Swept Away (ch2)

EARLY RELEASE FOR MY $10+ PATRONS!

Sorry it's a slow start. This chapter will do a bit more world-building from Mahiru's POV!

Disclaimer: I do not own Shoujo Kageki Revue Starlight.

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														Chapter 2. Encounter

The waters of the sea hold many, many secrets, most of which mankind could never hope to boast of discovering. There was so much their technology would never be able to track, comprehend, or recognize.

But it wasn't just things that were kept safely hidden leagues and leagues beneath the waves.

Some of those creatures dwelled only just beneath the surface - just shy of the corner of the fleeting glance of man.

The mermaids enjoyed the warm, clear waters just as the humans did. The seas had always belonged to them, until man had begun their expeditions to claim the earth. Boats of all sorts threatened the mermaids' existence, and the once-quiet beaches were now clogged with humans day in and day out.

The humans were a natural enemy of the mermaids, viewing them as magical prizes to be caught, shown off, sold, and kept prisoner.

And so, the mermaids had learned to adapt over time, their skin and scales becoming sturdier and darker in color to match the colder waters of the fall and winter, when the humans didn't venture out to sea as much.

Mahiru was a mermaid who had been born to naturally accept and handle colder waters, and she knew that was for the better. Her friends and family had told her time and again that it was safer this way.

But that didn't stop her from loving the warm rays of the sun the few days when it did shine through strongly enough to reach the depths at which they dwelled. She loved basking in that warmth, soaking up the rays into her turquoise scales that shone a vibrant bluish-green in the brighter light.

It was only on days when the waters were calm and quiet without human activity that the mermaids let themselves float and sun-bathe near the surface.

In spite of their evolution to favor colder waters, they followed the summers as best they could. A popular trick of theirs would be to tease the sharks into nearing the shores, not close enough to hurt the humans, but close enough to scare them off for the final few weeks of sunlight.

In the humans' absence, the mermaids played, racing with the dolphins and lazing on the backs of whales.

Mahiru joined in all of these games and many more, but her favorite hobby by far was treasure-hunting. She loved scouring the shallow waters at sundown for washed-up shells or vibrant sea glasses. She'd find all kinds of colorful shells and pearls and a variety of things. She'd even heard tales of magical stones that could grant wishes, but in spite of her boundless and passionate efforts, she'd never come across one of those.

Occasionally, there was human trash that was useable to them. Most of her outfit had been crafted with such items; lost sun hats, forgotten scarves and ponchos, and the like. A bit of natural dyes from the corals had made quick work of turning the fabrics into the desired blues and greens to cover her chest and create a skirt of sorts for her tail.

She loved to weave the old raggedy threads of the humans' forgotten clothes into frills and decorations, which ended up earning her a name for herself underwater. She collected oyster pearls from ocean to ocean and added them into a necklace around her collar. By the time she was eighteen, that necklace was full.

Since her pod traveled so much, she couldn't take most of the treasures she found with her, so instead she would hide them in deep undersea caves, in crevices no human would ever dare dive to. When she returned to the same place the following years, she loved to check if her trinkets were still there or not.

It was a way for her to keep herself excited about traveling so much, about never getting to stay in one beloved place for long. She knew it was for everyone's safety.

But sometimes she just wished they could settle somewhere and call it home.

Now, Mahiru and her family have been swimming for weeks, following the humpbacks to the sunniest shorelines. There is a small cove beside a fairly quiet beach where they often rest for a day or two along their journey, and Mahiru is finding herself more and more eager to curl up in a bed of soft sea grass and sleep for as long as possible.

The cove they are headed for is one Mahiru knows well by now. It might be small, and the water may be colder than it is at most other places, but the beach here is always clean and empty. There is a human town set just behind the sand dunes, but humans rarely ventured out onto the beach here.

If not for the fact that the cove was so small and the waters so bitterly cold, she always thought this would be a fine place for her pod to call home. But it's due to all of her self-led scavenging and treasure-hunting into deeper, darker waters that Mahiru has built up a bit more of a resistance to the chill of the waves here. The others still crave the sunlight, and while Mahiru does too, she just doesn't mind the cold as much.

When her pod finally swims into the area, Mahiru closes her eyes and lets the familiar currents drift her for a moment. She remembers this place from past years. Something about the water here has always delighted her, and she can't quite explain what.

While her parents and siblings seem to turn their noses up at it, Mahiru feels comfortable here.

Or maybe comfortable isn't the right word - after all, how could any mermaid feel so comfortable this close to mankind?

But even so, she felt as though she liked this little section of the ocean, these cleaner waves where humans didn't step foot very often, and where more fish were able to swim freely.

Presently, the tired mermaids retreat to the underwater caves and begin collecting sea grass to make their beds. But Mahiru finds herself suddenly overwhelmed with the urge to explore. She forgets how tired she'd been up until now, and instead darts off to the back of the cave, her tail stirring up bubbles as she goes. She remembers the things she'd hidden here last year - a few green glass bobbles, some lost human ring that sparkled with diamonds, a couple of perfect un-chipped scallop shells marked with the most beautiful stripes and spots, and the smoothest, pinkest conch shell she'd ever seen in all the ocean.

She swims directly to the spot where she'd concealed them, apologizing to the little eels and crabs she disturbs as she begins pawing through the crevices. And just past a few barnacles and star fish, she finds her treasures cradled by a soft flow, the movement of which had kept them clean this entire year.

A trill bubbles up in her heart as she reaches in to pick up each trinket and inspect it before putting it back. It isn't often her treasures are still where she'd hidden them a year earlier. Sometimes other mermaids find them, sometimes it's humans, and sometimes they just come free due to the constant movement of the ocean itself. Her tradition is to add something new to the piles that remain, and to start over with the ones that hadn't.

Therefore, after carefully tucking everything back into place and covering it with a few fronds of seaweeds, she propels herself back toward the entrance of the cave. The rest of her family have settled down about halfway through, but Mahiru passes right over them. Her parents caution her to be careful, and when her younger siblings beg to come explore with her, she gently denies them.

She swims out into open waters, unplagued by boats or humans in any form, her body bursting with a newfound energy, forgetting all its weary travels. She glances back over her shoulder to ensure she's out of sight of the others, for surely they'd scold her for what she's about to do.

Mahiru turns her face sky bound - toward the surface.

She can already tell there isn't much sunlight today, judging by how gray the waters appear. And there are tiny rings plittering out along the water, so she knows it must be drizzling. But she doesn't care.

She works her tail, paddling until she nears those final few feet. Here, she pauses, knowing the dangers of breaching before she's checked the area. So she proceeds slowly now, feeling the water fall from the top of her head now as she inches her face above the surface.

Sure enough, thin little raindrops are drizzling down, and the coastline is gray and dreary.

But Mahiru still thinks it's beautiful in its own way. The human town has remained unchanged; the houses are still small and humble, and the streets are mostly quiet and still. And the beach is empty.

She smiles, drawing in a big breath of oxygen from the air, which is just a little bit sharper than that from the water. It sends a tingle through her lungs and all the way down to the tips of her tail fins.

She dives back down, swimming quickly and deeply before turning herself with an expert swing of her tail. She aims herself at the surface once more and then propels herself upward like the dolphins had taught her. With a squealing giggle, she breaches cleanly out of the water, letting the rain patter across her skin and scales, twisting in midair as she gazes up at the cloudy gray sky.

She lands with a good splash and sinks back down several feet into the sea, her hair swaying like strands of long, soft sea grass all around her. She knows she shouldn't be doing this so close to human territory, but she's far enough away from the others that she's confident if trouble were to arise, only she would have to take responsibility for it.

Mahiru twists her tail and swims back up, not breaching the surface this time, but instead swimming just beneath it, her turquoise scales shimmering even in the more shadowy waters.

She swims amongst the fish here, all kinds of bass and snappers which are unique to this part of the sea. When she dives down to the sand, flounders kick up dust in her face and she laughs.

Mahiru enjoys her solitude just as much as she enjoys being with the others - and perhaps a little more. She was the only one her age in the family, and she didn't even know that many others outside of her pod who were her age - none she saw often, anyway. And none of them shared her energy and her interests, so she felt it was only when she was alone that she could truly be herself - unrefined and carefree. She loves them all dearly, but after swimming hundreds of miles with them over the past few days, she takes this opportunity to let loose.

She swims as she pleases, not worrying about formations or keeping an eye on the little ones. She twists and turns and flips and spins, giggling up bubbles all the while. She splashes her tail on the surface, then drifts up to peek her face out into the open air. She opens her mouth to taste the chill of the salt-less raindrops, and overall loses track of time.

She swims across the whole section of the cove, from the cliffside where her family has lain down in the caves below, all the way across to where the rocks stretch out nearly half a mile into the water.

It's there when it happens.

As she scales the bases of the massive rocks underwater, Mahiru catches sight of a beautiful red snapper and gives chase. There's no point in racing a fish so small, as she knows they'll always win, but it never stops her from trying.

Mahiru pumps her tail and strokes her arms, and even though the fish makes a sharp turn and disappears from her sight, she continues on toward the surface. She breaches the surface with a merry laugh on her lips.

But as soon as she opens her eyes, that laugh dies more quickly than a raindrop fades into the sea.

She sees her then. A human, seated right at the edge of the rocks, only about twenty feet away from Mahiru. The girl's focus is on the water in front of her, not yet to the side where Mahiru has popped up. But the splash of her breach is loud, and she can't stop a terrified gasp from coming up either. She only hopes that she falls back into the water before the human girl can turn her head.

It all happens so quickly, and yet it feels as though it takes her hours before she finally falls back into the water.

Mahiru squeezes her eyes shut and prays - prays - the girl hadn't see her. She pumps her tail as quickly as she can, trying to get as deep as she can as quickly as possible.

But a small, stabbing pain cuts through her when she feels the tip of a fishing hook snare at the delicate membrane of one of her tail-fins. She cries out in pain, but doesn't stop swimming. She can only hope there aren't any nets set up.

But thankfully she manages to escape, though she isn't sure whether or not the human girl had spotted or heard her.

When she's finally back by the cliff-side of the cove, Mahiru eventually slows to a stop. Her heart is pounding so hard it's sending vibrations into the water.

As she catches her breath, she shakily reaches down for her tail. A small line had been ripped down one of her fins. But from all the horrible tales she'd heard about what humans could do to a mermaid, she would have to consider this a blessing.

As the fright of it all catches up with her, Mahiru feels the sting of tears behind her eyes, though in the ocean they never really fall before they join the rest of the water around her.

Even so, she wipes her eyes and lingers for a few moments in the open water, until her pulse has slowed down and she's gotten control over herself.

She'd been foolish. She hadn't checked thoroughly enough for humans ahead of time, and now she might've been spotted. This could endanger her family, and it might even forbid them from ever coming back to this cove again.

Mahiru races for the cave, passing over the others where they sleep, and slides down into the sand. She curls her tail around herself as much as she can and softly cries herself to sleep.

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A/N: Again, no dialogue! That will come at an important moment!

Hope it wasn't too boring. Now the question is, was she spotted or not...?