By what I believed to be the following afternoon, I had developed a bit of a system. I’d leap, using the water I shot out to propel myself as far as I could, then I’d land, walk as I refilled, then leap again. It likely wasn’t as fast as being on a boat with the wind in its sails, but certainly better than simply walking, particularly as it allowed to jump over several incredibly deep canyons that dotted the underwater landscape.
I finished another leap and found myself standing above what looked almost like an underwater forest, with large plants in neat rows along the forest floor that went on for miles. The plants themselves were blue with thick leaves that had small clusters of pods randomly distributed along them.
I leapt down for a closer look, landing as far into the forest as I could manage. I got what I was looking for, but I was surprised to also see a woman standing just a few steps away from . She had light green skin, her hair short and green, reminding of grass. She stood there for a few monts, her mouth agape and showing several sharp teeth. The most surprising thing about her appearance was her tail. It was long and ended in two fins. The scales of it were mostly silver with hints of blue and purple occasionally peeking out.
I’d heard of r-folk and knew objectively that they lived in the ocean, but seeing them was rare. They didn’t speak any language people on the surface could understand, and they also didn’t seem keen on interacting with us to begin with. I was incredibly lucky to have encountered one, though it was also an encounter I was well-suited for.
We both stood there for a few monts, staring at one another. I raised my gauntlet and waved in what I hoped was a universal signal for hello. She returned the awkward gesture, and I realized that she was holding a small woven net, which held clusters of the tree-pods. I looked closer at one near and realized there was sothing swimming inside it, sothing with nurous appendages and big black eyes. They were eggs. I must’ve been in the middle of so type of farm.
The r-woman began to approach slowly. I elected not to make any sudden moves. She poked a few tis, and I could tell even from that that she was imnsely strong. Her arms were heavily muscled, likely from working on such a massive farm.
I waved again and began walking eastward, but she grabbed . I fought the instinct to pull away and instead looked at her. She let go and gestured for to follow her. I felt an urgency to continue my journey, but I was concerned that refusing her might lead to more problems than simply going along with her would.
We walked through rows and rows of plants at the slow pace I could manage walking. Eventually, I made a little leap to show her I could move faster, and she smiled a shark-toothed smile before we began making much quicker progress.
A particularly large leap landed outside of the farm, and I found myself suddenly on the edge of an underwater city. The entire place seed to be built of the sa rock plants I’d seen on the Caedun coast. Most of the buildings were do-like structures, but a few larger towers stretched to such a height that I couldn’t see the tops of them.
The r-woman shook from my reverie and gestured for to keep following. I decided not to make any more jumps as the area was so populous and busy, concerned I’d land on soone. There were r-won, n, and children, as well as nurous other undersea creatures that all seed to be living in harmony. The city itself was lit by nurous small jellyfish with bright orbs of light inside of them. I even saw several r-folk riding what looked to be a giant version of the crab-like creatures I’d seen a day earlier, though they weren’t launching themselves as I’d seen the smaller ones do.
As I was noticing them, they were noticing . Heads turned, and people started to follow us as we made our way to a structure in the center of the city. By the ti we’d reached our destination, we were leading a procession of sothing like a hundred r-folk.
On entering, I got the imdiate impression that I was in sothing equivalent to a palace or estate on land. Decorative carvings in all of the walls, precious gems lining almost everything, and I started to see pieces of wood used as decoration that could only have co from sunken ships. That made sense upon reflection. Wood would be rarer than gold underwater, particularly wood that had been worked.
I entered a large atrium and realized that the procession that had followed us had stopped doing so at the entrance. The atrium was full of the kind of treasure that would make Stone salivate. Chests full of gold and silver, beautifully cut gems that sparkled in the jellyfish light that illuminated the room, and weapons and armor in their own corner.
In the center of the room was a large r-woman flanked by two smaller r-n. My first thought was that they were guards, but judging by the way they lounged against the woman’s tail and chest respectively, I anded my impression to courtesans.
The r-woman who led there bowed and gestured to , and I responded by waving. That led to a kind of trill of delight to co from the large woman, who I decided must be their queen or whatever equivalent they had.
The queen floated over to and began to poke and prod in the sa way the original rwoman had, and they engaged in a conversation of low and high trills as she did so. By the end of it, the woman who had led there bowed, waved to , and left the room. After that, she began to make a series of gestures to . I got the impression she wanted to jump, so I made the largest one I could in the confines of the room and heard a trill of delight.
She pointed to and then pointed out an opening in the building toward so of the crab creatures and then did what I assud was a laugh. I laughed, too. I could definitely see why they’d think I was similar to that creature. I’d learned my thod of underwater locomotion from it, after all, and we both had nice, sturdy shells.
The queen then gestured for to co near a pile of armor and weapons she had in the corner. Not sure of what she wanted, I followed, and she grabbed and placed toward the center of the pile. I started to walk out of it, but she wagged a finger back and forth at . I stepped back toward the center, and she gave a positive noise in my direction, then she returned to her courtesans.
I realized then that I was ant to be a part of the collection she had here. That was not good. It was flattering, to a certain extent, but considering how much rust and old wood was also being collected, I didn’t feel like my new keeper’s tastes were very refined.
* * *
I decided to wait and think. I didn’t have much other choice. I had a feeling I could fight my way out of the imdiate room, but the city in general was very populous, and if enough of them tried, they could definitely stop from leaving. My best chance was to wait for them to sleep, but I had no idea when that would happen or even if they all slept at the sa ti. Still, it was the best option I could see available to myself.
I waited and watched, doing my best not to watch when I got a firsthand demonstration of how r-folk copulated from the queen and her consorts, but unfortunately, I couldn’t close my eyes since I didn’t have any. Eventually, they finished and settled into a post-coital rest. Their eyes were still open, but unfocused, and even while sleeping, they maintained a kind of slow, steady movent around the room.
I moved carefully, slowly extricating myself from the corner I’d been placed in. I had to step around piles of rusty old iron in order to avoid making unnecessary noise. Aside from trying to be quiet, I also wanted to make sure I didn't move too quickly, as I assud they'd have so way of feeling movent in the water, even at a distance.
One glint of shiny tal in the pile of rust around stood out. A sword, with a long, curved blade and an ornate black hilt. Despite being under a mound of rusted equipnt, it was clean and undamaged. I decided to risk grabbing it and slid it slowly from the pile it lay in. After a slight crashing noise, I went completely still as the queen montarily stirred, but she quickly drifted back into the sleep-like state she’d been in before.
I stored the sword through my faceplate and kept going, working my way toward the opening in the side of the building that led to the giant crab creature. Once I was there, I started speeding up, but not risking any leaps. I figured the amount of water it stirred up might wake my captors.
I made it outside and looked around. There weren’t any r-folk nearby, though the city was still active with other less sapient creatures. I took in water and started making leaps, bounding through the streets as fast as I could. Once I made my way out of it, I turned east, hoping to put as much distance between myself and the city of the r-folk as I possibly could.
Unfortunately, they could swim much faster than I could jump. Three reached just as I was coming over a crevasse. They slamd into my back, and I had to scramble to keep from falling straight into it.
Instead, I managed to land against the edge of the other side and pull myself back up. A rman was there to et . He jabbed at with a spear, and I wasn’t fast enough under the water to stop him. It almost knocked back over the cliffside, but I managed to regain my balance. I sucked in more water and launched myself directly at him. My speed surprised him, and I could feel sothing break as I crashed into him.
I returned to my feet and saw the other two approaching more warily. They began to swim quickly around , prodding with their spears and never staying still long enough for to grab one or launch myself at them. Realizing that they didn’t know anything about or what I was, I simply decided to collapse and play dead.
They moved closer, and as soon as I felt one of them put his hand on , I grabbed it and pulled him into an embrace. He struggled, actually shifting several tis, but I squeezed until I felt sothing snap, and he was out. The final one didn’t give a chance to stand and imdiately began stabbing at with his spear. I shot myself upward with a burst of water, catching his spear as I did so. I then yanked him toward and punched him with force amplified by shooting water out of the seam behind my elbow plate. He was launched several yards before his body settled onto the ground.
I approached the one that I'd killed. I'd have preferred not to have needed to kill any of them, but I was in their territory, and I couldn't hold back the sa way I was able to with my land-based opponents. The dead one also represented a rare opportunity. No one had ever been granted the chance to learn more about the r-n in the way I had, and it felt right to take this chance to learn more. I hesitated for a mont before giving in, then opened myself to consu him.
This ti felt different. I felt a brief rush of incredibly alien thoughts and emotions, but rather than feeling overwheld as I had previously, I was in control. I felt all of the partial essence I'd eaten crash against , but it quickly fell in line like a wave crashing against a rocky beach. I was able to go through and analyze what I'd absorbed rather than integrating directly into myself.
I gained an imdiate understanding of the r-folk language and culture. It was matriarchal and caste-based, with a focus on pleasing those who ruled. The one I'd eaten was born and raised to be a warrior from a young age, blindly following the queen without ever having many thoughts of his own beyond how he might serve her. The city I'd seen was one of many scattered along the ocean floor, each with its own rulers and cultures, many of whom the young r I'd eaten had fought against.
I wanted to keep sorting through the essence, but not wanting to wait for more pursuers, I began continuing my trek east. I made a ntal note to avoid this part of the ocean on my way back. Even if I could speak the language, I doubted I'd have any serious chance at diplomacy at this point.
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