Work Text:
An unexpected call from the research institute had you rushing to pull your boots on before running down to the harbour which, thanks to the job provided apartment, was only 10 minutes away on foot. A fishing boat had alerted the coast guard of a whale being trapped in a net and for one reason or the other, they couldn’t handle the case on their own and decided to contact your facilities. Not that you minded. It was a chance to do good and another chance to see one of the sei whales up close. Your team had been tracking a few of them since May when they had arrived to feed in the northern waters of Norway.
It was only 5 am in the morning and you were heading off with only two other people but they doubted more was necessary. You were there to dive in in case the whale would need to be cut off from the net. With slight drizzle and wind, your coworker navigated the small boat out of Tromsø and past Kvaløyvågen towards open waters.
You barely had to make an effort at locating the whale with the coast guards instructions because as soon as the boat made its way around the peak, you could see the splashing caused by the animal’s distress. It stilled as the boat got closer and you were wary of startling it again since you would soon be jumping in. ‘’You got your knife?’’ your coworker, Jan, asked as he zipped up your suit.
‘‘Yeah I have it. I don’t think I’ll need the oxygen tank, he’s right on the surface with the net. It’s a bit tangled up on his tail so this shouldn’t take too long.’‘
You gave a thumbs up before jumping in, your knife in a small holster attached to your thigh. The water was dark and you struggled to see the head of the creature. For some reason it seemed to be upside down almost, just its lower body trashing on surface. You put on your goggles and inhaled deeply before going under.
In the water it was quiet. It really was its own world, making you feel slightly insignificant in the grand scale of it. The whale’s pale underbelly shined in the dark waters. But there was too much paleness where the head should be, just below it. The fins looked more like appendages and you moved deeper to look closer until the massive body moved and you saw the head. Air rushed out of your lungs and you struggled back to the surface, gasping. Jan ran to railings near you. ‘’Is it severely injured? What’s wrong?’’
You could only shake your head, he didn’t look very convinced but try as you might you couldn’t form words. Breathing deeply for a moment you went down again and deeper along the whale’s side, its belly dotted with small scars. You tried to steady your own heart as you got close to where the torso’s fins should have been and the steel grey body faded into the same paleness as the underbelly. You saw arms. The creature then turned his head again and you felt nailed in place by the pale blue eyes staring into you. How could you possibly comprehend what you were seeing? Of course you knew what a mermaid and a merman were but had never heard stories of them in whale form, much less expected to see one in real life. His eyes suddenly filled with supplication and you shook yourself out of your confusion. He was here, he needed your help and by God you were going to give it.
Swimming to the surface for air again, you didn’t wait to hear Jan’s questions, dipping under to cut through the net wrapped around the tail. Even with his hands, the merman wouldn’t be able to bend enough to reach his tail and do it himself, his whale body just didn’t allow that. As soon as you had cut him loose, he propelled himself to turn up for breaching. You quickly swam up as well and saw him land back into the water, nearly tipping over your small boat in the process. The look on Jan’s face was complete disbelief and you realized what kind of case you had in your hands. A unique specimen that scientists would fight each other over to probe and research.
You swam to the boat frantically and hauled yourself up despite Jan extending a hand to help you before flopping down like a wet rag. ‘’Jan! Isak! We can’t tell about this to anyone!’’
‘‘Well I realized that as soon as I saw that thing! But am I dreaming or awake? Isak, pinch me’‘
Jan yelped when the other man actually did as he was told while you managed to get yourself in a sitting position. ‘’If someone finds out about him, there will be an endless amount of fishing boats, researchers and tourists who want to see him. They’ll inevitably disturb the wildlife here and very probably would cause the death of that merman. We just have to report this as a normal rescue mission.’’
Both men nodded at this, making you sigh in relief even when you knew they would agree with you. Their morals were too just to even consider profiting from a find like this. But they weren’t looking at you but over the railing and you stood up to see the merman looking at you. His humanoid upper body was just as huge as his whale half, it felt surreal to have him float there and flash a big smile. He had a fairly square face and his nose human enough to look like one even though his nostrils resembled more of the blowhole a whale would normally have.
The merman eagerly swam up closer to the boat and attempted to rest his arms on the side of it. Needless to say his weight was too much for the boat and as soon as it started tipping he got startled and let go. A sort of rumble sounded from deep in his chest. You opened one of crates and filled a bucket full of fish, dangling one in your hand to let him see it.
You kept throwing them for him while talking with your coworkers about how weird this was in general until your hands met just plastic and the expectant eyes of the merman. ‘’He seems friendly enough, doesn’t he?’’ Isak mused. You went to sit at the bow where your legs could hang over the edge and the merman followed you there until he lifted a hand to grab your foot. You had already pulled on your boots in place of flippers and the merman seemed insistent on wiggling them off. He did manage in this task and pressed at your skin, slightly puzzled by your anatomy maybe. His hands were very cold which cause you to shiver.
He glanced at you and in response rubbed your foot for warmth. You wondered how much human interaction he’d had before this, he seemed to know you were experiencing cold differently from him as he was indifferent about the ice cold water around him. He moved his hand to your face, carefully stroking your cheeks and hair with his fingers which required some delicate movements on his part as his hand was big enough to span your entire torso and probably lift you if he so wished. You felt like your heart could burst both from the confusion and delight of encountering this gentle giant, making you press a swift kiss on his palm before getting on your feet again.
Pulling your boots back on and Isak turning to boat for Tromsø again, you looked back to see the merman with his eyes wide, his arm already reached out to you before he let it fall back to the water. There was a lump in your throat and you swallowed it down when he dove and disappeared from your sight.
The next night left you with more than a little sleep debt and had you up at 4:30 am. You never tended to sleep late but this was bad even for you. With a bag over your shoulder you decided to head for the institute even though you knew your boss would nag about the amount of excess hours you had this month. No one else was at the harbour, even most of the seagulls had gone to the sea to follow fishing boats that started their days before anyone was awake. A splash made you jump mid-yawn and your heart immediately started racing.
You scurried to the end of the dock, dropping your bag behind you in your haste. At the sound of your footsteps, pale blue eyes peeked above the surface and when he saw you, the merman lifted his head and gave you that wide smile you had already missed. You dropped on your knees and the merman swam closer to you. You couldn’t care less about the fact that your pants got soaked when he lifted his head to rest it on his lap. After some hesitant testing of the dock’s sturdiness and being pleased with the result, he wrapped his arms behind you as well.
Petting his smooth skin, you felt the need to name him. He couldn’t tell you his name, if he had one, and it didn’t feel right anymore to only call him ‘the merman’. A tender smile took over your face. ‘’Njord’’. If mythology had any truth in it, you believed him to be most deserving of that name as of now. The merman, now Njord, lifted his head at the name and you were again very suddenly reminded of his size when his face was so close to yours. Yet he seemed content with your choice as he leaned closer, his breath gently blowing your hair back.
A car engine revved in the distance and you quickly looked around you to see if anyone was there. The harbour was still empty but there was a risk of someone seeing Njord and it was a risk you couldn’t take. Njord looked equally alerted by the sound and glanced at you before tightening his arms around your body. He tried to pull you into the water with him but you managed to wiggle out of his hold. ‘’I can’t go with you, I have to live on land! You can’t stay here either! Do you understand what happens if you’re seen?’’ you were whisper yelling at this point. Njord had his mouth pressed to a tight line but nodded. Regardless, he tried to reach out to you again, not touching you but pleading with his eyes.
When you took a step back and started running towards the institute again, you could hear his song-like wail and a huge splash as he went under. You knew Jan would already be either at the office or lab, he had been backing up with the coast guard’s night shift and you ran into him as soon as you pulled the door open. ‘’The merman is here, in Tromsø! He followed us from the open waters but I don’t know what to do with him now’’ you explained, still trying to catch your breath. You could see to the harbour out of the office window and saw Njord’s head bobbing out of the water. Jan roughly rubbed his face before clapping his hands. ‘’Right, so, we have to get him out of the harbour obviously. He’d follow us out too, right? He followed us all the way here’’ he was mumbling the rest more to himself as he scampered in the office to grab his car keys and coat.
The hastily made plan was to drive along the coast line, making sure Njord saw where you were heading and then stopping at the northern point of the island. You waved your arms in the air before ducking in to the car and sure enough you got a response in the form of Njord waving back. You made it to Ringvegen road which was so close to the waters that you could see peeks of Njord’s back on the surface. Jan pulled over at the end of a dirt road right at the shore.
The water was deep enough for Njord to get fairly close to land but not close enough since he was restlessly moving back and forth as you stood there watching. Jan heaved a sigh, crossing his arms with a frown. ‘’He’s following you because you saved him, isn’t he?’’
‘‘I think so’‘
‘‘What are you going to do about it?’‘
You threw your head back with a groan, trying to get some sense of your thoughts for some solution. Jan glanced at you. ‘’The old cottage farther up the coast is in good condition still. No one lives there at the moment though, they haven’t managed to sell it’’ he wasn’t looking at you as he said this but your eyes were filling with tears at the idea that it would be possible to pull this off. Planting a big kiss on his cheeks you ran to the shoreline and saw Njord eagerly making his way to you. You were up to your waist in the cold water before you had to stop and Njord couldn’t make it any closer either. ‘’I’ll live in the cottage at the shore, do you know what that means? I’ll come and see you every day!’’ you laughed with a tear slipping down your cheek. Njord’s whale song echoed of the rocks around you and you looked back to see Jan tipping his cap for you.
The owner had been more than willing to finally sell the cottage and in a more remote area, it left you with some savings to build a dock at the shore in front of your cottage. With reinforced pillars and platform to match. Your quad bike got you in and out of the city just fine and a longer way to work was a small price to pay for what you had now. No one had questioned your team about the papers filled for an ordinary rescue mission and you could sigh in relief.
You had your morning coffee cooling down next to you and Njord’s head resting in your lap. If you let him, he could have stayed there for hours, his hand occasionally tightening its hold on you. More often than not, he would slip at least two fingers inside your shirt for warmth and would huff with a smile at your shriek. By your estimations, Njord was only 20 years old and considering a whale’s lifespan, this meant decades of secure and comfortable companionship. You threw off your oversized sweater from over your diving suit and slipped your feet into the water. You slid right to Njord’s waiting arms and he nudged at you with his nose. No one could steal these moments from you.