Cerulean Cape is it awaiting on a new moon day?

It was already as if she'd had all she could take. Meeting one Rusalkan had been enough to send her to the coast. She needed a breather from the nonsense of those people. She had headed out from the plateau, through Ravensblood forest and out to the shore. 

As she sat right by the waves she felt that the condition of the beaches had become better. The waves weren't as angry as they'd been before. Instead they lapped at her charcoal paws, occasionally crashed upon her knees. Like a rope tugging her down, down, down, she found herself striding further in. Letting the waves soak her legs, now her pelt, now letting them lap at her neck and conceal her like a blanket. Before she knows it, she's swimming further out, occasionally dipping her head under the waves and submerging herself completely. Finding peace there, among the waves.

           

The woman was wary of strangers, her experience and teachings not the best combination for making allies. And this person was no different, even if their swimming abilities were proficient. Ostia squinted her keen eyes, watching the other lose themselves amongst the crashing waves. Her curiosity peaked, the pale woman reclined, waiting to see just how long the other could stay in the frigid water. At this time of year the sea must be freezing.

A demure smile played along her lips. She waited and waited and waited.

Her seventh sense is enough to send prickles down her spine. She was being watched- not by distant fish or sandsharks- no, she could feel those eyes burning into her. Her peace of mind disturbed, her swim interrupted. She pulls herself up to the surface, whipping her head around to face a distant girl on the shore. Shall she bother approaching? She had already had enough of the foreigners from the Wilds.

But she couldn't stand to be stalked either. Slowly she wades through the water, not up to the shore completely but to a point where she can place her four feet back on the sandy floor beneath the waves. Her voice calls out over the winds of the beach, "你好, 陌生人, can I help you?" Seaglass eyes never leaving her figure, watching her with the same intensity with which she watched Huā.

           

She didn’t have to wait long, and was almost disappointed when the other woman came back to shore. Although she was also relieved to find that it was a woman, and so the initial disappointment was negated by the positive. A foreign language was spewed in her direction, to which Ostia simply rose a brow. The English she could deal with, although she found the language of a lesser status than her own Greek. But this other language, Ostia didn’t bother thinking on it further.

“No.” She called back. For there was nothing she needed help with, not any reason for her to find this woman upon the shore. “Why are you swimming?” It seemed the most obvious question to her, navy blue peered into sea-glass.

The girl raises a brow at her mandarin. Too bad, she had almost hoped that by some miracle the woman would speak back in her language. She would have to use common with this foreigner, then. The girl said she didn't need anything, to which Huā almost wanted to reply then why watch me? But before she could speak up, a question was shot back. Why was Huā swimming? 

"Because... I love swim. I love ocean, love beach, love water." She calls back. That would explain it well enough, right? As she gazes into those navy blue eyes, she creeps a little closer, till the waves just kiss her ankles. "Why you watch me?" She wonders now, her voice curious more than anything.

           

Of this Ostia would understand. The love of the water, the seas, and the oceans. Her opinion of the girl before her had increased, if only marginally. Nodding her head in acknowledgment.

“Because I can.” The Amazonian offered a shoulder shrug, “Why not watch? Is it forbidden?” The woman approached closer, yet Ostia continued her relaxed manner. The sand stuck to her coat, every slight movement shifted the drying silt upon her pelt.

The woman nods her head, and so Huā figures her explanation was sufficient enough. Maybe not poetic in the way she wished it could be- if only she knew the right words. She couldn't truly explain her passion in this new and hardened language. She would prefer to express it in the gentle tones of mandarin if she could. 

The woman answers her simply, saying there is no law against it. Huā nods thoughtfully. Strange, it was, to watch her... but if she wanted to, Huā wouldn't stop her. Only beckon her closer. "You want swim with me?" She invites the sandy creature, figuring from the looks of her coat that she did not mind the beach, nor the water.

           

The girl didn’t quiet grasp the common tongue, and for a moment Ostia pitied her. She too remembered the struggle as a young yearling learning from her mothers and sisters. In light of the memories, Ostia felt a hint of nostalgia and she found herself nodding. If a little hesitant.

“Alright. I too love the water.” From her spot in the sand the Grecian rose gracefully, and elegantly shook the excess sand from her silvery pelt. Taking a few steps toward the other woman, allowing her to lead the way back into the water.

Her original assumption proved correct. The water was fucking cold! But Ostia took it in stride, accepting the chill that the sea gave her, and appreciating it.

The woman tells her that she too loves the water, and Huā's spirit is lighted. Suddenly she feels warmer towards the pale companion. The furry mermaid watches observantly as the woman rises gracefully, seaglass eyes admiring her elegance in each motion.

As if knocking her from some unknown trance, suddenly the woman is there beside her. Huā glances back at her wordlessly before hesitantly turning to push forward into the waves. She had already been accustomed to the cold- having swam in it for several minutes now, but she wondered with worry whether the woman would struggle with it. Because boy, it was a shock each time she stepped into the water, that was for sure. Even as she considers this, she does not turn back, only pressing deeper into the waves until the water met their shoulders.

           

The water rose higher and higher until she could no longer comfortably reach the sandy depths. As soon as her feet lost traction there was a release of tension, even as the cold invaded her slim frame, soaking her coat straight through. Ostia dove her head under the salty waves, acclimatizing herself to the frigid water.

There was a weightlessness that one could only enjoy when they gave themselves fully to the will of the Mother Sea. A lightness that Ostia fully embraced, dipping her head once more she let the feeling of the waves wash over her. Cleansing her soul and her being, bringing her closer to the Mother. A full body prayer.

Lost in her own reverence to her people and her sisters, Ostia almost forgot about her companion. Shaking her head to break the surface, the warrior turned to see where the other woman had gone.

As Huā turns to check on her company, she sees the sylph's head break the water's surface. The girl seemed just as unphased as the mandarin wolves of the south coast. She had met many who wouldn't even bother to head out this far, for some strange fear of something or rather. The siren could never understand that fear. Growing up by the water, the beaches had been everything to her and her companions. It was why she clung to them now. They were some source of peace in a changing and uncomfortable life. As she considers the girl's familiarity with the water, she can only think of her sisters, who held the same passion for the sea. 

Wondering, curious, as eyes swerve to the distant horizon, "You grow up by sea? Most wolf I meet not like swimming." She sighs.

           

Nodding her head as well as she was able as she bobbed in the water. “Yes, I grew near the sea. She is my one constant companion.” A small smile graced her lips, taking in the other woman’s proficiency in the water, rivaling that of her own skill. “I’m afraid not all of us were given the gift of the Mother Sea’s love. Not as you and I have.” For while Ostia want to believe that perhaps she had discovered another Nereides such as herself she doubted it. But she did not doubt that while this other siren might not know the Sea or worship the Sea as she, Ostia was sure that this woman was blessed with the Mother Sea’s love. A true child of the water and the moon alike.

There mutual affection for the water brought out a fondness in the normally harsh woman. Going out on a whim Ostia reappraised the girl, and decided in that moment that perhaps, just perhaps, she was worthy to know more of her upbringing. “I am a Nereides Amazon. We worship the Mother Sea and the Mother Moon.”

The woman responds that she was the same- born of the sea, seeing it as her dearest love. She comments on how many had not been as enlightened as they had, and Huā nods passionately, chin bobbing in and out of water. "Yes. I live for winter with some pack wolf from here. But I think they not love the sea, as much as I do." She sighs, thinking back to the Rusalkans. They moved from the sea, yes- but they seemed to have little eagerness to return now that the coast was settling down. It was if they'd all adjusted so completely to the plateau that they cared not whether they lived there or by the water. She found it unfortunate indeed- it was why she kept visiting the sea so frequently. 

The woman then tells Huā that she is a Nereides Amazon. The phrase has no familiarity to Huā. But naturally she's intrigued. And even further intrigued to hear they worshipped the sea and moon- although Huā was not religious, her sister Mei worshipped the sea and moon as well from what she knew. She tended to leave the girl alone in her worship, but over time she'd gained little bits of knowledge on the religion here and there. "How interesting... My sister Mei also worship sea and moon. And what is Nereides Amazon? Sorry, my common bad..." She sighs shyly, though her eyes gleam with curiosity.

           

Ostia suspected there were few wolves who loved the sea as much as herself and perhaps this young girl. Her lips tilted into the beginnings of a smile, “Don’t apologize, there is no need. I understand perfectly.” Ostia held little self-doubt, and had little time for those who did. She was a woman of action, and battle, prideful of her decisive decision skills.

“Nereides is what we call ourselves as a collective, as a group.” Ostia tried to explain in the most common of phrases. “Within our group, we have different affinities, or callings.” Ostia tilted her head, silently asking if that made sense. It seemed the sea would deign to teach her the ways of the nymph. Continuing the lifelong learning on Ostia’s path toward balance, between the physical and spiritual. “My calling is that of battle and action, the path of an Amazon. Whereas some of my other sister identify more with the spiritual, they follow the path of a Nymph.” Ostia wasn’t particularly good with this part of her society, preferring to stand back and protect, than step forward and speak.

”Your sister…Mei, sounds very wise. I would like to meet her one day. It wasn’t everyday that you found someone with common beliefs outside your own people.

The woman began to explain- it was a group of wolves. Just like Rusalka, she wondered? She explains something of "callings", which Huā doesn't entirely understand at first, head tilting to the side. Until she brings up battle and action. So like a skill, she thought. The woman had her fancy way of referring to things, but it didn't seem all so different from the lifestyle of the Rusalkans to Huā. Even thinking among the sisters themselves- Mei was the spiritualist, Ying was the hunter, and Huā was... what was she?

Suddenly she's pondering if she even has a skill at all, besides swimming. Was swimming a skill? She chooses not to stress over it. "She is really nice! I think you would like her. You seem... not so different." Huā decides with a gentle smile. She wonders if the woman might come across Mei at some point- considering they both had their hearts tied to the coast, it didn't seem unlikely.

           

”I imagine she is just as nice as you seem to be.” Ostia smiled softly, mirroring the other woman. The wind rushed along the surface of the water, spraying her with a salty mist. Tilting her head to the sky, Ostia decided it was time to find a place to settle for the evening. There was nothing better than a final swim before heading to sleep.

“It’s getting late. Won’t your sister worry for you? A melancholy mood settled on the Grecian warrior thinking of the family the other woman had waiting.

wrapping here if that's cool? feel free to reply once more :P

 

The woman who had seemed something of stone and ice in the beginning- not wavering in her actions, uninterested in taking her gaze off the siren- she had become sweet. Sweet as honey. She compliments Huā in something of an indirect way, and the furry mermaid's eyes sparkle with happiness.

The woman then inquires of Huā's family. She nods. You right. I should... I should go back. She hums thoughtfully, now making her way back towards the shore. Pulls herself from the water, brown fur dripping. She shakes off, fluffing her up like a pufferfish. Farewell, Amazon! She calls as she forces herself to leave, even though some part of her wanted to stuck around. Learn more of the woman and her culture. But somehow she feels it won't be their last meeting- she's sure she'll find her, and the rest of the Neredies, again in the future.