Song of the Ocean: Daughter of the Crestian Sea - Book One

Chapter Two: The Sanctuary Grotto

"I'm really not sure about this whole me singing in front of the dignitaries thing," I confessed, twisting my fingers together in front of my flat midriff.

"Why not, sweetheart?" Mother asked, turning her sea-green eyes towards me.

We passed by the treasure rooms as the guards allowed the treasurer in. I glimpsed the piles upon mountainous piles of aquamarine crystals that littered the chamber within gleaming in the daylight shining through the quartz portions of the walls. There were so many beautiful things inside and I never could help my wonder at how they all shined; from aquamarines to pearls and even the rarer midnight obsidian pearls as big as my head.

Tearing my attention from the treasure room, I looked out at the curving row of crystal and coral pillars and arches to our right. Attendants were hard at work preparing the grand chamber for the festivities of the Delegates Ball, as Philonius had called it not more than a few hours ago. They were hanging garlands of ocean flowers and seaweed as the artisans were finalising their most recent crystal sculptures of sea creatures and merfolk. It was definitely going to be a night to remember, for more reasons than one.

I sighed, looking down at the palace floor a few inches beneath my tailfins. "What if I mess it up? What if my voice breaks midway through the song? I couldn't handle it if I embarrassed you and Father like that."

"Oh, Rinnaria," Mother turned and made me pause as she grasped my chin between her thumb and forefinger. "You have a beautiful voice and you almost never crack your tune. You'll do wonderfully."

"Almost never crack," I pointed out and sighed as Orange-tail flitted up to my shoulder. "There's no guarantee I won't make a mistake."

"I know, sweetheart. We all make mistakes," Mother reminded me, her hair drifting on the ocean current that was drafting in through the arches overlooking the palace's coral gardens. "But that shouldn't make you afraid to use your talents."

"It doesn't help me not feel scared," I confessed, wrapping my arms around my body beneath my shells.

"Fear isn't something to revile," she said wisely, brushing my free-flowing auburn hair from my eyes. "It is a great teacher and a wise companion."

"It is?" I raised an eyebrow.

She smiled and gestured one hand for me to follow her as she started to swim forward again. I took the hint, staying at her side as our similar tailfins flicked the floor lightly. Orange-tail jumped a little and hurried along to catch up. I just smiled and offered the little seahorse a strand of my hair to hold onto. He never hurt my scalp by tugging. He was that light.

"When you're afraid," Mother explained as we swept slowly along the hall, "you become more aware and more focused."

"But you're not rational when you're afraid," I pointed out, crossing my wrists behind the small of my back where my skin receded into scales more strongly.

"That's not necessarily true," she responded. "Sometimes when you're afraid your mind works much harder to find the logic in a situation. To solve the puzzle of what you face, as it were. And that is where fear is a great teacher, because once you have experienced the feeling of being frightened of a certain situation and come through it on the other side, you won't be so uncertain the next time you face it."

"Like when I go swimming in the tight rock formations down by the thermal pools," I said.

"Yes, exactly," she smiled. "You're an explorer and an adventurer at heart. This is a lesson you know so well, my daughter."

"But Mother, singing in front of four foreign leaders is so much more frightening than exploring a shipwreck or navigating the hot water spouts," I stated with a sigh. "The only thing scarier than that to me is being chased by a Culler Shark."