merritidings:
“Merrinyn…” The triton now out of water offered her a more courtly smile, as if switching from the lure of easygoing friendliness to the more complex demeanor of an ally in war. It is a sort of game courtiers play, she thought to herself, having heard of it from her elderly landlady whose own experiences were muddy at best. Merrinyn was no courtier, no noble woman playing at social elevation, so it was clear her attempt was misguided and uninformed. Her motives were genuine, though: She believed this “friendship” of sorts would be beneficial to both parties. “…I am of the tides, the Deep City, though I reside in Arx for now, learning, studying, about your surface world for my research.”
As she neared, she saw more of the warrior’s features, the things she had not while in the waters for her once-in-a-blue-moon swim. There was something…odd about her, but Merrinyn could not put her finger on it. Her inexperience with surface creatures didn’t help. All that she knew about them, she read from books, from literature, and those barely delved into the intricacies of their difference. She knew of humans, elves, dwarves, gnomes, and whatever else race there was, but she knew close to nothing of the truth of this other woman’s existence.
“You are most definitely warrior, tried and hardened by battles both physical and, I assume, emotional? It matters not. You are a warrior nonetheless, though of what, whom, I cannot be sure. There is something…about you that I cannot quite figure out.” The warrior may not share what, but Merrinyn’s curiosity spurred her to try.
So Merrinyn wanted to know about the world up here. She was researching and studying...on purpose? Willingly? Now that sounded boring. Caeli had to admit, though, she was a little curious about what lay under the water. It wasn’t something she had really thought about before, and her interest was peaked. Were there whole cities under there like up here? What sort of treasures were they smuggling in their underwater hideaways? Certainly it would be much harder to swing swords down there. How did they fight? Maybe she should have paid more attention during lessons.
Maybe she could get to one of these underwater cities one day.
“You’re very observant. Maybe one day you’ll figure it out.” It would be more fun to see her connect the dots herself than to simply outright tell her. “So...what’s the point of all this research you speak of? Simply to satiate curiosity?” She crossed her arms, looking out over the ocean in front of them as she spoke.
