A/N: When it comes to the schedule of when I'll next update, it'll be approximately a week, every weekend, unless I actually physically can't or my college assignments are practically eating me alive... Also, please review if you like my story, and have no fear, I refuse to abandon my stories. If they start looking like they're going a bit lopsided, I'll try and fix it, that's my motto!
The next day, I rush to prepare for the meeting with the centaur. I wear my prettiest Shell-Rings, around my neck and wrists, my parents notice immediately.
"Why, Brycilia, are you wearing your finest Shell-Rings?" Mother asks, eyeing the Shell-Rings around my neck. I huff.
"Mother, I am meeting with the centaur when the sun is highest in the sky," I explain, unable to hide my delighted smile. Mother smiles softly.
"Little one, you are treating this like a meeting with a potential mate, may I remind you that you are two different beings, darling Brycilia," mother says softly, I sigh, unable to meet her eye for some reason.
"Yes, mother. I am aware of that... It is just... I have never seen a centaur before, and they appear to be such curious creatures, I told you of what he said to me, did I not?" I ask, mother shakes her head gently, soft smile still resting upon her face.
"Yes, Brycilia, you did. I understand why you want want to meet this curious land creature, after all, we have all heard the murmurs spread by the whisper mongers," mother says with an equally gentle voice to her soft smile. "Just be careful up there, dear. I would not want to risk losing my only child." I smile at her and nod my head once.
"Have no fear, I will take care," I say, as I leave to have a quick adventure before my meeting with the centaur, Boren.
During my adventure, I swim upon a great boat, within I find a box full of beauty that I have never befotre. I believe humans call it 'gold,' their 'money,' and it truly is lovely...
I smile softly at my find, perhaps I could give some of it to Boren as a gift... but I shake my head. No, if I am to give Boren gold as lovely as this, it will be on a more important date... perhaps his birth date... While looking at the gold that lies within this box, I find something that makes me nearly breathe in water... it is beautiful, more so than the small circles of gold... I believe it is a... 'Crown'? But no, it is far too delicate to be that symbol of power among the humans... then perhaps it is... perhaps I should ask Boren when I meet him, not long from now. With this in mind, I quickly place the beautiful golden thing in my fish skin bag. Since I last swam out, I have had to make a new bag already, since the skin quickly rots, which is rather disgusting, if I am to tell truthfully...
As I place more of the loot (only that which I like most, plus one of each coin) in the bag, I grow aware of the time; looking around for one last time, I swim to the surface.
"Hello, young fish-dame," the centaur welcomes me. I smile widely.
"Hello... Boren," I croak, wincing a little at my aching throat. Boren smiles apologetically.
"I asked my kind if they know of any plants or ingredients which could soothe your pained speech, they said no, I'm afraid..." Boren says, eyes looking downwards at the rippling lake. I cannot help but feel the joy that he would ask his friends to help me speak freely on land without my request, that he would even want to speak to me freely on land...
"Thank you... Boren, but you... did not have... to do that," I croak gently, Boren blushes slightly under his mane of hair.
"You seem to be in pain, I did not want to see you in such pain, young fish-dame."
"Did I not tell you... my name when we last met? I am Brycilia," I say, with a slight smirk. He merely smirks back.
"Ah, yes, but to me, you are my young fish-dame," he says with a chuckle upon witnessing my fake outrage.
"Your young fish-dame?! I will have you know, wise... old centaur, that I am neither... 'young' nor 'yours.'" I joke, laughing slightly at the look on the centaur's face.
"And I will have you know, not-so-young fish-dame, that I am not old, and neither am I overly wise. I am simply your average centaur, with the average mind, and of a modest twenty years of age," the centaur corrects me, but something he had said seems... off to me.
"Twenty years? You look at least... fourteen years old. My parents are twenty!" He gives me a funny look as I finish my shocked comment on his age.
"Your parents are twenty? Then how old are you, may I ask?" he asks politely.
"Ten. My kind grow up fast, but die before we... become elders due to the... harsh lake and... predators... The oldest Meloskan was one hundred... and two years of age, and even he... died of predators..." The centaur seems quite shocked to learn of my kind's common ages for death.
"And... what do you mean by 'die before we become elders,' may I ask? How old is that usually?" I think hard over Boren's question. I had never really thought of the deaths which happen, since they are fairly often. It is, after all, a harsh world under the lake.
"Normally, it... differs... but normally... the weaker ones die, so when we start... aging, we... die... Also some children and... fresh borns die..." It is sad but true. Three times I nearly had brothers and sisters, but either they were born dead, or they were eaten. Mother was sad, of course, but she reassured herself that she still had me. It is also what keeps the lake from holding too many Meloskans, which we try to acknowledge daily. But Boren... he does not seem to think that way...
"I am... sorry..." Boren mutters, like he is the cause of the deaths of my people. I shake my head softly.
"Do not... feel sorry... many die, it is... nature..." I try to reassure him. It does seem to work slightly, for he does not seem as forlorn as he was before. Finally his eyes travel to my Shell-Rings.
"Beautiful necklaces," he compliments. I frown.
"Necklaces? What... is it...?" I ask, tilting my head to the side slightly. He frowns back.
"A necklace... The shells you wear around your neck..." he says slowly. My eyes widen in realisation.
"You mean my Shell-Rings. Thank you. Many say they... are beautiful..." He simply looks confused yet again.
"'Shell-Rings... Never mind. Anyway, I have brought fruit and plants to eat since I am sure you most probably have never eaten food from above water," Boren declares as he turns to the side to show me the bags hanging over his back. They are... quite hideous, I will not lie. They are of a brown colour, wrinkled like a new born baby Recta-Nipper, and plain as one, too. Reaching back, he pulls the bags off his back and hands me one. Slowly, I take it, not really wanting to touch it. Upon peering inside, I see colourful fruits and plain plants inside. My eyes go wide in amazement.
"You should eat very small quantities," Boren says quietly, grabbing my attention. "After all, to you, this food could be poisonous, while to us, we eat it daily." This makes me hesitant, but upon his instructions, I eat small bites from each thing, and wait before moving on to the next fruit or plant, waiting to see if I feel ill so I know what I cannot eat. After eating all the fruits and plants and vegetables and roots Boren had brought with him, I found ten things that I found poisonous, each of which he managed to help cure as soon as I started feeling sick.
"Thank you," I say, and for once, my voice does not croak, not after eating the 'apples' and 'potatoes,' 'mushrooms' and 'berries' the centaur had to offer. Never have I tasted sweeter things...
"I have a question... for you," I say. By now the sun is tickling the horizon.
"What would you like to know?" the centaur asks from where he rests before me.
"What is this?" I ask as I pull the curious gold thing out of my bag. I hand it to Boren, who takes it instantly, and looks at the beautiful gold thing with a smile on his face.
"This, my young fish-dame, is a tiara," he finally says as he looks at me, with a sparkle in his eye. Slowly, he reaches out, placing the golden tiara on my head. "This is how they are worn," he says quietly, smiling softly. He looks at the sky then, which is coloured by a beautiful sunset.
"Do you see sunsets underwater?" he asks suddenly. I look up at him, frowning slightly.
"We see the colours, but to... actually see... the sunset, we go... to the surface..." I answer. Boren nods his head slowly.
"That would make sense. I should leave now while there is still some light for me to find my way, and some light to keep you safe. Until tomorrow, mid day," Boren says. I nod my head, smiling.
"Until tomorrow... when sun is highest... again," I say, waving farewell before returning home, remembering at the last moment to remove the tiara from my head. Upon looking at it closer, it looks like lake weed growing towards a three tipped spear in the centre, with a blue stone at in the near middle of the spear, and the bottom of the spear reaching passed the band of the golden lake weed tiara. Perhaps it is the perfect piece of loot for me, lake weed of gold and a stone of lake-blue...
A/N: Recta-Nipper- completely made up magical fish thing that I don't even know the appearance of, in case any of you are wondering...
