The Mermaid's Egg

5 -- The Troubles

"B—Breeder!?"

Meara nodded, biting into the cooked fish and savoring its unique flavor.

"This 'is' good!" she remarked "Usually, all I eat is raw fish."

Knowing Kiandra's personality, she got up and put out the fire and urged him to follow her back to the village. The whole reason why they came out here in the first place, was to test if Kiandra was a faery. He did fall from the sky, so she needed to be certain that he was a mortal and not a member of the Tuatha de Danann.

"Come, let's return back to the village." she tells him "I promise that we will find a way for you to go home. You just need to be patient for right now."

"Wait up!" Kiandra cried out. He was filled with so many questions that needed answering "Meara! What do you mean by Breeder!? Do you mean like farming or raising?"

"You are a Breeder." she told him again "I heard that you bonded with an Egg."

"Egg?!" he asked "Wait...how did you know!? What exactly are in those eggs?"

"Hurry along!" her tone threatening "The sun is setting, and it is very dangerous to be outside at night!"

"Meara!" he yelled out her name "Please tell me, what is inside those eggs!" as there was nothing inside the Egg that exploded in the dwelling that he was sharing.

"A baby of course." she smiled back at him.

"A b—aby!? Like, a real baby!?" he yelled, terrified. His Egg didn't have a baby inside. If it did, it would have devastated him.

"Of course!" she nodded "All Merrows lay eggs."

'But...but there wasn't a baby inside! I swear, it was empty!'

Once again, regret flooded inside his heart as he had destroyed not a relic, but a baby's home! He then thought of all the women in the village, tending to the eggs. It was finally clear to him: he was in a Merrow village...not a primitive Human village!

"I—I can't hatch eggs!" he told her, still overwhelmed "I—I am a man."

"Maybe I should first explain our customs to you." Meara urged Kiandra not to dottle "As you have already notice, there are no male Merrows in Murias. We are a species that evolved solely to gestate the Spirits in the ocean. Our wombs are specifically designed to secrete calcium carbonate around the Spirit, encasing them inside an Egg. When it is finally time to lay the Egg, the Egg continue to grow in the shallows, maturing with the Spirit inside."

"But I am not a Merrow!" he complains "I cannot hatch an Egg!"

"Any Merrow can Produce an Egg, but Breeders are especially rare. We only have two Breeders in our entire village at this moment." she then told him plainly "A person who awakens the Spirit inside the Egg, must hatch it regardless of their gender or species. The Egg will make it possible for them to care for the Spirit, within. So please, do not worry."

'Well...' Kiandra worried '...if that is the case. Then I made an unforgivable mistake!'

Meara stopped walking, glancing down at Kiandra as she could sense that he was struggling with something that had turned his arrogant spirit into one of regret and remorse. She laid her hands upon his shoulders as she softly said to him.

"Please do not worry yourself over this, Kiandra." she softly told him "I completely understand that if you cannot accept our traditions and customs; I can speak to the Queen on your behalf. Ask her to be lenient, and pardon you. You are not being forced to make this decision...I only ask that you consider it carefully before making your final decision."