Lyondestiny

Chapter 1

He breathed easily in the imperfect sapphire that swirled all around him. Shadows of fish big and small played just outside his vision, congregating and collapsing like a particle of dust. His hand curled around his spear tighter, focused, letting his vision shift to a gray-scale that unveiled the ocean's secrets. There, a large long fish soared through the shaded gray. The Huso-Huso peaked through the depths and launched itself towards the surface. It was quick, but the hunter was quicker. He let it soar and breach the foamy blue of the icy ocean. Its scales glistening in the sun and its pointed head casting a sharp pyramid across the water. Then it arced, still silvery and bright like a shooting star landing neatly on top of his spear.

The Elf threw his head out of his water and bellowed a giggle of satisfaction. He rested on his back and the cold water let him float a top with his prize. The sun beamed gently, dancing with the cool breeze that marked the coming harvest for months. Then, from the corner of his eye, a large orange and white scaly head peaked out of the water. He turned over, doggy paddling towards it, watching the head grow larger and larger. He realized the mouth of it was open, but instead of panicking, he only grinned wider.  He grabbed his spear and held it forward. He waved the fish in front of the beast, edging it closer and closer with clicks and hisses. Then it lunged, unhinging its snake-like maw and engulfing him completely. There was no scream and there was no silence. In fact laughter was coming from the mouth of the creature that resembled a snake on four legs. The Tinak shook him playfully and then threw its master onto the awaiting Baleen ship. The gangly elf flourished elegantly and landed like a ghost.

"I am past my years Darcio, do not hasten death for me," his mother, the matriarch of Bratislava and the princess of the Cluco clan, simply shook her head at him and then turned to his Tinak. "And Gisme stop encouraging him, you know better." The creature huffed and leapt back into the water to hunt for my fish. The sea-elf gave a rapid snort that seemed like a chuckle and shook her head. "You two are like a king and his dragon."

"powerful?"

"no, brazen and impudent," Darcio shrugged, embarrassed but smiling all the same. His mom softly flicked him on the forehead, to which he dramatically rubbed the spot with two fingers.

"I think my skills are well spoken for Mother. Look, there's nothing to worry about and I have caught a Huso Huso. The flying fish. The fish that swims fast enough leap over brigs," He offered his spear towards her that held the length of the fish and Tinak saliva covering it.

"At the cost of stinking like one," She rolled her impossibly gigantic eyes and put gloves onto her webbed hands to take the fish. "You have done a marvelous job even without magic I will say. Your martial skills speaks to your training and that a god's favor is paltry to true work." Her large pupils seemed to grow ever bigger than trying to project her smile where her mouth failed. She stared at him a moment longer as if wanting to say something else, but walked down into the cargo with the fish.

"Thank you,"  Darcio took a knee of respect and then addressed the crew. He gave instructions to prepare the boat for sail and tried to help some of them pull in the nets who distinctly refused. The Elven teen could only shrug and headed up the stairs to the quarterdeck, where he meant to take the wheel. He grabbed it, riding the high of his success, and tried to pull it as the wind caught the lowered sails. However, the wood only protested, and the wheel didn't budge.  Starkly, he was reminded that the ship's wheel had runes carved into it to help navigate the ocean. One's that out of all the crew he was the only that couldn't activate them. He tried to laugh off his embarrassment, like how he'd seen some of the humans do when they made a mistake. Then he took a nod to the helmsman coming up the stairs and patted her on the back.

"Just doing a routine check, the wheel is very sturdy."

"Aye, Prince Darcio keep up the good work. I'm sure you'll be a great candidate for coming coronation," Ignorant or lacking care, the helmsman didn't comment on his obvious lie. She just barked her orders and started steering easily, leaving Darcio feeling even more awkward than if she had called him out on it. Feeling weird, he did a loop around the ship, trying to find something important to do. Something important to do besides think about the coming coronation. He was sure he was unparalleled in skill, but what good was that against magic? Even the barest hints of the supernatural surpassed the honor the body could attain. It is what a Tasineen strived for and died for. That was the definition of their struggle against any enemy, superiority and identity. Yet here he was, having to default the job of captain to a human. He wanted to be confused, but an elf could only be sure of their purpose.