Chapter 10

Plates of fresh fish and water were always waiting for Skiff when he woke up. He'd been in the cave for what felt like several days now although his only passage of time was his own body clock. His meal was cod this time, and the sailor relished the familiar taste. Captain seemed content merely to sit and talk perched on a rock nearby. After a while Skiff noticed that although he traded much of his life in Brigodston, his daily activities, his encounters with sellers etc, even the one funny incident where someone had asked for a tuna with no fish – the merman had not traded any of his own. Or at the very least, very little. Skiff finished his mouthful and licked his lips.

"So what about you? You've been rather enigmatic so far"

Captain chuckled, playing with a small stone that was lying on his perch.

"There's not much to tell I'm afraid. I live here, I swim out, and I try to cut those Pescecorp nets. Now I talk to you. That's the wondrous life of me I'm afraid"

"But Pescecorp haven't been here that long" Skiff pointed out "What did you do before then?"

The merman shrugged, still rolling the stone back and forth between his fingers.

"Whatever's available for no-legs I suppose"

"Then tell me!" Skiff tried to sound friendly rather than forceful, but also sounded rather more eager than he meant to.

"Well ... I suppose there's the fish migrations"

Captain stroked his chin thoughtfully. His tail was curled upwards slightly, the amber membrane of the tail fin sparkled with the reflections of the cave walls. Even in the dim light that was provided only by something that appeared to be coming from under the water (Skiff could not see what) every single one of the merman's scales shone and shimmered like a host of rare coins. He knew from experience that most fish scales were fairly dull outside of the water, but the merman's scales seemed to be made of something else entirely. He had thrice wondered about asking to touch them, but wondered if that would be considered inappropriate by merfolk standards. After all he reasoned being asked to feel his legs would be strange too.

"I used to join sunken raids too, but I was a teenager and enjoyed the danger then, heh"

Skiff realised that he'd only half been listening. He'd heard a few things about fish, but nothing had snapped him back to his senses until that point.

"Sunken raids?"

"Yeah, teenage merfolk often get together in gangs to raid sunken boats and the like. I actually still have a few items in my collection"

"Your collection?"

The merman's cheeks darkened a little, and he looked down to water that covered the bottom of the cave.

"This is my home, uh, here. You're just in the aired bit. There's a small crack along the back wall" Captain pointed high above Skiff's head to where a thin beam of light shone through a slender crack in the wall "So you're at least ventilated. Below the water is my stuff"

"How deep is the cave exactly?"

"Few meters. There's a large boulder to keep other merfolk out, and kelp to hide it anyway"

"You guys are pretty secretive huh?"

"We're mostly solitary"

"You said teenage merfolk often get together"

"Oh they do. There's even a few social areas around her. I rather recommend Shelly's sushi cave" A look of embarrassment crossed the merman's face as he remembered the nature of his companion "Or uh, I could bring some back"

"That's ok" the sailor giggled "Just as long as you guys aren't completely lonely"

"Sometimes it's better to never say hello than it is to say goodbye"

There was that sense of profound sadness again. Captain sure had a habit of doing that, and every time he did so the sailor grew more curious. But as soon as he did so he'd clam up and refuse to say any more. It was really quite bizarre. Captain had already changed the subject, acting as though nothing had happened.

"You're welcome to look if you want"

"Look?"

"If you're strong enough to swim"

"O-oh" Skiff got shakily to his feet. He'd felt better, but he could stand. The wound on his head had scabbed over, which was a good sign.

"I'm not sure I'll be able to see that much, our eyes tend to go blurry underwater"

"I have the solution to that" The merman smiled, dropping from the rock into the shallow water. He scooted backwards a meter or so, and then suddenly his tail disappeared down a steep drop. Skiff waded forwards cautiously, and soon he knew why. The sand disappeared off an embankment, and below him was a steep drop of icy cold, and very deep water.

"Put your head under and I'll do the rest"

Skiff nodded, took a deep breath, and submerged his face into the dark water. A few moments later he felt a strange compression around his head, and then suddenly his hair fell forwards onto his face, and he could breathe. He opened his eyes. There was a thin membrane surrounding him, allowing the sailor to breathe. An air bubble. So that's how Captain had brought him fresh water.

"I'm sure it's nothing like your two legged home, but it's the most genuine merfolk cave you'll see"

Underwater Skiff noticed a few things that he had not before. He'd seen what looked like scratches on the sides of Captain's neck and had always assumed that to be another trophy from fish freeing. Underwater they were fanned out slightly, although they did not deform the human face. Skiff felt ashamed that his knowledge of fish had not been more apparent. Gills of course. Merfolk had to breathe somehow. There were no bubbles from his mouth as he spoke either, so Skiff guessed that merfolk must obtain two sets of repertory systems. That was pretty cool. Then Skiff let his eyes drift around the cave. The light that he had seen earlier was coming from what looked like stems of angler fish (par the fish) and Captain explained that these provided lighting if needed. There were a few jagged rock faces jutting out that seemed to make good alternatives for underwater shelves. Upon them was obviously Captain's teenage collection – somewhat meaningless objects to Skiff, but he could see why such a thing would be more appealing to creatures that had never used them.

Skiff examined them respectfully, and then moved on with his tour. At the very bottom of the cave was a huge mass of seaweed that had been woven together to form a rectangular shape. It was lying on top of a crescent shaped rock, and underneath the gap was another patch of kelp. Skiff could see what looked like a treasure chest lying amongst it.

"What's that?"

"Where I sleep, even merfolk need their rest"

"No the chest"

Captain's eye followed the pointed finger to the large wooden box. He froze for a moment, and then calmly swam over. He took the ends of the kelp garden and tied them together, so they hid the chest completely from sight, in a large cocoon of seaweed.

"I should have thrown it out years ago" Captain sighed, rubbing his shoulder. He wasn't being as enigmatic as usual, but still secretive. Skiff guessed the chest – or at very least the contents of it were part of the reason for the merman's strange behaviour. He dared not ask for fear of offending him, but curiosity raged inside him like a volcano.

"That bubble looks like it's wearing off" Captain pointed out, and indeed, it was shrinking. "Get yourself back to the air pocket and I'll bring dinner"

"Don't suppose it'll be that sushi?"

His friend grinned.

"Shelly's it is"

Captain had certainly been right – who knew merfolk could make such good sushi? Albeit it wasn't quite the same, but it was filling. The merman had been asking a few more questions and Skiff was happy to comply to these because of the experiences in the cave. Captain had wanted to know why humans liked to swim when they clearly couldn't breathe.

"Fun I suppose"

"Isn't there enough fun for two leggers on land?"

"Depends what you enjoy. My father used to take me to play in the sea when I was young, I've always felt more at home with it than inside fancy buildings"

Captain gave him a small, fleeting little smile.

"I'm sure your father must be missing you"

Skiff shook his head.

"He .,. passed a long time ago. Mother too"

"Oh" His friend gulped. "I'm sorry to hear that"

"It's alright ... truth be told if they were still alive they'd have been broken by what Pescecorp have done ... my father was always a man of humility"

"He passed it down" Captain smiled, and then frowned. "Can I ask ..."

"What happened?" Skiff gulped, and brought his knees up to his chin. "It was a sailing accident ... I was only about 7. I just ... I remember sitting in the hallway waiting for him. The doorbell rang and I ran up with this ... this drawing I had done. I don't even really remember what of but I know I wanted to show him. Only there was a policeman at the door and he said ... said he wanted to speak to my mother. They spoke a long time and I was getting cross because my father was never that late ... years later and I can still see the pale look on her face when she told me he wasn't coming back. My mother was quite a weak lady, history of heart problems and the grief made it worse." A few tears rolled off of Skiff's cheeks and he wiped them furiously. "I was put in the village orphanage after her heart attack. I was the only one left in the family so once I hit 18 the house got passed back to me. It was eerie walking into those empty rooms ... but it was good to let the memories go too, I'd been holding them in for so long"

"Do humans often do that?" Captain blinked.

"Do what?"

"Share stories of pain"

"I ... it depends on the person. I think it's good to tell someone sometimes"

"I see. We merfolk are usually just told to keep our secrets to ourselves"

And then Captain said no more about it for the rest of the evening, and Skiff was alright with that. In the middle of the night however, he woke to see the merman digging at something underneath the rock he often perched on. Skiff lay still and pretended to be asleep so that he could see what he was searching for. The angler fish lights helped, because the sailor saw – although not very clear – a small metal key that the merman brought out of the sand. It looked just large enough for the treasure chest at the bottom of the cave.