Shadul rolled her eyes. “Be afraid of an old man’s stories if you want, but know that he makes a living off of his tales.” Shadul finished her beer, setting it down. “Ronta, you’ve got other stories to tell, don’t you?”
“Hundreds!” Ronta bellowed in response, slapping his knee. “Let me tell you all of the mermaid in these here swamps.”
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"I don't care what you think about this one Shadul. I've seen mermaids before. Someone even called me a mermaid once, even though I'm not one." Caspian said, leaning back in her seat. "Half mermaids exist too. I've read about them."
"Anything's possible, alright! Just look at me!" Yama said, gesturing to himself. "My parents literally talked with each other about what I might look like. Mom said if I came out looking like a pile of mush, she'd love me anyway. Yeah, right! If I came out looking like a pile of mush with three arms and eyes on my ass, she'd have died from shock!"
(Shit, this came earlier, but I can't move it to match. Whoops.)
“I know mermaids exist, Caspian. One lives in the nearest freshwater lake.” Shadul pointed to the swampy town outside, where everyone walked on boardwalks and buildings were on thick wooden stilts. “Out there? I don’t know. I think the water is very shallow for a mermaid.”
Myrin arrived as the crew was deep in conversation about underwater creatures. “You guys are thinking too small,” she joked, sliding into a worn wooden seat. “You shouldn’t be afraid of what’s under the sea, you should be afraid of what’s in the sky! Dozens of foul, winding beasts live in the shadows of the clouds, watching the Earthdwellers for any signs of weakness.”
"We're not afraid, at leas' Ronta 'n I aren't. The others? Cannot say for sure. As much as I agree with you- have you seen the matted mess of greenery above the swamp? Nothing's getting through th- oh! A crane! That's good luck, you know." Shadul looked outside of the doorway, eyes settled on the tall white bird standing on the wooden walkway.
"Man, you guys haven't SEEN all of the freaky things in the sky yet!" Yama said. "Where I come from, dragons are the least of your worries. Wyverns are the nasty ones, and they come in all shapes and sizes! There's one called the Boromandur, it's too heavy to fly but jumps extremely high and has massive horns and a tail like a mace!" he said, using his hands to emphasize. Yama omitted the part about the Boromandur only feeding on dead trees, though.
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Caspian's eyes widened again, her face lighting up with curiosity. "Woah, really?! I've never been that high in the sky before, but that sounds amazing! And terrifying, but mostly amazing." After all of these stories, she was starting to think she might have to take a road trip to all these different places. Caspian had so much she needed to see.
“Damn, Yama. Where did you say you were from, again?” Shadul peeked her eyes away from the bird, now looking at Yama curiously.
"Well, I live sort of in a gray area," Yama said, shrugging. "I was born and raised in the Spine Ridge, those mountains north of the Shiara Desert. We're outside of the Empire of Prominence, which is further up north, and my workshop is in the steppes of the Shiara Desert. To the east is 'Dragon Country' as the humans call it, and everywhere else where I live is wyvern territory. We get attacks all the time, which is why my mother used to be a huntress charged with protecting caravans and sandships in the Desert."
"Uh-huh.." Shadul tried to listen, but a lot of the words got muddled in her brain- everything except Spine Ridge and Empire of Prominence. "Prominence… Yeah, I been there once or twice." Shadul nodded, leaning back in her seat. "Not too bad a place. Went there to sell skulls."
