The tradition of name-day ventures to the sun was ancient; as buried in myth as the city itself. Even my father as King could not disobey these traditions, since the clans of merfolk were fractious enough.
My mother the syrienne he had married because he wanted to seal that alliance, but after her death it had come a fragile thing. He might look at me out from under his eyebrows as bushy and wild as seaweed and glower, but he could not stop me.
With that realization lodged under my chest, I left the discussion of the battle to my sisters and swam into the palace. Tiny glow fish swam to and fro in the corridors, and their faint illumination was enough for merfolk to see by. The echo-sight led us through the dark and hidden places of our underwater home, but many clans preferred to see the beauty of the world; the flickering of the fish, the antics of the octopus, and the fluttering of the coral.
The palace was alive, as alive as the merfolk that lived in it. I liked that about it, and wondered if it was the same with the palaces of the human people. Did the sun produce beautiful plants as the ocean did? If they didn't have fish, then what animals did they have instead?
I yearned to find out.
I was so deep in contemplation that I nearly ran into Grandma. She was swimming down from the coral tower where all of us daughters of Triton had our quarters. Grandma was Father's mother, but had none of the traits of her son. That was lucky for me—if she had been as watchful and concerned as he was then I could not have gotten away with nearly as much as I did.
Her blue eyes widened as she literally bumped into me. I was beginning to suspect that Grandma's sight was not all she pretended it was and echo-sight was far too common for her to rely on. "Oh Lorelei, you gave me quite the fright! I didn't expect you home so soon."
"It wasn't a long mission," I replied, wrapping my tail around hers to prevent her from drifting away. Healthy merfolk could maintain a spot while conversing, but Grandma was getting to that point where she would not ask for help, but might need it.
She chose to ignore my slight, by pulling me into a hug as if that was what she had meant to do all the time. "Anytime you girls deal with the kraken I do worry. That old beastie is wilier than your father gives him credit for. Most especially today I did not want anything to go wrong." She snagged a passing glow-fish and dragged it closer to us. By its light she was able to examine every inch of me.
"Hmmmm," she mused. "I see a few cuts and scrapes, but nothing that can't be mended by a little overnight application of sillweed."
I shrugged but decided not to argue with her. Grandma knew her healing.
Taking my silence as complicity, she let go of the poor fish and grabbed me instead. It would have been impolite to struggle against her, so I swam in her wake as she guided me into the coral tower. Despite the fact that this had been my original destination, I was a little annoyed to be towed along like a sprat. In my own tiny room, Grandma had not been idle while her martial granddaughters had been away.
A wreath of sea-iris had been carefully plaited and lay spread on my clamshell bed, while hanging by the window was a length of glimmer-weed worked into a shift. Unlike humans, we merfolk did not need clothing at all—in fact it was generally thought of as reserved for the ill and the terribly aged. However on special days such as tomorrow, exceptions were made.
"Oh Grandma!" I couldn't help myself, picking up what she had made and holding it up to myself. The glimmerweed had been artfully woven, so that the shimmer of the plant would wrap around my body, and not impede either my beauty or my tail. I wrapped my hair, dark and long like my mother’s, around one fist and held it away from my neck.
"Oh no, no!" Grandma fussed. "Your hair is so beautiful, you must keep it down." She swam in a tight circle around me, demonstrating just how she thought my hair should be wrapped with the help of the wreath. Then she dragged me over to the polished piece of sea-glass, that one of father's artisans had cut and polished. "Lorelei, look how beautiful you are," she demanded.
I turned slightly from side to side and frowned. "I don't know why it is important that I be so dressed up. I am just seeing the sun and the Above after all."
"It's not just that," Grandma said with a wink. "Your mother was on her first trip sunward when she met your father. Perhaps you can do the same for yourself…”
I had learned not to roll my eyes in front of Grandma—she took exception to it—so I merely nodded demurely.
After an hour had passed, Grandma was convinced that I was only going to the surface to find myself a good husband, and not to see what the sun had to offer in any other way. My sisters arrived just as she was winding down. Ondine appeared at the doorway, her long turquoise tail flicking slowly back and forth, barely able to keep her upright.
"Oh Ondine!" Grandma turned her critical eye on my sister, "I hear you did very well today on your father's mission, but I really haven't heard you play your lyre today at all. We have a selkie prince coming in three days to sue for your hand, and it would be very nice if you could—"
"Grandma," Ondine held up the in demand hand. "I suffered a few wounds today, and I would like to rest. I think my playing can wait for another day."
I knew our Grandmother loved us and had spent her whole life caring for the daughters of her son, but she could take things a little too far. However, because I was reliant on her good graces to see the sun tomorrow, I could not go as far as my sister...at least for the moment.
"Yes, well," Grandma brushed off the dismissal, "you better rest then dear. As for you Lorelei, you best get your rest too. Tomorrow is an important day." Then with a flick of her tail she was gone—probably to check one my other four sisters.
Ondine smiled at me. "You better take her advice Lorelei...that beauty sleep might help you catch a husband tomorrow." She winked at me, and then flicked her way off to her own room. With a sigh I closed the door. My other sisters would have similar jabs to deliver...since I had been especially annoying when it had been their time to see the sun.
Over by my window, I leaned on my elbows and gazed out. Above the rays of daylight were filtering down on my father’s kingdom, and it seemed impossible that when they rose again I would be there to see them on the surface of the water.
I was so nervous and excited that I really wondered if I could get to sleep, but the adventure today with the Kraken had been both exhilarating and tiring. I dragged myself over to the stack of nest weed wrapped in my shell and laid my tail down to rest. I didn't remember falling asleep but I must have, because before I knew it my sisters had charged into my room. The waters around the castle were still dark, but this was the ceremony that I had been waiting for my whole life—or at least it felt that way.
Ondine and Nerissa pulled me out of the nest weed before my tail even had time to catch up with what they were doing.
"Today's the day," all five of them were singing. "Our sister becomes sun kissed."
Their voices twined together and I would have joined them, since I was bursting with happiness, but it was not the tradition. So I allowed myself to pushed and pulled into the outfit Grandma had created. They spun me about, laughing in front of the sea glass mirror, and I realized that they were right. I was ready.
Then in a tumult of song and laughter they pulled me down the stairs of the tower and out into the courtyard.
These were our sea gardens, populated by the most beautiful plants and creatures of our father's realm. Silvery starfish gleamed in Ianthe’s garden, and she plucked them up and arranged them in my hair. Tethys had a string of seashells in bright pinks and purples, which she had strung into a little bracelet, which she put on my wrist. I felt more beautiful and cared for than I had in all my life.
Then my sisters spun me around and pushed me out the door and into the castle, to emerge into the splendour that waited. The front of the palace gleamed with fish lights that circled the turrets and trailed along around those assembled there. Every clan of the sea was there; syriennes, triskies, selkie, and a plethora of o
ther clans that I had no time to appreciate, as my sisters were dragging me over to where our father and grandmother waited.
Father was wearing his crown of coral and shark teeth, while Grandma was wrapped in a cloak of whale shark that I knew had belonged to my grandfather. Unlike my sisters, they were not laughing. In fact, Gandma looked distressed. Perhaps the joy of yesterday had been put on for my benefit. I suddenly felt bad about that.
Father was leaning on his trident; a mighty thing that had been part of the royal insignia since before written records. I had heard the rumor that it had been taken from a human god in the last battle of Land and Sea. It gleamed with many different strands of metal, and was wrapped in a kind of light that did not seem to need the sun.
"Daughter," Father said, his voice heavy with sadness, "this is your name-day. You have passed the eighteen years required to become a martial princess in name, and you have proved your worth in an under the water battle. Today, you must journey towards the sun and see the fight that lies there. When you return, you will know your place."
He put his hands on my shoulders, and I felt for the first time the edge of the sadness that he was feeling. Grandma leaned forward and kissed my cheek.
She whispered into my ear, "Be great, Lorelei, but also be wise."
Her eyes when she looked into mine were strangely hard—as if she could see something I could not.
Still, this was the day I had been waiting for since I knew of it, and I wasn't about to let my elders’ sombre attitude reach me. When Father released his hands I was away and didn’t look back.
I flicked my tail hard and angled my body upward, a huge grin already on my mouth. As I went I heard the gathering start to sing, but I was soon away from them. My eyes were locked on the darkness above—to the place I knew the sun would come first. My sisters followed my ascent for a little while, keeping pace with me, but as I began to feel the pull of the surf, they dropped away below. The final notes of their song died away behind me. Ondine was the last to leave me. Her clear, green eyes locked with mine. "Do not look too long Lorelei. The sun can burn," she whispered.
And then she was gone, and it was—finally and completely—my experience. As I swam the last hundred feet upward, it suddenly occurred to me; this was not merely the first time I would see the Above world, it was also the first time I had ever truly been alone. As a princess of Triton, I had always been surrounded by sisters, family and sycophants.
Yet, in this moment I was just Lorelei, experiencing something for herself.
I was so busy thinking on that that I crested the waves and broke water without slowing down. I breached the waves like a dolphin, flying through the air for a second of strange and beautiful unintended acrobatics, before landing with a splash in the surf. I bobbed there, taking my bearings and regaining my breath. I was in fact breathing air. It felt very odd on the exposed gills on my throat.
It took some getting used to, but as long as I kept my gills damp I could manage for a while. Around me was darkness, which usually would not have been a problem, but my eyes were used to the depths of the ocean, and nothing seemed as it was. I was as a human in this world. In the near distance I could make out a looming shape, which had to be the island where the humans lived. The tide was pulling me in there, and I did not resist it.
I let it take me. I rolled over and floated on my back contemplating that wonder of wonders, the sky. The sun was coming. Beams of red light washed through my hair and made me blink. I flipped quickly over into the water, cresting it, and bobbing like a piece of flotsam among the waves.
I had waited so long for this moment, I was going to enjoy every little bit of it. The clouds on the horizon were not playing fair; hiding the full glory of the sun. However that was probably a good thing, since I had been warned not to stare directly at the dawn—but I was completely ignoring that advice.
As the streams of pure golden light punctuated the layers of clouds and sent them dashing across the surface of the water, I was in awe. This was true power. The sun ruled the sky, but also was great enough to touch my father’s kingdom beneath the waves.
After daylight had taken over, my mind was satisfied…at least in one respect. It was not just about seeing the sunrise—it was also about understanding the Above world. I was a martial princess after all, with the heritage of Triton and my syrienne mother.
So, I turned myself towards the distant shore and dived a few feet beneath the ocean. Swimming like a dolphin meant feeling the euphoria they did, as I made my way closer and closer to this strange thing called land.
I had been cautioned by my sisters not to be seen by the men of the Above. Since our battles with them, any merfolk caught would be captured and strung up like a fish for display.
So it was with a racing heart, and a shiver of delicious fear down my back, that I approached the harbor. Carefully, I stayed back from the breaking waves and kept only my eyes and the top of my head out in the dry world. Humans did not have very good eyesight really, and they would probably only see seaweed or debris floating in the water.
However, this early in the morning there were not that many of them about.
With wide eyes I saw some of the things that my sisters had whispered about; a city made of white stone on a hill leading down to the bay, and a river that curled its way past it to Mother Ocean. I could taste that river; full of dirt, and the remains of plants. It carried both the dead and the living alike. Ondine had actually dared to swim up the river a bit since it was wide and deep. The things she had seen there—strange creatures, trees that scraped the sky, and mountains that dominated the interior of the island.
I found those interesting enough—but not as interesting as people; people who had legs instead of tails and breathed air instead of water. I watched from the waves, seeing narrow plumes of burning fires smudging the sky. Father had told us about the industry of Above folk; how they folded metal and bent it to their will. That was why he had taken to tinkering himself. The ships of the humans were desecrating our world, and he want to make sure that the merfolk were not left behind. In fact, the Hydra was a modified human design.
The trek to the sun was an ancient ceremony of my people, but Father had turned it to something else; a reconnaissance journey to judge the strength of the enemy. I did not need to look far to see that power.
Many ships stood ready in the harbor, and only two of them were simple fishing vessels. The others were vessels of war with cannon, and metal slides for dropping depth charges. I dared to swim closer to the pier, until I was beneath one of these massive creations. This was one that had sides of iron and smelt dangerous.
My mind was finally getting over the newness of the situation, and now I could look at the ships with a more critical eye. This one had portholes for its armaments—we had seen those for generations—but the cannon posed no threat to merfolk, they were for ship-to-ship battles. I flicked my tail and circled to the rear of the vessel.
My breath caught, as I observed a long slide at the rear and knew immediately what they were for. Depth charges were only aimed at the merfolk. They would kill our people and destroy our cities.
This sight somehow made me sick of the Above world, and I was about to turn tail to return to my father’s kingdom—but then my eye was caught by movement up on deck.
A young man stepped out from one of the cabins, with a pistol in one hand, and a spyglass in the other. He had long dark hair, and was dressed in the uniform of Above folk that my sisters had told me about. Most of all, he had legs. My eyes were riveted to those amazing appendages, and how they worked in tandem as he strode to the railing of the ship. I slid in closer to the hull so he might not see me, but I could observe him.
That was when one of the ships moving into the harbour opened its gun ports and began to fire. I had observed it, but hadn’t been able to tell it was any different from the ships already at anchor.
I ducked instinctively into the water, flicking my tail to take me deeper. The p
ressure of the explosion above me ran all along my body. Red light burned my eyes as debris began to impact on the water and slowly tumble towards me. The ship was now a tilting wreck entering my world.
I felt my heart leap into my throat, but it was moving in slow motion, and I was much faster beneath than above. I flicked, dived, ducked, and got out of the way. So many strange objects were falling, but there was one I recognised; a human shape in a dark.
I didn’t even notice that I was moving, until I had him in my arms. He was heavy, but I was strong. My tail flexed and bent, as I angled us towards the surface but some way from the destruction at the port.
We broke from the water abruptly, and the light of the burning ship was hard on my face as I swam him away from the danger. I didn’t know how hurt he was, and how much water he had swallowed. I had no idea just how much water one of his kind could take down and survive.
His head was draped against my shoulder, and I wrapped one hand against his cheek to hold him there. It was an awkward swim, but eventually together we flopped onto the soft sand of the far beach. I glanced up the cliff a little and saw a low structure there, but I wasn’t sure if I should call for help from there. Would they even be able to understand me?
As we rocked back and forward in the surf with the burning ships lighting up the sky, I turned him over. His eyes were closed, and his dark hair was plastered to his skin like seaweed. I leaned in close to him, and laid my head on his chest. For a moment I thought there was no sound there, but then very faintly I heard it—the thump thump of a human heart.
He was beautiful. I realised that as soon as I raised my head. It was the kind of beauty I had not ever seen in my father’s kingdom. Despite it being rather rude, I couldn’t help but stare at his legs. It took me awhile to notice that his eyes were open, and he was staring at me.
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