"Oh....wow." George breathed out, his eyes widening as his voice carried into the howling wind. Around him was a vast expanse of sky. It stretched far and wide, so far George thought it went into the heavens. White fluffy clouds littered the sky, pale like paint against the blue canvas. George blinked in awe, his breath caught in his throat as his hands waded carefully in the water, his tail gently moving to keep himself up. Soft waves lapped at his chest as he stared at the horizon, sea washing into sky with a thin line.

The sun was warm against George's skin, not too hot to make him uncomfortable, but warm enough that he wanted to melt into it. George had never felt warmth quite like this. All of his life, he'd had his natural resources to keep him warm, he was a sea creature of course, he was born for keeping himself warm, but it was never the kind of warmth that he liked. It was the kind of warm that was only warm enough to keep you alive. But this warmth? It was a blanket of heat, a comfort that made him want to sleep. He felt warm, that was true, but not just on the surface. He felt the warmth deep in his heart, gripping it and ridding it of cold. Call him a poet, but it was true.

George felt lazy. His eyes felt heavy, and he could tell this new kind of warmth was making him sleepy, so he ducked his head under the water to wake himself up again. Water dripped down his hair as he poked his head out again, staring up at the sky.

"Da da daaa....mm mm mmmm." George hummed a familiar tune his mother used to sing to him, his back rested on the water's surface as he moved around in circles, his tail pushing him gently through the water. He continued to hum, as well as listening to the sound of the wind in his ears. It twirled through the air, singing soft melodies as it carried through the vast expanse of air. George recalled a story his mother often told him, a story in which wind carried stories.

He was probably around seven or eight the first time he heard it. He'd curled into his mother's embrace, hiding in a small cave deep under the surface. The rest of his pod were stationed throughout other caves on the large underwater mountain. She ran her hands gently through his thick brown locks of hair, humming a melody. George blinked up at her, humming along. She smiled, using one of her webbed hands to gently cup his cheek, pinching it softly.

"Sleep, Georgie." she whispered gently, her other hand still caressing his hair as they leaned on the rocks. George huffed indignantly, crossing his arms over in defiance. "I can't sleep, mum. I'm too awake! I have to go out, see the sea!" he stretched his arms out for effect, eyes wide. His mother smiled gently, her eyes twinkling with love as she booped his nose. "Tomorrow, I promise. Sleep, now."

"No!" George groaned in annoyance, his arms flopping back to his sides. His mum hummed. "Okay, how about one story, and then sleep? Tomorrow we can go out." she suggested as a compromise. George pondered it for a few seconds before sighing and getting comfy. "Okay, a story." he agreed.

"Hmm," his mother thought for a moment, before saying "aha! I have just the perfect story for you." "Hurry up!" George squeaked out, and her golden laugh filled the air. "When did I raise such an impatient boy?" "Tell me the story!" George scolded, and she raised her hands in defence. "Okay, okay. Well, everyone dies one day. It's an inevitable part of life." George coughed in surprise at where this was going, "once, thousands of years ago, one of our family members was very sad. They were sad, of course, because their sister had died." George frowned.

"They spent a long time mourning, and they could never get over their sister's demise. Day after day, this mer cried. Everything reminded them of their sister. They never got to say goodbye." "Mum, this story is too sad." His mother shushed him, and he rolled his eyes.

"So one day, this mer went on a swim. They didn't want to be around their pod, so they did something no mer had ever dared do before." George then gained interest, sitting up quickly to look at her. "What did they do?" he asked, anticipation in his voice. She pushed his shoulders down back into a sleeping position and continued.

"They went to the surface." "No!" George gasped. "Yes!" She laughed.

"They went up, and they heard the most beautiful thing. Better than any songs their pod harmonised, better than the sound of the sea." "What was it?" "The wind." "The wind?" "Yes, for you see, when you listen to the wind very closely, you can hear it sing."

George narrowed his eyes. That sounded like bogus. His mother must have seen the look on his face, because she grinned and stated, "Don't judge it just yet."

"Anyway, they heard the wind sing. And the song was the very song them and their sister used to sing together when they were tucked away in bed. This mer listened, and they cried, and they realised the life of their sister was never really gone. Her spirit lived on through the wind, singing forever."

"The mer was overjoyed. They swam down to their pod, faster than lightning, and informed the others of the news. And so each mer went up, and they heard the singing of their ancestors riding on the wind. So, for generations to come, when a mer, mermaid or merman was lost, or missing someone, they would swim to the surface and listen to the guidance of their ancestors, because their singing always brought them home." His mother finished the story, and George sat there in awe.

He pondered it for a moment, deciding he liked the story, before he furrowed his brows, and glanced up at his mother, her long, dark brown hair swaying gently in the water. "But then, why can't we go to the surface now?" George knew the surface wasn't a safe place, one always had to be careful when venturing up there.

His mother bit his lip, and hugged him. "Because of humans." "Humans? They're why we can't go up? But they're so similar to us..." Minus the fishy part, of course, George thought.

His mum sighed, "Well, once, we used to live relatively peacefully with humans. But...things happen, Georgie. And now, it's not safe for us. Humans are why we have to be so careful. You'll always be careful for me Georgie, won't you? You promise you'll take care of yourself?" she asked softly, and George frowned. "But you'll always be here to take care of me." he stated shortly. She smiled a sad smile, "Just promise me, okay?" "Okay mum, I promise. I'll be careful."

She kissed his forehead, pulling him up into a better sleeping position, and continued to hum a soft melody as he went to sleep.

George coughed a little bit at the memory, tears threatening to fall. He rubbed them quickly, ridding himself of evidence of his sadness. He missed his mother, very very much. But just like she'd promised, he could hear her singing through the wind.

George sighed a deep and long sigh, before getting off his back and swimming upright. The sound of a dolphin call echoed through the air, and he turned to see a pod of them leaping around, splashing into the water. They neared him, jumping around with excitement. George laughed and reached out a hand to stroke one of their heads. It bumped into his hand with affection, letting out another call.

The dolphins splashed underwater again, zooming away to jump in and out of the sky. George decided, because why not, that he'd join them.

He swam under the water quickly, catching up to them, and leapt through the sky, his bubbly laughter mixing in with the sounds of the dolphins.

That's how he spent the next few hours. Swimming with dolphins, taking small breaks, laughing and having a swell time. He even named the first dolphin he'd met, the one with a weird white patch on it's nose. Her name was Niki. He was having so much fun.

Too bad George has never had good luck.

Somehow, George had no idea how, but somehow, he had failed to notice the sight of a rather large ship nearing him and his buddies. A man called out, "Merman!" and all hell reigned loose.

George yelled in surprise when a large net was thrown over him, abruptly cutting off the odd conversation he was trying to have with a dolphin. (Note to self, don't talk to dolphins. They can't understand you and it ends up with situations like this.)

Niki, the dolphin, leapt over him, shoving him so hard that he managed to get out of said net. He swam down quickly, his tail propelling him faster than he had gone in a long time. The other dolphins raced behind him, squeaking in fright, before they started to yelp frantically. George turned around and looked up, to see the dolphins staying in one group. His eyes moved further and he saw Niki, his favourite dolphin, caught in the net that he'd previously been in.

George groaned, fear spiking at his heart. "Don't be stupid George!" he told himself, "Don't risk your life on trying to save a bloody dolphin!" But as the words slipped out of his mouth, he'd already started swimming back up to Niki.

She squeaked and thrashed in the net as George neared, terror evident in her eyes. The net was slowly moving up through the water. George swam over, placing his hands on her through the rough rope that had rusted metal bits all over it. He glanced up to try and figure out how to get her out.

Swimming above, he helped untangle her, but she was so petrified she wouldn't budge.

The net continued to move upwards, and George thought he was going to be sick. He hesitated, before he swam inside the net, pushing his arms and tail underneath her to propel her upwards. This seemed to snap her out of her frozen state, and she shot off underneath the net quickly.

Just as George started to untangle himself to get out, the net lifted from the water. He yelled in fright and tried to climb over, but his tail was too heavy, and the net too tight. He fell back from the gravity, and cut his side on the rusted metal lining parts of the rope.

Niki and the other dolphins swam under him frantically as he was fully out of the water. Niki leaping out and crying calls. George swept his eyes from her as the net started to move to the side, and his heart dropped. Humans. Many humans. Many humans on a ship. A ship full of many humans.

Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit, oh shit, oh shit, oh shit, oh shit, oh shit, oh shit.

The net lowered onto the wooden deck and George gasped yet again, his thoughts running wild, his heart beating erratically. He'd never been fully out of water before, let alone on a bloody ship. And a pirate ship, it seemed? His luck was rotten.

A man stepped over to George, who was still tangled in rope, and who had a cut that was bleeding down his side. The sunlight was right behind said man, and George couldn't make out any details of him.

The man reached out to George, and George's eyes started to go dizzy, his head pounding, before he passed out from fear, his head thumping against the sturdy wood.

x - x - x - x - x - x - x - x - x - x - x - x - x - x - x - x - x - x - x - x - x - x - x - x -

Hello!!! Thank you for reading! We have finally gotten to where it all properly starts! Be prepared hahaha... Anyways, hope you enjoyed this chapter. See you next time

-Bella

(co-posted on ao3)

28/12/20