*waves* Hi! Hello! Today is Friday, which means another update. This is the last chapter before the epilogue! I wanted to split it up a bit more but I couldn't really figure out a good place to do that, so here's this whole chunk. I had a clear scene in my head for this but I don't know how well it came across in writing; I hope you like it though! :)

A small notice; I'm taking the ACT next Tuesday so I might not upload the epilogue then. I'll do it Monday or Wednesday, most likely. 

~~~

Underwater, the mercreature’s shrieking howls turn into mournful keens. Sister, they’re saying. They’re mourning me— my blood is in the water. The water churns from the force of the mercreature’s tails striking the waves, but my own tail is more than strong enough to navigate. My dark, featureless eyes spot Jasak easily. He’s struggling against the grip of a gleeful mercreature, kicking and tugging, but the mercreature isn’t phased as she continues to drag him down. I twist and push myself after them, forcing myself faster and faster. I snatch him out of her arms and she makes a surprised cry, but I ignore her and propel myself towards the surface, hoping it’s not too late. Jasak is limp, now, and his head flops against my shoulder as I burst out of the waves. I make it high enough to reach the rail, Jasak rolling out of my arms and flopping onto the deck. Unbalanced, I fall after him, my tail slapping uselessly against the deck.

“What.”

It’s said in a flat, hard tone. I look up, pushing myself up onto my elbows, and see Sterling standing there, her arms folded. She makes a small gesture, and Feroc and Tyrian come out of the gathered crowd. Tyrian avoids my eyes as he goes to Jasak, gently bending over him and helping him sit up. I’m relieved to see that Jasak coughs a few times and expels seawater from his lungs, but is otherwise none the worse for wear. Tyrian supports him gently, but Feroc—

Feroc picks me up off the deck, his arms tight around my torso, trapping my hands behind my back. I thrash, panicked, and Icantre comes forward and grabs my tail, using all of her strength to keep it immobile. My gills flutter frantically in the too-dry air but their grip stops me from changing.

“Please,” I gasp out, wheezing. “Please don’t—“

“Why,” Sterling says, cutting me off, still with that flat, hard tone. She’s the only one who will look at me; Jasak’s staring at his hands, Tyrian is avoiding my eyes guiltily, Maylene’s eyes are brimming with tears.

“I didn’t— I didn’t mean to lie to you,” I choke. “You just— assumed— that I was human—“

“Why did you do it!” Sterling shouts.

The air rasps against my gills. I can’t answer her, I can’t breathe, I can’t, I can’t—

I flounder in a sudden blast of water. When my eyes clear through the haze, I see someone standing there with a now-empty bucket of seawater. Jasak, of course.

I meet his eyes, try to explain with my gaze what I meant, but he looks away from me and hands the bucket off to someone else.

I swallow. “I… I really didn’t mean to lie to you. I’m sorry.”

Sterling grits her teeth. “Then why bring us all the way here? Why sic your sisters on us after all your talks of peace?”

“I— like you said, I have sisters too,” I stammer out. “I thought, maybe, if you came all the way here, you could talk to Silvyre, clear everything up.”

Sterling rears back. “Silvyre?”

“The mercreature queen,” I explain. “She is one of my sisters. She could tell you that you’re wrong, there’s no way she has your sister, or that she took her.”

“I am not wrong,” Sterling snaps. “Your queen has her. I know it.”

I shake my head. “No, there’s no way. I’m sorry. The only person who wasn’t born in the kingdom was me, and I’m not—“

“Well, well, well,” a voice says, startling us. Sterling’s gaze focuses over my shoulder, into the water, and her face forms a snarl. Feroc and Icantre don’t turn enough for me to see, but I know that voice— would know it anywhere.

“Silvyre!” I call. 

“Zoelaira,” she hisses back, and I have a front row seat of Sterling’s face blanching.

Feroc and Icantre finally turn far enough for me to see both Silvyre and Sterling in my view, staring at each other in a tense tableau. 

When Silvyre speaks again, it’s not to me, her eyes locked on Sterling. “So. You’ve finally figured it out, have you? Come to steal her away from me.”

“You stole her first!” Sterling snarls.

“Whoa, hold on, nobody’s stealing anyone!” I cry, wrenching an arm from Feroc’s grip and holding it up placatingly, ignoring the burning dryness in my gills. Maylene splashes me with another bucket of seawater and I shoot her a thankful glance before returning my attention to the scene in front of me.

“Silvyre,” I continue, “tell Sterling it’s not true. Tell her that you didn’t take her younger sister. Tell her the truth!”

Silvyre stays silent, her tail thrashing against the waves. I fall limp in Feroc’s arms, and he grunts against my sudden dead weight.

“…Silvyre?” I whisper. “You— it’s not true, right? You didn’t…”

“What do you want me to say?” Silvyre growls at me. “That I didn’t take what was offered freely by their foolish human king? That I didn’t take what was promised me, what was mine?”

“She was not given freely!” Sterling shouts, but my gaze has tunneled to Silvyre.

“How could you? She was just a child!” I cry. “I demand that you give her back! We— we don’t take humans as payment!”

“Oh, you demand it of me, hmm?” Silvyre says intensely, her eyes narrowing to dangerous slits. “You demand that I, your queen, follow your wishes?”

“You are not her queen, though, are you?” Sterling says to Silvyre, suddenly quiet. Silvyre lifts her lip in a fanged snarl, but stays silent.

“Zoey does not answer to any creature of the sea, queen or not,” Sterling continues, her voice rising in intensity. “She answers to the queen of land. And that, Silvyre, is me.”

“You cannot take her from me,” Silvyre hisses desperately. “You have no power here.”

Sterling takes two slow, measured steps to the rail of the ship, smiling, but not kindly. “But I do,” she says conversationally. “This is no ordinary ship, Silvyre. I had it made as soon as my father told me what really happened to my sister.” She runs her finger along the edge of the rail tantalizingly. “This ship,” she continues, “is made from wood gathered from the heart of my kingdom. It repels any and all true creatures of the sea. You and your citizens are not welcome here, Silvyre. Nor will you ever be.”

Silvyre hisses, long and low and vicious. “If we cannot get aboard your ship, then we will bring it to us.”

Silvyre lets out a keening call, the sound echoing and bouncing across the water. Above water, it’s a horrid, shrieking sound; but I know what it would sound like beneath the waves. Sisters, it calls, help me. Bring these humans down.

As Maylene douses me with another bucket of water, I find my voice.

“Silvyre! Stop!” I call to her, thrashing in Feroc and Icantre’s arms. Surprised by my sudden movements, they drop me, and I use their hesitation to my advantage and lug myself over to the rail. I grasp the bars and lean over the side. “Silvyre, don’t do this! They’re innocent!”

“Innocent?” Silvyre hisses. “They’re humans. All humans are guilty.”

“Not these,” I argue. “They have been kind to me. All they want is Sterling’s sister back. You understand that, don’t you? Please, Silvyre. Just— just give her back.”

Silvyre narrows her eyes. “You want her returned so badly?”

“Yes.”

“Then fine,” she snarls. “You’ll get your wish, Zoelaira. Enjoy your humans. I hope it was worth it.” With a final thrash of her tail, Silvyre disappears. 

The water stops churning.

The ship stops rocking.

Everything is still, and silent, and… wrong.

“Silvyre!” I call. “You need to fulfill your bargain!”

Silence. Not even a slight wavering in the steady pattern of the waves.

“…Silvyre?” I call again. “You… you need to…”

“She already did,” Sterling says from behind me, and I flop gracelessly off the rail and onto the main deck of the ship. Feroc picks me up again, though this time not to restrain me, simply to hold my torso off the deck. 

“You might want to shift back for this conversation,” he mutters in my ear. 

I pull Jasak’s waterlogged coat a little tighter around myself as I will my tail to turn back into legs. It shimmers and splits, shrinking and receding until once more I stand on two wobbly, fleshy appendages. The Eagle’s crew watches the change with fascination.

“So you can change at will, not just when you’re in the water,” Sterling comments. 

“I mean, yeah, but that’s not what you wanted to talk about, is it?” I reply. “Before you start yelling at me, let me just say I’m sorry. I know you’ve been looking for your sister since forever and I thought I could help but I think I just made everything worse and—“

“Whoa, wait, hold on,” Sterling says, holding up a hand under the onslaught of my panicked words. “Nobody’s going to yell at you. Well, maybe Feroc, but that’s only because he gets loud when he’s excited.”

“Guilty!” Feroc confirms, and I don’t even have to be looking at him to know he’s grinning.

“Why wouldn’t you yell?” I say sadly. “I messed it all up. You lost your sister, and I—“

“—You are right where you’re supposed to be,” Sterling says firmly, yet kindly. “Haven’t you figured it out yet?”

I look at her, bewildered. “Figured what out?”

Sterling laughs. “You are my sister, Zoey. You’re my Zoelaira.”

“But I— surely I— I’m a mercreature!” I burst out.

Sterling shakes her head. “A spell, I’m sure. We could probably reverse it with enough time if you wanted, but—“

“No!” I burst out. “No, I want to keep my tail. Please.”

Sterling raises her hands placatingly. “Nobody’s going to make you do anything you don’t want to, Zo. That includes…” She takes a deep breath. “That includes making you stay on board. I don’t think the mercreature queen would take kindly to you coming back, but we could drop you off anywhere you wanted. You could catch a ship to anywhere in the world— go up north to Zentara, where nobody’s ever even heard the word mercreature before, or down south, to Myasi… wherever you wanted, we’d help you get there.”

“And… if I wanted to stay here? With you and your crew?” I say tentatively, and Sterling breaks out into a great, beaming smile.

“Then you would be welcome as long as you like.”

~~~

~Starseeker 

Hey y'all! I decided to update the epilogue on Wednesday rather than today, because today has just been... not great. And I also haven't finished the bonuses just yet, and I'd like to upload them at the same time. So! I'm just replying to your comments.

@Wreeboo, I think 'awww' is a good reaction to have! I was aiming for a sweet ending to this tumultuous story, and sounds like I nailed it. :) Also, is your location a reference to Ranger's Apprentice? I seriously love those books! They were the first series that I ever bought and I'll always have a soft spot for them. My favourite character is Alyss. Or Halt! (I like all of them, though.)

@Aza, ahhh I'm glad you liked it! :D

@Peregrine, aww that's so sweet of you to say! You're good on the age range thing; I can totally respect that. And yep, looks like Kitten linked that for you! I started writing that novel when I was 10 years old. It went through a few rewrites before the version you see on that thread, but that's still the version I wrote when I was... 12? 13? I started posting it here when I was 13. It was the beginning of my eighth grade year. Looking back now as a 16 year old junior in high school, my writing style has changed a lot. But I'll always be grateful that I wrote it, even if it's not the best example of my writing ever.

@Kitten, I'm glad you liked it too! It was... yeah, wow, it was a long time ago! I finished writing it around April 2019 and just haven't touched it since. We're coming up on 2 years since its completion, much less its starting date!

@Quill, good, I'm glad it came across well! I actually had some trouble writing that scene and phrasing it, so it's good that it apparently worked out.

@whoever posted an anonymous comment, this goes out to all of y'all. I maybe would have quit writing long ago if it wasn't for your guys' encouraging comments. Even just leaving a comment saying "I love this!" or a smiley face keeps me going. I'll always be so grateful for you guys! <3

~Starseeker 

Hey y'all! Sorry I didn't update yesterday like I said I would; I actually ended up making the bonus content for too long and missed the chance. But it's only 1 day late, so that's an improvement from 3 months! First up, the epilogue; then I'll upload the bonus content and open the Q&A.

~~~

EPILOGUE

One Year Later

“Incoming, Captain!” Icantre shouts as I leap on board, transitioning my tail into a pair of legs and ducking into a roll as I hit the deck. I rise to my feet, pulling Jasak’s coat tighter around me with the use of long practice. I had offered to give it back to him, but, well—

“I like seeing you in my coat,” he says into my ear, coming up behind me to give me a hug. I turn in his arms and grin widely at him, flashing just a little extra fang for effect. He lets me go and I turn back to the main deck, lifting the bag I dropped when I jumped the on deck. I hand it to Sterling as she walks up.

“You were right, this is a great shipwreck,” I tell her. “Lots of treasure, including—“ I gesture grandly— “enough unmarked gold that we don’t even have to go through Morrowmist and Chamarys to sell it.”

“Thanks, Zo,” Sterling replies. “This will go a long way towards financing our campaign.”

Sterling, the crew, and I have been gathering support for the Griffon royal family for the past year or so. Turns out, more than a handful of the populace is unhappy with the ‘imposter king’, as Sterling’s dubbed the man who now sits on our family throne. We’ve been sailing across the kingdom, causing general mayhem within the king’s navy and gathering money and support for our eventual overthrow of the kingdom. For now, we’ve made a name of ourselves; the last of the king’s ships we boarded took one look at our distinctive striped sail and surrendered.

The general population, however, has a much different view. The last time we sailed into port to trade some of our gathered treasure for new provisions, we were legitimately cheered. It’s… a huge change for me, honestly. As a citizen of Silvyre’s kingdom, I was always cursed by sailors and reviled in human parents’ tales to their children. But as a member of Sterling’s crew, I share in their praises. It was an adjustment at first, but now I’ve even gotten a bit of a reputation of my own. The Raven, they call me. Probably for my hair, but— well, if my eyes tend to go a little black during a swordfight, who’s to tell?

All in all, it’s been one heck of a journey. But I wouldn’t have it any other way. 

~~~

Told you it was short! I hope you enjoyed it, though. Thank you all for coming on this writing journey with me-- I've mentioned this before but I can't say it enough: y'all are so motivating and I love reading your comments. <3

And now, the bonus content! I drew each of the characters (minus Zoey, she'll come later in the week) as they appear in the story. In order from top to bottom, right to left, they are: Jasak, Sterling, Icantre, Maylene, Melise, Feroc, Tyrian, and Silvyre. Fun facts about Silvyre: she's actually supposed to be a doppleganger of Sterling (for some reason), but with the human vs mercreature difference I don't know if it came off that way. (A note: I'm not sure what the image quality will be like, so if you want to see any of them closer let me know!)

Additionally! If you've been here through the other stories (or read through this whole thread, in which case I applaud you), you'll know that at the end of the stories I usually do a Q&A. This one's no different-- ask away! You can ask about character backstories, specific events in the story, characters who weren't in the epilogue (or characters who were), my writing process or the inspiration for parts of the story-- pretty much anything you wondered while reading the story or thought of as you read this post. You don't have to ask anything if you don't want, but I'll answer it if you do.

I hope you're having a good day! <3

~Starseeker 

Sorry, Starseeker, but no picture was attached. - Admin