SHARDS of GEMSTONES

YOUR PEACE

The oyewas say that the balance of life begins when all is born, and is destroyed when all is dead. Maintaining balance, this balance of the sea, means all must be born and all must die. The merfolk strive to create it within the gusts of clouds they call living. Culture, Mating, and Leadership form the finest examples of balance. That when they cease, all life ceases. In this trifecta, Strength, Knowledge, and Love persist. Alongside the literal functions upon the shoal, the Whali folk believe that these three also existed in ruling forms. Seers for knowledge, kingpins for leadership, and swimmers for love. The Whali folk relay a hailing legend, that if all three exist literally and figuratively, then that civilization shall become the strongest in the sea. That there would be no fighting it anymore, and that the peace of a thousand suns would rise in their glory...

"The skies would protect them, the trees will sway with them, the beasts will call for them, and the sea would kill for them." A dusky jawfish rose her webbed fingers in the air and waved them around, her smile as bright as the dawn in the sky. Her dark skin glimmered in the salty ocean, while her braided light hair was tucked into her yellow painted scarf. Her face was the peace that her child looked upon, no matter how many scars laced it's curves. No matter how many times she was called a monster, told to suffocate, told to fall ill. It never mattered, because her precious Stone was to look upon her with love.

The eggie before her rolled in his bedding, some cold and shriveled moss, as the pair rested in the cellars of the Coral shoal, hidden away. He was a coral trout, unlike his mother, but had her glimmer of brown skin with a crooked nose just like her. The light of the bay never touched her skin.

"And I'll be there first like pew pew!" Stone giggled out, coming in close to touch her wet face. He looked up, and noticed the beast of his mother smiling with tears. "Mafue?" He asked for her.

"I'm okay, Stone. Just tired." She leaned down so he could climb her neck, and onto her back. "You have been swimming for four cycles already. And I'm still tired."

"Mafue?" Stone whimpered, seeing his mother slowly stand on her weak palms, clutching the ground. He remembers, just for a moment, the sounds of his birth and the sounds of his sister's crying, thought to be stillborn but his tiny breaths drew in. Just before it faded, and his eyes glanced towards the tall towers of the Forever Coral. The branches were pink this season, and waved a dark shadow across the lands of the Coral shoal. His mother and him were outside, the brightness almost blinding the mater as she dragged her head further and further. She sat in the large clearing, surrounded by murmuring swimmers and lashing tails.

A distinct voice, one of a calming bark, came from a yellow pelted buck. He was a yellow tang, who approached to wave the crowd away. His darkened face coupled with his dark hair made it impossible to see the shimmer of his eyes. But the dusky jawfish knew him as Icefin. A guard responsible for her arrest, and jailing. The buck huffed out.

"You know you're not supposed to be out here, Arche," He spat, "Think about your egg."

She trembled, holding down her head towards him, and sniffling out some words, "I have thought about my egg. I have never thought about my life, once."

"Good. Now back to the cellar," He nudged her, "Stunts like this are stupid." His tassels and drapes shook as his tail butted her off her feet. When Arche moaned out in pain, her head immediately searched for Stone. Who had been clutching to her chest without a carrier. He breathed out with fear, she could feel it in her heart.

The crowd riled themselves up, faces she once pranced alongside had their teeth bared. Whitecap watched from the gates, face cold as he leaned to listen. Dune smiled off in the distance, enjoying the show with a warm huff. Clam sat from his den, unsure. Gull'iyt payed no mind.