Inn smirked to himself as he took a step back away from the still drawn curtain and leaned against the wall. He was starting to find some of the conventions of the human world rather amusing. Inn was interested to see how flustered Lion would be trying on the skirt.

He raised his eyebrows in anticipation as the curtain was pulled back inch by inch, conveying the reticence of the hand directing it. Lion walked out, looking around carefully as if to check there were no other witnesses.

“Well,” Inn grinned automatically, “look at you.”

The human boy was wringing his hands together in front of his abdomen when the waistband of the tutu sat snug against the curve of his waist.

Inn swallowed, his throat felt dry as the smirk dropped off his face. Lion’s eyes flicked nervously upwards.

“W-well? What do you think?”

Inn opened his mouth to reply but closed it again when he realised he had no answer. Lion’s small, lithe body was flattered by the skin hugging leotard, his toned legs tapering down to the silk slippers and the skirt arching out from his body like the peeled back petals of a lotus flower.

“I was right,” Inn stated eventually. “It suits you better.”

Lion’s eyes widened and he made a small, pleased ‘Oh’, sound, his hands dropping away from each other to carefully finger the net like fabric of the skirt.

“We’ll get it all,” Inn announced, pushing himself off the wall and striding back out into the main section of the store. He knew that Lion would be too embarrassed to chase after him whilst wearing the skirt so he could easily exchange human cash for the items without any annoying protests.

After the transaction, the two boys left the store with a brand new pink bag in tow. Inn noticed that Lion was unusually quiet, although he didn’t look upset, just thoughtful.

Inn was worried Lion might say ‘thank you’ to him again so he quickly scanned the area for some kind of a distraction. “What is that?” Inn asked, pointing to a large billboard up on the side of the first mall they had visited.

“Ah, it’s an advert for the aquarium,” Lion said, holding his hand up and squinting in the sun. “There’s one underneath the mall.”

Inn frowned, “What is an aquarium?”

“It’s where you can see all types of fish and marine life in giant tanks,” Lion told him as they crossed the street. “I’ve never actually been to one.”

“I like fish,” Inn stated, thinking back to the great lakes north of Himmapan Forest where you could swim with all sorts of demonic creatures.

“Would you like to go?” Lion asked unsurely. “It might be quite busy with tourists.”

“It will be difficult with these bags?” Inn asked. He couldn’t imagine he would have much trouble pushing his way through crowds but the human was more fragile and more easily set off balance.

“Ah, no we can put them in lockers at the start,” Lion explained as they walked back into the mall and took the glass elevator down to the aquarium.

After stowing their shopping and paying for the tickets Inn found himself being accosted by a far too chirpy middle aged man brandishing a large flashing device.

“You need to stand against the background!” the man trilled impatiently gesturing to a peeling plastic wall sticker of a coral reef.

“Don’t worry, it’s just a camera,” Lion explained, pulling at Inn’s sleeve to maneuver the two of them to be side by side in front of the decal. They were finally facing the wildly gesticulating man who was trying to get Inn to smile. Inn attempted to hold back a warning growl.

“They try to sell you the picture at the end,” Lion shrugged, looking a little embarrassed. “They’ll put it in a key ring or something.”

Inn nodded in feigned understanding as the man finished flashing his strange contraption at them. Inn gestured for Lion and him to move past a crowd of milling tourists and into a large area with a number of tanks

“Look at the size of those arapaima!” Lion giggled, rushing forwards and staring through the glass at the giant fish with pinkish silver scales and grim set faces.

“I have seen bigger,” Inn observed. These little shrimp were nothing in comparison to the great river monsters of Longka.

“Hmm,” Lion cocked his head thoughtfully, “I’m going to take that as a challenge! We’ll find something bigger and scarier in here for sure.” He grinned radiantly back at Inn as they moved through the aquarium, ending up in a darkened room full of odd shaped tanks.

“Why are they round?” Inn asked drawing up to a curved tank and peering at the strange creatures with swirling tendrils illuminated by pale neon lights.

“Jellyfish get stuck in corners,” Lion read off one of the information plaques. “I took the bus down to Pattaya once to go swimming with Bluebell and the whole ocean was flooded with jellyfish!” Lion shuddered. “One stung me across my shoulder.”

Lion pulled down the neck of his shirt to show Inn an expanse of smooth golden skin. “I’m pretty sure it left a scar - can you see it?”

Inn rolled his eyes across the boy’s shoulder blade, a few freckled marks trailing up to the slope of his neck. Before he could wonder what he was doing, Inn reached out and trailed his fingers across the skin. He felt Lion shiver beneath his touch.

“No,” Inn replied quietly, “and I cannot feel one either.”

“R-right,” Lion responded, his voice slightly strained. “Let’s keep going, I really want to show you what’s in the next room.”

Inn followed Lion through a tunnel and out into a much brighter area, blinking several times to let his eyes adjust to the light. One entire side of the room was glass, looking out onto a massive tank filled with tall rocks and boulders but otherwise quite bare and uninteresting seeming.

“Why-“ Inn began before a small child gasped beside them, clutching at his mother and shouting, “Shark!”

Inn looked up to see a massive fish with rows of dagger like teeth gliding down from the top of the tank, edging between the rocks with its white gills flaring.

“More scary than the arapaima?” Lion asked proudly, rocking on his toes before tugging at Inn’s sleeve and leading them to the front of the gathered crowd.

Inn watched carefully as three more sharks joined the aerial aquatic ballet, slinking through the depths, sometimes drawing close enough to the glass to elicit a chorus of excited ‘oohs’ from the aquarium visitors.

Inn grinned slowly as one of the great beasts passed by near them, its beady blue eye fixing on Inn before dilating.

One predator recognizing another.

“Inn, look - they’re all coming towards us!” Lion whispered in amazement.

“Mommy, what are they doing?” the little boy from earlier asked loudly behind them.

“Don’t worry darling, I’m sure it’s normal,” the mother reassured as Inn chuckled to himself.

All four of the sharks had sensed him now, their swimming circles growing tighter and closer to the edge of their watery domain. On each rapid pass they flashed their eyes at him.

Inn watched as Lion leant in further to the glass, staring at the sharks in rapturous amazement. The largest, scar ridden shark was just coming round to the end of its pass, staring at Inn when Inn flashed his own eyes and bared his teeth.

There was a medley of shouts and a few shrieks as the colossal fish snapped its jaws and changed course, barreling straight at the glass divide like a battering ram right where Lion was standing.

Lion yelped as all four sharks collided with the panel in front of him, he stumbled clumsily back and into Inn’s arms.

Inn wanted to laugh at how shocked and terrified the little human boy looked but the amusement faded to curiosity as Lion grabbed at Inn’s arms and buried his face in the larger boy’s chest.

Inn could feel Lion’s heartbeat, jackrabbiting through his clothes and tapping a rhythm of distress. Inn huffed as he looked up and snarled at the sharks, sending them skittering back into the shadows.

Lion was still refusing to extricate himself from the other boy and people were starting to stare. It set Inn’s teeth on edge, the last thing he needed was too much attention. Instead, he placed his arm firmly around Lion, his hand splayed on the other boy’s ribcage before leading them quickly into the adjoining corridor and the next room.

“Little Lion?” Inn murmured, pressing his other hand to Lion’s chin to try and get him to look up. He realized that had been the nickname that the boy Boon had also used, perhaps a mistake on Inn’s part? However, Lion let Inn force his face upwards.

Lion’s expression was difficult to read but he seemed sheepish.

“Well that was embarrassing,” Lion sighed, hunching in on himself slightly and drawing away from Inn. “I’m such a bumpkin for thinking they might break that glass. You can tell I never go to stuff like this.”

Inn frowned, Lion was acting like he had been the only one scared of the sharks.

“Plenty of people screamed,” Inn replied. He was frustrated but at what he wasn’t sure. Perhaps he was annoyed at feeling guilty over his fun little prank or perhaps he was just irritated it hadn’t amused him in the way he desired. Either way, he was beginning to think that humans were more complicated creatures than Inn had initially suspected.

“Yeah,” Lion laughed miserably, “the children.”

Inn huffed before looking around the new area they had arrived at. There was another tank here but it was uncovered and people were putting their hands in the water.

“Look,” Inn instructed, reaching out to turn Lion round and face him towards where the other humans seemed to be enjoying themselves inordinately.

“Oh it’s a touch tank!” Lion smiled, walking up the steps to the raised exhibit.

“There are no fish,” Inn stated with disappointment. “Everyone else has already caught them.”

“What? No!” Lion laughed brightly, all the terror of the sharks seemingly forgotten. “They don’t have fish in the touch tank, just seaweed and different types of rocks. It’s more humane.”

“Why would that be fun?” In scowled, he had been hoping there might be some horned naga monsters with which he could wrestle to reassert his demonic dominance.

“Just try it!” Lion giggled from where he was now crouching down and running his fingers through a brown gelatinous goop.

Inn stared hard at the smaller boy for a moment, trying to ascertain whether this was a trick to make him look like a fool. However, Lion genuinely seemed to be delighted by fondling the floating marine vomit.

“Fine,” Inn muttered, bending over to stick his hand into the tepid water. The seaweed was slimy and soft with small bubble like pods attached to the ends.

“Fun, right?” Lion beamed as he pulled over another tangled mass, this time of orange hued gloop.

“Yes,” Inn nodded, convincing himself that he was lying.