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After Mac had followed Aria out, he quickly side-stepped a nurse walking by them. He's not used to being in hospitals, as he never got sick or injured enough to be hospitalized. He was wondering if maybe Aria was wanting to go and do something, "Hey, you wana do something?" he asked.

Tianara merely nodded - her brother was too close now to risk any more words. He would know that the merfolk didn't speak in English, after all. Briefly, she wished she had taken the time to teach Joshua more of their tongue. Well, now that she knew it was important, she would do that.

She had caught the blush out of the corner of her eye, and gave him a curious sidelong look, but didn't really make anything of it. After a few minutes, there was a rush of water past them, like someone had gone by. A few minutes more, and Tianara relaxed a little. Glancing back up at him, she nodded tentatively. "I think he's gone," she breathed, so softly that it was almost impossible to hear.

Leading him back out, she paused and glanced behind them, the way Mrian had gone. "All right," she muttered, "I think it's okay. C'mon, though."

She moved faster, and eventually they came back into a different cavern, where Katalina and the blonde mermaid Joshua had met before were waiting. Tianara smiled at him once before going to embrace her mother, all apprehension seemingly gone. After a second, she stood back and tilted her head. A stream of the bubbly words came from her, and she listened as her mother replied. Then, shaking her head gently, Tianara beckoned Joshua forward.

Tianara gave him a quick look even as she smiled from one of them to another. Her gaze lingered briefly on his face, as much as to say Please make this count. Then she gestured to the boy, still speaking to her mother. The blonde eyed him warily, speaking rapidly to Tianara. Katalina had quietly absented herself - apparently she didn't consider this her business.

With a sigh, Tianara turned to Joshua. "She would like to know how you intend to...Mother, I can't say that!" she protested. The blonde mermaid said something again - possibly rephrasing herself. Tianara took up the thread once again. "She would like to know how...Mother...how you would be any protection for me. Being her...Mother...since I'm her only daughter, she doesn't want to risk...I am not saying that." She seemed to consider how to rephrase it. Then she sighed again. "She doesn't want to risk my well-being on the protection of a stranger." Her eyes begged him to understand - her mother was somewhat paranoid and overprotective, and Tianara knew that it could seem insulting.

"While she's sure you're well-intentioned, she just...Mom! She doesn't approve of me flinging myself out of the cavern and straight into the middle of a war," the girl finished in a rush.

((OOC: Yes. Very. heart I love it.))

The blonde's grey gaze remained steady on him for several long minutes. She spoke quietly, but there was an undertone of steel that was audible even through the musical, bubbly clicking of the mertongue. Tianara probably wouldn't even have to translate. Her meaning was clear. She understood he was serious, and appreciated his words, but she simply didn't trust that her daughter would be safer - and far more productive - on the surface.

"She says there are things I could do here," Tianara translated quietly. "Possibly not as important-seeming as what is being done back at the surface, but there are others who can do the surface work. Surely there is someone more...Mom, I..." She trailed off, only to look down and resume as her mother's eyes met hers. "Someone more qualified than me, since I have no experience of the human world yet. And..."

She looked very weary. "She says that..." The girl looked at her mother. "Just give me a moment, will you, Joshua?" Gently, she reached out and took hold of her mother's hands so that they were facing one another, and for a few minutes they spoke in their own tongue - Tianara's voice was earnest, pleading, belief ringing in every word. Her mother's responses were less easy to define.

After a little while, Tianara let go of her mother's hands, and they both looked back at him. The blonde spoke for a moment, and Tianara nodded softly. "She says that if something seems to be going wrong, she wants you to send me back. That if there's a threat, she wants me to come home." The girl took a deep breath. "She's trying - she says she is trusting you as far as she can, Joshua. With one of the beings most...Mom," this said in a tone of soft awe, rather than the irritation or embarrassment of before, "...most precious to her in the world. And she says...Do not make her regret it."

The blonde only nodded once. There was something odd in her gaze as she looked from Joshua back to Tianara. The girl seemed a little bewildered for a moment, and then she looked down at Joshua's hand on her shoulder and the metaphorical lightbulb came on over her head. Glancing back up at her mother, she spoke for a little while, and the mermaid nodded, bubbling back at her. This seemed to be a private conversation, as once they were finished Tianara made no effort to explain what they'd been saying, although she did return his quick smile.

Very gently, the mermaid drifted forward and cupped her daughter's face in her hands. Murmuring a few more words, she turned and left them. There was already the beginnings of grief in the grey eyes when she vanished.

After a tense moment, Tianara sighed. "That did not go well," she muttered. "So now that I've broken my mother's heart and made her certain that she'll never see me again, shall we go?" The question was mildly ironic - it wasn't really like they had many other options.

Katalina approached from a different tunnel, looking between them. "All right?" she asked.

Tianara nodded. "Yeah, for now," she said. "We should go, though."

Tianara looked amused, in a sad sort of way. "She thinks she's never going to see me again because she's sure that she's made a terrible mistake and I'm going to die," she explained. "Usual mother thing." She shrugged it off, smiling a little. "So we'll just have to be extra careful. I'd hate to prove her right."

Katalina glanced between them, frowning a bit. "Why do I feel like I missed something?" she mused. "Ah well. Come on, you two - we've deserted Narcis and the kids, and left them to face Mac and Aria and whoever else comes along on their own." She had a teasing lilt to her voice, and Tianara managed to crack a smile.

The mermaid led the way out of the tunnel - Tianara seemed content to follow along behind her, beside Joshua. Eventually, she turned to him and said softly, "You did great. If you hadn't been there, I don't think I could have convinced her. So..." She trailed off, uncertain of herself. "I guess...Thank you."

There was more she wanted to say, but she didn't know what it was. Probably something along the lines of thanking him for coming through for her - again.

Tianara smiled gently. "You let her see you, and let her see that you're serious about sti--" She paused, blushed a little, rephrased herself. "About protecting me if you have to. And more important, she knows that by bringing you here, and you coming, we've proven that we trust each other." She glanced at him, wondering if he understood. "It wasn't so much what you said," she said softly. "It was that it mattered enough to you that you said it."

She shrugged at his next words. "No, she doesn't trust you," she replied. "You're not one of hers, and she's afraid of most humans. But she thinks you're honest, and she thinks that you believe what you say. That doesn't make it true, of course, but she thinks that you think it is. And that's good enough." She smiled sadly. "She'll learn to trust you once all this is over, if we've managed to keep ourselves both alive."

Katalina pushed the boulder aside as they arrived at the entrance, and the group came out into the deep, murky waters. The young mermaid looked back, tilting her head a little. "Are we ready to go," she inquired patiently, "or do you two have something else to say to each other or someone else before we leave?"