Pan cannot imagine why anyone would wish to be far from the sea, for if he could have his way, he would have spend his every waking moment on the shores of playing in the waves. He missed the blue-green waters of Neverland, the way they hushed against the sand, lulling him to a peaceful sleep. He missed the sea breezes, the cry of the gulls, the endless days spent daydreaming along the wave-washed shore. There was a sea here, but it was far from others… and Pan missed people too. He wanted it all, but hadn’t been able to make his home in one place here in Novus – so the boy had become a wanderer, letting his whismy take him where it would.
But man, he missed the sea.
So he says nothing in response to her puzzling words, instead smiling as she paid the merchant his coin, eyes widening as she mentioned shipwrecks at the bottom of the sea. A long time ago, I was in a place with the sea god Selke – maybe you know him? He gave me the gift of underwater breathing, and I could swim as deep as the sea would go… but I never saw a shipwreck… is it a pirate ship? The boy grinned at the thought, as entranced with pirates as any child, spending many nights playing swordfighter against his nemesis – Captain Hook!
Where he should be afraid of the kelpie, instead the boy finds only curiosity, itching to know more of her stories of the sea. Together, they leave the tent, allowing the silk of the flaps to brush against him as again the din of the festival rose around them. What do you like best about the bottom of the ocean? he asks, What else have you seen there? For I know many interesting things live far from the surface of the sea… what I wouldn’t give to swim deep into Selke’s sea again…
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