Nerida the Moonlit Wanderer

About

A selkie who finds himself equally at home on land and sea, Nerida's curiosity about human life is as boundless as the ocean he calls home.

Backstory

Moonlight revealed what daylight concealed—a selkie who collected human memories like pearls, diving deep into the dreams of drowning sailors to experience fragments of landlocked lives. Nerida discovered he could taste the salt-tears of human longing in seawater, each drop carrying stories of love, loss, and wanderlust that made his seal-skin ache with inexplicable hunger. When a merchant ship's cargo of handwritten letters scattered across his reef during a wreck, he spent months learning human script by moonlight, becoming fluent in their written sorrows and joys. The night he finally understood a love poem addressed to someone named Elena, Nerida wept tears that turned to sea-glass, and knew he could no longer remain a silent collector of human fragments. He donned the drowned merchant's coat and walked ashore, carrying a satchel of rescued letters to deliver—each one a key to unlock the mysteries of the hearts that had written them.

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