Saenity swam through the cold waters at an even pace with memories of her former life on her mind. Her life as a Princess was over, and her parents, friends, and home were now gone. They where destroyed, but Saenity couldn't accept that. She started swimming faster as her anger picked up. She was hungry, she had never learned how to hunt for food as it was always supplied, but she kept swimming. Where she was going, she had no idea. Suddenly, the hushed sounds of Man filled Saenity's ears. Just two days before, she had seen a large wooden structure of some sort, floating on top of her waters. She examined them for quite some time, and was fascinated by their 'split fins'. It was interesting to watch them move one of the small 'fins' and then the other to gain motion. They also didn't have the scales that Saenity did, and were quite hairy. She had never followed one of these wooden structures before, but today she had nothing else to do.

She pushed her sorrows into the back of her mind and followed the wooden ship, curious as to where it would lead. As she swam, she couldn't help but remember an old spell the palace tutor had taught her. It was quite complicated, so complicated that Saenity never managed it. It was about temporarily changing ones body.

I wonder if those Mermen are under the effects of that spell...I've never seen them before, though. She thought to herself, wondering as to how these men came to look like that. As she continued to swim, she noticed the land was starting to arch upward at a slow rate. She looked up, the structure was still heading this way. She pressed on, swimming closer and closer to the surface of the water as it became more shallow.

In the distance, above the surface of the water, tall, short, and wide green things appeared. Saenity swam to the surface to examine this strange new world. There were so many green things, were they shells? She noticed that they where swaying softly in the wind, so they weren't solid. She pulled herself up onto the shore, and felt the grainy sand on her wet body. She was mystified, what was this place? She watched as the structure docked in the distance, and saw the men stepping onto the land. Saenity had never seen land before, nor had she heard of it. She lived a secluded life, and missed out on experinces such as this.

So this where those men live... She thought to herself, trying to brush the sand off her delicate skin. She longed to be able to go deeper onto this new area, but her fin would not allow it. Saenity cursed under her breath, her whole life she was always limited by either her Royalty or her fin. She struggled to free herself from the water, her face becoming covered in sand. She clawed at the grains, but they found no decent hold in order to pull herself up.

Then suddenly, the Palace tutor came into her thoughts again. That spell! That spell would allow her explore this land, just as those men over there! She closed her eyes, recalling the lesson that she paid poor attention too. She whispered the incantation, or what she could remember of it.

She felt a slow pull in the middle of her fin, but thought nothing of it. Suddenly, however, nearing the end of the incantation, the pull became stronger. She screamed in pain as her fin split apart and the scales retracted into her body. The skin, similar to her upper body, took the place of the scales as her fins transformed into legs. She clenched her fists as her body structure slowly changed...Thrusting her head back she screamed even louder.

Godfrey and some of the Paladins from the Temple of Light had been traveling for days, searching for a sacred relic. It was rumored to bestow magical properties upon weapons, and the warriors knew that it would aid them greatly in the coming war. As they exited the large ship, they stopped on the beach, and kept watch over others that were exiting, crime was up in this area, and the Paladins had sworn an oath to protect the innocent.

In a matter of minutes after they exited, they heard a young woman screaming, as though she was being murdered. Two of the older Paladins sent Godfrey and another to check it out. When they reached the sound, they were at first surprised, then a little worried. They watched helplessly as a young mermaid screamed in agony as her fin split into two legs.

Godfrey rushed to her, trying to comfort her with a minor healing spell, so her pain wouldn't be so great while she went through the transformation. He knelt down, and recited the incantation to the spell. A small aura surrounded the wailing girl, and started to settle around her. "Must have done something wrong, that spell never causes this much pain unless the incantation wasn't right." Godfrey looked up at the youngest of the Paladins. "You think so?" He retorted. He turned back to the girl. "Is that better? Is that helping?" He asked, then turned back to his comrade. "She is starting to look a little more calm." He turned to her. "It's almost over, just relax. Everything will be okay."

From the hill, the two older Paladins observed the young warrior. A red maned, giant of a man spoke. "He has greatly improved since we first found him. He's a completely different person." The next, though not as tall, but still larger then the average human sighed. "Remember what he is capable of doing, he has changed, I agree, but for how long will he remain like this?" "That, only the God knows."

They both kept watch over the townsfolk and their ally, who, seemed to be doing a good job at keeping the situation under control. He cast another healing spell, and continued reassuring the young mermaid that everything was okay, and that it wouldn't be much longer.

Saenity was in too much pain to realize that two men had heard her screams and were heading her way. As she underwent her transformation, she felt a sudden lessening in her agony. Opening her crying eyes, she saw two men looming above her. One of them was whispering another incantation, and Saenity wondered if he was casting magic. However, she wasn't afraid of this man. She wasn't afraid of anyone, for the most part anyways. She had lived a too secluded life to understand the dangers of the real world, she was much too trustyworthy.

She looked towards her legs, they were slightly red from the pain, but nevertheless, they matched the man that boarded those wooden structures. They were much slimmer, however, and much more curvy. They did still look like fins, in a strange way, however there was two of them. They were no longer the beautiful purple color that Saenity prided herself on, but matched her upper body skin tone. She didn't bother acknowledging the man, for she was too fascinated with her new fins. She tried to stand up and walk like those she had seen before, but she was too unfamilar with them. Even the sand beneath her feet felt strange as her body sunk into it.

She struggled to move, trying to use her arms to push heself up. There she was, her bottom in the air, her legs on the ground, and her arms attempting to push herself up. She struggled even more, becoming annoyed at the diffuculty of the task she was attempting.

"How do you...-*groan*--do this? Was it this diffucult for you when you first transformed?" She asked, continuing to struggle. Her lower body was nude since she lost her fin, everything but her upper body was exposed. She didn't seem to mind, however, she was too foolish to realize that being naked in public was a bad thing.

Godfrey kept the spell going until the fin completely split into two slender legs. As the girl tried to get up, Godfrey turned to the other Paladin. "Go to the others, tell them to get some clothes, I don't think the townsfolk will appreciate a young woman prancing around witout wearing something to cover herself."

The younger of the two warriors stared at the mermaid blankly, until the pommel of Godfrey's sword slammed into his chin. After sheathing his sword, Godfrey took off his cloak, and put it on the girl, then helped her stand up straight. The other man hurried off to the elder Paladins. He started to chuckle as she spoke, "How do you do this? Was it this difficult when you first transformed?"

"I never went through a transformation. I was born with mine, and it took me a while to get used to it. If you want, I could find you a horse, and you wouldn't have to walk."

He tried to teach her how to work a little bit, and after a few minutes, the other knights appeared, with some clothes, a simple cloth tunic and pants. "Good, now she actually has more than a mere cloak to cover her." He turned to the girl, and handed her the clothes. "You'll need these, they don't offer much protection, but, it's better than nothing."

Saenity listened as the man ordered them to go get her clothes. She continued her struggle to walk, but suddenly the man helped her upward. Her answered her question, and the mermaid was fascinated by it.

"I never went through a transformation. I was born with mine, and it took me a while to get used to it. If you want, I could find you a horse, and you wouldn't have to walk."

What? This man was born with them? How was this possible? All her life, Saenity had never seen anyone other than a Mermaid...Perhaps this was because she lived a secluded life. Either way, she found this to be highly interesting.

"What are your people called?" She asked. "And, I've seen Horses before. They swam around my home quite often, but I doubt they'd be able to carry me..." She added, confusing horses with seahorses. Saenity felt the sudden added weight over her shoulders. It was a small amount of weight, and had a strange feel to it. Saenity had never in her life felt something dry, and it felt strange against her skin. She noticed that her skin and hair were becoming less wet as well, although she didn't know the exact terms of it. As soon as the Cloak was fully over her shoulders, she no longer felt the extreme sun along her back.

She stood there and pondered about what the man said, until his servants returned. They had a simple tunic and pants and handed them to her. What was the point of these? In her home Kingdom, her people only wore such things if a war was approaching...and it was much heavier than these. She took the clothing into her hand and replied, "Thank you."

She tried to walk forward a bit, but again stumbled. Suddenly, as she looked upward, she saw the most beautiful creature in those green things (bushes). It stared at her as if paralyzed, it's slender horns pointing up towards the sun. It was a Deer, although she did not know this. It suddenly turned around and galloped away. There was so much she had to learn about this new land, but Saenity was willing to take the challenge on.

OOC: Sorry I haven't posted for awhile, working on a new forum.

IC: Godfrey smiled a bit, he was a little surprised that this girl had never seen a human. Of course, he had seen only a few mer-folk in his time. "We are called humans, Atani. And, horses don't swim under water, you must be thinking of seahorses. When the others bring one, I think you'll notice the difference." He turned back to the others, and the eldest of them nodded, and headed back off into town. Godfrey turned around as the girl responded to the clothes.

"Thank you."

"No problem." Godfrey noticed the sky was starting to get darker, and night wasn't a safe time to be out around this region. Attacks from the Arda Mafia were common, and they preferred to strike under the cover of dark. He noticed that something had caught her attention, he looked towards a bush, and saw it. "That is called a deer. They are pretty common in these parts. It is starting to get dark. I hope Magni comes back soon."

"I'm just a little curious, but, what is your name? And are there others? I would very much like to know if any more are going to arrive." He looked towards the city, and saw a grey headed man walking with something.

The elder Paladin who left had arrived, with a small horse, for the girl to ride on. "Here. We should head for the inn. Those damn thugs have taken a particualr interest in you." Godfrey nodded, and looked at the mermaid. "We have reserved some rooms at an inn. I suggest you come with us, it isn't safe after dark. Come"

He helped her mount the horse, and guided it with a rope tied to the saddle. When they arrived in the town, many of the peasants stared at them, and started whispering amongst eachother. The Paladins looked farther away and noticed the insignia of the mafia on some of the onlooker's clothes. They started moving faster, and continued on until they reached the inn.