Fish out of Water

"Ah~ I can already tell what this is..."

The medallion would have been large by human coin standards, but in comparison to Lelei it was like a penny. Where Yuki held it in her palm, expectant of what secrets it might hold, Lelei gingerly held it between only two fingers with familiarity. He held it up, letting the moonlight glitter off of its raised reliefs and etchings.

"This is an Ama Makai badge! An explorer's symbol. The fanned shell represents expansion and seaching beyond the embrace of the kingdom, represented by the curved cradle beneath."

He had brought the medallion down back to Yuki's level where he could easily point to the symbols. Of course, knowing how much it meant to Yuki, he handed back to her. Though now that he had seen it, he could explain what it could mean about her father, which he was more than happy to divulge for the girl.

"Your father would have worn that in a special slotted arm brace...

Lelei flexed his bicep and pointed to it, indicating where it would have been worn.
... and he would have shown it to any other intelligent creature he would have crossed paths with. You see, that badge is carried by people who are commissioned by the kingdom to travel away and chart the oceans. Even though we live it, there are still some places we have yet to explore, and the places we do know of are prone to changing.

It could mean he was an academic or adventurous, and that he spent lots of time away from the kingdom. And it's not unheard of for Ama Makai to venture onto land in order to document the surface. Normally they're not to interact with humans, at least before recently, so perhaps..."

The words were left unsaid, but he was implying an explanation for... Yuki's existence.

Even in the pale moonlight, there was no mistaking Yuki's tears for anything other than tears of joy and elation. She was finally learning about the father she never knew, the one that still contributed so much to her life, and it was warming Lelei's heart to know that he was giving her that experience. Even he was smilling as he looked down at the girl.

"It was a very important position, Yuki. One suited for only a few individuals, and your father was special enough to be one of them."

Lelei thought back to his own experiences with the Ama Makai when he was a royal guard. The meetings were only occasional and far between, as they spent most of their time away and in the field. But the meetings always brought them together periodically to share findings and update maps.

"You see, as an Ama Makai, your father needed to have the drive and the constitution to spend much of his time alone in the wilds of the ocean. He had to have the right mixture of intelligence and strength to undertake the task. He needed to be smart enough to remember details and take notes, but also have the speed to avoid danger."

He remembered Yuki's earlier mention of her father's tattoos. Although he would still need to see them in order to get their full story, knowing her father's position gave him information to make an educated guess.

"Hm... About your father's tattoos, do you remember the exact positioning of his tattoos on his arms and legs? Because Ama Makai often received tattoos based on their discoveries, along with their personal accomplishments, and knowing where he was inked could help me interpret them without the photo."

"Alright. So... The tattoos on his legs would have been representative of his duties. So he would have Ama Makai tattoos obviously..."

It was just like how Lelei's thigh tattoos showed his rank in the Royal Guard. Not every tattoo was the same though, even if they represented the same duty with similar design elements. The differences in tattoos came with personal tastes and history. A lot could be read about a shark person by looking at their tattoos, assuming the reader had a working knowledge of their tattoo designs. It was only too bad that they had to wear clothes on land and cover them up.

"But the tattoos on his arms would have been more for personal history or his own decoration..."

Lelei tried thinking hard about Yuki's father's tattoos, but he was still running up against the same wall. Without a picture, there was little he could do.

"... Okay. Yuki. You attend the Academy, right? Maybe we could meet up some time, and you could bring the picture and anything else you want, so I can tell you everything I know. How does that sound?"

He was surprised by the lunge Yuki made toward him. But when he felt the girl wrap her arms around his massive frame in a grateful hug, Lelei immediately put his massive arms around her tiny frame in his own hug. She was warm and there was no way to miss the joy and gratitude that she was giving off. Yuki was happy beyond belief and Lelei felt his own eyes begin to water from her influence.

"You're welcome, Yuki. You're so very welcome."

Lelei could only imagine what was going through the girl's mind at that moment. Not only was she learning of her father, a man she apparently loved and admired very much, but she was also gaining more family, if not by blood then by shared heritage. Yuki and Lelei were kin now.

A part of Lelei wondered if she would be up to visiting the Kingdom in the future, and seeing the rest of her ancestory. That would come in due time, however. For now, he needed to scrounge up every bit of history and lineage he could get his hands on for her. Yuki needed to learn who she was, and where she came from.