Paradise! The birth of Dark waters

_After the days of Heavens dissatisfaction
It's displeasure quelling the light
And the oceans darkened with vexation
It's waters clashing with irascible might

The light of dawn then uncovered
the sole survivor of natures majestic fight
An ocean's secret divulged
a singular sight!

Its back a leathery hide
Like a canvas of the starry night
It's hair a cascading black tide
Its belly a mother-of-pearl white

Grievously wounded by unknown adversaries
It's body a union of man and Dermochelys
The Children of the sea named it with revery
"Dark Waters" a number among the seas mysteries_

Days and night had gone by, How many Dark waters had not counted, but slowly his wounds closed with the care of the local wise man and his gifted beautiful daughter.

He'd been named by the villagers, something happened to him after that, he felt different, like he'd lost some mutable ability he'd never valued in the past. Like his thread in the fabric of fate had been thickened and died into another colour. And yet he felt stronger, more confident and self aware.

For now he was still willing to stay in the sanctuary which had been built for him. With the leadership of the ruling family on this small island, the inhabitants had worshipfully built a shallow pool with a shaded area for the stranded merman to rest and recover under during the hight of the hot day.

The leader, a muscled and scarred man in his thirties, had been the one who had first approached and tried to communicate with the strange dark haired creature of the sea. Though the human's eyes were piecing his presence was calm and steady.

The local people kept a distance from the pool, though they would kneel in worship, bringing their children to kneel along side them from time to time.

Occasionally one of the fishermen would come, just like the skinny fellow before Dark waters right now. They'd bring their wives and children and offer him a sacrifice pierced on a long pole. Just like the merman had done all the times before, he rose from the shallow pond and stretched out his arms, the insides pale skinned while along the backs of his arms and hands his skin was speckled with darker pigmentation. With practiced elegance he let the gelatinous mass slide into his palm.

Trying not to slurp down the meal overly eagerly, the Leatherback let it slide into his mouth and down his spiny throat, surreptitiously sucking in the remaining tentacles. The first week he'd done this, quite a crowed had gathered. Dark waters understood by this point that these humans regarded his kind with reverence, so had had been carful to keep a dignified image and went along with the act.

The locals had taken to give him offerings in the form of jellyfish they caught as by-catch or found on the beach. Many considered this a boon as a number of these jellyfish were venomous stingers and posed a danger to the locals even when washed up on land.

They'd offered you some of their own food as well. Though you didn't mind eating their fish, their sickly sweet land fruit didn't suit your pallet which was catered towards salt, something you'd never even considered before confronted with fresh water fish.

As dusk fell, your visitations calmed, the day-fishers had long returned. As for the night fishers, they were buys with their preparations, They hunted for sea creature who were manly active at night or watching out for nesting sea turtles to collect their eggs, which Dark waters deliberately did not want to think too deeply about.

Ultimately this set up suited him well, and he didn't want to cause conflict to change the status quo. He'd been deeply shaken by his encounter with the sharks, it was hard for him to fully trust these humans, even more so after such an encounter. A niggling doubt at the back of his mind made the Leatherback wonder if they would let him go should the day come that his injuries had fully healed, Especially should they find out that the young merman was no powerful magic wilder as their prayers for blessings seemed to imply.

However, the interactions he'd had with certain humans - the "king" of this island, the wise man, his beautiful daughter and finally your little friend, a scrawny looking 8 year old girl who'd sneak over to the merman's pool at night and show off her occasional catch - had helped him better learn to understand and use the local language.

Although the injured leatherback was still guarded, secretly, somewhere deep inside, his hardened heart was slowly softening.