Divided Waters: My Hearts Desire

Chapter Eight

“Befou, as in the pink river dolphin? They are extinct the gods killed them for seducing young girls.”

“Not all. My father escaped, he hid among the mermaids. He has been hiding here in Atlantis for centuries.”

“Your mother? How could the mermaids let him stay when your mother died because of him?”

“My mother was a mermaid, and she is still very much alive. My father though, he was killed.”

“Why? Who would kill your father?”

“My Mother.”

“Nathaniel, why would your mother kill your father? What did he do?”

“Mia, no matter what anyone ever tries to tell you a Befou is evil. Plain and simple.”

“Including you?”

“I honestly do not know. I do not feel evil, yet I know I am not good either. The greatest flaw of a Befou is that they are selfish. They will do anything to carry on the bloodline.”

“How is that evil?”

“Mia have you heard the story of the very first Befou’s?”

I shook my head no. Not sure that I really wanted to know that story, somehow I already knew that it would not be a happy one.

“Let me tell it to you…

Mother Nature and the Great Father had created all beings for good. They wanted to unite water, earth, and sky. So first, they created the mermaids to unite the humans of earth and the creatures of the sea. However, mermaids are shy and elusive beings, they would never venture near a human.

Disappointed by the mermaids the gods made another attempt, they created the Selkies, a seal, and a man. To them they thought the Selkies having the ability to be fully seal, and fully man, as well as half and half like a mere would be the greatest chance they had at uniting the two regions. Once again, the seal nature of the Selkies took over, and they rarely left the sea, never interacting with humans.

In their final attempt they created the Befou. A Befou was different, fully dolphin, and fully human. Twelve hours during the day they swam the seas, and rivers, the other twelve hours they had to spend on land. That was not all that set them apart, in order for a Befou to reproduce they had to conceive with a human, keeping the races united.

There were twelve original Befous, during the day they took human form, and worked in the villages providing fish and aiding in day to day life. Eventually they took human wives, and within a few months all the women were pregnant. The men were doting husbands, and waited anxiously for their children to be born.

When the first child was born, she was a beautiful baby girl. And over the next few weeks eleven more beautiful baby girls entered this world. They loved their daughters but were disappointed no sons were born to them. Soon all twelve women were pregnant again, and once again, twelve beautiful baby girls entered this world. Again they tried for sons, and once again twelve beautiful baby girls were born, and one son.

All the men were so excited to have a male child born, it took them a little while to realize that this time thirteen babies were born. The other eleven men all turned to the father of this little boy, and asked how is it that you have fathered two children, and how is one a boy. He told them how he had raped his wives virgin sister and it was she who bore him a son, but she did not survive childbirth.

The men all thought about this and all decided to try out his theory. They all raped young virgins and waited, sure enough each virgin had a son and then died. This began the legends in the Amazon tribes. During the night the Befous would come to shore as young men, seducing, and raping young virgin women. When the women gave birth the men would steal the child and return to the waters repeating this cycle day after day, year after year until finally the gods wiped them out.”