What Lies Beneath the Water

Reunited (13)

I just stared at her in awe. This was my mom's only sister, and she looked nothing like Mom. In the pictures mom had a light aquamarine colored hair, and Aunt Arabella's hair looked like the midnight sky. Her eyes were a dark blue unlike my mother and I's sea green eyes and my hair was dark like hers at my roots, but it always heavily lightened near the ends because of mom's genetics in me.

I extended my hand out to her to be polite, but I was surprised when I was pulled into a hug. "You look just like Genesis, Aqua. It felt like I was staring at my sister." She said in my ear, and I didn't know what to do. I just kept hugging her awkwardly until she let me go.

"It's nice to meet you, Aunt Arabella." I said trying to be conscious of how I sounded. Dad had always told me about my Aunt Arabella and how she was always calmer than Mom was. Mom was the risky, throw caution to the wind, sister. Aunt Arabella was the one who was weary of the consequences, but she also was the one who was much more tied to her emotions. Dad said that was the reason why she never came and saw me. I was too much of a reminder that her sister was dead, and she couldn't take that. I always thought that, that was a stupid excuse. Because she couldn't cope with her sister's death, I had to grow up without a female figure in my life. Family is supposed to be with you through the hard times, and she wasn't there for me.

"Oh, please come in you two! I just started making food for lunch, so are you going to be staying until then?" She said while trying to be overly warm and inviting. I didn't know how to feel about it.

"Yes we will, thank you Aunt Ara." Kai answered and looked at me as if he was telling me to be thankful and nice.

I walked into the house with Kai and it was absolutely gorgeous. Everything was very simplistic and elegant. It wasn't overwhelmed with decorations, but of the decorations that were there, they were beautiful. Like there were lilies on the coffee table and dining table and paintings that gave the house a homey feel. My favorite decoration was her wall of photos. There was one of her and my mom as children right next to a picture of Kai and me as children. There was one of her and who I assume to be her husband. It was just beautiful.

"Honey, Kai is here, and he brought his sister Aqua." I saw someone move from the couch over to where Kai and I were standing. He gave Kai what the humans would describe as a bro hug, and they spoke a bit before Kai turned towards me and said, "Zale, this is my sister Aqua. Aqua, this is Aunt Ara's husband and mate, Zale."

I held out my hand in curtesy and instead he bowed and kissed the ring that my father gave me. In doing so, I was able to learn that he was a merman. He stood at six feet exactly and weighed one-sixty pounds or so.

"Your Highness, it is an honor to meet our next queen." He stated.

"I am just simply a mermaid. I am nothing more and nothing less, so there is no need to address me by such a title. It is a pleasure to meet you, Zale." I took his hand and shook it while looking him in the eyes. I needed him to realize that regardless of my title, I saw myself as no better than he.

Zale turned towards Kai and Aunt Arabella and said, "She's quite humble. Are you sure that you are siblings with her?" I couldn't help but laughing, and Kai turned me around and showed my apprentice mark from Her Majesty and Tomoe and Kou. "And she has this."

"Holy shit, Bella! Aqua has two apprenticeship marks!" Aunt Arabella came running from the kitchen and just started at it. I quickly pulled my hair back down from Kai's grip and turned back towards them.

"It's not really a big deal." I said and could feel the flush running through my face.

"Again with the humility! Bella, I don't think she understands that the apprenticeship mark is basically a license to kill."

"No, I am fully capable of understanding how rare my apprenticeship marking is. After all, Her Majesty has only ever taken on three pupils, one of them which was me. On top of that, I am Tomoe and Kou's first pupil since Her Majesty. I have to constantly show control over every inch of my life including both emotions and powers." I hit my fist on the floor and the room started to rotate. I then moved Zale's body and slammed it into a wall and made the broken pieces of wall hold him in place. "After all it is my control that is keeping you alive." I snapped my fingers, ending the rotation spell and releasing Zale from the wall and healing all of his bruises. "So please do not say what is and is not beyond my comprehension because every time you will be wrong. And Aunt Arabella, your chicken is going to burn." Aunt Arabella's eyes widened and she ran towards the kitchen while saying thank you.

"You two are the exact same! One wrong phrase, and you throw me against a wall!" Kai and Zale both started laughing as if recalling a funny memory.

I stared at Kai for a bit before I said, "You threw him against a wall too?"

"Not just once." He answered almost immediately, and I hit upside the head. "You really are an idiot."