RP:A Sea Full Of Problems

Part of the The Whisperer In Darkness Arc

Summary: An outing with their son leads Khitti and Brand to come into contact with that same mermaid they've crossed paths with before. This time, however, she brings grave news to them.

Sandy Beach, Cenril

It hadn’t been very long since the birth of their son and the loss of their friend. Three weeks? Four? It barely felt like that though. Time seemed to slow down immensely for Khitti. Somehow, Dominic wasn’t your typical child. He’d feed and sleep long enough to allow his parents enough of a break to recuperate before wanting to be fed or changed again. It also allowed Khitti to heal (she still firmly believed that dying a fiery death was better than childbirth) thanks to Lennier’s herbs and small bouts of Seika’s holy magic.

When she was feeling better, Khitti eventually took a trip to the beach. While she could very well see the ocean from the ship, there was no way in hell she was staying confined there any longer. Plus, you can’t exactly sink your toes into the nice warm sand if you’re on a pile of floating wood (a very pretty pile of floating wood, Brand!). So, off she went with Dominic, leaving Brand with the option to come with her or meet her there later or whatever it was he wanted to do. All Khitti knew was that she needed fresh air asap and she would not be stopped, damn it!

Finding a good spot to watch the waves, Khitti sat down and eyed Dominic carefully. He was very entertained and wide-eyed, staring at some seagulls as they flew overhead. “You’re… not going to grow up to be the -same- Dominic are you? Because this might be a little weird.” It didn’t seem to bother her too much though, considering those memories were Brand’s memories and -not- their kids (thank the gods). “Just don’t get so bratty, okay? We might have more patience now, but that doesn’t mean you have to act the way -he- did,” Khitti continued with a smirk as she snuggled him close.

Somehow, the most bizarre thing about fatherhood was just how easily the routines had slipped into Brand’s life. Captaining a ship was already a chaos barely controlled -- maybe adding one more duty onto the pile wasn’t as noticeable a burden when he had twenty others to worry about? Or maybe it was because the kid had a whole crew to watch over him, several of which were parents to their own children. “It takes a village to raise a child,” as Dozla would say. Brand supposed the Tranquility must be close enough.

The morning went by in a blur of meetings and paperwork. Lennier had written a long list of items he’d run out of; midday was lost to replenishing the stocks. It was late afternoon by the time Brand had a moment free to himself. Would Khitti still be at the beach this late? He slapped together a few sandwiches and went to find out.

Khitti was definitely still there--and she was also asleep. Per your typical parent/child sleep patterns, while Dominic’s mother slept, he of course was awake and gnawing away with those toothless gums on some of her hair… and the collar of her shirt which was really Brand’s shirt. It’s a good Khitti doesn’t wear earrings.

As his father was arriving though, the baby had looked up towards Khitti’s head and spotted that necklace, a tiny hand reaching in vain for the lapis lazuli stone that dangled from the chain--perhaps he could sense that this was the one Onyx had given Khitti? Luckily for her, Dominic couldn’t reach it.

Tenbatsu Kaji floated near them, keeping an ever vigilant watch over its wielder and her child. Things had been fine all day and likely would’ve continued to stay that way, if it wasn’t for a very familiar looking mermaid washing up on the beach like a dying whale nearby. The purple-haired creature sputtered up something black and tried to get her bearings, dark eyes peering around the area. She’d sensed something… familiar… something that might help and for better or worse, she’d made her way towards land to find that something, which was really a someone.

Brand imagined himself a peaceful, picnic-like evening. He’d find Khitti and the baby, tussle the kid’s dark hair, ask Khitti about her day over dinner, stay on the beach and watch the sunset together. Maybe they’d head back to the ship afterward and have Dozla watch the kid for a bit while they --

Movement on the horizon. Mermaid. She was hauling herself up the coast, fin flailing uselessly behind her. The beach might as well have been a mountain. She would find no footing, and her only grips were sand and seashells. But she kept struggling forward, eyes locked on a very particular prize.

“Khitti!” Surely, he could reach her before the mermaid could. He started running.

The mermaid didn’t make it very far. The fish-woman would collapse on the ground long before she reached the redhead and her son. What woke Khitti wasn’t that, nor was it Brand’s cries, but instead Dominic managing to grab that bit of her necklace and giving it a sharp tug. Khitti let out a sound similar to the beginnings of a cat ready to vomit, her eyes opening soon after as she sat up and pried the necklace free from the child’s hand. “-That- is not the proper way to wake your mother up,” she said as she pulled the necklace free from her throat to give to Dominic to play with.

With the haze of sleep now gone, she realized Brand was shouting at her. “What is he--” Oh. That’s a mermaid. Wait. That’s -the- mermaid. Khitti blinked a few times, seeming to be in no hurry to run away. Holding Dominic still, she pushed herself up off the ground finally and took careful steps towards mermaid that’d saved her once upon a time, “Hey. What are you doing here? Y-you’re gonna get all dried out if you stay here for long.” Khitti was cautious, stalling until Brand got there. The mermaid just laid there, facedown in the sand. Something was wrong and it prompted a frown from Khitti. Strangely enough, however, Tenbatsu Kaji merely floated over to Khitti’s side. Perhaps Seika didn’t sense any malice from the mermaid?

This mermaid was lucky Brand had left his trigger-happy days behind. No more “barbecue first, ask questions later” from him, so long as Khitti and Dominic were unharmed. (And phew, that necklace didn’t seem as likely to cause shenanigans as the last.) Brand set down his bag of sandwiches and held his arms out -- he’d relieve Khitti of Dominic if she wanted to tend to the mermaid. “Is this one of the ones we’ve seen before?”

Dominic was passed off to Brand once he reached the pair and the mermaid, Khitti’s attention remaining fixed on the fish-girl. “It’s -the- mermaid, Brand. The one we took the scales from… the one that saved me when I came back.” The one that was tattooed all over her arm. Khitti kneeled down in the sand next to the mermaid and flipped her over, her hands immediately releasing her once the damage done had been spotted: black veins, not unlike what had happened to Khitti when she wielded Amarrah’s dark magic, was clearly visible along the upper half of the mermaid’s body. It was obvious that Khitti was hesitant to touch her--would she get infected with it too?

The redhead leaned over the purple-haired ocean-dweller, looking for some sign of life in her. Well, she got in the form of sputtered coughing and some of that black gunk sprayed on Khitti’s face as a result. Sigh. No point in being hesitant now. “Hey,” Khitti said as she wiped the ooze off of her face with the sleeve of her dress while the other shook the mermaid’s shoulder, “what happened?” The mermaid was unresponsive, though. “Seika, come here.” Tenbatsu Kaji floated on over to Khitti’s side, the templar-in-training side-eyeing the sword. “What I did for Celaeno, will it work for her too?” The sword glowed red in the affirmative.

Brand and Dominic watched Khitti work. Father took son a few paces backwards when the mermaid spat up -- who knew what that stuff could do to a defenseless infant? But Dominic was fearless. He locked big eyes on the gunk and spat drool and bubbles all down his chin. See, he could play ‘beached sea creature,’ too. “Alright, sprout. I just changed into this shirt. That means you gotta give me at -least- three hours in it before you ruin it.” Brand pulled a handkerchief from a pocket and draped it over his shoulder. “There. Drool to your heart’s content.”

Despite the seriousness of the situation, Khitti couldn’t help but smirk a bit at Brand and Dominic behind her. “You know, I was just asking him earlier if he was going to end up like the other Dominic. It seems he’s starting early with testing your patience. Gotta make up for lost time, I suppose.” Khitti’s hands began to glow as she channeled Seika’s magic, taking on that same golden hue. It quickly ramped up to its powered up red state, however, as Khitti too needed to make up for lost time, albeit with the mermaid.

Nemona began to writhe in pain as the holy magic killed the dark that plagued her body, twisting fitfully as if she were having a nightmare. When Khitti was finished, the mermaid woke up with a gasp, feeling quite the opposite of what she had moments ago and sat up, wide-eyed. “Seika,” Khitti said finally, “My training has to end soon. I can’t keep using your magic--it’s as tiring as it was trying to use Amarrah’s before I became a vampire,” the redhead falling back into the sand with a heavy sigh.

The mermaid looked over at Khitti as she spoke, blinking a few times as that smirk found Khitti’s lips again. “We’re going to keep doing this over and over again, aren’t we? Saving each other, that is.” Nemona shrugged, peering over her shoulder at Brand, “Maybe. I see you found your man. And--oh my. You -have- been busy.” She wiggled her fingers at Dominic. No lady, fish or otherwise, could resist his charm, apparently.

Dominic gurgled and reached a pudgy hand out in the mermaid’s direction. It was almost like he understood what was being said about him. “Bah!” he said. The little one’s face scrunched up into a terrible grimace. “Well, there are perks,” Brand mused. “He does a good impression of me.” Wait, was that…? Oh, that was a bowel movement, not grumpiness. Brand scrunched up his nose and held the child at arm’s length. “Okay, smartass. You win this round. Let’s get you changed.”

Nemona made a disgusted face when Brand announced the demise of Dominic’s diaper. Khitti, however, was used to it by now and merely waved her hand towards the satchel she’d carried with her to the shore, “Stuff’s over there. And you know, you’re right, Brand. He -does- do a good impression of you--he’s as full of it as you are.” Cue innocent Khitti grin.

Getting back to the task at hand, the redhead peered around at the market area behind them, making sure no one was coming, before she returned her attention to the mermaid, “What the frak is going on, you… you…” Khitti realized she didn’t even know the mermaid’s name. “Nemona,” the newly recovered mermaid replied. “Right. Yes. Nemona. What the frak is going on? What made you sick? I’ve seen that type of stuff before but…” Khitti shuddered, knowing that stuff looked a hell of a lot like that black gunk she was spewing up only days before she died.

“Blood’s spilled into the water in the east, coming down through the river. It’s mortal, but it’s putrid. It’s made a lot of the other seaborn on that side sick and I only managed to get it after some family from over there made their way this way.” Khitti frowned as Nemona explained, “I might not know much about dark magic, but I’ve been around your ship long enough to know what it feels like--and this was definitely it.”

Khitti nodded, a pensive look crossing her features, “I’ll send my people in the warrior’s guild there to have things checked out. You better get back in the water before you dry up.” As Brand tended to Dominic, the redhead helped the still weakened mermaid back over to the ocean, “And thanks, Nemona.” The mermaid nodded wearily in return, then head back into the depths to warn the rest of her family and friends.