An assassination on an island that was controlled by a completely hostile faction. The belly of the beast. Normally. She'd go out of her way and avoid places like the bloody providence at all costs. But the pay was dapn good. And she would grudgingly agree with herself that she needed the pay.
And all went well. At nightfall with a small boat, covered by a blue blanket. The assassination after two days on the island also went flawless. She was able to easily move through the cover of heavy rain and loud thunder. A throat quickly slith. She just had to get off of the island. Wich seemed harder than she initially thought.
Since she failed to be swift enough. Her small boat was destroyed and she was stuck on the island. Her shadowwalk was out of the question aswell, she needed too much time to prepare it to cross the mass of water. It was a true witch hunt.
And on the third day, in the aftermath of the storm, Usagi was found out. After a quick skirmish yielding several dead pirates and a lightly wounded Usagi, she made a break for it.
The course of the past days went through her head again as she inched closer to the edge of the cliff. Where did she go wrong? Taking the job? Not using poison? Being too slow? Having not prepared her shadowwalk properly? Her heel slowly inched over the edge as she stopped, the band of pirates drawing closer. This was bad. Dzath would only ne a comfort if she was caught by them, that was for sure.
So. Rather death than imprisonment. She flicked a knife from her belt and threw it forward at one of the pirates, piercing his skull as she turned around and made a dive for the water, accompanied by a hail of bullets, one hitting her shoulder, another at her left calf.
She dove in the water and immediatly sunk to the bottom with a trail of crimson accompanying her. If it wasn't the sharks, it would be drowning. She couldn't helo but smirk faintly as she sunk into the depths. What a shitty way to go.
Morgana was rather peeved by the sudden intrusion into her peace and quiet. There she was, minding her own business looking for a snack along the seafloor, and suddenly the surface of the water seemed to shatter far above her head. Growling, she snapped her head back to have a look, eyes narrowed and nostrils flaring as she caught a familiar scent.
Blood in the water.
The siren smirked and gave a flick of her tail, sending her closer to investigate the dark shape that was now sinking through the waves above her head.
A human. A female human. Hm. Usually not as tasty as the males, but she supposed she would do in a pinch. Wrapping her arms under the humans, Morgana gave a few powerful strokes of her tail to send them in a diagonal path away from the dark shadow of the ship and toward the surface.
Wouldn't do to have her prey too water logged.
Hands tugged at her armpits, causing Usagi to cry out in pain as more blood ran from the wound in her shoulder. There was someone rescuing her? Or were it the pirates deciding they weren't done with her? The latter couldn't possibly happen. Habing jumped off the cliff was a death sentence.
And yet her saviour pulled her up to the surface. It hurt like hell, the water in her wounds. She let out another burbled cry of pain as she was tugged around.
Morgana tisked as her head broke the surface, casting an irritated glance at the girl she towed along. "Stop that wailing. It's quite annoying, you know."
With a deep breath, followed by loud coughing, Usagi was pulled up the surface. "Who-?" She askedd as she coughed more, coughing up some water, groaning in pain still at her shoulder.
"Hush, hush," the mermaid soothed, her tone suddenly warm and comforting. It was possible this human didn't know what she was, what danger she posed.
Intriguing. "I'm...a friend. Just breathe."
The voi e suddenly turned soft. And friendly. While Usagi was wary, in this distressed state of mind, she identified the voice and its owner as friendly. She weakly nodded and closed her eyes. Slowly breating, trying to ignore the pain.
"Mmm..." Morgana looked at her captive, considering. "You'll probably want to get out of the water, huh?" She slowly leaned back and gave a few shallow strokes of her tail, drifting them in the direction of a rocky outcropping she knew of that jutted from a nearby island. Probably where the girl had come from, now that she thought of it.
Usagi nodded slowly at the question of getting out of the water. With another soft and pained gasp her eyes fluttered open again. It seemed like she really wasn't dead. She bit down on the stitched part of her lip, drawing a bit of blood. The pain in her shoulder and leg testified of her still being very much alive.
It took a few minutes, but she got them to the rocks and pushed the girl up so she was half out of the water, at least. "You're bleeding pretty heavily," she noted, licking her lips.
As Usagi was placed on the rocks, she pulled herself up with a painful whince. "You tend to bleed when you're shot at."She hissed between her teeth. Walking was out of the question. Let alone swimming.
"Mm." Morgana tilted her head, folding her arms on the rock beside her and tilting her head. "You must have pissed off some other land walkers, yes?"
"Probably the entire group living on the island.." Usagi said with a groan, trying to look at the wound in her shoulder. Most likly the bullet didn't go all the way through and was stuck somewhere. Probably the same for her leg.
Hmm... Well it wouldn't do to have the humans trying to take her new toy- or meal, she hadn't quite decided yet- away. "How soon do you think you can move then?" she asked, tilting her head the other way.
"I don't know.." She tried to sit up, but failed and slumped against the sharp rocks with a painful whince again. "I think the bullets didn't pierce.. And are insde of me."
"Oh." Morgana frowned. That seemed problematic. "I suppose we have to get those out, then," she mused, pushing herself a little further out of the water to take a closer look.
Usagi nodded slowly. "Yeah.. That would be advicable.." She said as she tried to preserve some distance between herself and the mermaid, yet failing with another pained whimper.
Morgana tisked again, frowning slightly. "I'm not sure how to go about doing that," she said, as though she was talking about something completely innocuous.
"Knife.." Usagi murmured as she repositioned with a pained whimper. "Hilt at left side.. Small of my back.. Pull it out and try to pull the bullets out."
Frowning, the mermaid muttered, "Alright," and groped around for the weapon. When she found it, she eyed the girl's wounds and hesitantly prodded at her shoulder with the blade. "Hm. This is going to hurt," she mused nonchalantly.
Usagi whimpered once more. "Tell me something new.. Just get it over with."
Morgana shrugged. "Alright, alright, calm down." Using the tip of the blade to hold the wound open, she used her long nails to dig around and retrieve a bit of metal. Wrinkling her nose at it, she tossed the thing away and turned her attention to the girl's leg.
Usagi cried out in pain as she felt Morgana's nails quite literally digging into her shoulder. She slammed her head ahainst the rocks and hissed under her breath, forcing het own eyes shut.
And that wasn't the worst part yet, her own nails dug into the rock and started to bleed, she ground her teeth together to prevent her from screaming out in pure agony.
Digging out the other bullet, Morgana gave her an arch look and said with a shrug, "I told you this was going to hurt."
"I.. Never.. Disagreed.." Was what she hissed between her teeth as sweat trickled down her forehead, the odd mask was still tied to her waist.
"Hmph." She looked her up and down. "You're still bleeding. You should probably take care of that."
"I don't have any bandages on me." Usagi murmured as a knife slid from her sleeve, she leaned forward with another painful hiss and started to cut on the cloth, ripping it in strips and wrapping it around the wounds and tightening them with her teeth.
Morgana watched the process with a clincal kind of interest, unfamiliar with this human way of treating wounds. "Hm." She looked up at the girl and flashed a rather dangerous smile. "Clever little creatures, I suppose," she mused aloud.
"I don't think.. They hit an artery.." Usagi murmered to herself as she bit on the stitches in the corner of her mouth once more, before leaning back, closing her eyes slowly. Everything was hurting.
Bored with watching, the mermaid flipped back into the water, staying under for a few minutes before coming back with a handful of seaweed. "Here," she said, sliding them onto the rocks. "I've never much liked the taste, but it's better than nothing." Humans did need to eat, right? Couldn't have the girl dying on her before she decided what to do with her.
Usagi looked at the seewead, arching an eyebrow. "Thanks for the gesture but I-" She slid the dagger back in it's sheath. "I already ate before I was shot off a cliff."
"Hm." Once again Morgana simply stared at her, head tilted to the side. A slow smirk stretched across her face. "Don't I even get a "thank you" for saving your life?"
Usagi looked at Morgana, then glanced at her wounded leg. "Thanks.." Was what she murmured.
"You're welcome," the mermaid responded primly, boosting herself out of the water a bit to "sit" on the edge of the rock, tail trailing back into the sea.
Usagi opened one eye at the splashing and saw Morgana sitting up on the rock, not giving a damn in the slightest that this woman had a fishtail. She, for god's sakes, travelled through shadows.
Speaking of travelling through shadows. Right now, she wasn't dead. Yet she was believed dead. So, that would give her a sea of time to prepare a proper shadowwalk.
She looked at the ocean. A sea of time. Yeah.
Catching her glance out over the water, Morgana smirked. "You planning to swim for home?" she asked, trying to keep the taunting edge from her voice but not quite managing it.
"Walking." Usagi said as she tried to stand up slowly. And her tone was serious, but so was the followed pained whimper. Walking wasn't going to happen. Let alone shadowwalking.
"Uh-huh." She arched an eyebrow at that whimper. "Don't you want to take a rest first?" Though she wasn't singing, her voice still had a bit of that hypnotic quality, lulling, soothing, keeping her prey off guard.
"That.." Usagi yawned slowly, only now realising how tired she was. She hadn't slept for two days already. "That sounds pretty good.." She murmured as she relaxed into the rocks.
Smiling Morgana pulled herself a little further onto the rocks and stroked the girl's hair. "That's it, get some rest..." She began humming softly, a bit of magic slipping into her voice as she did.
Usagi murmured something inaudible under her breath, gently pressing back against the hand as she closed her eyes with a slow sigh. The pain fading from her wounds.
And every fiber in her body called that she was being tricked or hypnotised. Something didn't make sense. She was still critically wounded. But the woman's voice was soothing. So gentle. She just wanted to sleep.
Sensing a bit of resistance in the girl, Morgana frowned slightly and opened her mouth to sing, softly, but it was still much more powerful than a hum.
Which was unusually. Normally humming was all she needed to knock her victims unconscious in only a minute or two.
And as soon as the mermaid sang, Usagi fell asleep, resting her head on Morgana's hand.
Morgana smirked. Perfect. Slipping a little back into the water, she slowly pulled the girl with her.
The bandages may have smothered it a bit, but they couldn't entirely hide the scent of blood. And she was hungry.
Usagi was being lulled to sleep succesfully so, and pulled into the water with a soft whimper of pain still, but she didn't wake up.
Still humming softly, Morgana pulled her prey further into the water, leaning over her to sniff the wound on her leg and lick her lips.
Perhaps females never tasted quite as good as the males, but she would do. She tugged lightly again, leaving only the girl's head above the water.
She'd rather not drown her just yet.
Usagi was completely oblivious to the happenings around her.
"I shouldn't do that if I were you." A soft feminime voice resounded. Soft. But commanding, "she isn't like normal humans as you might have already realized." Amethyst said as she folded arms over her chest, looking at Morgana with a cold gaze.
With a soft hiss, Morgana turned to face the newcomer. "What's it to you?" she demanded, eyes flashing. "This one's my prey. Go find your own."
"I am not here to steal your prey. I am urging you to rethink eating that." She held up a sort of circle, made from a bone-like texture. Several fat fish hung from it. All dead. "I have my prey already."
"And why should I do that?" Morgana demanded, arching an eyebrow. "What makes this one little human so special, hm?"
"Don't tell me you didn't notice." Amethyst huffed slowly. "She resisted your magic, be it briefly, she still resisted. And she was already exhausted. And very wounded." The purple scaled mermaid shrugged slowly.
"By all means. Go ahead if you think it is a good idea. I'm just wary of this landwalker."
Hmm... Maybe she had a point. "What do you suggest we do with her then?" Morgana huffed, folding her arms. "She'll never make it back to land, not with those wounds. It's just wasting a good meal to let her float off and drown somewhere."
Amethyst shook her head slowly. "I actually doubt whether she'd be stuck here. She just needs time to heal. Why else would she try to mend her own wounds?" She surfaced to look at the girl's scarred face, the stitched lip, before sinking again. "When she breathes in, pinch her nose and mouth shut and follow me. We can put her there for the time being." Amethyst turned around, her tail idly waving in the water. Besides, she always wanted a human pet.
"And who are you to give me orders?" Morgana mumbled, but she couldn't deny that she was intrigued. She did as the other mermaid said, dragging the girl into the water and following after the stranger.
"Empress Assiëha. Also know as the Amethyst Empress." She glanced over her shoulder, "that used to be my title. And I never gave you orders. I have you advice. And you are wise to follow it."
"Empress?" One eyebrow quirked up. She knew there were different "breeds" of merfolk, as it were, though she'd never met any besides her own kind. It was pretty clear that this Amethyst Empress must not be one of her kind, but still...she'd never heard of merfolk with a monarchy.
"I didn't stutter. Empress. Though my people are gone. Killed or in hiding." She noted as they reached the entrance to an underwater cave. Amethyst swam inside.
"Hmph." Morgana followed her, glancing down at the human she towed along. "I'm going to suffocate her if we keep going much further," she noted nonchalantly.
Amethyst surfaced in the large clearing inside of the cave, waiting for the other mermaid. "No one will suffocate today." She noted.
Dragging the girl to the surface, Morgana stretched her out on her back so she could float and pushed her toward the other mermaid. "You take her then, if you're so interested in her survival," she grumped.
Amethyst nodded and took a hold of Usagi, propping her up on a small elevated platform wich wasn't too deep, allowing usagi to rest on there and actually breathe. She leaned against the platform and turned to Morgana. "What is your name?"
"Morgana," she answered, voice clipped. "And, since you've deprived me of a meal, I believe you owe me something in return."
Amethyst arched an eyebrow. "I haven't deprived you of anything. It has been your choice since the beginning. I made no threads nor moves to steal your prey. You gave it to me. Willingly." She pulled the sharp, circular bone from her hip and threw it over with all the three fish. "Here. Take what you wish."
Morgana tisked, catching the fish and looking at them with distaste. She was rather sick of fish. She'd been hoping for something different.
"Oh- keep it." She tossed them back, flicking her tail in irritation. "I suppose I'll just go hunt on my own." Well, "hunt" may not have been strictly accurate. "Lure" was probably a better word.
Amethyst nodded plainly as she caught the ring of fish again, putting it on the platform Usagi was on. "Are you going to return here to see what has become of your prey, or have you lost interest?"
Morgan's looked at her, then at the girl, and shrugged. "Perhaps," she mused. She couldn't deny she was a bit curious about how the human had managed to resist her, even if only for a moment.
Amethyst nodded. "I will tend to her wounds." She looked at Usagi, before pulling herself on the platform and crawling closer, performing some kind of healing magic on the unconcious ninja.
Morgana hesitated, watching with interest. She'd never seen another of her kind use magic before- well, aside from the basic healing that their saliva provided.
"I thought you were going to find food?" Amethyst asked without even looking, temporarily halting to examine the girl's lip wich was stiched up, shrugging and heading back to healing her leg. Those were more dire wounds.
"I am," she huffed. With a flick of her tail she sped away in search of food. Preferably a small rowboat, perhaps a fishing vessel.
Amethyst didn't even answer to Morgana, just focussed on healing Usagi for the time being.
It was a few hours later when Morgana found herself returning to the cavern, picking between her sharp canines with a long fingernail as she surfaced into the pocket of air. It seemed her curiosity had gotten the best of her.
"Had a nice meal?" Amethyst looked up at Morgana, Usagi resting in her lap, a green glow around her head from Amethyst's hands. "How long before she wakes?"
The mermaid shrugged, drifting a little closer and looking between the two of them curiously. "How should I know? You're the healer, apparently."
"And it was your chanting that lullled her to sleep." Amethyst answered bluntly, giving her a cold gaze.
Again, Morgana shrugged. "Varies human to human. Sometimes is hours, sometimes it's days." she tilted her head. "I'd say not much longer with that one."
"Hm." Amethyst only nodded as she gently patted Usagi's cheek, before looking back at Morgana and back at Usagi.
After several seconds, and with loud coughing, Usagi's eyes shot wide open and she almost darted to her feet, the two kama immediatly brandished. "She's awake." Was what Amethyst noted dryly.
"You don't say." Morgana arched an eyebrow, looking the human up and down. "Calm down girl, no one here is going to hurt you."
Well. Not anymore, at any rate.
"Where am I?" Usagi asked, her grip not relenting on the kama, there was only one, this Morgana person, now there was another. And both her wounds were gone. "What happened?" And her tone was demanding an answer.
Amethyst looked over to Morgana with an arched eyebrow. "She is fierce." She noted dryly.
"Mhm," Morgana agreed lazily, flicking her tail just out of the water. "Like a caged animal."
"You're in a cave. Roughly 50 meters under the sea." Amethyst said with a slow chuckle. "And I healed you." She looked up at Usagi, her gaze cold.
Usagi's eyes went wide. "How the fuck did I get here?"
"Language," Morgana tutted, smirking. "And I dragged you. You're welcome, by the way."
Amethyst glanced at Morgana, nodding slowly, before looking towards Usagi again. "Well. You were wounded. I healed you aswell. Simple."
"What do you plan to do with her now?" Morgana asked as if the girl wasn't even there, turning her attention to the to other mermaid.
"I don't know." Amethyst sighed slowly, before turning to Usagi. "Girl." She barked out, standing up on her tail, towering above Usagi. "You are not like other humans. Explain yourself."
Usagi sighed slowly, rolling her eyes, but keeping her mouth shut. She just had to get out of here.
"You're wasting your time," Morgana said lazily, floating on her back and flicking droplets of water into the air with her tail fin. "Humans can't be reasoned with. They only respond to fear or pain."
Usagi looked at Morgana, arching a single eyebrow. "You really think I'm afraid of you two? Or that pain can make me talk?" Usagi chuckled slowly. "I just have to shred my eardrums to kill you," she glanced at Amethyst, "then force you to heal me again."
Amethyst shook her head slowly, looking up at the girl. "I took you to my home. And healed your wounds. Then you threaten me and my guest. Someone needs to be taught some manners here."
Morgana simply arched an eyebrow and stayed silent, waiting to see how this creature who was like her and yet not like her would handle the situation.
"Tch." Usagi grit her teeth. "Your choice. Not mine." She said, but. Well, she could indeed not harm the woman that had healed her. "Allow me to leave." She finally stated, sighing in annoyance.
Amethyst remained silent, glancing at Morgana, seeing if she wanted to have any input in it, before glancing at Usagi again. "How will you leave?"
"I doubt she could swim her way out," Morgana commented blithely. "She only survived getting dragged in here because we're strong swimmers."
Usagi glanced at Morgana. "I told you. I am walking out." She looked back at Amethyst. "Give me two hours to prepare. And I will be gone."
Amethyst forwned, splashing back into the water, her arms folded across her chest. "Explain to me how exactly you are walking out."
Morgana snorted, tossing her hair and looking between the two other females. Oh, this should be entertaining.
A knife slipped down from her sleeve, Usagi ran it across the palm of her hand. She clenched her fist as a trickle of blood dripped in the water. "Through the shadows. It'll take long to prepare this since I have to find a place where can head to, safely. And then lock in on that place and prepare the actual road." She said as she pressed her blood-soaked fingertips in the water, starting to form odd runic symbols who actually remained visible with crimson streaks in the water.
And she wasn't using one finger. Usagi was using all her fingers, making at least three symbols at the same time. She did look like she was concentrating, a thick black fog raising from her. Amethyst could only look towards her with an arched eyebrow.
Morgana's lips drew back as she caught the scent of blood and she was drawn forward almost unconsciously, a low, pleased growl rumbling in her chest. Her eyes flashed as she watched the dark stain spreading in the water and she licked her lips.
Amethyst didn't notice Morgana's seething, she was too interested in the odd symbols the girl was scribing in the water. And the blood was sticking together. The shape of the symbols remained intact even in the rush of the water. With a flick of her tail, she made waves to disturb the symbols, yet. They remained unphased.
However, Akali did notice the low growl. A glance confirming her suspicions. She flicked her hand towards Morgana, some of the blood splattering on her face. "Have a taste if you can't control yourself." She saaid blankly before headingback to focussing on the symbols.
The mermaid hissed and turned her head, the splash breaking her out of her semi-trance. "That is...powerful magic," she murmured, eyeing the girl's blood. "I knew I smelled something different about you."
Usagi raised a signle eyebrow. "It remains to be seen whether it is magic. I merely traverse this realm as a different being." She shrugged slowly. This ability may be considered the most magical out of all of her abilities, but in her eyes, it wasn't magic. Magic was handy in a pinch. But unreliable in the long term. Her abilities were reliable. But they took time. "Do taste. If you want right from the source, I have a free hand." Usagi said. She didn't really care whether Morgana would actually accept the offer and start lapping blood from her left hand or not. She just wanted to be left in peace and concentrate.
"Oh no." Morgana shook her head, backpedaling a bit. "Whatever...power that is, I don't want to try swallowing it."
The scent of blood was still alluring, she couldn't deny that, but now that she was well fed she was realizing it was probably a very good thing that Amethyst had discouraged her from eating the girl.
"It's not poisenous.. Though it might be detrimental for your stomach.. And sanity." She shrugged slowly, focussing on the signs, only arching her back after a short while, stretching and popping her spine as she bit the stitched part of her nether lip, chewing it idly before heading back to work.
Amethyst looked at Morgana, "she moves through our realm as another being." She said pointedly. "You have any idea what she means."
The mermaid shrugged. "Hey, do I look like a mage or a scholar to you? I just wanted a quick meal, wasn't trying to get myself mixed up in- whatever the hell this is."
"I never claimed you were, Morgana. I was merely informing whether you perhaps knew something more. You did find her, after all."
Usagi snickered slowly. "So your name is Morgana." She stood up slowly, "do you lure men with your voice and podture? Send them into the depths of the sea by misdirecting them?"
Completely unabashed, Morgana shrugged and gave a dangerous sort of smile. "Something like that." She tossed a glance at the other mermaid and added, "I just found her practically dead in the water, I know as much as you do."
Usagi nodded slowly. "That has proven very benificial for any assassin." She said as she stretched her arms, some of the blood trickling down in the water, "charms and poison tend to be more lethal than a blade. And less messier." She noted dryly.
Amethyst nodded at Morgana, before looking at Usagi. "So you are an assassin." She stated
Morgana wrinkled her nose in distaste. Killing for food was one thing. Killing for money struck her as unappealing.
"Not by choice, initially." She retorted as she knelt down infront of the sigils once more, starting to comine the symbols to form new ones and ligning them up. "Then. I lost about everything dear to me. I was taught two things. How to charm someone and how to kill someone." She briefly glanced at the two. "And I still needed coin to survive. Thud, I deemed my body more important than another's." She chuckled slowly, "little did I know thoso two mingle frequently."
"So you killed the wrong person," Morgana guessed, arching an eyebrow. "That's why you were bleeding in the water when I found you."
"Depends on your definition of wrong. It was the right target. I was just careless and didn't prepare my shadowwalk," she pointed at the symbols. "They found me out and hunt me down for two days."
"Hmph." Morgana was growing bored, swimming in lazy spirals on her back as she listened to the human talk. "You must not be very good at your job if you were found out," she drawled.
Usagi slowly bit on the stitched part of her lip again, hooking her tooth under the stitches. She glanced back at Morgana, shrugging. "I am absolutely certain I've killed at least twice the people you have." She said with a soft chuckle.
Amethyst arched an eyebrow. "And you're proud of that?"
Morgana scoffed. "At least I put some use to my kills," she said snippily, flicking her tail to create little waves.
Usagi shrugged slowly. "Taking a life is taking a life. For whatever reason." She glanced at Amethyst and pulled her sleeve up, pulling down the cloth armguard and glove, revealing black tally marks. And quite a lot. "Not one. Each represents five kills." She stated, her forearm was covered in it. She spat out some of the blood from biting her lip, before heading back to the sigils.
"If I were one of your kind, I don't think I'd wear my sin like a badge of honor," Morgana noted flippantly, apparently unconcerned.
"Sin?" Usagi let out a chuckle. "I see them as trophies." She smirked as she looked at Morgana.
Amethyst's mood only seemed to deteriorate at her speaking. She sighed slowly, glancing at Morgana. "Are all landwalkers this wicked?"
The mermaid shrugged carelessly and answered, "I'm not sure. I don't usually chat with my meals."
Amethyst nodded slowly. "Good point." She noted as she turned her attention back to Usagi. As soon as you can leave. You leave." She had no interest in someone this wicked. Whatever her powers were.
Well, she supposed it had been a rather interesting discovery, even if she didn't get to eat the girl. "I wouldn't leave her alone until then," Morgana said airily, as if Usagi wasn't there. "Who knows what she might get up to."
"I wasn't planning on leaving her," sounded Amethyst's retort. "The symbols intruige me."
Usagi didn't react to it, she rolled down her sleeve and sat on her knees again, focussing on preparing the shadowwalk. After another hour, Usagi stood up and stretched her back with a slow sigh, as she turned around and walked o the wall, slowly dissolving into fragments.
Almost dozing, Morgana suddenly perked up when it seemed the human was going to do something. she watched her fade away with mild interest, head tilted to the side. "Huh. Interesting..."
Amethyst folded her arms as Usagi walked away, shaking her head when she was gone. "Two-leggers.." She murmured as she looked to Morgana. "Are you planning on sticking around for long?"
"Depends." Morgana flicked her tail, eyeing the other mermaid curiously. "Do you want me to stick around, Empress?" She didn't really have anywhere she needed to be."
Her gaze softened and her tail drooped slightly. "I'd welcome the company."
"Sooo..." She looked around the cavern. "You live here then? All by yourself?"
Morgana had been called many things in her life. Tactful was never one of them.
Amethyst shook her head. "A temporary refuge," she said with a nod. "I still search for those who were able to escape."
"Hmm." Morgana swam a little closer, tilting her head at the other female. "I suppose that explains why I've never seen you in my territory before," she mused.
"What are you, exactly? I've never met a merfolk like you before." Then again, she didn't really meet a wide variety of her own kind, much less whatever "breed" Amethyst was.
Amethyst tilted her head in return, her tail resting in the shallow water as she sat up, her hands folded at the start of the scales. "Elaborate. What am I?" She asked, only a soft undercurrent of curiousity in her voice.
"I mean..." Morgana gestured between the two of them. "You're like me, obviously, but not quite like me. So what are you?"
Amethyst smirked coyly. "Then tell me what you are first. Perhaps then I can formulate a proper answer."
What she was? Hm. That was a rather interesting question.
"I suppose most would call me a siren," Morgana responded after a moment of consideration.
Amethyst nodded, "then I'd be considered a ruler. A packleader. An empress." She nodded slowly.
"Uh-huh..." Her eyebrows drew together a bit. "And what makes you so special? Why are you a leader?"
"I was selected as the new successor, rather that the birthright daughter of the prior empress." Amethyst arched an eye row. "My tribe prospered under my reign."
"And what happened to them, exactly?" Morgana asked, closing her eyes and leaning back to float aimlessly across the water again.
"Some didn't agree on me not being the daughter of the previous empress. A rebellion arose. They were small, but managed to take hostages. So I was forced to step down." She sighed slowly. "I've been fleeing ever since."
"Huh." Morgana shook her head. "See, this is why our kind is meant to be solitary. Trying to have a monarchy just causes problems."
"I don't believe we should live solitary." She layed down on her belly, resting her chin on her folded arms, looking at Morgana. "I'm too caring to live without others of our kind."
Morgana laughed. "Then, cousin-" usually the term used when greeting another mermaid was "sister", but she figured cousin was more appropriate- "you have obviously not met many of my kind."
"I think that counts for the both of us," Amethyst slipped forward, sliding into the water and lazily swimming towards Morgana, resting her arms on the Morgana's stomach, resting her cheek on her arms and looking at her. "What about you. What is your backdtory?"
The mermaid hissed at the touch, recoiling reflexively and giving Amethyst a wary look. "Why do you want to know?"
Amethyst chuckled at the hiss and the recoil, yet, she didn't move an inch away from Morgana's stomach. "I told you mine. I am curious what made you.. you."
"Nothing made me," Morgana grumbled. "I am what I am, and I don't pretend otherwise. I'm a siren. I was born to a siren, and if I have daughters they will be sirens. Simple as that."
"So defensive," Amethyst let her fingers walk across Morgana's stomach, watching them with a bored expression.
Glowering, Morgana shifted uncomfortably under her touch. "Why are you doing that?"
Amethyst closed her hand again, looking up at Morgana. "I'm bored." She answered with a sigh, resting the closed hand.on Morgana again, "I want to get to know you, but you keep pushing me away."
"Why do you care?" Morgna responded, genuinely befuddled. Her kind were usually solitary creatures, it was hard for her to wrap her head around this mermaid's apparent need for companionship.
"I am what I am. I don't pretend otherwise." She chuckled slowly. "I'm caring. I was born caring and when I have the blessing of daughters I will teach them to care."
She snorted softly. "You seem awfully sure that you'll have guppies," she noted with an arched brow. "I thought your people were all scattered. How do you plan to go about getting those daughters?"
Amethyst chuckled slowly. "I will. That is my worry. Not yours."
Morgana shrugged. "Fair enough." She flicked her tail lazily, watching her own fins ripple slightly, catching faint light.
Amethyst sighed slowly. A brief silence taking place. "So," she broke the silence, "besides luring sailors for food. What do you do to keep yourself occupied?"
Again, she shrugged. "Just...survive, I guess. The ocean can be rough when you're on your own, takes some effort to get by."
"Another reason to care for one another, hm?" She asked with a soft smile, looking up to Morgana.
"I guess. For some people." She flicked her tail again, letting herself go vertical in the water with her head and chest above the surface.
"Everyone should have someone looking out for them. Everyone desserves that." With a soft squeal, as Morgana went vertical, Amethyst smacked forward in the water, surfacing as she spat some water out. "A warning was welcome."
Morgana chuckled, smirking, and she gave a completely unabashed, "Sorry!" Tilting her head as she watched the empress right herself, she scoffed quietly and muttered, "I don't need looking after."
"You did that on purpose." Said the empress with a pout, before her face turned neutral again. "Perhaps not. But otherswant to look after you. And sometimes. You need the support."
"Hmph." She turned her nose up at the idea, folding her arms over her chest. "Perhaps you do. I'm just fine on my own, thanks."
"You might say that," Amethyst noted, "but everyone needs a friend." She noted with a slow shrug.
Another unconvinced huff and Morgana gave her a rather disbelieving glance. "Well. That's a nice thought, I suppose."
She glanced around the cavern, flicking her tail, feeling fidgety. "I should leave to your- whatever it is you do. Finding your friends." Her lips curled with distaste around the words.
"Believe me or not," Amethyst said with a soft shrug.
She nodded slowly, pressing a gentle kiss on Morgana's cheek. "Take care. I'll be here for a week or two if you need me."
Surprised by the sign of affection, Morgana jerked back skittishly, eyes wide. She frowned at Amethyst, but it was more puzzled than angry, and nodded slowly. "Um. Right. See you around- maybe."
She turned and dove beneath the water with a quick flock of her tail.
Amethyst nodded and pulled herself back on the platform and laying down.
Morgana made her way back to the rocks where she'd first dragged Usagi, finding a little crevice just under the water and wriggling herself in to curl up and sleep.
It had been a long, strange day.
Amethyst woke after several hours, diving into the depths of the cave, pulling a chedt up and putting it on the platform in.her cave.
Waking with the rising sun, Morgana slipped out of her makeshift little nest and made her way to the seafloor, picking absently through shells and weeds and other odds and ends in search of a snack.
She didn't realize she was drifting closer, little by little, to the entrance to Amethyst's little hideaway.
Amethyst was still inside her cave, chewing on a piece of fish as she went through the chest, organising an assortiment of shells and gems.
Morgana eventually found herself back at the entrance to Amethyst's cavern, glancing at it every so often as she foraged through the seabed, making a valiant effort to pretend that she didn't care it was there.
After a short while, Amethyst closed the chest again and dropped it back into the depths of the cave, before emerging from the entrance. She had to find more supplies.
Surprised by the other mermaid's appearance, Morgana did her best to act like she was completely unconcerned, making a show of humming to herself as she combed through the sand.
Amethyst smiled gently. "Hello Morgana." She said as she swam closer, "what're you doing here?"
"Just..." she waved her hand airily as she cast around for an answer. "You know. Grabbing a bite. Forgot you lived here, actually," she lied easily.
"So, you have a mind-numbingly bad short term memory?" She asked with a chuckle. It was pretty obvious.
Choosing not to dignify that with a response, Morgana huffed and turned her back. "Well, anyway. What are you doing out and about?"
"I also need to head out for food," Amethyst said with a shrug, "unless you were planning on bringing me some."
The mermaid sniffed. "I'm no servant, Empress," she said haughtily. After a moment, she added, almost petulantly, "But if you're going to hunt, I could show you some of the better spots. If you like."
Amethyst chuckled slowly. "I never implied such." Before looking at Morgana with a gentle smile, "that'd be helpful."
"Follow me then, I guess." With a quick stroke of her tail she was off, keeping close to the seafloor as she wove her way through the water, guided more by years of memory than her physical surroundings.
It took no effort for Amethyst to keep up, sticking close to Morgana.
Eventually, she brought them to a rocky pass that formed almost an underwater tunnel, except the miniature mountains rose to break through the surface of the water.
There were plenty of wrecks scattered through the pass. Morgana gestured around vaguely. "Most ships avoid this place, but if you hit the right notes, distract the right people just long enough- well, it makes for an easy meal."
Amethyst arched an eyebrow, nodding slowly. "It's been a very long time since I sang." She stated.
Morgana arched an eyebrow. "You asking for a coach, or for someone to do it for you?"
"A mere remark," she said as she pushed herself to the surface with one heavy flick of her tail, pulling herself up on the rocks and brushing her hair.
Morgana followed her as far as the surface, only sticking her head above the water. She had to admit, she was intrigued to see what this strange mermaid considered "hunting".
"Do you know at what time someone is even remotely close here, or do you just sing?" She asked, looking at Morgana.
"Look around." She gestured to the stretch of open water, a smooth expanse just before it started foaming at the mouth of the pass. "On a clear enough day, you an see almost a mile out."
Amethyst nodded slowly. "Thank you." She said as she looked towards the mouth. She took a deep breath and slowly started to sing. Softly and elegantly, a soft hum as an undercurrent that had a hypnotic effect.
Morgana's eyes widened a bit. Of course she'd heard other sirens sing before, but for some reason she hadn't expected this empress or whoever she was to sound- well, so similar.
Amethyst subsided slowly, taking a deep breath, and started to sing again, a tad louder, but lighter than before. Beautiful singing that not only had a soft and lulling undercurrent, but a sad one aswell.
Quite unable to help herself, Morgana drifted forward and folded her arms on the edge of the rock, resting her head on them and watching her sing with interest. Softly, she began to add a harmonizing hum, lower and darker than Amethyst's sound, but less melancholy.
Amethyst glanced at Morgana, giving her a gentle smile, before she turned to the wide opening, proceeding her soothing, yet lamenting song.
Morgana slowly opened her mouth, changing the hum to a low croon, glancing to the mouth of the pass.
Of course it was possible they'd just be unlucky, no guarantee that a ship would pass close enough to hear them. Still, it was interesting to sing with someone else, something she wasn't used to.
Amethyst stopped momentarily, taking a deep breath, before singing once more. A tad louder.
Still crooning softly, Morgana caught a shimmer in the water at the mouth of the pass. Her eyes narrowed slightly. These were popular hunting grounds, it wouldn't be surprising if other sirens had come.
Amethyst also noticed the shimmer, but she didn't seem to react to it in any way. She just kept singing.
Seeing that Amethyst didn't seem perturbed, Morgana slipped away from the rocks a bit and started circling as she sang. It was a seemingly casually enough gesture, but it very clearly marked her territory.
Amethyst knew just exactly what Morgana was doing. Despite being of a noble upbrining and ruling as an empress, she still knew the most basic of primal behaviour her and her kind had to portray.
There were three of them, all lovely and pale, with hair that ranged from deep auburn to a pale blond. Morgana hissed as the other sirens drew closer, a warning that cut through her song.
Amethyst didn't really care to involve herself in Morgana's territorial defense, she merely kept singing. She wasn't made for combat or intimidation.
The other three sirens bared their teeth, circling in the other direction from Morgana.
"Adlea," she said, quiet but firm as the lead siren came closer.
The mermaid with auburn hair nodded at her. "Morgana." Her eyes flicked up. "Who's your friend?"
"Assiëha, the Amethyst Empress." Amethyst said as she had joined Morgana, deciding she was taking too long. "What do you wish for?"
Adlea tossed her head. "You aren't the only ones who need to hunt."
Morgana bared her teeth, sharp canines glinting. "We were here first."
The two other sirens growled, shoulders tensing.
Amethyst sighed. "Enough." She stated, her voice from the cheerful tone she had used when getting to know Morgana immediatly faded. Dissappeared. Cold and harsh. Commanding and filled with authority. "These grounds, by right of nature, are ours for he time being. We shall hunt here and leave when we have hunted. Then they fall to you." She hissed under her breath, her eyes as cold as her voice.
The other three mermaids backed off a bit, eyes widening in surprise. Morgana gave Amethyst a reluctantly impressed look.
"You hear her," she said coolly, flipping her hair. "Haul your tails out of here."
Hissing quietly, Adlea nodded to her companions and back off a bit more.
"Dissappear." She said with the same cold voice. "Return back later. Spend your time now wisely. Stock up on fish if you think we will take too long."
As they left, Morgana eyed the other mermaid curiously. "What happened to your whole benevolent empress thing?"
Amethyst arched an eyebrow. "Did I ever say I was benevolent?"
She snorted. "You didn't have to say anything, it's all over the way you were acting."
Amethyst turned to Morgana, arching an eyebrow. "There is a difference between being kind and being just."
Morgana chuckled under her breath. "Honestly, I'm surprised you've survived this long on your own if you're so concerned with being just."
"And then, there is doing what is nescessary to survive," she retorted to Morgana, shaking her head. "I am an empress with no people. If I am to survive alone, I will."
"Hey, you don't hear me arguing," Morgana said, raising her hands in surrender. "I'm just surprised, that's all."
Amethyst nodded slowly, before flicking her tail and propelling herself back to the rocks, pulling herself up again.
Deciding maybe she should keep watch for a while, Morgana continued her circling of the rocky outcrop.
With another deep breah, Amethyst started to sing again, with the same melancholic undercurrent in her voice.
Glancing to the mouth of the pass, Morgana stilled in her circling. "Louder," she encouraged. "Think there's a boat out there."
Amethyst nodded slowly, halting her chanting momentarily, taking a deep breath in again. And starting to sing even louder, brushing her hair idly as she did.
Morgana stalled her swimming and added her voice to Amethyst's, eyeing the dark shape that was drifting ever closer to the mouth of the pass.
Amethyst arched an eyebrow but kept singing, gently brushing her hair behind her back and sitting up. Not only the voice was important here, their beauty and pose were also critical factors here. She glanced at Morgana and leaned forward to pull her up on the rocks.
Though she flinched away from the touch, scowling, Morgana followed the urging and hoisted herself half up onto the rocks, letting her tail drag in the water as she continued to sing.
Amethyst put her hands on Morgana's shoulders and rested her chin on her hand, gaze softening, her singing momentarily halted, "pose," she murmured slowly, before starting to sing again.
Scoffing, Morgana nonetheless went along with her, figuring it would be easier than arguing with her about it.
As the boat drew closer, Amethyst fluttered slowly, her aura and appearance changing from a kind but headstrong woman to a soft and innocent girl. She fluttered her eyelashes and completely lived herself into the role.
Morgana watched the change with interest, still singing soft and low as the boat drew closer and closer. They'd definitely caught the navigator's attention, if nothing else.
She even got a light tinge of pink on her cheeks, ever so slightly cowering behind Morgana, as if she was ashamed about her own lack of clothes. Her expression didn't change, but she was enjoying the dmall role she played. It had been a long time since.
In contrast, Morgana simply lounged back against the rocks, letting her song change in tone so it was more carefree, as though she didn't even notice the ship approaching.
Amethyst was pretty good at acting, that was for sure. But the melancholic undercurrent in her singing remained. Even with the captivated souls aboard.
Just a little closer and the hull would crack against the rocks. Morgana increased the tempo of her song slightly, urging the vessel closer.
Amethyst actually started to sing softer and softer. So they had to get closer and closer to hear her captivating song. But just loud enough for them to be controlled by it. She noticed the same Morgana did. It was just a matter of centimeters now.
There was a groaning and creaking of wood as the ship scraped against the rocks, then caught. The trance the sailors had been in lifted slightly as an alarm bell was rung and people began running about the deck, bailing water.
Morgana sat back, smirking. Just a matter of time now.
Amethyst glanced at Morgana, before she slowly started to sing again, soothing the crew of the ship. And at the same time, making sure none of them would survive.
Morgana arched an eyebrow. "You don't have to keep the song up, you know," she murmured. "May take an hour or two, but that ship is going down. None of them are gonna live."
"I don't like my breakfast with soiled trousers," Amethyst answered, before turning to the ship, "and they needn't suffer aimlessly."
She shrugged. "The trouser thing I get. But suffering's part of life- why should death be any different?"
"It is needless. No need to torment a captured prey any further," she answered, turning her attention back to the ship.
"Suite yourself," Morgana answered with a careless shrug, slipping down into the water again as she watched the ship out of the corner of her eye.
Amethyst nodded as she turned back to the ship, proceeding to sing gently, her song becoming more silent and silent. Ushering everyone on board to sleep.
The ship was listing in the water now, the cracks the rocks had smashed through the hull spreading wider and wider.
"Not much longer now," Morgana murmured.
Amethyst nodded slowly, not even interrupting her song to answer Morgana, just focussing.
Growing bored with watching the ship, Morgana dipped underwater, eyeing the now thuroughly ruined hull from a distance. Another wreck soon to join its companions on the seafloor.
Amethyst took a deep breath, closing her eyes with a sigh. At the same time, the entire ship slowly sunk into the sea and she dove to the bottom, following the wreck in it's wake.
"Not bad, Empress," Morgana praised as she followed her down, letting the suction of the sinking ship pull her toward the wreck with limited effort on her part.
Amethyst did the same, glancing sidewards at Morgana. "If you are insistent on calling me empress, call me by my true title." She said with a soft smile.
"What? Empress Amethyst?" she ventured, circling to the left as they drew closer to the wreck.
"The Amethyst Empress," she corrected as she descended with big circles, dodging wood and debris.
"That's a mouthful," Morgana noted, wrinkling her nose. "Don't you get sick of hearing that?"
"Not at all," she glanced at Morgana once more, "it's a title of honor. Only the ones closest to me have been allowed to call me by my actual name."
"Oh." She quirked an eyebrow at that. "Er- sorry, then. Didn't know."
Amethyst shrugged, "it doesn't matter now. I have no people anymore." She sighed slowly. "Thus, I'm technically not an empress anymore."
"So...what do you want me to call you then?" Morgana asked. Normally she wouldn't have bothered, would have just called her whatever she felt like. But the mermaid had been kind to her, she figured she should return the favor, at least a little.
"Whatever you feel like," Amethyst said, "my name, Amethyst Empress, Amethyst," she chuckled slowly as they reached the wreck. "Your pick."
"Okay then." Drowned sailors were starting to float through the water, those that had been on deck at any rate. She was sure there were more caught in the hull.
"I'm interested in what this vessel was transporting, if anything," Amethyst muttered as she found a crack in the hull and slipped in.
With a sigh, Morgana followed her. "I'm interested in food," she muttered, more to be petulant than anything else. She was a bit curious too, honestly.
Amethyst caught a corpse floating about and pushed it over to Morgana, "here, this one seems tasty," she said with a soft chuckle.
"Hmm." Morgana looked the dead sailor over and sniffed at him. She wrinkled her nose. "Maybe, if I don't find anything better," she decided, making sure the body floated against a piece of wreckage where it wouldn't eventually float to the surface.
"Suit yourself," was what Amethyst said, before a cry for help resounded.
Morgana jerked and her eyes flicked around. "What the hell?" she hissed, every muscle in her body going tense.
"A survivor?" Was what Amethyst murmured to herself, glancing at Morgana, nefore slowly swimming towards where she heaed the plea come from.
Following after her companion warily, Morgana frowned as her eyes flickered around. A survivor? That would be a miracle, if it was true.
"Help!" The voice was clearer as they approached. Accompanying of desperate knocking against wood. Amethyst glanced at Morgana. Apparantly surprised at a survivor's presence.
Morgana shook her head, utterly bemused. "One of the cabins must have been sealed off," she muttered, frowning. "The water didn't get in..."
"And why would they seal off a cabin?" She asked with a soft purr, pressing her hands against the door.
"Who knows?" Morgana shook her head. "Humans do plenty of strange things." She eyed the door. "If we open it, he'll drown." An observation, neither recommendation nor condemnation.
"I'm curious," she eyed Morgana sidelong, "can we open it?"
She tilted her head. "The pressure of the water will make it difficult," she noted clinically. "We'll need to find something for leverage."
"Hm." Amethyst looked around and turned to grab a sharp beam, inching it between the door. "This should work. Help me out."
Morgana nodded, moving in beside her and gripping the beam, ready to put her weight against it. "Ready when you are."
Amethyst nodded, "push," she said as she flicked her tail and pressed her weight against the beam.
Morgana threw her weight behind the beam as well, grunting quietly as her brow furrowed with effort.
With a slow cracking, they managed to wrench open the door, the water spooling in, a captain and what seemed to be her lover, still inside.
Morgana grabbed onto the door to keep herself from being sucked into the room as the water swept in, grabbing for Amethyst's arm to hold her steady.
Amethyst got a hold of Morgana's arm aswell, the room was immediatly filled itself with water.
As soon as the sudden suction stopped, Amethyst swam inside, grabbing the male and softly singing him, aswell as the captain to sleep again. She glanced at Morgana, "fancy this one, or the female?" She inquired as the two were slowly choked from life.
She wrinkled her nose. "The females are bitter. I'll take him, if you're offering."
"Hm. You'll get this one.. If you fetch me the one I offered you earlier," she chuckled, "then you get this one."
Morgana scrunched her face up at her and tisked. "Fine, deal," she muttered, swimming off to gather the corpse.
Amethyst chuckled, "drop the attitude." She glanced Morgana as she swam away, pushing the corpse in a corner and searching through the room for gems or anything shiny in particular.
Returning, Morgana drifted the dead sailor toward the other mermaid with a light shove and a blithe, "Hope you're hungry."
"Oh. I am, thank you," she said as she caught the floating corpse, pulling the arm off tje other and causing him to drift towards Morgana.
She caught her meal and started to back out of the cabin. "C'mon, let's get out of here. I don't like to eat where I hunt."
Qmethyst nodded slowly, before she grabbed the woman and bit her finger clean off, spitting it our again
"So those others can find it. Avoids more agression," she explained with a shrug, grabbing her meal and darting out.
Morgana shrugged. She wouldn't have bothered, but oh well.
It did give her an incentive to hurry though as she followed the other mermaid out. She'd rather not hang around and run into others of their kind that came across the wreck.
Amethyst made her way back to her cave, navigating more on feeling than on actual direction. And eventually, reaching her temporary hideout.
Not having anything better to do or anywhere else to go, Morgana trailed after her, humming quietly to herself every so often.
Amethyst arched an eyebrow as Morgana proceeded tobfollow her inside her cave. She severely disliked it when someone else saw her eat. The sheer mess she made was unbecoming of an empress. But she remained with the sae neutral expression and pose, pulling her prey up on the elevated platform.
She softly pressed her lips against the man's neck. A soft hiss resounded from her and razorsharp fangs clenched down around her prey's throat, blood slowly trickling down.
Completely unconcerned with whether Amethyst made a mess or not, Morgana stayed in the water as she started in on her own meal with gusto.
And so did Amethyst, despite Morgana's presence, shevpretty much tore into the corpse hungrily.
Once she'd eaten enough to sate herself, Morgana let the body go, rolling over to drift lazily on her back with a contented sigh. "Red meat definitely beats fish."
Amethyst wasn't finished however. She almost seemed starved the way she was eating, she glanced at Morgana over her shoulder, but went back to eating. Deciding it wasn't smart to persue conversation whilst eating.
Shrugging off the other mermaid's silence, Morgana flicked her tail to drift in lazy little circles, splashing a bit of water on her face to clean the blood from around her mouth.
After a while, with a lazy sigh, Amethyst sat back, clising her eyes briefly. "I've had my fill.." She murmured, not left much from the corpse bar bones, some bloody scraps and inedible organs like the galbladder.
Morgana arched an eyebrow. "When was the last time you ate?" She usually only went after a kill like that if it had been a week or more.
"Two to three days," Amethyst answered, "though I had to use my magic recently."
"And that's...tiring for you," she assumed, tilting her head to one side.
"Quite," Amethyst retorted as she slipped in the water, starting to wash the blood off, wringing it out of her hair.
"Hm." Morgana leaned back again to drift aimlessly, flicking droplets of water into the air with her tail fin.
Amethyst surfaced again next to Morgana, once again, resting on her stomach. "Where did you leave your corpse?"
She started slightly at the overly familiar touch and blinked at the empress. "It's over there somewhere," she muttered, waving her hand vaguely in the direction it had drifted off.
"I'd prefer if the remains don't float around in my home, despite it being temporary," she said with a soft chuckle.
"I'll get it when I leave then," Morgana muttered carelessly.
"Thank you," she said with a soft chuckle. "Why are you still hanging around?" She asked, smiling softly, "no offense intended."
"Nothing better to do," Morgana drawled. "I can leave though," she added easily, arching an eyebrow.
Amethyst chuckled slowly. "Aren't you the friendly one," she said with a soft smirk, closing her eyes briefly. "You don't have to, again. The company is welcome."
"We're not friendly by nature," Morgnana said archly. "I think you're the exception."
"Perhaps," was what mused with a slow chuckle.
"Hmph." She rolled onto her stomach, dislodging her hanger-on.
Having been a victim of it the first time, Amethyst pushed herself back in time. "I have the distinct feeling you're doing that on purpose."
Morgana smirked at her and said innocently, "Why, I have no idea what you mean, Your Imperial Majesty."
"Do not call me that," Amethyst said with a soft pout, "it's Amethyst Empress."
"Yeah, yeah, yeah." She waved a hand at her dismissively. "Look, lady, if you can't take a joke you're not gonna make many friends."
Amethyst smirked slowly. "And you bought that little drama?" She asked with a soft chuckle.
Morgana shrugged. "Hey, I'm not used to royalty. How am I supposed to know when you're being serious or not?"
Amethyst smirked, "don't ask me." She let out a slow chuckle, rolling her shoulders.
"Hmph." The mermaid gave a lazy flick of her tail, glancing around the cavern. "I suppose I should be going," she mused.
Amethyst nodded slowly, "I'll be gone in a week from now."
"Ah." She looked at her face, considering. "Would you..want me to come back and...visit?"
Amethyst let out a soft chuckle. "Are you going to miss me?" She inquired with a teasing smile.
"I wouldn't say that." she flipped her hair. "I'd just be...curious."
"Curious for what?" She asked with a soft smile.
"I dunno." Morgana shrugged. "How your little search is going, I suppose."
"Hm. Perhaps I will," Amethyst chuckled, "I can always use people in my court."
"Whoa now." She arched an eyebrow. "Who said anything about a court?"
"I did," Amethyst answered bluntly. "You can join me in my search if you wish."
Morgana just looked at her for a moment. "I'll...think about it," she murmured, drifting ever closer toward the entrance to the cavern.
Amethyst nodded as she propped herself up on the platform again. "Don't forget to clean your meal," she said with a wink.
"Yeah, yeah," the mermaid muttered with a sigh, grabbing the half eaten corpse and dragging it with her as she gave a little wave over her shoulder and started to make her way out of the cavern.
Amethyst went to clean up her own meal aswell, discarding it outside. She swam back into the cave and pulled up the same chest, starting to craft some trinkets.
A week from now, Amethyst had said. Morgana tried to deny her curiosity, deciding to keep to herself and let her strange "cousin" just go on her way.
But a day before the empress was supposed to leave, she somehow found herself hovering around near the entrance to the cavern, not quite sure herself why she was there.
Amethyst was out hunting, she returned with a coral spear with several fish pinned ontop of it. "Morgana?" She inquired as she saw the siren hanging around the entrance to her hideout.
Starting slightly, Morgana turned to face her and schooled her features into cool nonchalance. "Hello," she said evenly. Her eyes flicked tot he fish. "Good hunting?"
"Rations," she explained as she swam inside the cave. "I can't always hunt when I'm on the move, so I prepare these."
She surfaced in her hideout again, pulling herself on the platform and holding up a coral circle, one fish hanging from it.
Without waiting for permission, Morgana followed after her, watching silently as she set about preparing her rations.
She pulled the fish from the spear and poked each on the ring individually, making the ring contain about eight fish. She glanced at Morgana, "why is it that I always find you hesitating outside my home?"
Morgana chuckled dryly at being caught. "Curiosity," she admitted with a shrug. "And a severe lack of interpersonal skills."
"I see. So, curiousity is your main motivation?" She asked with a soft chuckle, sitting back and hanging the ring on her hip. "Have you decided?"
"Decided what?" she retorted with feigned innocence, unwilling to make this conversation easy.
And honestly...she hadn't quite made up her mind yet.
Amethyst let out an indifferent shrug, diving down from the platform, all the way to the bottom of the cave, she could also play this game.
With a soft grip around the handle, she grabbed the chest and pulled it back up.
"What's in there?" Morgana asked as she watched her haul the chest to the surface. She didn't offer to help, but she did more a little closer.
"Bones, coral, gems, trinkets," was what Amethyst summed up as she put it down on the platform and opened it.
"And you keep it...why?" Morgana pressed, inching a little closer.
"Because I like pretty, shiny things?" She said in response, glancing to Morgana.
She shook her head, rather baffled. She knew some of her kind collected things, but she'd never really seen the appeal. "Doesn't it get cumbersome, hauling that thing around?"
"Not at all," Amethyst answered easily, glancing at Morgana.
Morgana just gave a little shrug, dismissing it as something she just didn't understand. "Why do you have it though?"
Well. Maybe not entirely dismissing.
"I refer to my earlier statement," she said with a slow chuckle. Amethyst straightened her hair and turned around. "I am an empress. I wear these. Normally."
"But why?" Morgana pressed. "I mean, what's the point?"
"Some women," Amethyst smiled softly, "enjoy adorning themselves with these. It makes them feel pretty."
"But you're already pretty," Morgana pointed out. "Though I suppose most of us are...is it to sort of put yourself above normal pretty?"
"Thank you," she smirked, "yes. Sort of like that."
"Huh. Is that an empress thing or a you thing then?" Morgana asked, close enough now to fold her arms on the little "island" Amethyst was perched on.
"Perhaps a little bit of both," Amethyst said as she laid down on her belly, looking into Morgana's eyes.
"Hm." The siren flicked her tail lazily, head tilted as she thought.
"So. If I went with you," she said abruptly. "What would that mean, exactly?"
"Right now? Whatever you want it to mean,"' she answered with a shrug.
"Uh-huh." She considered that for a moment, then shrugged. "Well, I've had worse hunting partners I suppose."
"Do I take that hard to get attitude as a yes?" Amethyst asked with a soft chuckle.
"Yes," Morgana muttered after a moment of consideration. She wasn't quite sure why, but the ex-empress's search intrigued her.
"So it's been decided," she pushed the spear and an empth.coral ring.towards Morgana, "start hunting. You'll need rations."
"Ah. Thanks. But I don't need the spear." Morgana took the rings though- they seemed useful.
Amethyst nodded as.she placed the spear down on the small platform again. "We leave tomorrow."
"Got it." Morgana nodded and drifted back a little. "I should be back in a few hours," she said briskly.
"I will await your return," Alethyst said as she pulled herself up on the platform, closing her eyes.
Hunting didn't take her long, and soon enough Morgana was making her way back through the underwater passage into the main cavern again. "Oi. Empress. You asleep?"
She indeed was asleep, her eyes closed and breathing slowly.
"Hmph." Laying her catch on the edge of the rock, Morgana hauled herself half out of the water and reached out to shake Amethyst's shoulder. "Hey, wake up."
With a slow yawn and a lazy stretch, Amethyst woke up, blinking slowly and looking at Morgana. "Hm?"
"You want something to eat?" Morgana nodded toward the entrance to the cavern. "We could sink another ship before we leave."
"You lead the way," Amethyst said as she sat up, stretching her back and splashing into the water rather unceremoniously.
Nodding, Morgana flipped around and started back out of the cavern, letting currents moving for the most part.
Amethyst followed her closely to.the grounds, lazily letting the currents carry her to the hunting grounds. She still had the coral spear in her hand.
Seeing their wreck from before, Morgana paused. "We could just see if there's anything left in there," she offered, nodding toward it.
"Do so, by all means. I'll keep an eye out." Amethyst flicked her tail to get to the surfacex shaking her head as she surfaced.
Morgana nodded and made her way into the wreck, swimming through corridors and in and out of the cargo hold.
Finding two mostly intact corpses, she dragged them with her to the surface, floating one toward Amethyst. "Here."
Amethyst glanced at Morgana's voice and nodded, diving back.in the water, pulling her corpse down with. "Here or back at the shelter?"
"Oh, I don't care." She shrugged, already biting into her own meal. She'd eat while they swam if necessary.
Amethyst shrugged. The scent of blood was already in the water. So a bit more didn't matter. She clenched her teeth down on the corpse's throat and dragged it down, starting to eat.
Settling herself on the ship's broken mast, Morgana tucked into her meal with gusto, occasionally fanning the water around her to disperse the blood.
Amethyst didn't seem to care about any of the blood, she just tore into her meal viciously as ever. Several bits of gore slipping past her and floating upwards.
Morgana ate quickly, releasing her leftovers and letting them float to the surface while she wiped at her mouth and waited for her companion to finish.
Labelling what Amethyst left as 'leftovers' would be pretty generous. She left.nothing but some meat scraps, organs and bones, before looking up to Morgana, "you're not finishing that?"
The siren shook her head. "I don't eat past the point of being full."
"So. You aren't," Amethyst noted. "Push it down if you please, I'm still a bit peckish."
"Alright." Morgana grabbed a scrap of fabric that may have once been breeches and shoved the corpse down toward her.
Amethyst smiled softly, "thanks," and tore into the second corpse. With the same energy as.before. As if she was starving the entire time she ate.
Morgana arched an eyebrow. "Stars and seas, do you ever get enough to eat?"
Amethyst initially disn't answer. She was too busy eating in the most ravenous of ways. Yet as she was done, roughly eating everything short could from the corpse, she looked up at Morgana. "I don't know why," she explained with a short shrug.
"Always been that way?" she asked, tilting her head to one side.
Amethyst nodded slowly. "Yes," she gestured at her body, "I don't get fatter.because.of it either."
"Hm." Morgana shook her head and shrugged. "You're an oddity, cousin."
"Perhaps I am, perhaps you are," Amethyst answered. "Sister."
Morgana actually chuckled quietly, murmuring, "Fair enough." She arched an eyebrow. "You done then?"
"For the moment, yes," Amethyst answered with a soft smile, wiping some blood from her hair.
"After you, then." She gestured for her to lead the way back to her temporary home.
Amethyst nodded and with a laey flick of her tail, she let herself be carried away with the current, glancing over her shojlder to check whether Morgana was following.
The siren followed easily enough, quiet and contemplative, which was rather unlike her.
And Amethyst did notice her silence. "No smart remarks?" She inquired after a short while.
Morgana sort of started, eyes snapping back into focus. She smirked. "Why? You missing them?"
"Merely worried you had lost your tongue," Amethyst said with a chuckle. Reaching the cave after a short while.
She shook her head, following Amethyst into the cave. "I'm just...thinking."
"Don't hurt yourself," she said with a sly smirk. "Thinking about?"
Morgana rolled her eyes at her, but admitted, "Going with you. What it means, I suppose."
"You can still swim away," she said with a soft smile. "I don't wish to force you."
"I don't exactly have anything better to do," the siren said with a shrug. "This promises to be interesting, at least."
"You're driven by curiousity, hm?" She inquired with the same soft smile.
Morgana snorted. "Almost always," she admitted.
"It's a nice motivation," Amethyst replied with a soft chuckle as she swam inside the cave and pulled herself up on the platform.
"Hm. I've never really given it much thought one way or the other," Morgana said lazily, following her and letting her head and shoulders break the surface of the water.
"Well, you stay busy," Amethyst said with a slow stretch, "and you don't get bored easily, wich is nice."
"I suppose," she agreed slowly, swimming up to the platform and folding her arms on the edge.
Amethyst poked her nose. "But your attitude needs some refining," she said with a soft chuckle.
Morgana scowled, jerking her head back slightly. "Good luck with that," she grumbled, wrinkling her nose.
Amethyst let out another slow chuckle. "Charming. I wasn't telling you I'd try," she smirked as she looked at Morgana with a soft smile.
"Then I guess you'll just have to get used to it," Morgana quipped, smirking back.
"I used to be a ruler, Morgana," Amethyst said with a soft chuckle. "I'm used to worse." She chuckled slowly. "But that's not an incentive to behave even worse."
"Damn." She gave her a smirk that was actually almost a real smile. "Just take all the fun out of things why don't you?"
"I aim to please." Amethyst said with a soft chuckle as she sat up.
Morgana rolled her eyes, pushing away from the platform to float lazily on her back. "What time do you plan to leave?"
"Tomorrow morning," she stated with a shrug, slipping in the water, only her head on the surface.
"I meant more specifically. Dawn?" She gave a gentle flick of her tail.
"Perhaps, maybe a tad later than," Amethyst said, smiling softly.
"Alright." Arching her back, Morgana proclaimed, "Then I'm gonna grab some shut eye, if that's alright with you your majesty."
Amethyst chuckled as she pulled herself on the platform. "I don't mind at all," she smiled softly, "I wouldn't even mind if you crawled up for warmth."
"Thanks, but I'm good here," the siren decided, allowing her eyes to drift closed as she simply drifted aimlessly through the water.
"As you wish," Amethyst said as she slowly closed her eyes.
Morgana was used to sleeping whenever she had the chance, so she was able to drift off easily.
And Amethyst herself had also little trouble falling asleep. After a short while, she had also drifted off with a soft snoring.
Heavily asleep, not even bumping against the platform gently in her sleep could wake Morgana sometime just before dawn.
Amethyst was in a rather comical position, her head dipped underwater and blowing snoring bubbles, her body still on the platform. A rather comical pose that would be unbecoming of royal blood.
Still half asleep, Morgana rolled over with a soft grunt, her tail flicking out reflexively and smacking lightly against Amethyst.
Amethyst grunted slowly, but didn't seem to wake because of the smack.
Yawning, Morgana rolled over again and blinked, frowning as she took a moment to remember where she was. Still drifting on her back, she muttered, "Hey, Empress? Wha' time is it?"
She was only answered with a loud, gurgling snore.
Sighing, the siren forced herself to fully wake up and swam to Amethyst's side. "Oi. Up you get." She shook her shoulder gruffly.
With a sharp gasp, Amethyst's eyes shot open and she shot up straight, smacking her face against Amethyst. She fell back due to the shock of pain and slipped into the water, her nose bleeding.
"Damnit!" Clutching her forehead, Morgana ducked under the water and grabbed for Amethyst's shoulder, trying to hoist her up.
With a flick of her tail, she surfaced again, hand on her nose, "don't scare me like that!"
"Well, if you didn't sleep like a dead whale!" Morgana retorted, rubbing her head. "I tried to wake you up gently, but it wasn't working!" Well...semi-gently.
She rubbed her eyes as she yawned, "what does my weight have to do with this?"
She arched an eyebrow. "I never said anything about-" Oh. The whale thing. "I just meant you were really out. That was the first colorful image that came to mind."
Amethyst pouted in a mock. "You just called me fat. I'm not fat."
"I never said you were!" Morgana protested, now feeling completely lost. There was a reason she didn't hang around with others of her kind very often- she had rather terrible people skills.
Amethyst giggled as.she flicked her tail and hugged Morgana. "I was joking~"
She stiffened, eyes going wide, not sure how to react to the gesture. "Oh. Ah- sorry?"
Amethyst giggled again, "why are you apologizing?"
"I don't really, um..." Morgana patter her shoulder awkwardly, trying to squirm away from her. "Not really...good with these things," she muttered.
Anither giggle. The hug only tightened softly. "I know, you teased me enough."
Her squirming became a little more desperate. "Er...can you let me go? Your Highness?"
Amethyst chucklzd and let go of Morgana, floating backwards. "You give me attitude, I give you hugs," she said with a spark in her eyes.
The siren narrowed her eyes. "I'm not sure I like this particular method of conditioning," she grumbled.
"Oh, it isn't conditioning," she said with a soft smirk. "It is how I get back at you."
Grumbling under her breath, Morgana decided- for her own sake- not to pursue that. "Shouldn't we be going?" she muttered abruptly instead.
Amethyst nodded slowly, taking the spear and ring and diving down to exit the cave, pulling the chest along as she did.
Morgana followed after her, pausing a moment to grab her own provisions.
As Amethyst swam from the cage, she looked around and swam up slowly, trying to get her sense of direction back.
Still trailing behind her, Morgana asked, "Where are we going anyway?"
"Nowhere," Amethyst glanced at her. "We just wander to find others."
She gaped at her. "You mean- you don't even have a direction in mind?" Seas and stars, what had she gotten herself into?
"I have several." Amethyst glanced back at Morgana. "I do have a direction. And this place was promising, so are others."
"Oh. Alright." Well, it was better than nothing. "What's the next promising place then?"
"We won't get there in one day, it's pretty far," Amethyst said as she pushed herself down in one of the currents and floating towards the given direction.
"That doesn't really answer my question," Morgana muttered, following after her.
"Red reef," she answered. "Famous hunting grounds."
"Ah, okay..." Famous they may be, but they were outside the siren's territory, so chances were she'd never heard of them. Of if she had, it was long forgotten.
"Be careful when we get there.. They are called red for a reason." She noted as she glanced at Morgana briefly.
She arched an eyebrow. "I can handle myself, milady."
"Never implied you couldn't," Amethyst answered easily.
"I could look after me and you," Morgana grumbled, apparently feeling she hadn't quite gotten the point across.
This caused Amethyst to stop and arch an eyebrow, turning around. "You might want to take that back," she replied with a frown.
"Why?" She blinked at her, a little surprised she'd gotten more than a grunt of acknowledgement as a reaction.
"Because you most likely can't," Amethyst answered. "Perhaps I should've told this sooner. But no heroics."
"Oh." She actually laughed at that. "Believe me, Empress, I'm no hero."
"Good," she murmured as she turned around again, "I saw enough 'heroes' die in vain."
"Yeah, I plan to live. I like life," Morgana muttered. If that made her a coward- well, she found she didn't really care.
"That's all I need to know," Amethyst answered before she fell silent.
The siren shrugged and followed after her in silence, content with the quiet for now.
After several hours of swimming, Amethyst stopped in her tracks and looked around. "Want to take a break?" She inquired with a glance at her companion.
Though she was getting tired, Morgana immediately feigned disinterest. "Sure, if you'd like," she said with a careless shrug.
"I can still go on," Amethyst answered with a soft shrug as she fully turned around to Morgana.
"Then I'm fine," the siren said briskly, shrugging again.
Amethyst nodded with a friendly smile as she turned around again and swam towards the nearest current to float with those again.
Relieved by the rest the current provided but not wanting to show it, Morgana followed after her again, tail flicking lazily.
After a short while, Amethyst pulled one of the rings up and tore a fish off, putting it between her teeth, she gkznced at the surface and pushed herself upwards with a flick of her tail.
"What are we doing now?" Morgana muttered, following her toward the surface rather reluctantly.
Amethyst pointed at an island in the far distance. "Beyond that, it's two more days to the Red Reef." She answered.
"Ah." The siren judged the distance, cocking her head. "And where do you plan to rest between here and there?"
Amethyst swallowed the fish whole before diving back down. "That's why I slowed pace. To look around for a place we can rest."
"Ah." She glanced around as she followed her back under the water. "Well- what's wrong with the deadline? If we only break for a few hours or so."
"I never said we had a deadline," Amethyst answered with a shrug as she slowly swam forward again, looking for a place they could rest.
"Well, yeah, but...don't you wanna get this done as soon as possible?" Morgana asked, brow furrowing.
"Ofcourse I do," she answered with a soft smile. "Still, we shouldn't force ourselves."
"Whatever you say, Majesty," the siren responded, shrugging carelessly.
Amethyst arched an eyebrow, "be warned. I will hug you again."
She blanched slightly and raised her hand in surrender. "Er, I mean- Amethyst?"
With a slow huff, Amethyst settled down again, arching an eyebrow as she found what they were looking for, with a lazy flick of her tail, she swam towards what looked like an entrance to a cave.
Breathing a quick sigh of relief, Morgana followed after her, racing to grab her arm. "Hey, shouldn't we check the place out before we just go waltzing in there?"
"By all means," Amethyst said as she halted her swimming, glancing at Morgana.
"Alright." Rolling her shoulders, the siren ordered, "Stay behind me," as she cautiously started in to the cave.
Amethyst pulled the spear from her back and followed Morgana closely.
Eyes searching the gloom, Morgana tensed once or twice at the shadows of passing fish, but gradually began to relax. "Seems alright," she decided eventually, giving a brisk nod.
Amethyst was behind her the entire time. Clutching her spear and following Morgana's.every movement.
She nodded as Morgana said it seemed alright, lowering.her spear slowly.
"Find a place to bed down then, I guess," Morgana muttered, looking around.
"It'll be anything but comfortable," Amethyst answered. The caves were.rather small.
"Better than sleeping in the open," the siren replied with a careless shrug, spying a small ledge and moving toward it.
Amethyst nodded as she looked around, seeing Morgana moving to the small ledge. Amethyst shrugged slowly and sank to the bottom.
"Wake me when you want to get moving," Morgana muttered, laying in the ledge and curving her tail around her upper body.
"I will," Amethyst answered as she closed her eyes., resting on the rather rough texture of the cave.
Content with that, Morgana closed her eyes and allowed herself to drift off, curling up a little tighter into a ball.
Amethyst was splayed out on her back, rather unceremoniously as she slept, snoring lightly.
Thoroughly drained, Morgana didn't wake with the sunrise as she normally would have, curled up on her ledge and sleeping heavily.
Amethyst woke with a yawn, stretching slowly as she flicked her tail and went to the ridge Morgana slept on, softly pushing against her shoulder.
Grumbling, Morgana slowly came to and blinked at Amethyst, then nodded. "Right. We leaving then?" she asked, yawning and stretching.
Amethyst nodded silently, oushing herself bck from the ridge. "How're you on rations?" She inquired before putting a fish between her teeth.
Gnawing at her own breakfast, Morgana shrugged. "I'm fine. Let's get moving."
Amethyst nodded before she turned around, swallowing the fish whole. With a flick of her tail she lazily navigated outside of the cave.
The siren followed her, still feeling a little groggy. She rubbed at her eyes and yawned, arching her back in a stretch.
Amethyst glanced over her shoulder, before looking forward again.
Before she turned around all of a.sudden with a loud screech to spook Morgana.
Flipping backward, Morgana's eyes went wide and she whirled around, instinctively looking for danger. "Wh-what?!"
Amethyst shrugged. "There. Now you're fully awake," she said with a chuckle.
Morgana scowled at her. "You are an evil, evil empress," she muttered, folding her arms and glowering.
Amethyst tutted her lips, before turning around again. "Silence, sleepyhead. Your evil empress commands it."
A soft chuckle followed her words shortly.
She rolled her eyes, following after her and muttering curses under her breath.
"Swearing is so unbecoming of you," Amethyst said with another chuckle. Thinking to herself that she should take a break teasing her fellow mermaid.
"I disagree," Morgana grumped. "It's entirely becoming of me. It fact, it's usually my main method of communication.'
Amethyst stoppes in her tracks, turning around and flicking her tail to cup Morgana's face. She pressed her thumbs under the corners of Morgana's lips. "Hold this expression," she said as she pushed them up ever so slightly. "And raise that frown. If you frown more, it'll be stuck like that and you'll always look pissed off."
Knowing better at this point then to try to pull away from her touch, the siren huffed at her. "I am always pissed off," she grumbled, more to be petulant than anything else.
"No you're not," Amethyst said with a chuckle as she used her thumbs to push her eyebrows up. "Now say something nice."
"Like what?" Morgana demanded, frowning.
"Anything," Amethyst answered with a shrug, pushing the frown up again. "Stop frowning."
She huffed, defiantly scrunching her eyebrows together. "You're not as crazy as I thought you were when we first met," Morgana muttered. "There. Is that nice enough?"
"Yes. Now. Without trying to scowl," Amethyst added with a chuckle.
Morgana rolled her eyes and grumbled, "This is ridiculous."
"That's not something nice," Amethyst said with a soft chuckle.
The siren sighed. "You're not going to let this go, are you?"
"Oh, I will," Amethyst chuckled. "As soon as you comply."
"Fine." Face neutral, Morgana said flatly, "You are...quite caring. Which is nice. For some people."
"I told you to keep the smile," she said with a soft giggle, pressing the corners of Morgana's mouth up again. "Once more."
Morgana hissed and snapped at her fingers, scowling. "Why do you even care?" she growled, huffing.
Amethyst rolled her eyes, narrowly dodging her sharp teeth. "I care," she merely answered.
"Well, care less," she muttered, brow furrowed. "Come on, we should keep moving."
"Tch. I liked it more when you smiled," Amethyst answered as she pulled back, flicking her tail and getting back to moving again.
"Guess you're just gonna have to get used to disappointment," Morgana muttered, following after her.
Amethyst glanced back, arching an eyebrow. "If you want a hug, just ask."
The siren huffed, shaking her head sharply, but couldn't think of a good retort to that so she just glowered in silence.
"You really dislike physical contact, don't you?" Amethyst inquired as they swam.
"It's not my favorite thing," Morgana muttered in agreement.
Amethyst nodded. "I'm sorry," she said, looking forward again.
She glanced at her, surprised. "Um- don't apologize. My thing, not yours," she mumbled, not quite sure why she felt the need to do so.
Amethyst shook her head. She didn't feel like arguing why she did apologise. A waste of time. Se couldn't be bothered. Instead, she just swam forward in silence.
Giving a mental shrug, Morgana swam after her in silence, her guard creeping up the further they got from familiar territory.
It was only after a short while that Amethyst stopped raising her hand. Sushing slowly. "Sharks," she murmured silently.
Morgana drew up short beside her. "So?" she murmured. "How many? Less than ten and we can just slip through."
Amethyst shook her head slowly. "Too much," she whispered as a response.
"Then what do we do?" the siren muttered, arching an eyebrow. "Go around?"
Amethyst nodded. "That. Or we wait," Amethyst whispered.
Morgana shook her head. "Who knows how long that would take? We should go around."
Amethyst nodded. "We'll have to be silent," she answered, glancing at Morgana. "That'll be more of an issue for me," she added with a giggle.
She rolled her eyes, grumbling, "Yeah, I noticed." Glancing ahead, she nodded quickly and set off in a wide arc, gesturing for the other mermaid to follow.
Amethyst nodded and followed Morgana closely, holding the spear closely.
The siren skirted as far around the edge of the sharks' waters as she could manage, quick but quiet, eyes flicking about warily.
Amethyst followed her closely, casting wary glances around before she put a hand Morgana's shoulder, pulling her close. "Don't. Move." She hissed silently.
She froze, glancing back and Amethyst with wary and questioning eyes.
Her eyes were cold and serious. With a soft, almost invisble nod, she notioned at a shark that seemed to had strayed a bit further. And it was drifting towards them.
Morgana nodded and shifted backward a bit, herding Amethyst behind her.
Amethyst raised her spear slowly as she backed slowly with Morgana. Stabbing this thing was a bad idea. As blood drew the rest closer. But. If it became hostile. A bad situation. Amethyst didn't like it. She pulled a.bitter expression and glanced around for alternatives.
Straightening her spine, Morgana held her ground as the fish drew closer. The bigger she looked, the less likely the thing was going to try to take a bite of her.
The shark didn't seem really interested in Morgana, just idly swimming around a small distance away frol the two.
Givign Amethyst a small nod, the siren started moving again, slowly but confidently.
Amethyst returned the nod, proceeding to follow Morgana, her eyes fixated on the shark.
Morgana kept moving, eyes flicking over at the shark every few seconds.
The shark didn't seem to make a move. Amethyst let out a soft breath as they were at a relativly safe.distance. But she didn't drop her guard just yet.
Relax fractionally, Morgana nodded and picked up the pace a little, trying to put some more distance between them and the sharks' waters.
Amethyst followed her closely still, only heaving a soft sigh after a while. "That could've ended badly," she murmured.
The siren shrugged. "But it didn't. No point in dwelling on it, right?"
Amethyst nodded . "Agreed. Let's.move on," she said, pulling a fish from the ring and putting.it between her teeth again, before swallowing it whole as they started to swim again.
Apparently not possessing as big an appetite as her companion, Morgana ate half of her first fish that day. She was still rather full from those sailors.
"You lead," she said, nodding to Amethyst. "I don't really know where we're going."
"Already disoriented?" Amethyst asked with a chuckle as she flicked her tail to surface again, looking.down and waiting for Morgana to follow her.
She shrugged, frowning a bit as sh followed. "I've never been this far from my own territory before," she defended herself.
Amethyst nodded at the small island in the distance. "Over there," she answered as she dove down again.
Morgana nodded and dove back down to follow her, flicking her tail in graceful little arcs to pick up her pace slightly.
Amethyst rolled her shoulders as she found another current in the right direction, letting herself being swept away with the undercurrent lazily.
Drifting along in the current, Morgana allowed herself to relax, just slightly, as they were swept along.
Amethyst turned around in the current, slowly flicking her tail. "You holding up?"
Morgana scoffed at her. "I'm fine. I'm surprised such dainty royalty can hold up as long as you, Empress."
Amethyst arched an eyebrow. Flicking her tail against the current to hug Morgana softly. "I've been fleeing for a long time."
Still uncomfortable with the contact, the siren at least managed to awkwardly pat her shoulder. "Er...right. Sorry."
Amethyst arched an eyebrow, before closing her eyes. "Improvement?" She inquired with a soft giggle. Still holding Morgana, using her own tail to stay in the current.
Morgana let her hug her a moment longer, then started to wriggle uncomfortably. "Alright. Um...there, there."
"Adorable," Amethyst giggled as she released Morgana.
"I am not," the siren grumbled, scowling and wriggling a bit as she tried to settle herself.
"Oh, yes you are," Amethyst countered as she chuckled slowly.
Morgana glared and grumbled, but she knew better at this point than to really argue with her about it.
As Amethyst caught no more protest from Morgana, she turned aroung again and drifted along the currents, in silence for the time being.
Letting her mind wander, Morgana allowed her guard to drop a bit as they drifted along.
After several hours, Amethyst flicked her tail and held in place. "Wanna stop?"
The siren paused. "Well- I mean, we're close, aren't we? I'm fine to keep going. Unless you want to rest."
Amethyst shook her head softly. "Then we keep going," she said as she flicked her tail and turned around again.
Morgana nodded, falling in alongside her as they set out again instead of following behind.
After a short while, Amethyst would stop in her tracks, glancing around warily. "The red reef, keep your eyes open," she murmured. The place seemed initially peaceful.
She paused, glancing at her companion. "Why? What's wrong with it?"
"Why do you think it's called red?" Amethyst answered, tension heard in her voice. The place didbseem indeed devoid of the color red. Sure. It was present. But not in a magnitude of it being the reason.for that name.
Morgana quirked an eyebrow as understanding dawned. "Ah." She took another look around. "What hunts here then?"
"Men, other merfolks, sharks, stingrays. If it can kill us, you name it." Amethyst answered. "Those sharks earlier, no doubt came from here."
Her other eyebrow crept up to join its twin. "Then why do you think we'll have any luck finding your people here?"
"Because other merfolk does hunt here," she answered as her gaze fixated on a small cave.
She huffed, unsure if that was really worth the risk but not quite willing to argue the point. "Where do you suggest we start looking then?"
She nodded at the cave she had been glaring at for a while now. "As good a place as any to start." She answered.
Morgana nodded slowly, shrugging. "If you insist, Highness. Stick close though, we don't know what's in there."
Amethyst nodded slowly, flicking her tail to swim over to the cave, looking around warily.
Taking up an automatic "guarding" position, the siren was more focused on making sure the too trusted empress didn't get herself hurt than anything else, which surprised her a bit when she realized what she was doing.
Amethyst put an arm on Morgana's shoulder. "No heroics."
"I'm not being heroric," Morgana protested, genuinely baffled, not realizing that she'd been instinctively protecting her companion.
"Just warning you," Amethyst answer, pulling Morgana back by her shoulder and darting herself forward with the hand, slipping inside the cave with her spear.
Rolling her eyes, Morgana followed after her warily, eyes searching the gloom of the cave.
There was something alive. Amethyst looked around warily. Something was watching them. Her eyes widden as she turned around to Amethyst. "We need to leave," she whispered, before her eyes shocked. A whimper of pain from her as she looked down on an object that stuck through her stomach. She paled slightly and her eyes grew faint, before she slumped forward.
"What- Amethyst!" Morgana darted forward and caught the other mermaid, not even bothering to see what had struck her as she bolted quickly from the cave, aiming for the surface. If she could get some distance between whatever that was and them, she might be able to help.
A loud roar deafened the whimper Amethyst made as she was pulled from the claw-like object. "Further," she muttered weakly as blood spilled from her mouth. "That.. Thing.. And sharks.." She coughed out the words, putting a hand on the hole through her body.
"I know, I know," Morgana muttered, rocketing to the surface. Holding Amethyst as far out of the water as she could, she spun in place, giving a small sound of relief as she spotted a piece of the reef that jutted above the water.
She streaked toward it and hauled her companion up onto the reef, scrambling up after her and turning her on her back so she could get a look at her wound, barely noticing as her scales seemed to liquefy and slide off to reveal legs beneath her tail.
Amethyst smiled faintly as she noticed the tail dissappearing. "A.. Drywalker.. Long time since I met one of your kind," she murmured soflty, before closing her eyes in pain, head slumping backwards.
The wound seemed critcal. Having pierced through her. Left of her abdomen. Possibly her kidney was hit.
"Just shut up and lay still," Morgana muttered, covering the wound with her hands. She bit her lip. "Stars and seas, what am I supposed to do?"
Amethyst didn't really answer, too weak to actually sit up still. Sweat trickled down her brow as she let out several whimpers of pain.
Getting desperate, the siren cursed under her breath and leaned down to lick at the wound. She'd only ever healed small scrapes with her saliva before, but she was desperately hoping that it would at least do something.
Amethyst whimpered in pain as she felt Morgana's tongue scraping across the wound. The pain for her did lessen, but the wound was too grievous to be healed by a mermaid's saliva.
"We need help," Morgana muttered, glancing out over the water. What the he'll was she supposed to do?
"Keep licking," Amethyst murmured weakly. "I can gather enough strength.. Magic.."
"Oh. Uh, alright." Morgana ducked her head to lick the wound again, hoping it was helpful
It was indeed. After a short while of rather intensive licking, Amethyst weakly put a hand on Morgana's head,.weakly trying to push her away. Her hands glowed with a brilliant gold light and she pressed them down on her bloody hip, head slumping back as she whimpered in pain.
The siren backed off easily at her prompting, watching with a furrowed brow as the other mermaid seemed to be healing herself.
The wound did seem to close, completely healed after a short while. Only leaving an ugly scar behind. Amethyst sat up with a slow pant, holding a hand on her hip. "You.. Alright?" She asked as she looked up at Morgana.
She arched an eyebrow. "I should be asking you that. What the hell just happened?"
"One of.. The reasons this is called the red reef." She answered as she pushed herself up slightly, sitting up straight. "I don't know what it is, or what it's called. But it's still around. Normally you'd see traces of it."
Morgana eyed the water, pulling her legs a little further up onto the reef. "So what now?" she grumbled.
"I don't think it'll get hostile if we're not close enough." She answered with a sigh, leaning down to grab a hold of one of her legs. "So, a Drywalker, huh?"
Morgana started, jerking her leg away on reflex. "Uh...yeah," she muttered, eyeing Amethyst. "I- I didn't know we were called that."
"Drywalkers are very rare," she answered, not letting go off Morgana's leg, even pulling it up further to study it closered, pressing her index finger against her toe, curiousity getting the better off her. As if she didn't just recovered from a grievous wound. "Do you feel this?" She asked as she prodded Morgana's toe.
"Yes, I feel it!" Morgana grumbled, trying to shuffle away from her. That tickled. "We're not that rare," she retorted almost defensively, though honestly she didn't know how true that was. "We live in little family groups, not big tribes, but still..."
Amethyst giggled softly as she took Morgana's foot in both her hands. Pressing her thumbs into her soles softly. Not knowing that she just gave Morgana the start of a footrub. "You knew others?" She inquired with widened eyes.
The siren scooted back a little further, tugging gently at her foot in an effort to get some distance. "Sure," she mumbled. "My mother and father. A few other sirens. The couple of males who've tried to win me over for a mate."
She released the foot with a soft nod. "Your parents. Those others. Where are they now?"
Morgana shrugged. "Around," she said, waving a hand airily. "Once I was old enough I left their territory. It's...what we do."
"Do you think you can find your way back?" Amethyst asked as she bounced forward, pressing her hands on the rocks and leaning forward. Face to face with Morgana.
She blinked and resisted the urge to flinch back. "Um, yeah. Sure. Why?"
"Other people," Amethyst answered with a soft smile.
Morgana arched an eyebrow. "I'm not so sure, Empress. They're not any more friendly than I am," she warned her.
"And yet here you are, following me." Amethyst let out a soft chuckle. "I have some kind of effect on others."
"But I was on my own," the siren pointed out. "My parents have each other. I'm not sure about your lot, but we- Drywalkers stick with our mates."
"Perhaps so," she answered with a shrug, "a community is more than two mates. A tribe consists of multiple merfolk." She answered with a soft giggle. "And yes. I stick to whoever I would consider my mate."
Morgana bobbed her head from side to side. "I mean...if you really want, I could guide you to my mother's territory. I just don't think she'd want to leave, that's all."
"It would be well worth the try," she nodded. "Besides, I'd want to meet to parents who didn't teach you how to smile," she added with a soft giggle.
"Hmph." She snorted and glanced out at the water again, folding her arms and pulling her knees up to her chest. "Yeah, sure. But I don't really want to go back in the water knowing that...that thing is around," she grumbled.
Amethyst nodded. "Agreed," she mused softly, her tail idly flicking in the water.
Morgana tilted her head at her. "Does it ever sleep?" she queried.
"I don't even know how big it is," she answered with a soft frown.
The siren glanced in the opposite direction over the water. "How fast can you swim right now?" she asked. If they could make a break for it, heading away from that cave, it shouldn't be too hard to get to safer territory.
"As fast as I could before," Amethyst answered. "You want to get out of here?" She inquired, pretty sure on what Morgana's plan was.
She nodded. "I'm thinking we make a break west," she said, nodding toward where the sun was starting to dip on the horizon.
Amethyst nodded slowly. "On your mark," she answered.
Morgana nodded and slid to the edge of the reef, where it started to dip into the water. She dipped her legs in to her knees, shivering as her tail started to come back.
"One, two- three!" With a quick dive she was in the water again, rocketing off away from that horrid redness.
At the mark, Amethyst flopped.forward and dove in again, chasing after Morgana.
A loud roar resounded as they left. Of annoyance and frustration.
She didn't slow her pace for some dozen minutes, then finally paused to catch her breath, turning to Amethyst. "You doing alright?"
Amethyat came to a halt next to Morgana, panting heavily, nodding slowly. "Yeah. You?"
She nodded. "Fine. Sure your side- or, er, stomach- isn't hurting you or anything?"
"I'm.. Capable at healing, thank you." Amethyst said with a soft, teasing smirk.
"Alright. Good." Morgana gave a sharp nod and set off again. "You really sure you want to meet my parents?" she asked over her shoulder, realizing that she'd started moving in the direction that would take her to her mother's territory.
"Are you?" She retorted with an arched eyebrow.
The siren shrugged. "If she tries to take a bit out of you I can take her," she said, completely serious.
"I think I'm too charming for cannibalism," Amethyst retorted with a soft quirk of her eyebrow.
Morgana snorted. "You haven't met my mother..."
"Oh, my," Amethyst chuckled. "You make her sound worse than you are."
"She's older. Has more experience," Morgana grumbled in reply.
"So, she is wiser," Amethyst glanced at Morgana. "You don't seem awfully excited about the reunion."
The siren snorted at that and said bluntly, "I'm not, particularly." Her kind lived in mated pairs, outside of that familial ties weren't so important to them.
"I see," Amethyst answered, "why's that?"
She shrugged. "I'm not too interested in entering another female's territory without warning."
"Then you warn her?" Amethyst asked with a soft shrug.
Morgana shrugged again. "I can try, but we just don't have time for all the formalities."
"Why don't we have the time?" Amethyst asked with a furrowed brow. "We have all the time we need."
She arched her eyebrow at her again and made a noncommittal sound. "Suit yourself."
"Well, then lead the way," she murmured softly, glancing over her shoulder with a soft shiver.
Nodding, Morgana corrected their course slightly. "We probably won't get there until tomorrow at least," she warned.
Amethyst nodded, glancing back at Morgana. "So be it," she answered with a soft shrug.
The siren nodded again, finding a current that would take them in the right direction and propelling herself into it with a few lazy flicks of her tail.
Amethyst followed her closely, sinking down into the current and resting once she felt herself being pulled forward.
The sun was touching the edge of the water on the horizon when Morgana surfaced for a moment to judge the time.
"We should find a place to bed down soon," she noted, diving back down.
Amethyst nodded as she followed Morgana up to the surface and back down. "See any place good?" She inquired as she herself looked around aswell.
She sighed and shrugged. "Not many caves around this area. If we could find a cluster of kelp or weed or something that might offer some cover."
"Like that?" Amethyst inquired as she jerked her head to a bush of seewead that seemed just about big enough to hide the two of them.
Her lips twitched up on one side. "That'll do. Come on." She swam toward the seaweed, gesturing for Amethyst to follow."
Amethyst nodded, lazily flicking her tail to follow Morgana.
Wriggling into the path of plant life, the siren pushed a few weeds aside to make a gap so they could bed down.
Amethyst forced herself between the slick leaves, next to Morgana. "Seems like a tight fit, huh," she murmured.
"Better protection that way," Morgana noted sleepily, curling up with her tail twisted around the rest of her body.
Amethyst nodded. "If you say so," she murmured, curling up aswell, her back pressed against Morgana's as she closed her eyes.
"Hrmph." The siren mumbled a sleepy response, already drifting off.
Amethyst closed her eyes aswell, letting out a silent huff, she drifted off aswell.
Morgana curled up a little tighter. She frowned a bit in her sleep, pulling seaweed unconsciously over herself.
A soft yelp indicated Morgana grabbed at Amethyst's tail, wich flicked softly against her face in return.
"Wha- What?!"
Morgana shot up, flailing blindly.
Amethyst opened her eyes softly. "You.. Woke me up," she let out a soft hiss, "don't touch my tail," she murmured. Perhaps a bit hostile.
"I didn't touch your tail," Morgana spat, curling away from her and hunching her shoulders. "You hit me in the face with it."
"After you touched it, damnit," Amethyst replied with an equal amount of venom in her voice.
"Do not touch the tail. Ever again."
Wriggling away from her, Morgana tossed a few weeds in her direction and tried to squirm her way into a more secluded patch. "Believe me, it was not intentional," she muttered.
"Good," Amethyst replied before closing her eyes. Murmuring something about a proposition.under her breath.
The siren muttered a few curses under her breath and settled back down. She was quickly asleep again.
Amethyst did take a little longer to fall asleep again. She closed her eyes and softly hummed to herself to take her mind off of what just happened.
Thoroughly exhausted from the day. Morgana was out like a light and completely oblivious to the world around her for a good long while.
Amethyst also fell asleep after a while again. Being exhausted from healing herself.
The siren slept through sunrise- which was rather easy to do, considering how deep underwater they were and surrounded by plant life that blocked out the meager light.
Amethyst woke with a slow yawn, sitting up and stretching. She pushed herself up out of the weeds and glanced around lazily.
Still asleep, Morgana rolled over an inadvertently tangled her tail in the seaweed. She frowned and muttered something unintelligible, arching her back as she unconsciously tried to pull free.
Amethyst glanced down at Morgana, but decided to just wait for the siren to wake up.
The confining weeds around her tail were irritating enough to bring Morgana back to the waking world. "Wha' time issit?" she mumbled.
"I estimate just past sunrise," Amethyst answered with a glance over her shoulder.
Morgana groaned and forced herself out of the seaweed. "Alright. We should get moving, we'll probably be in dear old mum's territory by noon."
Amethyst nodded slowly. "Lead the way," she answered, turning fully to Morgana.
With another yawn Morgana nodded and swam a little closer to the surface, using the filtering light of the rising sun to guide her direction.
Amethyst followed Morgana closely. "Anything else to warn me about in terms of your mother?"
She snorted. "She's not as friendly as me."
"You already said that," she answered with a soft giggle. "Anything else?"
"That's really all you need to know," the siren muttered, frowning.
"Alright," Amethyst answered as she sunk down to the bottom again, waiting for Morgana to depart again.
Morgana flicked her tail and waved for the other mermaid to follow as she set off.
Amethyst nodded, following Morgana closely.
The siren caught a current- a blast of cold water- and allowed it to pull them along for the better part f an hour.
"We're getting close."
Amethyst nodded softly. "Alright."
They swam a bit further, then Morgana stopped. "Hold up. We have to wait here for he acknowledgment."
"Acknowledgement?" Amethyst inquired as she glanced between Morgana and the distance ahead.
"Just wait. And keep quiet. Oh, and don't look her in the eye if you can help it. That's a challenge."
Morgana searched the water ahead of them, eyes seeking a familiar shape.
"Does it make her agressive when I do?" She inquired with a soft chuckle.
She arched an eyebrow. "Yeah. It does."
Her mother knew they were here by now. She was positive of that. A shadowy form was moving toward the water toward them, onyx-tailed like her but with deep navy hair.
"I see," Amethyst conluded as she floated behind Morgana.
The strange mermaid drew closer. "Declare yourselves."
"The Amethyst empress, Assiëha Adhessa," Amethyst stated towards the stranger. Attaining a prideful pose. Her voice clear and strong with authority, yet cold.
The siren simply stated, "Morgana."
Her mother drew up before them, looking them over. "What business do you have here?"
"Finding other sirens, like yourself," Amethyst answered, glancing at Morgana, before back at her mother, looking her not in the eyes, but at the top of her head. Adding power to her prideful pose.
"For what purpose?" she demanded, folding her arms and flicking her eyes from her daughter to the stranger.
"Making a clan again, making life easier and stand stronger against others." Amethyst stated pointedly, folding her hands on the base of her tail.
Morgana's mother scoffed. "Then you can go. I've no interest in such things."
She looked to the siren. "I'm surprised you do, girl."
Morgana bristled slightly but didn't respond, just murmured, "I warned you," to her companion.
"She is more well-mannered than you are, truth be told," Amethyst said with a soft chuckle, before turning to Morgana's mother again. "So you rather wish to live with no certainties. Where every day can mean your death? As wise as one might be. Death is around every corner."
She arched an eyebrow. "I will live my life as my mother did, and her mother before her, and her mother before her." She glanced at Morgana, then away.
"So be it," Amethyst said as she looked in the eyes of Morgana's mother. A fierce, yet cold look was what she had. Yet it wasn't a challenge nor an offensive gesture, it was a request for respect. Amethyst turned around and nodded at Morgana. "Let's go."
The siren nodded, giving her mother an almost curious look as she turned to follow the other mermaid.
Amethyst swam off at a normal speed, not looking back. Searching for the nearest current back to the red reef.
"Where to next?" Morgana asked as she fell in beside her companion.
"Back to the red reef, and beyond that. There must be others," Amethyst answered with a sidewards glance.
"Hold on." Morgana drew up short. "You want to go back there? You're insane- that thing almost killed you."
"I may possibly be. But we have to pass through there," she answered with a careless shrug.
"But why can't we go around?" the siren demanded incredulously.
"That would add weeks to the travel," Amethyst answered with a shrug.
"Weeks we'd spend alive, at least," Morgana muttered, shaking her head. She didn't offer further argument though.
"Weeks we'd.have to spend worrying about surviving and sleeping," Amethyst answered.
The siren rolled her eyes but kept silent. At least now she knew what to be prepared for in those reefs.
"It's up to you. The red reef or around." Amethyst glanced over her shoulder, looking down at Morgana.
She snorted. "As long as you don't do something stupid, we an go through the reef."
Amethyst smirked. "I never do anything stupid."
Morgana gave her a very dry look. "Whatever you say, your highness."
"You're begging for a hug," Amethyst answered with a dangerous quirk of her eyebrow.
The siren skittered away from her, eyes going wide. "I take it back, I take it back!"
"As I thought," Amethyst answered with a huff, before glancing into the distance. A flick of her tail as she ascended, breaking surface.
Morgana followed after her, grumbling curses under her breath.
"Laguage," Amethyst said with a rather cheerful tone.
"Fuck you," the siren replied, but she kept her voice low, sort of hoping the other mermaid wouldn't hear.
"Excuse you?" She asked as she fully turned ariund to Morgana.
"Hm?" She blinked at Amethyst innocently. "I'm sorry, what's the problem?"
"Fuck you," she answered with a shrug, before glancing over the horizon. "Now, where are we.."
Morgana arched an eyebrow, a little impressed despite herself, but she didn't say anything. "We're probably about half a day's travel east," she pointed out.
"Southeast," Amethyst corrected before she flicked her tail and sunk again with a soft splash. "Let's find a current."
Morgana nodded and dove down to follow her wordlessly.
And find a current they did. Amethyst lazily flicked her tail once they were inside. "How old is your mother, actually?"
She blinked, a little startled by the question. "Uh- maybe fifty? Give or take a few years. Why?"
"Oh, my," Amethyst started. Honestly surprised. "Then she is young, wich makes you a pipsqueak," she murmured, glancing at Morgana. "I am roughly nine times your mother's age, then."
"Well, good for you?" Morgana gave her an odd look.
"I assumed you were curious," Amethyst replied.
The siren shrugged. "I've found age doesn't tend to mean much, usually. I've meant plenty of grown merfolk who were as stupid as guppies."
"I never stated otherwise," Amethyst answered with a soft smile, before shrugging soflty.
"Are all your kind so long lived then?" Morgana asked, pointedly careless.
"Mostly, yes." She forwned softly. "How old do you drywalkers get normally?"
Morgana shrugged. "I'm actually not sure. Usually a couple centuries?"
"So, not that different, hm?" Amethyst answered with a soft hum, before giggling softly.
"Well, not nine hundred years," Morgana said with a pointedly raised eyebrow. "But four or five isn't uncommon."
"That's a tad less than usual, but still." She shrugged softly. "It's not uncommon for someone like me to live a millenium or two."
"Stars and seas." Morgana arched an eyebrow. "I didn't realize we- what did you call me? Drywalkers?- were so different from your lot."
"Fairly different. You landwalkers also possess something to breathe outside of water? I don't," Amethyst smirked softly. "I can survive on drought for very long, but I cannot breath me there. We also tend to get bigger and muscular in our tail." She let out a soft giggle, "but then again, I also.posess some arcane arts. Wich lengthens my lifespan aswell."
"Hm." Morgana shrugged. "Well, I've gotten this far without magical healing, but I suppose it might be nice."
"It tends to help," Amethyst answered with a soft smirk.
"Particularly with someone as suicidal as you," Morgana muttered with an exaggerated roll of her eyes.
"I'm not suicidal, I'm practical," Amethyst retorted with a soft shrug.
"Yeah, yeah, alright." The siren rubbed at the back of her neck and glanced around, trying to remember their surroundings. "How close are we now?"
"It's still some days off," Amethyst replied with a soft shrug. "We'll also have to hunt soon. Fish or two-legger."
Morgana glanced toward the surface. "Don't think many ships travel this straight, we'll probably be stuck with fish."
"Hm, dissapointing. But correct," Amethyst answered with a soft sigh.
Morgana shrugged. "Better than nothing, I suppose. At least we won't starve on this mad quest of yours."
"Oh, you're equally mad for joining me," she retorted with a chuckle, pulling the coral spear from her back. "Less talking, more hunting."
The siren shrugged again and rolled her eyes. She broke away from Amethyst slightly to chase after a school of silvery fish, not bothering with weapons but instead snapping them up with teeth and claw-like nails.
Amethyst went seperate ways from Morgana as she followed a school of fish of her own, using the spear to catch and keep the fishes on she had already caught.
Once she had eaten her fill, Morgana let herself drift to the seafloor and simply waited for Amethyst to finish her own hunt.
It took the elder mermaid a tad longer, because of her bigger appetite and the need to fill up her reserves. After roughly half an hour, Amethyst drifted down next to Morgana.
The siren was sprawled on her back, idly flicking her tail through the sand. "Think we should just take a rest here?" she asked, tone bored, as Amethyst settled beside her.
"Getting tired?" Amethyst asked as she laid down next to Morgana, propping her hands behind her head. "We can rest here," she mused as her tzil pulled soft circles in the sand.
She shrugged, flopping back onto the sand a little more. "Not tired, exactly, but as long as we're in a safe place why not take advantage?"
"Fair point," Amethyst said with a soft chuckle.
Morgana smirked a bit and let her eyes close. "Get some sleep, Your Majesty."
"Don't mind if I do," Amethyst replied as she closed her eyes.
Not as worried about predators in this place, Morgana was able to sleep in a more relaxed position, sprawled out on her back with her tail swishing gently back and forth in her sleep.
Amethyst snored lightly as her tail sunk down against the bottom, staying very still. Yet after an hour or two, she turned around and hugged Morgana in her sleep.
The siren started awake and struggled instinctively, then calmed down when she realized what was happening.
"Great." She sighed and glowered aimlessly upwards.
Amethyst murmured something inaudible, letting out a content sigh, she rested her head down on Morgana's stomach.
Morgana grumbled to herself but didn't try to push the other mermaid away. She had a feeling it wouldn't work anyhow.
Amethyst huffed softly and started to snore lightly again.
Resigned, Morgana closed her eyes and allowed herself to drift off again.
Even after the sun rising, Amethyst didn't wake up, still hugging Morgana closely.
Waking, the siren prodded Amethyst's forehead. "Oi. Get up."
Amethyst snorted and muttered softly. "Five more minutes, Niall," she murmured softly.
Morgana rolled her eyes. "Not Niall. Wake up, Empress."
Amethyst's eyes shot open as she realised it wasn't Niall. Sitting up straight with a deep blush. "I'm sorry," she murmured weakly.
A little confused by that reaction, Morgana arched an eyebrow. "What for? Not like it's the first time you've hugged me against my will."
"No, not that," she murmured. "Niall... Used to be the name of my husband," she said with a soft sigh.
Well. What was she supposed to say to that?
"...I'm sorry."
She shook her head. "It's a long time since, so." She glanced at Morgana. "I am sorry for putting you in that position."
Morgana shrugged awkwardly. "Ah- don't worry about it," she muttered.
"Let's just forget this happened," she looked Morgana in the eyes. "Please?"
She raised her hands peaceably. "Sure. Whatever you say."
Amethyst gave her a sincere smile. "Thank you."
Morgana nodded and glanced away, feeling awkward. "Let's get moving."
Amethyst nodded. "Let's," she replied, flicking her tail to reach the surface.
Morgana followed her quietly, for once, brow furrowed in thought.
Amethyst broke surface and glanced around. Trying to map out directions and find North. After a short while, she nodded to herself and dove back down into the water again.
The siren simply trailed along behind her, eyeing the other mermaid a little warily now, apparently lost in thought.
"You're awfully silent," Amethyst stated after a short while.
"Hm?" She blinked. "Oh. Ah. Well, ya know...what, can't I be quiet?" she blustered.
Amethyst glanced over her shoulder. "Something bothering you?"
She shook her head. "Course not. I'm just used to being on my own, and I'm not exactly chatty company."
"It's a different kind of silence," Amethyst retorted. "Almost thoughtful."
"So?" Morgana retorted. "What, I can't be thoughtful?"
"If you are thoughtful," Alethyst let out a soft chuckle, "I can only appluad that."
Morgana scowled at her. "I feel like that was an insult," she muttered.
"It's rare for you to be thoughtful. That's fact," Amethyst replied with a soft shrug.
The siren rolled her eyes. "Well, maybe I just keep my thoughts to myself," she grumbled petulantly.
"Someone's in a foul mood," Amethyst replied with a soft chuckle.
Morgana found herself quirking a crooked smile at that. "And this is new?" she quipped.
"Not at all," Amethyst replied with a soft giggle.
The siren snorted softly, but she was smiling, just a little. It was rather nice to know she could keep the other mermaid's spirits up even with her surliness.
Amethyst lowered into a stream and flicked her tail lazily. "We should take a break soon," she murmured.
Morgana nodded. "Whatever you say, Majesty," she said with a quick shrug.
"So you decided to stick with 'Majesty'?" Amethyst inquired with a soft chuckle.
"Meh." She shrugged. "It's short, simple, and easy to remember."
"I'm not complaining at all," she retorted, flicking her tail to sink to the bottom.
Morgana followed her down and settled with her tail curled underneath her body, wriggling a bit to get herself comfortable on the seafloor.
Amethyst rested on her stomach, resting her chin on her hands, closing her eyes briefly.
Morgana tilted her head. "Why don't you take a nap or something? I can keep watch."
"Hm? I'm fine," she said, smiling softly before she actually drifted off.
Morgana snorted softly. "Sure you are," she muttered, smiling crookedly and shaking her head.
She didn't answer, for she was already asleep, waking up after an hour or so, yawning slowly and stretching.
The siren glanced at the other mermaid as she woke. "Get enough beauty sleep then, Majesty?" she smirked.
So you know these naps serve a purpose," Amethyst replied with a soft chuckle.
She rolled her eyes but chuckled quietly. "C'mon, Majesty, let's get moving."
Amethyst nodded softly, flicking her tail to find another current and lazily drift along again.
Morgana followed after her with a small yawn, twitching her tail to work the kinks out of it.
"Tired?" Amethyst inquired. "I can hold watch if you want," she offered with a small smile.
She shook her head quickly. "I'm fine, lets just keep moving."
"You sure?" Amethyst asked with a soft shrug. "You obliged earlier, so it's only fair you get your bueaty sleep," she added with a soft smirk.
Morgan smirked. "Don't need it- I find it redundant."
Amethyst giggled. "You're much prettier with a smile, that is true."
Ever the epitome of grace and maturity, Morgana stuck her tongue out at her.
It only caused Amethyst to giggle more.
The siren rolled her eyes and picked up her pace a bit, grumbling to herself.
"Remind me to never compliment you," she snickered softly. "You go all scowly again."
"There, see? You're learning about me," Morgana snipped primly.
"I hear someone begging for a hug~" she mused with a soft giggle.
Morgana scowled at her. "And I hear someone begging for a smack upside the head."
Amethyst glanced at her. Raising an almost impressed eemyebrow, before flicking her tail with a mighty swoosh, embracing the moody siren.
"Oi, what the- stop that!" Morgana knew better than to try to struggle at this point, but she was quite vocal about her displeasure.
"You deserved this one," Amethyst replied as she tightened the hug.
"I don't deserve any of them." She glowered and squirmed, tail lashing back and forth.
"Oh but you do," Amethyst immediatly countered, letting out a soft giggle.
Morgana suddenly smirked slightly. "Too...much...affection..." She coughed dramatically and went suddenly limp, complete dead weight.
"A born actress," Amethyst replied with a grin, letting go of Morgana. "You have earned my mercy. For now."
The siren chuckled and flicked her tail to right herself as Amethyst let her drift. "C'mon, we're losing daylight."
Amethyst nodded with a soft smirk. "Alright." She stated as she flicked her tail to swim in the right direction again.
Morgana followed her without any argument this time, keeping quiet again.
After a few solid hours of swimming, Amethyst stopped in her tracks. "We're here," she said as she looked around.
Morgana drew up short. "Alright. Now, do you think it would be possible to avoid getting eviscerated this time?" she muttered, eyes flicking around warily.
"Well, not entering caves," she replied, "besides that, watch out for sharks." She said with a glance at Morgana.
"Long as we're not bleeding, the sharks around here shouldn't give a damn about us," the siren muttered. Well, that was something positive, at least.
"We don't need to go around provoking them either," she replied. "But. Anyhow. Stick close and let's go."
"Well I wasn't planning on going off and poking one," Morgana snorted. She waved a hand. "Lead the way, Majesty."
"You would scare them away with that scowl of yours, that's for sure," Amethyst answered rather bluntly, giving her a crooked, yet faint smile. But, without further ado, she flicked her tail and warily navigated through the waters of the red reef.
Morgana pulled a face at her back and followed after her, muttering under her breath.
Navigating through the red reef felt like days to Amethyst, yet it were a mere two hours. And everything went without accidents. Slowly as they left the dangerous area, a breath of relief left the mermaid royalty.
"Well." The siren allowed long tensed muscles to relax. "That went much more smoothly than last time."
"Neither of us is currently bleeding out, so it did," Amethyst answered with a soft sigh, shoulders slumping again as she relaxed.
"So." Morgana looked at her curiously. "Where to now?"
A soft hum left Amethyst. "There's supposed to be a group closeby now," she glanced at Morgana. "But I'm not sure whether they're friendly."
She huffed. "Right." The siren cracked her knuckles- an odd sound underwater- and nodded at her. "Lead the way then."
Amethyst nodded slowly, before glancing at Morgana's knuckles with an arched eyebrow. "Is that a typical drywakker thing to do?" She inquired with the sale soft frown.
"Hm?" She glanced down at her hands, then shrugged. "I dunno. Habit I must've picked up, I guess."
"Pretty nasty," Amethyst replied with a soft chuckle.
She snorted. "Well, excuse me for insulting your royal sensibilities."
"Drop the royal part. It just sounds disgusting," Amethyst giggled again, before flicking her tail and swimming on.
Morgana grumbled insults under her breath as she followed, dorsal fins twitching in annoyance.
"Such colourful language," Amethyst chimed.
"Well, someone has to spice things up around here," the siren muttered.
"There are other ways," she replied with a chuckle.
"Yeah, but this is more fun." Morgana smirked.
"For you it is," Amethyst replied with a soft snort.
The siren chuckled. "I think I'm growing on you," she said with a crooked smile.
"You're certainly doing something to me," Amethyst pointed out with a mischievous glare.
Morgana stuck her tongue out, uncaring if the gesture was childish.
"Befitting," Amethyst answered with a soft chuckle, before glancing forward again. "See any of them?"
"Any what?" Morgana searched the water around them. "More of our kind?"
"Yes," Amethyst quipped, swimming forward and glancing around.
She sighed and followed her. "Look. Majesty. I'm not familiar with these waters, but I'm gonna bet no merfolk are gonna risk being this close to the red reef."
She hummed softly, "true." She pondered, before sighing. "Then we're chasing ghosts."
Morgana tilted her head. Thinking aloud, she said slowly, "There might be...groups. Closer to the island. I've heard sometimes our people sorta...congregate there."
"Sort of congregate?" Amethyst inquired with a frown.
"Well." She shrugged. "My kind- drywalkers?- we're pretty solitary, so we mostly stick to the open ocean. But I think..."
Her brow furrowed. "I've heard of others, our kind's cousins, that have- I dunno, some sort of festival? That might draw a crowd, right?"
"That's the first thing I heard about a festival," she replied with a chuckle. "And a festival without people isn't really a festival."
"Yeah, yeah." Morgana shrugged again. "Well, I don't really know much about it, but it's better than nothing."
"True," she replied with a soft chuckle. "Any idea where this is?"
She shrugged. "Off the coast of the island somewhere. Shouldn't be too hard to find."
Amethyst nodded. "Lead the way."
Morgana gave a sharp nod and set off. It had been a long time since she'd been anywhere near Thanatos- though she didn't know that's what the island was called- but she was pretty sure she remembered the way.
And with a flick of her tail, Amethyst followed her closely.
The siren found a current that seemed to go in the direction she wanted and slipped into it, letting herself relax slightly as the water swept her along.
Amethyst rested back in the stream as she pursued Morgana. "What kind of festival is it, actually?"
She shrugged. "I really don't know, to be honest. I never paid much attention."
Amethyst shrugged softly, flicking her tail to catch up. "Nervous?"
"Wary," Morgana corrected. "There's a difference."
"True," Amethyst nodded. "Let's stick close to eachother, then."
She eyes her warily. "...That doesn't mean more hugging, does it?"
"Unless you want to," Amethyst smirked softly, "no."
"Good." She sniffed and turned her nose up at the idea.
"Such haughty attitude," she let out a soft giggle. "You almost make me think you're the nobility here."
Morgana smirked. "Perhaps you should be the one calling me "Majesty" then," she quipped.
A soft chuckle came from Amethyst. "Not even un your wildest dreams, drywalker."
"Meh." The siren shrugged. "Wouldn't want to be a royal anyway. Too much work."
Amethyst giggled. "What makes you think that? I had a plethora of servantq attending to my whimsical needs."
"Yeah, but you have to actually, you know...run things." She shook her head and scrunched up her nose. "Far too much effort for my tastes."
"Much less effort than surviving alone, living day by day," Amethyst anwered with a soft huff.
"Agree to disagree," Morgana said with an easy shrug.
"Lazy. But agreed," Amethyst quipped with a soft chuckle.
The siren snorted quietly and continued swimming in relative quiet.
"We almost there?" Amethyst piped up after a short while.
Morgana shook her head. "It's probably another day or so. We can stop and rest if you want."
"I'm fine with either," she replied with a soft shrug.
"Then let's take a break," Morgana decided. No pointing rushing into the unknown.
"It's high time you took your beauty sleep," Amethyst replied with a soft giggle.
"Oh ha ha." Morgana rolled her eyes as she moved toward the sea floor, looking for a comfortable place to settle down.
Amethyst smirked softly, following her down with the same grin.
Finding a patch of reasonably clear sand, Morgana curled up and wrapped her tail around her body, her tail fin almost covering her face.
Amethyst laid down several meters away from her, completely stretched on her stomach as she cloaed her eyes.
Morgana was asleep in moments, snoring quietly.
Amethyst followed suit, falling asleep aswell with gentle snoring of her own.
The siren was frankly exhausted, and she slept as long as she was able, curled in on herself like some sort of aquatic cat.
Amethyst woke after several hours, stretching slowly as she sat up, before flicking her tail and swim towards the curled up ball of scales Morgana was and softly shake her.
"Grumph...no more tuna..." Morgana rolled over and batted at whoever was shaking her blindly. "Too many oysters..."
"Wakey wakey," Amethyst whispered with a soft chuckle as she shook Morgana again. "I'd hate to interrupt that dream but rise and shine~" she said with a soft giggle.
"I'm up, I'm up. Stars and seas, Ma, leave me alone," Morgana grumbled as she blinked her eyes open. She stared at Amethyst for a moment, then corrected herself. "Oh. Majesty. My bad."
"Sweet memories?" Amethyst inquired with a soft and friendly gaze.
She shrugged. "Memories, yes. Sweet- meh." Morgana rolled her shoulders and shook the kinks out of her tail. "C'mon, let's keep moving."
"You looked rather adorable, though," Amethyst replied as she flicked her tail to get up.
Morgana groaned. "You know, you are worse than my sister," she muttered as she followed.
Amethyst blinked in confusion. "You have a sister?" She asked increduously.
"I have two," Morgana replied, as though it was the most obvious thing in the world. "And a little brother."
"You recently talked to them?" She inquired with a soft smile.
She shook her head. "Not in years, actually. Since I left my mother's territory."
"Have they also left?" Amethyst asked as a soft frown grew on her face.
"My sisters have," Morgana said with a nod. "My brother hasn't found a mate yet, to my knowledge. Though I suppose that could have changed by now."
"You drywalkers don't seem to care about family," Amethyst answered with a soft shrug.
"Well, like I've said- we're pretty solitary." Morgana shrugged yet again. "It's not as though I'm missing anything. I always fought with my sisters, and I still see my brother once a year or so."
Amethyst frowned softly. "I can understand the sisters part. But.. You visit your brother once a year?"
"I try to. I think it's probably been longer than that since the last time." She smiled crookedly. "Our mother has been pushing him to find his own territory, which means a mate."
Amethyst chuckled softly. "I woud like to meet him," she said, before actually realising just what she had said. "Oh- I mean, not like that! I just want to know whzt kind of person he is," she let out an awkward laugh.
Morgana laughed, perhaps the first real laugh Amethyst would have heard from her. "Don't worry about it, you'd be too much for him to handle anyway." She winked. "And I think you might be a little too old for him."
Amethyst frowned softly. "Me, too much?" She scoffed softly before grinning.
Morgana just chuckled and shook her head again, changing direction slightly to continue on their way.
"How much longer, y'reckon?" Amethyst inquired as she stuck close to Morgana.
"Another day, maybe less if we don't break too long to sleep." She sighed and rolled her shoulders back, then glanced at her companion. "If you wanted to hunt, probably two days."
"Unless we can find humans here, we don't hunt." She pulled up the bone ring. "Got enough rations."
Morgana shrugged. "Fair enough."
Amethyst nodded softly, tucking the ring on her belt again and following the other siren closely.
Morgana was quiet as they continued on their way, not really feeling any particular need to speak.
And Amethyst stuck close to her. "You been here before?" She inquired after a short while.