The Little Water Elf

22- Breathe

「Breathe.
Breathe.
Callum, you need to breathe,
you just need to breathe sweetie. 」

The trip had started normally.

It wasn't as if they hadn't travelled this route before, and it wasn't as if anything had been out of the ordinary in the days leading up to the incident.

Then, shortly after departure, the weather seemed to shift.

The skies had been a crystal-like blue that matched the Xadian side of the seas, and no clouds were visible for miles in every direction. But then, out of nowhere, clouds began to shift in, a dark wall slowly approaching them from the human side.

The solution was simple. Viren suggested that they simply crossed over to the Xadian side, working their way around the storm.

Sarai protested, Harrow agreed.

When the winds began picking up, and the sun began setting, Sarai took Callum's hand, picked up Ezran, and brought them below deck. Ezran was only a toddler at the time, and Callum was only six.

The room she'd brought them into was decorated with several old, antique items. Several had been scavenged from shipwrecks, and taken to decorate the lower decks of the ship with a more homely feel. They were royalty, after all, they could afford it.

Thunder crashed outside, and Callum started crying.

Sarai hushed the child, setting the sleeping Ezran on a nearby couch and pulling her elder son into a warm embrace.

They made themselves comfortable on the large couch, Sarai wrapping them up in a soft quilt.

She then decided to tell him a story.

A legend, of sorts.

A story that was filled with magic, of a time before war, when everyone was at peace.

She told him a story, as well as a secret.

"Have you ever heard the tale of the little mermaid?" Sarai asked.

"No, what's it about?"

"Well," Sarai began, her arm wrapping around his shoulders and pulling him closer, "it's about a time long ago, before Katolis existed."

"Why didn't Katolis exist?"

"Because Xadia was one land," she said, "and humans and elves lived together. They didn't hate each other or fight with each other, they simply were. But there was one kind of elf that was different from the rest," Sarai explained, "these were the ocean elves."

"How were they different from the others?"

"Unlike the other elves and humans, they were connected to the ocean. Instead of legs, they all have fins. They are unable to join those on land, or dance or run or play with those without fins. They can't even draw because all of the paper would become soggy!"

"That's horrible!"

"Once, there was an ocean elf who watched those on land with fascination. Out of all elves, it was said that those of the sea were the most beautiful, and had voices that could enchant any living thing. This was due to the ocean's magic, a kind rimmed with mystery."

"But aren't the oceans dangerous? We can't go to Xadia because of them."

"It wasn't always like that. Once, during a storm, this little mermaid discovered a ship that had been struck by lightning, and a human that had fallen into the sea. He had hit his head and fallen unconscious, and the riptide was pulling him to the bottom of the sea. Fearing for the boy's life, she dragged him to the surface, and traveled several miles to the nearest shore in order to save him. Fearing the land above, she fled back to the sea before he could awaken and see her. She waited off by the rocks to see that he was safe, and when someone had found him she returned to the sea."