Chapter 3964: Desert Heart (Part 1)

’Since you did most of the job, I solved the final issue.’ Solus presented the final product to him with pride. ’Merfolk love flowers, and Grandma loves Fire Orchids. I’d say our work is done.’

’Excellent idea, Solus.’ Lith admired the life-like petals of the stone construct. ’It will help the merfolk not to think about the ocean and symbolize their allegiance to Grandma. Fire Orchids are the Blood Desert’s national flower.’

’Glad that you like it.’ Solus giggled. ’Also, I’d like to point out that it didn’t take us long, Mr. Negativity.’

’Credit where credit is due, Solus. You were right and I was wrong.’ Lith checked his pocket watch, discovering that a little less than five minutes had passed. ’Let’s go back to the party. I’ll deliver the Desert Heart, you go back to your hot date.’

’What hot date?’ Solus asked in confusion.

’The oven-fresh cakes.’ Lith chuckled. ’You’d better be quick, before they get cold.’

’My cakes! I mean, that’s rude! I’d teach you a lesson if I weren’t in a rush. Bye!’ Solus and Lith Warped away at the same time, but while Solus appeared outside the tent and walked back in, Lith appeared inside the bathroom.

"I’m sorry to keep you waiting." He said to a couple of merfolk who were knocking on the door. "I was busy with a number three."

"I know one and two. What’s a number three?" One of the merfolk asked.

"Don’t be rude to our guest, Nher." The other merfolk nudged him. "It must be a human thing."

Lith ignored them and walked around the banquet hall until he spotted Rem. The merfolk representative was still talking with Aran when Leria and the Fastarrows joined them.

’At this point, I might as well teach merfolk swimming to all the kids.’ She thought. ’They are our guests and I don’t want to make any of them feel left out.’

"Please, be patient with Onyx." Aran said. "She’s afraid of water."

"I’m not afraid of water." The Utgard was in her human form, unwittingly fooling her merfolk host into thinking Onyx was a little girl. "I swim better than you."

"She’s just too prideful to admit it, Rem, but Onyx is a big scaredy cat." Aran scratched her below the ear and along her jawline.

"I’m not a-" The loud, purring sound worthy of a racing engine contradicted her words and cut her short.

"Wait, is she really a cat?" Rem wasn’t very familiar with human anatomy, but she was pretty sure humans weren’t supposed to purr.

"Better, she’s an Utgard!" Aran said with pride while Onyx nuzzled against his hand for more cuddles.

"What’s an Utgard?" Rem asked in confusion.

"Of course you don’t know!" Aran slapped his forehead in realization. "She’s the first of her race. Show her, Onyx."

"Okay." She took a few steps back to a free space and shapeshifted into her real form.

Onyx now looked like a saber-toothed tiger, but with two sets of forelegs and a dark fur akin to that of a black panther. A set of purple membranous wings came out of her back that had bony spikes coming out of their five finger-like tips.

"She’s not a Verhen!" Rem pointed at the huge feline in shock. "She’s an Emperor Beast!"

"Onyx is a Verhen!" Aran hugged her muscular neck. "She’s my best friend and part of my family."

"And so is Abominus." At Leria’s signal, the young boy turned into a colossal wolf coated in a crystal fur.

"And so is our dad!" Protector’s children shapeshifted into their hybrid form. "If you don’t want to teach us because you don’t like beasts, just say it."

"Gods, no. That’s not what I meant." The barrage of glares from the children was nothing compared to that of their parents.

Selia’s expression was a masterpiece of outrage, while Raaz was more stoic but indignant. Elina’s face, instead, was unreadable. Rem couldn’t tell whether Lith’s mother was planning to give the merfolk a piece of her mind or straight gut the merfolk representative like one of her fish ancestors.

"Emperor Beasts have always been great allies to us merfolk, and Lord Verhen is our benefactor." Rem rushed to say. "We have nothing against any beast bloodline. Yet the merfolk swimming technique is our prized secret, so I need you to promise me that you won’t teach it to the rest of your packs."

"Okay." Onyx, Abominus, and Fluffy nodded.

"Yay! Mom won’t be able to catch us in the water anymore!" Lilia and Leran hopped with joy.

"On second thought, maybe you should exclude my children from your swimming lessons, Rem." Selia’s frown froze the young pups on the spot, sending them to hide behind their father’s legs.

"That’s fair." Fenrir and the triplets were forbidden from learning and practicing any form of magic because they were too young, so they all nodded in approval.

"Can Fluffy teach me when I can finally enter the sea, Miss Rem?" Garrik’s words nipped Lilia’s and Leran’s retort in the bud.

"Why wait? I can teach you now, child." Rem tilted her head.

"I would love that, but there’s no point in learning how to swim if I must stay in shallow waters." Garrik fiddled with the sand. "I can’t leave the mana geyser, or something bad will happen to me."

"I’m sorry, Garrik." Ryla gently caressed his head.

"We’re sorry too!" The young Fastarrows and Verhens tackled him in a group hug. "If you can’t learn merfolk swimming, we won’t either."

"Thanks, but-"

"There’s no need for that." Rem completed the sentence for him. "I’ll teach your friends, and they will teach you once you are cured from your condition, Garrik. Who knows, maybe one day you will need it."

"That’s very generous of you, Rem." Lith said. "Do you have a moment? I want to discuss my end of our bargain."

"Sure." She nodded. "I’ll be right back, children."

Rem followed Lith to an isolated corner of the banquet hall, where he Hushed them.

"I’m not a merfolk, and I don’t have a solution to your problem, but I’m sure there is one. Look at these." Lith conjured two small replicas of the Sea Heart from the sand.

One was painfully familiar to Rem, while the other was the initial version of the Sea Heart that Lith and Solus had obtained by converting the merfolk song into stone with Void Magic.

"To avoid any misunderstandings, I apologize in advance." Lith raised his hand with the palm out. "This is the only merfolk song I know, but I ignore its meaning."

Rem placed her hand against his, and Lith used air magic to reproduce the melody he had used to craft the Desert Heart.

"It means ’I trust and believe in you’." Rem replied.

"This is your current Sea Heart." Lith nodded and touched the tip of the stone shell, transmitting the merfolk song of trust.

It produced a sound halfway between nails on a chalkboard and a shrill shriek.

"It makes no sense." Rem’s face flushed, feeling every discordant note as a personal humiliation. "We made it from the same rocks we used for Zhen’s Sea Heart. At first, we believed that our houses were the source of the dissonance.

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