The Mermaid's Blessing

Nineteen

EREN POV

Coralie was a bundle of inquisitive energy, brimming with questions and wit that could hardly be contained in the face of new information. She would listen to my explanations carefully, quietly absorbing each word, only to quickly follow with a new line of inquiry or a restatement of the previous one if I didn't quite answer it. Either way, I had nothing to hide, even if I was treading carefully in an effort to not overwhelm. Coralie couldn't care less about reservations.

"What do you mean by 'born differently,' Eren?" Her eyebrows scrunched together, "I'm fairly certain I know how that process goes."

"It's not the same as it is with humans. Intercourse isn't really involved for our procreation."

"So...?"

"Truthfully I don't really understand it well either. We aren't born so much as reborn," I laughed, having a hard time meeting her eyes out of embarrassment at my own inability to put it into better words, "Sirens like me, we're the product of violent deaths at sea. Drownings, mostly of women, though obviously some men like me, are the common ones. The ocean gives them a new life, once they've died, replacing their memories of humanity and their human pain with the gift of freedom."

"So, you used to be human?"

"Yes, though I don't remember any of it."

"Okay, but I grew up human, and I didn't die."

"I'm getting to that," She frowned impatiently, making it hard to keep a serious expression, "Like I said earlier, Sirens and Mermaids are similar, sure, but we aren't the same. Mermaids like you aren't created from violence. When someone who loves the sea more than anything else passes away peacefully, either through natural causes or sometimes suicide, a mermaid is born. It took me a while to figure out who you are, since I didn't have a lot to go on, but from what I can tell, your birth wasn't exactly average, even for one of us."

"Right," Coralie gave me a sceptical look again, "you found me through your dreams."

"It's ironic that you don't believe I could have been having dreams about you, after all you've seen."

"Next you're going to tell me unicorns are real."

"Did you want me to finish explaining or not?"

She held up her hands in surrender, letting me continue.

"Okay, like I was saying, you didn't come into the world the normal way. In fact, you technically weren't even born when you died, so there was no human life to forget. I did some research, asked around a bit, and from what I can tell, you were still in your mother's womb when she either jumped or fell into the ocean."

"The maids said Mother died at sea," Coralie intoned quietly, "Father was heartbroken... but... she was pregnant? Nobody told me that..."

"Yes, well, I don't know what happened after that except you were alive, and she wasn't. Somehow your father got to you, an incredibly rare baby mermaid, raised you as a human, and now you're here."

She stood up suddenly, pacing up and down the length of the cave, pushing the hair out of her face and staring angrily at the floor. Coralie was having a hard time processing, from what I could see, obviously working through the events from her own perspective. When she whirled back to face me, you could still see the questions churning under the surface.

"Is that why they kept me away from the ocean for so long?"

"If you figured out what you were, you might try to leave."

"But why were they so desperate to keep me in the first place? And why did Peter take me away?"

"I didn't think it was real, which should really tell you something," I laughed, ignoring her stormy demeaner, "but after everything I learned, even I can't deny that it is."

"Are you going to tell me what you're talking about, or do you want me to guess..?"

"The Mermaid's Blessing. When a mermaid calls your land home, the sea will bless it with the greatest abundances, and you will never be forced to weather famine, poverty or storms. Or, at least not until someone steals the mermaid out from under you."

Coralie froze, going completely blank. After a moment, she took slow steps towards the drop off into the water, stopping briefly before falling forward painfully, sending a huge splash into the air. A few seconds later, I heard the muffled frustrated screaming from under the water.

Looks like there was some underlying problem I wasn't informed on.