FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Along the edge of a tranquil coast was a village nestled beside waves that rolled and crashed like the loose, curled hair of the Sea. At that village lived a woman named Cora. Although Cora's family had little wealth and her clothes were often torn, the stitching of hearts created by the love of family was tight and strong. Cora spent many long afternoons after completing her chores seated on the beach watching the fishermen's ships bring great harvests from the sea back to land to be distributed among the people. Her mother and father worked hard at the fishing yard; sorting, weighing, and slicing fish from sunup until the sun glowed near the water's edge with glimmers of dancing light on the crests of the incoming waves.

One day, a large ship with golden sails pulled into the harbor, and the people of Cora's village gathered around to greet the new arrival. A man, wizened and old with a broken ring finger on his left hand addressed the surrounding crowd. His long, purple robe flowed around him as he spoke with a surprisingly booming voice despite his frail form.

"People of this village, I bring news to you from his royal highness, the prince. It is time for him to choose the woman he will take as his bride. All may be granted an audience with him on the summer long-day if they should make the journey across the sea to his castle."

Cora's eyes lit up with the dream of being within the royal castle walls. Banquets, soft bedding, and lines of blossoms in the castle gardens. She wouldn't need for anything ever again. It was known throughout the land that the prince was kind and generous. She was sure he would make for a wonderful husband. He would free her from her cycle of hardship.

"You mean even I could be chosen by the prince sir?", Cora voiced as her tongue ran away from her thoughts with her longing. The man fixed a grey, icy eye upon her and then laughed a roaring laugh that slashed her spirits.

"The prince would never choose a barrel-scraping wench like you!" Cora's eyes trembled with tears, but she stood firm. "I'll show you! I'll get to the castle and speak to the prince. You'll see!"

The man in the purple robe laughed and turned his back to Cora to finish speaking to the crowd. "There are seven days left before the summer long-day is upon us. If you wish to visit the prince, preparations should be made...", he paused and turned to Cora with a sly smirk. "...with utmost haste."

The man returned to his golden-sailed ship afterward and before sunset that evening it was a dot at the edge of the sea. That whole day Cora pondered how she was ever going to make it across the sea to the royal castle. It was at least a three day's journey even by the swiftest boats in the harbor, and her family didn't even own a boat to begin with. Her thoughts circled and circled themselves endlessly through the night and by sunrise her eyes were heavy with doubt and frustration at her plight. Cora peered out her window towards where the sun was rising above the far-away trees when a thought, a fleeting fragment of a thought entered her mind of where she could start.

The people of her village told stories about an old magic woman that lived in the forest who could bend the Fates themselves with the power of her magic if she viewed you with favor. No one claimed to have personally seen her. But this magic woman, if she existed, was her only hope now.

Cora quickly grabbed up her meager belongings and left a note for her parents to read that night. "Mother, Father, I am sorry, but this is something which I must do. I do not know when I will return, but I will someday. I promise." She trekked her way out into the woods and was enveloped by the endless green.

Three days and nights passed with Cora exploring the woods with no sight or sound of the magic woman which she sought. She knelt down at a stream to drink, shaky with thirst when a shadow eclipsed the sun for a moment. She turned around and was face-to-face with a lanky shell of a woman. She had large, piercing green eyes, and slung about her shoulders was a series of endless pouches. Her voice was soft and wispy, as if coming from the forest itself.

"I don't get very many visitors. Most are too scared to come find me. Do you know what I've done girl? The terrible, terrible things I've done to those who find me?"

Cora shook in fear and immediately regretted her decision to venture from the safety of her home. She stammered a "N...nnn...nnnoo...Ms..." She cackled a quiet, distant laugh. "Oh, I have no need for a name anymore little sweet." She cupped Cora's cheek in her bony fingers and gazed deeply into her eyes before curling the edges of her lips up in a satisfied smile.

"Your journey will forever be with you my little sweet. I see you mean me no harm. You are the one who has been harmed. Come with me if you wish to get to where you want to go."

Cora caught her breath and followed quickly behind the strange woman of the woods. The woman walked at a swift, graceful pace, scarecly leaving a print on the ground before they came upon a secluded hut built at the junction between two overlapping fallen trees. The woman of the woods turned to Cora with the same smile from before and creaked her door open. "Do you still wish to get across the sea deary?"

"Yes yes I do!! I need to get across the sea. Can you help me?"

The woman of the woods hummed a three-tone tune and nodded. "No magic is outside my reach. I can help you meet your goal." Then she slunk herself inside and Cora quietly followed behind. The woman's hut was filled with an overlapping array of samples of the forest's bounty. Ferns, leaves, roots, seeds, all of the forest itself seemed to be within reach atop shelves or hanging down from the ceiling. The woman of the woods slunk to the back of her hut and rummaged until she located a small, silver box.

"This is all you'll need little sweet. Tonight, when the face of the moon is in the sky and on the water at the same time eat the seaweed wrapped inside. If you truly believe that you can achieve your goal, then you will need no worry. You will get across the sea."

Cora gratefully took the box from the woman and studied it, with an ounce of disbelief that this would be all she needed to get across the sea. "What happens if...", Cora began, but the woman of the woods pierced the hut with a shrill cry. "Do not doubt my magic child! Our goals are one in the same. You will see in time." Cora held the box securely with both hands folded across her chest. "Thank you." When Cora exited the hut and heard the door shut behind her, she turned around to get a last look, but all that was left was an empty hollow beneath the cross of the two fallen trees.

She raced back towards the sea all that day and reached the edge of the water just as the moon's full face was glowing on the dark water below. She sat at the edge of the water and opened the silver box given to her by the woman of the woods, holding up the length of seaweed to examine it. It didn't look any different than the seaweed she had known all of her life, but when she bit down on it, she remembered the woman of the woods' words and believed with all of her might that she would be able to cross the sea with this alone.

Cora felt a warm tingle pass through her body and her breath was deep and calm. When she gazed out at the ocean, a new feeling coursed through her body and she could scarcely stop the call to plunge herself into the deep, endless expanse. Now submerged, she felt her body begin to grow and mold itself into a new shape, suitable for her needs. Her feet grew long, curved, and sleek with new powerful muscles layering themselves across her body. She didn't know how long she was down, but when she rose to the surface again to take a mighty breath she broke completely free of the water in a grand display. Her back arched high in front of the face of the moon before crashing back down in a huge splash. Her mind focused itself on her single goal: Get to the castle.

Cora swam for three days straight in her new body, and as she did, she grew accustomed with the ways of the sea. Beautiful stretches of fish and sealife greeted her eyes amongst the expansive blue. When the floor of the sea was visible once more and began to gently slope up she peeked her head above the water and glimpsed land again in the distance. The sturdy spires of the castle were framed by the glow of dozen of night torches. She had finally reached her destination.

Cora slid herself up slowly along the bank of the nearby beach and with each passing of the waves felt the building warmth of her body be carried back out to the sea. When Cora stood up on shaky hands and knees, she looked down at her body and knew that she'd never be the same again.

The wet sheen of her body glinted a beautiful hue in the moonlight from the dark and light patterning across her back and belly. Her hand went up to stroke her back where she felt a noticeable rise. Looking down, her feet were a curious blend of her two shapes. She took a deep, calming breath in through her mouth and felt a muscle relax at the top of her head as the air released itself through the shallow blowhole she still retained. No matter what she looked like now, she had come this far with the woman's magic. She had to see the prince.

Cora slunk into the sleeping town and pulled a few clothes for herself off of hanging lines to disguise much of her appearance. She wore a large, hooded cloak, and carefully wrapped bundles of cloth to hide her new feet. She then waited near the castle until the dawn of the approaching summer long-day.

At the first sign of light, a multitide of people from many nations began streaming into the lowered castle gate. Cora slunk into the crowd and blended into the other patrons and visitors, avoiding showing her face to anyone around her. At last she entered the grand welcoming hall and took her place amongst the others interested in the prince's offer of marriage. The prince appeared, tall and handsome, scanning the room before requesting silence from the crowd.

"This day is a special day, the day I pick the one who shall go on to become my bride and join me as Queen. Who among you believes that you've made the longest journey to reach these gates and seek my hand?" A woman wearing a long, flowing green cloak patterened with vibrant jewels stepped forward.

"I have traveled from the lands of the North, even traveling at night near the townships of our enemies to reach you this day my prince." Another woman in red with a white fur wrapped about her neck stepped forward. "And I have traveled from the distant lands of the West. I braced the high, rolling waves to come here this day." A third woman in blue with a pearl necklace stepped forward. "Well I traveled the Eastern coasts to grab treasures for you my prince before arriving here this day. No effort is too great for the likes of you."

The prince's eyes roamed the crowd before they curiously studied Cora with her head down. "You there! Why do you think you deserve my hand when you won't even look me in the eye?" Cora stifled her breath and knew this was her chance. "Royal prince, I believe I have traveled furthest of all to reach you this day. I may not have traveled as far in distance as some of the others here, but I have gone to great lengths to reach you. I am sure nearly all others present here today used a boat to reach you your highness, but I had no boat to sail on." Cora paused before finishing her thought. "I swam here."

The crowd burst out laughing and with calm grace, Cora lifted her head up towards the prince, fixing the large pupils of her brown eyes on him before she knelt down and untied each bundle of cloth around her feet. The crowd gasped seeing her long, dark toes unfurl themselves, and with the crowd's attention still upon her, she unabashedly slid her cloak off revealing the full extent of her profound changes.

"Prince, my name is Cora and I know I may not look like any of the other women here today, but I assure you that it would be my greatest honor if you would have me as your bride." She nervously took a series of rapid breaths, her blowhole relaxing and flexing tight in quick succession as she awaited his response. Before the prince could answer, armed guards were beginning to surround her with spears pointed at her chest.

"Stop! Stop! No one touch her!", the prince exclaimed, stepping down to get a closer look at Cora. "This woman here has braved powerful magic to reach these lands and I will see that her voice is heard." The prince looked again into Cora's eyes, and studied her carefully. Cora wasn't sure what the prince was thinking, but he tentatively reached a hand out to grip the rise of her fin at her back. "Powerful magic indeed. Not born of malice though. This is magic of a dream desired. Cora, you are a brave woman, and for that you shall have the highest honor."

The prince knelt down before Cora and glimmered a smile at her. "Cora, woman of the sea, will you be at my side now and always to lead this kingdom." Cora's breath caught and words escaped her consciousness. She could only nod and hum a beautiful tone from her lips. The same tone she had heard the woman of the woods use before.

Just then, the man with the broken finger came storming up beside the prince. "Your highness! This is preposterous! Look at her. She's a....she's a monster, and you wish her to be yours?" The prince wheeled around and stood over the old advisor. "I aim to honor her as she deserves, unlike what you did with your beloved. How dare you break the bond and exile her to the woods because of what you didn't understand about her."

The man grew red in the face, but spun around and left the entrance hall leaving the prince with Cora. The prince took Cora's hands in his and this time when he gazed at her, it was with a curious, loving expression. "You must have quite the story of your journey Cora. You will get to tell all the people in time. For now, you should rest." Cora hummed in delight and voiced a deep, melodious set of whistles and clicks as the full weight of what had just happened hit her. She squeezed the prince's hands, her eyes shining with joy and spoke softly to him in a tender tone. "Thank you for seeing me."

*******

Cora and the prince led their kingdom with a kind, gentle hand, establishing relations between many nations. With time Cora gave birth to many beautiful offspring born of her and the kind prince. Each when they came of age felt the calling of the sea and returned to it. The people would all gather in celebration as Cora's children would begin exploring the endless blue for themselves. In Cora's name the people called the beautiful creatures with bodies belonging to the sea and born of a beautiful dream Orca.