A Merman's Tale

Fates: Chapter Forty-Five

Seirra

"I love you too."

It was just a whisper but I heard it as if she had shouted it out to the world.

Her words engulfed my heart and made me so giddy that I hugged her tighter and lifted her off the ground, twirling her as I laughed with glee.

Soon enough, she was laughing with me.

That moment was something I would always treasure so when I slowly stopped whirling around, staring at her eyes, I knew that there was no way I would ever let her lose her happiness again.

We were both still smiling when large, dark clouds began to gather. A strike of lightning sliced through the skies, immediately followed by a loud boom of thunder. Suddenly, waves began to angrily hit the shore while heavy droplets of rain fell to the ground.

Marge shrieked as the rain soaked us without warning. She tried to pull me away to look for cover but as I looked around, I realized that this was not an ordinary thunderstorm.

Using powers inherent to every merfolk, I calmed the storm with a wave of my hand.

Marge gawked at me in surprise but before she could say anything, we heard my friend's greeting.

"Hi, Seirra."

"Erwann," I acknowledged.

Turning his head slowly, he finally got his first glimpse of the woman I love-and the woman that saved us all.

He gazed at the red-haired beauty beside me, reflecting surprise as well as gratitude. I felt a hint of jealousy, believing that I would not be the only Aquanian who would find Marge beautiful, but I stamped it down as I realized what she really meant for our kingdom. Knowing that she would be revered in Aquania, that even a royal would be in awe of her, I could not be prouder.

"Seirra, who is he?" Marge asked in obvious curiosity.

I smiled at her, happy that she seemed more open-minded about seeing another merman.

"His name is Erwann. He's one of the very few remaining royals of Aquania. And he's my best friend," I told her, excited to finally let her meet the friend who might as well have been my brother.

"He's also a merman," she stated, more to convince herself than for anything else. 

"Yes. Just like Seirra," Erwann replied. And with a smile, he continued, "I am honored to meet you, Margaret. Seirra told me so much about you. Pardon me for not being able to shake your hand, at the very least." 

He motioned towards his tail which was left unseen underwater to emphasize what he meant by his last comment.

"Oh! Nice to meet you too, uhm, Your Highness," Marge said with a blush, followed by a bow.

"You don't have to be shy or overly reverent. You can treat him like a friend as well," I whispered.

"He's royalty. I honestly don't think I should be acting like a close friend to a prince!" Marge whispered back. 

"If you keep treating him like that, he'll be embarrassed. He's really not the type of royal that compels people to bow to him all the time. And he may be a prince but he is not the prince. We almost get the same treatment, somehow like army generals," I explained. "Besides, Marina is our princess but you never treated her like royalty when you met her," I added for emphasis.

"What?" she exclaimed. "You mean I disrespected your princess?"

"I told you the story about Marina, remember?"