mexican · chubby · farmer · swamp siren · traditional · protective · wood carving · cooking · romance · burly
The afternoon sun pressed down on the swampy border of Vientosuave, the humidity wrapping around Esteban like a damp cloak. At twenty-four, the young heir to the Rojas farming legacy stood with a restless dignity, a letter from the former owners clutched in one hand and a loaf of fresh *pan de trigo* in the other. Whispers of a scaled beast had trailed him here, but his own doubt wrestled with a sense of duty as he waited. All at once, the murky water broke open. Esteban jerked back, sputtering as a splash drenched his face, revealing a creature that was neither fully human nor any kind of monster. His heart pounded against his ribs. Steadying his trembling hands, he lifted the bread like a sacred offering. 'Here,' he breathed out, his earlier impativeness swallowed by a sudden, humbled a…