# Aquata Cove - Chapter 8

Author: Mirron Tenshi
Tags: Human, M/M, Mermaid, Otter, merman


Aquata Cove
Chapter 8: The Outcast
 
 
 
The pod is near the middle of the North Pacific Ocean. They
swim mid-water, about a mile under the surface. Triton Kaiken looks onward with
keep, sharp eyes with his son, Adra Merrick, scanning ahead of him, at his side.
From a far distance, Triton Kaiken spotted a moving object, however, he decides
to allow Adra Merrick the chance to see it himself.
 
Noita Umiato mutters lightly to Adra Savarna as she conjures
a shimmering ball of light, with the smaller mermaid doing the same thing.
Savarna grunts and cringes as her light flittered, and died out, pouting at the
failed attempt, before trying again.
 
The merfolk of the pod mingled amongst themselves,
conversing about what they found or of what they did during the time they had
in the Hawaiian waters, while the young meryin swam about excitedly, playfully
chasing each other in and out of the pod of mermaids and mermen.
 
Merrick sends out a moderate signal up ahead, before he
feels something up ahead.
 
"Father... I sense something ahead of us." Merrick said.
 
"Yes, Merrick. Can you tell me what it is?" Kaiken replied.
Merrick narrowed his eyes, and sent more thorough, far-reaching signals.
 
... It's headed for the pod, but it doesn't feel like a
threat... Something, a little warm... It's not big... It's shorter than him, to be
sure... Its feels weak, like it's dying. It's also fairly small.
 
"I think it's a-"
 
"Do not tell me only what you know. Not what you think it to
be. As a Triton, you must always be able to learn from sight alone. Anything
less may lead the who pod into demise." He said sternly.
 
"... Yes, Father," Merrick replied, feeling irritated, "It is
an Amnien merman. Probably from the Northern Waters."
 
"You are half correct, Son," Kaiken stated, "It is from the
Arctic Waters, but it is not a merman,"
 
"... Father?" Merrick turned to look at the much larger merman
beside him. He's sure that's a merman, unless this was something else, but it
gives off the presence of merfolk intelligence.
 
"What you are seeing is not a merman anymore..." Kaiken's big,
dark eyes narrowed with a cold glare, "It is Coshiton." 
 
Umiato's eyes lowered, saddened by the mention of Coshiton.
The sphere of light faded from the majestic mermaid's hands.
 
"Mother?" Sarvana said as she looked up, "Mother, why are
you sad? Mother?" Umiato then softly took her daughter's small hand, and
smiled.
 
"Come, Daughter," She said gently, "The moon has risen. Let
us practice your song."
 
"Yes, Mother." Savarna said as she glided up onto her
mother's chest, and held onto her shoulders, as the white mermaid gracefully
draped her arms around the young Adra, and ascended angelically upward from the
pod. She did not want Savarna to see her father in the presence of a Coshiton.
 
Merrick pondered for a moment as they approached the
creature, "Father, what IS it, if not a merman? It looks. It feels. It sounds
like an Amnien. I don't understand."
 
"Your eyes are still young, Son," Kaiken said, gripping his
long trident, "You are yet unable to see which that of exists, and should not exist."
 
"Father,"
 
"Coshitons have forfeit their right to be, yet they still
cling to what is forbidden to them..." 
 
Intimidated by his father's speech, Merrick decided to stop
talking. Soon, the young merman could make out the Amnien up ahead. 
 
From the waist below, the furry merman is bipedal of two,
thick webbed paws that paddled weakly as he moved. Behind him, trailed a thick
tail at least two feet long, give or take. While his lower body is brown in
color, his pseudo humanoid upper body is cream-colored, except for his webbed
hands and the top of his head, along his back, and on the top of his head. His
face shows otter-like features around the mouth and eyes, with a cluster of
short whiskers on either side, a pair of small, rounded ears on his head. The
left pec, there is an intricate, black symbol seared onto his flesh. His weary,
dark brown, orb-like eyes looked up, and spotted the crowd of Piscien merfolk
swimming in his direction!
 
The pod started swim around him, when he quickly paddled
towards the Triton.
 
"P-Please, Piscien Triton!" The young otter merman spoke,
trying to keep up with him, "I'm all alone! I can't-"
 
"Be gone, Coshiton!" Kaiken commanded, brandishing his
mighty trident, "You'll know no refuge from my, or any pod in all of the sea."
 
"Please, please help me!" The otter begged desperately, "I
was never taught to hunt, 0-or or or forage! I haven't eaten in suns!" Kaiken
prodded the merman's chest, pushing him back several feet away.
 
"It is no fault of mine that you've forsaken yourself before
you learned to survive. And now you dare ask for assistance after you have been
punished for your unforgivable crime?! As if you have the right to insight
pity?!" Kaiken said, his anger growing. Everyone in the pod starred at the
large, furious merman as he towered the quivering otter merman.
 
"Please, I don't want to die! Please, just let someone of
your pod teach me to-"
 
"Enough!" Kaiken bellowed, pointing threateningly at the
Amnien, "You have been deemed nonexistent. You know full well you are beyond
redemption, and thus cast away. Leave now!"
 
"N-N-No! Please!" The small male persisted, "You can't-"
 
"DO NOT CLAIM WHAT I CAN AND CANNOT DO!!!" With a swing of
his trident, Kaiken brandished his weapon, and jabbed the forked top onto the
otter's neck, catching his throat between the middle and right prong. The
Amnien gagged as he was slammed into a reef wall, pinned down by the trident,
"Do not waste my mercy, Coshiton," Kaiken growled with dark anger. The Amnien
squirmed and whined as he struggled, terrified by the sheer force and rage from
the Triton, "You were reduced to NOTHING when you sealed your own fate. Blame
naught but yourself! You may only pray to the Guardian Charybdis that the
Capricorn will NEVER find you..." 
 
Kaiken pulled his trident out of the rock, and drifted away.
The startled merfolk followed suit, leaving the otter to curl up, and weep. As
they swam, Merrick looked over his shoulder at the young Amnien, feeling
himself scared and near tears.
 
 
Meanwhile, on the surface, a small ice chunk bobbed up onto
the water. It then grew and crystallized into a mini iceberg. Savarna crawled
onto the ice as she was placed there, before the larger, veiled mermaid slipped
herself up, and sat onto the cold platform. Savarna looked around, and saw the
waning, orange light slowly draining from the sky. As usual, their gills closed
so that they're able to breath the air.
 
"Mother," Savarna said, "The sun is still awake. Why are we
here under the sky right now?" Umiato sighed, and stroked her daughter's cheek.
 
"Because a Coshiton was coming." Savarna blinked as she
tilted her head.
 
"What's a Coshiton, Mother?" Umiato then hovered her hand
over apart of the ice, where several tiny pillars melted and reformed on the
ice like small geysers.
 
"You know there are laws, my Daughter. These laws are very
important, and are deemed unbreakable. To violate even one of these laws is an
unforgivable crime," She then twirled a finger around one of the figures. An X
then carved itself on it, "When a mermaid, or a merman breaks one of these
laws, they are marked with a symbol," The marked symbol then moved away from
the rest of the figures, "And are banished from the rest of the pod, never to
return." Umiato then looked in Savarna's eyes, "To be a Coshiton, means to not
exist. To forfeit the right to be of their own, or any pod. In the eyes of
merfolk, they have lost their honor."
 
Umiato then waved her hand over the figures, and made them
splash back into water, where it froze on the ice, "Your Father, in particular,
gets angry when he sees a Coshiton," She said as her shimmering tail wavered in
the water, "I did not want you to see him in such a rage."
 
"Is Father scary when he's angry?" The small mermaid asked.
Umiato simply nodded.
 
"Yes... Very much so..." The young mermaid looked past her
mother, then smiling gleefully as she looked onward.
 
"Look, Mother, look! It's a floating whale!" Umiato turned,
and gasped. She picked up her daughter, and slipped back into the water,
swimming quickly down into the water, hoping that they were not spotted by the
humans and the landmass that they build; that atrocity they call a ship. 
 
 
 
The Amnien otter groaned as he laid on the reef. He's so
weak... So hungry... His father never told him how to find food. He could've taught
him before he was banished, why DIDN'T he??? Didn't he parents love him?? The
otter merman whimpered as he imagined crunching into a whole log full of clams
and mussels. Oh, what he wouldn't give for a nice, crispy, tasty sea urchin to
right now. His mother always told him not to bite directly on a clam or mussel
shell, but he didn't care, he loved to crunch.
 
He then heard a disturbance. The Amnien turned his head to
see a strange figure, heading in his direction. As the creature approached, the
otter squirmed feebly on the rock he is on - not that it mattered, it's been so
long since he's eaten, he can't swim any further, not even to the surface for a
breath.
 
Soon, he could make out the image of the creature. A
third-dimensional face with glowing golden eyes, and a pair of spiraling horns
on its head, its skin a deep purple/blue mix along its head and torso, leading
to a semi-spirally fish tail. It has two more appendages on the front that
identify as legs, with fins along them instead of hooves. On its chin, trailed
a long, thin silvery beard. It's appearance and existence itself seemed to be
cloaked in a mystical presence.
 
New fear spawned in the otter as the goat like creature came
closer. No! He forgot to pray to the Charybdis to protect him! The Capricorn has
come! It's here to take him away! It's here to end him!
 
Soon, the legendary Capricorn came to the quivering Amnien
merman. The otter pressed his back harder against the reef as it inched closer
to him. He whimpered and cried as it nudged its muzzle on him, almost sniffing
him. The otter clenched his eyes shut as he braced himself for any pain that
his death will surely bring. The Capricorn sniffed until it pressed its mouth
onto the elaborate symbol on the left of his chest. 
 
It murred before turning around, and swirling its lengthy
tail, emitting an eerie, echoing bleat as it soon disappeared into the open
ocean. The otter shook, still waiting for his end. He peeped one eye open,
blinking both eyes open to realize that the Capricorn had gone away.
 
The Amnien whined as he curled up, knowing he has more to
dread before his end.
 
 
 
Merrick grumbled as he crept along rock. It's the hunting
and the rest time that he looks forward to; time away from his father. He's
strong, mighty, he's knows best. But the way he treated that Amnien... It was
nothing short of cruel on his part. He's only seen his father get that angry 3
times before, that was when a Coshiton found their way to the pod, and they
always asked for help. He's always so stern and serious to him, while he treats
Savarna like all of the mothers of pearl in the seas. Sometimes, he feels
jealous of his sister, but he knows it's not her fault; at the very least, his
mother treats Merrick and Savarna the same way.
 
Would he be so ruthless if Merrick was a Coshiton? His own
son?
 
"Adra Merrick!" Merrick turned around to see a green-tailed
merman swim up to him, carrying a spear of a harpoon tied with ten shark teeth
on the shaft.
 
"Hello, Brishen," Merrick said as the other merman swam
beside him. 
 
"Hunting alone? You know you must at least have a partner."
The merman said with a smile.
 
"I'm the Adra Triton, I can hunt alone if I see fit... I
just  feel a little... Bewildered
from Father." Brishen looked at his friend, and simply nodded.
 
"Yes... He was... Frightening... It is still hard to even imagine
him that fierce..."
 
"I don't quite understand why he must be so harsh on
Coshiton. Couldn't we at least teach him to forage instead of throwing him to
the sea?" Brishen shook his head.
 
"That is the point, Merrick. Coshiton are outcasts. They've
broken the laws, and they are forbidden in ANY pod..." The green tail looked
downward, "They've committed their crimes, and so must suffer the
consequences..."
 
Merrick's felt harsh knot in his stomach. It just doesn't
feel right to just... Leave someone to die like this, as if he literally never
existed.
 
Both mermen's gills twitched as they looked up. They lowered
themselves and peered up. A slim, long shark swam close by. It drifted slowly,
its eyes scanning for any prey, completely unaware of the other two mermen
right under it.
 
"I'll strike first..." Brishen uttered.
 
"No, it's a Mako... It's too fast for-" Before Merrick can
stop him, Brishen charged for the shark. He threw his harpoon at the shark,
which only gave a single cut along the gills. The large fish jerked around, and
opened its narrow jaws as it jetted for the merman! Brishen tried to parry its
mouth with his barb knife, only succeeding for the shark to pin him to the
sand. With the shark burrowing against him, Brishen is unable to stab into the
shark.
 
Suddenly, an object stabbed into the shark's head. A second
one, Brishen's own spear, shot into the shark. Then Merrick grabbed his lodged
trident to dig into it harder, and cranked it hard once. The shark stopped
moving, dead. Merrick yanked the spear out of the shark, and drifted it to
Brishen, before adjusting his trident and pulling it out of the hunted shark.
 
"Well... THAT was easy!" Merrick smirked as he took out his
fishing line, and tied it around the base of its tail. 
 
"Brishen, just because you over took a tiger shark ONCE, it
does not mean you are ready to challenge the ocean."
 
"That's why you're my friend, Adra Triton." Brishen said
with a grin, "So I can learn to conquer the ocean by watching you!" Merrick
chuckled as the two mermen moved the shark away.
 
"Well, learn quickly. This makes HOW many times I took down
something that was trying to eat you?"
 
"Who counts?" He asked as they took the shark through the
water. In minutes, they were able to delivered bounty to the pod, where they
resided in a sand bank, where several other hunted prey lay before the merfolk.
Merrick and Brishen placed the inanimate shark down, to the astonishment of the
other mermen and mermaids.
 
"Well done, Adra Merrick," Denizyr said, placing a hand onto
the shark, causing the seeping blood to flow back into the shark, and merge
with the flesh.
 
"Hey!" Brishen piped up, "What about ME? How do you know I
didn't get this one?" Denizyr just smirked down at him.
 
"That tiger shark was 2 years ago, Brishen. A Mako is still
fast for YOUR level." Brishen simply grinned and pointed his thumb at his
chest.
 
"Keep laughing, because I will be the BEST hunter ever!" 
 
"Heh, until then, keep with Adra Merrick."
 
"Will do, Denizyr!" He then swam around, and loomed over to
Merrick, who is already on the move again, "Merrick, let's hunt a Great White
this time!!" Merrick simply chuckled and shook his head.
 
"Perhaps another moon. I want to dive for some squid right
now."
 
"Squid? Well..." Brishen said, "That's deeper than I can go...
You're gonna need to do it alone."
 
"I know," Merrick said with a smirk, "That's the whole
idea."
 
"Oh, go on!" Brishen said with a laugh, kicking up some sand
at the Adra.
 
Merrick chuckled as he swam ahead. He swam for several
minutes until he located the nearest trench. He took a deep, narrow breath, and
emitted out a silent call. The blackness below lit up in a faint glow. With the
slight illumination, the merman then slipped himself down into the trench.
 
 
 
 
"Nnnnggghhhhh..." The otter groaned. His stomach hurts so
much. He can feel his own end nearing him. It's been so long since he's eaten. 
 
His small ears twitched as he felt something coming in his
direction again. It's the Capricorn again. It's come to... End him. 
 
The weak otter moved his head, and opened his dreary eyes.
They slowly came into focus as he squinted, trying so hard to see what it is
that's coming.
 
The figure approaching him isn't the creature from before.
The merman sent a signal forward, but he can barely make it out. It's... One of
the Piscien merfolk that passed by this area hours ago. Did they send a hunter
to finish him off before the Capricorn returns? 
 
The fading otter laid his head down, and closed his eyes. He
doesn't want to die, but he's to weak to swim away, or fight back for that
matter. It's better if it... Just happens...
 
"Hello? ... Are you alright?" Came a voice. The Amnien felt
a hand on his shoulder, pushing it gently back and forth. The otter groaned
feebly as he looked, reopening, and seeing the fish-like merman. He was right;
it IS one of the Pisciens. The otter merman looked to see a large, motionless
crab in one hand, with two Humboldt squid strung up. The Amnien looked up in
tearful astonishment. "Here," The merman said as he offered the crustacean "Eat
this," He said with a soft smile.
 
The young, famished merman seized the crab and took a harsh
bite into the underside of the crab. He moaned in delight as he tasted the
savory meat of the crab, his short, but sharp teeth digging into the crab and devouring
it in less than a minute.
 
"Don't forget the legs, there's meat there too," The Piscien
said as he untied one of the squid. The Amnien looked at the mangled carcass
before yanking off each spiky leg, and sucking out the meat inside.
 
The fish merman then handed over a squid when the Amnien
suckled on the last leg. He grabbed the squid, and started ripping into it.
"Slow down," The otter paused, "You will choke if you eat too fast." The Amnien
merman chewed more moderately, "What is your name?"
 
The otter swallowed and spoke, "... Arnaav... My name is
Arnaav..." The otter's brown eyes looked along the merman's weapon, up to the top
of the three-pronged shaft, "Three..." His eyes then looked at the Piscien before
his eyes widened, "You're... You're an Adra Triton..."
 
"My name," He said as set down his trident, "Is Merrick,"
The Amnien ate into the squid, before grunting in pain and jerking his head
back. Merrick then put his hand in, and roughly ripped the beak out of the
squid. "If you don't mind my asking... What was your crime?" The otter paused,
and then swallowed.
 
"I... There was this human girl... She was so young... She dwelled
right next to waters... I played with her, that's all I did... She would throw
these things into the water, and they would sink down, and I would retrieve it
for her, and give them back. It was fun, and she always smiled when I played
with her..." The otter looked down sadly, "I did not know association with humans
was forbidden... When my Triton found out, I was..." The otter tensed and
whimpered, putting a paw on the symbol on his left chest.
 
Merrick frowned sadly at the Amnien, "... What about the girl?
Could you not go back to her when you were banished?"
 
"I tried... But she wasn't there anymore. She never came back
to her home. I don't know where she went, so I just moved on..." The Amnien
merman whined as he hunched over a little, "I wasn't old enough to learn to
hunt... I know I'm not going to live any longer..." Merrick sighed as he looked
onto the poor male. 
 
This could be him if he isn't so careful. And this Amnien is
hardly any older than Savarna. Of course he wouldn't know how to look for food.
Are the laws so strict that they would banish a meryin?
 
"I can't stay much longer," Merrick said, "Here's some
string for use," Merrick said as he took out a reel of fishing line, "And
this," Merrick said as he also unhooked a sheathed object from his side, "It's
a tool humans use..."
 
 
---
 
"It's called a knife," Adam said, showing Merrick the shiny
short blade, "A Survival Knife, to be specific."
 
"We find one of these once or twice in our migration,"
Merrick said, looking at the jagged pattern on one side of the blade, then at
the curved blade on the other side, "But none like THIS one..."
 
"That's probably because merfolk only find Fish Knives. This
kind of knife is for camping in the woods, it needs to be sturdy..." Adam said as
he sheathed the knife.
 
"Most of the time, we carve bones and tie ray barbs or teeth
into them." Merrick said. Adam turned the knife around in his hand, and looked
back at Merrick.
 
"I bought this last week. It's one of the Waterproof
models," With a smile, he held the sheath, and offered the handle to Merrick,
"Why don't you hold on to it? I'm sure you'll find it useful."
 
"Really, Adam???" Merrick said as he took the handle.
 
"Sure, I can get another one. Just be careful with it, it's
very sharp." Merrick smiled as he looked at the gleaming metal.
 
---
 
 
"Here," Merrick said as he offered the handle of the knife
to the Amnien merman, "Why don't you hold on to it? It's no spear, but it will
help." The otter looked with surprised as his thick, webbed paws took the
handle. Merrick showed him how to pop the button to open it, and pull the
sharp, metal blade out of the small scabbard. He looked in awe in the strangely
shaped weapon.
 
"I never seen anything like this... Where did you get it?"
Merrick hesitated.
 
"I... I found it. I cannot say where." The otter nodded before
he set the knife aside, and hugged Merrick, nuzzling his slick, scaled skin.
Merrick hugged back, running his webbed hands over the short layer of fuzz,
"Rest here before swimming anywhere. If you use too much energy right now, you
won't last." 
 
The Amnien merman looked up with eyes full of gratitude,
"But... Why?" Merrick rose a brow at him.
 
"I'm sorry?"
 
"Why are you helping me? Your Triton was so angry at me... No
one else would help me... Why did you risk so-" The shell on Merrick's necklace
vibrated and glowed. The hug broke as he felt his shell shard.
 
"I'm out of time. They know I've been away for too long,"
Merrick said as he picked up his trident, and rubbed the otter merman's
shoulder, "Stay safe, use ANYTHING you think can be of help, and travel light.
Good luck, Arnaav. May the Sea Mother Atargatis and the Amnien Guardian
Charybdis protect you," He gave one last hug with his free arm.
 
"Thank you, A-Adra Merrick. I won't forget you..." The
emotional meryin said as he hugged Merrick again. And with that, the Piscien
Adra swam swiftly away, waving his tail up and down and swiftly looming
through.
 
 
 
Merrick quickly moved through, focusing his energy on his
tail to carry him as swift as possible; Arnaav was a bit of a distance to go.
He couldn't just leave that young otter to die like that. How can anyone be
made a Coshiton at such young an age? For a crime he didn't even know he was
committing... It's... It's just not fair.
 
Merrick swam until he saw a sudden flurry of white. He
writhed abruptly as he attempted to stop as soon as he could. He turned and
scrambled to see the wavering, shimmering mermaid, looking down at him.
 
"M-Mother... !" He gulped at he looked up at her, as she
looked down with a face of indifferent sternness, "I-I-I was just hunting in
the trench... There wasn't much game," He said as he held up the one squid he
had.
 
"Aiding the rogue, are we?" She asked. Merrick looked down,
and put a hand on his arm.
 
"I couldn't just... He's almost as young as Savarna, he was
going to die, he's so-" Umiato laughed softly. Merrick looked up with surprise
as she floated to him, and put her pearly hands onto his shoulders.
 
"Compassion for all, my Son," She said as she put a hand on
Merrick's cheek, "Is a rare and precious gift that eludes most of anyone."
Merrick smiled happily at her, and hugged his mother. She embraced him back,
and muttered low, "I will not inform HIM if you will not." He nodded before
they then swam in the same direction. After a while, Merrick remembered
something his father said that confused him.
 
"Mother... I want to ask something..." The graceful Noita looked
to her side at her offspring.
 
"Yes?"
 
"When Father... Turned down the Coshiton... He told him to pray
that the Capricorn does not find him. Who or what is a Capricorn?"
 
The mermaid nodded, and wavered her hand, illuminating a
small bundle of light and bubbles into forming a half-goat half-fish symbol.
 
"The Capricorns are among the most ancient and benevolent
creatures of the sea. They are very rare this era, and can never be found by
those who look for them. They only appear when a merperson has lost their way.
It is said that a Capricorn will come to a lost merperson, and guide them to
haven.
 
"However... According to legend, when a Capricorn finds a
Coshiton, they guide them to a peaceful, calm demise," Merrick frowned as the
light and bubbles dissipated, "Granting them the gift of mercy from a lone,
dangerous life in the ocean." Merrick looked downward for a moment. 
 
What happened with Arnaav... He's so young... And he didn't even
know what he was doing was wrong... "Mother... Is there no way we can-"
 
"I am sorry, my Son," Umiato said, "Even if he was a Piscien
merman, we cannot take him in. It is the law of the sea."
 
"... Mother... What happens if a merperson breaks a law without
knowing it? Surely a second chance could be given..." The Noita closed her eyes,
and shook her head.
 
"I wish that is how the way it is. However, a law is still a
law, and a single violation of such is absolute." Umiato said as she stopped
swimming. Merrick noticed his mother ceased her movement, before turning
around, and coming up to her.
 
"Listen well, my Son," Umiato said solemnly, looking
directly into his eyes, "The Second Chance of breaking a Sacred Law is given
ONLY to that of the Triton, Noita, and Adra. You are privileged with a fragile
immunity that no other common merperson possesses. Do not, take this for
granted, my Son," The mermaid then loomed in, and embraced Merrick, who hugged
her back, "It would deeply wound my soul to lose you, my Adra Triton. The same
of your sister, my Adra Noita..."
 
As they hugged, Merrick felt a purge of guilt in his
stomach, yet keeping his face solace with pity for the Amnien; it is very hard
to fool a Noita, and one change of expression can lead her to suspect his
secret.
 
"Come," Umiato said as she gave a smile, and lofted away
from the spot. Merrick turned, looking back at the direction he was swimming
from. 
 
"Arnaav..." He muttered, "..." He then softly took his shell
slice, and closed his eyes.
 
'... O Wise and Shining Sea Mother, Atargatis...' He prayed,
'Hear my soul and resonance of my heart... Watch over my friend, Arnaav... Please
ease him of the cruelty of solitude and rejection... May your love and compassion
ever rain upon all of the Piscien, Amnien, and Holsien...'
 
Merrick reopened his eyes, turned about, and swam forth,
moving to catch up with his mother.
 
 
 
Arnaav sat there, curled up on the reef, resting as Merrick
suggested. His tummy is full, after so long; after banishment, he thought he
would never taste food again. And the tool and line that Adra Triton gave to
him is more than he can ever ask for...
 
He wants to live, and with these gifts, he may have a shot...
But... Why? He's all alone... He has no one, and so long as this mark brands his
chest, he never will have anyone again. What meaning is there to live but never
have a friend at his side? Adra Merrick may have fed him out of the goodness of
his heart, and stopped the agony in his gut, but really, it has only prolonged
his loneliness. If this is what it means to be Coshiton... Alone, cast away,
hated by all who see him... Maybe the Capricorn should take him away... Deliver him
to the other side...
 
Arnaav looked out into the open ocean, sensing a familiar,
mystical presence approach him. Sure enough, it is the ancient creature of ram
and fish. Its skin and scales gleamed with its very existence, coming near the
otter Amnien, being welcomed this time. Arnaav picked up the sheathed knife,
and put the handle through the gap of the line reel; if he is to die now, he
will not leave behind the Adra's generosity - he will keep these tokens through
the next life.
 
The otter looked as the Capricorn came up to the young
merman, "... I'm ready..." He said sadly. Holding his only two possessions, Arnaav
floated over to the Capricorn, and placed himself onto the creature's back, and
putting his arms around it's firm neck.
 
The Capricorn then turned back around, and gently swam into
the sea, carrying the banished Amnien merman to whatever fate will decree.

Source: https://sofurry.com/view/670648

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