"B—Breeder!?"
Meara nodded, biting into the cooked fish and savoring its unique flavor.
"This 'is' good!" she remarked "Usually, all I eat is raw fish."
Knowing Kiandra's personality, she got up and put out the fire and urged him to follow her back to the village. The whole reason why they came out here in the first place, was to test if Kiandra was a faery. He did fall from the sky, so she needed to be certain that he was a mortal and not a member of the Tuatha de Danann.
"Come, let's return back to the village." she tells him "I promise that we will find a way for you to go home. You just need to be patient for right now."
"Wait up!" Kiandra cried out. He was filled with so many questions that needed answering "Meara! What do you mean by Breeder!? Do you mean like farming or raising?"
"You are a Breeder." she told him again "I heard that you bonded with an Egg."
"Egg?!" he asked "Wait...how did you know!? What exactly are in those eggs?"
"Hurry along!" her tone threatening "The sun is setting, and it is very dangerous to be outside at night!"
"Meara!" he yelled out her name "Please tell me, what is inside those eggs!" as there was nothing inside the Egg that exploded in the dwelling that he was sharing.
"A baby of course." she smiled back at him.
"A b—aby!? Like, a real baby!?" he yelled, terrified. His Egg didn't have a baby inside. If it did, it would have devastated him.
"Of course!" she nodded "All Merrows lay eggs."
'But...but there wasn't a baby inside! I swear, it was empty!'
Once again, regret flooded inside his heart as he had destroyed not a relic, but a baby's home! He then thought of all the women in the village, tending to the eggs. It was finally clear to him: he was in a Merrow village...not a primitive Human village!
"I—I can't hatch eggs!" he told her, still overwhelmed "I—I am a man."
"Maybe I should first explain our customs to you." Meara urged Kiandra not to dottle "As you have already notice, there are no male Merrows in Murias. We are a species that evolved solely to gestate the Spirits in the ocean. Our wombs are specifically designed to secrete calcium carbonate around the Spirit, encasing them inside an Egg. When it is finally time to lay the Egg, the Egg continue to grow in the shallows, maturing with the Spirit inside."
"But I am not a Merrow!" he complains "I cannot hatch an Egg!"
"Any Merrow can Produce an Egg, but Breeders are especially rare. We only have two Breeders in our entire village at this moment." she then told him plainly "A person who awakens the Spirit inside the Egg, must hatch it regardless of their gender or species. The Egg will make it possible for them to care for the Spirit, within. So please, do not worry."
'Well...' Kiandra worried '...if that is the case. Then I made an unforgivable mistake!'
Meara stopped walking, glancing down at Kiandra as she could sense that he was struggling with something that had turned his arrogant spirit into one of regret and remorse. She laid her hands upon his shoulders as she softly said to him.
"Please do not worry yourself over this, Kiandra." she softly told him "I completely understand that if you cannot accept our traditions and customs; I can speak to the Queen on your behalf. Ask her to be lenient, and pardon you. You are not being forced to make this decision...I only ask that you consider it carefully before making your final decision."
"You—" he softly said, ashamed of himself "You are aware that I took one of the eggs from the shallows?" she nodded her head.
"I am." she softly said "That is why I know that you are a Breeder. You somehow managed to awaken the Spirit inside the Egg. I am sorry if my people treated you so strangely at that moment, I do wish that I was there for you. For my kind, you see: Breeders are something rather divine and revered."
"Maybe—" he rationalized "Maybe I can return the Egg back to its—"
"Absolutely not!" she scolded him.
'Guess it would be kind of hard to return fragments back to the Merrows.' He was certain that the Merrows in the village had already found the carnage of the exploded egg. It is quite likely that once he arrives, even Meara will not be able to stop their divine wrath.
"M—aybe it won't be all that bad." he worried "Besides, there is no way for me to return home at this moment." He wandered for a moment longer as Meara gave him room to breathe "Uhm, Meara, what happens if an Egg is rejected by a Breeder? Does it go bad?"
"It turns to water, returning back to the Source." she answers.
"I see." He gulped.
"Do not be afraid, Kiandra." she held him softly in her arms "There is no rush in making a decision right now. Give it time, think it over tonight. Tell me your answer tomorrow."
"O—okay." he said 'That is, if they do not murder me before sunset! Maybe I should just tell her what happened? Maybe she could explain to them that I did not intend to kill it!' He began crying as he did not have the heart to tell her that.
"Come...I will take you back to the village." she offered her hand for him to take.
"There is no need to get yourself involved, Meara!" He mourned, not wanting her to also take the blame for what he selfishly did. "I'll go back and face the people in the village. Besides, I am almost certain that they will be looking forward to locking me up when they see me once again."
'He is acting very strange!' Meara watched the young man walking like he was on deaths door. His head hung low.
"Kiandra Muirgen." she said his full name, needing answers from him. She grabbed his arm gently as he finally broke down.
"I am so sorry!" he wailed.
"Kiandra, being a Breeder doesn't mean that you have to get married to a Merrow." She told him "When I held your pearl, I saw that you were scared of commitment, because of what your parents had done to you. You feel guilty that you cannot bring life into this world. Please, do not force yourself into commitment."
"I—I do not have a clue what you are talking about!" he stepped away from her "I—I was only worried about what would happen if we were caught! You did break me out of jail, remember! We had to sneak out of the village and avoid detection! A convict does not normally return to the prison that he had broken out of, just to stay the night!"
"I suppose you have a point." she sighed 'It is getting late!'
'Besides, I cannot let her see what I have done to that egg!' Kiandra's mind went on the offensive 'And I most certainly cannot become a Breeder! If we go together into the village, then, whatever punishment I am going to suffer...they will do the same to her! I...I can't allow her to be harmed! I need her to guide me out of this world.' he held his head as it ached once more 'Aahh! My mind is so boggled down with so much turmoil...I think it will explode!'
"Okay." she softly said, forcing him out of his panic attack "Then this is what we will do." she took off her precious cowl and draped it over Kiandra's shoulders. She had expected something dramatic to happen once the enchanted garment enveloped him, but to her surprise...nothing happened. In fact, the cowl adjusted to his height.
'Well, I must admit that was surprising!' she pondered.
"Use this cohuleen druith to sneak back into the village." she tells him "I will go to the shallow's and distract the Keepers. And Kiandra! Please do not leave the village! It isn't safe outside at night! Especially for a Breeder."
Kiandra nodded as he silently hid in the bushes and watched as Meara walked over to the other Merrows who were sheltering the Egg's for the night. His brown eyes glanced at the shimmering water as visions of comfort, home, safety, and forgiveness flooded his mind. He could sense that the water was alive! It was a feeling that scared him, as he never felt that way about the ocean before.
[Greetings, Caelan.] Meara spoke in the Merrows language to the four Keepers of the Eggs, with Caelan being the one that Kiandra took the egg from—leading the group [How have the waters been treating our young?]
[Ah!] Caelan smiled [High Priestess! Welcome home! Have you heard!? Aisling has finally hatched after so long!]
[A—Aisling!?] she remarked, looking for Aisling's beautiful blue scaly egg [Really!? Who was the Breeder who had hatched her?! I thought that she was wasn't able to be Hatched by any of our Breeders?!] she dismissed her curiosity as she then asked of Caelan [Come, share your information with the Queen! I also want to hear all about it.]
[Yes, High Priestess!] the Keepers said as they then followed Meara back towards the village.
Kiandra shadowed them back to the village, careful not to be spotted by the Keepers. When he came into the village's heart, the cell block that he was housed in was located on the other side of the courtyard. He could stick to the trees, but if spotted, he would most certainly be ruled out as a spy!
So, draping the red hood over his head, and hiding his face within, he calmly walked towards the hut on stilts. He could see that the locals had put the wooden ramp back in place, and the door was cracked open.
'They have seen it!' he gulped, mortified.
He was certain that maybe those Keepers were telling Meara of what they had discovered, and his hope of freedom would be stolen from him this night.
He walked ever so gingerly over to the hut, keeping an eye out for danger. His gaze was then met by a tall woman dressed in a beautiful white dress decorated with white shimmering pearls. She too wore a red cohuleen druith, but unlike the other people in the village, she wore a silver crowd that spoke of her royal position in the village. And had strange marking on her forehead.
'Th—at must be their leader! Not good!' as he quickly turned away from her gaze. Even diverting, and taking the scenic route to the cell.
***
Her eyes tracked the tiny figure dressed under a cohuleen druith. And when the figure walked up the ramp, she pondered privately to herself.
"So...that must be the one who fell from the stars." she remarked to herself "Interesting that it can also so easily wear our enchantment. Very interesting!"
She rose from the wooden steps and walked towards a structure made of wood and neatly decorated in gems from the flowing streams and the tidal bay.
***
Slowly creaking the door open, Kiandra peered inside to see that no one else was in there. He glanced at the shards of the egg embedded in the walls and scattered chaotically across the floor as everything was left as he had previously left it.
"Whew!" he breathed a big sigh of relief. He slowly drew back the hood of the cohuleen druith and looked all around. It looked like a crime scene inside!
The enchanted fire continued to burn warmly as he stood in the ruins of the shattered Egg. Regret had him picking up all the pieces, and placing them all in the torn-up red blanket. He kept the red cloak over his body as even with the fire, the cold of the approaching night was pouring in through the window and opened door.
He stood there, looking at the strange blue orbs of shimmering light that seemed to surround him. He walked to one side of the building, and the orbs seemed to stop for a moment until new orbs of blue light seemed to escape his body and shimmer all around him once more.
"What is this stuff!?" he asked the walls as he lifted his hand and watched blue orbs of light seeping out of his skin and floating upwards slowly.
'It is just like the weird lights that surrounded Meara's body!' he pondered its meaning.
"Augh...maybe this is part of my divine punishment!?" he mourned, accepting the strange illusion "Guess it is far better than being dead! Why haven't they arrested me or murdered me yet? I am almost certain that their leader already knew that I did this! What are they waiting for!?"
He knelt down beside the blue Fae fire, looking at the pile of broken shards of Egg shells resting in the red blanket. He pulled them closer as he wrapped the blanket into a ball and cradled it in his lap.
'So, this is what empty-nest syndrome feels like.' cradling the broken egg.
"I am in so much trouble!" he cried as he held the ball of cloth and shell "Please forgive me, little one! I am so sorry that I couldn't protect you!"
"I wonder what those Keepers are saying to her?" he pondered "I could not understand a single word that they said. It sounded like gibberish to me! I, however, must admit that the way that they all bowed towards Meara—she seems to be someone of great authority." He wrapped the ball in the cohuleen druith as he pulled the hood back over his head to stay warm.
'I should explain myself to her in the morning.' he thought.
"In the morning..." he muttered, his tears dripping on the ball of shards and torn-up blanket. A moment later, his tears all turned into blue light and disappeared as if never shed. "I am actually going to be sleeping here in the Otherworld tonight! Is this now my life?"
"How do I fix something that cannot be compensated with money or promises!?" he asked himself, tears flowing from his eyes "I screwed up big time! I cannot fix this...I took a life all because I only cared about was that accused pearl!" he cried out, praying.
"God! If there is a way to fix this...then please! I beg of you, allow me!" He did not want to hurt Meara anymore. She was the first person—although fish too—that actually cared for him. She did not see him as a wealthy O'Sullivan...she saw him as just redeemable Kiandra...someone who could be forgiven for his sins.
***
Time had eventually slipped by as all the shimmering blue lights had concentrated around his belly. It caused his skin to shimmer in a faint blue-green glow as he slept peacefully, wrapped in the red cohuleen druith.
The vibration of footsteps had disturbed him from his slumber as he slowly awakened to a noise coming from inside the cell.
"Mmmm...." he murmured, groaning. His belly was certainly in a disagreement with him "...my face...it feels swollen. What time is it, I wonder?" When Kiandra finally opened his eyes wide enough to see, he came face-to-face with a grinning Caelan.
"Eeek!" he screamed, quite girly "Its...it's you!"
'Oh no!' as some of the shells had escaped from the cloth. And without the presence of an Egg in sight, this felt like the moment had finally arrived: judgement day!
Caelan knelt down beside him, cradling Kiandra as he had to admit that this was the strangest form of capital punishment that he had ever seen. She drew back the red hood of the cohuleen druith and then leaned forward as if she was going to kiss him!
"Wh—what are you doing!?" he asked of the mermaid as she seemed overly compassionate tonight. "Please stop!" as he pushed her away. Caelan did not take the hint, as 'playing' hard to get was something that drives Merrows into a deep lust.
She tried singing to him in her language, occasionally licking his body as Kiandra cried out in horror and tried to get away from her. The swirling of blue orbs of light engulfed them as Caelan's song was intoxicating to only her ears. The pearl in Kiandra's possession protected him from her seductive Siren Song.
He felt a stabbing pain in his leg as crimson blood flowed from the wound. He looked across the room as the combined energy from him and Caelan had somehow turned her back into a Merrow.
She stared at him like a predator staring at its prey, crawling towards him with her scaly arms as Kiandra knew that if he wanted to live for the remainder of tonight, then he would have to break Meara's one rule and go outside!
Stay here, and it is likely that Caelan will steal his virginity from him.