A few hours had gone by, before Rinn awoke, the great glass bubble he floated on was filled with glimmers of this and that, blurs of medical herbs floating along with him. He stirred slowly, his body undulating and churning, slowly stretching, his tail grazing the thick glass patiently. The water was clean and fresh, his eyes peered through the glass at the maddeningly disfigured outer world. Wood coated everything, but the wood was strange. The wood bore no rings or patterns as anything that normally would have to to be constructed from the trees.
The wood looked bizarre, and felt too smooth. Rinn let it pass, rising to the top of his new prison, getting a better look. This was what must have been a ship, but it was an odd one, that much was certain. He felt sore, and his eyes hurt a bit at the re-introduction to air so soon after being so thoroughly aired out. He slid back into his fishbowl and twisted his body up, comfort was preferable, but the paranoia he felt beckoned him.
Few mer had ever been captured by humans or other races, as their magic made them a pain to keep and their tenacity usually got them killed before anyone would bother trying to continue the battle to keep them alive, but subdued. Supposing they could be captured, it wouldn't be too hard to keep it, given their life was based on the water they had. Giving a Mer little water imprisoned them to where they were, until they could get closer to more water, and thus, get stronger, more in touch with their own elements. Rinn gave the outside another go, raising his body up. The glass was smooth but not perfect; It wasn't like the smooth, seemingly alien planks that made up the walls floor and ceiling of his gently rocking prison. The glass seemed like it could have been blown, but it was a monstrous size, large enough for more than just Rinns' adult Mer body. It was held in place by great steel wrought constructions, bolted to the once-perfect wood, it kept the glass from moving too much, but not so tightly t hat it could not be removed. It was probably to keep it from getting emptied out too much.
Rinn sighed softly, slipping back into his tiny world, his fins cutting through the water, he smelled around, inspecting the things he was swimming in. He was no alchemist or apothecary worker, and it was hard to identify everything, but nothing came off as too malicious to him. The things there were all herbs and small minerals, ground up carefully. He supposed Neer must have done it. It would explain a lot. Most humans would sooner accidentally poison one of them, than figure out what would and would not heal their injuries, and restore them.
But..
He just didn't feel any restoration or invigorating swells in his body. He was sore, but not the way a warrior would be sore or tired. He felt... old. Age swept through him, despite his youth and he soon came to realize that this must be what defeat was really like. To feel your bones ache at what could have been, for your muscles to have worked too hard and failed anyways. For a heart to yearn for the skies, and be shackled. He ground his teeth a bit, the gnashing causing some of his mouth to bleed a little and he laughed at the idea. To think that he'd get so worked up over a human woman, who otherwise would have been destroyed hours ago, now it felt so...
It felt wrong. Neer was a cruel person, but not so unreasonably that he felt she'd be killed by him. Abused, yes. But she would live, unlike what tagging around the waterways with Rinn might have been. He idly thought back on the walk they'd taken, the things she'd said. It wasn't long before a door far away from the glass opened and a blurry shape moved closer to the glass. A palm pressed to it, a face not far behind. Rin stirred and slapped the glass with his tail half-heartedly as he rose to the top.
Neer stood there, the look on his face a curious one, but not without it's smug foreboding. Years had passed since last Rinn had looked upon him and now he seemed to have evolved. It was the way a child looks akin to the adult they become, but Neer had been an adult in that time. Now he was something more developed. Muscles where they wouldn't be, like he'd become human in a way. He was stronger, less used to the water doing his work for him. His fins had receded a bit, and seemed more like flat markings on his body. Without his coat the coloring remained, but it was faded and weak against the flesh there. Scales seeemd to have softened. Now and again the scale patterns were there, but not more so than the seasoned callouses would have replaced tender flesh.
"What have you become, brother?" The words from Rinndells mouth fell like a mighty crash in the silence as they looked upon one another. It was a few moments before Neer spoke.
"Do you remember the way we were when we were children?" he asked, turning to lay his palm on the mind-boggling wood before him. His claws were diminished too, the webs sliding away. These were the hands of a man, not a fish-creature. "Do you know how many of your lessons you shrugged off when it came to the magicks and the sciences we were supposed to learn? How long have you been gone from our home, Rinndell? Off on your own little adventures, hunting for treasure. I've followed you patiently, and it's paid off. Now you're here and I can finally make you pay for what you took from me so many years ago."
"I've never stolen anything from you," Rinn said shortly, swishing in the water a bit, his fins rising a little at the offense. Only a mild laugh came from Neers' lips, but it was noted that his eyes flashed the way they had at the Nymph. He was just as he was at childhood, quick to anger, and even faster to arms.
"You stole things you'll never remember, how could you know?" he said, wiping his mouth slowly and waving a hand. "I'll return shortly, when I've had my first visit with my new plaything," he told Rinn as he moved away, towards the door. "Try not to die in there, alright? It'd be a pain to throw you over board in such a large coffin."
~~~
The captains quarters stood far to the back of the ship, a large glass face looking away, out the rear, over the waves. The gentle rocking of the ship sent many of the trinkets held on shelves sputtering and rocking, the tiny instruments bobbing and rolling. Most of them stayed on their allocated places, bobbing slightly and few of them traveled to the floor.
The walls were adorned with the same fearsome monotonous smooth wood. Curtains hung lazily about the bed there, his desk sitting far from it, the chair pushed in neatly. Save for the various things, less littered the room than most captains might have. A neat rug, a chest or two, and the main articles of the room. Upon the dark bed was where they'd lain the blind woman, food set out on the desk carefully.
The nymph was there, sitting beside the door on a wooden chair, his eyes leering upon her, his breathing slow, but agitated. He watched her ever move, licking his lips. Slowly he would drag his clawed nails across his flesh, reminding him to behave. Every now and again he would scratch again as he leered at her, waiting for his master to return. Their agreement was agitating him again. He was supposed to be able to rip the other fish apart when they'd found him, but instead they were treating his wounds. He was certainly vexed, to say the least.
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