I don't think I'll be finishing this, bc I'm not exactly sure where to take it. But I like the bit I've written so far, so here you guys go :) No idea if any of this makes sense, but whatever!
For one thing, Mers couldn’t cry. What was the point of leaking water from your eyes when you were already underwater? Wind thought Hylians were very strange for leaking water, even if they did live above the surface. They just wasted water when they did that. With the dry environment they lived in, it didn’t make sense to go about spilling water from their eyes whenever they were upset. But Hylians could be a little stupid sometimes.
So no, Wind wasn’t crying. But he was releasing the semi-involuntary chirps and trills that accounted for the same thing, to Mers. It was meant to signal to his pod that he was in distress and needed comfort or help.
Wind was a big boy, though. He should be able to control his calls. It was especially necessary for him to learn how to do so. His pod was so small, and consisted of only pups and juveniles. They absolutely could not afford to attract predators. No matter how upset you were, nothing was more important than keeping yourself hidden.
Wind’s pod couldn’t afford to fight. They’d learned that a long time ago, and Wild had paid dearly for it. It was only by the grace of Hyrule’s healing magic that he’d survived, and even then he hadn’t come out of that encounter in one piece.
So Wind knew how to be silent, even if he was upset. He knew how to muffle his chirps as well as any adult could. At least Wind had thought he could, but here he was, chirping desperately for his pod.
Wind wanted them, where were they? They wouldn’t leave him alone, would they? They said they would stick together for as long as they could.
Wild and Hyrule’s species were usually solitary, but they had promised Wind that no matter how much they each wandered, they would always return. And usually, they made sure one of them stayed with him while the other went hunting to blow off steam.
Their species might typically be solitary, but Wind’s wasn’t, and he was only just shedding his pup fat. His scales along his ribs and the end of his tail were taking on the brighter colors of a juvenile of his species, but the rest of him was still firmly the dull orangey-brown of a pup. He was still too young to truly be alone.
When Wild and Hyrule had found him, Wind had thought the universe had been kind to him. He’d thought he had found a replacement pod for the one he’s lost. But it’d been four days since Hyrule had last wandered off, and then Wild had gone hunting, but that was two days ago!
Wind was hungry, but he didn’t want to leave to try and find something to eat, because what if his pod came back when he was gone and they couldn’t find him?
It would be better to stay in the little cave they’d been staying in. Wind was hungry, and it was getting colder at night, especially without anyone to cuddle with, but he had to stay. Wild had told him to stay, so he would stay.
So he curled up on the cold floor, his tail coming up to drape over his neck protectively. Normally it would be one of his brother’s tails draped over him to keep away the chill, or an arm slung across his vulnerable neck. But they weren’t there, so he had to do it himself. He did his best to ignore the chirps and calls that escaped his mouth. There was no one to answer him anyways.
A familiar screech woke Wind the next day. Wind discovered he’d slept in late. The sun that filtered through the shallow water shone brightly into the cave entrance, and the water had warmed slightly while he slept. It only took a few moments for him to shake off the haze of sleep.
That was Wild’s call, and from the sound of it, he was fighting something.
Wind was at the entrance of the cave in a flash. The relief he felt at hearing his podmate’s return was quickly squashed by the sight outside the cave.
A good distance away, Wild was facing off against four other Mer. A spear of dread shot through Wind for a moment. Relief hit him when he released Wild wasn’t actually fighting them, at least not yet. Wild was a good fighter, but there was no way he could win against four Mers at once.
Wild had stopped a good distance away from the cave entrance, evidently not wanting to lead the strangers directly to Wind. He faced off against them, but WInd could see it was hopeless.
One of the strange Mers looked like a pup at first glance, but his colorful scales revealed him to at least be a juvenile, despite his small size. A second Mer with a royal blue tail with orange markings hovered hear the back of the group, observing the going-ons on with a critical air.
The two that drew the most attention were the two that were closest to Wild. They were both large, especially compared to Wild. One of them practically towered over Wind’s podmate. He looked especially fierce, with scars criss-crossing his white scales. One long scar covered his eye, bisecting the red and blue marking he had on his face.
Wind knew, logically, that Mers didn’t stop growing when they reached adulthood, but to see a Mer this large was still startling. He must be positively ancient.
The fourth Mer had a seal’s pelt tied around his shoulders. He wasn’t nearly as large as the white one, but even from Wind’s distant view, he could tell the Mer was rippling with muscles under a healthy layer of fat. In fact, all four of these Mers looked incredibly well-fed. They looked better than any of Wind’s pod, who were all a bit too scrawny to be healthy.
Wind could see Wild pressing himself down to the sea floor. His mouth was open in a silent hiss, fear stealing his voice from him for a split second. His silence only lasted a moment, before the Mer with the pelt made an aborted movement towards him.
His movement seemed to give Wild a bit of courage. The siren flung himself up, all his fins flaring out.
Even with half his dorsal fin being a mess of scar tissue, Wild’s threat display was truly impressive. He still wasn’t fully grown, and his colors hadn’t come in all the way, but he was still a sight to behold. Wild’s bioluminescence didn’t add much to the display in the middle of the day like this, but Wind knew from experience that at night or in deeper waters, the eerie blue glow could make some fully grown Mer back off.
These Mer remained mostly undeterred though.
The large white Mer seemed utterly unphased. He flicked his tail, sending himself effortlessly through the water, closer to the Wild. Wild snapped his jaw threateningly, which finally caused the Mer to stop moving forward.
But he was much too close to Wild for Wind’s taste. Wind couldn’t stop the chirps from rising in his throat.
Here, here! I’m here, I’m scared, I want you here!
The attention of all four of the Mer snapped towards Wind at the sound of his chirps. Wild screeched in anger at that, but no matter how he flared his fins, he wasn’t able to grab their attention away from Wind.
The small one with the colorful scales huffed when he saw Wind peeking out of the cave. “Exactly how many pups are we going to find swimming around in our territory?”
The royal blue Mer seemed to agree. There was a hint of amusement in his voice when he spoke. “It seems we have an infestation.” He agreed
The one with the seal skin around his shoulder was frowning at Wind. It would be rather intimidating, especially with the crooked fangs poking out of his upper lip, but Wind got the feeling that the Mer wasn’t frowning at him.
“Is that a pup? He doesn’t look like he’s yours.” The question was directed at Wild.
“He is mine! Don’t you dare touch him!” Wild’s voice had risen to a fever pitch of stress and anger. Wind flattened his ear fins to his head at the sound. “You already took Hyrule from us. Go away! Go away, we don’t have anything for you!” Wind felt an icy chill shoot through him. These Mers took Hyrule? What did that mean? Was Hyrule… dead?
Wind didn’t want to think of that possibility.
Wind is about 10, Hyrule is ~13, Wild is ~14/15, btw
This is all really just a big misunderstanding. The others are just concerned and confused at what three pups are doing alone in the middle of their territory. Meanwhile Wild/Wind/Hyrule are having the most stressful day of their lives, which is an achievement considering their lives have generally not been good.
Hyrule went exploring and ran into Legend, who tried to convince him to come back to the pod's camp willing, but Hyrule took it to mean that he didn't have a choice. Now Wild and Hyrule are under the impression that Hyrule has been kidnapped for his healing magic, which is a bit of a rarity.
Meanwhile, the others are just like... "Oh god oh fuck why are there suddenly children in our territory. We are not equipped for this."
The trio end up getting adopted into the pod in the end, obviously.
areudirty
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theartofmadeline
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