The Legend of the Seven

The Emerald Sea

They loaded up and began down the red stone path, once at the Cliffside they could see the Emerald Sea the huge expanse of beautiful green water. They gathered together, and Theoden said "Now if we though climbing up the other side was hard, climbing down this side is far worse," turning to Wyn he finished "There's a reason father never took us this way." Wyn raised an eyebrow "What do you mean?" he asked. Theoden sighed "There are sharp rocks that cut your hands and clothes that you don't see until you've grabbed them." he looked to Celaena "Thankfully we have a lovely healer in training with us." he gave a small smile. Celaena grabbed his hand "We can do this." she said, the others nodded. Theoden smiled "Then let's get started." he said. The sun was long gone from the sky by the time the five reached the ground, exhausted and bloody there was no way they were going to make their way to the ocean tonight. Celaena set to tending her wounds and the others before the five began settling down for sleep.

Morning was not kind to the young elves, stiff and in pain they gathered together before heading towards the sea. Theoden was grumpier than usual and didn't have it in him to give the others a moral boost, even Wyn was quieter and less upbeat. Unexpectedly it was Shael who spoke "Come on guys," she smiled and grabbed Arcaena's and Celaena's hands "We've come this far, and we're so very close now. We can't give up!" smiles grew on everyone's faces, even Theoden gave a small smile. Together they knew they could make it, they just had to stick together. The five headed away from the mountain side and to the Emerald Sea, as they reached the beach the white sand complimented the green water, the morning was beautiful and clear the sky was shades of pink and orange, everything around them seemed to shine. They spent the rest of the morning using wood the dwarves gave them to build two boats to carry them across the Emerald Sea.

With the boats built the five separated into the two boats with Theoden and Celaena in the first, and Wyn, Shael, and Arcaena in the second. Arcaena protested not being with her sister a bit, but conceded on the logic she'd keep Shael and Wyn safe, and having a sword on each boat would be best. With that they tied the small boats together and set out to sea. The morning pasted slowly as the land disappeared off the horizon, suddenly three days at sea seemed like ages. Celaena sighed loudly, Theoden took her hand "What is it my love?" he asked. Celaena looked up at him "I just... don't like open water." she said. Theoden nodded "No elf does, we're not made for it. Our connection is to the land, the trees and plants." he said. Wyn added "Without them we feel empty and lost, it also weakens our magic." a look of sadness washing over him. To everyone's surprise it was Arcaena who reached out and grabbed his hand "We'll be okay, it's only three days." she said with a small smile. Shael nodded "Plus did you forget about fishing?!" she asked excitedly, pulling a fishing line from her bag. Wyn perked right up "I did! I forgot all about fishing! How could I do that?!" excitement pouring out of him, the others laughed.

With the mood brightened the day seemed to pass a lot faster, morning soon faded into sunset. The beauty of it was immense, the sun seemed to be sitting on the water like a floating ball of fire, shades of pink faded into purple ascending into the sky as the two moons appeared in the darkest shades. Awe washed over the five having never seen the moons appear so close or in such detail before. Celaena said "I never knew Xenraenia had a ring!" excitement and awe ringing in her tone, "I didn't know Soulara was pink." added Wyn. Theoden laughed "That's because you're blind dear brother!" the others laughed as Wyn pouted. Just then he got a tug on his fishing line for the first time that day "Finally!" Wyn shouted pulling the line in. At the end was a blue and gold fish "Hate to break it to you Wyn, but that fish is poisonous, which means we can't eat it." Celaena informed him. Wyn smiled and began to speak when suddenly thunder clapped loudly.

A few moments earlier the sky was a clear bright sunset now it turned to dark ominous storm clouds, all attention was now on the sky. The crystal clear emerald green water was now choppy with foam topping the increasingly large waves. The sky was now black, the only light the five had was the lightning strikes every few moments. Fear began taking over as the waves grew larger than their small boats, water was hitting them in the faces making it almost impossible to breathe. Celaena coughed "What do we do?" she shouted over the thunder and crashing water. Theoden grabbed her hand and shook his head "I don't know..." he said sadly. Fear truly struck Celaena's heart then, she hung her head down and gripped Theoden's hand tighter. Just then Shael saw the end of a scaled tail in the shape of two triangles "I think I know what's going on!" she shouted and stood. Unfortunately just as Shael stood a large wave hit the five's small boats dumping them all into the cold ocean water. Everything soon went black as the cold sting of the water took over.

Waking upon the white sand with a cough Arcaena's amethyst purple eyes flashed open to see the most beautiful woman she had ever laid eyes upon. It took her far longer than she'd ever admit to notice the woman also had a tail. Her hair was as green as seaweed, with eyes of the same color, her tail started as a bright, almost neon green and cascaded into a dark forest green at her fin. Beside the mermaid was what appeared to be her child. The youngling had bright sky blue hair the same as her eyes, her tail was a flux of bright rainbow that changed every second. Arcaena had barely begun to grasp what was happening when the elder mermaid spoke "I am Nernya, this is my daughter Rivia. My daughter caused the storm that sank your boats." Nernya turned to look at her daughter, "Speak now child!" she said in a scolding tone.

The young mermaid hung her head down "Well you see us mermaids are the protectors of the oceans, it's our job to keep the waters and everything in them safe. I'm still learning what that means." Rivia let out a sigh "What I'm trying to say is I made a mistake calling the storm upon you, I'm very sorry." the little mermaid finished. Arcaena had fully regained her composure and was standing by the time the two mermaids were looking to her for a response, she was too busy counting her friends on the beach to speak. "They're all there young elf." Nernya said. Arcaena looked at her "I'd like to attend to them before we speak." she said before turning away and going to her twin sister first. She gently roused Celaena making sure she was alright before going to Shael as Celaena went to Theoden and Wyn. Once all five young elves had collected themselves and Arcaena explained what happened they went to speak with the mermaids.

Arcaena spoke first "Why did the young one attack us? What harm did she think we were doing?" she asked. Nernya looked to Rivia who then spoke "I saw that one catch that poor fish friend!" she said pointing at Wyn. Nernya shot a look of death at her daughter "Rivia! What did I tell you about pointing at people?!" she scolded. Rivia hung her head "Sorry mommy." she said sadly. Wyn leaned in "Just so you know, I planned on releasing it." he said in an usually angry manner. Theoden pushed him back "We accept your apology, we have one more question. Where are we?" he asked. Nernya answered "Your on the coast of Aillion, three hours walked from Naellin." she finished. The five looked at each other excitedly. With that the mermaids took their leave and the five set off, moving along the coast was easy, the elves reached Naellin before sunset. Excitement was in the air as the city and castle loomed in the distance.