Naix knew how dangerous it was, every single person from the merfolk knew it. But they, just like everyone else, didn't want to stop swimming near the surface, or drawing close to the shore.
The merfolk loved to collect, things they found lying on the ground of the ocean as much as stuff floating around. Or, which was the most fascinating, creatures. They would take what they found and put it into their homes, similar to dragons with their lair. The most fascinating stuff was found in the deepest darkest reefs, or on the surface and the shores.
But instead of gold and gemstones, like dragons, Naix loved soft things. Beautiful but soft things. Things they could built a bed with and sleep in, things to cuddle with and things to run their arms through or rub their head against. Most places in the ocean were hard and it was nice to have something different.
Then there was the topic of the creatures. The merfolk was in a constant dispute about collecting living things. Some condemned it, because it meant taking a life. Others didn't care either way because they didn't like to collect living things or because they saw everything other than merfolk as insignificant. And the third fraction loved it, some only ever collecting creatures, travelling the oceans and even into the rivers and lakes to find a specimen of every living being on earth.
Naix did as they pleased. Creatures were sometimes soft and then they did take the occasional one or two. They knew that they took a life when they did it, but they thought it wasn't that bad. And they only did so rarely.
Today, as they swam through the shallow waters near the shore, Naix smiled at the sun shining brightly and creating flecks of light on the ground beneath them. It was beautiful, and they wished they could collect the sunbeams or the flecks of gold they made in the sand. They had heard about a way to capture scenes as pictures but it wasn't easy to do so in the water. Some of the merfolk were working on it and it seemed they were getting closer to a solution. Naix would love to take pictures of scenes like this one. It was one of the reasons they loved to get this close to the shore, no matter how dangerous it was.
Another reason were the things that they could find here. Things that didn't get washed into the open sea and could only be found here. Things that the creatures from the land put into the water.
Or creatures from the land that went swimming. Naix had only taken a land-creature once, a fluffy little thing that must've dropped into the waves by accident. It would've drowned anyway, so they had taken it. They could've probably saved it as well, but they didn't really care. It had been all soft, and they had preserved it. They cuddled with it often, ran the tips of their arms through the hair of it, so fine and fluffy.
Strange that the merfolk had found a way to preserve living creatures before they had found a way to make pictures and preserve these.
Naix floated through the water on their back, staring at the play of the light on the surface, how it flickered with the waves. It was so nice. They didn't come here to actively search for things, some merfolk did, but Naix just went were they wanted, were they felt good. They loved to stumble upon stuff and be surprised about finding it. That was much better than searching all the time, than being driven by the need to find something new every few weeks.
The ground changed from sand to rocks, and now some algae sprouted around them. The leaves and stems stroked over their sleek skin as Naix just kept going with the waves, algae all around them except above their body. Where the light hit the plants, they changed the colour from bleak brown to an astonishingly bright orange. So many colours, blue and green from the water, light turquoise and almost white from the sun, brown and orange. Their own dark skin, usually black but a deep purple here now. Colours all around Naix until they laughed with joy about it. Between the algae fish moved, small ones this close to the land, twinkling spots of yellow and silver.
Suddenly, there was a shadow above Naix. Like a big fish, but not really. A creature from the land, swimming. There were two, close to each other, probably doing this together.
For a moment, Naix froze. Some creatures were dangerous to the merfolk, in the ocean but also ones from the land. Since the ones from land were seldom met, there wasn't an open classification about them as there was about the ones from the sea. Merfolk had to be careful around anything they didn't know. They had the advantage of being faster in the water than anything from the land could ever dream of being, but better to be cautious. Naix tended to stay at a safe distance but they did watch from time to time. Especially since they had found the fluffy one, because it was really nice and they wouldn't mind having another one like that.
But this two, they didn't have hair. Naix almost turned and swam away, not wanting to risk anything here, when the light flashed over one of the two. It didn't have hair but in the sun it looked very soft. Creamy soft skin, so unlike the slippery skin of Naix. They at once wanted to touch it to see how it felt. Slowly, Naix drew closer. The land-creatures usually couldn't see well in the ocean, that was universal knowledge. So it should be safe to get in an almost touching distance.
Both of the two looked soft, pale like a shell but shells were cold and hard. Naix never collected them, they had no use for stuff that was beautiful but useless. But one of the two, something about them made Naix hover there, right underneath. They swam so slowly, it was too easy to be this close.
It looked a little like some of the merfolk, at least the upper part. One head, two arms with hands that had several fingers, flat and hairless upper body. It had two legs, which made it so much slower than the merfolk that had two arms and hands. It was strange because Naix had never found these specimen of the merfolk attractive, but something about this creature was special.
They couldn't resist it, they reached out and just with the tip of one arm brushed against its lower leg. It jerked away, clearly startled but kept swimming. It shifted closer to the second creature as if it sought protection. Naix narrowed their four eyes. Soft and afraid when touched, that one wouldn't be dangerous for them. They did it a second time, lingering even when it tried to move away, and was rewarded with warmth and yes, softness. Naix grinned and swam circles underneath the two. Strangely, only this one drew them, enticing to look and touch and take.
The creatures stopped swimming, treading in one place. Then they turned back the way they had come from. One, the interesting one, dived and Naix saw its face. They stared in awe. They were sure they had never seen someone so breathtakingly beautiful. Not among the merfolk and not any other creature. Two eyes, a small nose, a strangely shaped mouth that nonetheless made them want to run an arm across it to feel the shape of it. Short hair, a little like spikes but still flexible. This was it. They had to have it.
The second creature didn't matter one bit now, Naix was completely fixated on this one. There was nothing else anymore. They were not sure if they had ever seen something and had immediately wanted it this much. No thoughts about taking a life, no thoughts about possible danger. There was only this want.
Naix took a few more moments to swim underneath it, to watch how it moved, how its muscles shifted visibly under its pale skin. How the sun made it appear to be not from this world, somehow unreal. A third time, they brushed against its leg. The creature stopped, then it sank straight down into the water, maybe to see what was touching it.
It couldn't see well underneath the surface, but apparently it was just enough since Naix was relatively close, almost face to face with it now. Its eyes widened and it tried to move backwards, away from Naix. They smiled at it, revealing a double row of sharp teeth, which didn't soothe the creature, only made panic appear in its eyes.
Not that Naix cared, they didn't need to soothe it to collect it. Three arms reached out, one around the creatures leg, the second around its upper body and one on its shoulder do push it down. While they marvelled at the texture of the skin, of the warmth of it even in the cold water, they dragged it deeper and deeper. It struggled, tried to get away. It kicked, bubbles escaping from its mouth. Naix waited a bit longer, holding it until it got slack in their grip. Then they pulled it close. They had to get the preservation tonic into it, so, opening its mouth, they poured it in. Then, to make it spread, they covered its mouth with theirs and forced water into its throat, pushing the tonic down, careful not to accidentally cut it with their teeth. The tonic would spread and it would make the creature stay exactly as it was now.
They would've liked to do nothing more than look at it for a while, here in the shallow waters with the algae and the sun and all the colours. But it was still dangerous and Naix didn't know what the second creature might do or if it could do anything. Not chancing it, they pulled their new possession close to their body and swam home. It felt amazing to have it this close. It was almost as big as Naix, and it was so warm. Its skin was even softer on its upper body than it was on its legs and its face was perfection. It was the most amazing thing Naix had ever seen and they were so happy to have it, they laughed. They swam faster and faster, wanting to get it home and put it in their bed and touch it everywhere to find the softest place on its body. Then they'd cuddle close to it, to all this warmth and simply enjoy being alive. Then they'd get up and look at it, at every inch, try to find a flaw,or maybe just be amazed that something like this could exist. And that they had found it.
It was their treasure now. Everything else they had was replaceable, but this, this wasn't. It was perfect and it was theirs.