Stolen Scales

Chapter 53

The pair quickly exits the house to meet the group. Without any hesitation, all three Crownguards usher them through the city at a run, heading towards the hill entrance to the throne room. They make it through the entrance just in time to hear a massive clap of thunder. Kyma looks back over her shoulder at the outside world. From the shelter of the tunnel, the rest of the world appears to be full of chaos as the hurricane-force winds whip around the sheets of pouring rain. As she continues to watch the storm, she feels someone place a comforting hand on her shoulder.

"Are you okay, Kyma?"

It's Alai, and Kyma turns her head to look at her before nodding. Alai looks only slightly concerned, and her concern is not for what the storm is doing but for Kyma's reaction to it.
"I'm fine, but why is everyone so concerned by this? Isn't this a really severe storm?"

Alai nods. "It is, but we have plans in place for this. We get everyone to move to the underwater part of the city before the storm hits us full force."

Kyma nods at that news but then frowns as a thought comes into her mind. "What about the people who can't go to the underwater city? The land-bound merrows and the children, they can't go."

Lahira approaches the pair from further down the tunnel, having been content to let Alai answer Kyma's questions previously. "Further down the tunnel there are several chambers for those merrows. No one is left behind to face the storm, don't worry. We must move now, it's not safe to stay so close to the tunnel entrance."

Kyma and Alai follow the others down the tunnel and into the throne room. They don't stop there but continue into the pool. Lahira shifts first, followed by Kyma and Alai. Once all three of them have shifted, the three Crownguards shift as well. The party dives down to the bottom of the pool and into the tunnel leading to the underwater city. Once they have entered the living portion of the city, Lahira signs to Alai.

"You should head over to your house. I don't want your mother to panic or for your brother to come after me for not telling him that you were with me." Kyma and Alai exchange a strained look at the mention of Sera, and quickly try to wipe it off of their faces to keep Lahira from noticing. But their efforts are in vain, she sees it and frowns at them. "Is there something I should know, girls?"

Alai shakes her head nervously. "No, my Queen."

Lahira looks at her with a stern expression on her face. "I do hope you aren't lying to me, Alai. The tides won't wash away lies."

"I'm not lying. There is nothing for me to tell you. There is nothing that I am hiding. I will swear it to the depths of the sea and to Ceana herself."

Lahira's chin raises slightly in pride at Alai's words. "Very well, swim off now, Seachild. Hurry home before Roan loses his fins in panic."

Alai bows at the waist. "Yes, my Queen." She turns to Kyma and Lyss and flicks her fingers at them. "I'll see you later!"

She swims off through the blue waters in the direction of her house, the yellow splashes of scales on her tail seeming to merrily wave at the small party of merrows in farewell. The rest of the group follows her after a few moments, splitting off from Alai's path to swim towards Kyma's own. Lahira ducks through the doorway, followed by Kyma. The three guards join the other three already posted outside the house. Once both Kyma and her mother are through the door, Lahira twists over herself to unhook the curtain over the door and letting it flow out into the room.

Then she hooks the bottom of the curtain to the bottom of the stone doorframe. She beckons for Kyma to follow her into the kitchen and pulls out two of the stone plates in the storage ledge. She reaches into the other storage ledge next and pulls out some food. She prepares quickly and the pair swim up to the bedroom pool to eat, not wanting to accidentally choke on seawater. They eat quickly and Lahira returns the plates to the cupboard before returning. Her head pops out of the water just in time to see Kyma yawn into the air

"I thought you were being able to maintain your energy during your excursions now."

Kyma grins at her and yawns again. "When you're racing dolphins, you are always going to be exhausted."

Lahira laughs. "I suppose that's true. But why, exactly were you swimming with dolphins?"

"I finished my lessons, so we celebrated by racing with dolphins and then exploring the waterfall cave."

Lahira's eyes light up in curiosity. "Did you see the healing pool and the wall of memories?"

Kyma nods happily. "I did. The memories were amazing. The healing pool is kind of creepy though."

"Why is that?"

Kyma frowns. "Well, the thought of the pool killing someone if they are healthy and go into it is a bit terrifying."

Lahira's mouth parts in understanding. "Ah, yes. That can be a bothersome thought." She notices that Kyma's frown is still on her face and questions it. "What is bothering you, Seachild?"

"If we're water creatures, why don't we have any way to see in the dark?"

"We do have a way, but only when you are tailed. If you look closely at your wrist," she motions for Kyma to do so and Kyma looks at it to see nothing, until she realizes that she can't see the veins on her wrist. She pokes it to feel a hardened surface there, hidden just beneath her skin. "You have a scale on each wrist that can become bioluminescent and release light. The light doesn't travel far though, so we prefer to use the algae lanterns."

"Can you show me?"

In response, the scales on Lahira's wrist light up, releasing a steady bluish light into the air. Kyma examines her mother's light scales for a moment before trying to activate her own. Slowly, the scales light up, starting as a dim glow and brightening as time passes. She grins at the scales and her mother lets out a soft laugh.

"Well done. I'm going to go to sleep now, please head on to bed soon."

Kyma nods and sits in the water for a few minutes as her mother slides into bed. She eventually slides out of the pool and covers the algae lanterns before placing her bag beneath her own bed and sliding into it, quickly falling asleep.
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What do you think about the light scales? How long do you think the storm will last? Is it indicating anything?(well, anything besides the chaos here in our world) Tell me your thoughts!

Happy reading and I'll see you next chapter!

~Goddess of Fate, signing out.