“No merfolk can trick the likes o’ me!
With their shimmering tails,
And their watery tales—
They’ll drown ye, just wait and see!”
- Goldie Honorhide
Yoboc was not happy, but he was not antagonistic like Goldie. Makara joined us for a meal, bringing some fish to share. She would respond to Goldie's grumping with a big toothy grin, which got her grumpier. I am surprised Makara was not more suspicious of the meal. Goldie was a Forester with a high herb lore.
With both my arms immobile, I was not a lot of help around the camp. This also meant I couldn’t change to my bear form with my two front limbs immobile. I was also not a happy camper.
Felix stayed with me, and I absently scratched his ears as the bickering and snipes happened. I took the early morning watch as I like that time of day, even though the sun does not rise around here until about mid-morning.
Goldie woke me. I saw Makara asleep across the camp, so she hadn’t murdered her in the night. They didn’t trust her to take a watch session, though.
Felix came with me, and we did a circuit of the area. It was a clear night with a cold breeze. There were no unusual smells in the wind. Hearing Aid didn’t hear any danger, and I stretched Void Sensing out away from Camp as I did the circuit. Nothing unusual was there. I then Centered Void Sensing in the centre of the camp and let it settle. My Cosmic Aura was Level 7, so I had an 18m radius that I could easily sense. It was not the biggest warning, as I could sprint across it in about 2 seconds, but it was something.
I found a place to sit where I could see a lot, but it was not obvious. I looked at the sky. One of the moons was up. I picked out the stars and constellations that were key to navigation. From their position, you also had an idea of the season, but it was easier to work out the seasons by the nature around you.
This triggered my thinking, though. In winter, those stars are in a different position in the sky, and I don’t mean how they just rotate. Yoboc talked about star constellations that you could see further south but couldn’t see from here. I picked out the Polar Star that was a constant here, but Yoboc said the further south you go, the lower on the horizon it is until you can’t even see it.
This is a bit tricky to get my head around. I watch the stars slowly march across the sky. The Moons move differently than the stars, making them harder to navigate by. Apparently, ship Navigators have instruments that measure angles between the stars to work out where they are.
We Scouts / Explorers have no instruments, so we just eyeball it. Yoboc is better than me, as I think his Farsight helps him be more accurate. He also has a lot of experience.
I have the Map skill. Can I Map the key stars? I bring up my map and concentrate on each of the key stars in the sky populating it. I get a good coverage, and then the Map starts straining at me. The stars are no longer in the position where I mapped them. I guess this is a star map at a certain time and place.
My Map records information when I see it. So, after we left the island, there could have been a rock slide, and therefore, my map could be wrong, and I would never know until I went back. My Map was already a snapshot of the land when I saw it, not as it is now.
The Sky is sort of the same. I need different snapshots at different times as things change in the sky faster than usual. I managed to store that snapshot and start a new one. That alone bumps my Map Skill from Novice to Apprentice. This is good.
I have a four-hour watch, so I decided to create a map for each hour of the four hours. Four different maps of the sky.
These Maps are tied to this place as well as this time. We use the stars for navigation because they are positioned differently as viewed from different places.
I think my head is getting full, but I feel this is important. I move to a clear patch of snow, and I use my Drawing Skills to draw the four maps side by side. Each map is circular, with the horizon being the edge of the map. I join lines between some of the stars showing the recognised constellations.
These snow maps show the march of the stars across the sky in this place and at this time of year.
The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.
Map levelled again. This must really be stretching the skill. Skills don’t normally specialise or evolve until they get to Journeyman Level, a bit like basic classes. I must be pushing the skill in some specialised way as it is levelling fast.
I brought up the maps through the skill and flicked through them, watching the star positions change. I look at the four maps in the snow. If I wanted to measure off them, I would need to draw much more detailed and accurately than I could in the snow.
I focussed on my Map skills again. Could I combine the maps and have the stars moving across the sky? A pain lanced through my head. No, I could not. Once the pain subsided, I used Identify, and I figured that the basic Map skill couldn’t do that. There was a skill that could, but I was way too low in my Mental Strength and Mental Agility to get it. Especially Mental Agility. That was the key attribute I needed.
For now, I was going to create a series of maps of the stars and see if I could gain any more insights. I wonder if there was a limit to how many maps I could have. It is probably a function of the Skill Level. Testing the limits of a Skill is how to grow it.
The trouble was that I felt I was also pushing the limits of my Mental Attributes. They are harder to level, and with my Class level slowing down, spare attributes are harder to come by.
Makara stirred. Dwarves were not morning people, so they would sleep for a while. Shark Mer were earlier risers. Makara was like me and only wore belts. I studied her as she rose. She was tall. Not quite me tall, but close. She had no hair anywhere. Maybe that was why dwarves didn’t like them, and dwarves are definitely fixated on hair. I discovered the class they revered the most was not a miner or even prospector, and I saw how much respect Undoth got. No, the most revered dwarven class was Hairdresser. I didn’t understand it at all.
Makara had no hair anywhere. As she bent over to pick up her blanket, I looked closely at the small bone-like scales on her ass. They covered her whole body and made her streamlined. She stood back up, and the triangular fin on her back was flattened against her back. However, I could see how it would become erect as she swam to guide her through the water.
Her back was a blue colour, but her front was white.
I traced my eyes down her long, powerful legs and the bone pattern on them. Her ankles also had fins that seemed to collapse against her legs when they were not in use. I wondered if she had muscled to cause an erection intentionally or if the fins were an automatic function.
“Can I help you with something?” Makara said. “You seem awfully interested in my body.”
“I was wondering if you could erect your fins or if it was automatic?” I asked. “Sorry, I have never met a Mer before, let alone a Shark-mer.”
She smiled in a way that seemed to have some meaning that went way over my head. Maybe I need to invest in Mental Perception as well.
“I can certainly produce erections on demand,” she said, and all her fins moved away from her skin and stood erect. I noticed there were also fins under her arms. When they were folded, they hid or maybe protected her gills. When they were erect, they were parallel to the plane of her body. I assume they stabilised her in the water.
“Do you have lungs as well as the gills?” I asked.
“I do. Are you limited to only lungs, or do you have a backup system?”
“I only have lungs, but I did get a skill to use them better during the fight yesterday. Breath Control helps my lungs to be more efficient, and I am able to control them better. Can I touch your scales?”
“Sure, but I get to touch your fur. I have never understood fur. It makes you mammals just look soft.”
I stepped close to her. It was refreshing to be able to look someone in the eye without straining my neck. I ran my hand down her arm, and the scales were smooth as I went from the top down. But when I reversed the direction, it was rough, like I could take a layer of skin off if I did it hard enough. I tapped her scales with my claw, and they were hard. I could see why she thought mammals were soft. I looked her up and down. The scales were the same, and she was all hard-streamlined muscles.
Meanwhile, Makara was running her hands down my fur. She might have called us soft in a negative way, but from the small smile on her face, I think she liked it.
I moved a hand to one of her fins under her arm. It felt just like a shark fin. Then my hand brushed her gills. She gave a little shudder.
“Did that hurt?” I asked.
“No, on the contrary,” she said, “It is one of the few sensitive places we Shark Mer have.”
“Sensitive?” I asked.
“As in erotic,” she said. “Sexual arousal,” she clarified at my blank look. “Something for later,” she said, glancing at the sleeping dwarves.
“I am not Mer. I’m told we beast-kin can get into a mating state, but I think it is when we smell a female in heat. I haven’t experienced it myself yet. We are not animals and can control it, though, so I am told. Are you in heat?”
“We really are very different. I knew that, but meeting you has made it even more obvious. I wanted to see if you could control yourself. It turns out I don't meet the criteria for your mating. You seem like a good kid. You need more experience, though. I like that you are so soft.” That last bit was said in a tone that indicated she wanted more.
“I want to explore different things in this world, including understanding different species.”
“I think you mean that in a non-sexual way as well. You are an interesting Beast-kin, Ivan. Let’s see how well we work together. I will fetch some breakfast for us,” She started walking to the ocean. She then looked back, “We should consider ditching the dwarves, though.”
Patreon is 15 chapters ahead if you want to support the story. You don't need to support the story, as it will be free here.