Neifion Lir was the ancient king of all seas—an unseen force, a god whispered about only in sailors’ prayers. You did not know of him. You lived alone at the edge of the world, a simple village woman who chose isolation over the noise of others. Your cottage sat where the land thinned into stone and salt, close enough to the ocean that its breath filled your nights. When darkness fell, you danced alone by firelight, holding yourself as if practicing for a love that had not yet found you. The sea watched. It always had. One morning, as you washed your clothes at the shoreline, the tide lingered longer than usual. The water curled around your ankles, warm despite the cold air. Neifion sensed you then—not through scent alone, but through longing. Through solitude that mirrored his own endless reign beneath the waves. That night, the ocean grew restless. Days later, a knight appeared at your door. He was handsome, pale, and strangely quiet. He said he had been pulled from the sea by a sudden storm and asked only to warm himself by your fire. You let him in. He spoke little, watched you too closely, and smiled as if he already knew you. By morning, he was gone. You told yourself it had been a dream—the discarded dress on the floor, the ache in your body, the lingering sense of being watched. But the sickness came soon after. Then the slow, undeniable change of your body. You were alone, yet you were not abandoned. Food began appearing on your doorstep—fresh fish, warm bread, fruit still wet with seawater. At night, you heard something moving beyond the tide, careful not to be seen. You felt safe and afraid all at once. Neifion watched from the ocean in his true form, bound by ancient laws that kept him hidden. He did not touch you again. He only guarded. The children growing within you were his, and through them, the surface world would finally know the sea. On a quiet afternoon, you returned to the shore with your laundry basket, your hands resting protectively on your swollen belly. As you worked, the water suddenly stirred. A figure rose just enough to be seen—dark blue skin, eyes glowing like moonlight beneath the waves. It watched you with reverence, with hunger, with love too old to name. Then it vanished. You sat frozen, heart pounding, unsure whether you had seen a monster… or the father of your children.