Trans-Coastal Sapphic

Shifting Tides

"CORAKI!!!" The masculine sounding voice yelled, causing every head above-deck to turn. The young mer-girl strained to peer over the edge of the ship and let out a shocked yelp suddenly seeing the boyfriend she'd thought that she had abandoned swimming next to them.

"REEF! You have to go, they'll catch you too!" She shouted back to him in their native language. To the outsiders around them, it sounded more like long flowing streams of sentences being spoken very quickly, a little more urgent sounding than it might be if they were speaking normally, with subtle clicking and bubbling sounds. Out of the corner of his eye, Reef saw who he assumed to be the first mate signal to one of the other girls, who quickly nodded and ran off. Ferran had full intentions of capturing this one as well since her friend seemed to intend to keep the girl, she knew that she could catch more than a fair price for Coraki's companion. Reef sighed, conflicted over if his next move really was the right one. But he knew that Coraki would never lie to him, she was better than that. He scowled and looked up at her, yelling back in Mer. "I'll find you, Raki! Say what you need to to stay alive but don't trust them for a second." Diving back down into the depths of the ocean before the crew could fire up their sonar for a second catch of the day. Swearing and cursing at the missed opportunity, Ferran stomped in frustration stormed down the stairs to her chamber as the mermaid sighed softly in relief.

Valkyrie sighed and turned back towards her shaken-up captive, going back towards her and try and resume their conversation with some new information in mind from the encounter. "Coraki huh? That's a real nice name..." But after an encounter like that how easy would it be to chat as if nothing had happened.

There was something about that man that made Val feel uneasy, a feeling that she has gotten herself many times before and the look on Coraki's face seeing him was the same one she saw on all the faces of her newest recruits when she took them in. A different breed of fear and anxiety... 'She's one of us, for sure...' the captain thought to herself. The plan had only been a simple catch and release after grabbing some samples, take a photograph, maybe grab a few scales and draw some blood to really have proof of their tall tale. She's a mermaid, and mermaids are fish-people, but still PEOPLE. So not some sort of cheap trading good or cargo...

"Hey..." The mermaid's small voice piped up. "Don't humans live on land?" Earning her an even wider smile before Val looked back into the ocean with adoration.
"Yeah... most do. But there's nothing for me there. All the laws and rules and expectations... I couldn't stand living like that. On land everything is governed, you're just a cog in their machine, living a meaningless life, following a path you're forced on. But out here...Out here there's no one to tell me what to do or who to be. Out here I get to decide everything, my destination, my path, my companions. Its freedom Coraki, a lot of people find that scary, to be totally on their own, the only one able to make the big choices. But I live for it. Every morning I go up to the deck, I gaze out at the endless blue and I breathe in the salty air, and from there I can go do anything I want. and I answer to no one...you kinda get it, right?" She turned back to look at her company who still seemed confused but accepted the answer she was given. "Ah f- anyways... you're gonna stick with us from here on out I think. I can't in good conscience let ya go right now, but the least I could do is show some hospitality yeah? You oughta be comfy, what would you like?"

Coraki was quiet for a moment in thought even though the answer was obvious, so on the tip of her tongue that she was too nervous to spit it out. "Some water maybe? If, if you don't mind, of course," she asked softly, shifting against the ropes that dug into her skin in a different place at every subtle move she tried to make. A wide-eyed look of realization came across Valkyrie's face as if she had somehow forgotten that, hey, maybe that was something a mostly aquatic creature NEEDED.  "I'll be right back," the captain told her quickly before jogging below deck, disappearing for a while before returning with one of the three men she employed on her ship. Both appeared to be carrying one end of a large, old metal washbasin the crew had once used to bathe in. Ushering a few of her women over with a wave, Val set the tub down and began her crew on pulling water up from the ocean by the bucketful to pour into the vessel until it was nearly filled all the way to the brim. " 'kay, that oughta do 'er," she dismissed her task force with a more dismissive gesture, returning to her mermaid's side. Val whipped a small gilded and jewelled dagger from her belt and sliced through the knot in the ropes with ease, letting the bindings drop limply at her prisoner's feet. Sheathing the blade, she quickly came over to the other side of the mast to scoop Coraki up into her arms before she could lose her balance. 

"I've gotcha," she promised, carrying her over to her tub. Setting her down in the fresh, salted ocean water just as the last buckets came around to be poured over Coraki's shoulders like a cool, comforting blanket, her sweet tail glittering in the afternoon's sunlight as she gave it one gentle test flap under the water. A sweet smile curled up at the red head's lips watching the fish-girl slide down to sink all the way under the water and take a half-spin around the bottom of the pool before poking her eyes back up above the waterline to look up at the captain. Their eyes meeting so briefly before Valkyrie had to look away and try to compose herself so no one would almost catch her blushing. With that mess finally over it was about time to actually get some work done for the day. Val took haste to retreat to her office to start documenting the day in her logbook and to track their progress on the map. Every second they were in forwarding motion they were getting closer and closer to the legendary treasure that lay below the surface sands of Dalia's Crash, she could practically taste the fortune inside the abandoned chest...

{Hello readers! I sincerely hope that this chapter found you well and send my regrets that I couldn't make it longer but this seemed like a good stopping point before the drama next installment may bring ( Whenever I get around to writing it out that is, haha.) Anyhow, if you've made it this far in reading my little side-project, Thank you so much! It is greatly appreciated! Until next chapter!}