No one ever expects to see a living fossil, especially not something quite so gigantic in size as a megalodon. A sea beast believed to have hunted whales, seals and sea turtles, but the question was, was it a danger to Cormac, a human being who could breathe underwater, and to Melusine, a human being who had been transformed into a merrow-maiden? People were sometimes killed by sharks, eaten alive even, but there was evidence that sharks didn't even like human flesh, for in the sixteenth century, a sailor was swallowed whole and then regurgitated live. If that was the case, then it was good news for Cormac, but not quite so for Melusine, considering she wasn't human from the waist down.
To the alarm of the two Children of the Deep, the megalodon swam towards them. Drawing his brand from its case, Cormac prepared to defend himself. The unfortunate truth about sharks was that they bit anything to see if it was edible, resulting in many a strange thing to be found in their stomachs. Even if sharks did not like the taste of human flesh, the fact that they bit anything to see if it was edible was not quite a comforting one.
Regarding the weapon cautiously, the megalodon swam around the two, circling them, almost seeming to be making up their mind. It was only when Melusine spoke, that Cormac realized the shark was speaking to them.
"I am Melusine and he is Cormac. It is very nice to meet you, Uyakh." Uyakh? Not a name that Cormac had expected for a shark, though then again, he was not entirely sure what he had been expecting. "Are you native to these parts, Uyakh?" There was a short moment of silence, only for Melusine to inquire: "Where do you come from?" After another short moment of silence, Melusine said: "The Depths? Do you happen to know Ronemun then?" Again, Cormac heard only silence. Mer people could understand sea life, but a human that had been turned into a water breather such as himself could not. This was a tad bit of an annoyance. Thankfully, the silence was much shorter as Melusine happily asked: "You do? Oh, that is lovely! But what brings you all the way up here?" Upon being given an answer, Melusine asked: "Breeding? Are there none of your kind to breed with in the Pacific?" That was a good question. Why would Uyakh come this far from the Mariana Trench just to breed. "You don't come from the Pacific originally. Where do you come from originally?" Did a megalodon even known the names of the oceans? "You don't know its name you merely know that it where you born. I see. You aren't hungry, are you?" Cormac found that an excellent question, but if Uyakh had inquired who they were, surely, he could not have been hungry. "You stomach is storing food?" Melusine asked, somewhat confused.
"It is something that sharks can do." Cormac explained. "So, they never go hungry."
"Sounds like something others should be able to do." Melusine commented. As Uyakh proceeded to swim past them, the Surface-Born Merrow-Maiden swam over to the megalodon and asked: "Wait, what can you tell us about Ronemun?" Cormac watched as a look of shock and confusion appeared on Melusine's countenance and she inquired to the shark: "What do you mean who am I? I'm Melusine! We just met!" Shocked and confused himself, Cormac could not believe it. Surely, Uyakh's memory could not have been that short! Was Ronemun, where he resided and where he was born the only things that the megalodon could remember? Was it possible that a shark could not even remember if it had bitten something to find out if it was edible?
Cormac sheathed his brand and watched as Melusine had a short conversation with Uyakh, upon returning to Cormac, the Helena of the Deep quietly said: "He forgot who we were so quickly…" Swimming down to the seafloor, Melusine sat in the sand, as she began to think.
Joining her, Cormac said: "Uyakh is a very old species, maybe younger species of sharks have better memories than his kind."
"You know what kind he is?" asked Melusine, interested to know what their forgetful acquaintance was.
"A megalodon, I think." Cormac answered. "Fossils of the species were first discovered in 1843, I think. If a prehistoric species like that still swims the oceans, then what else? Liopleurodon? Ophthalmosaurus? Basilosaurus?"
"I don't know what those are." Melusine admitted, her tone curious. Cormac explained to her that the first two were prehistoric reptiles of the sea, while the Basilosaurus was a prehistoric species of whale. Upon learning what these creatures of yore were, the Surface-Born Merrow-Maiden commented: "I wonder if their memories would be similar to Uyakh's."
Giving a small laugh, Cormac uttered: "I'd hope reptiles and mammals would have longer memories than those of fish even if they were prehistoric!"
Laughing as well, Melusine looked Cormac in the eye and said: "I don't know, I think the fish in the bay back in Cape Town had better memories than the squirrels and snakes did."
"Snakes?" asked Cormac, somewhat alarmed. "What like the venomous kind?"
"No, no, not the venomous kind." Melusine replied. "Though I can't imagine the Gaboon viper having a better memory than the brown house snakes. Darling little things, great at pest control, but for some reason can't remember if they've been in a room before, so they just end up going in circles."
Laughing, Cormac uttered: "Okay, okay, I guess that is a bad memory… Still, if snakes are that useful, makes me wonder why Saint Patrick decided to banish all of the snakes rather than just the venomous one from Ireland."
"You had a pest problem once?"
"That I did, Melusine. Makes me wish the Pied Piper would show up."
"Why didn't you get a cat, Cormac?"
"We borrowed some from some neighbours. As it turned out, they never saw rats or mice before and didn't even know what to do with them."
"Oh, my!" Laughing, Melusine covered her mouth with her right hand. "That must have been infuriating!"
Cormac could do naught but nod. His dad had been nothing short of exasperated when it came to the cats. Personally, Cormac liked having the cats around. They may not have been effective when it came to catching pests, but he considered them nice, friendly, cute, affectionate, he specifically liked two of them, one a grey long-hair and the other an orange and white short-hair. Both had been males, the long-hair rather quiet while the short-hair had been rather vocal, but otherwise both had been very relaxed creatures.
"Maybe…" said Cormac, smiling as he thought back to the company the cats had provided. "But they were otherwise nice to have around… You ever have any cats around you back at Cape Town?"
"There were quite a few alley cats." Melusine answered. "Some of them friendly, some crazy territorial."
"What about in Boann?"
"A neighbour would sit at her window with her Persian, had the evilest expression."
"The neighbour or the cat?" Cormac believed the grey long-hair that his dad had borrowed among others had been a Persian. He remembered the cat having a rather evil expression, in contrast to its rather friendly personality.
"Both." Melusine replied. "I'm pretty sure a soul had been split in two and put in two separate bodies."
"Well, considering our current states, Melusine, it may be possible that is the case." Cormac commented. "Of course, I imagine that if that is the case, then a soul would have been split into four pieces."
Interested, Melusine said: "Explain."
"Call me a romantic, Melusine, but I think everyone is in search for the other half of their soul. If your neighbour and her cat are two souls split into two, then maybe there is a man with a cat for them."
Curious and mildly amused, the Helena of the Deep asked: "Do you think this man and his cat have equally evil expressions?"
Smiling, Cormac could very imagine that being the case. "Yes, I think they do."
Melusine could imagine those two sitting on their porch with their cats, all four of them with the same evil expression. It was half hilarious and half disturbing. Maybe a little bit more than half when it came to the latter. The thought of those four staring at people with evil expressions from their porch was enough for one to avoid walking by completely.
With her eyes half-closed, Melusine was about to ask Cormac a new question, only for the sound of panicked-yelling to come to her ears, but curiously not that of her male compeer. Looking in the direction that the yelling was coming from, she saw: "Uyakh?"
Confused, Cormac looked over to the megalodon. What had happened? Had the big lug gotten turned around and forgotten which was he was supposed to be heading?
Upon seeing something above on the Surface, Cormac realized the reason that Uyakh had turned around: the whaling ship the blue whales had been warning everyone about, was now pursuing the megalodon.