I was surprised by how quickly part one was read and commented on! I was also surprised by some of the stuff I've been ruminating on made its way into this story. I really appreciate the comments! The one questioning how our protagonist started his fire made me laugh. It was merely not mentioned, similar to not noting characters going to the bathroom. Let me know what you think about the direction this part has gone. Originally, I was going to give it an unhappy ending, and you can see the seeds I planted for that in part one, but I'm a sucker. Enjoy, comment!
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Seawater Pours From My Heart: The Cache of Apples
We spoke no more of my future on the island nor about children.
I started on converting my cave into a home, as long as I'd remain there. I scrounged stones to build another fire pit in the grotto. I gathered useful looking sticks and more sizable leaves to fashion bedding out of.
"Where do you usually sleep?," I asked the mermaid after my last haul. She swam in a circle and then submerged under the pool for a moment. "So you will take me up on my offer after all?"
She nodded with a grin expounding such preciousness I had to kiss her.
"I will be at your side as long as I have you," she told me through the kiss.
"I spent the rest of the day gathering whatever seemed useful lying about the island and stockpiling it in my cave. It was mostly just promising stones and sturdy sticks that could be made into new spears. There was no sign of any man made materials; no refuse or things drifted by the sea onto the beach. Only seashells dotted the golden sand that spanned the circumference of the island. I picked a couple singular beauties to present to my singular beauty.
I dressed, to Mana's displeasure when she saw me again. I shrugged, not wholly native yet. It was nice to have a shield against the sun as well. I showed her the shells, one pure as porcelain and the other red as her eyes. Whether she was feigning gratitude, I could not tell, for a shell to a creature of the sea was likely a common find. She smiled with all her teeth regardless and examined the shells closely before setting them down. She motioned for me to lean close, for a kiss of conversation.
"I thank you. They are beautiful. I will go hunt more fish for tonight," she said through the quick meeting of our lips.
"Happy hunting, dear. I'll meet you back at the cave."
I deposited the rest of my findings in the corner of the cave. The best of the leaves covered the loft of the cave, though I found the texture lacking. I accepted it for the time being and appreciated the little comfort it provided.
I practiced making ties and knots with the palm leaves, vaguely aware of the necessity that weaving so often ranked in ancient communities living in comparable circumstances. I wondered if Mana knew anything that could prove useful to surviving on land. She would serve as the hunter in our little Neolithic lifestyle, I could already tell.
Regardless, I sharpened the best of my stones. The basis of survival was self reliance, even I understood. Thus I spent my time until Ruby returned in the evening. She brought as many fish as she could carry in her jaws, and between her fingers. They spilled onto the cave floor, slapping and twitching in their clamor for air they could breathe. I swiped them, quick to prevent their escape and swiftly executed them.
"Amazing, Ruby! A feast!"
She smirked and sank back underwater, resurfacing with fish of her own to consume.
I got to work on the fire while she toyed with the fish. I found the more primal side of her disconcerting, for the most part. A piece of me couldn't let me hold it against her, however. The peak of those sharp teeth, that powerful tail... they entranced me, my eyes to admire, my hands to explore.
I cooked my fish, and we ate together. It was still a fresh blessing to have enough to eat, but I imagined what it would be like to eat the same thing for the rest of my days. Mana expressed no such qualm or worry; she ate and chimed, content to spend her time this way with me. I smiled, I knew I was content too, deep down. I could think of no routine I had lived more enjoyable than stroking a mermaid's hip, down her scaly tail.
This is how we spent our nights.
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Rain showered down from pregnant clouds that couldn't wait past the morning. I took the opportunity to scrub at my skin while fresh water was freely available to even my share of the world. I swallowed as much as I could to moisten my parched throat.
Mana danced in the sea while I dug holes to contain the invaluable rain. She dipped and undulated to the side while her tail did the same thing in the opposite direction. Her hands plucked at invisible harps in the air, perfectly in tune with the music she heard in the rain's downpour. She delighted herself to the chorus, a steady ray purer than any an angel could produce was issued from her perfectly tuned throat. Her eyes were closed, more so out of devotion to the dance than to withstand rain drops.
I let her be. It was too beautiful to interrupt. Once I had plenty of holes dug, I sat on the beach and watched the mermaid dance in a world of water.
The days passed. Two weeks of weaving, hunting, and gathering. It rained several more times, and Mana danced more gloriously each time than the last. We did not make love again. She was intent to let it be my choice if we were going to couple again. The possibility of creating a child had persisted within my mind, admittedly, and caution won out. I could not abstain from cupping a breast or running my hands over her sides while we kissed and conversed, however. She exuded raw beauty, proud yet innocent of what my perception of her was. Her grace was natural, and underlined her more savage behavior. I was glad to be her mate, even if I didn't wholly understand the extent of the bond.
She told me the history of her species during one of our intimate conversations over this time.
There were, in fact, males of her kind, but they seemed to exist only to further the species, before heading wherever instinct led them, never to lay eyes upon their spawn. She had never seen her father, and her mother had never seen hers. It became a sort of knight errant's quest of nature to search out for a mate when the females matured and set out on their own in the ocean.
Mana had been on her own for a few decades already. She hadn't seen any other of her kind since she left her mother, only her teachings followed to aid her along great currents from sea to sea. The urges to mate and reproduce stirred within her a decade prior, but she hadn't been able to place the feelings until she saw me. She was much older than me, but physically, she assured me, we were comparable in age. This drove her desire to be mated with me. For her kind, it was still likely a decade or two longer until she would come across a male, and then, he would leave her.
A dark thought gave me pause that disconnected me from her mind.
I could never leave.
The predicament I was in was totally in the mermaid's favor, I realized, and it was only a matter of time until she did, too. She had trapped herself a mate, and had me to herself for as long as I lived. Perhaps if I attempted to test fate once more and swim out into sea, injury and death awaited me, should she be driven to drag me under or put me back on the island rendered incapable of swimming away from it again.
"Where have you gone?" her voice gently prodded. She had gotten ahold of my tongue with her own.
I returned to the kiss, desperate to conceal the cold sweat of fear that had broken out over my body before she got the scent.
"Oh, my apologies. Just thinking on tomorrow. Come here." I kissed her, and I kissed my future, for better or worse, I realized.
The next day I started on becoming proficient with my hunting spear. The mermaid finally relented and let me hunt for our next meal. She granted me privacy and I waded into the ocean in solitude. I practiced thrusting and extending the stick away from me, becoming more familiar with the movement as I imagined slow moving fish to spear. Eventually, one did meander toward me. I remained perfectly still, waiting for the prime moment to strike. The tail stilled, the body was defenseless, broad and fat. My arms burst through the water with a loud splash and a solid stab into flesh. I hoisted my spear up, the catch run through, wriggling at the top.
I rejoiced in my prize, and hopped from one foot to the other back to shore. I was excited to bring the fish to Mana and show her I could be useful as well. I stopped; there on the beach was a wooden cargo crate. I looked around, then to the horizon. No ship loitered or listed lifeless as far as I could see.
I set my spear down and approached the box. I was shocked to see something from my world on the island. Something intact, as well. All four sides held and appeared merely sodden, without a scratch. A seal representing a woman's profile topped by a ship captain's hat was emblazoned in black on the top of the crate, above the branded letters F. E.
I pried the lid from the box with the end of my spear. It creaked from the frame and finally snapped apart, rewarding me with a fresh scent of fruit. It was a cache of apples, filled to the brim with bright red imperfect orbs that shone in the sunlight. I plucked one of the treasures and brought it to my nose. A rare cargo to transport by sea, and a rarer smell for a castaway to experience. I took a bite, finding the skin crisp and the meat juicy. I sat down on the beach, forgetful of the fish and luxuriated in the rest of my apple.
Mana's song drifted close and ceased, replaced by an inquisitive whistle.
"Ah! Come, Mana. You must try one."
She swam to the shore, her face a mix of curiosity and distrust for my food. I tossed her an apple, and she caught it, surprised. She looked to me and took a hesitant bite. The crack was a new kind of music to my ears as her teeth separated a piece from the apple. She munched on it cautiously until she decided she liked it and a girlish smile adorned her full cheeks. She motioned for me to kiss her.
"I like it! But where has it come from?" was the message conveyed by her tongue.
"It appears to have fallen overboard from a ship nearby. Not the one I was on, though. Nothing aboard bore this seal."
