Page 13 of Holiday Wishes and Tentacle Dreams

Doren’s father was still, almost unnaturally so. That was worse.

“Child.” Their mother’s voice was a cauldron of melancholy, and Doren cowered in the face of it. They would have preferred to be lectured or even shouted at. That would be far preferable tothis.

“Mother,” Doren said, forcing their tentacles to calm by their side.

“You were to have been home hours ago. Your father and I worried. We were about to send Landis after you. Bard had volunteered to go speak to him.”

At her words, the bright colors of Doren’s skin faded to less vibrant shades. Landis coming to the surface would have been a disaster.

The great majority of Doren’s race were some form of nonbinary—many agender—and stayed so until they had children. Parenthood came with gender differentiation for most members of their species, although a thriving minority stayed nonbinary even after that point. Landis, on the other hand, was one of the few of their kind that manifested their gender early.

Not that there was anything wrong with that, but because of that, he was larger than the rest of them by a good bit. Doren didn’t understand the scientific reasons behind it, but it was almost as though the biological followed identity. So sure of who they were, the sex characteristics manifested long before they had children, when they would typically appear.

It made them large and powerful creatures, regardless of whether they presented as male or female. On Earth, that meant Landis’ human form was a bit of a giant.

Notimpossiblyso, but at seven feet tall and with thick, heavy muscles, Landis stood out in every human setting. He was the definition of conspicuous.

“What? Were you going to have him drag me back here if I wouldn’t go?”

Humans would probably have trouble interpreting the physical signals of their alien species, but Doren had no such issue. That was a definite look of guilt his mother and father had shared.

“You were!” Doren exclaimed. “What is going on?”

Doren’s father, covered in distinguished silver skin, floated forward a bit.

“We are concerned for your safety, and the safety of our home. Humans grow more violent by the second. Bard has told us that Maine is on the brink of self-annihilation.”

Doren laughed into his parents’ minds. “Maine? The state of Maine? Maine is fine. Yes, it’s a difficult time in the larger nation. Humans are arguing. The world is scary. But no one is going to blow up a tiny tourist town in Maine!”

“My sibling Ren has said many governments have horrific weapons?—”

“No one’s going tousethem! Probably. Ren is just paranoid.”

Doren’s mother drew herself up straight in the water, her tentacles wrapped closely together, and Doren’s heart sank. Here came the proclamation.

“You need to spend a few decades away from humans. A little solitude won’t hurt you. Your father and I forbid you to go back up there.”

Doren shot backwards, surprised by their mother’s words. She’d never done anything like this before. On the one hand,Doren hated that the news from above had scared them so thoroughly. On the other, Doren would not be a prisoner. Not under any circumstances.

“Father. Mother. I am more than a hundred years past the age of maturity. You have no right to hold me here.” Doren chose their next words carefully. “I love you both. But I refuse to be chained to the bottom of the ocean.”

Both Doren’s mother and father froze. Doren had never gone against their wishes, not in the many years Doren had been alive. But today they were rebelling, and they weren’t sure why.

Yes, Doren loved Linwood Falls and its delicious peppermint lattes, but a few decades of exile wasn’t much to a creature with a lifespan of multiple millennia. But Doren couldn’t allow it. The center of their chest was burning with anger and self-righteousness.

In a few decades, who knew whether Linwood Falls would be there? Who knew whether the coastline would still exist? Who knew whether Jake would still be there?

Hold on. What the hell was that? Doren had just met the man, so why would it matter if he were still in Linwood Falls in thirty years?

Doren’s father wrapped a tentacle around their mother’s torso, comforting her, before looking to Doren. He wasn’t angry, Doren didn’t think, but he also wasn’t happy.

“Tell us why, child. Is there a reason for your willingness to go against us?”

Doren grimaced, an almost imperceptible twitch of the area under their eyes. What could they say? They didn’t know themselves.

Before today, they would have grumbled, but they would have followed their parents’ instructions. Now, though…something had changed.

“My beach is there.” That was true. Right? Maybe not the whole story, but…