Chapter Text
It was an average afternoon, Jade had been allowed to swim all the way to the briar islands in his search for a rare plant, so far he hasn’t been so lucky, not managing to find a single piece of it. Jade had gotten bored of searching, so he ended up watching the unique briar island fish swim around, snacking on one or two.
But before long his attention was draw to the surface of the water. The curious eel swam up to the surface, his head popping out of the water just enough to see the cause of all the noise he had heard. Two humans stood in the sand, both holding long wooden sticks that somewhat resembled swords, both in a seemingly defensive stance.
The taller one of the two charged towards the other, swinging the stick towards the other humans side, but the attack was quickly blocked by the second humans stick. The second human pushing the first back a few steps, before swinging their own stick. The first human tried to replicate the second’s previous block, but was only pushed over, their stick going flying.
Grumbling, the second human got up and tackled the first to the ground, the two of them yelling as they both tried to be the one to win. And eventually the second human had the first pinned under him.
Jade watched their “battle” with wide eyes swimming closer to see the second, silver haired human smiling. While the first, light green haired human seemed angry, pushing the second off of them and getting back to their feet(quickly grabbing up their sword from the ground), the second human doing the same.
“Wow…” The eel whispered to himself, staring at the humans, mesmerised.
“I see you tried to copy me, to no avail.” The silver haired human smirked, while the green haired human growled, gripping their sword tighter.
“I could teach you how to block like that successfully?” The silver haired human offered a hand to the other human, their previous smug smirk softened into a kind smile.
“Hmp! I would have figured it out myself,” the green haired human crossed their arms.
“But since you are offering advice for free i shall take it! Although your human knowledge may be lacking, i will surely improve your moves as i make them my own!”
“Ok then, copy my stance.” The silver haired human stood firm with his stick-sword held in both hands in front of him. The green haired human copying the other.
“Ok, now um.. say im swinging at you from your right, you should turn your body to the side, and hold out your sword like this.” The silver haired human held his pose long enough for the green haired human to copy it, before standing straight again and swinging his stick-sword towards the green haired humans right side.
As the swords clashed together the green haired human stumbled backwards slightly.
“Ah, you have to hold your sword firmly, and as i strike you should push against my sword. Got it?” The silver haired human corrected, the other human nodding along. The two got back in their stances and the silver haired human swung again, this time, as their swords collided they held the position for much longer before the green haired human managed to knock the other off balance.
“Yes! I did it Silver! Did you see!” The green haired human exclaimed, reaching out a hand to help the other off the sand.
“Yes, i know! Good job!” The silver haired human smiled, getting back to Their feet before continuing.
“Would you like to try again? I wont tell you where im aiming this time.”
“Yes! I will beat you again!” The green haired human got ready in a defensive stance, just as the other had shown them.
“Ok, be quick.” The silver haired human started swinging again, this time much faster, the other human struggled to match the pace for a few seconds before getting the hang of it, eventually being able to knock the silver haired humans sword out of their hands, sending the stick flying.
“Wow! Oh wow! Haha! Im going to go get grandpa and Lilia!” The green haired human ran off into the tree line, looking ecstatic, the silver haired human smiling as they sat in the sand.
The silver haired human stood up and looked around the beach, seemingly searching for their stick-sword. And thats when they locked eyes with Jade, Jade hadn’t realised it, but the stick had landed on the sand not to far away from him. And considering that Jades scales were bright teal, he would probably be a bit hard to miss.
The humans eyes widened and they took a step forward, and Jade instinctively moved back. His parents had told him all about the cruel things humans would do once they got their hands on a merfolk, tales of mers being scaled alive for their scales, some cut off merfolk fins and dumped them back in the ocean, some merfolk would be dissected for study, or even for food! Apparently some humans liked the taste of merfolk flesh.
But this human only looked like a boy. Not a man. Before Jade even realised it the human boy was only a few steps away from him. Jade looked up and met the boy’s wide purple eyes, eyes filled with curiosity. Eyes that jade had been taught to fear. Jade froze, he could only imagine those stories his parents had told him and his brother. His heart felt like it was going to explode. He felt like he couldn’t breathe properly. The human boy leaned down in front of him. Slowly reaching out a hand.
Jade felt like he was going to die here and now just from imagining what the human might do to him. He felt like-
“Hello? Are you alright? You are shaking…” the human boy spoke. He spoke to him. He didn’t grab him like he thought he would, didn’t even get close enough to touch him.
Jade finally managed to snap out of it, inching back as he hissed loudly at the human boy, baring his teeth and his sharp nails. The boy yelped and jumped back. Seeing the human distracted, Jade took his chance and started swimming away, hiding behind a rock. He could hear the human calling out.
“Im sorry! Please come back! I didn’t mean to scare you!”
Jade struggled to catch his breath, looking back at the human boy, seeing more human shaped blobs emerging from the tree line. He should go now, he should swim away and never come back here, but Jade hesitated, watching the human boy call out to the sea aimlessly. There was something about that boy that made him curious, no. Reckless. Jade peaked his head out from behind the rock, locking eyes with the human boy again.
“Hello!” The boy yelled out as he spotted Jade again.
Jade, who had never considered himself shy before this, stuck his hand out of the water and waved to the human boy. But much to Jades dismay he spotted the other humans getting closer, one of them calling out to the human boy.
“Silver! What are you doing?” The human boy whipped around instantly at the voice.
“Lilia! Oh Lilia! Come look theres a-“
And that was Jades cue to leave. Jade dipped under the water, swimming as fast as his tail could get him. Even with how risky that interaction was, Jade thought it was worth it, as he knows that the silver haired human boy was named Silver! How exhilarating! He definitely shouldn’t tell his parents about this, maybe Floyd- no probably not.
Jade remembered the plants that he was supposed to gather today, oh well, at least he has a reason to come back tomorrow! The trip home would take around 30 minutes at top speed, and jade was an eel, so he was pretty fast. And oh how he cant wait to go see Silver again tomorrow!