Work Text
There is a universal story about beauty under the waves, beauty so great that it draws men like moths to a flame. Stories about beautiful half-human half-animal creatures that haunt the ocean depths, drawing humans in to their doom or watching from beneath the tides to punish those who stray into their territories unheeded.An Irish Biologist and Folklorist, Caoimhe McLean, described mermaids under two types: Nereides passivae, the docile type more likely to remain out of human view; and Nereides vindicatus, the hostile type, the avengers of the marine world.This story is about the latter, not the former.~( * )~“A merrow’s transformation is dependant on two things: frame of mind, and wish to live. Those who wish to fight become vindicatus, and those who don’t become passivae.”—Quote from page 10 of Dr Caoimhe McLean’s book, Vindicatus vs. Passivae: A Full Discussion of Mermaids from Around the World.~( * )~
Nereides vindicatus ultio: Revenge Merrows
“Nereides vindicatus ultio or Revenge Merrows transform from violent deaths at sea. With a want to live to see revenge done on those who wronged them, Revenge Merrows occur often in those purposely drowned for no discernable reason. They will go after those similar to their killers through an unknown power of Sight, which grants the ability to know who and what to go after.”—Page 23.*~*Mar stared up at the brightness of the full moon. The light fading the deeper and deeper the chain and its captives sank to the bottom. The inky blackness of the water more suffocating than the water itself. Mar’s hands clenched, nails digging into palms as fists were pressed to scarred skin behind. The heavy shackles around thin wrists harshly pressing to the same sensitive skin.The few good swimmers—Mar included—had tried to put up a fight at the beginning, but they were no match for the number of non-swimmers and sheer weight of the iron binding them all together. They had all given up as soon as the last on the string had hit the water; there would be no escaping this time.Mar relaxed, body going slack and final breath escaping painful lungs. Bubbles of air rose towards the surface, Mar absentmindedly observed their path as black eyes remained fixed on the white light that was nearly only a pinprick to fading vision and depth. A sneer crossed Mar’s lips as the light finally faded, and with the final thought that Mar was capable of, Mar wished death and revenge on all of the Slavers who had brought them here.Unseen by anyone but the moon, one final bubble drifted up from the line of bound slaves and rose until the surface where it popped with a tiny shift of the water.*~*A soft poke to the cheek woke Mar. And wasn’t that a surprise. Mar hadn’t expected to wake up again, especially after what was an expected drowning. Black eyes opened to take in the scene that Mar had woken up into.The previously dark water was bright, almost like it was day out, but more blue than yellow. Mar’s sore body was resting on soft white sand that cushioned the scarred skin like a cloud, all soft and pillow-y.Mar blinked rapidly, surprised to be awake. Sore head rising from the hump of sand beneath it, Mar turned attention to the further surroundings. There was nothing around for as far as Mar could see—which now more aware, Mar noted was further than ever before—just sand and the odd rock. At least until Mar looked to his right where finally the poker was noticed.It was a young woman who had her arm stretched out, but an older looking man was floating next to her. The woman was white, but there was something about her that oddly set Mar at ease when the immediate thought was to bare teeth at her. Blonde hair floated around her head in braids and twists adorned with pearls, gemstones, and strands of some silvery thread that held it all together and a small headpiece made of seashells onto her head. A thin but opaque woven top made of a soft green material covered her chest from the hollow of her throat until just below her bust where it draped down in billowing fabric open in a triangle to reveal her abdomen.Her companion was a few shades darker in color than Mar’s already dark skin, a few puckered scars along his arms and front and Mar suspected his back but wasn’t sure. His hair was long enough to brush against his shoulder, all twisted up into small twists tied with bands of shell and the same silver thread that his companion shared. Additionally, feathery bits hung from some, brushing against his skin as he bobbed up and down. A sash of three strands of dark green fabric went from his right shoulder down across his abdomen until it met with a belt around his waist with several pouches hanging from it. A spear was held in his right hand, the other loose at his side.That wasn’t the oddest bit—other than the fact that they could all breathe under water—but the fact that instead of legs, the two had tails like a fish in the woman’s case, and a shark in the man’s case. Her tail was a soft blue, laced with silver and a dark purple that flashed as she moved closer. His tail was straight up black, only a few white marks like claw marks along the sides and fins. They also had webbed hands, from the first joint of each finger to the next.It was as the woman moved closer that the changes in Mar’s own body were noticed. Similarly, Mar’s hands had webbed, though the skin was streaked with silvered scars and scales that continued up along the rest of Mar’s body in stripes and splotches. When Mar looked down, it was to find a long black and blue-tinted tail with a wide rudder end instead of legs. Curiously, Mar shifted, hips shifting to slither the tail now attached.“Hello.” A soft lyrical voice sounded in Mar’s head. Mar looked up to see that her lips had just finished moving.“H—Hello,” Mar greeted in return, turning to look at her face on. Mar coughed, an air bubble escaping to float to the surface. Head violently shaking, Mar pushed up to a proper sit, looking down in surprise at freed body.“The bodies and irons were buried,” the man stated, having seen Mar’s surprise, motioning with the spear to a space behind Mar. “You are the only one to wake from this bunch, though several others came close.”Mar turned, but what was seen was unexpected. Instead of just the one burial, from the band Mar had been connected to, there were dozens of them all spread out behind where Mar was sitting. Simple few foot-high mounds with a ring of gray stones around the base and a cairn of black stones on top.“Come,” the woman remarked, coming close to wrap an arm around Mar’s back. “We’ll explain more in the city. You will need time to get used to the changes. Tenzin will help you adjust best to your change as you are of the same type.”“Type?” Mar questioned as the woman began to push them forward towards a point in the distance.The woman hummed quietly, “Protectors of life. In different ways, yes, but the same none-the-less. You protect outsiders, and Tenzin protects the city.”“Tula, stop confusing. I will explain better when we arrive,” Tenzin remarked, gently prodding them forward with the staff of the spear.Tula laughed quietly, but agreed, quieting as she led the way down a path that suddenly appeared from seemingly nowhere, marked out by luminescent stones that glowed in greens and blues.And suddenly after coming over a rise, there it was. The city. It was a thing of beauty; white and blue stones, glowing stones everywhere. Crystals and gemstones as decorations everywhere. It was beautiful.“Come, there is space in our home for you to stay with us until you get to your fins,” Tula smiled at Mar, gently pulling at Mar’s arm towards the inner part of the city. Mar shared a look with Tenzin as they followed along behind her.~( * )~
Nereides vindicatus vindicta: Vengeance Merrows
“Nereides vindicatus vindicta, Vengeance Merrows, occur from similar thoughts to Revenge Merrows. Vengeance Merrows transform from inevitable deaths at sea, most commonly shipwrecked sailors. The want to live to protect others from this happening causes the distinct difference between them and Nereides passivae borne from the same event.”—Page 46.*~*Nealan stood on the deck of the ship, just in the doorway to the room which held the galley and the stairs into the Crew’s quarters below deck. Just looking on the storm clouds brewing on the horizon sent shivers down the young man’s spine.“Neal, come in here. Stop looking out there, you’re making yourself ill.”Nealan turned away from the doorway with a sigh, making his way across the room to sit down at the table across from Captain Burns’ daughter Lizette. She handed over a bowl of vegetable stew before picking up her own spoon to eat her food.“It looks much worse than any other storm we’ve seen so far,” Nealan commented before stuffing his mouth full of a large bit of stew. “Much worse,” he added after swallowing.“It is getting to that time of the year,” Lizette agreed, peering out the door for a moment before returning her attention to her food. “But we should be fine.”Nealan nodded sharply, keeping his back to the door and focusing on his food rather than the rising storm outside.*~*The crash was what woke the crew hours later. The first crash anyway, as soon after the first grinding and splintering noise, several more followed.Nealan shared a look with Lizette as she came out of her room at the back of the bunkroom. She was just pulling the last bit of lacing on her vest closed as she walked across the room to Nealan’s side. Nealan wrapped a hand around her wrist and began dragging her out of the bunkroom after the other members of the crew.It was as they got to the stairs up that they noticed the water they were walking in. Two inches of water was already covering the floor of their level and more quickly coming up the stairs to the hold. They could hear the water rushing in from both below and the front of the ship, so after a quick look between the two of them, they raced up the stairs.“We’re taking on water,” Lizette reported to her father, foot bouncing as she stared off the railing towards the rocky outcropping just barely visible through the heavy sheets of rain falling from the sky whose outer circle of rises had already punctured their hull. “And how the hells did we end up in the middle of Shipwrecker’s Break?”“The storm shoved us too close and Daniel couldn’t navigate against the wind,” Captain Burns replied with a sigh, tugging lightly at his beard.“There is going to be no getting out of this,” Nealan murmured, staring over the railing as the rain plastered his hair to his face.Captain Burns rubbed a hand over his face, jolting as the ship abruptly tilted to one side. “There is nothing we can do. Even if we got into the life boat, the storm would just shove us into the other rocks and there would be no where to go if we did get out, the next ship will be too far out.”“So, it’s settle in and say goodbye,” First Mate Davies commented, pinching the bridge of his nose. He shuffled off to the mast, sitting down with his back against the mast.Lizette dragged Nealan down over next to the railing, pulling him down to sit next to her as she sat with her back pressed to the railing. She dropped her head to Nealan’s shoulder, closing her eyes as he wrapped his arm around her shoulders.The ship kept moving forward, and with a single final ear-splitting crash, the Queen Mary’s Heart sunk to the bottom, taking the whole of the fifty-person crew into the water, and then into the waves.*~*Nealan opened his eyes later to blue. Blue everywhere. It was bright out, but in a way that made it look like the sun was covered by some blue film. He was surprised to find that he was awake, especially when he finally noticed that he was not on land but under water. Abruptly, Nealan sat up, wildly looking around him.There were bodies all around him, but there was only one he was focused on. Lizette was next to him, her burgundy hair let undone to float around her head like a curtain as the slight underwater tides moved it around.He was so focused on Lizette that he barely noticed the changes in himself. His legs were gone, the clothes that had covered them torn to shreds that had since floated away now that he was up from his resting place. In place of his legs, a white striped and spotted tan tail with a large vertical boomerang fin at the end had taken over. He only noticed the changes when he went to shake Lizette and saw the webbing between his fingers. He quickly looked himself over, eyebrows furrowing before he returned his attention to Lizette.She was in the throes of changing, her body thrashing around. Her legs were expanding—which ripped the clothes from her lower half—and fusing together before his eyes, the skin hardening and red-silver-white scales pushing out through to make up stripes of color as the limb lengthened to end with a feathery striped fin. Spines like small daggers soon appeared like a skirt around her waist before translucent billowy skin burst out from each spine to make a true skirt. He quickly reached out to rip her sleeves when more spines with feathery fins burst through the linen, hands carefully pulling the fabric away to free her arms from the elbow down, where the spines had burst through. A few more spines poked through in her hair, the feathery spike-fins making a near crown from ear to ear. Her ears finned as well, the skin thinning and lengthening to feather out a bit.Nealan folded himself down next to her to wait for her to wake. It was as he was watching Lizette breathe that he felt like something was off behind him. He spun sharply, looking for what had set him off. Something about the water had seemed off, and it was as he turned to face behind him that he finally noticed what it was.Three figures were coming close. One a blonde-haired woman and the other two were dark skinned Africans, one male and the other of an undeterminable gender. The woman came close and Nealan bared his teeth at her.“Calm,” the woman remarked, holding her hands out in a calming gesture. “I mean her no harm. I simply wish to check you both over.”Nealan calmed down, one hand resting on Lizette’s stomach as the woman came close. She settled down in front of him, hands reaching out to poke at various parts of Nealan.“You are well. Surprisingly well in fact.” She poked at his cheek once more before pulling away. She then turned her attention to Lizette.“Why hasn’t she woken up yet?” Nealan questioned, hovering worriedly.It was one of the woman’s two companions—though Nealan didn’t know which as he wasn’t looking at them—that answered, “You see the spines, yes?” When he nodded, the other continued, “In the fish, they are poisonous, so most Merrows who end up the type are poisonous too. Her body is changing inside to allow for that. She will wake up when that is finished. Tula is just making sure that there is nothing else that would stop her from waking up when that is through.”“She is fine,” Tula announced after a moment, removing her hands from Lizette. “She will wake soon. Her body is close to finished with its transformation process.”“Come with us,” The other of her companions remarked, the two of them swimming forward to be in front of him. “We need to bury the remaining bodies and bones. They deserve more than being strewn about by dead-eaters. Those who really wish to eat from them will dig, but the majority of the bodies will remain beneath the sand. Tula will take care of your companion.”“Alright,” Nealan agreed, moving to follow the two. He grabbed one of the bowls from the ship out of the sand to use it to dig and followed after as they moved towards one of the several jagged rises that projected up from the seabed and out of the water.“You won’t need that.” The undeterminable Merrow remarked, motioning with one hand to the bowl. “Tenzin will show you the best way to do it.”Tenzin, the male Merrow, smirked at his companion before shoving the fin of his tail into the sand and with a careful shove, pushed a large scoopful off to the side. He moved over a bit before repeating the process and over and over.“Mar, you could help you know,” Tenzin remarked after a moment of the two younger Merrows just watching.“Fine,” Mar sighed, moving close and curling the extremely long blue-black tail into the hole before stretching out again, the coils getting larger and larger until the sand was shoved out of the way and into a ring barrier around the hole. “Perhaps it would be best if you began to bring your former crew closer. We may be here a bit.”Nealan nodded, swimming off to the closest of the crew. He grabbed the man around the chest under the arms and began to drag his cold body close to the hole, carefully laying him down next to the hole before moving off to move the next man closer.Soon both Lizette and Tula had joined Nealan in moving the crew to the hole, Lizette purposely keeping both herself and the others away from her father’s body. At least until he was the last one remaining, when she and Nealan carefully picked him up, arms and legs to carry him to the hole.Mar and Tenzin had moved the others into the hole by the time they arrived, having made the whole deeper as needed, so Nealan and Lizette simply placed her father’s body next to his First Mate—and lover—before backing up to take in the sight of their entire crew all curled together in a large hole.“Goodbye, Papa,” Lizette murmured before reaching down to use her hands to push the first shovel of sand over the bodies, her father’s face being covered by the soft white particles. It didn’t take long between the five of them to have the hole filled in.“We need to find stones or shells to mark it. Otherwise it’s just another pile of sand.” Tula then shot off into the wide-open ocean, hands picking up various things as she drifted along.Eventually, with all five working together, the whole of the mound was covered in shells and stones in varying colors. Lizette made sure to put a simple cross along one side, but otherwise the rest of the mound was just randomly covered.Tula allowed for a few minutes of mourning before she ordered, “It is time to go back to the city. You two must learn, and we must get you registered with the Scribe.”The two new Merrows nodded, Nealan taking Lizette’s hand as Tula began to lead the way away from the crash. Mar and Tenzin bringing up the rear with their weapons in hand.“You will be staying with us until you are ready to make it on your own,” Tula told them as she led the way through the city gates. “Tenzin and Mar will teach you what you need to know. They are two of the best Protectors in the city, so they are the best to teach you.”Nealan and Lizette nodded as they were led through the streets to the home of their new companions. This was their new home, and they hoped it would be a good one.~( * )~
Nereides vindicatus justitia: Justice Merrows
“The final type, Nereides vindicatus justitia, Justice Merrows, occur from an entirely different circumstance. Unlike the other types, which require death by way of the sea, Justice Merrows simply transform if there is a close enough connection between the individual and the ocean. A deep love will cause this change more commonly. Justice Merrows additionally differ as they are created for protection, not of the people on the sea, but the sea itself. A deep love for the sea, and a dying regret of not being able to save it will push the transformation for Justice Merrows.”—Page 60.*~*Caoimhe smiled weakly up at her brother as he stood at her bedside. Oliver had his hands wrapped around the railing on her hospital bed, and to anyone who didn’t know him well, appeared stoic, but Caoimhe could see that he was fighting back tears.“It’s alright, Ollie. We’ve been prepared for this,” she rasped out, reaching up a hand weakly to pat his. “We knew after the first bit that it wouldn’t work. The chemo was failing from almost the first try.”“I know, I know. But that still doesn’t make me feel better,” Oliver replied, dropping heavily into the chair at her bedside. He reached through the bars of the railing to grasp her hand.“I know.”Oliver leaned forward, pressing his forehead to the top bar of the railing. “I wish there was some way that you could get past this… but I know that at this point there is nothing to be done. It’s gone too far.”“Stage four cancer will do that,” Caoimhe joked.Oliver raised his head to glare at her, just as the door opened to admit both Caoimhe’s Doctor and the on-duty nurse.“Good morning, Dr McLean. How are we feeling this morning?” Dr Johnson asked as he picked up her chart from the end of her bed.“Like shit,” Caoimhe replied bluntly.Dr Johnson chuckled quietly as he looked over her chart carefully, flipping through the pages to check her over. He returned the pages to their proper place as he rounded the bed to stand opposite to Oliver’s place at the end of the bed. “Your wishes are planned to go through on schedule. Dr Korsik will come in at four to administer the anesthetic, Maya will be here to monitor and when it is all said and done, your brother has made arrangements for the remainder of your wishes to be carried out.”“I did,” Oliver assured her. “I got special permission from the government to have you buried in the seaside cemetery close to Mum’s that has been closed for years. You’ll be buried there, but the funeral will be at St Brendan’s in town.”Caoimhe grinned at him, squeezing his hand as well as she could. “Thank you, Ollie.”“Hey, Mayor Carson was happy to do it. Your book was the reason that his daughter went to college.”Caoimhe laughed weakly, turning green eyes on her brother. She smiled at him, “You realize you’re in charge of my books now, right?”Oliver groaned, dropping his head to the railing again. “I hope it isn’t horrible to deal with.”Caoimhe giggled quietly, reaching out to pat his head. “You’ll do fine.”“With that all settled, we will see you both later this afternoon.” Dr Johnson smiled, signed something on her chart before he and the nurse left the room again, leaving the two McLeans behind to talk between themselves.*~*It is with profound sorrow that we announce the death of 28-year-old Dr Caoimhe Juno McLean on June 6th at 4:02 PM. She died with her brother at her side in her hospital bed in the St Agatha wing of Fresson Memorial Hospital. After a battle of just over a year with Stage 4 Breast Cancer, the final shot was administered by Dr Johnathon Korsik with her brother Oliver in attendance. Her funeral will be held on Friday at St Brendan’s Church in Kinston, presided over by Father Maxwell. The Family wishes for funeral goers to bring one flower per person and a small monetary donation to the Caoimhe McLean Foundation for Young Girls and the McLean Marine Life Rescue Foundation. Thank you.*~*“Madame McLean. Madame McLean, it’s time to wake up now. Caoimhe!”Caoimhe opened her eyes to find several faces peering down at her. Several scaled faces peering down at her.“Oh good. Hello, Madame McLean.” The blonde woman helped Caoimhe sit up, and she squeaked in surprise when she saw the changes in her body.Gone were her legs, and in their place was a tail like a fish. Bright red with rings of blue-black-purple like a blue-ringed octopus, it was actually very pretty. Her hands were webbed, the skin more purple than would be normal in humans. Red scales went up her arms from her fingers to her elbows in huge swaths before it trickled down to thin lines that went up the rest of the way to her torso before more huge swaths circled around her chest and abdomen in whimsical wave patterns. She had her hair back! The long fire red tresses were in fact kinkier than before she’d lost them.“How—? Oh.” She knew exactly how she’d changed. She’d written it into her book in fact.The blonde woman grinned, knowing exactly what Caoimhe had figured out. “Yes, you did. In fact, we’ve been watching, and we own a copy of your book! It was very good. Pretty much correct too, you just missed the fact that Merrows can also be made from those with the Blood, but that is a common mistake to make.”Caoimhe groaned, disappointed that she hadn’t thought of that. She was a Biologist with a focus on genetics for Pete’s sake.“Time to go back to the city, Tula. The guards will close the gates soon. We can explain more to Caoimhe there. She will be staying with us anyway, as has become custom with those we find apparently,” The oldest appearing Merrow gave the younger looking three a grin as he reached out to ruffle the young man’s sandy blond curls.All three of the younger Merrows stuck their tongues out at him, leaning against each other and him. The young woman, whose hair was black cherry red, reached out with calloused hands to help Caoimhe up from her sitting place.“Tenzin is very specific about when we’re back, as he doesn’t like us being out in the cave home that the three of us use while following Pulls,” she told Caoimhe in a mock-whisper with a grin shot towards the eldest as they began to swim away.“It is perfectly fine for the three of you, but it is not a good place for more than that.” The way Tenzin said it told Caoimhe that this was a common argument—playful, always a playful argument—between the three and their older companion.“That is true,” the young man agreed with a dip of his head. “It is a perfect place for Lizette, Mar, and myself, but not for many more than that. Which suits us fine. It’s a private space to go to get away from the city. Tenzin and Tula have a place similar, but it is on the opposite side of the city from here, too far to get to before Danger.”It was as he finished speaking that Caoimhe got the first glimpse at the city. The glow of the city especially. It was beautiful. And Caoimhe couldn’t wait to get to see it and explore to her heart’s content.“Welcome home, Caoimhe. Welcome home.”