A Gift from the Sea

Oh, I just love that story. Love at first dance, living underwater... If I was the dancer, I wouldn't have ever come back here.

— Someone daydreaming while eating a Sea Peach

There are several versions of the tale of the gift that came from the sea across Tora, with as many coastal towns claiming to be the 'real one' as there are those that claim that the Sea Peach was first found there. It isn't certain as to when the tales were first made regarding the origin of the magical fruit. With the fruit first being noted around five hundred years ago, it stands that the myths and talks would have quickly spread as traders talked up where they found it. Rather than allowing their competitors to know that such an amazing bounty was to be found not far from shore. There's been many books, shows, and movies based on the common versions of the myth, often with creators taking liberties to change the story into their version.

A Grand Tale

It is said that it all began with a young woman flying, singing and dancing in the sand on a sunny day. Drawing eyes to her from beyond the crush of the wave. The sound of splashing water, with a glint of scales in the corner of her eyes as she danced. But never to be seen once she pauses. Eventually, she doesn't react any more, taking it to simply be the ocean fish. The young woman would be visited many times over the course of the warm summer, though she never gained more than a glance at her secret audience. Gifts would slowly begin to come to shore. A shiny shell, various trinkets that had fallen into the sea and smoothed by the waves, driftwood shaped ever so slightly like a heart.

It is fall by the time that the Lightning woman is convinced that someone, not just a simple fish, is admiring her. She writes words in the sand with her toes as she dances just above the ground during low tide, hopeful that they might last until the water has run over top of them. The next day she returns, she finds a response carved into a seashell. And as is the way of it with the two, writing messages in stone and shell. Some messages are benign chatter, others full love poems. But the woman still knows little of what is watching her behind the waves. A friend from her village, perhaps? Or someone from further away?

However, her secret admirer is not the only one that is watching her daily trips to the beach. Nor the only one that looks at her with delight. The eyes from the coast are laced with maliciousness. One day, just as the month turns, they pounce upon their prey. Backing her closer and closer to the sea, blocking every attempt to fly away.

Seeing her lover's plight, the admirer from the sea rushes forth and grabs a hold of her. Bringing her beneath the waves, desperately clawing for breath. But instead of air, she finds a supple peach pressed against her lips. From the moment the flesh of the fruit is past her lips, the weight of the water upon her disappears. Followed by the joy of surviving the first breath in as the fight to breathe overtakes her. Throwing her head back to see who's arms that she finds herself in.

Behind her, she finds a beautiful woman, hair flowing in the water, clothed in not but her own scales and strips of seaweed. Tail beating as she swims. Finally seeing her lover for what she truly is, a creature from the sea! As they arrive in a reef of corals and seaweed, she spots a garden full of the wild peaches, growing from the sea weed like buoys tied to a string. As well as a structure that the scaled woman calls her home.

It is here the two stay, one day turning into two, then three. With the Lightning woman feasting upon the peaches so that the water does not drown her. They talk the days and the nights away. Dancing and singing beneath the waves. Feasting upon the fishes. Before embracing, with love blossoming with each other.

However, as the fourth day arrives, so do the feelings of homesickness in the Lightning woman. For it is the sky that she belongs to, not to the ocean. Her lover begs her to stay where she can protect her. But the dancer cannot be swayed by pretty words of comfort. Knowing that she has lost the battle, but determined not to lose the war for her dancer's heart, the scaled woman promises her that she would hide away the peaches near the coasts in places only she would find, so that she may come and go as she pleases. Her gift for her love, and only for her.

Cultural Effects

Other than spawning many interpretations of the romantic story, a Gift from the Sea has continued to keep the legends of scaled people living out at sea alive and well. Searches of the Abyssal Shore Reef continue by those foolish enough to head out all that way. Even through the Devastation Pandemic, where the ocean has become villainized due to the source of the disease, these myths live on. Although many scholars have pointed out the similarities in descriptions of the scaled woman in the story to the Corruption from the tale of Drink of Ichor, especially regarding the descriptions of a person coming from the sea and wearing seaweed.

Most of all, however, is that the Sea Peaches, the rare fruit growing around the coasts of the archipelago, are considered quite the romantic gift. Giving the story includes both the shared messages between the two characters, and their separation, Sea Peaches also are used as a symbol of long-distance relationships. Giving one to a partner symbolizes great love, even when apart. And maybe a great reason to have a swimming date.