Out of Odda

Two

AN: GIANT thank you Girlofthearts, the-nerd-of-fandom-stuff, miss-fiery, pianointhemiddleoftheocean, and do-you-hear-the-people-fuck and everyone else who helped/offered to help me on Tumblr by engaging in conversation about mermaids to get my brain rolling for ideas on culture!

PS this chapter is short, but it won't be such a long wait for the next one.

Matthias had heard a handful of legends about mermaids who established relationships with humans; however, they were all told in such a way that would frighten any small fry from swimming too close to the surface. Humans were depicted as terrible, flat-eared monsters who would capture unwary merfolk and peel the scales from their tails and eat them. Matthias' new human friend was nothing like he had expected. He did have strange, flat ears and he spoke with words that did not sound remotely like a song, but he seemed to be more afraid of Matthias than ready to kill him. He had held still while Matthias explored his alien features, and he held his hand gently against Matthias' face.

The open air closed around his head and he descended towards the darkness in the water. It was comforting; the familiar chill and the light fading away behind him as he cut through the water like a dart, letting his fingertips bump along the sand and dirt and weeds of the fjord floor, perpetually angling down into the darkened depths.

Darkness did not frighten him. His eyes were well adjusted to living in low light, their glow was enough to illuminate himself for other merpeople to spot and to light up what was right in front of him. He did not have to fear the darkness because he knew, at a certain depth when you can no longer hear the hum of humans or the roar of boats, where the pressure was great enough to make his ears pop while they adjusted, the ground would open up and he would slip into the secret world of the merpeople.

It wasn't that secret, just cracks in the fjord floor and walls that would open up into pockets of inhabited spaces, lit up by glowing stones affixed to the ceilings of underwater caverns and glowing plants rooted on the floor. There were not many merpeople that lived in this particular arm of the fjord so far inland, it was mainly small groups of families that wished to escape the lifestyle large schools of mer that typically kept closer to open ocean. The further north or inland you went, the less mer you were likely to find. There were especially tough merfolk to live in the frigid northern waters of the arctic, but they kept to themselves and did not often associate with their southern cousins. The majority of schools that lived closer to the open ocean tended to migrate with the whales, following a ready food source, and escaping colder weather. Very few schools chose to stay committed to one spot, humans often getting too close to discovering their homes and putting their fry in danger.

Matthias gave an extra kick in his tail as he shot down, hands outstretched until his fingers brushed along the familiar stone that lead to the crack near his home. He found it and slid through, wriggling, until the space opened up and his eyes had to adjust to the sudden brightness. He hovered in the water for a moment, admiring the glowing and twinkling world around him – his home.

The main cavern was large, the ceiling was decorating in glowing stones and plants cascading towards the floor, swaying in the gentle currents that reached the enclosed space. There were jellies that had been bred to lazily drift around the top of the cavern, adding more glowing light, glitter, and to be decoration. The floor was lower than the crevice that Matthias had slipped through, sloping away from the crack and widening into the great hall. The entire floor space was decorated in patterns of white and deep navy shells, creating swirls that depicted the ebb and flow of tides and currents of the fjord arm in which their home was in. Along the edges of the hall were darkened doorways that had been carved out, covered in long strips of thick seaweed and decorated fishing nets. Near some doors were ropes strung with shells, beads, or trinkets that mer a family had collected from around the fjord floor, weighted by painted rocks. Matthias lived beyond one such doorway, his own decorated with many ropes strung with claimed treasures and pretty shells he'd traded for with other schools of mer. He was fascinated by humans and often went out collecting things they had misplaced or dropped in the water over the years. He had always been careful never to be seen by humans or get too close – until this night.

The hall was empty at this time of evening, all respected merfolk were resting in their homes. The hall was the heart of the mer culture. That is where small fry played and and where groups of mer would gather for feast and fellowship and song. The large caverns were the safe place where mer could gather and enjoy each other's company, to meet before swimming out on a hunt, or gather for lessons from the elders.

He had almost made it completely to his door at the far end of the hall when the seaweed was suddenly pushed back and a rather large, angry-looking merman filled the entire doorway. His shoulders were back and he was drawn to his full size, a very deep frown alighting his features. His pale blue eyes lit up his angled features, deepening his scowl and disapproval. Mathias should have anticipated that his elder brother, Berwald, would be waiting for him to return to their crevice. His pale, blonde hair was cut short, it barely curled away from his head, but it was long enough to reflect to soft glow from a jellyfish lazily drifting overhead. He had wide shoulders and a broad, muscled chest, which he preferred to keep bare of all decoration. The only piece of finery Berwald wore was a brown cord around his neck, tiny periwinkle, royal blue, and charcoal grey glass beads were strung around it in a repeating pattern, the cord was weighted down by a simple, silver coin. The side of the coin that faced out was engraved with the markings Matthias knew to represent the waters at the northern end of their fjord – another community of merfolk.

"Where've you been?" Berwald sang, his tone carrying the undercurrent of a threat. His song was soft, as to not awaken any of the neighbours, but loud enough to cut through the water and cause a shiver to run down Matthias' spine as he slowed to a stop in front of his brother.

"I went to look at the sky," Matthias sang back, choosing his notes carefully, hoping to mask his elation and excitement from his encounter with the strange and beautiful human. Berwald's frown seemed to deepen, but he did not comment, flicking his tail and moving aside for Matthias to enter their living space.

It was dark inside, the only light coming from a large glowing stone in the centre of the room. There were beds of kelp and soft sea plants woven into a nest-like shape for resting, one on each side of the shallow, carved-out cave. There was a human chest at the end of Matthias' that was filled with interesting rocks and shells and trinkets he had collected since he was a fry. Berwald's side of the room was neat and tidy, he kept very few personal treasures, the only thing he held dear he wore around his neck – marking him as claimed by another mer.

Each mer is given a necklace at birth, decorated in fine beads in family colours with a coin that named familiar waters on one side and their given name on the other. Matthias wore one around his neck: pale blue, deep blue, and sea green were the colours of the beads. He would give his necklace to his intended, should he find one, in exchange for their own and marking each other as claimed. They would wear each other's trinkets with the personal names facing inward, close to the heart.

Matthias refused to make eye contact with his brother as he settled into his nest, his eyes lit up the ceiling of their cave as he stared at it, deep in thought. He watched the ripples of the water play along the ceiling in the glow from the stone, watching patterns form and dissolve.

"Wha'happened?" Matthias twitched at the sudden voice and turned to his brother, who was curled in his nest, eyes open and focused on Matthias from across the cave. "I've seen you when you go to the surface; you are never this thoughtful after." Matthias wondered if he ought to feel offended by the comment, but decided to ignore it at the soothing, melodic tone in which Berwald sang at him.

"Have you ever met a human?" He regretted the question as soon as it slipped past his lips in tangled, awe-filled notes. Silence rose like a quickened tide in the cave and the water almost seemed to drop a few degrees. He should have known better than to ask Berwald about humans with such wonder braided into his music. Their mother had been fond of humans as a fry, but then she had been betrayed and cursed by a magical human. Their father had been the only mer to still claim her as a mate despite the curse, having fallen in love with her long before the incident. However, many merfolk would whisper behind their fins that marrying into cursed blood was what lead to his eventual his downfall. He had been a proud mer, an accomplished hunter, and well respected in their school. Only a few short years after Matthias had been born, he was strangled in fishing line and his body almost recovered by humans. Their mother had been overcome with grief and suffocated herself on the shore only a short year later, their community blaming their untimely deaths on the curse that clearly clung to their family like a disease.

Berwald and Matthias were seen as tainted after that and ended up fleeing their home waters for somewhere more quiet to live, away from the schools that still believed in human curses. Matthias had been very young when they fled, but the memories were still vivid to Berwald, a piece of his heart had been left behind in their more southern home waters. Matthias had always been skeptical that humans had the ability to cast magic, and after meeting his human today, he was even more sure of the fact. Humans were not widely known to be magical creatures in recent history, and if his new human friend was anything to go by, they may be unaware of their powers if they even had them at all.

"What humans?" Berwald broke the tense silence at last, his voice barely making a song, his tone short and snipped. Matthias wished to retract his comment and hide in his bed of kelp, but Berwald was fully awake now, rising, his tail curling under him. "Did you see one?" Matthias debated lying, but knew his song would give him away; he was terrible at concealing what he truly felt.

"I met one today," he rose to sit up, curling his tail under himself, mirroring his brother's posture. "He was kind," he added quickly, chancing a glance at Berwald who had a frightening expression on his face.

"Stay away from humans." He knew his brother wanted to add a lecture about how they left their previous home in order to escape the poison humans had inflicted on their family, but he stayed his tongue. Matthias could sense it in the water, he didn't need it sung to him.

The question that was rattling in his head escaped his mouth before he could restrain it, "did our mother ever teach you to sing like humans?" Instead of replying, Berwald burrowed back into his own nest, twisting so his back was facing Matthias. The gills on his neck eventually relaxed into a steady rhythm and Matthias stopped waiting for an answer, settling back down into his own bed to rest. His eyes were finally drifting closed when, "humans don't sing. They speak."

"How do you say, 'what is your name?'" He was wide awake, now. He knew their mother had taught Berwald a few things about humans. She had been so close to them as a fry, her passion for curiosity never truly leaving her, even after being 'cursed'. Matthias had been too young to learn before their father had died and she slid into madness. She had always taught them that there was good to be found in humans – until she told them there wasn't.

"Hva heter du," it was strange to hear such short, sharp sounds coming from his brother's mouth. It sounded peculiar in the water, it reminded Matthias of the sound rain makes when you swim close to the surface of the water in stormy weather. He repeated the words quietly to himself, struggling to keep the song from them and warping the meaning. Berwald sighed heavily and turned his head to face him, his eyes lighting up the small cavern.

"Go to sleep, 'Thias. I have to rise early to hunt."

.

The morning song came sooner than Matthias would have liked. He groaned and rolled further into his nest, burying his face in the sponge in a feeble attempt to block out the noise. A rough hand on his shoulder hauled him into a sitting position and he blinked blearily at his brother.

"Y'should have rested instead of asking silly questions about humans."

Outside in the great hall, a small group of mermaids were slowly drifting around the perimeter, singing a song of awakening to signal the beginning of a new day, feeding the jellyfish and encouraging them to glow brighter and rise back up towards the ceiling. The ones with Gift touched glowstone lanterns, lighting them, as they passed. Eventually, the whole cavern was lit, twinkling like the sun was shining down into it, sleepy mer slowly poking their heads out of their sleeping caves and preparing to face the day.

A group of hunters were gathering at the far end near the crack, sharpening spears and laughing as they waited for their entire group to assemble. They broke their morning meal together, playfully fighting for the best parts of a prepared salmon wrapped in edible seagrass. There were young fry already racing around the hall, playing tag and chasing the jellies that were still lingering closer to the cavern floor.

Berwald dropped a hand to Matthias' shoulder as they exited their small cave, looking out on the small community of merfolk.

"Behave yourself, today," Berwald sang under his breath, his pale blue eyes glancing down to give Matthias a meaningful look that clearly said, 'stay away from the surface and humans'. Matthias nodded and grinned.

"I always stay out of trouble!" He reached for a satchel he kept weighted to the cave floor by the door and slung it over his shoulders, depositing rocks from inside where he found it. He flicked his tail and raced across the cavern, dodging jellies and small fry as he made his way for the hall crack that would lead him out into the open fjords, away from his brother and his song of warning chasing after him.

Of course, the first thing Matthias did was swim straight for the surface, popping up over the waves near where he had found his human. He kept low in the water, careful to avoid any wandering human eyes that may spot him in the early morning mist. He swam as close to the shoreline as he felt brave enough, scanning for any signs of his human friend.

There were none, it was probably too early for him to be seeing any humans this far from their homes.

He dove back into the water and made his way towards the depths. Today, he would scour for anything the humans dropped: garbage or trinkets, he would find a way to dispose of anything useless, the rest he would bring back to his school to sort through – especially interesting things he would keep for himself, the rest he would bring with him when he visited other schools and use for trade.

Before he got too deep, however, he heard the faint sound of wood bumping on rocks. He cast his gaze upwards, back towards the surface and shoreline, slowly rising until his eyes resurfaced in the open air. The boat his human friend had been in was bumping along the shore, rocking against two rocks standing proud in the water, trapping it. He made his way towards it, the water was shallow and he pressed his tail into the soft dirt, pushing himself up and out of the water in order to peek inside.

The boat was empty save for two pieces of human shell, pieces that covered the ends of their tails that they used to walk on land with. He gingerly plucked them from the boat and cradled them against his chest. 'Humans do not have tails', he reminded himself as he pushed them into his satchel, 'they have feet.

To be continued...