5th of Cylus 722
The perpetual moonlight over the Hollow seas shone on the shoals that the sisters were swimming through. Nerostreia had borrowed Eia for her hunt and taken Menopeira with her for the backup, in case they ran into anything more dangerous. So for the moment, it was just Caphinkla and Lyriope. They were exploring the shallow reefs that formed on a small island off the coast of the Winter Reach. Caphinkla's eyes searched the gloomy waters beneath those moons for the glint of treasure, which sometimes fell overboard from passing boats. Sometimes fishermen even left gifts of tribute to the mer, hoping that it would placate Chrien's folk. Those fishermen were rare and few between, however. Most distrusted her kind, as they should, and would not spare their harpoons if they saw a mer so much as a fathom from the lip of their boat.
Caphinkla searched the jagged rock and coral formations, and other debris of the sea floor, her hands combing over and casting shadows so as to expose the slightest glint of metal. She listened to the telepathic singing of her sister, Lyriope as an accompaniment to her midnight treasure hunt. Occasionally Caphinkla would reach down, and grasp a piece of loose coral that had broke loose of the formation, or else was only tenuously connected to the rest of it. These treasures were precious, and difficult for humans to gather themselves. It would be useful trade for dealing with the land folk, especially if she could carve it into some attractive form.
Lyriope's mournful Cylus dirge echoed through the waves, as she dove under the water, her pink, green, and blue fins glowing with diaphanous luminescence. She made her way by the lights of her own fins, at times, though mer were usually easily capable of finding their way in the waters.
She dove deeper through the reef, searching for signs of wrecks. Nothing there yet. A few fathoms on, swimming through the waters, she dove deeper and spotted what looked like a fat sea mammal, diving into the waters. Caphinkla licked her lips, remembering the hunger that had prompted her sisters to gather their food. She had hoped they would be back by now, but Ink could easily catch a sea mammal, especially one as small as this one appeared. It'd make a good snack for her and Lyriope.
So she dove after it, forgetting for the moment the search for treasure in the reef she'd been exploring. She tucked away the piece of coral though, in her pack which hung from her kelp longcoat. She swam for all her effort after the porpoise, using every ounce of speed she could generate by virtue of her tail fins. Yet for all that, the porpoise was quite swift in the water. And she supposed her baggage was slowing her down.
Yet she could see something ahead... at the ocean floor. The porpoise was diving for it, a sunken ship?
The porpoise was now out sight, and gone as far as she could tell. But in that chase she may have found something even luckier than a small lunch for Lyriope and herself. A whole sunken ship, which could've had all manner of incredible treasures just waiting to be uncovered. She was giddy with excitement, as her tail fins shimmered in the deep, waving in the water to propel her downward.
Further into the dark, ensconced in the shadows of the broken deck of the sunken ship, Caphinkla swam beneath the wreck. She'd seen enough sunken ships in her days to know where the best loot was buried. This particular ship lookd to have been sunken quite a long time ago, and was beginning to show signs of coral growth even, becoming part of the surrounding reef. There was soil at the bottom of the ship, which might hold treasures of all kinds. Commodities, gems, perhaps even nels for surface trade. Her hands touched the bottom of the ocean floor, sweeping away the sand and dirt, looking for signs of hidden treasure beneath the ocean soil. The claws on her webbed hands swept them aside, in search of anything. The glint of gold or silver, even the green of copper rust. She found little enough down there. Perhaps the wreck had been looted before being abandoned to the shoals it crashed upon. Her enthusiasm sank as she realized this wasn't the payday she was hoping for.
As she turned to leave the wreck, and go find Lyriope, she saw a glint of something shiny, hanging from the deck boards of the sunken ship. Squinting, she approached it. It was a necklace, with sharks teeth and a shell pendant, carved in the likeness of a serpent.
She thought she spotted a motion of water moving from behind her. Ink wheeled around immediately, "Lyriope?" She called telepathically to her sister, immediately. Instead of the fair siren, however, she saw none other than the porpoise that she'd chased all the way down here. It appeared frightened, and cornered. She considered digging her knife into the thing, to take a chunk of fat for lunch from the creature, but something about the creature stayed her hand. Her hand drifted to grasp the serpent talisman. Perhaps it was fate that brought her here, to find the lucky talisman, and the porpoise. In that moment, she decided to show mercy to the creature.
But more than that, she was intrigued by the whims of fate that had led her to this point. She reached out to strum a stray thread on the animal's tangle. She plucked the string, like a bard might tune a lute. The animal seemed intrigued enough, though it lay half a fathom away from her in the water.
She sent a telepathic signal to the thing, the mer equivalent of cooing at a cute animal. Obviously the creature wouldn't understand a more complex message, than the one the siren was sending. So words were useless in this instance. But as she cooed at the porpoise, it began to grow curious. She smiled as it inched forward a quarter of a fathom. Then she produced a piece of fish from her baggage. She offered the dead flesh to the porpoise, which prompted it to come even closer, as she continued sending telepathic signals toward it. "There's a good baby." She said, good naturedly. It didn't respond to the higher form of language, even as the sounds entered its simple mind.
They shared each other's company for a few brief moments, mer and porpoise. Ink felt a little strange feeding animals. Although she had to admit to a tendency to pick up strays here or there. Her rainbow sea snake and sarkin among them, she'd never made friends with a sea mammal. She'd often seen the docile things as too pathetic to be useful. But this one looked like it was warming to her, as she fed it more fish. She smiled as it's teeth rended through the juicy flesh of the snack she'd been saving for herself. It was only fair, afterall, that she share some of her good fortune, having been led by the porpoise to find the precious talisman. She felt it was fair, anyway.
She rubbed its nozzle fondly as the porpoise searched her hands for more signs of food. Ink searched its tangle, reaching for strands that resembled what she'd consider trust. Trying to assuage the beast and see if she couldn't tame it. It might be useful to have another creature in their flock, if only to have another tail fin pulling along the considerable baggage they were accumulating, until they found their way to a nice sea cave to settle, along the coastline.
Yet, the sound of Lyriope's alarm sounded from above. Apparently their sisters had returned from their hunt. Shrugging to herself, Ink turned around and began swimming out of the wreck, and toward the surface. She only spared a glance backward, but noticed that the porpoise was following her now. Apparently, she'd succeeded in making a friend, as shy as it had been only moments before.
She only hoped her sisters wouldn't try and eat it the first moment she turned her back on them. Caphinkla would have to hope that they'd brought a large enough catch to feed their appetites, as well as hers.
