![]() Reluctantly, their parents let them try swordsmanship lessons. Sarai, too, had announced that she’d join the military and was met with more apprehension, more nervousness from their concerned, overprotective parents. When she was twelve, Sarai and Amaya would spend every minute they had training together. Very good, they signed to her, and nothing more. The uncertainty and doubt shared between her parents, coupled with the confusion and annoyance of her older sister, Sarai, painted a pretty decent picture for her. She was a decent lip reader, but she was even better with faces. It was during a family dinner when she was eight, incredibly precocious and stubborn. “Hoist the mainsail!” Amaya signed desperately,Īmaya scrambled down to her panicked crew, but just before her feet could touch the deck, a wave hit, accompanied by another bolt of lightning, this time even closer, throwing the general violently from her ship and into the deep ocean below.Amaya can remember when she first told her parents that she wanted to join the military and fight. A storm has crept up on her, and now the sky was covered in dark grey clouds as the rain began to pelt down. “You’ll be back with your families before you-”Īmaya’s signing was cut off by a bright beam of light as lightning crashed into the sea, not a mile away from her ship. She gestured to the grand castle she called home, which could be seen on the horizon before them. We’ll be home by the end of the day, you can even see Katolis from here.” Those are nothing but legends, as fake as dragons or elves. “I know we’ve all heard the stories of what lives in the fathoms below,” she signed, keeping steady eye contact with as many of the sailors as she could. ![]() Amaya made sure to put on her bravest face, keeping her brows concentrated as the breeze pawed at her loose top and billowing pant legs. She could feel the anxiety in the air as she tried to piece together the best way to convince them that their worrying was unnecessary. She looked down upon the worried faces gazing up at her. Commander Gren stood below, watching her as he prepared to relay her message along to their sailors. With a skip in her step, Amaya climbed the mast and perched herself on one of the planks where her crew could all see her well. “Will you get their attention?” she asked, and he nodded his head in response as they headed to the center of the ship. ![]() Gren nodded, signing back “You should say something to them.” The ‘mermaids,’ is it?” Amaya motioned, forming the words with her strong but nimble hands, making no attempt to hide her discontent. “The crew seems uneasy.” He gestured back, furrowing his brow ever so slightly in concern. “Lovely, if your favorite thing is water and only water.” She signed back sarcastically. Amaya liked to put on a strong face, but ever since the passing of her sister, Queen Sarai, she had leaned on Gren for support for the first real-time in her life. He acted as her interpreter when she communicated via sign language, and he was now the person who knew her the most. Beside her was her best friend and second in command, Commander Gren. The wooden deck began to feel stronger beneath her feet. At that moment, she thought she felt her sister’s presence as if she were the wind communicating with her.Īmaya felt a tap on her shoulder, and she reluctantly looked back with a sigh, letting the moment pass. ![]() One day, all of this will be a distant memory. It felt familiar, like an old friend dropping by to say: Hey, you’re going to be alright. The breeze seemed to hold Amaya, for a moment, before moving along on its journey to the coast. The wind brushed through her short, dark hair, almost as if it were an entity on its own. She stood on the bow, looking out at the battling waves as they crashed together, turning white. None dared sign the words - they knew the general didn’t believe any of the tales - but Amaya had known her crew for a long time, and could easily catch some of the words on their lips. She knew that the age-old stories of soldiers lured to their deaths by the beautiful and powerful merfolk were being exchanged in every anxious breath her crew took. It was rumored to lay deep in the sea, fathoms below the area they were traversing now. Growing up in the kingdom of Katolis, they had all heard legends of the sunken realm of the Sunfire mermaids. They were traveling through dangerous waters, and she could tell that everyone else was already on edge. The creaky boards lurched beneath her boots, giving her a permanent sense of unease as the large vessel cut sloppily through the waves. General Amaya had never been one for sea travel.
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