h.e.l.lo everyone!

Sorry for being ‘lost’ for months; I’ve been busy… busy and lost. (•⊙ω⊙•)

Anyway for a quick recap, our MC Roselda or ‘Eda’ met a water fay, a merman named ‘Managat’, and an unusual friends.h.i.+p between mortal and supernatural blossomed. But there’s more in their story where hidden powers are moving underwater that may affect the land surface.

In another note, I’d like to invite the fujos.h.i.+ and fudans.h.i.+ (or maybe even you straight) pipz out there to check out my MTL-ed project: The Antelope and Night Wolf in . See you!

Chapter 9.1: [Provisional] Subst.i.tute? (1)

“Miggie!”

The old man held his warm and still smoking cup as he looked up and stared at the old woman standing in front of the stoves that use woods or logs instead of gas or electricity. She's in the middle of cooking.

“What is it, Lisa?”

“Is your child still not home?” she said, annoyed.

The man sipped his coffee before responding, “What's with you? Didn't she say that she's only going to the beach? You know how she loves the sea.”

“Well, it’s already dark. Yesterday, she returned home late, as well.”

“Just let her be, it's her vacation. Let her enjoy it. And she's already of age, she knows what to do. What are you afraid of?”

The wife no longer replied. What her husband said was true, but it couldn't keep her from worrying. That's right, Eda's no longer a child. They raised her duly and with proper conduct. They always reminded her of what's wrong and right. But that's exactly her concern. Their young child has grown up and she now has her own mind, curiosities.

What if she asked questions about her ident.i.ty? What if she got curious and asked why was she an only child. What if she realized and asked how were they able to bore her when her mother’s already too old to carry her? Elizabeth didn't know what she should answer her. And that's exactly what she worried the most. What if… she shook her head in her mind. She couldn't lose Roselda; she would surely be devastated.

(TL: Lisa = Elizabeth, mother of Eda)

A few taps were heard by their door. Moments later, their young girl entered.

“Mang, Pang, I'm home," she said as she approached them and did a mano1.

Lisa noticed that she’s bare-footed and she seemed to be holding a kind of flower that she had only seen for the first time, but then, she didn't see that dragonfly-like thing resting on her shoulder. “Where are your slippers?” she asked her daughter. “And what are you holding?”

“Mang, I lost my slippers. The wave must have washed it off sh.o.r.e,” she replied. “And this one, I picked it from the beach while I was walking. Isn't it beautiful?”

Lisa knew that she was not telling the whole truth and that she's hiding something, but she didn’t asked her anymore.

“Eda, go child and get change. We’ll be eating shortly,” said the old man.

“Yes, Pang.”

This translation is posted only in Sharramycats. If you're reading this on a different site then you're only nurturing aggre-gators that already killed many translating sites.

Managat found Sarikit sleeping on his bed when he arrived at the palace.

Earlier, he quietly traveled the way to his own room as he avoided the guards that loitered around the kingdom. He had to circle the wild and overgrown area of the kingdom and pa.s.s through the secret underground entrance. He was fortunate enough to do that and enter the Palace without alerting any of the guards. Why did they suddenly tightened the watch, he asked himself.

He's exhausted. He had traveled long to go and return back from the rocky area just to think things through. He was soon accompanied by the mortal girl, Eda. He's very grateful to her for clearing up his mind. There's still hope, he reminded himself.

He gently sat beside the little mermaid lying on a soft type of moss, which served as their resting area. He was very careful because he didn't want to wake her up. He noticed that a lambanang-tubig was on Sarikit’s head and it looked like to be sleeping, too.

He reminisced with himself. In just two days there had been so much that happened. He met the mortal girl, the Head Maayo's fall into sickness, and now, the birth of the new generation of lambanang-tubig. One of them even imprinted to a mortal girl. It caused worry but also amazement to him for he had witnessed something like that for the first time; that something like that was actually possible to happen.

After some time, he stretched his arms and let his tired body succ.u.mb to exhaustion. A moment later, he’s already asleep.

———-

1Mano - from Spanish term 'mano' (hand); a traditional gesture of respect to the elders in Filipino culture. The young 'uns take the offered right hand of the elder then presses it to their forehead and say "Mano po".