Samaraan grinned with delight. He had just found and opened another secret door, this one led to a long twisty loop of a corridor. The stories were different too. He dindn’t think much of the god named Zeus, that trick with the swan was nasty. The story about King Midas however was cool. Served him right.
The skinny little boy clambered out of the story palace and sat cross legged by the entrance soaking up the sun and thinking.
‘Mother, can I ask you something?’
« You found my newest extension... you know you can Samaaran. »
Samaraan grinned as the dungeon’s amused voice sounded in his mind. ‘I think the sea elves are cool, ‘cause they can breath underwater and see all the things... Um... an’ they seem to swim better than us... can you change me... um... us... that is mum, dad and my sister too... so that we could have that ability too...’
Mary was somewhat taken aback, why hadn’t she ever considered this... Mmm, she already had experience with the dual purpose lungs of the sea elves so, easy, well not easy but not a problem. Then there was the inherent magic that gave them the ability to slide through the water like a fish... Hmm, she had absorbed several sea elf pirates. A straight graft wouldn’t work, but with a little work on the telomeres... yes that should work.
Samaaran waited, and waited and had almost given up on receiving a reply when Mary finally replied to his query.
« Yes I could do that, but understand it would change you, you would become, um, sea humans I guess. And as you’re a child I would need your parent’s permission. »
If Samaraan wasn’t sitting cross legged he would have been jumping up and down with excitement. He scrambled to his feet. “Oh wow! I can’t wait... Thanks Mother.”
« Wait a sec, take the glass bead and use it to contact me when you have an answer. »
Samaraan snatched up the bead that had appeared by his feet and left at a flat out run.
Mary watched, bemused and disabled the little traps she had scattered about the island to keep the kids alert and as teaching aids, as at that speed kid could actually hurt himself.
That evening in Silverton, and after the kids had very reluctantly gone to bed Samaraan’s parents, grandparents, uncles and aunts congregated to debate the remarkable news Samaraan had imparted about Mary’s offer, for somehow Samaraan had perceived Mary’s response to his query as an open offer to him and his family.
As members of the archipelago’s original human inhabitants they were all rather more responsive to the offer due to their historic dependence on the sea. Finally Voxtraan, Samaraan’s father picked up the bead. “Mother?”
Some seconds later Mary replied.
« Yes Voxtraan, what do you want to know about the prize your son won? »
“Won!”
« Yes he found my latest hidden annexe and as you know I offer a prize to the first child that discovers one. He asked for the ability to breath water and air and the ability to slide through the sea. »
The adults looked at each other before Voxtraan asked the question that had been vexing them. “Are there any penalties associated to this change?”
« The same as the sea elves have. The absolute need to breath sea water at the very least once a week or the lungs will collapse and you will die. Ideally, you will need to breath water once a day. »
“And what about if one of the kids falls in love with a normal human in the future?”
« Just like the sea elves, they would have half sea humans. »
“Not for me,” said the old grandmother as she sat back in her chair.
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“Nor me,” added her husband with regret in his voice.
“Mother will you please change us, starting with Samaraan as it was thanks to him that we have this boon available,” asked Voxtraan.
Mary sighed internally, but she turned her attention to Samaraan and his sister crouched at the head of the stairs as they strained their ears to hear everything that was said down below.
« Right you two, bed! If I’m going to change you, you need to be asleep. »
Mary actually enjoyed herself changing the two eager volunteers, troubleshooting the changes and refining the changes. Samaraan and his sister took her the better part of six hours, then all the other children of the extended family occupied her for another hour. Then she started in on the adults who had indicated an interest starting with the early risers and working her way through the ones who didn’t need to wake early. She was surprised to note that each change required a single drop of celestial manna to free some kind of mystic lock.
“WHAT ARE YOU DOING?” shrieked Trisha as she was working on the last of her volunteers.
« Turning them into sea humans at their request, and you don’t need to scream. »
Trish watched wide eyed as Mary finished. “Oh God Mary – changing one of the, the eight races is just not done.”
« Why? Someone created the sea elves after all. »
“But only a god... Oh never mind, will you please talk it over with me if you decide to do something like this again.”
* * *
Danilus Oakborn looked across his desk at his senior priest.
“Mary’s done it again hasn’t she sir?” asked Annoraa the Fair.
“Yes, Ocidon is delighted. He is very proud of his... consort and ally. These – sea humans belong to his consort, so they belong to him... What the High Gods will make of it... There is now no way to prevent the Gods War now that the High Gods have been defied.”
* * * INTERLUDE * * *
On Tuesday Mary looked glumly at the beach, it had been clear but as soon as she turned up so did all the idiots with cameras and inane questions. At least this bunch was better than the masked thugs that had been here last week. But she still couldn’t fish and the others were being grossly inconvenienced because of her presence.
So after posing for yet more photos and film, and answering the same questions again she hopped back in her jeep and took off leaving yet more scraps of tracking bugs in the car park, this time they belonged to the networks and not the feds.
So off to the lookout point, a quick glance let her know she still had slightly more than half a tank of gas...
‘Hey wait a minute, when did I last fill up, two weeks? Three? Beep! Pity you can’t talk yet, just feel.’
As she approached the lay by where she usually parked she entered her domain. She was just entering the cutting where the road cut through a ridge when she had an idea and slowed pulling off the road onto the rocky verge. She stared at the rocky wall of the cut and concentrated. A cave was easy, a large hidden door was harder. She looked round and checked her domain. The door opened and she drove in, the door closing behind her.
She could feel the sea and the chamber she had created previously. She started driving a wide even tunnel up from that cavern, she added two wide one eighty turns as the tunnel drew near to the cave she was parked in. Three hours later and she still wasn’t finished, she used the absorbed rock and dirt to start building a beach at the foot of the cliff, just dumping it to create a shallow area.
Checking outside, she opened her door and backed out. Then she accelerated and headed home. Her own private beach with it’s own car park. Fun. The only problem was this desire, almost a compulsion to fill the sea that resided in her domain with assorted modified barracuda, ditto stingrays and a monstrous sea serpent type snake or two.
Wednesday it was school and more tunnel, enlargement and growth.
Thursday saw her in school again. Then she went home to pick up a couple badger ‘folk badly disguised in baggy shirts and hats, and back to her new project. Into the hidden garage, park and complete the ramp. Then she drove carefully to the sea level cavern and parked. Next job was creating living quarters for the Badgers while they unloaded the Jeep. Finally she created a mostly submerged cave entrance and a deep channel or pool along one side of the cavern.
She watched enviously as the Badgers set out to catch their dinner while she headed out so as to be home on time. Tomorrow she vowed, she would finish her beach with sand and break out her rod.
Friday started much like Thursday except that she transported one badger and one wolf ‘folk. Once parked in her cavern she dove into the channel and swam through the entrance of the underwater cave and into the open sea. She treaded water for nearly an hour as she arranged her new beach to her satisfaction before going ashore and grinning happily.
‘Fishing rod, here I come... Hmm best arrange another way onto this beach...’
She could feel the chamber behind the cliff, so small corridor and another concealed door. Then she really looked at the cliff and spent a considerable amount of time stabilizing and solidifying it.
Then... Bliss... Standing on a beach hauling in fish, or just standing there looking at the waves.
That evening she got home with a cooler half filled with her catch.
Naturally, her obsession made her oblivious to the fact that several organisations of quite determined people were getting frustrated at her managing to vanish for hours at a time with her Jeep in what was after all a quite open area.