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Outset Lagoon was one of the most peaceful places in the Great Sea. Not a lot really happened there anymore. Tetra came to visit with her pod from time to time and sometimes they played around the entrance to the lagoon, but they never strayed very far for fear of losing Aryll to one of the strong currents in the area.
Wind leaned against the outer edge of the lagoon, hoping that Tetra would come visit soon. As much as he loved his own pod, it did get kind of lonely sometimes being the only adolescent. At least Aryll got to play with the two other juveniles.
He sighed and lingered near the entrance of the lagoon a little longer.
Suddenly, Aryll slammed into him and he spun head over tail in the water.
"Aryll!" He cried. "What was that for?"
She giggled. "For being all sad and mopey today. You haven't done anything but wait for Tetra's pod."
"Alright, alright." He relented. "Why don't we go play hide and seek or something?"
Aryll clicked with excitment. "I'll hide so good you'll never find me!"
Wind laughed. "I don't know, I found you pretty quickly last time…"
She pouted. "Start counting!"
He covered his eyes and started counting to one hundred. He could faintly feel Aryll swim around him in a circle before heading out to find the perfect hiding spot.
Once he got to one hundred he uncovered his eyes and looked around. He didn't see Aryll's spotted tail around nearby, so he swam through the rest of the lagoon looking for her. But no matter how many mer he asked, nobody had seen her since she'd swum up to him earlier.
An uncomfortable, worried feeling tied itself into a knot in his stomach. Surely she wasn't so foolish as to go hide somewhere outside of the lagoon…
He quickly swam to the entrance with the hope that he was wrong and that he'd find his sister on his way, but still, nothing.
Wind circled the entrance and mentally steeled himself for what he needed to do next, then swam through the entrance of the lagoon.
There was a reef out here, just like inside of the lagoon. Fish and rays swam peacefully through the waters and between pieces of coral.
He began his search systematically, circling away from the entrance and peeking into every crack and crevice he could. Things were beginning to feel a little bit hopeless until he looked behind a boulder and finally saw Aryll's soft blue scales and bright blonde hair.
"Aryll!" He scooped her up into his arms. "You aren't supposed to come out this far from the lagoon."
She wiggled in his grasp and flapped her tail in his face until he was forced to let her go or else face the wrath of a juvenile mer.
"I'm fine! I'm totally fine." She said as she swum around him in a proud circle. "Nothing bad happened."
"Still," He protested. "It's safer in the lagoon."
Wind nudged her in the direction of the lagoon entrance and she turned to look at him, only for her face to show confusion. "…what's that?"
He looked in the direction she was pointing.
Something was cutting through the water at a steady pace. He squinted a little, then came to the realization that it was a human ship with a trawling net behind it.
"Go go go!" He took Aryll's hand and pulled her towards the lagoon. He knew that she wouldn't be able to get to the lagoon quickly enough on her own, but even with his help she was lagging dangerously far behind.
He glanced behind to see that the ship was catching up to them, the net speeding through the water more quickly than they could swim.
It snatched them up in a mess of bubbles and everything was suddenly turned upside-down and topsy-turvy.
Aryll cried out in fear, and Wind frantically looked around until he spotted her tangled in the net just like him. He twisted around so that he could reach her and started desperately pulling strands of the net away from her fins.
She wiggled around in a panic until he pulled away the last pieces of the net and she was able to squeeze through one of the gaps to freedom.
Wind tried to move his tail, tried to see what part of the net had caught on it, but it was really difficult from this angle. One of his arms was partially tied up and the other was in an awkward position.
Carefully, he maneuvered his free arm into a better position to feel at what had trapped his tail. He got his fingers around a loose piece of net and pulled at it, only for his vision to white out from pain.
Immediately, he let go of the net and went limp, waiting for the burning pain in his tail to go away. It faded slowly to a dull ache.
The currents of the Great Sea continued to swirl around him as the ship dragged him farther and farther away from Outset Lagoon. He curled his fingers around a loose piece of the net and stared at the lagoon helplessly until it was out of sight.
The ship took him very far away from the lagoon, farther away than he'd ever been before. And the farther away they went the more fish were caught in the net with him. Sure, the smaller ones were able to get away by slipping through the holes, but most of them ended up tangled and struggling for freedom just like him.
He didn't know how long he spent trapped in that net, but eventually the ship stopped moving and then humans running this thing started pulling the net up. Slowly but surely the fish were grabbed out of the water and hauled over the side of the boat to be killed and packed away for whatever nefarious purposes the humans needed them for.
Wind squirmed frantically, the fear of imminent death lending him the strength to fight. Panicked clicking sounds left him. He was desperate enough that he'd take the help of anyone who was within reach.
Suddenly, his prayers were answered.
A face with blonde hair and blue eyes much like his own floated in front of him. A steely resolve in the mer's expression.
"You're going to be okay," the newcomer said. "I'm going to cut you free."
HE started sawing away at the sturdy strands that held Wind captive and soon enough he felt things start to give way.
He wiggled a little bit experimentally and yelped when he felt the knick of the blade being used.
A sliver of blood floated through the water. Wind could taste it in his gills.
"Stop that! If you keep moving, I could really hurt you."
Wind silently went still and allowed the stranger to continue working.
Once he was free he let himself float down towards the ground until he was safely below the net. From this position he could clearly see that the stranger was an adult mer. He had a beautiful tail, the likes of which Wind hadn't seen before. His pod had colorful tails, yes, but they didn't fan out elegantly like that.
"Thank you," he said. "I really mean it, I thought I was chum."
"No problem." The other mer said as he let his fins drift in the current absent-mindedly. "I'm Warriors, by the way."
"Wind." He offered in return. "I know it's kind of an odd name for a mer, but my parents weren't exactly normal about names."
Warriors grinned at that. "My parents weren't either."
Wind looked around and tried to get his bearings. "So uh… where exactly are we…?"
He shrugged. "Close to my pod's territory. I was just patrolling the area when that ship swept through and I noticed you were trapped in the net. I couldn't just leave you there so I followed. It shouldn't be too far to get back to our waters."
A pit grew in Wind's stomach. "Do you know where Outset Lagoon is?"
Warriors frowned thoughtfully. "Can't say that I've ever heard of it. And I know the area around here pretty well."
A quiet, scared noise left Wind and he couldn't help but be ashamed of it. He was almost 14! He was old enough to take care of himself, he'd be okay and he'd find his way home. Eventually.
The other mer drifted a bit closer. "How about you stay with us for the night?" He suggested. "We can fix up your tail and then go from there."
Wind nodded. He didn't know what else to do and Warriors had saved him so he was probably safe. If he wasn't, he'd just stab him in the head like he had with Ganondorf.
Everything would be okay.
He followed Wars back to the place that he called home. The older mer was clearly taking things a bit slowly for the sake of Wind's sore tail, something for which he was thankful. The spot where he'd been knicked stung, and it was overall unpleasantly tingly where the net had been tightly wrapped around it.
By the time that they reached the shipwreck that Warriors lived in, the sun was beginning to set, and only a few rays continued to pierce the water's surface.
It illuminated a huge steel ship with human letters painted on the side.
Wind felt a bit nervous seeing it below them, but was it old and rusted and didn't have any nets within view so it should be safe.
Warriors guided him through the holes in the hull and they twisted through a couple of different spaces before they reached one with copious amounts of seaweed lining the bottom. Clearly a space meant for sleeping in.
Three other mer were already settled in for the night once they got there. All of them were adults.
Wind's hope finished sinking to the bottom of his heart. There were no juveniles nor adolescents to be seen. Either this was just a really small pod or he had been voluntarily kidnapped.
…it wasn't too late to stab this guy, was it? Surely he could find some sort of stabby item around here somewhere.
One of the mer was clearly already asleep, but the other two were still awake.
They looked at him curiously, tails intertwined, indicating that they were either sister and brother or husband and wife. Likely the latter since they didn't look very much alike.
"Bringing home another stray?" Asked the bigger mer with amusement.
"He was stuck in a net. One of those ships came through our territory and when I saw what was happening I couldn't sit around and do nothing." Warriors answered. "Besides, look at him. He's so…" he gestures at Wind vaguely.
Wind stuck out his tongue at him.
The bigger mer's companion laughed. "Well he's certainly welcome to stay as long as he wants." She twisted her tail away from her counterpart and swam a bit closer to look at him in the thin moonlight.
"I'm Malon and this is my husband, Time. The sleepy one is Sky, but you can meet him in the morning." She explained. "It's near impossible to wake him this late in the day."
Wind nodded. "Okay, but I'm just staying for the night, I'm going home right away after."
The adults were silent for a moment and Wind bristled. "I am! You can't keep me here!"
"How about we talk about it in the morning?" Warriors suggested gently, but Wind knew what he meant. None of them knew where Outset Lagoon was, and they hoped that he'd come to terms with being lost better after he had some sleep.
Reluctantly he nodded. "Sure."
He curled up in the corner that was the farthest away from the others and tried to ignore the pit of loneliness and sadness that was making its home in his stomach. It was going to be okay, he promised himself. He would find his way home eventually.