Neela and Serafina were fast friends. By the time I was with Thalassa, I knew that my sister was in good hands. I smiled as I swam towards her.
"Now," Thalassa began. "Take deep breaths. Remember, your magic is in your very bones, your very blood. Your heart and soul. It is inside you. More than that: it is you. Remember that, and keep that part of you, and then you will do many things that some deem impossible. Remember, we once walked on land. Now, we are the mer. We swim in the deep, but we may again walk on land. And then, one day, we may fly. Now practice those breathing exercises I taught you. Remember, imagine, allow your magic to flow."
And thus I sat on the ground, breathing as she taught me, imagining my magic flowing through my veins, every scale and pore of my skin, through the tips of my fingernails and running through my fins to their very end. Everywhere. My pounding beating heart was the source.
I didn't have magic. I was magic. I was a creature of magic.
Thalassa made sure I wouldn't tell anybody- not even my mother just yet. She would be alarmed, no doubt.
I wouldn't have told anyone, anyway. It was a mistake to tell Artemisia about Lucia's parentage, just as it was Portia's to bring her to court. Now Lucia was unfairly banished and I damned well wished I had just kept my stupid mouth shut and not tried to fix this.
Neela and Serafina still remained firm friends. And a year and a half later when I first started being privately tutored by Thalassa, I managed to do it.
At first I felt a rush of ice and molten lava at the same time- it was unbearably painful, but I kept going. I kept willing my magic to go, I remembered what it was like, to walk on two legs, to breathe air again, to feel the sun, to see the clouds.
And I willed it even more, I remembered what it was to have legs and feet and I kept going.
Until I did it.
I was in a dry room, drained by magic, when I managed to do it. I looked down and instead of silver scales covering my tail and fins, I saw two legs and feet with ten toes.
I gasped in astonishment. I did it, I actually did it.
I was a human again.
And boy, did I have to answer a lot of things to my parents.
Isabella was not impressed to be called out of council, but when she heard it was Thalassa she immediately came. So did my father.
I could only imagine what they must have thought when I stood there in the stateroom, with only Thalassa by my side, with a sheepish look on my face. They naturally thought that their normally responsible daughter had gotten into serious trouble.
"What is it?" My mother cast her eyes towards the ceiling, as if praying to Neria for strength. "What happened."
I opened my mouth but closed it. I didn't want Thalassa to get into trouble on my account. But then again, I didn't want to get into trouble.
"Well, Mum, you know that I like to... research a lot," I began. I swallowed, regaining some nerve. Heck, if she collaborated with Wave Warriors, surely she could tolerate this. "Well, I read and listened to all the myths and stories about our kind that the Terragoggs came up with. Considering that this was all after Atlantis, I knew the different cultures couldn't have had contact with one another, at least not for centuries. So I... Got curious and then I was intrigued about the notion that a mermaid could turn her tail into legs and her fins to feet."
Isabella raised an eyebrow. Bastiaan's brow furrowed. "Serena, just where are you getting with this?" He asked. "What did you do?"
"Yes," Mother leaned forwards and frowned. "Serena, what could be so urgent that you and Magistra Thalassa the Canta Magus had to pull me out of a council session?"
I took a deep breath. "Because... Despite some differences in their stories and culture due to distance, I assumed that when humans wrote about something that was similar if not the same, I thought it was true. Including the one about mermaids turning their tails to legs. So," I cleared my throat. "I visited the Magistra's house. I researched. Learned some more magic," I looked sheepish. That could have been dangerous. "And I... Well, I found it."
"You found what?" Both my parents were baffled.
"It is best," Thalassa sighed. "If we just show you."
Moving her hands together in a spiral, Thalassa song-cast a ball of light which eventually grew to form an air bubble, drained of water, suspended within the liquid.
"Principessa Serena," Thalassa said steadily. I took a deep breath once more and stepped in.
And willed myself to change.
I couldn't describe the gasp that ripped from my mother's throat and the strangled cry from my father's, or the looks on their utterly thunderstruck faces as their youngest daughter's long, silver tail shortened, the scales began to fade and turn into skin and the fins shrink as the tail itself caved inwards to form leg lines and fade into halves.
That's right their daughter just turned into a human.
Thalassa stepped forwards. "This is a rare case, but I believe the Principessa is a rare type of mermaid. Long-forgotten except in myths and legends but most certainly true. They are by far, rarer than a bioluminescent like Princess Neela and long-thought of to be extinct or even myth. She is a nymph- a Nereid in this case. In the old days they used to roam the shores protecting, nurturing and nourishing all sea life and guarding the wilds. Some came from freshwaters. Others came from the sea or the deep ocean. A guardian of sea life and its protector."
Their faces were totally priceless.
"Can I change back now?" I asked, feeling somewhat uncomfortable. Plus, being a mermaid means that you don't wear underwear- how could you? And suddenly transforming into legs without knickers is just.... No.
"She is the first Sea Nymph born in millennia," Thalassa said solemnly. "A sign from Neria. That nature now has a chance against the ravaging natures of the Terragoggs."
Isabella leaned backwards, almost slumping against her throne, too stunned to think about it. Bastiaan didn't look that much better.
"I know that the principessa as the youngest of the royal siblings, is the only candidate for the Perumtavi," Thalassa said. "But the fact is, that she has been given such a gift means that she was meant for a higher calling- to protect all the underwater realms and not just from below, but from the world above."
Isabella stared at Thalassa. "You expect me to send my daughter to the human world?" She asked, aghast.
"No," Thalassa said respectfully. "Not yet. But it is the gods' will and destiny has decided. She is meant to be more than a pawn. Few can span both worlds as she will and none for a several millennia. First she must be taught to be strong, to defend herself on land and underwater, how to cherish and best look after nature's treasures, and how to defend the sea from the worst." Thalassa sighed. "It is Neria's will that she has been born as this." She stated.
I floated there, perfectly still. Thalassa was silent, she didn't take her eyes off my mother. My father's face was... Well, it was appropriate for someone who had been whacked on the head with something heavy and struck by lightning. Mother...
Isabella took a deep breath. I could see the emotions warring on her face. On one hand, her daughter was too young, even if she didn't act like it. It was also irresponsible of me to conduct such an experiment without her knowledge and she was not happy. She was also terrified of what could possibly happen once I was out in the human world among Terragoggs with no guards or anything familiar down below to protect me. But on the other hand, it was Neria's will and she knew as well as I did, it was my duty to protect Miromara and all the Mer realms.
And who was she to argue with that? Even as a regina she could not.
Bastiaan had the same thoughts as her, reluctant and uneasy with it as he was. They both looked at each other.
"Very well," Mother sighed. "But she is not allowed to venture into the human world until she is ready. That means, she must be sufficiently trained in order to survive, including in hand-to-hand combat."
"But wait," I frowned. "How am I supposed to learn hand-to-hand combat when I'm above the water?" Though I knew the answer.
Isabella nodded. "Bastiaan, dear, could you have the council adjourned for today? There is something important I must show to our daughter." By some miracle- or some intensive training part of being a regina- Isabella had miraculously regained her composure.
"So..." I trailed off. "We're dressed head to fins in black. We're alone- mostly. And we're riding hippokamps... Towards the Lagoon. Mum, please tell me, why are we heading towards the Lagoon?"
Of course I knew why. Still, the sight of La Serenissima Regina Isabella di Merrovingia di Miromara like... This was enough to make anyone gape. And I couldn't help but feel... I don't know? Slightly amused.
"Hush, child." Isabella informed me. "You will find out when we get there."
Oh, sure.
'Course I already knew. I wasn't going to tell her that, though. My guess was she would introduce me to Duca Armando and I would spend some time training and learning about the Terragogg world- in which case I really had to fake it- but it was great. Great to explore both land and sea! Great to be free!
I mean, not that I was ungrateful or anything. But even though I loved the gorgeous sea silks which are immeasurably valuable in the human world, far more than silk, and the fact that my gowns were studded with gems and the whole treasury of jewels at my disposal, which was far more than billionaires could ever dream of having, the utter luxury of my education and my living quarters, the mouth-watering, unfathomable knowledge of magic and such that sated my bottomless appetite for it, the respect I commanded as a Regina's daughter (even among gossipers at court), I longed to be by myself. I was never alone. Always with my nurse. My brother or sister. Some bodyguards trailing behind, even when I rode. Always duties and expectations even though I was the youngest of the three children of the regina.
And now the human world awaited me. Wide open spaces, clear air, blue skies, clouds and rolling green hills. I adored my home under the sea just as much but I missed being on land too.
But this came with great responsibility. I heard what Thalassa said: I was meant to be a guardian of the natural world. Could I do it?
It seemed as foreboding as Serafina' destiny to become queen of Miromara.
"So this is Principessa Serafina." Duca Armando smiled down at me.
Isabella cleared her throat. "Actually, Armando, this is my second daughter, my youngest Serena."
The surprise in his eyes was not without reason.
He expected Isabella to someday bring her heiress daughter along to groom her and introduce her in what she needed to do, secretly and publicly as a regina. Not even Vallerio- I knew for a fact- had any idea about this palazzo. So why bring me? The spare heiress? Second-in-line and until Kolfinn withdrew Astrid from the agreement- the candidate for the Permutavi, who was meant to swim with the Arctic mer and live alongside them?
Isabella sighed. "It appears that this daughter of mine has been blessed by Neria." She looked at me. "Could you show the duca?"
I nodded slowly and heaved myself onto the steps. I willed myself to change as I stood up.
On human legs. The look on his face was priceless.
"She is a nymph." Isabella sighed. "A nereid of the Mediterranean Sea- of Miromara. I wobbled and nearly fell.
Surprise, surprise. Why did I think that after a death, a rebirth and years of swimming, even dragging myself in the water, that this would come back to me naturally as breathing? Please.
In the original version of Hans Christian Andersen's tale, the little mermaid was in constant pain, because her newly-made feet and legs were not used to such a burden. Duca Armando caught me and gently steadied me, guiding me towards a chair.
"Thank you," I said gratefully.
"I've heard of nymphs," he murmured, eyes wide with astonishment. "Beautiful mer with voices like sirens but who kept nature safe and nourished it instead of luring sailors to their doom." He looked at Isabella.
"But I thought they were myth. Or in the very least, extinct."
"That's what I thought also, Armando," Isabella admitted. "But it appears that the nymphs have returned. Neria has given us a blessing. The seas and oceans of the world must be protected and my youngest daughter has a part to play in it all."
The duca nodded seriously.
"But my daughter knows almost nothing about the human world." Isabella stated. "She has lived all her life beneath the waves, sheltered within the palace." I bit my tongue to keep from saying anything as a retort.
"Armando... She was meant to help you." Isabella said softly. She bit her lip and looked down. My mother looked as if she was fighting a raging war within herself. "I... I may not like it, but I know I can't shelter her forever. If Neria decides that she was meant to walk on land and swim beneath the waves both, to guard and nourish nature, than that is what she must do. But Armando..." She looked up at him. Her sapphire eyes, for the first time, I saw they were shining with a dampness that looked like tears. She looked pained, in agony even.
"Keep her safe," Isabella pleaded quietly. "Guard her. Train her. Teach her. Where I cannot be, you must be there for her. I beg of you, not as a regina, but as a friend and as her mother."
I was speechless. This side of Isabella... The first time I had read Deep Blue, I remembered Serafina demanding for once, her mother act as a mother instead of a regina. She didn't always show and speak of her love for her children the way Serafina needed and expected, but she did. And that was more than enough. And I took parents' love for granted in my first life. I would not do it a second time.
The duca took a deep breath and nodded, his gaze compassionate, but firm. "You have my word, Isabella." He vowed.