Neptunes Blessings Ch 031 036

Chapter 31

There was a downside to Mathias getting so much rest during the day. And that was that he was able to dream once more. Luckily his sleep was interrupted before he could start thrashing and screaming.

Mathias calmed his breathing and heartbeat as quickly as he could so that he could listen for what had disturbed his very disturbing dreams. However what he heard was quite confusing. It sounded like a single large creature or merman, but with a soft nearly silent echo. His confusion was soon cleared up though when the currents brought him both Romulus' and Titos' scents.

Carefully and slowly so as to not unduly disturb his sleeping fry he eased himself into a seated posture. Once he had finished he did not have long to wait for his brothers' arrival.

"See?" Tito whispered dramatically as they approached the nest, "I told you he'd be awake when we got here."

Mathias suppressed a snort at Tito once again using a half truth to convince someone that everything was okay. Since Tito had obviously known that Romulus' loud swimming would wake Mathias up.

Pulling a smile onto his face Mathias gave his brothers a small wave. Romulus gave Tito's innocent face a skeptical glance before returning the gesture. Then the two worked together to settle a large enough skipjack to last Mathias and his fry for the whole night that they'd hauled in tandem onto the edge of Mathias' nest. But before they could even rip off a chunk for Mathias though Sleepless, who'd been awoken by the commotion, and Glutton who'd been drawn awake by the scent of food set upon the open wound at the base of the tuna's skull.

The three adults watched bemusedly for a few moments before Romulus broke the silence with a soft chuckle. Then as if a spell had been broken Tito carefully dug into the fish's soft belly and ripped out a large chunk to feed to Mathias. Soon, as if Glutton's loud happy chirps and trills were a signal the rest of the fry woke up and swarmed over the fresh source of food, and Tito and Romulus settled onto opposite sides of the family to watch and occasionally help Mathias get another portion.

Once everyone except Glutton had settled back down Mathias properly introduced his offspring to his eldest brother.

Romulus then proceeded to run his fingers strategically down several of their ribs, test their grip reflexes, bend their arms and watch their muscles, and tease them into chasing his hand. Finishing his examination he spoke in a soft soothing tone, "They're healthy. Their fat layer is a little thin, but their muscles are also a bit more developed than normal."

Mathias started off relieved but then a worried frown grew on his face at the mention of their fat layer. Romulus patted his brother's head comfortingly as he tried to reassure him, "You just need to find some way to get a little extra fat into their diet. They are getting enough to eat." He paused to watch as Glutton continued to slowly eat before he dryly said, "Even if some don't believe it." At Mathias' chuckle he smiled and continued, "It'd be best if you could get a whale calf or seal pup, barring that some mackerel, or something heavily gravid would be almost as good, but there should be plenty of eels and large stationary shellfish at the drop off and I don't think that's too far from here."

Nodding Mathias whispered hoarsely, "Thanks Rommy." Romulus frowned and looked like he was going to say something else, but at Tito's quick head shake he stayed silent.

Tito apologetically spoke up, "Rommy came out to help me hunt, and he'll be missed soon so we should get going."

Mathias sadly nodded before putting on a brave smile and exchanging farewell hugs with his brothers. As they swiftly disappeared he dragged the fish's remains into his nest and curled up to get a bit more sleep.

~~~~~

Mathias finally gave up on sleep when all that was left of the skipjack was bones. With a sigh he ate the remains of the evidence as he watched the water slowly brighten. When the seascape was lit enough that the fry could safely navigate Mathias took them over by the boulder so that they could poke around and hunt in its vicinity. It did not take long for his patience to be rewarded, about an hour after the sun had properly risen a large hare was dropped into the water above them.

Hearing the bloop of a splash Mathias carefully swam up along the boulder with his youngsters following in his wake, however he ignored the sinking coney as well as the fry's indignant shrieks as they passed it by. They would return for it and there was something more important he had to do.

Breaching the surface Mathias held himself steady against the boulder top with his good hand as he gazed up at the familiar harpy. She stood near the water's edge looking at him curiously since they both knew that there was no way that he would be able to climb onto the boulder in his current condition.

With a sheepish smile Mathias said, "Hey, um, Callie right?" The difference between her and Cora were far more subtle than the difference between Cora and Clara. But Mathias was sure that this harpy's nose was a bit more upturned and her chin just the slightest bit more rounded. Her eyes sparked gleefully as she gave him a firm nod. With a soft sigh Mathias apologized, "I'm sorry about the other day."

Callie cackled and shook her head as she mirthfully said, "Don't worry about it, people in far better times have made the same mistake." Then she tilted her head and resumed curiously watching him. There was no way that he could've known who was up here so that surely was not the reason he had swam all the way up.

Mathias sighed, feeling briefly disappointed that it wasn't Cora. He quickly shoved that aside to get to the reason he needed to talk though, "My eldest brother came by last night, and told me that the amount the fry are getting to eat is good but they need to have more fat in their diet." His voice no longer sounded hoarse, but it still had a bit of a rasp to it.

If Callie noticed his disappointment she showed no sign of it as she hummed thoughtfully for a moment before saying, "We could bring you a pig, but their skin is much tougher than anything else we've brought, as are their bones... especially their skulls."

Mathias nodded, thinking it over before softly suggesting, "You could, if it's not too much trouble mostly debone them. Tough skin isn't a problem, unless it's tougher than bones. And there tends to be a lot of fat in the skin."

"Shouldn't be too much trouble," she mused aloud, "and we can more easily make it look like scraps that way." Giving him a mischievous smile she said gleefully, "It'll be fun!" Then she crouched down and spread her wings in preparation to take off.

Mathias quickly pushed himself back underwater to avoid the discomfort of having a harpy take off over the top of him. Then with a rueful shake of his head he headed back down making sure to snag the hare along the way.

After helping his fry to devour the hare, and having a good chunk of it himself Mathias took stock of how he was physically feeling. His left arm still had a constant sharp bone deep ache, but the pain in his ribs was far more intermittent. And as long as he didn't move too fast his tail didn't hurt at all. Swallowing hadn't hurt at all, although speaking still hurt a little bit. But he knew from experience that if he over stressed himself he'd set his recovery back.

He looked around at his offspring's near futile attempts at hunting and let out a defeated sigh. He was recovering, faster than he had any right to expect even. But if he tried to take the fry any further afield, especially since there would be no way for him to nap today then he would reverse some of his recovery. So he just had to trust that the harpies would be able to continue feeding them and not go much further away from his nest.

He chirped at his fry and slowly moved around his old hunting radius until he found a spot with slightly more life to it. Finding a comfortable spot to watch from he sent them out once more to hunt and explore.

A short while later several large chunks of tied and weighted meat with some truly thick skin still attached plopped into the water above them. Pushing off from the bottom Mathias easily snagged a piece and watched in amusement as the youngsters worked together to grab hold of the others. At their proud faces and happy little babbling chirps he chuckled before leading them back to the seabed. As he bit into the meat he found himself surprised even though he had been warned about the skin that he had to saw his teeth through it just a little bit. It was however, an enjoyable meal, and very filling.

After the last scrap of pig and twine had been devoured most of the fry retreated to his hair to watch their surroundings, leaving just Shadow on his shoulder, Cuddles in his lap, and Curiosity and Glutton poking around once more amongst the sparse seaweed and broken coral.

Two more times that day he moved their position, and five more times they were fed more of the delicious pig. And when they finally made it back to the nest Mathias was barely able to stay awake long enough to settle his fry into slumber. Luckily that night was disturbed neither by nightmares, nor visitors.

Although when he awoke in the morning, there was the partial skeleton of an otherwise devoured moray in his nest. He smiled and thought of Tito as he tidied it away.

Chapter 32

Time passed in this way until one night Mathias was not so worn out that he actually awoke when Tito came calling.

Mathias woke up from a nightmare where something formless was hunting him to find Tito perched on the edge of his nest, wordlessly feeding the fry. He paused to look at his brother as he panted for breath.

Frowning Tito shifted closer but when he reached a hand out Mathias flinched away. "Hey, hey," Tito murmured soothingly as he continued to slowly move his hand to pet the top of Mathias' head, "It's okay, nothing else is around, just you me and the fry."

Mathias gulped and nodded as he wiggled slightly upright so that he could lay his head against his brother's tail. Tito fed him what was left of the moray and continued to pet his head as he hummed a soothing lullaby. Once Mathias had calmed and started to drowse, and long after the fry and curled up against their father once more Tito spoke up, "I'll stick around as long as I can and then I'll bring you back to the beach."

"Huh?" Mathias hoarsely mumbled in sleepy confusion, "Why?"

"Well," Tito responded in amusement, "it's already been over a week, and you were supposed to go see Helen yesterday."

Mathias blushed and mumbled sheepishly, "Oh, I guess I lost track of the days."

Tito nodded and replied, "Yeah I guessed so when I saw that you were still wearing the same wraps. Now go to sleep, I'll wake you when it's time to move." Nodding Mathias closed his eyes as he gave himself over to the soothing feel of his brother's hand on his head. As he drifted off to sleep Tito said reassuringly, "You do look much better by the way."

~~~~~

When Tito woke Mathias up the surrounding waters were still dark. Yawning hugely Mathias rapidly blinked his eyes until everything came into focus. Then he roused his fry and got them settled into his hair before he himself clung to Tito's back. Once Tito had them settled near the beach he swam back home.

Mathias could not go back to sleep though. He felt too exposed and alone. Instead he laid in the shallows as his fry snoozed in his hair, just watching and waiting for the sun to rise. As soon as it was bright enough for his fry to see he woke them up to go hunting.

Mathias chuckled as with a chorus of excited chirps and trills they flowed out of his hair to go hunting in more familiar and fruitful surroundings. He did not have to wait much longer before a pair of very familiar legs started wading his way.

He whistled to get his youngsters' attention and then swam towards the harpy as quickly as he dared. As he got closer he became certain that it was indeed Cora, and so when he popped up out of the water he wrapped his good arm around her waist as he buried his face into the top of her belly.

"Whoa!" Cora exclaimed while flaring her wings for balance. When Mathias continued to nuzzle into her she asked him worriedly, "Is everything okay?"

"Just missed you," Mathias admitted in a muffled mumble.

"Aww," Cora said as her face softened, "I missed you too. But you need to let me feed you and come ashore so Helen and Alula can look at your arm."

"Okay," Mathias agreed without budging an inch.

Cora stood there waiting and watching as the fry poked their heads above water. When the last curious set of eyes became fixed upon her she spoke out with quite a bit of amused exasperation, "Helen has candy." At those words each and every one of them raised their head up just a little bit more, only to tilt their heads and give her adorably wide eyed pleading looks. "Fuck," she said softly before asking Mathias in awe, "Is that instinctive?"

Mathias glanced over his shoulder to see the scene behind him. Taking a moment to observe he chuckled before nuzzling back into Cora's belly as he told her cheerfully with the slight rasp that still lingered finally being audible, "Better give them the candy."

"I don't have the candy!" Cora said in a bit of a fluster as they started babbling pathetically, "Helen does!"

Sighing, Mathias reluctantly pulled away as he said in an overly dramatic mournful way, "Alright, we'll placate them with the food you brought and then we'll let Helen and Alula poke at my broken arm while they have some of the sweet stuff."

Huffing softly Cora leaned over to nuzzle the top of Mathias' head before she straightened up and pulled her bag around so she could fish out the still twine wrapped chunks of pig meat.

After they finished their meal, which Mathias learned was also called pork, they headed with some trepidation on Mathias' part to the actual beach where the healer and her apprentice awaited them.

Waiting in the surf along with Helen and Alula was a strange contraption. It had a sloped netted back for Mathias to lean back against, and some sort of tray coming off the left side and curving slightly in front.

At Mathias' dubious expression Alula gave her elder an, "I told you so," look. Helen's lips twitched and she patted the thing with her little hand as she encouraged him with, "Climb on in and sit down."

Mathias stifled a sigh as he wiggled his way into the thing. Once he got positioned properly and was leaning back he noticed that his fry were all staring at Helen beseechingly, while she was gazing down at them in confusion. He then glanced over at Cora who was snickering helplessly. His lips twitched into a smile as he helpfully supplied, "Cora mentioned within their hearing that, 'Helen had candy.'"

"Precocious little things aren't they," Helen mumbled bemusedly before speaking up, "Too much candy can be bad for you."

Tilting his head Mathias asked in confusion, "But it's so sweet, how can it be bad for you?"

Chuckling Helen explained, "Sweet things can make people fat, and being too fat can lead to all kinds of health problems."

Mathias looked at his offspring's cheeks that were just barely starting to plump up, and with furrowed brows he said in a slow thoughtful tone, "Arctic merfolk never seem to suffer from having a thicker layer of fat..."

"Hmmm," Helen agreed thoughtfully as she looked between Mathias and his fry. "Alright Alula, hand over the nectarine drops to Cora, but make sure there are a few left over for Mathias." As Mathias perked up she went on to say, "I'll have someone send you guys some berry pies later."

Mathias was rather eager for this until he remembered something and asked with furrowed brows, "Wait, will there be forks? Because I still don't know how to use those."

Helen shook her head with a laugh as she reassured him, "I'll make sure they're hand pies. Now relax and let us unwrap you."

Mathias nodded anxiously as he tried to relax into their hands. While Cora kept the fry distracted in the background and with minimal movements from himself the pair carefully unwrapped his torso. Once they'd gotten his arm free they had Cora come over and help him hold it up at shoulder height while they continued unwrapping his chest. Once that was exposed they got Cora to gently set his arm onto the table before shooing her and the fry out of the way.

Then Helen touched and poked and prodded all over his ribs while asking about pain levels. It mostly just tickled but Mathias managed not to wiggle as he seriously answered her. Then came the part that Mathias was most dreading. Working together the harpies unwrapped the oiled wool from his arm. He wasn't sure what it'd been oiled with, all he knew was it didn't smell like anything he wanted to taste. Underneath was a set of flattened bent bronze rods that had been tied in place over some loose wool batting. For this they pulled out a pair of scissors and snipped it free. Once they'd folded the batting back Mathias got his first good look at his left arm.

It was pretty in a way if he was just thinking about the colors. The upper arm was a mottled green and yellow while the lower arm was a deep blotchy red with streaks of purple and blue. Helen simply studied the bruising for a few moments before she spoke up in teacher mode to both Mathias and Alula, "You can tell a lot about a break from the degree of bruising. Since whatever had to break the bone had to go through the muscles first. The bruising on the upper arm has healed significantly, meaning that that's been healing rapidly. So it should be safe for Mathias to use his upper arm now, even though a harpy would need to keep it immobilized for another week. His lower arm though, it still looks pretty bad, and we'll need to check his fingers for sensation before we rewrap it." The two of them nodded in response, Mathias though, with far more trepidation than Alula.

Mathias took up the breathing exercises as Helen guided Alula on testing his fingers with her blunted talon tips. Fist she gently poked the tip of each finger, which tingled painfully. Then she trailed her talons up his fingers and palms, after a bit of back and forth discussion they settled on that being a burning pain, which was not a sensation Mathias was familiar with. Finally Helen was satisfied that she would not need to get the leeches after his arm.

When Mathias heard that that's what she'd been testing for he gave her a very alarmed look. Helen merely flashed him a reassuring smile as they got ready to re-immobilize his arm. First was fresh batting that went from elbow to just below his fingers with an opening for his thumb to poke through. Then came different flattened, bent bronze rods, which curved over his elbow on one side and into his hand on the other that were tied securely in place. Last was a new smelly oiled wool wrap.

Mathias made a face as the pair worked together to tightly wrap him from just above the elbow all the way down to around the base of his fingers. Finally he asked, "Why does it smell so bad?"

With a triumphant smile Helen dryly responded, "I thought it best if your babies didn't try to eat your bandages."

"Well it works," Mathias grumbled while glaring at his arm, "If anything it smells even worse than the last one."

"No," Helen told him softly, "Your nose is just no longer swollen so you can smell it better, and the salt water will slowly dissolve the oil." Mathias glanced at her in confusion. He'd smelled several things just fine in the days after his beating, but then he took a few moments to think on it and realized that for that first day things might have been a bit muted. So with a sigh he nodded his acceptance.