Tilting her head in amusement, the sea maiden watches as Nimue calls to her from the frothy waves, bounding over the rolling tide and beckoning for her bondmate to join her in the water, promising a game of chase. Tiamat laughs at the little whale’s antics, flicking her tail out behind her before she picks up a lengthy trot, taking the bait with a smile of mischief. Like the equine nymph that she is, the Lady leaps eagerly into her father’s arms. Salty moisture sprays all around her, quickly dampening her satin skin as she surges against the ocean’s current, reaching out and attempting to nip her companion playfully.

“Come here you—oh!” The peals of her laughter are abruptly cut short, and she stops mid-stride, stumbling a little as the tide hugs her slender body. Suddenly something feels decidedly different—something feel strange. Off. Looking down through the crystalline, elbow-deep waters, Tiamat inspects her foot. “What—? What is—?” She lowers her head to get a better look. In between the cloven toes of her hoof, there seems to be some sort of webbing. Webbing! That’ hadn’t been there before.

Lifting one of her forelegs high out of the water, the blue mare watches (aghast) as the webbing seems to gradually...dissolve into nothing. Disappear. With her jaw dropping in both shock and wonder, Tiamat lowers her foot again to the ocean’s floor—and with no bidding on her part, the webbing gradually returns! “Woah,” she breathes, utterly speechless.

By this time, Nimue had noticed that she was no longer being chased, and so comes over to inspect what has caught her bonded’s attention. Dipping below the ocean’s surface, the orca noses the mare’s hooves, warbling a low whistle of curiosity. “Yeah, I know,” Tiamat laughs, giddy with this new discovery. And then, feeling something else is off, she arches her neck to glances behind her. “Woah!” The Lady squeals, because lining the submerged length of her lion tail, are flowing fins! Fins! Swirling her tail through the waves, she giggles, sure that the gods (as they had with her other magic) have given her this great gift.

Wanting to see just how much she has been blessed, the sea maiden wades farther from the shore. There is a part of her, a primal instinct, that warns her to turn back, but ignoring this and sucking in a breath, Tiamat dives her head under the surface anyway. Her eyes are tightly shut for the first few moments, even when something peculiar ripples across her neck. When she finally looks around, she sees Nimue staring straight at her, smiling her awkward whale grin. Through their mental bond, the Leviathan shows her a picture of her neck—not smooth muscle like normal, but now she has gills!

Releasing her breath in an involuntary gasp and a flurry of bubbles, Tiamat twists her head around, shivering at the odd feeling of her body changing. Then, experimentally, she breathes. And it works! “Hahaha! Look! I can still breathe! Ha!” Tiamat cannot stop her giggles, thoroughly delighted by this wonderful (albeit, undoubtedly strange) discovery.

Suddenly, a whole new world has been opened up to her.

Not wanting to waste a moment, the blue maiden pushes herself deeper into her father’s vast depths—farther than she has ever been able to before—with Nimue swimming excitedly at her side. The mare is clumsy at first...walking is not necessarily the same as swimming. Still, with the aid of her webbed hooves and finned tail, she finds that she glides easily through the salty waters. Down, down she goes, until she notices something near the reef—the glass tunnel! Angling herself towards it, she recognizes two distinct individuals within the safety of the underpass. Propelling herself eagerly forward, Tiamat smiles to them, bumping awkwardly into the glass when she’s unable to stop her movement in time.

Shaking it off, she calls to the both of them—Rikyn, her dear friend, and Yael, a pleasant mare she has only recently met—and waves a webbed hoof in greeting, with a ridiculous grin plastered wide across her lips. “Hello there! It’s me, Tiamat!” She wonders if they will be able to hear her, eyes shining brightly beneath the waves. Nimue whistles her own greeting—the sound echoing like a wordless song through the water. With baited breath (teehee) the mare waits for their response.


notes; I'm sorry I couldn't resist! This is Tia discovering her passive magic x)
“Speech.”