Chapter 83: He Was Just Being Honest

Zale blinked at his friend, thrown off by the question. "She is attached to all of her surface-dweller friends. She talks about them all the time."

"Yes but you must admit she talks about him the most," Beck pointed out. 

"She spent the most time with him. That isn't so unusual." 

"I have heard the other guards talking. She calls him nearly every day and they hear her laugh a lot from the other side of the door. And she was rather affectionate with him when he was here."

Zale eyed him shrewdly. "What are you getting at?" 

"I do not wish for her to end up disappointed. You must have seen how there was something different about her before and after the surface-dwellers visited. Being too attached to someone who lives far away will not end well for her," Beck said seriously. 

He had noticed. But he thought it was because she was lonely. She seemed to be doing a lot better now that she was friendlier with his mermen and conducting those English classes. 

Though that had coincided with the long-range communication device being installed. Was Beck right? 

Zale hadn't considered that. He had simply been glad that Talori seemed happier. 

"Obviously I don't want her to be disappointed either but what am I supposed to do about it? I can't tell her not to talk to him. That would upset her further and be counterproductive since we need his connections." 

"That was not what I was suggesting." 

What was he suggesting then? Weaning her off somehow by keeping her so busy she didn't have time to talk to him as much? 

That could work. There were plenty of things around here that Zale could ask for Talori's help with. She wasn't likely to say no since she was a helpful fae by nature. 

It wasn't that Zale needed her to stop talking to Brennan. Just…less. Hopefully that way she would be less attached to someone living so far away. She would still have to talk to him as the liaison but if it happened less often, they would have to stay on topic. 

She was lonely, that was all. She needed to get her fulfilment from fae that were here. 

He could find a way to make that work. Beck brought up a valid point. The last thing he wanted was for Talori to ultimately end up disappointed. She needed more friends that were close by. 

"I see," Zale said. "Thank you for bringing this to my attention. She should be fine as long as she has friends here." 

He hadn't realized how much she needed social interaction until he saw the difference it made when she went from having it to going back to the way things used to be. There were plenty of merfolk around who could be her friend. Then she wouldn't have to depend on fae who she would see so infrequently and her mood could remain stabilized between their visits. 

Everything would be fine. Talori simply had to adjust to being back here and having things be different than they were before. She belonged here. Now that she was home, she should depend more on merfolk than surface-dwellers. 

=== 

Brennan's mood had been seriously boosted by visiting Talori's kingdom. He was finally doing what he set out to do from the start and he got to see her again. He wished he could have stayed longer but he had to get back to work. 

At least he had video calls to look forward to. She had wanted to stay in touch more. 

He was in a good mood the whole boat ride back. Then they got to shore and Castian was anxiously waiting on the dock, looking incredibly relieved when he spotted Harmony and she waved at him enthusiastically. 

"Oh my gosh, Castian, the merfolk kingdom was the most amazing thing I've ever seen! Look at all of these pictures I took!" 

She clicked through her camera, chattering enthusiastically about what everything was as she went, and he smiled fondly at her. Brennan was standing with the other witches and still felt like a third wheel. 

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Just like that, his good mood was gone. He had been one ever since Talori left but it had been worse recently because whatever weird air was between the two of them vanished. He was surrounded by other fae but somehow felt more alone than ever. 

Brennan headed to his car and went home. He needed to sleep. That ought to recalibrate him. 

And it did somewhat. He got back to work the next day and thought about how what they were doing at his job tied into what he had talked about with Zale over the weekend and that kept him distracted. 

Then he went to the witch coven after work and Harmony had endless things to talk about because of all the new ideas swimming in her head after her time underwater so that kept him distracted too. Then Castian came over and he wished yet again that their quartet hadn't gone down a member so he didn't feel so left out. 

This was how things always were with him. He didn't belong anywhere. He latched onto whoever could keep him busy but in the end he always knew he was an outsider. 

He was weighed down by that reminder until the next day when he was hanging out in Harmony's office and the long-range communication device began ringing. He answered it eagerly and when Talori's beaming face filled the screen the cloud hanging over him immediately lifted. 

"Hey, Talori." 

"Hi, Brennan! Hi, Harmony!" she chirped. 

Harmony waved from the background before getting back to what she was doing. She had been rather engrossed. 

That left Brennan to talk with Talori for a few hours without interruption. It was really nice. He hadn't had a lot of time to do that without other fae cutting in on the conversation when he visited. 

She told him more about her sister-in-law, her role as liaison and all the new things she was doing, and how Zale was doing a great job as merking. She had much more to say than he did but that was perfectly fine with him. He felt better just listening to her. 

He still felt like a massive third wheel a lot of the time but over the next few weeks as he was able to talk to her nearly every day, he was able to deal with it better. He had missed being able to talk like this. 

Talori wasn't one to complain but she mentioned off-handedly that she missed being called by her name because everyone here called her Princess. She had a distinctly forlorn air about her when she said that so he suggested that she ask them not to do that since they didn't call Zale by his title. 

She was apprehensive but the next time he talked to her she was all smiles and bouncing happily in the water because it had worked. She said she was friends with the majority of the guards now because she had been teaching them English and that was why they agreed. 

Good for her. It was impossible not to be happy when she was. 

Brennan was just starting to get used to their new pattern when it changed again. Instead of calling every day after he got off work, she only called once or twice a week. 

"I'm sorry, Brennan. I've been so busy! Zale has me doing so much to help him out and my English classes blew up so now I'm teaching more merfolk than ever and Aila's been teaching me how to weave kelp and—"

"Don't worry about it. I understand," he reassured her. 

He did. Talori had the life she always wanted. He was happy for her, he really was. He just…wished he could talk to her more. 

This was fine. He could listen to all of her exploits whenever she was able to talk to him. It wasn't like he had anything more pressing going on. He was available whenever he wasn't at work and Harmony was in her office. Which was most of the time. 

She wasn't in on weekends the way she used to be—probably off spending time with Castian—but that didn't matter because he spent his weekends with his water fairy friends anyway. They kept trying to set him up but were running out of options because of how off-putting his interests were. 

He wasn't even being obnoxious on purpose. He was just being honest. That was enough to drive any water fairy off.

Brennan had long accepted that he would always be alone. So why did it bother him more now than usual? Because he had gotten used to living with someone again and now had to go back to the way things were before? 

Not any old roommate would do though. It would have to be someone he genuinely enjoyed talking to. Like Talori.. Though he was fairly certain she was one of a kind.

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