A gray void, where there should have been the blues and greens of her home, enveloped Armida.
She opened her mindpath. ≈Delfina? Isabetta?≈ A word skimmed across the empty space and was gone. ≈Rinaldo? Are you here?≈
Words flooded and tumbled over each other. With concentration, she identified the loudest.
≈Delfina! Where are you?≈
≈Here, I'm here! I can't see you!≈
Armida's heart beat with a remembered rhythm. The blood flow through chambers reverted to a Marean pattern. Her eyes adjusted to the sea and the diminished light. Her lower body had the familiar aquamarine scales and fishtail.
Three vague shapes resolved into her friends as her eyes regained focus. They had returned to mer form.
Am I the only one the Antichi haven't acknowledged?
Delfina darted to Armida's side. ≈Are you okay?≈ She stared into the Grotto. ≈Is everyone okay?≈
Armida swam toward a stone pillar, then circled back to Delfina. She shivered with the normalcy of how she felt. Seawater flowed through her gills as if she had never breathed air. She flicked her tail, rose to test her strength, then reversed and shot down to Delfina. ≈Have the Antichi disclosed your fate?≈
Delfina glowed with ecstasy. ≈I stay in Marea! I saw visions of myself foraging food and caring for merpups. Though the sea itself was not known to me.≈
Isabetta nodded. ≈Marea. The Provided and the Delivered opened their words to me.≈
Rinaldo's gaze pierced Armida. ≈Terra. I held books. In Torquato's library and in another place strange to me.≈ He raised his eyebrows. ≈And you?≈
Armida shook her head. ≈I remain ignorant of my path. Torquato said the answer would be obvious. But it is not. I had many turbulent visions—of oceans, familiar and strange, and of Terra.≈
Frowning, Delfina shot her words at Armida. ≈It's because you doubted. Because you still doubt. You have obscured your fate.≈
≈I have done nothing wrong. I have done everything asked of me. And I am left without answers.≈
Isabetta swam to Armida and took her hand. ≈Take a moment. Perhaps the Antichi wait.≈
Armida focused on her three companions in turn. ≈Was there direct communication? How did you know it was the Antichi? I had no confirmation.≈
Delfina flushed purple with displeasure. ≈Maybe she's lying. Maybe her future is Terra and she doesn't want the truth known.≈
Isabetta trembled and drew her lips into a tight line. ≈Delfina! How dare you suggest that? Armida may provoke, but she is not a liar.≈
Rinaldo faced Delfina and placed both hands on her shoulders. ≈Perhaps Armida's path is her unique choice.≈
≈Your compassion has always been a strength, Rinaldo. I thank you for your words. They give me ease when my mind has twisted like a winter storm.≈ Armida lamented what she must say next. ≈My mind clears. It's Marea.≈
She had known Rinaldo's eyes brilliant with happiness, flashing with anger, and sparkling with laughter, but until her comment, Armida had never endured his eyes filled with such sorrow. For a moment, it felt as if her Marean heart had stopped pumping. What had long budded between them withered.
As much as she wished to make him happy, she could not. Not if it meant the loss of her happiness and purpose. She would never accept a life among Terrans, not even for a chance of a life with Rinaldo. Not even if it offered a solution that would save Marea.
Could she let go of her doubts? Return to the fold like a good merpup? Armida hardened herself with the awareness that conforming was already an impossibility.
Her future was no future at all.
✧✧✧
Paolo darted toward her like a seal on its dinner. ≈Armida! You're home!≈
≈Paolo! How happy I am you are here to greet me.≈
A whisper of distress flickered in Paolo's eyes. ≈I was afraid you wouldn't come back.≈
Armida hugged Paolo tightly. Her fingers brushed her necklace. ≈Your gift kept me safe and reminded me of you always.≈
Paolo laughed when she tickled under his chin.
Baskets of food rested on stone slab tables. Salvaged wineskins held freshwater and hung from ceiling hooks. The banquet was to celebrate the completion of the Rites and to honor the Initiates who had pledged their service as citizens.
Armida's mind cluttered with the earlier visions that had carried her from sea to land and back again. Apprehension about a Terran destiny coursed through her. Her chest was tight with doubt. Her appetite vanished; she did not eat the delicate white shrimp, so rare because they hid well, and their barbs made shelling them a cautious, tedious task. They were a favorite when served with tender seagrass shoots.
Until the Metamorphean Rites, Armida had never had freshwater, but on the Isolotto di Nuovi, she had learned to love it. Short sips calmed her stomach, so she finished the contents of one skin with dispatch and finally managed a few bites of shrimp.
Faro's gaze radiated contentment. Armida was glad she'd shared only a limited account of her visions. She was certain her parents otherwise would have drawn the same conclusion she had—that she was condemned to leave the ocean and find her mission on Terra.
≈Thank you for joining us. And thank you Mother and Father for this feast.≈ Armida threw her arms out to emphasize their dining hall, the largest in Marea, and now filled with guests. Over the past days, she'd seen her home in new ways, once the shelter of her childhood but now a prison of expectation.
Celestina smiled though Armida saw through it to the skepticism. ≈You are most welcome, Little Jewel.≈ Her smile broadened but seemed more pointed than usual. ≈If I may still call you that.≈
Armida said nothing because there were no good options. Either she'd voice acceptance of the false affection or add to the perception she was an inconsiderate daughter. A pinched face and rigid posture replaced Celestina's soft demeanor.
Celestina pulled herself away from the table. ≈The completion of Armida's Metamorphean Rites is not the full honor given to our home today. Her father and I have the great pleasure of hosting an important visitor from Thalassa. We were uncertain of his exact arrival, but we have learned it is imminent.≈
Armida sensed flutters of surprise, some troubled, from their guests.
Celestina drew her eyebrows together. ≈Armida, close your mouth lest a sea worm make a home there.≈
With both annoyance and embarrassment, Armida snapped her mouth closed.
Will she treat me as a child forever?
Everyone turned to the outer passage when the currents trembled enough to sway the water bags.
Celestina greeted the Thalassan. ≈Erastus! I am Celestina. Welcome to our homecave. Speaking for all Marea, we value your presence and thank you for traveling these many weeks from such a distance.≈
Erastus surveyed the hall. ≈ I am pleased to meet you after the many communications between Thalassa and Marea. It is I who is honored to be among friends such as the Mareans.≈
≈Let me introduce my husband, Faro, and my daughter, Armida.≈
Faro's nervous laughter pricked at Armida's mindpath. He prepared a small basket of food for Erastus. ≈Please join us. Sit here between Armida and me.≈
≈Thank you, Faro. It is my fortune to be seated by such a lovely mermaid.≈
Although he was a Thalassan diplomat from the colony in the Aegeano on the eastern side of Terre dell' Est, spikes of concern shot through Armida. Her mother had been behind efforts to ease tensions through a treaty with Thalassa but had shared little about the details. She did not miss that the handsome Thalassan took his place next to her with a finesse equaling her mother's.
Erastus engaged her with a friendly smile. ≈We Thalassans live in warmer waters, although it is not as cool here as I expected.≈
≈My father can provide you with a winter hammock for your stay should you want one. I will make mention to him. I am curious, have you any issues with warming temperatures?≈ His purple eyes—leaping from the background of his orange skin and scales—riveted Armida.
≈Issues? What do you mean? It's not too warm as to overheat us and we've adapted over millennia to our home.≈
≈And it's not changed at all?≈
≈How should we judge changes over such a vast span?≈ Erastus looked baffled.
Armida nodded to avoid further discussion. It had been pointless to raise the topic.
Erastus turned to Faro. ≈Might I ask your permission to take a tour of Marea later with Armida as my guide?≈
≈You need permission from Armida, not me. But I'm confident you will find her entertaining. You'll accompany Erastus, Armida?≈
≈Of course, Father. I am always eager for an evening swim.≈ Armida was not ignorant of what the suggestion meant. Her father was responsible for matchmaking. They were offering someone suitable. As a future bond-mate. As a diplomatic deposit. Thalassa would find it difficult to turn down requests for assistance if there was a marital alliance.
They think I'm blind.
She dared not glance at Rinaldo to study his reaction.