Eldoris
Hippocamp | Location: Somewhere Out At Sea | Tag(s): Open, the seals???
The squall had carried Eldoris with it.
I hadn't started where it was landing, as storms are so oft to do. It had started small, a swell of currents or a puff of butterfly wings somewhere of little importance, but slowly it had churned in the air and in the sea. When it had passed Eldoris the first time, he'd been venturing a bit farther from home anyways, looking for possible places of new coral growth.
He'd found some, but not enough. Not enough to impact the ever spreading white death of the corals, which caused the ocean currents to bleed with the scent of death like bad blood through and artery.
It had been smaller then, but like their dragon kin, hippocamp aren't always the strongest of swimmers. So he'd been knocked away by the under currents, thrown around carelessly. At first, he prayed. He prayed to He Who Made the Sea and the Hippocamp, praying for protection. He prayed to He Who Made the Storms, that he might have mercy. He prayed to She Who Pulled the Moon and Protected the Pale Creatures, for what he did not know.
Then he wept.
The squall was taking him far, far from the hippocamp. It was hard to tell where he was in the waters, but it felt cold and strange. As it grew, he'd tried thrashing his way out, to no avail. Perhaps this was it. The final signature of the death sentence of his skin.
That he'd made it thus far way amazing. More visible to predators, unable to withstand the sun, the color of ocean death... thus was why his herd had driven him away. The little dragon kin had taken mercy upon him, but for what?
Then he slept.
He'd been tumbled and thrown by the waves for so long... So so very far away from the kelp beds. Some algae had been thrown his way, but it had been far from satisfying. The fins of his tail and the hooves of his legs were slowly becoming weary, so Eldoris tucked them up beneath him and slept, letting the storm hold his life as it pleased.
Sometimes, he'd breach the surface. The sun, with its rays that gave life as willingly as it did burns and blisters, was hidden away by an immense wall of black and rain and lightning. The ozone in the air made his nostrils flare unhappily until again he was pulled down down down.
Sometimes, he thought he was nearing land, and would try to reach out. But always the squall kept him out of reach, or banged him against the sharp rocks to remind him of what disaster he was now owned. It was always interesting, breaching when he was near humans. Their scent was unpleasant, the smell of the smoke and the dirtiness of their air and water offended him. It smelled different than the other times he'd drawn near. Where were the pleasant olive trees he'd seen once before? Where the beaches with their quaint white stone cafes?
The storm pulled him down again, and Eldoris let it. Best to ride it out, then go back home. He wondered if the dragon kin were worried, were searching for him. The wisest and tiniest of the kin, who'd raised him with the stories of generations passed, and the reverence to the Twelve and caution against all who lived upon land. Much tinier than he, but at times so much more alive.
His reverie was interrupted, he was thrown, breaching the water and landing sharply on rocks and wreckage around him. Creatures of the land were around him, those with wings sat upon their perches, protecting their broods. Others, creatures he'd not seen before and had no name for, were higher upon the beach, and made strong noises he could only barely pick up past the storm. Curious. They looked like solid sea phantoms, but clearly were nowhere near as delicate. Slowly, he used his hooves to weakly drag himself to them.
Warm. They were warm all pressed together, their hides surprisingly thick and not as soft as he'd thought. Some of their smaller ones, their foals, looked at him curiously from the center of their pile, whilst what he could only presume to be their dames gave him the most wary of looks. They were loud, as a whole, even with the din of the storm, but Eldoris did not care. He was warm, he was tired, and so again he said a prayer to She Who Pulled the Moon and Protected All Creatures, Even Pale Creatures, for thanks, this time.
And then he slept.
