Hey! Next chapter done, whoop! Seriously you guys, thank you so much for reading and reviewing and stuff, it makes me super happy and I'm really enjoying writing this at the moment :) And it's all thanks to you ;)

Ok, so to answer questions from reviews, at the moment Merlin does not have mermaid watery powers. I may give him powers in the future, but don't count on it cos this story could go anywhere at the moment, and while I have considered giving Merlin some magic later on in the story I also have other storylines that lead away from magic as well, so it all depends on where the story itself takes me. Sorry if this answer isn't much help ^_^;

Hope you enjoy the new chapter!

The Sun was setting as Gwaine and Percival returned from the captain's cabin, and with the last of the light the crew finally managed to finish the new foremast.

"Right, we'll attach the mast in the morning when we have some light on the matter, for now I think it's best if everyone gets some sleep. God knows we've had a busy day." His crew nodded in agreement and got up to leave for their sleeping quarters.

"You too, captain, you need your rest as well." Leon said as he passed Arthur, laying a hand on the captain's shoulder.

"I know Leon, I'll go soon, you know I can't get to sleep as well as you lot. It's even harder since I can hear Gwaine's snores from the other end of the ship." Arthur replied good-naturedly, smirking at Gwaine.

"Hey! I'm not that loud!" Gwaine said, making a face at his captain, but as the others all gave him looks clearly saying 'yes, you are' he shut up and left for his room, grumbling under his breath that no one appreciated him.

The others followed after Gwaine and Arthur was left on the beach. He sighed, it had been a long day, but he wasn't ready to go to bed quite yet, his thoughts were still active, swirling around in his mind. He walked back up the ramp onto his ship, climbing up the rigging to the crow's nest. He usually came up here at night when he couldn't sleep, to let his thoughts overtake him or to block them out completely. He took a moment to relax, looking out to sea, watching as the moonlight reflected off the rippling surface. Beautiful. He breathed in the sea air, closing his eyes as a light breeze ruffled his hair. He looked back up into the sky to see the bright stars blinking back at him. It truly was a sight to behold.

Arthur sat down, feeling calmer now. He let himself reflect on the day. Well, reflect on the mermaid really. The mermaid was rather odd. Although he guessed he could say that about all of those creatures, but there did seem to be something about this one that was...different. Maybe his idiocy he thought. But then again maybe not, it was more...his looks that were different. He looked very different to the mermaids his father had caught and shown him when he was a child; he looked different to all the diagrams in Gaius' books as well. All other mermaids seemed to have brown or blonde hair. And tanned skin. And none he had seen had a golden tail. Most of them had blue or green tails, he assumed to camouflage them in the blue ocean. So why did this one look so different?

Another thing was that Gwaine had been right (for once), the mermaid was as easy to read as an open book, everything was plain to see in his expression, he had seen the fear on his face plain as day when he was lying on the floor suffocating, he'd seen the look of shock as Arthur had poured water over his gills and he heaved in oxygen, he'd seen the look of complete relief as he had slid into the sea water in the crate. His emotions were displayed so openly. So humanly. It wasn't right, this creature was an animal, to be exploited by the human race as the lesser species they were. So why did it act so humanly? No other mermaid he had seen had acted this way, they only ever acted like cowardly animals, backing away and viciously, futilely, fighting back, spitting words of contempt and hatred.

But this one was different. It seemed...curious. Interested in them, rather than shying away from them. Elyan had said he'd only caught it because the mermaid was by their ship, leaning into the light to watch them. It seemed rather stupid that the mermaid would take such little precaution not to be spotted, but he was definitely unique compared to others of his kind. Or maybe that was just an act, to make itself seem human so he would take pity on it; maybe the mermaid thought he would release it if he just acted pathetic enough. He'd already reacted instantly when he'd seen the mermaid suffocating. He'd even asked for the crate to be enlarged. Did the creature think it could take advantage of his kindness?! Anger swirled low in the captain's stomach. He bet the beast was plotting against him right n- oh. He called the mermaid an idiot, yet he was the truly idiotic one, how could he be so careless as to leave it in his cabin without a guard! And not even tied up, it was free to do as it chose.

Arthur leaped down the rigging, horrified that he had been so stupid, the beast was probably rooting around in his desk, destroying his equipment and documents. Idiot. he reprimanded himself as he rushed over to his cabin door, attempting to keep his footsteps quiet. He leaned up against the door, pressing his ear to it in the hopes of hearing what the mermaid was doing on the other side of the door. However he heard nothing, so he quietly pushed the door open a few centimetres, peering through. Still nothing. Could it be that the mermaid had ...escaped?! With this new thought he pushed the door fully open, turning to look into the corner that had been hidden from his view. At first the crate appeared to be empty, but as he stepped towards it, a malicious expression on his face, he paused as he saw a dark figure on the bottom of the crate. The cruel look slipped from his face as he realised the mermaid was asleep.

Arthur stared in shock for a second, before he scoffed. This mermaid really was an idiot. He'd had a perfect chance to escape, yet he'd fallen asleep. Amazing, truly amazing. And Arthur had feared the mermaid was plotting against him. How utterly ridiculous. Arthur shook his head at himself, closing his cabin door and locking it before turning and walking to his hammock. He changed into his night clothes swiftly and lay down on his hammock. He had worried that the mermaid might try to suffocate him in his sleep, but seeing what a complete dimwit he appeared to be he felt much safer now, he was sure he could fight off the mermaid anyway. He turned to the wall and let sleep consume him.

Arthur woke the next morning to the sound of his crew bustling around outside. He got up and immediately changed into his day clothes, peering into the crate as he passed to unlock the door. The fool still seemed to be asleep, twitching slightly at the bottom of the crate. Arthur rolled his eyes and peered out onto the deck.

"Morning men."

A cheery chorus of "morning captain!" came back to him and he raised his eyebrow at them.

"How can you lot be this jolly so early in the morning?" He asked the rhetorical question before he walked down into their stores to get some fruit for breakfast. He picked several brightly coloured fruits from the new barrel-full they'd collected yesterday. He should probably eat the old fruit first, but he was not feeling up for slightly soft apples today (not that he ever would), so he instead just went for what he wanted.

He felt today was going to be a long day, they had to fix the foremast, set sail on their route to Gaius and he would have to talk to the prisoner. He picked up some salted meat and a slice of bread on his way out. His excuse was that he'd need extra energy to get through the day. He threw some fruit to his crew as he walked back to his cabin, knowing they would have waited for him to decide his breakfast before getting any themselves.

"I want the foremast fixed as soon as possible. We'll set sail immediately after. Make sure to go fill your canteens from the spring on the island before we leave." Arthur gave his orders as he opened the door again, looking over his shoulder to catch the nods and "aye, sir" from his crew.

He turned back to enter his room but stopped as Gwaine called out to him.

"Don't forget what I said yesterday captain. I don't agree with torture."

Arthur didn't turn to look back and carried on into his cabin, refusing to answer the man. He thought he heard a soft "prat" muttered under Gwaine's breathe but chose to ignore it, only letting his eyebrow twitch in frustration before he let the comment go. He kicked the crate lightly to rouse the mermaid and had to jump back as the mermaid shot up out of the surface of the water, causing a large splash.

"Watch it!" He called out, narrowly avoiding getting soaked.

The mermaid looked at him with large eyes, not saying a word. Well that was fine with Arthur, as long as he answered his questions later, he preferred the peace and quiet to mindless chatter anyway.

"Here. I'm sure you're hungry, you didn't eat yesterday." And whose fault was that? a small voice criticized in his head as he held out the mango to the mermaid, holding the bread and meat in his other hand.

"What is it?" The mermaid asked, tentatively reaching out to take it.

"A mango, it's a fruit we eat around here, it only grows in the tropics."

The mermaid hesitantly bit into the fruit, juice running down his chin. He didn't seem to mind though as his eyes widened and he ate some more.

"Enjoying it?" Arthur asked with raised eyebrows.

The mermaid nodded enthusiastically as he continued to bite into the fruit.

"Ow! What's that?" The creature asked as he pulled back and showed the half eaten mango to Arthur.

The captain had to hold back a laugh at the mermaid's shocked expression, and the reason for said expression. He was being too carefree, he had to remember the mermaid was his hostage; he was using it to gain information, not to have a laugh.

"It's the seed. It can be used to grow more mangoes."

The hostage's eyes widened in awe and his mouth dropped open.

"Really? That's amazing! Can we grow some more now, I want to see!"

And then Arthur really did have to laugh, because the creature had such a funny expression, such excitement in his voice and it was such a silly suggestion, although of course he couldn't expect the mermaid to know about fruit they grew on land, since the mermaid lived underwater, but it still made him chuckle.

"No we can't, they take a very long time to grow, and they can only grow out in the soil, not in a ship."

The mermaid gave a small pout at that before continuing to eat the mango.

"How do things grow in the ocean? What do you actually eat?"

"We eat sea weed and anything that's smaller than us really; we're pretty much at the top of the food chain when it comes to the ocean. And sea weed doesn't have seeds like this, it divides and just makes a replicate of itself, you can chop a bit off and it will just continue to grow. Can I keep this?"

The captain gave a strange look to the mermaid as it held the seed in its hand, after eating all the flesh around it, but nodded, more interested in the information about mermaids and their food source.

He started towards his desk, planning on writing down some notes when the mermaid asked him a question. "Can I try some of that too?" He was pointing towards the bread and meat. Arthur's mood immediately dampened at the audacity of the creature.

"No, you may not. This is expensive and I would not waste it on the likes of you." Arthur sneered, looking down his nose at the creature.

It seemed taken aback as it just stared for a second before it regained its senses and glared at the captain.

"It was just a question, no need to be so hostile." He pouted.

The captain ignored him and moved back to his desk, biting into his breakfast and opening his journal, starting to take notes.

After a few minutes of tense silence the captain finished his notes and sat back to start questioning the mermaid.

"So, do you have a name?"

Silence met his question.

"Ahh, I see. You're being mature and deciding to ignore me"

He heard a soft huff pass the mermaid's lips, but the silence prevailed.

He shook his head before standing up and picking up the last bit of bread and meat. He'd said it was expensive, but it wasn't really, of course it would be if they'd actually paid for it, but they'd stolen most of it from another ship, and it was going to go off soon anyway, so he might as well feed it to the mermaid.

"You are a real pain, you know that? Here, just take it."

The mermaid's face lit up as he saw what Arthur had brought him and he quickly snatched it from the Captain's grasp, scarfing it down in just a few seconds. Once it was gone he licked his finger and turned to the captain with a grin on his face.

"It was delicious, thank you."

Huh, so the dimwit could be polite after all. Good to know. Arthur nodded in acknowledgement of the thank you before asking again,

"Will you give me your name now?"

"Merlin. My name's Merlin."

Ok, I actually went and looked up how sea weed reproduces for this chapter and I also had the Wikipedia page on mangoes open and my Mum came in and saw and just raised her eyebrow and gave me a look.

This is what I do for you guys, look up sea weed and mangoes and endure the awkwardness of my Mum asking what on earth I'm doing. Feel my pain T^T