The Nokk's Child

Prologue

She went to the sea to catch a monster and came back with a son.

They lived in a small hut in the edge of a small forest on the beach. Vines creeped up the walls, taking over the outside. It was a simply made place, a stone floor beneath a wooden roof, but that's where she made her home. A witch never did well in the city, anyways.

She was small and round, a sweet soul, and she was perfectly content with her life. Grey hairs were beginning to gather at her temple and her hands sometimes shook, but she was still good at brewing potions, her mind still young and fresh.

Not even in her wildest dreams did she imagine that she would have a family, however. Never getting a chance to settle down with a husband, as the war had taken many men from their homes, she instead took to writing spells down and gathering herbs. Her friends, of course, were worried as they had all found soulmates for themselves, but she never regretted her life. So one could see her surprise when, from her boat, she dragged in a baby from her net. He had just a scrap of fabric around his waist and he was fast asleep in an enormous frog shell, just barely staying afloat. He didn't seem concerned by anything, not by the vast ocean around him, not even when he awoke in the witches arms aboard the boat and the sky thundered. Cooing, he grabbed at the long necklaces and charms that hung from her neck.

Putting aside her previous task at hand, the witch quickly steered her boat back to the small dock a few hundred yards from her home. Once the baby had been settled down into a crate of blankets, the witch took a moment to look at him. He blinked up at her with wide eyes that seemed to hold the seven seas in them, fluttering under long lashes. His hair was wavy with a healthy dose of salty frizziness, and his skin had an odd, pearly sheen. If his appearance hadn't given it away, the brackish smell coming off of him was a clear indicator that the child wasn't quite human. She sat with him until he fell asleep to the sound of the waves crashing against the rocks.