Seas of Affliction

My fingers hands rested uneasy on the railing. I could smell the rain brewing in the far distance. The clouds rubbing themselves together to charge the air, to make us hear them. There were no simple storms in this part of the sea. These kind came when called and left when there was no one left to feel it's fury.

I could have all the markings of a human. Their skin, their legs and limbs. I was still a mermaid, one who had been around for too long to forget what these islands do. Ananta means what it is named–endless. I’ve lost people I knew and loved down there, people who I respected as a friend or ally. I’ve never experienced the island’s nature above the surface. I wondered if I would feel as hopeless up here and I usually would down below.

A drops of rain brought me back to where I was. The clouds had thinned, no longer looking as crowded and violent as they had just awhile ago. I will be forever suspicious of everything until we cleared the territory of the Ananta’s.

“Frederick,” I turned to see Burke approaching, “man the rat ropes with Nikolai. You’re both smaller, it’d be easier for you two to maneuver up there than one of the bigger or older men.”

I nodded, feeling as if my best chance to keep a sharp eye out would be up in the ropes. Nikolai was already propped up in the rafts, nodding a friendly nod to me as I edged myself up to where he was.

“Looks like a storm in the distance,” he started. “Got my rabbit foot for good luck.”

I peered down to it with a tense smile, still trying to understand some of the strange beliefs and rituals I have seen. Although Nikolai was the only one that seemed to possess the taxidermy limb of an animal.

“I feel when we cross into the territory of the islands, we’ll only be able to depend on making our own luck.” I responded, my fingers picking at the fibers of rope.

“Nah, the stories about those islands are only the tall lies from sailors looking to give them more credit than they deserve.” I was a little envious of Nikolai's relaxed posture, to be so oblivious.

“I wish it were that simple, Nikolai.” I tried to keep my demeanor lax. “I’ve had the bad fortune of navigating these areas once a long time ago. I don’t know what stories you’ve heard but they may be all true.”

“Morana people, they’re real? And the Laverna’s, the whippets that draw you down to the sea to drown and eat you? The shifting sands and waters, all of it?”

“The Laverna’s don’t draw you down to the water, but if you go overboard, they’ll be waiting. I’ve seen people be stripped to bones in seconds if they didn’t become Morana’s first. Depends on what lays claim to you before the other. Personally, I would let the Laverna’s take me.” I knew that they wouldn’t– as foul of little creatures with snappy teeth who moved as fast as a whip, hence their surnames– they knew who was superior.

If we don’t bother them, they don’t bother us. It’s how it has worked for thousands of years. To become a Morana first, lost to wander in an endless search for escape, not knowing if you’re dead or alive. That is something even I couldn’t avoid. There was no physical creature that gave you such fate, only one’s mind and the toxins that leaked from deep in the ground below.

“I don’t believe you.” He sat up straighter, shaking his head. “You’re trying to pin me for a fool, I won’t fall for it.”

I had a feeling that he has falling for tricks a few times enough to learn better. It’s a shame the one time it was true he wouldn’t believe it. I didn’t have any prove such as scars to show him. He would see soon enough, they all would.

…

Ocean spray whipped against my cheeks as the rain pouring from above soaked me through to a shivering core. Nikolai and I had to abandon the rat ropes only a short time ago, visibility was so little. The sails were on the verge of getting away from grappling hands, and the boat rocked with the waves colliding beneath it. Theo was yelling orders over it all, voice steady but peaked with stress. I had begun to worry more and more when Ananta’s would show itself for what it really was. A heavy rain is heaven compared to what else could come with it.

“The waters are angry, Theo. I wondering is tipping off such a storm.” I was close enough to hear the conversation going between Burke and him.

I could go and tell him. I wouldn’t be believed though and by the time I would be believed, it could be too late. I would regret not saying anything. It’s a moral responsibility I suppose, not quite out of the concern for the crew mates around me.

I left the end of the ropes I was helping on, squinting through the torrent of rain to stand in front of Theo. “Captain, I have reason to believe that the rain is the least of our concerns and I feel that I must–.”

“Yes, I know of the stories and lore about the islands.” He was depleted of patience, not letting me get all of my words from myself. “There is no time for childish beliefs, only the real dangers that are the threat to us at the moment.”

“I agree, but I have to stress that it is not all lore.” Following him across the length of the deck, I wasn’t sure he could hear me beyond the rain, the noise of the crew and his orders relaying out. I was thankful when he strode into his main quarters that was below the upper deck. The door was shut with a thought that I surely wouldn’t be following him. I caught it just before it clicked shut, causing him to turn in a torrent that matched the rain falling outside.

“I hear you loud and clear. I’ll keep it in the back of my mind.” He mumbled the reply as he shifted through various maps and papers on his desk.

“I’m sure a man with your history of travels has seen a thing or two he can’t explain. You’d be a liar if you refused to admit so.”

“I can’t lie to that but I’m a believe in there’s only truth with proof kind of man. Until I see what you are raving about for my own eyes, I’m going to have to ask you to return to your post.” I wrung the hem of my shirt between my hands in frustration.

“But couldn’t you take your past experiences of seeing the disprovable as proof that it can exist? Unless all you saw was a freak whirlpool where one wouldn’t usually be produced and call that something impossible. If that is the case then there is no helping you and you’re as stubborn and foolish as I thought prior to warning you.” I had turned to exit but my arm was grabbed with a grip that wanted to be turned into a fist and pushed me back around to face him.

“You don’t ever dare question my competence again. I ought to tie your limbs and throw you overboard for such disrespect to your captain. My years of sailing are not fruitless, I have seen things that should be invisible. I was saved by one but I know that I don’t owe anything to them because they would never admit to owing anything to me.”

“You can’t be sure.” I narrowed my eyes.

“I can when there is a sea witch involved.” He released me, turning from me once again.

My breath hitched in confusion. “A sea witch?”

“Whichever name you chose to call them, mermaids if you want to be scholarly about it. Nonetheless, sea witch is what I reserve to call them.”

“I’ve never known one to be a witch,” I pandered, reaching for some sort of complete answer from him. “Or left in a negative light that you leave them.”

“They’re untrustworthy, tricky sirens that protect only their own. My saving was a phenomenon, not a change of heart.” He became frustrated digging through the things on the desk, slapping a pile of maps down with finality of giving up whatever he was looking for.

“Well, mermaids are a particularity of distrust for you. It doesn’t mean that they represent all of the sea’s inhabitants.” I couldn’t help but be on the defensive but I was careful not be blatantly favoring the side of which I was on.

“This debate has gone on long enough. I won’t repeat myself when I tell you to return to your post.”

“Very well but I hope that your distrust doesn’t reach beyond what is in front of you. Trust your crew, including me.” My departing statement I hoped would stick to his thoughts but I would be let down once again.

“I believe I trust you just about as much as you trust me, not to mention your murky background. You can take of pick of which I distrust the most.”

“I have been honest so far with my background of which you have observed. I don’t see any cause for the distrust you have, what ever it may be.” My hand rested on the door handle.

Theo caused me to go rigidly on guard as his hands pushed him from the desk he leaned on, purposefully but slowly walking towards me. The intensity of his stare match the intimacy of it. I felt known for reasons not beyond the shadow that his towering stance held over me.

“You say you’ve been honest but I can’t help but wonder how I can trust you when you have the eyes of one of the very things I distrust the most.”

I swallowed hard, averting my locked gaze from him. “Fair enough, I suppose.”

“Good. Now leave.” He opened the door and I left without another word, wanting nothing more in the moment than to banish myself into a downpour that had turned on its side and the imminent danger that was awaiting for us, than have to stand in front of him for another second. The feeling however, of his stare undressing the biggest secret about me, didn’t ware no matter how many time the rain and sea rinsed me clean.