What Swims Below the Surface (reserved)

[Dave Strider]

With a strong swing of her dark pink tail Feferi took off, rising quickly and effortlessly towards the bright blue surface far above her. As her head breached the surface she slowed to a stop. Pushing her long black hair behind her tinned ear she looked around for the familiar blue tail and golden hair. "Where in the world did you swim off to this time." Feferi muttered to herself, shaking her head and letting out a sigh. Her underdeveloped lungs were quickly becoming harder to deal with inhaling oxygen so she dove back under the surface.

The shallow waters by land were where Feferi knew she should be looking. No matter how much the humans made her nervous. She swam towards the drop off... where the shallow water falls off into the darkness of the abyssmal ocean she called home.

She placed a hand in the soft sand as she made her way into the shallow water, the surface only seven feet from her head. It always made her very nervous; whee had grown up being told to keep to deep water and to not let herself be seen by humans. For that reason she had only been in shallow water like this in the black of night... seeing it in the early morning light was a very different experience and she wasn't sure if she liked it very much.

"Oh come on Hamona, where are you..." she muttered before heading off in the direction of the very rocky part of shore.

-----

John stepped carefully over the rocks leading out onto the water. It was about six in the morning and hr could no longer sleep, so an adventure had sounded like a good idea. From the moment he noticed how this group of rocks jutted out into the water he had wanted to o out there, this was just the first time he had the chance.

John and his dad had come out to Florida to stay at a house owned by John's grandparents, who had been generous eniugh to let then borrow it for the summer. John had bern excited at first... but now he realized just how long this summer was going to drag on.

The only upside to this whole experience was the fact that he got to stay by the beach and see the ocean from his window. Within walking distance of numerous tide pools where he could examine the strante aquatic wildlife. He would admit that the ocean was a little bit intimidating he was still very curious abiut what was out there.

Now sitting on the edge of the rocks he pulled off his sandals and dipped his feet into the chilly norning water. The water was really calm this morning and John strained his eyes on the surface of the water, trying to catch a glimpse of all the animals that lurked there.

[Guest]

Hamona had stuck out really early to see the surface world again. She knew it was forbidden but she could not help herself. She says to herself, “Feferi is not going to be happy with me for sneaking off again. But if I told her what I was up to, she would have tried to convince me not to do it. Besides the old couple is letting their son’s family stay their dwelling. I got to see what they are like.”

 

She had made it to the surface and her hiding place before the darkness of the night had lifted. The water was filled with darkly colored algae so she could hide herself quickly and not be seen by the humans. She smiles some. “Feferi would have a fit if she saw me hiding in such filth.”

 

When early morning came, she saw that one of the humans was up. She could not tell if the human was male or female. She could only see its head and she could only tell male from female by the sound of their voices so far. The human was looking at the sea by a large whole in the dwelling. “What are you truly like?”

[Dave Strider]

Knowing full well that no one else in the house would be awake John scrawled a quick note to his father and put it on the counter. It simply said that he was going to be out investigating the surroundings, he didn't have to be specific, Dad would easily be able to see him from the large window in the living room. He stepped into his sandals before running out the door and down the stairs to the beach.

On his first day here he had discovered some tidepools filled with starfish and crabs and small fish. He had also noticed large rocks acting like a natural dock, rising out of the water about 12 feet from shore. He was positive he would be able to find more interesting things out there.

Kicking off his sandals he climbed up onto the rocks. He slowly made his way out over the water. He kept his bright blue eyes on the surface wondering if he could catch a glimpse of any cool fish.

The rocks farther out were a lot more slippery than John had expected and he was having a hard time staying upright. He ended up stopping a few feet short of the end of the rock structure out of fear that he would fall into the water. He sat down and let his feet fall in the water.

The view was beautiful. He was pretty sure he would end up coming out here often enough. Maybe later he would go swimming out here. For now he sinply twirled his feet in the water and watched the surface as it rippled with the wind; ignorant to anything under the water.

[Guest]

Hamona docked underwater as the human made its way out in the water. It swam out to the crown rocks and started climbing on top of them. She says to herself, “What are you doing human? If you fall in, the sharp rocks will rip you to shreds. You do not have protective scales to protect your skin.” She lets out a small sigh of relief as the human finally stops moving about on the rocks. She slowly makes her way closer to the human to get a closer look. Her blue tail sways effortlessly through the water as she makes it where she is to the right of him about seventy-five feet below the surface of the water.

[Dave Strider]

Feferi spotted Hamona from a few dozen tests away. She also sensed the human sitting atop the rocks at the surface. Her strong heart was pounding in her chest. She had never been this close to a human before that she could remember. She took a shuddery breath. Unlike Hamona's blue tail, Feferi's dark pink scales could be quite easily spotted farther down.

She veered hard to the side and tried to do a wide circle around the human boy and Hamona, approaching the other mermaid from behind. "Hamona! What are you doing? You can't be out here. What if you're seen?" Feferi exclaimed, putting a hand in Hamona's shoulder to get her attention. Her dark pink gues constantly flicked up to the surface. It was very obvious she was scared and wanted to be out in deeper water.

John squinted at the water. He thought he saw a weird colour below the surface. It sort of looked long too. He took his glasses off and wiped then on his shirt before placing them back on his face. Whatever it was he had seen he couldn't see it anymore. That sucked, he really thought for a second that he might have seen something cool.

[Guest]

Hamona looks at the human before Feferi got her attention. She says to her seeing her distress, “Calm down Feferi. Keep your tail still so the human does not see your tail.” She tenses up as she could sense the human peering through the water trying to see them. “Now we have to go.” She takes her hand uses her power over the water and uses the water to push them to the deep sea to safety. She swims to the underwater city of the merpeople. She makes her way to the palace and into her room dragging Feferi with her. She looks at her and says, “That was amazing Feferi! I was so close to the human!”

[Dave Strider]

Feferi tried her hardest to keep still. Her gaze was fixed on the human above the surface. She wanted to calm down but this was so scary. Then his movements changed and she could tell he was searching for something. Oh gosh, he probably spotted them. At that moment Hamona grabbed her arm and before she knew it the two of then were swimming back in familiar deep water.

Feferi had no problem keeping up with Hamona. She could tell exactly where they were going as soon as they entered the city. They quickly approached the spiraling towers of the castle and entered Hamona's room. Feferi was exasperated, and she couldn't believe how excited her dear friend looked by the events that just occurred.

Feferi sunk down to the floor, her gills flaring as she took a deep breath. "But what if it had seen you? You know how dangerous humans are, Hamona. You can't just go watch them, you could get hurt." Feferi explained. She pulled all her hair over her shoulder and combed her fingera through it in an attempt to calm herself down. Her tail gently thumped against the floor, trying to ground herself. Gosh, being near the surface made her horribly anxious.

"What do you find so interesting in humans anyway? They're dirty creatures who pollute our waters ignorantly." Feferi asked, finally feeling herself calmed down enough.

[Guest]

Hamona looks at Feferi a moment as she thinks about her question. What did she find so interesting in humans? She twirls a finger in her long blonde hair the sure sign that she was putting a lot of serious thought into her answer. “Humans are a young species compared the length of time merpeople have been here. Their lifespan is a lot shorter too. Yet in the short time that live, they construct dwellings that touch the skies, roaring machines that get them from place to place, and many more achievements. Yes they harm the world around them but they think fish and other creatures are just animals to quench their hunger. But that I think is because no one has shown them any different. The only way to change things is by trying to and we have done nothing of the sort.”

[Dave Strider]

Feferi let out a sigh and casually braided her hair just to give her hands something to do. "I'm sure someone has tried. And I'm sure they failed. The humans fight among eachother, of course they will want to fight us too. And if they don't do that they'll want to experiment on us and lock us up... Doesn't that scare you? " Feferi asked looking up at the blond mermaid.

With her hair completely braided she flipped the long black rope behind her shoulder and moved so she was looking Hamona in the eye."Tell me truthfully, are you going to go back there? Are you going to let that young human see you? A lot of us are getting sick... if they came after us we wouldn't be able to fight back." Feferi backed away and crossed her arms, "I worry about you... but I'm also worried about the rest of us..."

[Guest]

Hamona saddened some as she knew what Feferi was saying was true and she was scared of them. But surely not all humans were bad. “I am scared that I could be caught and experimented on and I know a lot of are getting sick because if humans polluting our waters. But even if we keep moving from each infested place, the whole ocean will be polluted eventually. All of us will die if we do not stop it. My father is already planning to flood the land to stop the humans. But is that right? To kill another species just so we can survive?”

At Feferi’s next few questions she was not sure how to answer. “I want to go back there. I cannot help it. For some reason I am drawn to the land. I am not truly planning to show myself to the human. I have not been close enough to it to see into it’s soul. I would need to see of it can be trusted.”

[Dave Strider]

Feferi fell silent, looking off to the side as Hanona brought up the mass genocide of the human race that their king had been speaking of. Feferi's own mother was a woman very high in their hierarchy, Feferi was heiress to that role, and by extension the thrown; in times like this when so many are getting sick they need to take every precaution that in case the entirety of the royal family is taken out there are others to take over.

"Maybe I agree with this being a little over the top. But what can we do? live threatened for the rest of our lives? Be forced into the darkest depths of the ocean by a species that has been around such an insignificant amount of time?" Feferi paused, "I don't think you should go back there. If you do I will tell your father." she said, bowing her head. She felt horrible for saying it but Hamona was not thinking straight.

"I should probably go... I promised mother I would go on the hunting trip today. I'll talk to you later. Please be careful Hamona. " With that Feferi made her way out of the palafe to where the group of hunters would be meeting. They were low on experienced hunters so they were taking anyone talented with a spear.

[Guest]

Hamona did not say a word as Feferi spoke her mind and then left. She was angry. Angry for not being taken seriously. She may be the youngest princess but she deserved to be heard just like anyone else. Angry after Feferi for not understanding her. Angry at herself for being scared of her father. She wished her mother was still alive. Her mother always knew what to say to get people to calm down and hear each other out. She sighs and lays on her bed saying to herself, “Mom we are so blinded by anger and fear. I wish I could just have one person to talk to.”

[Dave Strider]

Feferi knew as she left that Hamona was angry with her but she had to do what she did. For everyone's sake. When she returned from the hunting trips and the catch was delivered to the palace she considered going to see her friend to try and set things straight but she at the last second decides against it and went home to go to sleep.

John had gone back out to the shore that afternoon and found nothing interesting. He was let down but not discouraged, he would find out what sort of fish he saw this morning. He watched the water from the living room until he could no longer keep his eyes open and went to bed.

He woke up around noon to his sister coming into his room and asking if he would like to join everyone down on the beach. Apparently Dad and Nanna were doing barbecue at the edge of the beach and a few other people from the area were over as well. John just wanted to go for a swim. He agreed instantly and jumped into his blue trunks and a white tank top. As soon as he hit the beach he was in the water swimming out to the floating dock. Today he was going to do some serious adventuring.

[Guest]

Hamona went back to the surface the next day. She observed the human family enjoying the sand and water. She was keeping her distance this time due to the amount of them. She then spotted the one from yesterday swimming out to the floating thing quite a distance from the shore. She thinks, “I am going to keep an eye on this human. If father gets angry, the whole ocean will act up and the human would be in serious trouble.” She watched him as he swam, watching how he moved his limbs. She was quite curious how they managed to stay in the water without a tail.

[Dave Strider]

John had to admit, he was not the strongest swimmer, but he wasn't terrible at it... His kicks and strokes were strong enough to get him where he wanted, even if he did tire easily.He pulled himself up onto the large wooden raft anchored to the ocean floor. He was sort of glad no one else had joined him out here. He could enjoy the beautiful horizon this way.

His eyes drifted across the surface and his thoughts drifted back to the creatures he had seen the other day. He wondered if they were still out there. He wondered if he went swimming if he would be able to find them. But the idea of being pulled out to sea was to terrifying that he couldn't bring himself to do it.

His eyes drifted up for a second and rested on a dark cloud rolling across the sky. It didn't look that close or anything... but he wasn't a meteorologist. He just hoped it didn't rain on his dads barbeque, they would never hear the end of that. He hadnt noticed that the wind started to pick up. He couldnt help but be a little nervous to head bqck to shore but he would have to soon.

[Guest]

Hamona looks at the sky a moment feeling anger in the air. She says to herself, "The storm is coming too fast. The human will not be able to make it to the shore in time." She can feel the water getting colder. She grabs the human's foot while staying in the dark murky water. She pulls him into the water while thinking quickly. She activates the sacred blue pearl making a large blue light appear. She says in her language ignoring the fact that the human is in the water, "Waves be calm and guide this creature back to the shore." The waves gently push the human back to the shore before the sky lets down a down pour.

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