Most days he stepped out onto marine center balcony to find it littered with an assortment of objects. Shells and bits of dead coral and shark teeth and interesting looking rocks and other little 'treasures'. Dr. Cossack always pocketed one or two favorites and returned the rest to the sea.

Forte often greeted him by chucking some poor animal at his head. Small fish, sea stars, octopus…

Today, a little crab. He pulled off his glasses and wiped his face with his sleeve, then scooped up the crab and tossed it back into the water.

"Aloha, Sunfish Dad."

Dr. Cossack startled. It was hard to say what was more surprising: hearing Forte speak in English, his voice strange and with a metallic reverb, or the word 'Dad'. "You got the language download?"

"Yeah. It's pretty accurate?"

"Very accurate!" He burst into laughter. "Ah, I'm so glad I never need to look at one of those stupid translation devices again!"

"You should fire them. That's what you guys do with garbage, right?"

Okay, maybe the language download wasn't perfect, but it was close enough.

"Hah, yes we should burn them." He smiled. "How are you doing?"

"Good. Ran into Rock, slapped his tail."

He sat down and slid his legs under the railing, letting them dangle over the edge. "Hmmm. I think something gets lost in the translation there. You fought and won?"

"Of course I won. I always win."

"You shouldn't be fighting with your friends like that."

"Ugh, that stupid data transfer error isn't my friend."

"So you've said…"

They spent a good half-hour talking about nothing in particular. How humans (other than Dr. Cossack) were weird and vaguely gross, the latest on his patrols and how he'd beat up anyone who dared moved in on his territory, the exploration he'd done in the deep ocean last week, the new mernavi entertainment he was both catching up on and looking forward to. Dr. Cossack let Forte guide the conversation wherever it took him.

Forte went to a great deal of effort to circle the topic without ever actually broaching it. With the language barrier more or less gone, Dr. Cossack finally brought it up.

"Why haven't you gone back to your family?" He asked point blank. "Did you run away?"

"'Run away'? I think something gets lost in the translation," Forte teased. Then he held out his hands, palms up, a human gesture he'd picked up. "No. I'm a lone bull orca."

"What about your parents?"

"They're all dead."

"Oh… oh! I'm terribly sorry." Before he could stop himself, he asked, "What happened? Is that how you got the scar?"

He shrugged. "It was a long time ago, I don't really remember."

There was a kernel of truth, but mostly he was deflecting. Dr. Cossack had better sense than to press, confident that he'd be able to follow up in the future, when the opportunity presented itself. "But…" He paused to think. "Can't you join another family? Doesn't— don't navis have resources to help— I don't know, for humans we have foster care and adoption and—"

"I don't need them and I don't need their pity. I can take care of myself." Then Forte glanced away, sinking into the water until it came up to his eyes. Hesitant, he continued, "I want to join your pod."

He shouldn't have been surprised, really.

He was anyway.

This spawned a hundred conversations that tread and retread the logistics of such a thing.

"It's not that I don't want to— I mean, I already think of you like a son— it's just— I don't see how…"

Forte's suggestions were less than helpful.

'Quit your job', 'live on a boat', 'don't your human scientists have some kind of cybernetic implant that lets you breathe underwater?'

No such tech existed, and Dr. Cossack teased him in response. 'Don't your navi scientists have a way to rebuild you with robot legs so you can live on land?'

He was so deeply offended by the idea that he refused to talk to Dr. Cossack for the next couple days.

"Wheeeen a fish bites your heel, but it's really an eel, that's a moray," she sang. "That's a moray!"

"Dr. Goodall?"

"When the jaws open wide, and there's more jaws inside, that's a moraaaay!"

Dr. Cossack coughed, and Dr. Goodall grinned at him. "How can I be of service, doc?"

Scratching the back of his head, he struggled to explain. "I… um… Forte asked about, er, becoming a member of my family, and I wasn't— I don't know what sort of… precedent there might be…"

"Awwwww," she said, clasping both hands over her heart. "That is the most adorable thing I've ever heard in my entire life."

He smiled… and then his face fell as she continued.

"It's a terrible idea, of course. Adorable, but it'll never work. You'll have to let him down easy, he's going to take it hard."

"But—" Dr. Cossack stammered. "But—"

"Listen, hon. Do you realize that mernavis live for hundreds of years? Some of them get damn near a thousand. You know what that means?" She jabbed her finger into the palm of her other hand. "It's like dog years, only we're the dogs. You see where I'm going with this?"

"I—"

"It takes them a buck fifty, two hundred, to reach maturity. That kid is just a kid, he's preadolescent. And when you die of old age, he'll still be a kid. Sure, it gets you out of having the world's most awkward version of 'the talk' that anyone's ever had. In the big picture, though? You won't be doing him any favors."

His mouth went dry.

She was right. She was right. Here he'd been concerned about the logistics of being separated by land and sea, when he should have been thinking about their disparate lifespans.

Damn it, she was right.

Forte nodded slowly, eyes fixed on nothing in the distance. "I understand. It makes sense."

Logically, he did understand, but his hand still drifted up to his chest, fingers tracing the weld marks from multiple repairs, and the heavy scar that cut across, an old reminder of past losses.

There was no way he'd ever really believe it, no matter how well he understood. In his heart of hearts, he would always think it was because he'd been weak, injured and so close to death. That Dr. Cossack turned him away because he wasn't strong enough.

Dr. Cossack felt his stomach churn, and was more conflicted than he'd been when this all started.

The little gifts and offerings stopped, because there was no longer any need to try and curry favor in a bid to join the Cossack pod.

He continued to visit Dr. Cossack often, almost every day. Forte also created a Finstagram account, although this was, perhaps, regrettable. The majority of his posts were about sea monsters he'd fought (and sometimes killed), how he'd chased creatures (including other mernavi) out of his territory, and most of his pictures were accurately captioned 'Me, coated in the blood of my enemy'.

There was one sea monster he liked, however: a large, dark, beastly looking thing that was vaguely reminisce of a nightmare walrus. This… this was Gospel.

Forte treated him like a pet dog. He was very pleased to introduce the creature to Dr. Cossack, who hesitantly pet it, and tried his best to quash his growing panic.

Kalinka knew her father had rescued a navi, but didn't know many details beyond that. Dr. Cossack had felt it was better to tell her about it in person, to give her a tour of the hospital, introduce her to some of the staff… at the time, he hadn't expected Forte to stick around.

Then he spent so much time coaching Forte on how to behave around his daughter, that he failed to adequately prepare Kalinka. He found himself relating the whole story to her on the ride home from the airport. Staring at him from the back seat, her blue eyes meet his in the rear view mirror. "Like 'The Little Mernavi'?" she asked with barely restrained excitement.

"Ummmm… well… no, not really. In fact, I would say that this is pretty much the reverse of 'The Little Mernavi'."

"Oh." She sagged for a moment, then brightened. "But there's still a mernavi."

"Yes." He explained everything— the hurricane, the tree, the hospital, the virus, the months of recovery, the bad translation devices. Kalinka listened raptly. When he was done, she grinned at him.

"So if he thinks you're his dad, then that makes him like my little brother."

Dr. Cossack blinked in surprise.

"I… I suppose so."

His biggest worry was that Forte would be jealous of his daughter and lash out, but he treated her the same way he treated everyone else. He was aloof and rude, and thankfully Kalinka followed instructions and never tried to touch him.

Everything came together when Kalinka dragged her father out to surf.

Having spent her early formative years on an island, surfing and swimming were just as natural as riding a bike or skipping rope. Dr. Cossack, on the other hand, was a strong swimmer but an abysmal surfer. He failed again and again to catch any waves, and on the rare occasions that he did, it often ended in a wipe out. Forte swam alongside them, coasting in the waves, trailing behind Kalinka as she rode one barrel after another. He fetched Dr. Cossack's board and brought it back to him, then did it again, and again and…

At one point he hung onto the surfboard, taking it out to calm waters, and spent a few minutes basking in the sun.

"Hey," said Kalinka, excited. "Could you tow me out to catch some of those really big swells?"

"Sure."

"No! It's far too dangerous," Dr. Cossack said. "Linka, you know better than that. Even professionals have been killed—"

"Oh, come on, Pa! Forte wouldn't let me drown."

He made a strange face, and glanced at the navi, wishing he had her confidence in the matter.

Forte had to think about it. Earnestly think about it. After way too long of a pause, he said, "I wouldn't let her drown."

"Well, you've certainly put my mind at ease," Dr. Cossack replied sarcastically. "The answer's still 'no'," he told her.

She scowled, then gave Forte a knowing look. "When I turn eighteen— that's when us humans are adults— then he won't be able to tell me what to do anymore. We'll go then."

"When you're eighteen! That's years from now!"

But Forte just nodded.

"In six years," she said, holding out her hand, her little finger raised. "Pinkie swear."

"How?"

She used both hands to demonstrate, then reached out again. Dr. Cossack held his breath. Forte swam up and hooked his finger in hers, and she shook his hand.

It felt like her visit was over as soon as it began, always too short and never enough. Driving back from the airport, Mikhail realized the last time he felt this particular brand of heartache wasn't earlier that year when he saw Kalinka off to her mother's. It was when Forte left the marine center.

With that, he realized that Dr. Goodall may have been right, but she was also dead wrong.

Staying up late into the night, he delved into the subject.

Historically, that particular sort of bond between human and mernavi was rare… but certainly not unheard of.

The most common situation was a bond of friendship, often between sailors or island-dwelling humans and coastal navi. Sometimes the result of chance meeting, sometimes a dramatic ocean rescue. More off than not a drowning human saved by a navi, but occasionally it was the other way around. A beached navi unable to get themself back to the ocean, or one that was caught up in a poachers illegal net. There was even one case where a luckless navi was losing against a cybernetic sea monster, until a deep-sea fisherman harpooned the beast, ending the battle.

Every once in a while these friendships became something more. A bond of brotherhood, where the human was invited to become a part of the mernavi's pod. Even more unusual, a love that grew in spite of two very, very different concepts of romance and a physical incompatibility, again the human always joining the navi in— whatever you'd call it. (Briefly he wondered how such a 'marriage' would've been consummated, then decided he really didn't want to know.) Rarer yet, some navi had adopted orphaned human children. This was often a legal title only, since human children— dependent in a way mernavi children weren't— still needed a human guardian to watch over them.

The least likely scenario, of course, was theirs: a human adopting a navi child. It had happened before, thankfully he wasn't breaking new ground here… but the number of cases were exceedingly small. There was the legend of Buratino, taken in by Mastro Japheth. The Warrior Princess Alita, of course, the daughter of Lord Edo— the real life story that Kalinka's beloved 'The Little Mernavi' was loosely (very loosely) based on. In modern times was Astro, adopted by one Dr. Ochanomizu.

Given the long life that mernavis had, there was little doubt that Astro was still around, and a good chance Alita was, too. It was even possible that Buratino was alive after all these years— if he'd really existed in the first place, that was. Dr. Cossack wondered if it was possible to track any of them down online and ask them about their experiences.

Legally, the situation was… difficult. From what he could tell, things wouldn't be too bad on the navi end— their family dynamics were more open, and allowed for greater flexibility. On the human side of it, however…

He didn't let it dissuade him. Once he'd made up his mind, he knew he had no choice but to see this through, and to do it right.

The next day he download DeuxDialect into his P.E.T.

"I may have been rash. Dr. Goodall had some valid points, and maybe this is a terrible idea in the long run. But the fact remains… you're already family, and it's silly not to make it official…"

Forte looked at him, frantic. "Come down to the water," he said, voice tightly wound, fists clenched. "Please. Come down here."

"I'm not dressed." Dr. Cossack meant that he wasn't wearing swim trunks or a wetsuit, and wasn't going to get wet in his button-down shirt and trousers.

"Ttt!"

With that, Forte dove. Seconds later he exploded from the water, doing an impressive leap towards the balcony, where he grabbed hold of a support beam. He then awkwardly scaled it, up to the balcony railing, wrapping his tail around the beam and hanging onto the rail.

Laughing, Dr. Cossack knelt down, and Forte reached through the bars with one arm to hug him.

"Ack, too tight."

He mindlessly tapped the small stone against his desk. The rest were lined up under his monitor, along with a handful of the paper cranes Kalinka had folded and given to him, some of the shark teeth he'd found over the years, and a couple collectible figurines.

It popped into his mind abruptly. Dr. Cossack turned the stone over in his hand, then got up and hurried over to the mernavi hospital.

"How do know what's in your pocket rocks?" He asked.

"I gotta' guy," Dr. Goodall replied.

After work she had him drive her to the pier. She texted on her phone as they walked down the dock, and then held out her hand. He gave her the stone, which she promptly dropped into the ocean.

"Hey!"

Moments later a massive mernavi with shoulder-mounted drills surfaced, scraping their teeth over the rock.

"Manganese, with nickel, cobalt, thulium," they said, casually tossing it back to Dr. Goodall. Then, without another word, they turned and dove.

"Thanks, Groundman!" It was hard to tell if the navi even heard her. She grinned as she handed it back to Dr. Cossack. "Rare earth metal, looks like it's a good vein of it, too." Then, she added slyly, "You were thinkin' of putting a pool in the backyard, yeah?"

He stood there stunned, as many things raced through his mind.

The main one being, naturally, just how many rocks Forte had given him that he'd tossed back into the water.

As usual, it was the one thing he hadn't anticipated that caused the most trouble.

The paperwork was a nightmare, and he felt like he was endlessly throwing money into legal fees and processes and lawyers. No one seemed to take him seriously. In the end, those were merely hurdles, nuisances and delays.

It was his ex-wife who nearly brought the whole thing to a grinding halt.

"She's concerned there's a danger to Kalinka," Dr. Cossack said miserably, burying his head in his hands. "I hardly get to see her enough as it is, and now— I— I could lose everything…"

"I'm terribly sorry about all of this. But… I don't understand why you're telling me," Gateman replied.

He looked up. "I don't know how to tell Forte, and I kept thinking maybe— maybe if it came from another navi—"

"And get the business end of his blaster? I'm sorry, Dr. Cossack, but… no. No."

"Oh, no, I… actually, I was thinking about one of his friends, but don't know how to contact them." He dug around in his pockets and pulled out his phone. "I have Serenade's ID code string. They live in the deep sea." He stuffed the phone back into his pocket. "Or there's some kid named Rockman, I don't have his ID code, but I know he has a brother named Netto and is a part of the Hikari pod."

At first Gateman flicked his hand next to his head in exasperation, but then he sighed. "Okay, fine. I'll see what I can do."

In the meantime he told everyone and anyone about his dilemma.

"All those techs and nurses he bit…" Dr. Cossack said, groaning and shaking his head.

"Don't sweat it," Dr. Goodall replied. "That's all confidential patient records." She steepled her fingers dramatically. "No one ever has to know."

Dr. Cain offered to be an expert witness, and he tried to explain that Family Court doesn't work like that. Ultimately, Dr. Cain wrote a glowing— if not completely dishonest— recommendation / referral / testimony.

And Mikhail scheduled time off and booked a plane ticket.

"Well, well, well. Look who finally decided to show up."

Forte huffed a burst of water from his cooling vents and flipped his tail dismissively. "What are you doing way up here?"

Ignoring the rude behavior, Serenade caught up and swam by his side, all the while keeping their gaze fixed straight ahead, a smile playing at the corner of their lips.

"You're welcome, by the way. For taking care of Gospel."

"Whatever. I don't know why that dumb mutt likes you."

"So, care to tell me what happened? You went silent and then he shows up, one could only assume the worst." Serenade asked, and their eyes briefly swept over Forte, focusing for a split-second on the still healing weld marks. "And yet, here you are."

"What makes you think something happened?" He sneered, annoyed that his coldness slid off them like water off a duck's back. It took a great deal to make a crack in Serenade's composure and Forte rarely managed it. "I come and go as I please, and I don't answer to you. Mind your own business."

"Ah, so something DID happen. Got it."

"Nothing—! Ugh. What part of 'mind your own business' do you not understand?"

"Whatever you say," Serenade replied, trying not to smirk.

He huffed again, bubbles cascading in tiny froths from his vents, and sped up a little, just enough to leave them lagging behind.

"Forte."

"What now?"

"I have a message about your human friend."

He stopped and spun around, glaring. "I don't have any human friends—"

"There's no need to pretend, I understand the situation better than you know."

"Why, because you like hanging out with crusty land-walkers? Don't think you know anything about me, Serenade."

"The Urakawa's are my family."

Forte was stunned into silence, and Serenade continued.

"As for your friend, he has a problem. His child's primary parent has threatened to keep her away from him, should you join his pod." With that, they reached out, placing a hand on his forearm. "I'm sorry. It's not something that can be solved with blaster or fangs. Your—"

Expression unreadable, Forte jerked away, then turned and sped off.

Prudently, Serenade did not try to follow.

In a perfect world, the judge would've thrown out the case and given Mikhail full custody and Kalinka would've moved back with him, visiting her mother only a few months out of the year, and he'd officially adopt Forte and they'd be one big happy family.

It wasn't a perfect world, but sometimes it was a practical one. In this case, the judge did dismiss it as species-discriminatory and the custody situation went unchanged.

He got back home emotionally drained and completely strung out.

With everything that'd been going on, Dr. Cossack missed the fact that Forte hadn't tried to contact him and stopped updating his social media.

Serenade was right, violence wasn't going to solve this. But it sure made him feel better.

Forte had managed to do a pretty good job of forgetting his troubles by way of battle and bloodshed when Rockman— of all people— decided to show up.

Nosy little punk…

His shots were devastating but sloppy, he was still furious and emotionally raw and had been brute-forcing his was through the last few fights. (Who needed finesse when you could just overpower your enemies?) Rockman easily dodged them, twisting and darting through the water with grace and speed.

"Hey! Would you please quit shooting at me?"

"Yeah, sure. Just after I've landed a few."

He groaned. "Come on, don't be so mean. Dr. Cossack is looking for you."

For a moment Forte's rage swelled inside him. "You keep that name out of your mouth!" But then it struck him— how in the seven seas did Rock even know about Dr. Cossack? Confusion dampened the anger. "Wait, how— what?"

Shaking his head, Rockman reached out and grabbed Forte by the arm, then started towing him along. Forte was so bewildered that for a moment he let him. Then he wrenched free and silently followed.

Netto joined them on the way, having stayed back to avoid Forte's wrath. The Hikari brothers chatted the whole time, filling the space with light conversation about video games and sea monsters they'd fought and what the latest was with Roll's human friend. It was obvious that they were both dying to ask Forte about what was going on, but they stayed strong and avoided the topic, and he wasn't about to volunteer anything. In fact, he was so apprehensive— he could guess why Dr. Cossack would send Rockman to find him, but what if he was wrong?— and completely thrown off-kilter, that he just quietly went along.

It took them half the day to get all the way back to the island and the marine center. Having received a message from Rockman, Gateman was waiting outside, letting them in through the underwater mernavi employees' entrance.

Dr. Cossack was by the connecting pool, the 'foyer' for navi coming into the hospital. Forte hung back, watching him uneasily, while Rockman and Netto hopped onto the ledge.

"Ah, this must be the infamous Pebble-person."

"Huh?"

Smiling, he offered a hand, but Rockman didn't know how to respond. "Oh, I've seen this before!" Netto said, then reached out and shook Dr. Cossack's hand. "Hi. I'm Netto, and this is my twin brother Saito." Rockman followed suit.

"'Saito'? I have to say, I'm a little disappointed, you don't smell interesting—"

"Shhhhuuu—" Forte started, then abruptly cut off. He sank down in the water slightly, both embarrassed and wanting Dr. Cossack to stop, but also not wanting to be rude to him, which went against every instinct. "Uh— quit… quit it."

"We had some problems with the center's translation devices," Dr. Cossack explained. He looked over at Forte. "Are you going to stay down there?"

"Maybe."

Both Netto and Rockman glanced from Dr. Cossack to Forte and back, then Rockman grabbed his brother and jumped into the water. "We'll be right back." With that, he hauled the protesting Netto through the entrance and out of sight.

Tentatively Forte swam over to the edge. "What happened with— with—"

"With Kalinka?" He got down on one knee. "I should've waited. I should've talked to you about it in person, and… well, I should've waited. Everything's fine, her mother was worried you might hurt her, but the judge decided it was discriminatory—"

"Don't… ugh. What makes you think I wouldn't?"

"Honestly? I was a little afraid you might, at first… but I don't think you would, because you know how much it would hurt me."

"Hmmm."

"So, nothing's changed, and it appears I stirred up a whole lot of trouble over nothing. You're probably not very happy with me right now."

"Kind of," he admitted, then pulled himself out of the water. Dr. Cossack drew him into an embrace, and after a moment, the need for affection overcame the anxiety and Forte hugged him back.

"Ah, still too tight…"

Letting go, he slipped back into the pool before Rockman and Netto came back and saw him in such a compromising position. It was good timing, because they returned moments later. As much as Rock respected other's privacy, curiosity won out in the end.

"How do you two know each other?" asked Netto.

Before there was a chance to answer, Rockman followed with questions of his own. "What happened, anyway? He wouldn't tell us anything."

"It's got to do with why he disappeared, right?"

"How'd you know about me? Does that mean Forte talked about us?"

"Oh! Was he here this whole time?"

"That makes sense," Rockman said.

"Yeah, yeah, that does," Netto agreed. "Are you one of the doctors here?"

"What'd he say about me?"

"My," Dr. Cossack replied, overwhelmed but amused.

"Leave him alone, jellyfish-brains," said Forte. "Losers. Go home already."

"If Forte wasn't comfortable talking about it, then I'm afraid it's not my place to say," Dr. Cossack replied politely.

Forte was again conflicted, because he was relieved that Dr. Cossack didn't tell them his business, but he was also a little insulted by the implication that he was too embarrassed to talk about it— never mind that he was, in fact, too embarrassed to talk about.

"And yes, I do work at the center, but not in the hospital. I study fish migration."

This earned a sour look from both of the brothers. "Yech, fish migration."

"Mommy made us study— wait, is that the right word? 'Mommy'?"

"She made us study fish migration, said it was an important part of a well-rounded education."

"But it wasn't useful at all. Just really boring!"

Dr. Cossack chuckled. "It is pretty boring," he agreed. "Would you boys like a tour of the facility?"

For a brief, shining moment Forte thought he was off the hook… then his face fell. Dr. Cossack would keep his secrets. The nurses and techs, on the other hand? Or worse, Dr. Goodall? 'Anecdotes' would be shared, secrets revealed, his reputation ruined. He'd have no choice but to murder everyone, blow up the marine center, get some illegal signal scrambling tech from Serenade, and move to the Atlantic.

"No. No, they were just getting ready to leave."

"Yes!" said Rock and Netto simultaneously.

Things went downhill almost instantly. The first tech Dr. Cossack introduced them to responded with:

"Oh! Pebble-person!"

Which caused Rockman to ask again what Forte had said about him.

"He mentioned you a few times," Dr. Cossack admitted. "The words were less than kind, but he seems to think very highly of you—"

"No, I don't, he and his equally stupid brother are the worst—"

"To be honest, I suspect he may be a little jealous."

"Absolutely not! Never! Are you out of your mind?"

His angry protests were interrupted when Dr. Goodall rounded the corner. "Well, if isn't Sunfish and fish son!"

"Ugh."

The rest of the visit continued that way. It was horrific and frustrating and terrible and humiliating and maybe, possibly, kind-of sort-of almost a little bit wonderful.

It would take nearly a year and a half, plus a fair amount of rare earth metal rich manganese stones, not to mention a couple ulcers, to get all the paperwork through.

He left contractors flummoxed when he asked about installing a pool— with an underground access tunnel. "It's for my son," Dr. Cossack would explain as he pulled up pictures on his phone, eager to share just as any proud parent would.

(Although his house was by the shore, unfortunately it wasn't in the right location for that kind of set up. Figuring out a work around would prove to be a challenge, and on more than one occasion Mikhail found himself carrying Forte on his back. He did, however, continue resisting Forte's petition that he just live full time on a boat.)

He still went beachcombing after storms, returning starfish and horseshoe crabs to the water, collecting beautiful pieces of driftwood. Thankfully he never found anything as interesting as another mernavi, Forte managed to add more than enough weirdness and excitement to his life as it was.

A/N: Thanks for reading! If you enjoyed, be sure to check out "A Drop in the Ocean", a series of short stories about the whole mernavi shoal.