Dropping a Line

[Narav]

"When I was much younger, Edward insisted I learned to fish. He told me it was essential to my development as a merchant. I can remember him now, clear as any sun, laughing as my ten year old self frustratedly dragged my lure through the water. "Patience, Narav," he'd say, always smiling, "If you can learn to hook a fish, you can always hook a customer. Same principle." I'm not sure I ever picked up on his meaning there. Humans are so much more complex than fish. I don't really do it for myself these days...fish, I mean. I do it to be close to him."- Narav's journal

22 Cylus 417


Off the Andaris docks, the small skiff bobbed in the rolling waves. Narav had lashed the boat to the docks earlier in the morning but he found himself rechecking the knots. The water was unusually harsh today, white frosting the crests. Not traditionally a good day to fish, but after the last few Narav wasn't altogether interested in doing it to make money. He baited the hook with a small shrimp he'd snagged earlier today in the wake of more successful fishers bringing their catch to market. There were a few of them in the cheap pail he'd placed on deck, weakly swimming in confused circles. Narav sympathized, feeling like he was smacking his head in a much smaller world as he desperately turned and turned. The insanity with Fridgar, the kidnapping, and Edalene's face when she realized it was him. The frown swam deeper into his face and he speared the struggling shrimp with the barbed edge of the hook. On a whim he twisted it, prompting the little creature to dance in frenzied desperation. A smile found its way to his face and swiftly vanished as Narav realized where it had come from. With a quiet curse on his lips he tied the lure to the fishing line and cast it out into the sea.

Striking the water, the shrimp struggled valiantly before darting out of sight beneath the waves. It wouldn't have the energy or the means to escape the metal speared through its body and perhaps its thrashing would draw a black-back salmon from undearneath the dock. Settling back on the deck, he dropped the pole into the groove where it fit and laid back, letting the shrimp do the work for him. Despite the nature of the sea, the sky was bright and stark clear. Folding his hands across his chest, Narav considered them quietly. Miles away across this very sea, his father and sister had vanished at the hands of pirates in a storm. Shipwrecked, he had incurred the attention of Lisirra and now he was her agent. A year had passed since he last her, a little more...but the distance of time did nothing to ease the sailor's nerves. She was like a cancer, creeping into his thoughts and invading his dreams. Ever since she'd healed him, blessed him, Narav had felt her cruel sadism color his vision. It was as if she were always with him, standing at his side and whispering cruel hatred into his ear. At what point had he begun to like it? At what stage did he stop resisting the insideous and creeping darkness that crawled through his veins?

Was this how his father had felt? The nameless brigand that Edward dared not mention by name? Did he also turn his eyes toward a butcher with interest? Did he consider the feeling of twisting a hot blade in someone's guts to make a point? Narav spit over the edge of the boat and settled back grimly, wriging his hands. Maybe this was justified, in some way. He had earned this curse, this life. Godryn lay dead and buried and his family was gone. Edalene looked at him with such shock and dismay and maybe she should. Son of a common mercenary, of course he would have come to violent ends and violent life. Why bother hiding?

The rod bent slightly, tugging and Narav eyed it suspiciously. He hadn't really expected anything to be biting with the waves so vicious but he leaned forward and lifted the rod from the groove. There was certainly something on the other end, something with a strong will. Narav strained to pull the line up but it jerked him down, his arms burning with exertion. Struggling, the sailor slipped it back into the groove as the slender pole bent dangerously toward the water.

Let the damn thing tire itself out then, he'd pull it up when the stupid creature had given up. A small smile crawled once more onto his face before vanishing suddenly as he caught the gleeful sadism again. Narav sat heavily, laying his head back over the lip of the railing over the churning water. When everything seemed so hopeless, so bleak, what on earth motivated people to go on?

What was there but struggle? This horrible game Lisirra had forced upon him...no...that he had accepted. Sooner play than die.

But here, now, with bloodlust hot in his veins? Perhaps he'd made an error.

Perhaps he should have never come back.

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22nd

[Kiro Mercer]

The water's surface was still, and shimmered beneath the sunlight that refracted and sent stinging rays light into eyes off in all directions like a startled beehive. Below the unbroken surface was Kiro, eyes stinging slightly from the salt in the water, but he swam on, slowly and quietly. Letting out the occasional bubble of air from his nostrils as he awaited the nearby fish. As it swam closer, and closer, he remained still. Waiting for the precise moment to strike, until finally he had it. The fish came too close, and he slashed out at it with the knife, the fish narrowly dodging as it swam away, only to swim right towards Kiros face. Acting upon instinct, he thrust forwards and bit into the back of the fish, holding it as it wriggled with futility against the white gnashers of the human. Kiro rose his knife to kill it before his knife arm was yanked backwards with a sharp pain.

The line tugged and tugged, the Kiro on the end of the hook was putting up quite a struggle. Beneath the depths, he held a small knife, a fish between his teeth, and a hook piercing his shoulder, tugging him back towards the dock as the fish wriggled free of his gnashing jaws, teeth biting the water as he tried to catch the fish back in his mouth to no avail. Mere inches from it as it swam into the depths, the blackness of the water that seemed to become a void only a few metres below his feet. An abyssal decent in darkness, where , no doubt, treasures, boots, lost jewels, and bigger fish resided. Just out of reach of man, even Kiro wasn’t braving the unknown of the waters. Adding ‘sharkbait’ to his list of occupations wasn’t a priority.

Emerging from the water with a roar of coughs that broke the tranquility of the peaceful scene, the arm with a hook embedded in it slammed onto the deck in front of the rod, followed by another elephant's trunk of an arm clattering onto the wood sopping wet, no sleeves to hold onto the moisture, the water poured off them leaving two great wet patches in the wood. Most men would be enraged, not only had this hook pierced his flesh and sunk deep into his shoulder, where it was yanked by the fishermen, pulling the skin and tearing at it, the distraction had caused Kiro to lose his dinner. His eyes held no anger however, and his lips widened into an amused smile at the comedic situation he’d found himself in. “Least you didn’t catch a kraken.” he remarked as he lifted himself onto the deck to reveal the rest of him, only wearing a pair of black belted trousers. His equipment lay above the bar still, his horse in the dock and the pup no doubt tearing apart the rug in his temporary accommodation.

Crouching, he looked into the water and then to the fisherman with a brow raised. “Either you’re going to catch nothing because I scared off the fish with my blood, or you’re going to catch something that likes human blood. Which sounds like something I don’t want to be on a flimsy wooden boat to meet." he rubbed his jaw in thought, as if pondering taking on whatever beasts lurked beneath the waves. Frankly, Kiro hated the water. He swam, but only close to the surface, and only near the shoreline. The thought of facing a beast that thrived in the water terrified him, though he’d never admit it. “Ever caught anything interesting out here?”

Perhaps this man had the right idea. Catch fish with bait and a line, not teeth and a knife. Though perhaps he had had no avail so far, as his expression was glum and solemn, and even Kiro knew it was likely best he didn't make too many jokes now.

Who knows what kind of fisherman he'd reeled in.

[Moon]

The Cyrene Bay was not a welcome place for mer, that much Moon knew. Why the humans of Andaris were so hostile to Mer while also allowing them to care for their prized belongings, Was beyond Moon’s understanding. When he was bound to the Rymer tribe, they forbid traversing the location, fearing it would disrupt their symbiotic relationship with the humans. It was just another way he was controlled by his former tribe, and despite the loneliness he felt Moon thanked the leviathans for his freedom. Moon didn’t hold ill will towards humans in general but it felt liberating to break the rules that were once imposed on him by the greedy Mer bankers. Moon liked this feeling so much that it had almost become a ritual of his to sneak into the bay to observe the humans and watch the large shadows cast by ships drift along the waters surface.

The water was less calm on this trial, sending waves along the surface. There was likely to be no boats setting sail during such a time, so moon felt it was safer to get closer and investigate. What Moon could not foresee, was the sight of a humanoid swimming in the blue. He swam closer to get in telepathic range but stopped abruptly when he noticed the lack of scales or fins. Moon quickly lowered himself into the darkness, covering himself in his tentacle like hair in hopes that he wasn’t spotted. Both of his hearts beat hard in his chest as he tentatively watched the human, doing his best to remind himself that a human wasn’t a threat. It became easier to think this way as he watched the human’s pathetic attempt at catching fish. Moon’s skills weren’t much better but at least he had sharp teeth and claws to aid him, the poor human was simply out of his element.

Moon's brows became pinched in concern when he spotted puffs of blood merging with the water. Moon couldn’t tell how the human had managed to injure himself but as the human swam to shore, the mer swam after. He was still sure to keep himself as hidden as the waters would allow but he had to see if the seemingly foolish human was okay.

from his hiding place under the dock, Moon projected his telepathic message to anyone in the area. It would start as a gentle hum before growing in power, sending a clear vibe of peaceful interaction. The words “hurt” in common would echo through the receivers minds following a feeling of concern. A question would be raised but not with words, The mer would use raw feeling of intention to ask if they meant harm to the Mer people. Moons head stuck out of the waters and patiently listened for a response from the humans above

[Narav]

Once, in a bygone time when he was just cresting into his early teens, Narav had hooked a shark on the end of his pole. As he thrashed and reeled for hours, caught in a struggle with the beast from below, the crew had cheered him on and taken bets on who would win the battle. Once, and only once, did the huge fish break the surface. Grey back and belly pale as seashells it was easily the length of Narav's skiff now. It took one look at him on the deck of the Deliverance, transfixing him with that dead black eye, and snapped the line.

Gone to the depths and, in a way, it always could have. In some strange, sardonic twist it had allowed itself a mere moment of flashing grimace before pushing into the darkness. That day Narav learned two things. First, that in the sea there was always something bigger than you expected, and two, sometimes fishermen forgot that there's force on both ends of the line.

Who was fishing for who?

So when Narav reeled up the massive weight of something beneath the waves and muscled arms burst from the water to hurl pull up onto the dock, the fisherman couldn't think of much else than panic. Gripping his pole for a moment, he dropped it into the skiff and dove for the trap door. Somehow he thought that he could hide in the belly of his boat. But as his shaking hands continuously failed to close on the latch a voice called out jovially behind him. At once the phantom of Godryn, bloodied and sneering as he pushed from the bosom of the sea, faded into nothing. Narav turned to see a stranger, blood pulsing from where the hook.

There was a flash of pleasure, seeing the red glisten mix with the water running down his chest. He could almost taste the pain there, the agony, even though his smile was so broad. Closing his eyes for a moment, Narav banished the sensation and crossed from his boat to the dock, leaping deftly between the two and drawing his dagger. When the stranger's muscles tensed, Narav held out his other hand, flat and palm out with a weak chuckle. "Sorry, sorry, not trying to knife you, not really. Gotta get that hook out." He paused in front of the fellow, waiting for a nod of permission before kneeling and pushing the gleaming hook further through his skin and out the other side. "The hook is barbed, you see," He said, more to himself than Kiro, repeating the words of his father, "Goes in easy, not so easy coming out. Have to cut off the barbed end or you'll injure your skin more removing it." He tensed the dagger at the curve of the narrow hook, sawing gently and finally snapping it with a deft twist before pulling it out of his shoulder and away. He cast the barb into the dark water and let the ruined hook fall harmlessly to the deck, string trailing to his boat. The blood vanished deeper into the waves and Narav remembered the shark...well, the sharks he'd encountered in his life.

"Look at you," he murmured with half a chuckle, "Worried about attracting a man-eater after swimming around beneath the docks." He stepped away from Kiro with an appraising eye from head to foot, settling back on his heels, "Not exactly hedging your bets, are you?"

Picking up the line and tossing the rest into his boat, he cast a cautious eye on the dark waters and nodded. There was truth in what he said. Maybe not the best time to re-board his boat. At least not for a little while. Instead he sat back on the dock across from the dripping stranger. "Caught a shark once, big as the skiff you see," Narav jutted a finger to his boat, "Saw it once before it snapped the line, think it was grinning at me." He shivered, "Not something I'd like to square off with miles from shore..." he shrugged, "Or, really within a few feet of shore."

He opened his mouth to say more but there was a buzz around his ears, as though a two horseflies had timed their descent exactly. Narav swatted at nothing before a series of images, sounds, and a word echoed through his head. As someone who had never experienced the fabled mer telepathy before, Narav dropped his dagger to the dock and slapped his hands on both ears. It, of course, did nothing as the images poured in. "Hurt" the word was, followed by a series of flashes. There were scaled torsos, hands, faces...mer? Were these mer? Then the oblong shapes amid shifting light. Was he looking up? The belly of ships? Spears that lanced the water, cut through it like nothing. Clouds of blood, concern, worry, panic, sadness, there was so much! Narav gritted his teeth and hissed through them, screwing his eyes shut against the question in images.

Did he...mean...to hurt the...mer?

Narav scrambled back, arms pinwheeling as the intrusion shifted away. He opened his eyes to catch the face amid the waves, watching them from just off the dock. He went for his dagger and clutched it, leveling it past Kiro at the face in the waves.

"Mer." He breathed. His father had told him of mer, how fast their tribes could cut the rudder of a ship, leave her dead in the water long enough for the crew to starve, to die of thirst than surge over the railing to kill the remainder...scuttle merchant vessels for their undersea home. Killers mostly, sometimes friends...but Edward had always mentioned that they spoke in curious ways, like singing with memory.

Now Narav felt it.

"What do you want," He asked, his eyes flicking to Kiro's to see if he had felt it as well, "Looks like you got on shore just in time."

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[Moon]

It was undeniably reckless for Moon to be making his presence known to the people of the land and all because one of them gave themselves a tiny cut somehow. He felt so foolish as he treaded water underneath their feet, waiting for them to respond to his question. Moon hadn’t even considered that he was just as big a threat to them as they were to him. Both of his former tribes were friendly to the surface dwellers usually for their own personal gain but there was plenty of Mer that relished in the pain of the “land spawn” as they called them.

Moon couldn’t be sure especially with the constant waves sweeping over his head but he could only hear the presence of two land dwellers in the area. One was was likely tending to the others wound on the dock just a few feet away from where Moon listened. while they both went still as they received Moons message they didn’t seem hostile just curious or possibly confused. One of them spoke up to ask Moon a fairly common question but the second string of words didn’t really register with enough of Moon's small library of common words and phrases to makes sense.

<<Mean no harm Peace friend>>Moon projected the words with the hope they would convey their intended meaning. He knew this wasn’t really the answer the human was looking for but moon didn’t know the words for concern other than the feeling he had already conveyed to them.

Moon took a gulp of water into his mouth to collect his confidence for he was about to do something stupid. He gently drifted out from under the docks presenting only his head and maybe his blueish arms and shoulders to the two men. The thin tentacles sprouting from his head were relaxed to look more like hair and he kept his mouth closed to hide his sharp teeth. Moons hearts were beating rapidly and he trembled slightly in uncertainty but he did his best to convey calmness in his eyes. Moon would have lifted his arms up to show that he was without weapon but his spear was still clutched in his hand under the waves. A Mer didn’t go anywhere without some kind of weapon or at least they didn’t survive long if they did.

The injured man seemed alarmed by Moon and promptly left with out a word, leaving the one tending him alone to deal with the Mer.

<<I scare?>> The corner of Moons lips lowered into a frown as he watched the one man sprint along the deck.

► Show Spoiler

I probably could have thought of a better way to explain kiro's absence but this was the best I could come up with. If he comes back we could say he overcame his fear of Mer or he had to leave for another reason.

[Narav]

The man from the sea was clearly not one by birth. One look at the bobbing visage of pale skin and murky eyes and he leaped from the skiff to the dock and dashed up the creaking boards. Would that Narav could join him, make the mad rush for the safety of firm earth beneath his feet. But something compelled his feet to stay rooted on the deck of his skiff, swaying unsteadily. The dagger in his hand glinted, same as the scales of the fish he had caught earlier and wriggling weakly on the deck.

Where there was one, there would likely be more. Always more with the mer. Dangerous smart, teeth like an eel's and strength enough to hold a grown man down beneath the waves. Every story Edward ever told him rang loudly in his ears, trumpeted.

But then...

Memory Song, the language Edward had said they speak in. In all his years as a sailor on the long seas he had never heard anything quite like it.

"They speak in your mind, boy," He had said one night, three cups deep of the Nashaki ale, "Not with words, but feelings. Pictures. Must get tricky to yell out down there, under the waves, so they learn to speak without speaking. Bloodthirsty devils but hang me if it isn't the prettiest sound you ever heard. Mark my words."

Narav's heartbeat slowed. Memories of his adoptive father were almost as comforting as his presence. Edward had hooked mer in his time, cut them gill to tail and slung them over the deck of his ship. But all these had been raiders, the kind of scale-skins that murdered and shrieked, leaving grown men to die.

This one simply bobbed there, alone, and had it come with friends they would have certainly hauled Narav off the boat to die ignobly beneath the waves...and what a damn waste that would be? Narav flinched forward, the hand on his blade twitching and the Mer drew back as if stung. There was no brazen confidence there, just the moon-eyes of wonder and fear. Two cultures, divided by the line between horizon and sea were no more than fifteen feet apart.

Alone.

Mer never traveled alone.

Narav relaxed a little, letting the blade dip down to his waist, pointing away from the mer. Again the Mindsong came to him, images of fish dipping in and away from the jaws of a barracuda knifing through the water, the way a mer might slip beneath the rocks to let a shark pass above them, the silhouette of death. Fear. It was asking if he was afraid.

He tried to communicate back, grasp the thread of intrusion, the worm that brought the song in his own head and reverse the feeling. He thought about the bodies of sailors, floating bloated in the gentle sea. He thought of the mer spears, coral and shark-tooth, pierced in their bellies. He thought of the ship he'd seen washed up on an unnamed island, chalk scratching of their Deep god etched on the wood.

"Yes, I'm afraid," He breathed, not sure it could understand him, "Your people kill mine." He knelt, a few feet closer to the water and the mer that bobbed there. "But you're alone, aren't you?" He thought of a single fish, swimming lone in the void of water. "You...are you lost?" He tried to think of the question, conceptualize 'lost'. A sunless sea, swimming in circles, a boat drifting aimlessly beneath a blank blackness. "You're in more danger here than me."

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