The Maidening Ceremony

Chapter Eighteen - Scene 1

TheCouncil had gathered, Viola finished explaining Joseph's condition and left; William seethed.  "First Mills disrespects this Council, then she nearly kills one of our most important members? Is she intent on destroying us all?"

"She should be banished!" Elizabeth proclaimed, though her suggestion was not met with much favor among the other Council Members. They simply stared at her, disinterest across their faces. She turned to William, "Do not you think she should be banished? Let us force her out of the border. She will be out of our hair for good."

"She has caused a lot of problems."

"It could solve everything."

A merman on the opposite side of the table cleared his throat. "Have you heard the rumors?"

"What rumors?" Elizabeth said.

"There are merpeople who witnessed her swimming through the Community when she got back."

"And?" William said, impatiently.

"She was not wearing a drape on her tail."

"So?" Elizabeth said.

"She has always worn one, ever since anyone can remember."

"Again, I must ask, so?"

"She has a red tail."

The collective gasps of the Elders could probably have been heard several kilometers away.

Elizabeth was the first tospeak again, "A red tail! Well, thisexplains everything. Why she was sointerested in that other red-tailed freak, why she is so strange herself."

William sighed.  "I knew she had a red tail."

Another collective gasp rang out.

"What? How could you have known and not said anything," Elizabeth said.

"It did not seem relevant. But now I worry. Perhaps a red tail is more indicative of problems than we thought. The Arilya girl seemed harmless, but I have been hearing strange reports of an unhealthy obsession with Finley, the merphan in her class."

"The rumors say that is who Mills left the Community to look for – the Finley boy."

"Why was he gone alone?"

"No one knows."

William picked up his gavel and held it out in front of him, pointing towards the other Elders. "Something must be done to control this problem."

"What is the problem exactly?"

"What do you mean?" Elizabeth said. "Is it not obvious? Mills is trying to launch a takeover. She has somehow recruited Joseph and I am sure she has been training the red-tailed girl all along to go against us. She must have gone after Finley for the same reason. And this close to the Maidening Ceremony? They are probably planning to do it then."

"You are paranoid, Elizabeth."

"Am I? What other explanation can there be? William, what do you think?"

William swiveled around, his gavel now pointing at Elizabeth's heart. "It is far-fetched, but not implausible. Perhaps we should do something at the ceremony to secure our power."

"Our power?" one of the elders asked.

"Yes! Our power! We have worked hard to maintain control over the Community, to make sure everyone stays in line and in their place. Mills would like nothing more than to ruin that."

"We are meant to be a governing body, not a dictatorship, or have you forgotten that, William?"

"If you do not like the way I run things, you can leave, too."

The merman did not move.

"I did not think so." He turned his attention back to Elizabeth. "We have been far too soft on the Community. We need a firmer hand. We need to really show them who is in charge."

A wicked smile lit up Elizabeth's face. "I could not agree with you more. What shall we do?"

William banged the gavel on the table. "We have survived a longtime without calling upon the assistance of the sorceress who gave us thishome, but I think the time has come to ask for her help again."