It had been a long and confusing night that went on into the early hours of the morning. Ecthelion had sat on the beach watching the sun slowly set over the sea horizon, letting the baking rays suck the moisture out of him until he was as dry as cooked fish. The rest of the day he had spent just thinking, trying to make sense of everything that had happened. But finally, as always occurs, the pain of being out of the water for too long was too much to bear. With a dismal sigh he trudged across the dry sand until his webbed toes squished against moist sand. The feel of the tide lapping against his ankles had him sighing with some sort of exhiliration. Only a split second afterwards he dove headlong into the waves and allowed his ocean home to rejuvenate his body.

During the time he had spent thinking, the sea elf had come to a decision. It was time to return to The Riptide, for better or for worse. Skimming along the sea floor, he closed in on the sunken posts of the docks and searched for the belly of a pirate ship he knew all too well. Ecthelion found the rope on the dolphin striker right where he had left it. Grabbing hold of the rope, he hauled himself out of the water and climbed with expert ease to the jib boom. At night most of the crew would be sleeping, and none of them ever thought to watch the bow with its dangerous wires and narrow posts. Crawling across the bowsprit, the sea elf twisted about to quietly set his feet on the idly rocking deck of the bow. Even dripping wet, he barely made a sound.

Skirting around the foremast, Ecthelion ducked just in time beside to avoid being spotted by one of the nightwatch crew. Hammon snorted and shifted his weight against fife rail. Obviously he was sleeping on the job. The blue elf smirked at this revelation and for a brief moment considered ratting him out to the captain, but then he remembered his predicament. Drawing in a deep, silent breath, he crawled across the deck to the ladder and cautiously climbed his way down to the gun deck. Fortunately the only person onboard except for the captain who wandered on this level was the cook. Ecthelion expected the minotaur to be sleeping, and when he ventured into the galley he discovered that he was correct in his assumption.

Zurgas was the only nonhuman aboard The Riptide other than the sea elf. Or at least they were the only two before things turned ugly between Ecthelion and Captain Serashe. Creeping up on the large cot off to the side of the galley, the blue elf reached out cautiously to touch his moist fingers to the soft hairy arm of the minotaur. "Zurgas?" he inquired into the fuzzy bull ear. "Ya sleepin'?"

Ecthelion knew that was a rather stupid question even before he asked it. The minotaur snorted and flicked his ear grumpily, cracking open one large brown eye to glare at the blue-skinned elf. "Ara, what're ya doin' here," Zurgas grumbled. He was the only one who ever called the sea elf by that name, and the fact that he remembered the familiarity had Ecthelion smiling.

"Zurgas, I need ter talk ter ya 'bout somethin'. S'important," he insisted quietly. Not wanting to rouse any of the rest of the crew from their cots, he kept his voice to a hushed tone.

Snorting and grumbling, the minotaur twisted against his cot to eye the little elf levely. "Portant 'nough ter risk gettin' yoreself gutted by Serashe is it?"

"Yes," Ecthelion answered with a quick nod. "S'that important."

Zurgas grunted with a bovine sort of sigh and pushed his bulk up off the cot into a sitting position. Looking the little elf over, he shook his head and stood up at a hunch. Ships weren't made for someone of his particular bulk, and the minotaur practically always walked with that hunch. Permanently engraved into his body, but not exactly suffered. Clomping over to the galley portal, he pulled the curtain closed. It wasn't exactly the best sort of privacy, but whenever Zurgas pulled the curtain closed it was an indication that he wasn't to be disturbed no matter what. All of the crew knew better than to disturb the minotaur!

With that false privacy set up, Zurgas clomped back over to his cot and dropped onto it wearily. "What time is it?"

"Well after midnight," the sea elf responded in a whisper. "I think."

Toggling his bull ears forward, the minotaur looked at the little blue elf with one eye shut. Ecthelion knew that look. It usually meant that Zurgas was suddenly grumpy about being bothered and at the same time concerned. "Well whats so important then ya got ter wake me up in the middle of ther night?"

The sea elf settled back on the deck and sat cross-legged there with a dismal little sigh. "Don't know where's best ter start," he admitted.

Zurgas snorted, his bull ears flipping foward and then pressing back against his head. Ecthelion knew exactly what he would say. "Best place ter start's at the beginnin', Ara."

Hearing that familiar name again just had Ecthelion smiling wistfully, but it was short-lived. Defeated by another sigh. "Well," he began. "Ever since Captain Serashe kicked me offa the ship, I been spendin' some time in the city."

"Ashore?" Zurgas sounded astonished.

"Yes," Ecthelion replied quickly with a short nod of affirmation.

The minotaur just snorted again in a rather bovine manner, a sound that could have indicated outrage and disbelief all at once. Ecthelion didn't blame him for thinking that way. Zurgas, of all people, knew how much the sea elf loathed dry land. "I just didn't feel at home no more," the elf continued. "Bein' kicked offa The Riptide was like losin' my home ter the sahuagin. Were terrible feelin'."

Zurgas remained silent, as he was prone to do whenever the sea elf started talking about serious matters. The minotaur always made for a good listener, and for the longest time he was the only person Ecthelion could really trust with his own life. "I got myself lost in the city," he went on to say. "Came 'cross this place what called the Silver Moon Inn. And there I met another elf. Two actually."

"Two ya say?" Once more Zurgas sounded astounded.

"Yes, two. One were a high elf I'm fairly sure. By name of Ithildirnen. But there were another one that ya might say's a bit strange?" Ecthelion paused a moment to consider the best way to describe him. "His name's Io'lin." Deciding to start with that. "And he's what we'd call half-caste. Meanin' he were born o' two different elf parents. One were a wood elf, and the other ... were drow."

"Alf drow!?" The minotaur nearly shouted that. His booming voice certainly growled with disbelief in the tone. "Ara," Zurgas stated in a more kind sort of tone. "Ya certain he were 'alf drow?"

"Yes." That was spoken with another quick nod of affirmation. "S'obvious if ya were ter see 'im, Zurgas. Skin's gray and 'is eyes're red. Sometimes he even speaks in that strange drow language that's kinda elvish but I know it's not."

Zurgas snorted again, this time remaining silent about any assumptions he might have already made about this half-caste. A hand gesture indicated that Ecthelion should continue.

"Well 'e's verry nice," he said. Continuing as requested. "I were lost, ya see, and he helped me find my way back ter the sea. I promised 'im I'd teach 'im 'ow ter swim, so we went swimmin'. Had a good frollick like when I'm with the dolphins." That memory had the sea elf smiling wistfully again.

The minotaur nodded to this, knowing full well how important a promise is to Ecthelion. For a sea elf never makes a promise lightly, and they always stay true to their word when they do. "So," Ecthelion continued with a sigh. Shoulders sagged as he recounted his tale. "I 'ad so much fun swimmin' with Io'lin that I found 'im a conch shell and taught 'im 'ow ter use it ter call me."

To this the minotaur's eyebrow ridge shot up and his bull ears toggled. A brief glance was sent over to the conch shell he had sitting above his own cot, then those steely brown eyes settled fully again on the sea elf. Ecthelion had expected that reaction and watched the expression play out on Zurgas' face with a fond smile and a nod. "Yes," he said. "Silly of me, weren't it?"

Zurgas snorted. He did that a lot. One bull ear flicked sporadically, an indication of a mood a disappointed father might have for his son. In truth, the minotaur had come to think of the sea elf as a son, so it was not an unexpected reaction. "Go on, Ara," he grumbled. Somehow he knew there was more to this story.

"Well I went back ashore the next night but found a place called the Rambling Rose Tavern instead. Met an ex-pirate there named Seamus!" That discovery was chirped with excitement. Even Zurgas seemed impressed about that, but Ecthelion continued. "Didn't see Io'lin that night, though. But I liked talking with Seamus so much, I went back the next night. I've met many new people and friends there already. Everybody seems to like me and I'm learning a lot about dry land!"

"Did ya see the elf again," Zurgas implored, trying to encourage the excitable sea elf to get back on track.

"Oh, yes," Ecthelion replied. "And I had a bit o' rum that night, so when it closed Io'lin 'elped me back ter the sea again. We were goin' ter go swimmin' again, but when I got back inter the water I sensed a sahuagin nearby." To this revelation, Ecthelion scowled.

The minotaur scowled himself, as much as he could with bovine lips pulling down into more of a snarling expression. Bull ears flattened back against his head once more. "Did ya kill it?"

"A'course I killed it!"

"Were only tha one?"

"Blimey, yes," Ecthelion stated with dismal sort of sigh. "Think it were only a scout. Don't know how far off they are, but s'not likely they're far from shore."

"Don't go lookin' for 'em, Ara," the minotaur warned with an authoritative sort of tone.

"I know, Zurgas. I know. Don't go lookin' fer trouble, it'll come ter you."

"Aye." The minotaur nodded firmly. "Now tell me more about this 'ere 'alf-caste."

Ecthelion sighed yet again! This time, though, he tipped back against the deck to lay there, stretching out his arms. "He's very kind, Zurgas. Helped me on two occasions he has. When I fought the sahuagin, he cut me, and Io'lin wrapped me up."

"I were wonderin' 'bout that," Zurgas admitted. Dark eyes narrowed to eye the makeshift torn-shirt bandaging wrapped around the blue elf's body. Fortunately it had been tied off tight enough so that it didn't come undone in the water, and Ecthelion wore it now with a sense of longing and importance.

"Well I pulled the sea-devil ashore and Io'lin helped me get 'im up outta the water so as not ter attract sharks. He even put somethin' in the body so that when they find 'im and eat 'im they'll get poisoned from it." Io'lin's cunning filled the sea elf with a sense of pride for some reason, and that flopping fish feeling returned to his belly. He settled a webbed hand on his stomach and sighed in that same wistful manner.

Zurgas had been studying the sea elf at great length, and tonelessly he grunted out an observation. "Yore smitten with 'im are ya?"

"What!" Ecthelion lurked forward and propped himself up onto his elbows quickly. Blue eyes widened as he stared at the minotaur, and his mouth dropped open. A splash of purple surfaced on his cheeks. How absurd! How could Zurgas think such a thing?

The minotaur seemed to find that reaction rather amusing, for he chuckled gruffly. "Aye, ya are. I c'n see it in yore eyes, Ara. And in the blush o' yore cheeks."

"What? No! I'm not blushin'!" In an effort to prove that he wasn't, the sea elf did the foolish thing and rolled aside so that Zurgas couldn't see it. Because in Ecthelion's mind, if the minotaur couldn't see the proof then it wasn't true.

"Then why're ya turnin' away, Ara?"

"A'cause yore bein' absolutely ridiculous, that's why," Ecthelion snapped. Even so, he could not get rid of the flopping fish feeling in his belly.

"Rudikalus am I?" There were some words that the seafaring minotaur butchered no matter how hard he tried. So thick was his accent from having lived with pirates for so very long, that his speech never rolled the right way. "Ara, bein' at sea as long as I 'ave it ain't so strange a concept ter be thinkin' that way 'bout anyone. Know 'ow long it's been since I've seen a female minotaur?"

Ecthelion scratched at the oiled wood of the deck absently, feigning curiosity. "Never?"

Zurgas let loose that bovine snort and shook his head. "Exceptin' fer m' moth'r, I ain't never seen one, no. But them edain as ya call 'em ain't very pretty ter me. Man or woman. Nor you fer that matter. But I'm thinkin' if I were ter ever see another, be it male'r female, I wouldn't be able ter su'press the longin'."

"So," the sea elf actually did turn his head to look up at the minotaur, but paused to consider what he could possibly mean. "What're ya sayin'?"

"I'm sayin', Ara, that it's been 'ow long since ya've seen another elf?"

That was a question that had Ecthelion thinking long and hard, and as far back as he thought he didn't exactly want to remember. Looking back down at the floor, he frowned and folded his arms across the deck. Depression settled in by way of him settling his chin on his folded arms then. "Five years," he whispered somberly.

The minotaur slipped off his cot and settled onto his knees on the deck next to the elf. A large furry hand reached out to rub between his shoulders. The gesture comforted Ecthelion, as it always had, and he closed his eyes. He looked up to Zurgas as a father figure since the day he had joined the crew of The Riptide. Perhaps the only person aboard who actually cared about him. "Five years is a verra long time ter be alone, Ara," the minotaur said in a soothing tone.

"I know," Ecthelion breathed. Out of the water he could actually feel the trickle of tears on his face, and he turned his face into the crook of his elbow to smother them.

"Even fer an elf," Zurgas added on after a moment of thought.

"Yes. I know." Those words were muffled by his arm, but even the weepy sniffle couldn't be entirely masked.

Zurgas rubbed between the little elf's shoulders a bit more, and then shifted closer to gather him up off the floor. Ecthelion moved without complaint, pliant to the minotaur's will like a small child lost in a thunderstorm, far away from home. Gathering the sea elf into his arms, Zurgas cradled him as if he were a child.

"M'scared, Zurgas," Ecthelion admitted. His voice trembled, nearly weeping outright. Instead he just buried his face into the minotaur's shoulder and sobbed silently.

"S'alright, Ara," the minotaur said soothingly, rubbing between those damp shoulderblades still. "S'alright ter be scared. S'been too long fer ya, an' these feelin's're new." Ecthelion had spent so much time aboard, spending long nights telling tales of the deep sea to the minotaur, that Zurgas knew quite a bit about sea elf society just from listening. He knew the confusion that was tearing Ecthelion apart inside all too well. Easily scooping the little elf up off the floor of the deck, he turned to lay him down on his own cot.

Ecthelion turned into the pillow and buried his face in that in lieu of the warm, furred shoulder. This cot, for five long years, had been a place of safety and comfort to the elf. And now he sought to escape into it entirely, torn and indecisive about all these new feelings. Zurgas knew, and so he pulled the table away from the wall and propped it up in front of the curtain and the portal leading into the galley. If Captain Serashe or any of the rest of the crew found Ecthelion here, the elf would not live long to see another day. So the minotaur did what he had always done. He sat on the floor in vigilant silence, sworn to protect his elf-son no matter what.