I suddenly remembered something from his story earlier and nodded. "That's right. You mentioned you had a single mother, but that she was human without a doubt. Then your ability to shift must've come from your father."
"Yeah." He bit his lip. "It's a little more complicated than that, and you'll probably laugh if I tell you."
“Why would I do that?" I asked bluntly.
Nishiki opened his mouth to respond, then paused and closed it. He let out a small laugh. "I don't know. I guess I'm just used to people laughing at what I say."
That didn't make any sense to me. He was a smart, well-spoken man. Why was he lacking confidence in himself?
"I promise I won't laugh," I said.
"Not even if it sounds really stupid?"
"Not even then."
Nishiki chewed his lip, then gave up. When he finally spoke, he did so quickly, as if the dam holding back his words had collapsed. "Okay. Well, our father isn't just a shifter. He's a water spirit. I don't exactly know what that means. Growing up, we didn't know anything about him, except that he was apparently a deadbeat dad who didn't care about us. But once we found our mother, it wasn't long after that Nero found our father as well. Turns out he wasn't really a deadbeat, but some kind of mystical entity that's tied to the local bodies of water. Nero explained it to me, but I didn't really understand."
My brain wrapped around this new information, soaking it in. I didn't think Nishiki was lying. Not only did he sound genuine, but there were stranger things in the world than a single water spirit.
"Okay," I said. "And you've never met him before?"
He shook his head. For some reason, he looked a bit guilty, though I couldn't imagine why.
"What's on your mind?" I asked.
"I was just thinking… Since I'm already all the way out here, maybe I finallycouldmeet him. I've known about him since Nero told me, but the idea of going to meet him all by myself was daunting. I'm not like Nero. I don't just get up and have adventures. I'm not brave or strong or athletic like he is. If he ran into trouble, he’d just transform into a shark and fix everything, but I can't do that. All I do is look pretty, in both human and animal form."
I was shocked to hear Nishiki talk this way about himself. My body moved on its own. I approached him and put both my hands on his shoulders. It might've been a little too straightforward, but I wanted him to look me in the eyes and hear what I had to say.
"That's enough," I said, gentle but firm. "I know you're just venting, but that's not a productive way to speak."
Nishiki gazed at me with dark, watery eyes. He'd worked himself into a tizzy, but I knew by the focus in his expression that he was listening to me.
"Have you ever heard the phrasecomparison is the thief of joy?" I asked.
A tiny smile made its way onto his face. "Yeah. But it sounds more true when you say it."
"Good. Remember that you are not your brother, or anyone else. You're you."
Nishiki's eyes wavered like he might cry, but then he swallowed it back and nodded. "Okay," he said softly. "I'll try to remember that."
"I'll be here to remind you," I replied.
I was still holding his shoulders, but I didn't want to pull away. I noticed that we were roughly the same height. It was nice not to have an alpha towering over me for once, but also I liked the fact I could look into his eyes without craning my head either up or down.
I forced myself to release him and stepped back to give him some space. As much as I wanted to be in his presence, I didn't want to be overbearing.
"So what's the plan?" I asked. "Shall I take you back to the canyon or are we going to find your father?"
Nishiki seemed surprised that I was leaving the choice up to him. "Well… I'd like to see my father, but I wouldn't want to burden you with a trip so far out of your way that you didn't ask for."
"You seem to have already forgotten that I told you I'd take you home," I said. "Meeting your father for the first time counts as taking you home."
Nishiki's expression slowly turned into a huge grin. Seeing that look on his face made my chest feel warm. Why did seeing him so happy makemehappy?
"Okay, if you say so," Nishiki said. "But seriously though, Weston… Thank you."
A little bird in my stomach did a flip at the doe-eyed look he was giving me. "Don't mention it." I gestured in the direction perpendicular to the path we'd been taking. "If we want to reach that big body of water, we have to cut through here to get to the wildlife reserve. It might take a few days, but the journey itself shouldn't be too difficult."
