"Stupid Mermaids, stupid annoying Mermaids." Vepar mumbled under her breath as she swam away from a group of them pulling seaweed out of her hair. They were all having a good time laughing at her for swimming into the latest trap/prank they'd set up for her. She yelped when instead of grabbing seaweed she grabbed a crab who, grabbed back. Shaking her finger it released her and sank to the ocean floor below. The mermaids howled in laughter at crab episode, " Stupid mermaids, stupid stupid STUPID mermaids!"

What was so good about a single tail anyway? Sure they could go faster, she'd give them that but that was all. Her tentacles where as good as hands. She could hold far more things then they could and hold onto things that where just to slippery for hands. Tentacles were just so ... handy. They could even reach into tight places. Just because there were more mermaids they thought they where better then her. Who cares if so far she was the only one she'd met like her and her mother. So what if they had already decided what type of keeper they where going to be. Maybe she didn't even want to be a keeper did they ever think of that. Bah who needed that, who needed them. Stupid mermaids

Vepar swam aimlessly, just letting her senses guide her to anyplace mermaids weren't. Farther and farther she swam, into the waters mermaids feared to go. At least the keeper mermaids did, she didn't know about the guardian ones but she was pretty sure she'd even seen one or two of them shudder and swim away fast when around this area of the sea. She had heard some keeper mermaids, those very ones who'd just pulled the seaweed prank on her actually whispering about the area being haunted and if you weren't careful you'd disappear into the shadows and never come back. Whatever she didn't care, she hoped something would come take her away. Without even bothering to look back over her shoulder towards 'safety' she swam on. Farther and deeper then she'd ever managed to go before she spotted in the darkness of the sea a graveyard, full of ships. Some had been there for centuries all that remained of them the metal fittings. Others only a small bit of time.

Curious to see one close up she swam towards what appeared to be the freshest wreck. Vepar had always wondered what the inside of a ship looked like. She'd only ever seen their bottoms, sails and a small bit of their deck. The graveyard was eerily silent but it would take more then that to scare her. Vepar peered down through on of the holes into the ship haul. Unable to see everything she grabbed onto the side of the hole with her tentacles and hung upside down into the actual haul. Ha let one of those stupid mermaids do that! fascinated she looked around using her tentacles to walk along the broken ceiling down the wall to the ships bottom, feeling in every knock and carny she found.

here Vepar looked up from where she had been searching swearing she heard a noise. over here "Did you hear ..." her voice trailed off. Who was she asking. No one came with, the stupid mermaids where to afraid. "Whose there?" here, come find me If she wasn't positive the mermaids would never come here she'd swear they where playing another prank on her but as the very waters made them shiver straight down their tails she knew it couldn't be them. "Did you come to steal me away?" here Not one to let a little voice scare her away she started tracking it, unsure of what she'd find.

Her tracking took her through an opening towards the cabin area. Personal effects of the crew littered the area, Vepar brushed aside the remains of what had once been someone's shirt. find me, here she finally found where the voice was coming from. There was a crack in the floor below and the light trickled in from the sky far above something shined in the crack. To small to reach in with her hands she used a tentacle to pull it out. A locket had made that voice? "Hello? Is anyone there? Is this what I was supposed to find?" Silence greeted her. It was a nice locket with rubies embedded in it, hanging from a gold chain. Someone clearly went to a lot of trouble to get it. Opening it she looked at the picture the water for some reason had yet to eat away. It was as clear as the day it was taken. A little girl sat on who must be her fathers lap on one side of the locket and on the other side a picture of the girl grown.

The locket was clearly important. The voice she'd heard had been male and she wondered sadly if it was the father in the locket. Determined to return it Vepar searched the wreckage for any sign of where it might have been headed or who the lockets owner was. Hours and much frustration later she feared she'd have to give up. Clutching the locket in her hand she swam away from the shipwreck. With one last look she reads the word 'Julia' painted on the stern. With a heavy heart she headed back home, back towards the stupid mermaids with their stupid pranks.

At the edge of the mermaids area her hand clinched around the locket and she veered off towards land and the human area. Maybe there was a clue there. She knew what direction the ship had been pointed she just needed to find the closest port. Maybe someone could help her. It took several hours of swimming before finally reaching where she thought the ship was going. There where ships of all kinds floating in the waters around the stretch of beach. Big ones the size of the ship ships in the graveyard and little ones that could only fit a few people who sat real close together in it. In one such little boat there was a lone women paddling out towards her, paddling out to sea. A shout from the shore drew Velpar's attention.

"Julia, Julia come back here!" a man shouted.

"I'm going to find my father and you won't take me so I am going alone!" the women shouted back sticking her tongue out.

Vepar squinted her eyes at the women rowing towards her swearing she looked familiar. It wasn't until she was almost upon her that it finally clicked in her brain. The locket she was the woman in the locket. The small boat was upon her now and Vepar gave a shout as it almost hit her, causing the woman in the boat to startle and drop one of the oars into the water. "Oh my are you ok? I didn't hit you did I? Did you fall off a ship?" Julia asked reaching over the side of the boat she stretched out a hand intending to help Vepar up out of the water.

Vepar placed her hand holding the locket over Julia's and dropped the locket into her hand before Julia could take hold of her. Puzzled Julia looked at what had been dropped and gasped. "My locket ... Where did you find it? I gave it to my father on his last voyage. Something to remember me by. He hasn't come back." A tear slide down Julia's cheek.

All Vepar could do was smile sadly as she told her about the ship under the waters and the voice that had lead her to the locket. Julia sat in the boat crying for the father she know knew she'd never see again. "Thank you, for bringing this to me." Holding out her hand Julia held the locket towards Vepar. "I want you have this." Vepar shook her head and backed away from the boat. "Please it would mean a lot." Vepar swam back to the boat taking the locket from Julia's hand.

"What about the pictures inside." She asked Julia.

"There are no pictures anymore." Shocked by Julia's words Vepar opened the locket. Where she'd once seen picture of father and daughter, nothing remained. Thank you the voice whispered past her cheek. Julia gasped and smiled. "Goodbye father"

Vepar swam back towards home, the locket shining around her neck. A reminder of the deed she'd done. She knew what she wanted to be keeper of now. She'd be the Keeper of the souls lost at sea and help as many as she could find their way home.