Alex-065
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Post by Alex-065 on May 24, 2013 19:02:51 GMT -5
The audience roared again at the spectacle of Marsile’s incredible evasion. Among those watching was Tutume, mage and cousin to Tide Water’s aspiring champion. “She can do it, Prickles,” she said, speaking to the purple pet urchin nestled on top of her head, who could only bristle it’s spines excitedly. “I know she can! She’s just got to be careful and quick.” She prayed Nymil would make it so.
“Her ancestors are strong.”
Tutume turned and was startled to see Koha “The Flame Tongue” beside her. The tattooed battle-mage was watching the match with an intensity that gave Tutume pause. Even Prickles shuddered in her presence. Sea Fire mermaids are always so serious, she thought, always sizing things up; something she also thought of Dark Fathom mermaids. But who knew what they were really like, other than scary?
“I’m glad to see you’re healed, Koha.” The battle-mage said nothing but gave Tutume a stern glance that made her flinch. The piercing gazer was brief. She turned her full attention back to the match. “You were hurt worse than I,” she replied. “You were broken.”
“I was wasn’t I?” Tutume tried to smile, but the memory was as painful as her injuries had been. The beating she’d taken from Sedna would stay fresh in her mind for a long time, and she worried for Mairsile.
Sea Fire’s champion nodded, still watching the fight while her fellow mage watched her. Koha’s tattoos followed the curves of her body and Tutume admired the beauty of both with furtive glances as she tried not to stare.
She let her gaze linger just a little too long as her cheeks warmed and her mind pondered the romantic ramifications of the Sea Fire clan’s legendary stamina. A sudden snap of expelled energy startled Tutume. Koha noticed. The lustful mermaid blushed, tensed, and quickly threw her focus back to where it should have been the match and Mairsile, where new anxiety greeted her.
“A fireball spell?” Tutume was dismayed. “But Mairsile should know better than to try that against Sedna!” Indeed, Sedna’s skill at using her opponent’s own spells against them had been Tutume’s undoing in the very first round.
“Watch carefully,” Koha told her. The younger maiden still worried. “But-“
“Sedna will bleed,” she said, and they watched to see if Koha’s prediction came true. They had only a moment to wait.
Moonscale’s mutated champion was unmoved by Mairsile’s infallible bubble technique. As always, Sedna retained her glacial calm with an air of spite about her. Without moving a muscle she acted upon Mairsile’s incoming spell as it hurl towards her. The crackling ball halted within arms-reach of Sedna and sizzled in the water, ready to be sent back against it’s caster - who by then saw the opening she needed for her real attack.
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Post by Ninmast on May 25, 2013 1:06:58 GMT -5
(It was a bubble, not a fireball.)
Sedna caught the bubble, but it turned out to be a carrier for something else. A shard of ice so solid that it had no air within it, so that it was perfectly clear, blending flawlessly into the water around and within the bubble. When the bubble stopped, the shard kept going, popping the bubble from the inside as it ruptured the internal barrier and closed the last few inches to dash across Sedna's flawless cheek.
The wound was little more than a deep scratch, nothing in any way serious, but first blood was Mairsile's. It was an entirely pyrrhic victory, meaningful only in symbolism, that the ice witch's defenses were not impenetrable, that she was not perfect, that her defenses had openings. And so Mairsile did not gloat on it, remaining calm in the water across from her, instead watching for the older mermaid's inevitable retaliation so that she might better prepare for it, rather than be caught unprepared or in the middle of another blow. For now ...
For now, first blood was enough.
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Alex-065
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Post by Alex-065 on Jul 10, 2013 15:15:39 GMT -5
All cheered, but there was an upheaval among the Sea Fires, who were loudest of all. Ritual violence, magical or otherwise, figured into much of their cultural heritage. Deaths had once been common, but in an age where every mermaid was a precious to the survival of their species, victory was declared for the Sea Fire maiden who could draw first blood.
Mairsile would have to do more than that, and it was still anyone’s match, but she had indeed proven that Sedna was not untouchable. No other mage had been able to harm her in anyway, and in every sense, the crowd smelled blood in the water.
“As I said,†Koha told Tutume. The Tidewater girl was elated but worried that the blow might infuriate Sedna. But she was still, the stone calm center of a storm of applause for her opponent. They cheered as if the match was already over. Soon, she thought, her expression as unreadable as ever.
The twisted design of her Dark Fathom tattoo reappeared around her naval, a secret marking suddenly exposed for all to see. It flashed into a burning emblem of rage that glowed with the same red hot intensity of her crown. It spread lines of bright crimson from her belly, weaving down her arms and legs, and coursing up her neck and cheeks like the tendrils of a fiery parasite. Despite it’s heat, the temperature of the arena began to plummet. Free floating ice crystals began to appear and slowly grew in size from tiny slivers into glassy caltrops the size of a maiden’s fist. Even the shield was gathering a layer of frost, and the audience murmured anxiously, their cheers silenced by the gathering power they felt.
Sedna was sucking every ounce of heat and stray mana out of the water as if she’d become an empty vacuum in the fabric of reality.
To her surprise, Mairsile saw her own marking awaken. It glowed with the minty hue of her clan, which it had never done before. Beautiful, but it stinging awfully as it’s energy resisted being drained away by such a consuming presence. But the pain she felt was not her’s alone.
Sedna was in agony.
Her body trembled and her blank expression couldn’t hide the turmoil Mairsile saw in her eyes.
The Dark Fathom glyphs were a mystery to all but Oylandra, their creator, and while their magical constitution could grant great power, they were also costly. Even without her teacher saying so, Mairsile had known it would be dangerous to tamper with her making. Horrified, she realized Sedna had done just that. With no fertility left to feed the glyph’s power enhancing magic, she was burning away her life force instead. Surrounding energies were being drawn to her like oxygen to the consuming flames of a bone fire. Sedna’s very soul was burning!
“Stop the match!†Aloli commanded. The officiating priestess was frightened and hesitated to answer the Tide Water matriarch, and never got the chance. The matriarch of Moon Scale countermanded her. “You’ll do no such thing,†Mishua said. “The match must go on.†Aloli’s expression was of sudden disbelief and outrage. Oylandra stilled her with one hand.
“She’s right. That shield is the only thing keeping Sedna alive.†The expectant mother explained how the arena’s protective bubble acted as a choke on the amount of energy Sedna could absorb. If it were to be suddenly removed, the affect on her would be deadly and nigh cataclysmic. Aloli understood and backed down, feeling her own Dark Fathom mark tingle ominously. Oylandra relaxed, though she could feel Mishua’s baleful gaze upon her. She felt the children inside her stir as if in dreadful, and pressed a hand to her womb to comfort them.
That stupid girl, she thought. She’s killing herself and putting all of us at risk.
Her gaze fell on Mairsile and she watched for the courageousness she had come to expect from her pupil.
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Post by Ninmast on Jul 10, 2013 19:43:03 GMT -5
Mairsile flinched as her glyph activated to protect her from its sibling, her hand clasping her shoulder as she hissed, but it was more than that. It was more than just her pain, she understood intuitively as she looked across the arena to Sedna shaking in agony as her glyph began to run amok.
She stretched out her other hand toward her, as if to reach for her across a gulf, the hand to the arm with the mark. "Sedna!" she called out, but she wasn't really sure what she was to say. Stop was the most obvious, but also the most useless. Was her mark out of control on its own, or was it her doing? Either way, it was not going to stop, it couldn't stop.
The longer she watched the burning glyph engulf her sea sister, the greater she understood its peril. No ... she couldn't let it happen ... she had promised Sedna that after the match ... Even if she could save herself from whatever force was building, Sedna would perish. She had to stop it if Sedna couldn't or wouldn't. She had to act. But how?
The glyph. It was either source or channel. Either way, cut it and the flow would end. But cut too deeply, and Sedna would end too. But it was the only way. Not to beat the sea witch, no. That thought had left her mind the moment she had seen the older maiden's eyes. Not to beat her. To save her.
Her hand still outstretched toward her, she felt out through the weave of arcane energies for the glyph, itself, sorted it out as if by touch, trying to gather its leaves and tendrils like a gardener sorting a weed from a delicate plant. Desperately trying to make sure she pulled only on the weed and found its every last feeler. The effort made her rune burn like fire, its minty blue glow burning brighter until it was like a searing beacon, but she set her teeth against it as she began to sweat brine from her brow. The opposing glyph would resist her. Maybe even Sedna would resist her if she could. But her ultimate objective? To pull it out by the roots.
Wise Oylandra, she thought, though she doubted the fury of arcane energies and the shield of the priestesses would allow it to reach the matriarch, if you have any last advice for your two students, now would be the time to grant its boon ...
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Alex-065
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Post by Alex-065 on Jul 14, 2013 1:37:56 GMT -5
Brave in spite of fear and doubt, Mairsile's consciousness reached out and implored her mistress. To their mutual surprise, Oylanda perceived her. The matriarch paused ever so briefly, but even from so far away and through so much chaos, Mairsile saw her smile.
"Do not be afraid, child." Her tone was hard, yet motherly, swelling Mairsile's heart with uncanny confedance. "Her's is the first of many lives you will save, now that you are ready. Embrace the true power of The Tidewater!"
Before Mairsile could grasp what that meant, her body suddenly pulsed with energy. The feeling was incredible! A hundred times the strength of the sensation she had felt when it had been bestowed upon her. There was so much power coming into her, a torrent of energy that made her rune shine with the intensity of a blu-green sun. Where was it all coming from? Ribbons of light unfurled from her mark, enveloping and embracing the curves of her body with the graceful lines of an ancient tribal litany.
Sedna screamed, in pain or in awe, or both. The power that surged through Mairsile's marking was no like her's. Not consuming, or parasitic, but wholesomely symbiotic and far exceeded what Oylandra's capabilities. Her runic magic, combined with the strength of Mairsile's pure heart, had turned the young girl's body into a conduit, a channel between the sea of mermaids and the infinitely greater ocean of their goddesses. Though her, spirits appeared.
Even wracked by the ecstasy of the experience and somehow still barely keeping Sedna's runaway rune in check, Mairsile recognized the ephemeral and feminine figures for what they were: The benevolent ghosts of Tidewater matriarchs. Mairsile's countless fore-mothers were at her side, divine, luminous and smiling upon the chosen heiress to their combined powers. It poured into Mairsile without end, filling her with arcane energies and visions from ages past, adding the the great latent powers intrinsic to her very being. She was becoming more than any mermaid had ever been, becoming one with the spirits of her ancestors, and attaining much of the strength she would need for what lay ahead.
In the presence of such power, what onlookers swore was the birth of a demigoddess, Sedna's rampaging magics withered and faded. The straining shield finally burst, bathing all the crowd in the elating energies of light and love that tunrned night into day for a brief and glorious moment of eucatastrophe that awed all witnesses. They and their descendants would never forget it, even to a hundred generations.
The light faded gracefully, allowing the soft darkness back into the arena and leaving Mairsile aglow with Sedna in her arms, asleep, alive and restored. She had been purged of the magic that had so twisted her, and had regained the body the goddesses had sculpted for her.
The match was done. The Tenth Convergence had concluded. She had done it.
Mairsile, first of her name, daughter of Fairin, daughter Aloli, and now…
Exalted Sister. Champion, after all.
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Post by Ninmast on Jul 16, 2013 9:02:38 GMT -5
The cheers were loud, cacophonous, as invasive and indecipherable as the roar of a tsunami, and yet Mairsile did not hear them. Minty blue runes older than Oylandra's dark texts encircled her form, but she could feel the initial burst fading even as she moved toward the healers with sleeping sea witch in her arms. No, it wasn't the magic that was fading. It was her. The initial strain combined with combatting the deep magic imbued in Sedna's runaway rune was more than her body had been prepared to handle.
Somehow, she kept her stance strong, her back straight, her shoulders squared, her gaze focused on the healers as she slowly made her way down, but the darkness of tunnel vision was beginning to take over her peripheral vision. She stopped not ten feet from the healers, however. She had no idea how much of this power she would still have after she had rested and her normal mind had reasserted its comprehension of limits, and there was still one thing she had to do. One last promise to fulfill that she knew only now she would be able to meaningfully accomplish.
Mairsile adjusted her grip and raised one hand over Sedna's abdomen. Through the knowledge of her ancestors, she knew what she needed to do, it even seemed simple. She merely put her finger against the Moonscale's lower abdomen, and briefly, those ancient, minty runes flared over Sedna's unconscious form.
Done. It was done. That one four-letter word seemed to sap the last of her strength. Done. Nothing else to keep forcing through. Done. She attempted to start toward the last ten feet again, but she wasn't maintaining altitude. The runes flickered as she began a slow pitch forward and her eyes dimmed. The Healers recognized the signs of losing consciousness before she did and immediately started forward to catch the both of them, but as for Mairsile ...
As for Mairsile, she had passed out before her body got the message, drifting another foot or so into the arms of the skilled healers before the commands to her muscles ran out.
* * *
It would be three days (as the humans called it, the equivalent of a dozen tides) before Mairsile would start to wake up. Her back was on soft sand, the grains conforming gently to the contours of her body. She could feel a blanket of kelp laying over her. There was chattering going on in a nearby chamber as her eyes opened to stare at a familiar ceiling of stalactites strung with various decorative odds and ends. She was home, in her family's den.
What had transpired? She hardly recalled, at least at first. After a moment of concentration, it came back to her. But my, that chattering ... That anxious, obnoxiously hyper nonstop, nearly indecipherable--
Mairsile let a tired sigh, gently pulsing the one identity it could possibly be. "Flower ..."
No doubt her mother and sisters were in the nearby visiting chamber attempting to keep up with the girl. Even the extremely social Tide Water would likely be hard pressed to keep up with her. Mairsile stirred, torn between the responsibility to get up and the tag team of her remaining grogginess and the tempting comfort of the soft bed sands.
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Alex-065
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Post by Alex-065 on Jul 18, 2013 3:31:18 GMT -5
"But it's very important! Very! Very! VERY!"
Flower made another rush for Mairsile. She collided instead with her oldest sister, Penola, who was almost as pink and strong as she was. They twisted and writhed with one another like two male eels in a rut. Their struggle spread a cloud of sand throughout the den.
"Girls! Enough!" Fairin would have shouted loud enough to be heard in the Lost Seas if not for her resting daughter in the next chamber. Even so, the psychic impact of her voice hit the warring pair with the force of a punch. They froze, unharmed and looking like guilty little girls.
Fairin's gills flared as she searched for the words to scold them both. None came. She was too tired. Too much had happened. Her anger faded and she regained her composure, as well as the weight of the experience of the past three days. Her worry for her dearest and youngest was compounded by great confusion over what she had seen. What everyone had seen, and yet hardly anyone could believe it.
Flower was only the latest in a long procession of overbearing well-wishers, gawkers, admirers, and con maidens. A dozen expectant mothers from all four clans had promised Fairin they'd name their daughters Mairsile after witnessing her great victory. So much attention and honor had been luxurious before it became exhausting.
"Please, Flower," Fairin implored. "Mairsile isn't awake yet, and she must rest. What's so important that it can't wait?"
"And why can't you take a hint? Get off!" Penola had been jabbing Flower to get off her, but the younger maiden's rapt attention had been as hard pressed on Fairin as her bosom was pressed to Penola's face. When did her chest get so big? She wan't even half this size when she arrived with the human men. Indeed, there was much gossip about Flower's development, yet she herself seemed completely unaware of her growth. Or Pelona until she remembered, with a start.
"Oh, sorry!" Flower blushed as Penola untangled herself and shook the sand out of her hair. Flower remained sprawled on the floor with her lobster-like tail spasming with great anxiety. "I want to say, but… Ooo!" She thrashed in fustrasion. "I promised I wouldn't tell! And Flower always keeps a promise! Always!"
"Promised who?" Fairin asked. Penola butted in. "And keep your voice down."
Again the girl thrashed as she fought to resist the urge to reveal her secret duty.
"I can't, I just can't," she pleaded. "I have to talk to Mairsile right now! There's not much time, so I had to hurry, and I came here as fast as I could, and I remembered were your den was, but then Penola got in the way and got stuck in my boobies and then-"
The babbling chatter only intensified from their, both maidens powerless to stop her.
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Post by Ninmast on Jul 18, 2013 8:57:01 GMT -5
The lobster-tailed mermaid lost her voice before she realized it, continuing perhaps for even a few sentences before really grasping that no "sound" was emerging. The source was soon identified by Mairsile's very obviously groggy form leaning against the doorframe, one hand raised and surrounded by a transparent, blue haze. Really, the room she had been sleeping in was down the hall, but the constant prattling and the sounds of roughhousing made giving into the temptation to remain impossible, so she had made her way in and had broken through Flower's babbling the only way she knew how.
She waited to speak until after Flower had clearly realized she was Silenced, then was delayed further with a mighty yawn. Finally, she gave a look around the room and settled on a simple, "Good morning, everyone."
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Alex-065
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Post by Alex-065 on Jul 23, 2013 6:31:14 GMT -5
"Mairsile! You're awake!" Fairin rushed to her daughter and scooped her up with her tail as if she were still a baby. Her hands cradled Mairsile's face, framing her mother's expression of fathomless relief. "Oh grace of the goddesses, depthless and pure," she recited. It had been a long time since Mairsile had heard her mother quote the prophesy rocks, and she could feel the warmth of her love like sunshine.
Pelona was close at hand as well, though respecting her little sister enough not to coddle her. She gave a knowing smile and nodded.
Flower, surprisingly, maintained a respectful distance as well. It was a remarkable show of restraint. She smiled crookedly, still in an awkward shock at being magically silenced. The character of her aura hinted at her sealed words. Mairsile could sense great anxiety and impatience but also great joy. For what, she could not guess. Flower implored her with her eyes to let her speak again.
True, Flower was energetic to a fault, but her heart was the seat of sincerity it's self. Whatever secret she had to tell Mairsile, it was important beyond any doubt.
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Post by Ninmast on Jul 24, 2013 12:00:17 GMT -5
"Mom!" Mairsile protested at the coddling. She appreciated the attention, but felt she was overreacting. "I was sleeping, not dead ..."
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Post by Alex-065 on Jul 25, 2013 9:05:15 GMT -5
Palona, who was no mage but well-practiced in healing magic, intervened for their mother. “Sister, you weren’t just having a sun nap. Nearly thirteen tides now and this is the first time we’ve seen you awake.”
Flower nodded fervently at the revelation. Brine pooled in Fairin’s eyes as she worked almost manically to work the tangles out of Mairsile’s hair. She sighed on the edge of weeping and told her, “Not Palona, not even Mishua; none of the healers could tell me what was wrong with my baby!” She reflexively squeezed Mairsile with her tail, drawing her closer. The familiar pressure of the embrace and the feeling of her mother’s aura communicated love and concern in ways words alone could not, and instilled a heartwarmingly nostalgic sense of safety.
Had it really been a dozen tides?
Her sister, more composed than their mother, was just as relieved. “The uncertainty frightened everyone,” she said. “After seeing… what happened… I laid hands on you but I couldn’t discern any harm to your body or spirit. There was only this feeling of…” Her mouth twisted and her gills flexed as she sought words. “I don’t know how to say it. It’s like you were glowing. I felt so much power inside of you it almost hurt, like touching hot stone with the blood of Gehona flowing underneath it.”
Gehona was the matron goddess of the Seafire clan, and nested inside the island’s volcanoes. Her blood was called “lava” or “magma” in the human tongue.
Fairin cupped the side of Mairsile’s face with one hand, still squeezing with her tail as a protective mother reminding both herself and her baby that everything was alright. “Are you feeling alright? Do you remember what happened?”
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Alex-065
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Post by Alex-065 on Jul 25, 2013 9:13:54 GMT -5
Palona, who was no mage but well-practiced in healing magic, intervened for their mother. “Sister, you weren’t just having a sun nap. Nearly thirteen tides now and this is the first time we’ve seen you awake.”
Flower nodded fervently at the revelation. Brine pooled in Fairin’s eyes as she worked almost manically to work the tangles out of Mairsile’s hair. She sighed on the edge of weeping and told her, “Not Palona, not even Mishua; none of the healers could tell me what was wrong with my baby!” She reflexively squeezed Mairsile with her tail, drawing her closer. The familiar pressure of the embrace and the feeling of her mother’s aura communicated love and concern in ways words alone could not, and instilled a heartwarmingly nostalgic sense of safety.
Had it really been a dozen tides?
Her sister, more composed than their mother, was just as relieved. “The uncertainty frightened everyone,” she said. “After seeing… what happened… I laid hands on you but I couldn’t discern any harm to your body or spirit. There was only this feeling of…” Her mouth twisted and her gills flexed as she sought words. “I don’t know how to say it. It’s like you were glowing. I felt so much power inside of you it almost hurt, like touching hot stone with the blood of Gehona flowing underneath it.”
Gehona was the matron goddess of the Seafire clan, and nested inside the island’s volcanoes. Her blood was called “lava” or “magma” in the human tongue.
Fairin cupped the side of Mairsile’s face with one hand, still squeezing with her tail as a protective mother reminding both herself and her baby that everything was alright. Her expression was tender, but also eager. “Are you feeling alright? Do you remember what happened? Pelona, fetch a fish. She must be starving.”
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Post by Ninmast on Jul 25, 2013 13:11:53 GMT -5
A dozen tides? The number was empty to Mairsile's ears, her mind could ascribe it no meaning. The words drew blanks in the embrace of her mother. It was impossible to fathom. Had it been so long since the Convergence?
Farin cupped her face and turned her head up as she addressed her, pulling her out of her daze. She nodded once, twice, automatically in response to the questions without really thinking about them, but her stomach heard about the fish more than she did, and gave a confirming rumble that made the girl blush. She changed the topic back to the questions. "I'm just tired. I remember the match against Sedna and removing the seal and carrying her toward the healers, but that must have been about the time I lost consciousness. It must have been the tension of all of that energy, it was more than my body was prepared to channel. The strain." She drifted for a moment before reestablishing her mental track. "Sedna. Was she okay? Did she make it through alright?"
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Post by Alex-065 on Jul 26, 2013 6:09:04 GMT -5
Pelona smiled over her shoulder, relishing that the most powerful mermaid in the islands still had to cope with an anxious and fussy mother. Moreover, she let that smile express just how proud she was of the woman her little sister had become, and knew just the thing to help her regain her strength. Pelona left the den, passing Flower as she fidgeted but remained patient nonetheless. Her eyes kept darting up as if she were speaking to someone, but her thoughts had no voice.
Fairin could see how shocked her daughter was and held her all the closer. Even at her age and size, Mairsile still fit snuggly into her mother’s coiled tail. She nodded. “Yes, a frightfully long time for all of us to be left wondering about you. Every mermaid in the isles saw what happened and none can make any sense of it. Except you, perhaps. And Sedna, yes she-“ Fairin turned as her eldest arrived with a prize.
“Oh that’s perfect, Pelona!” Mairsile’s sister was beaming as she handed her the stunned but still living meal. It was her favorite, a dappled dusksilt flounder big as a bread board; a meaty and delicious catch that was as plentiful and ubiquitous to the mangrove warrens of Tidewater Cove as the Tidewater mermaids themselves. Dr. Hackett had likened the flounders to chickens. Whatever those were.
The flounder struggled weakly, but was doomed to feed Mairsile’s craving.
“About Sedna,” Pelona said. “I asked after her. Word is that she still sleeps, much like you, but will recover with time. And what’s more…” She grinned giddily and glanced to her mother and Flower to include them in the revelation. “The healers are saying she grows pregnant. With twins!”
The mermaids squealed.
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Post by Ninmast on Jul 26, 2013 8:41:53 GMT -5
Oh, she wasn't the only one that could make sense of it. She was sure there were at least three other mermaids in the Isles that had a good idea of what had happened, but she would keep that to herself.
When her sister came in, she was even more distracted than Fairin. Her eyes were the size of dinner plates as her grumbling stomach finally managed to communicate its message to her brain. The instinctive drive for food caused her to finally struggle out of her mother's grip to go for the fish, only managing to remember to give Pelona the briefest, if sincerest, expressions of gratitude in the process.
A quick and practiced pop with the ball of her palm stopped the struggling - while fresh was always a good thing, still-moving meat had always bothered the girl, so the practice of knocking her prey unconscious before consumption was something she had done for so long it was as automatic to eating as salivation. Which she was also doing as she set into the flounder in the middle of the living room, in her ravenous hunger forgetting that manners didn't indicate it to be the place for such a large feeding.
It was fortunate that, while mermaids often moved their mouths to their words, it was not necessary to do so, and as Pelona delivered the news about Sedna, the youngest of Fairin's brood was able to reply enthusiastically without spraying the contents of her mouth, or with the words incomprehensible through her gorging. She pulled her head up, but was still chewing, to reply with glee, "Oh, that's astounding! They'll probably never be able to convince her until she starts showing a month or two after! Oh, but she'll be so happy!"
And she was digging into the fish again.
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