right when she left Jerusalem Spaceport. Like all other foreigners colored by their mermaid wives, she was forbidden to leave the planet unless it was for special circumstances. Unfair as it seemed, they had a good reason to limit the potential deadly poison Kana might carry. Personally, she did not mind.
That did not stop her from sending a video mail to her parents on Demiterra. She could only send one disc, and receive one. She was not allowed to keep it, but only so that she would view it in Jerusalem. Once she watched them, they were to be destroyed.
Her parents, now aged, were happy that they she found her new wife and was able to bear children. Everything seemed okay on both ends, but she shed a few tears knowing that she would never see them again.
Eventually she received the rest of the credits from the GGDP, and due to her permanent move their stipend was permanently cut off. She did not mind this, but at the current situation Mather and Kana needed a job as well as a residence. Iyanna had them stay at her mansion and help out with the administration of the plantation, but eventually they became carrier workers.
Even after Kana and Mather had their first child, they continued to stay in the mansion. In addition, their room was right next to Iyanna and Yuri's, although it used to be one huge master bedroom and now it was separated by wall that Kana felt was hastily built and quite thin. Both couples agreed that it was beneficial for them to live together, since Mather and Iyanna were already related, and that Yuri and Kana could keep each other company.
At the same time, Mina passed away with a smile on her face. During the sea funeral (Iyanna lent her yacht for this occasion) Mather was finally forgiven by her sisters.
Kana finally learned from Iyanna that Mina was just a foreign relations clerk at Jerusalem Spaceport, which explained the reason why she told tall tales to her children. But it was true that her wife was short and indeed a mermaid. To be exact, a pygmy mermaid.
Kana ended being called a falka by her children, with the frantic Mather a maam, just like hers before. By contrast, Iyanna was now a falka with Yuri a maam.
Both Yuri and Kana knew that their children would become full-blooded mermaids due to the aggressive internal physiology and pheromones. They will be taller than them when they grow up, and will seem them as odd mermaids for being short and never exposing their finned ears. Chances are that they will never know of the planet from whence they came unless they visit the ports. It was all right for them.
Many years and children later, Kana and Yuri headed out alone at the beach of Bara Qu for one personal race. Again, Yuri won by a narrow margin.
"Just how do you do it?" Kana asked. "How?"
"Weight," Yuri smiled.
"That's not fair!"
Kana lunged at Yuri, and the two women then wrestled and rolled across the sands until Kana was on top.
"You think they'll mind?" Kana asked.
"As far as I know, they're doing it behind our backs."
"Do you care?"
"No. And they'll probably don't care if we did it."
Kana rolled over and lay right next to Yuri's side.
"It does feel like we're still married though," said Kana.
"I guess so," said Yuri.
"I have this thought fairly recently, that two of us will die before them, and I don't want that to happen."
"They'll die soon after."
"But they can keep each other company long after us. I still would prefer if we die at the same time."
"Kana, let's just focus on living, okay?"
"Okay."
They looked up, and saw their mermaid wives looming over them.
"So that's where you went," smiled Iyanna.
"Mather, the girls are studying I take it," said Kana.
"They are," said Mather.
The mermaids propped their Demiterran wives up for a very long kiss. And when they parted, they did something different:
Iyanna and Mather leaned over Yuri and Kana's heads and kissed each other. At the same time, Yuri and Kana kissed, and everyone's hands were piled on top of one another.
"It's their fault by the way," Iyanna joked, as she referred to Yuri and Kana.
"I blame your guys' pheromones," retorted Kana in kind. "Diluted my butt."
The girls laughed. They moved together so that they were shoulder-to-shoulder. The mermaids held their wives to their bosoms like little children, and those children, the Demiterrans held each other's hands.
For each and everyone of them they were in their perfect warmth with bodies pressed against their loved ones. The couples had found their halves, their alter egos, and when they joined they were finally able to reconnect with the loved ones they unintentionally harmed to form a greater being.
The two couples in different colors and shades sat together smiling and watched the churning of the still seas into the twilight.
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