Thread: Of Man and Mer (Cheshire Pup and desertpaladin)

The cave was not small but neither was it too big. It was mostly hidden by foliage and the easiest way in or out of the cave was under the water. Seaweed washed up in here usually and it was in one of these piles of seaweed that a true treasure laid. No gold or jewels could match the value of this treasure, this treasure was a child. The child was sleeping, wrapped snuggle in the seaweed as a mother would wrap her child in a blanket, half in and half out of the water left the child in a very dangerous position, sometimes the waves even washed over the poor things face, threatening to drown a normal baby by high tied. How could a mother be so careless as to leave her child so close to the water? Well, it was quite simple, it was not as it seemed. Because of the seaweed the truth about it??s appearance was hidden from sight. Beneath the seaweed that was wrapped around the baby to keep it warm was a secret that man never dared to believe to be true. The child had a long fish tail instead. Sailors had often spoke of women of the sea, some even were said to sing men to their graves but in al the tale of these women one fact was sorely neglected, that fact was this child. Surely if the race of women existed then they had to have children so surely this had to be one of them. But where was its mother? The cave was dimly lit, the light made by the reflection of the water caste a beautiful pattern over the walls of the cave. The water had pushed up all kinds of things. Seaweed, drift wood, a few crabs inhabited the cave but none dared to disturb the child while the child slept. While the child lay sleeping in its seaweed cocoon so tenderly wrapped by a mother who was not there, the child would have been almost invisible to the eye so that the cave could be explored and it would be very likely no one would even notice this child by the water. The mother had gone to great care to hide her child here but there was something that she didn??t count on her baby crying while she was away. To anyone that came in from the sound it would seem as though the mother had simply abandoned her child be the water and left it to drown, even after discovering what it was they might still think that it was abandoned. Though that was not the case it surely would seem that way. The cave was supposed to be safe, it was on an island that man kind had not even found yet. There was not a single human being that inhabited the place and she took even more care to pick and island that was so far away from man that you could not even see where they were. She had watched the island and its surroundings for a week before she laid the child on it while she went to fetch food. No boat had ever come close so her child should have been safe there and she could not carry the child with her to the depths that she needed to go to get herself a meal. She couldn??t care for her child by starving herself, she would run out of milk soon and she needed more food for her stomach to make more. The island, not that she had seen it, was a tropical paradise. It was overflowing with all kinds of beautiful flowers and colorful birds. The island had a strong supply of ripened fruits and sometimes one or two would find their way to the water. She loved the fruit form the island but had no way to get to them so sadly all she could do was watch it from the sea. The island was dangerous in some ways. Along with ht exotic birds there were other creatures such as wild cats that would find her an easy meal if she tried to beach herself for a fruit. She was simply lucky that they liked to stay deep inside the jungle rather then on the beaches. Today was supposed to be a normal day like many before it. She would leave her child, warm and wrapped in the cave for the day while she hunted her own meal deep under the waves, they by nightfall she would return and feed her child and care for the babe in the cave since it was so perfect for her still developing child. It could not yet venture too deeply into the water and needed frequent changes between breaths of water and breaths of air. In one year the child may not even need the air anymore but something happened before then, while she was away from her baby, something very bad. A man discovered her island.