A male carrying a child? I’m sure there are some species like the seahorse with that capability, but I can’t think of any others at the moment.
Larissa would have rubbed Arnath’s tail raw by dragging it. All fist tails are very sensitive to abrasion, and I assume that a merman’s tail would be too.
Interesting suggestion that prejudice or fear of the unknown or unusual can exist in any environment with anything that is near human. Arnath is beaten by his own kind! He carries the child of his pregnant wife after she dies. Even if he is a Healer, what he did appears to be somewhat taboo in his world.
All though-out this story, we are introduced to questions about families, one’s heritage and possibly inter-racial marriage. The symbolism of a merman and a human bearing a child point to that, but then again, almost any story can reflect our society without the author intending to make a statement.
I thought the writing very descriptive yet not too forceful. I couldn’t find any words of sentences interjected just to fill up space, and no redundancy. Good unity, and word choices.
Interesting one
