{"sf1_id":670648,"sf2_id":null,"title":"Aquata Cove - Chapter 8","author":"Mirron Tenshi","words":5248,"posted_at":"2014-02-21T20:48:00.000Z","tags":["Human","M/M","Mermaid","Otter","merman"],"url":"https://fse.anthro.fr/stories/670648-aquata-cove-chapter-8","original_url":"https://sofurry.com/view/670648","image_url":"https://www.sofurryfiles.com/std/thumb?page=670648\u0026ext=.jpg","description":"","content":"\nAquata Cove\nChapter 8: The Outcast\n \n \n \nThe pod is near the middle of the North Pacific Ocean. They\nswim mid-water, about a mile under the surface. Triton Kaiken looks onward with\nkeep, sharp eyes with his son, Adra Merrick, scanning ahead of him, at his side.\nFrom a far distance, Triton Kaiken spotted a moving object, however, he decides\nto allow Adra Merrick the chance to see it himself.\n \nNoita Umiato mutters lightly to Adra Savarna as she conjures\na shimmering ball of light, with the smaller mermaid doing the same thing.\nSavarna grunts and cringes as her light flittered, and died out, pouting at the\nfailed attempt, before trying again.\n \nThe merfolk of the pod mingled amongst themselves,\nconversing about what they found or of what they did during the time they had\nin the Hawaiian waters, while the young meryin swam about excitedly, playfully\nchasing each other in and out of the pod of mermaids and mermen.\n \nMerrick sends out a moderate signal up ahead, before he\nfeels something up ahead.\n \n\"Father... I sense something ahead of us.\" Merrick said.\n \n\"Yes, Merrick. Can you tell me what it is?\" Kaiken replied.\nMerrick narrowed his eyes, and sent more thorough, far-reaching signals.\n \n... It's headed for the pod, but it doesn't feel like a\nthreat... Something, a little warm... It's not big... It's shorter than him, to be\nsure... Its feels weak, like it's dying. It's also fairly small.\n \n\"I think it's a-\"\n \n\"Do not tell me only what you know. Not what you think it to\nbe. As a Triton, you must always be able to learn from sight alone. Anything\nless may lead the who pod into demise.\" He said sternly.\n \n\"... Yes, Father,\" Merrick replied, feeling irritated, \"It is\nan Amnien merman. Probably from the Northern Waters.\"\n \n\"You are half correct, Son,\" Kaiken stated, \"It is from the\nArctic Waters, but it is not a merman,\"\n \n\"... Father?\" Merrick turned to look at the much larger merman\nbeside him. He's sure that's a merman, unless this was something else, but it\ngives off the presence of merfolk intelligence.\n \n\"What you are seeing is not a merman anymore...\" Kaiken's big,\ndark eyes narrowed with a cold glare, \"It is Coshiton.\" \n \nUmiato's eyes lowered, saddened by the mention of Coshiton.\nThe sphere of light faded from the majestic mermaid's hands.\n \n\"Mother?\" Sarvana said as she looked up, \"Mother, why are\nyou sad? Mother?\" Umiato then softly took her daughter's small hand, and\nsmiled.\n \n\"Come, Daughter,\" She said gently, \"The moon has risen. Let\nus practice your song.\"\n \n\"Yes, Mother.\" Savarna said as she glided up onto her\nmother's chest, and held onto her shoulders, as the white mermaid gracefully\ndraped her arms around the young Adra, and ascended angelically upward from the\npod. She did not want Savarna to see her father in the presence of a Coshiton.\n \nMerrick pondered for a moment as they approached the\ncreature, \"Father, what IS it, if not a merman? It looks. It feels. It sounds\nlike an Amnien. I don't understand.\"\n \n\"Your eyes are still young, Son,\" Kaiken said, gripping his\nlong trident, \"You are yet unable to see which that of exists, and should not exist.\"\n \n\"Father,\"\n \n\"Coshitons have forfeit their right to be, yet they still\ncling to what is forbidden to them...\" \n \nIntimidated by his father's speech, Merrick decided to stop\ntalking. Soon, the young merman could make out the Amnien up ahead. \n \nFrom the waist below, the furry merman is bipedal of two,\nthick webbed paws that paddled weakly as he moved. Behind him, trailed a thick\ntail at least two feet long, give or take. While his lower body is brown in\ncolor, his pseudo humanoid upper body is cream-colored, except for his webbed\nhands and the top of his head, along his back, and on the top of his head. His\nface shows otter-like features around the mouth and eyes, with a cluster of\nshort whiskers on either side, a pair of small, rounded ears on his head. The\nleft pec, there is an intricate, black symbol seared onto his flesh. His weary,\ndark brown, orb-like eyes looked up, and spotted the crowd of Piscien merfolk\nswimming in his direction!\n \nThe pod started swim around him, when he quickly paddled\ntowards the Triton.\n \n\"P-Please, Piscien Triton!\" The young otter merman spoke,\ntrying to keep up with him, \"I'm all alone! I can't-\"\n \n\"Be gone, Coshiton!\" Kaiken commanded, brandishing his\nmighty trident, \"You'll know no refuge from my, or any pod in all of the sea.\"\n \n\"Please, please help me!\" The otter begged desperately, \"I\nwas never taught to hunt, 0-or or or forage! I haven't eaten in suns!\" Kaiken\nprodded the merman's chest, pushing him back several feet away.\n \n\"It is no fault of mine that you've forsaken yourself before\nyou learned to survive. And now you dare ask for assistance after you have been\npunished for your unforgivable crime?! As if you have the right to insight\npity?!\" Kaiken said, his anger growing. Everyone in the pod starred at the\nlarge, furious merman as he towered the quivering otter merman.\n \n\"Please, I don't want to die! Please, just let someone of\nyour pod teach me to-\"\n \n\"Enough!\" Kaiken bellowed, pointing threateningly at the\nAmnien, \"You have been deemed nonexistent. You know full well you are beyond\nredemption, and thus cast away. Leave now!\"\n \n\"N-N-No! Please!\" The small male persisted, \"You can't-\"\n \n\"DO NOT CLAIM WHAT I CAN AND CANNOT DO!!!\" With a swing of\nhis trident, Kaiken brandished his weapon, and jabbed the forked top onto the\notter's neck, catching his throat between the middle and right prong. The\nAmnien gagged as he was slammed into a reef wall, pinned down by the trident,\n\"Do not waste my mercy, Coshiton,\" Kaiken growled with dark anger. The Amnien\nsquirmed and whined as he struggled, terrified by the sheer force and rage from\nthe Triton, \"You were reduced to NOTHING when you sealed your own fate. Blame\nnaught but yourself! You may only pray to the Guardian Charybdis that the\nCapricorn will NEVER find you...\" \n \nKaiken pulled his trident out of the rock, and drifted away.\nThe startled merfolk followed suit, leaving the otter to curl up, and weep. As\nthey swam, Merrick looked over his shoulder at the young Amnien, feeling\nhimself scared and near tears.\n \n \nMeanwhile, on the surface, a small ice chunk bobbed up onto\nthe water. It then grew and crystallized into a mini iceberg. Savarna crawled\nonto the ice as she was placed there, before the larger, veiled mermaid slipped\nherself up, and sat onto the cold platform. Savarna looked around, and saw the\nwaning, orange light slowly draining from the sky. As usual, their gills closed\nso that they're able to breath the air.\n \n\"Mother,\" Savarna said, \"The sun is still awake. Why are we\nhere under the sky right now?\" Umiato sighed, and stroked her daughter's cheek.\n \n\"Because a Coshiton was coming.\" Savarna blinked as she\ntilted her head.\n \n\"What's a Coshiton, Mother?\" Umiato then hovered her hand\nover apart of the ice, where several tiny pillars melted and reformed on the\nice like small geysers.\n \n\"You know there are laws, my Daughter. These laws are very\nimportant, and are deemed unbreakable. To violate even one of these laws is an\nunforgivable crime,\" She then twirled a finger around one of the figures. An X\nthen carved itself on it, \"When a mermaid, or a merman breaks one of these\nlaws, they are marked with a symbol,\" The marked symbol then moved away from\nthe rest of the figures, \"And are banished from the rest of the pod, never to\nreturn.\" Umiato then looked in Savarna's eyes, \"To be a Coshiton, means to not\nexist. To forfeit the right to be of their own, or any pod. In the eyes of\nmerfolk, they have lost their honor.\"\n \nUmiato then waved her hand over the figures, and made them\nsplash back into water, where it froze on the ice, \"Your Father, in particular,\ngets angry when he sees a Coshiton,\" She said as her shimmering tail wavered in\nthe water, \"I did not want you to see him in such a rage.\"\n \n\"Is Father scary when he's angry?\" The small mermaid asked.\nUmiato simply nodded.\n \n\"Yes... Very much so...\" The young mermaid looked past her\nmother, then smiling gleefully as she looked onward.\n \n\"Look, Mother, look! It's a floating whale!\" Umiato turned,\nand gasped. She picked up her daughter, and slipped back into the water,\nswimming quickly down into the water, hoping that they were not spotted by the\nhumans and the landmass that they build; that atrocity they call a ship. \n \n \n \nThe Amnien otter groaned as he laid on the reef. He's so\nweak... So hungry... His father never told him how to find food. He could've taught\nhim before he was banished, why DIDN'T he??? Didn't he parents love him?? The\notter merman whimpered as he imagined crunching into a whole log full of clams\nand mussels. Oh, what he wouldn't give for a nice, crispy, tasty sea urchin to\nright now. His mother always told him not to bite directly on a clam or mussel\nshell, but he didn't care, he loved to crunch.\n \nHe then heard a disturbance. The Amnien turned his head to\nsee a strange figure, heading in his direction. As the creature approached, the\notter squirmed feebly on the rock he is on - not that it mattered, it's been so\nlong since he's eaten, he can't swim any further, not even to the surface for a\nbreath.\n \nSoon, he could make out the image of the creature. A\nthird-dimensional face with glowing golden eyes, and a pair of spiraling horns\non its head, its skin a deep purple/blue mix along its head and torso, leading\nto a semi-spirally fish tail. It has two more appendages on the front that\nidentify as legs, with fins along them instead of hooves. On its chin, trailed\na long, thin silvery beard. It's appearance and existence itself seemed to be\ncloaked in a mystical presence.\n \nNew fear spawned in the otter as the goat like creature came\ncloser. No! He forgot to pray to the Charybdis to protect him! The Capricorn has\ncome! It's here to take him away! It's here to end him!\n \nSoon, the legendary Capricorn came to the quivering Amnien\nmerman. The otter pressed his back harder against the reef as it inched closer\nto him. He whimpered and cried as it nudged its muzzle on him, almost sniffing\nhim. The otter clenched his eyes shut as he braced himself for any pain that\nhis death will surely bring. The Capricorn sniffed until it pressed its mouth\nonto the elaborate symbol on the left of his chest. \n \nIt murred before turning around, and swirling its lengthy\ntail, emitting an eerie, echoing bleat as it soon disappeared into the open\nocean. The otter shook, still waiting for his end. He peeped one eye open,\nblinking both eyes open to realize that the Capricorn had gone away.\n \nThe Amnien whined as he curled up, knowing he has more to\ndread before his end.\n \n \n \nMerrick grumbled as he crept along rock. It's the hunting\nand the rest time that he looks forward to; time away from his father. He's\nstrong, mighty, he's knows best. But the way he treated that Amnien... It was\nnothing short of cruel on his part. He's only seen his father get that angry 3\ntimes before, that was when a Coshiton found their way to the pod, and they\nalways asked for help. He's always so stern and serious to him, while he treats\nSavarna like all of the mothers of pearl in the seas. Sometimes, he feels\njealous of his sister, but he knows it's not her fault; at the very least, his\nmother treats Merrick and Savarna the same way.\n \nWould he be so ruthless if Merrick was a Coshiton? His own\nson?\n \n\"Adra Merrick!\" Merrick turned around to see a green-tailed\nmerman swim up to him, carrying a spear of a harpoon tied with ten shark teeth\non the shaft.\n \n\"Hello, Brishen,\" Merrick said as the other merman swam\nbeside him. \n \n\"Hunting alone? You know you must at least have a partner.\"\nThe merman said with a smile.\n \n\"I'm the Adra Triton, I can hunt alone if I see fit... I\njust  feel a little... Bewildered\nfrom Father.\" Brishen looked at his friend, and simply nodded.\n \n\"Yes... He was... Frightening... It is still hard to even imagine\nhim that fierce...\"\n \n\"I don't quite understand why he must be so harsh on\nCoshiton. Couldn't we at least teach him to forage instead of throwing him to\nthe sea?\" Brishen shook his head.\n \n\"That is the point, Merrick. Coshiton are outcasts. They've\nbroken the laws, and they are forbidden in ANY pod...\" The green tail looked\ndownward, \"They've committed their crimes, and so must suffer the\nconsequences...\"\n \nMerrick's felt harsh knot in his stomach. It just doesn't\nfeel right to just... Leave someone to die like this, as if he literally never\nexisted.\n \nBoth mermen's gills twitched as they looked up. They lowered\nthemselves and peered up. A slim, long shark swam close by. It drifted slowly,\nits eyes scanning for any prey, completely unaware of the other two mermen\nright under it.\n \n\"I'll strike first...\" Brishen uttered.\n \n\"No, it's a Mako... It's too fast for-\" Before Merrick can\nstop him, Brishen charged for the shark. He threw his harpoon at the shark,\nwhich only gave a single cut along the gills. The large fish jerked around, and\nopened its narrow jaws as it jetted for the merman! Brishen tried to parry its\nmouth with his barb knife, only succeeding for the shark to pin him to the\nsand. With the shark burrowing against him, Brishen is unable to stab into the\nshark.\n \nSuddenly, an object stabbed into the shark's head. A second\none, Brishen's own spear, shot into the shark. Then Merrick grabbed his lodged\ntrident to dig into it harder, and cranked it hard once. The shark stopped\nmoving, dead. Merrick yanked the spear out of the shark, and drifted it to\nBrishen, before adjusting his trident and pulling it out of the hunted shark.\n \n\"Well... THAT was easy!\" Merrick smirked as he took out his\nfishing line, and tied it around the base of its tail. \n \n\"Brishen, just because you over took a tiger shark ONCE, it\ndoes not mean you are ready to challenge the ocean.\"\n \n\"That's why you're my friend, Adra Triton.\" Brishen said\nwith a grin, \"So I can learn to conquer the ocean by watching you!\" Merrick\nchuckled as the two mermen moved the shark away.\n \n\"Well, learn quickly. This makes HOW many times I took down\nsomething that was trying to eat you?\"\n \n\"Who counts?\" He asked as they took the shark through the\nwater. In minutes, they were able to delivered bounty to the pod, where they\nresided in a sand bank, where several other hunted prey lay before the merfolk.\nMerrick and Brishen placed the inanimate shark down, to the astonishment of the\nother mermen and mermaids.\n \n\"Well done, Adra Merrick,\" Denizyr said, placing a hand onto\nthe shark, causing the seeping blood to flow back into the shark, and merge\nwith the flesh.\n \n\"Hey!\" Brishen piped up, \"What about ME? How do you know I\ndidn't get this one?\" Denizyr just smirked down at him.\n \n\"That tiger shark was 2 years ago, Brishen. A Mako is still\nfast for YOUR level.\" Brishen simply grinned and pointed his thumb at his\nchest.\n \n\"Keep laughing, because I will be the BEST hunter ever!\" \n \n\"Heh, until then, keep with Adra Merrick.\"\n \n\"Will do, Denizyr!\" He then swam around, and loomed over to\nMerrick, who is already on the move again, \"Merrick, let's hunt a Great White\nthis time!!\" Merrick simply chuckled and shook his head.\n \n\"Perhaps another moon. I want to dive for some squid right\nnow.\"\n \n\"Squid? Well...\" Brishen said, \"That's deeper than I can go...\nYou're gonna need to do it alone.\"\n \n\"I know,\" Merrick said with a smirk, \"That's the whole\nidea.\"\n \n\"Oh, go on!\" Brishen said with a laugh, kicking up some sand\nat the Adra.\n \nMerrick chuckled as he swam ahead. He swam for several\nminutes until he located the nearest trench. He took a deep, narrow breath, and\nemitted out a silent call. The blackness below lit up in a faint glow. With the\nslight illumination, the merman then slipped himself down into the trench.\n \n \n \n \n\"Nnnnggghhhhh...\" The otter groaned. His stomach hurts so\nmuch. He can feel his own end nearing him. It's been so long since he's eaten. \n \nHis small ears twitched as he felt something coming in his\ndirection again. It's the Capricorn again. It's come to... End him. \n \nThe weak otter moved his head, and opened his dreary eyes.\nThey slowly came into focus as he squinted, trying so hard to see what it is\nthat's coming.\n \nThe figure approaching him isn't the creature from before.\nThe merman sent a signal forward, but he can barely make it out. It's... One of\nthe Piscien merfolk that passed by this area hours ago. Did they send a hunter\nto finish him off before the Capricorn returns? \n \nThe fading otter laid his head down, and closed his eyes. He\ndoesn't want to die, but he's to weak to swim away, or fight back for that\nmatter. It's better if it... Just happens...\n \n\"Hello? ... Are you alright?\" Came a voice. The Amnien felt\na hand on his shoulder, pushing it gently back and forth. The otter groaned\nfeebly as he looked, reopening, and seeing the fish-like merman. He was right;\nit IS one of the Pisciens. The otter merman looked to see a large, motionless\ncrab in one hand, with two Humboldt squid strung up. The Amnien looked up in\ntearful astonishment. \"Here,\" The merman said as he offered the crustacean \"Eat\nthis,\" He said with a soft smile.\n \nThe young, famished merman seized the crab and took a harsh\nbite into the underside of the crab. He moaned in delight as he tasted the\nsavory meat of the crab, his short, but sharp teeth digging into the crab and devouring\nit in less than a minute.\n \n\"Don't forget the legs, there's meat there too,\" The Piscien\nsaid as he untied one of the squid. The Amnien looked at the mangled carcass\nbefore yanking off each spiky leg, and sucking out the meat inside.\n \nThe fish merman then handed over a squid when the Amnien\nsuckled on the last leg. He grabbed the squid, and started ripping into it.\n\"Slow down,\" The otter paused, \"You will choke if you eat too fast.\" The Amnien\nmerman chewed more moderately, \"What is your name?\"\n \nThe otter swallowed and spoke, \"... Arnaav... My name is\nArnaav...\" The otter's brown eyes looked along the merman's weapon, up to the top\nof the three-pronged shaft, \"Three...\" His eyes then looked at the Piscien before\nhis eyes widened, \"You're... You're an Adra Triton...\"\n \n\"My name,\" He said as set down his trident, \"Is Merrick,\"\nThe Amnien ate into the squid, before grunting in pain and jerking his head\nback. Merrick then put his hand in, and roughly ripped the beak out of the\nsquid. \"If you don't mind my asking... What was your crime?\" The otter paused,\nand then swallowed.\n \n\"I... There was this human girl... She was so young... She dwelled\nright next to waters... I played with her, that's all I did... She would throw\nthese things into the water, and they would sink down, and I would retrieve it\nfor her, and give them back. It was fun, and she always smiled when I played\nwith her...\" The otter looked down sadly, \"I did not know association with humans\nwas forbidden... When my Triton found out, I was...\" The otter tensed and\nwhimpered, putting a paw on the symbol on his left chest.\n \nMerrick frowned sadly at the Amnien, \"... What about the girl?\nCould you not go back to her when you were banished?\"\n \n\"I tried... But she wasn't there anymore. She never came back\nto her home. I don't know where she went, so I just moved on...\" The Amnien\nmerman whined as he hunched over a little, \"I wasn't old enough to learn to\nhunt... I know I'm not going to live any longer...\" Merrick sighed as he looked\nonto the poor male. \n \nThis could be him if he isn't so careful. And this Amnien is\nhardly any older than Savarna. Of course he wouldn't know how to look for food.\nAre the laws so strict that they would banish a meryin?\n \n\"I can't stay much longer,\" Merrick said, \"Here's some\nstring for use,\" Merrick said as he took out a reel of fishing line, \"And\nthis,\" Merrick said as he also unhooked a sheathed object from his side, \"It's\na tool humans use...\"\n \n \n---\n \n\"It's called a knife,\" Adam said, showing Merrick the shiny\nshort blade, \"A Survival Knife, to be specific.\"\n \n\"We find one of these once or twice in our migration,\"\nMerrick said, looking at the jagged pattern on one side of the blade, then at\nthe curved blade on the other side, \"But none like THIS one...\"\n \n\"That's probably because merfolk only find Fish Knives. This\nkind of knife is for camping in the woods, it needs to be sturdy...\" Adam said as\nhe sheathed the knife.\n \n\"Most of the time, we carve bones and tie ray barbs or teeth\ninto them.\" Merrick said. Adam turned the knife around in his hand, and looked\nback at Merrick.\n \n\"I bought this last week. It's one of the Waterproof\nmodels,\" With a smile, he held the sheath, and offered the handle to Merrick,\n\"Why don't you hold on to it? I'm sure you'll find it useful.\"\n \n\"Really, Adam???\" Merrick said as he took the handle.\n \n\"Sure, I can get another one. Just be careful with it, it's\nvery sharp.\" Merrick smiled as he looked at the gleaming metal.\n \n---\n \n \n\"Here,\" Merrick said as he offered the handle of the knife\nto the Amnien merman, \"Why don't you hold on to it? It's no spear, but it will\nhelp.\" The otter looked with surprised as his thick, webbed paws took the\nhandle. Merrick showed him how to pop the button to open it, and pull the\nsharp, metal blade out of the small scabbard. He looked in awe in the strangely\nshaped weapon.\n \n\"I never seen anything like this... Where did you get it?\"\nMerrick hesitated.\n \n\"I... I found it. I cannot say where.\" The otter nodded before\nhe set the knife aside, and hugged Merrick, nuzzling his slick, scaled skin.\nMerrick hugged back, running his webbed hands over the short layer of fuzz,\n\"Rest here before swimming anywhere. If you use too much energy right now, you\nwon't last.\" \n \nThe Amnien merman looked up with eyes full of gratitude,\n\"But... Why?\" Merrick rose a brow at him.\n \n\"I'm sorry?\"\n \n\"Why are you helping me? Your Triton was so angry at me... No\none else would help me... Why did you risk so-\" The shell on Merrick's necklace\nvibrated and glowed. The hug broke as he felt his shell shard.\n \n\"I'm out of time. They know I've been away for too long,\"\nMerrick said as he picked up his trident, and rubbed the otter merman's\nshoulder, \"Stay safe, use ANYTHING you think can be of help, and travel light.\nGood luck, Arnaav. May the Sea Mother Atargatis and the Amnien Guardian\nCharybdis protect you,\" He gave one last hug with his free arm.\n \n\"Thank you, A-Adra Merrick. I won't forget you...\" The\nemotional meryin said as he hugged Merrick again. And with that, the Piscien\nAdra swam swiftly away, waving his tail up and down and swiftly looming\nthrough.\n \n \n \nMerrick quickly moved through, focusing his energy on his\ntail to carry him as swift as possible; Arnaav was a bit of a distance to go.\nHe couldn't just leave that young otter to die like that. How can anyone be\nmade a Coshiton at such young an age? For a crime he didn't even know he was\ncommitting... It's... It's just not fair.\n \nMerrick swam until he saw a sudden flurry of white. He\nwrithed abruptly as he attempted to stop as soon as he could. He turned and\nscrambled to see the wavering, shimmering mermaid, looking down at him.\n \n\"M-Mother... !\" He gulped at he looked up at her, as she\nlooked down with a face of indifferent sternness, \"I-I-I was just hunting in\nthe trench... There wasn't much game,\" He said as he held up the one squid he\nhad.\n \n\"Aiding the rogue, are we?\" She asked. Merrick looked down,\nand put a hand on his arm.\n \n\"I couldn't just... He's almost as young as Savarna, he was\ngoing to die, he's so-\" Umiato laughed softly. Merrick looked up with surprise\nas she floated to him, and put her pearly hands onto his shoulders.\n \n\"Compassion for all, my Son,\" She said as she put a hand on\nMerrick's cheek, \"Is a rare and precious gift that eludes most of anyone.\"\nMerrick smiled happily at her, and hugged his mother. She embraced him back,\nand muttered low, \"I will not inform HIM if you will not.\" He nodded before\nthey then swam in the same direction. After a while, Merrick remembered\nsomething his father said that confused him.\n \n\"Mother... I want to ask something...\" The graceful Noita looked\nto her side at her offspring.\n \n\"Yes?\"\n \n\"When Father... Turned down the Coshiton... He told him to pray\nthat the Capricorn does not find him. Who or what is a Capricorn?\"\n \nThe mermaid nodded, and wavered her hand, illuminating a\nsmall bundle of light and bubbles into forming a half-goat half-fish symbol.\n \n\"The Capricorns are among the most ancient and benevolent\ncreatures of the sea. They are very rare this era, and can never be found by\nthose who look for them. They only appear when a merperson has lost their way.\nIt is said that a Capricorn will come to a lost merperson, and guide them to\nhaven.\n \n\"However... According to legend, when a Capricorn finds a\nCoshiton, they guide them to a peaceful, calm demise,\" Merrick frowned as the\nlight and bubbles dissipated, \"Granting them the gift of mercy from a lone,\ndangerous life in the ocean.\" Merrick looked downward for a moment. \n \nWhat happened with Arnaav... He's so young... And he didn't even\nknow what he was doing was wrong... \"Mother... Is there no way we can-\"\n \n\"I am sorry, my Son,\" Umiato said, \"Even if he was a Piscien\nmerman, we cannot take him in. It is the law of the sea.\"\n \n\"... Mother... What happens if a merperson breaks a law without\nknowing it? Surely a second chance could be given...\" The Noita closed her eyes,\nand shook her head.\n \n\"I wish that is how the way it is. However, a law is still a\nlaw, and a single violation of such is absolute.\" Umiato said as she stopped\nswimming. Merrick noticed his mother ceased her movement, before turning\naround, and coming up to her.\n \n\"Listen well, my Son,\" Umiato said solemnly, looking\ndirectly into his eyes, \"The Second Chance of breaking a Sacred Law is given\nONLY to that of the Triton, Noita, and Adra. You are privileged with a fragile\nimmunity that no other common merperson possesses. Do not, take this for\ngranted, my Son,\" The mermaid then loomed in, and embraced Merrick, who hugged\nher back, \"It would deeply wound my soul to lose you, my Adra Triton. The same\nof your sister, my Adra Noita...\"\n \nAs they hugged, Merrick felt a purge of guilt in his\nstomach, yet keeping his face solace with pity for the Amnien; it is very hard\nto fool a Noita, and one change of expression can lead her to suspect his\nsecret.\n \n\"Come,\" Umiato said as she gave a smile, and lofted away\nfrom the spot. Merrick turned, looking back at the direction he was swimming\nfrom. \n \n\"Arnaav...\" He muttered, \"...\" He then softly took his shell\nslice, and closed his eyes.\n \n'... O Wise and Shining Sea Mother, Atargatis...' He prayed,\n'Hear my soul and resonance of my heart... Watch over my friend, Arnaav... Please\nease him of the cruelty of solitude and rejection... May your love and compassion\never rain upon all of the Piscien, Amnien, and Holsien...'\n \nMerrick reopened his eyes, turned about, and swam forth,\nmoving to catch up with his mother.\n \n \n \nArnaav sat there, curled up on the reef, resting as Merrick\nsuggested. His tummy is full, after so long; after banishment, he thought he\nwould never taste food again. And the tool and line that Adra Triton gave to\nhim is more than he can ever ask for...\n \nHe wants to live, and with these gifts, he may have a shot...\nBut... Why? He's all alone... He has no one, and so long as this mark brands his\nchest, he never will have anyone again. What meaning is there to live but never\nhave a friend at his side? Adra Merrick may have fed him out of the goodness of\nhis heart, and stopped the agony in his gut, but really, it has only prolonged\nhis loneliness. If this is what it means to be Coshiton... Alone, cast away,\nhated by all who see him... Maybe the Capricorn should take him away... Deliver him\nto the other side...\n \nArnaav looked out into the open ocean, sensing a familiar,\nmystical presence approach him. Sure enough, it is the ancient creature of ram\nand fish. Its skin and scales gleamed with its very existence, coming near the\notter Amnien, being welcomed this time. Arnaav picked up the sheathed knife,\nand put the handle through the gap of the line reel; if he is to die now, he\nwill not leave behind the Adra's generosity - he will keep these tokens through\nthe next life.\n \nThe otter looked as the Capricorn came up to the young\nmerman, \"... I'm ready...\" He said sadly. Holding his only two possessions, Arnaav\nfloated over to the Capricorn, and placed himself onto the creature's back, and\nputting his arms around it's firm neck.\n \nThe Capricorn then turned back around, and gently swam into\nthe sea, carrying the banished Amnien merman to whatever fate will decree.\n","previous":"https://fse.anthro.fr/stories/670646-aquata-cove-chapter-7.json"}