Chapter 2:

The room was silent for a moment before Mariano gurgled out another raspy tone, shaking his head.

The small crowd watched in fascination. Angelique quickly began issuing orders, “Give this guest a slate—no, an apaviri¹ board!”

After a quick demonstration by a scholar makavyarush, Mariano spelled out a basic “Where am I? Who are you? How did I get here?” The board was quickly snatched up by the same scholar and presented to the Katarva-to-be. She practically clapped her fins together in delight, eyes bright with excitement.

“I recognise these symbols,” she turned to the makavyarush around her, “Don’t you see? These are glyphs we’ve found in ruins in far Oestre! Do you all realise what this could mean?” The group nodded, Angelique’s excitement bleeding into them. Everyone started to look at Mariano a little differently now that he could perhaps be a crucial asset to understanding the Forgotten Languages. However, hovering just outside the vadishe lie Charles-Danté, fins flat and laurelle² puffed out in distrust. Just how much could this strange creature truly offer the Katarvarate? And where had it come from? What were its intentions?

Who was this deformed-looking Merusian?

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¹ - a type of aquatic “paper” crafted from plant or animal fibres

² - Essentially a fin resembling a mane, similar to the pectoral fin on betta fish

I have chapter 3 all typed out (sorry chapter 2 was so short), so I'll have that posted sometime very soon. We're gonna finally get some into the fun stuff~

Chapter 3:

After a few clumsy exchanges, with Mariano futilely gesturing upwards (or where he assumed was upwards), the scholars seemed to realise Mariano’s predicament, and began discussing ways to bring the creature to the surface. Startled, they began to consider that perhaps he was indeed a Sorovinyat of sorts, needing to resurface to breathe? Anyhow, it was eventually settled upon that as one of the most capable and trustworthy, Charles-Danté should be the one to do the job. Despite his initial reluctance, he was able to swallow his concerns when his sister encouraged him to “escort the guest,” speedily lugging the half-conscious Mariano onto his back. They then shot through the labyrinth of vadishe, vahtor and twisting corridors and up to the surface.

It was only after breaking the surface that Mariano finally felt less heavy-headed and could finally see clearly without his vision smarting. His dark skin glinted like kei-tian¹ in the afternoon sun, and his eyes caught the water in such a way that he never expected to be so relieved at the sight of waves—from the upside that was—nor the sight of storm clouds. Finally readjusting, Mariano turned to behold the savatri² who had saved him in bringing him to the surface. He gasped slightly, taking in how stunningly beautiful this creature—no, person—was. Even with his aloof, slightly cross expression Charles-Danté looked like he had donned a gorgeous maksha³ and was still a vibrant collage of red and yellows; scales swirled with wisps of gold, spine and fin tips glowing slightly in the dying sunlight. Indeed, the scene before him seemed magical, like a Daashiy⁴’s oil painting, with the waning warmth of the sun visibly fading into a lovely soup of colours, filling the clouds and calm wave-tops with little fractured pieces of beauty. Very suddenly was Mariano incredibly aware of his own bedraggled appearance and lack of a maksha, which caused him to subconsciously hold on tighter to the Merougian. Charles spouted a tired stream of water and gestured into the water. Mariano’s stomach twisted, but he nodded and pressed himself close against Charles-Danté’s back, making the latter tense up briefly. It only took a split second for him to recover, though, and he dove beneath the glassy surface once more.

Returning from the surface, Mariano felt much better. His head no longer throbbed, and his body now felt clear and springy. Despite his lack of mobility, he was actually fairly comfortable. The Merougians even provided him with a place to sleep and his own makeshift torch, a rod with a radiant rock that cast light. With that he was able to fully see the lovely patterns and colours of Merougians that attended to him, but none came even close to the beauty of the savatri. All except for the Katarva, who shared the vermillion and golden hues, although there were also purple and blue patches in the ocean of red. She, in particular, seemed keen on interacting with him in her sparse free time. He had no idea what exactly what she wanted from him, but he could tell she was their leader, and they were treating him alright, so he wasn’t going to protest.

And so Mariano went on living, essentially tutored until he was somewhat fluent in Merougian, and then in every other subject available. He didn’t mind. In fact, it was exhilarating to gain all this knowledge, even if he was strictly kept tabs on and probed for any information possible. It was well worth the trade-off.

However, every now and then, he would get this feeling. This nagging feeling that something was wrong—that something important needed to be tended to. After all, except his name, ability to talk/spell and vague memories of the surface, he felt as though everything in his mind was terribly cloudy. Only snatches of his previous life seemed to exist, even as he lived in paradise below the surface.

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¹ - A valuable dark-coloured type of rock in Shaenyu

² - Brood-member of the Katarva who will not take the katash; essentially a Prince or Princess (in that their parents are royal, and their siblings are too), but without any line of succession

³ - A type of mask that many Shaenyu cultures wear for visual appeal (it is practically unheard of in those places to not wear a maksha in public; similar to clothing in that regard)

⁴ - A Master, nearly always of high-status and with much influence

*** Note: Merusian is the general word for any sentient aquatic animal. Merougian is the word anyone born/annexed into the Katarvarate of Merouge. Merlasian is the classification of creatures that Angelique, Charles-Danté and much of the Royal Court are, which are separate from the Sorovinyat, which are not typically intelligent/are more “animalistic” than Merlasians. Merpeople(maids, men, meti) is the land-dweller word for humanoid Merougians. To be completely honest, this was unintentional, but I just realised how confusingly all of these have been used already, so here you go: comprehensiveness +10. Please let me know if any further clarification is needed. ***