The Maidening Ceremony

Chapter Eleven - Scene 3

"But how could he marry her!" Arilya exclaimed, breaking Millicent out of the memory. "She's horrendous!"

"He was not given a choice. William had taken charge of the Community. No one stood up to him."

"Not even Samuel?"

"Not even Samuel."

"Did it work?" Arilya asked.

"What?"

"The forced marriages – did they work in producing merphen?"

"Look around you. We have not gone extinct yet."

"Did Samuel and Elizabeth have any?"

Millicent's heart sunk in her chest as she answered, "Yes."

"Did you ever marry?"

"No. My cave-hiding was effective. When I went out for food, I avoided contact with the Community as much as possible. They forgot I existed."

"But you are on the Council – did they suddenly remember you and ask you to join?"

"Not exactly. The Council formed after the majority of the original group had died out. There were only fifteen or so left. Elizabeth, Joseph, and the others thought it would be a more effective way to govern than William's one-merman rule. He did not take the overthrow easily and we lost two more originals in the ensuing fight. Eventually he submitted to the new government, but over time he managed to take back leadership. Little by little. Now he runs the Council, though if you ask any of the Elders they will swear we are all equal."

"But how did you get on it if you were staying out of the way?" Arilya asked.

"Eventually I mingled more with the Community. I was lonely and heartbroken and I needed companionship. I didn't find it, but I tried. By then half of the original group had died..."

"How?"

"Predators, fighting amongst themselves."

"Oh, right. You already said that."

"The younger merpeople noticed me and took offense. I ate their food and did not contribute to the Community. They brought a grievance to the Council. William remembered me – I do not know how – and insisted I be a member of the Council, too. I was, after all, part of the original group."

"Is it difficult to be on the Council with Samuel and Elizabeth?"

Millicent's mouth dropped into a frown. "Elizabeth is cold, haughty, and completely self-absorbed. She is a nightmare."

"What about Samuel?"

Millicent waited a few seconds to answer. It had been a long time since she said the words out loud. "Samuel died. He is not on the Council."

The look on Arilya's face – like someone told her she died, or Finley died. Her eyes wide, her lips trembling, taking in the saddest news she had heard in her young life. "What happened?"

"He went hunting one day and never came back."

Her spirits perked up. "Maybe he is still alive, just living elsewhere!"

"No, Arilya, he is dead."

"How can you be sure?"

"The group he was with saw him die. They were having slow progress collecting food and had been gone from the Community for much longer than usual, so Samuel decided to risk it and go up."

"Go up?"

"Yeah. We usually hunt only a few leagues above us. There are more predators the higher you get. Something about our border keeps them away from us. But the hunters had not found anything and knew going up was the best option. So Samuel lead them up. When they passed the point they usually avoided, Samuel spotted a school of fish a few taillengths higher and went after them. The group killed and collected a ton in their nets, but Samuel was not satisfied and went higher. He kept going higher and higher, chasing one meal after another."

"Why?"

Millicent shrugged. "Maybe he worried there was not enough food back here since they had been gone so long. Maybe he had grown crazy. I do not know, but up he went. The rest of the group, when they retuned, complained about the change in pressure the higher they got. They said it felt like their heads were going to cave in on them, but if Samuel felt it, he did not show it. He spotted a dolphin and yelled to the group it would feed the Community for a week at least. He darted after it, heading for the surface – it leapt, Samuel leapt. His head rose above the water and his body immediately plopped back down. He sank right past the hunting group, dead."

Millicent paused, placed her hand over her heart, and took a moment in silence to remember Samuel, the Samuel before the storm, the one who loved her. When she heard he died, it was a devastating dose of reality. He had chosen this life for them, not knowing what the choice really meant, and then he forgot her, and then he died. It had not been worth it at all. If only he could have known during the moment of truth, they could have died together, holding onto one another, loving each other. But he died alone. Without love. With nothing except the handsome face he brought with him to the ocean depths.

"What caused his death? Going to the surface?" Arilya asked, forcing Millicent to stop dwelling and what-ifing.

"We are not exactly sure. It had not happened before and it has not happened since. At least, not to my knowledge. But the theory floating afterwards was his body could not withstand the change in pressure; that his head really did just collapse in on itself. But no one collected his body, it probably became food for some other group of predators."

"That is so sad."

Mills nodded. Arilya looked ready to cry again. "I think for me, the saddest part is how little time I had with him. We had a wonderful week getting to know each other, falling in love, but then, when everything seemed set for happily ever after, it was all gone. Alive, living as merpeople, we were complete strangers. I still miss him, but for almost all the time I knew him, he was not the man I fell in love with."

Arilya put her arm aroundher mentor and rested her head against Millicent's shoulder. Mills stroked her hair, thankful to finallyhave someone who understood.