I had a goal with this chapter: to answer as many questions that HD did not answer, as possible without straying from the topic.
Yes, I do realise I've also turned it into a bit of a musical – but they're both supposed to have great voices, and I wanted to explore why the Mer don't sing more often.
The song I had Scylla mock is 'Not While I'm Around' from the musical version of Sweeney Todd (originally I had Faro singing the real version as a dream style of defence against her, but I wanted to be a bit more imaginative than that – while still using that song, cos it was in my head for days).
Faro's lullaby is 'Lullaby of the Sea' by David Lundie (In Mer/Cornish with some words changed to make it rhyme) – I'm pretty sure I translated it right, but some of the grammer in Cornish/Mer might be wrong (despite spending hours on it).
Sapphire sings 'Here Beside Me' by Hayley Westenra – corrupted a little as I wanted it shown how it sounds, not as the real lyrics. But do check out this song, I just hope I convey even a little of how moving it is.
I can't move, something is trapping me. There are bonds around my waist and chest which I cannot break. I struggle, but the weight of my captor holds me still.
A quiet voice from behind me murmurs "I've got you Sapphire." and I begin to panic, the last time I was in the dark, couldn't move, and heard voices, it was the voice of a monster that was eating me.
I fight against what holds me, kicking and thrashing my arms, only for my chest to be crushed tighter, bringing a scream that cannot be heard. I continue to yell and lash my limbs, if at least to inconvenience whatever has hold of me. I am not going to go through this again. Not if I have anything to say about it.
"But you don't my Sssapphire. You have no sssay in thisss at all." croons the voice I really, really don't want to hear.
No. No. I am not doing this again.
"Yesss you are," Scylla sings, pulling at my arms like some sick game of tug-of-war where I am the rope "Yummy little girl, I've missssed you."
No.
"Yesss."
I think I'm doing the silent equivalent of hyperventilating as I hope frantically that Faro can save me, like he did last time. Just got to wait it out until Faro… "I've got you Sapphire!"
"Sssilly little Sssapphire. Fish-boy won't sssave you."
As I try to stop myself dying of complete and utter dread, Scylla begins to sing with that horrifically beautiful voice, and I cannot block it out.
"Nothin'sss gonna sssave you,
Not while I'm around,
There will be no rescuess – you're mine!
Not while I'm around.
Heroesss are trying everything,
Nowadaysss,
I'll sssend 'em crying,
I don't care,
I got waysss.
No-one'sss gonna take you,
No-one'sss gonna dare,
'Sssavioursss' will not sssteal you,
I've no worry,
Sssapphire, I'll be there.
Demonsss will devour you with a sssmile,
For a while,
But you are mine!
No-one elsess can have you,
Not while I'm around."
Not listening. Not listening. Not listening. If I repeat the thought enough, surely I won't hear her lyrical voice that puts the deepest cold imaginable into my heart?
"Eating out or eatin' fancy,
Ain't like eating you,
I won't need to,
I will never,
Releasess my hold on you,
Like sssome…"
Even as my fear reaches stupid levels that have me barely able to understand her words, Scylla begins to laugh, that cackling guffaw that is so repellant and terrifying.
"Little Mer-boy not gonna sssave you. He let you die. Faro doesssn't love Sssapphire."
Shut up.
"No Sssapphire. You cannot essscape me."
I can try. I kick away from her, evading her groping tentacles with a twist in the icy water surrounding us.
"There isss nowhere to ssswim to Sssapphire! There isss nowhere I cannot find you!"
I flee home, swimming as fast as my legs can carry me when filled with pure get-the-fuck-away-she's-gonna-kill-me. I leap onto the sand of the cove's beach, clambering up the slippery rocks in the dark is difficult, but not impossible when the other option is death by sea-monster.
I make it up to stand on the overlooking cliff with a sigh of relief, she cannot get me here.
"Oh no? I am not bound to the water Sssapphire." Scylla calls from the water below, causing it to swirl crazily like a… like a whirlpool. "Charybdisss was my doing! I have power over all the ssseass!"
No, no, no, no, no, no. My mind scrambles frantically for something, anything I can do to get away from her, or at least halt her. But I have no weapons, not even a pen-knife, and even if I did, I couldn't use it on her because she has no body. No, I cannot let her hurt anyone else. This ends now, with me. I must stop her.
But I can't.
"Nothing can ssstop me! I will get you Sssapphire! I am coming for you tassty girl."
Pain rockets through me as her cold touch radiates across my skin from the back of my head. I fill with fury and fear, striking out at her, only to fall into cold, hard rock and soil, entombed.
"I've got you Sapphire…" the quiet voice whispers into my cold, pained despair, and I let it lead me away.
"'I've got you Sapphire'?" I say aloud, it is all I want to remember of my dream. Whatever was holding me to start with… was protecting me? Scylla pulled me away from it, and I let her, thinking the first thing was her too.
Oh this is all so confusing. Ignore it, I tell myself, get up, get dressed, have breakfast, cos you're starving, and have a shower cos you've been wearing the same clothes for ages.
And I do, I do all the mundane, everyday things, while thinking only one thought of what to do later: Go see Faro. I am all alone in the house, even Sadie isn't here, so that must mean Mum gave her to someone else to look after for the day. Well, at least Sadie won't pine for me…
As I get changed into my bikini I realise something, nothing hurts. Yeah, sure the back of my head aches a bit, but nothing actually screams obscenities at me when I move to plait my hair. I'm better, I think determinedly as I walk towards the cove's entrance, it was just a dream, and I'm completely fine.
…
"Faro!" Sapphire cries happily from the top of the sandy beach upon spotting me floating in the shallows. She runs towards the water, sand spraying everywhere in golden showers whenever her feet touch the floor.
"Hello Sapphire." I murmur, pulling myself up onto our rock just as she scuttles over to meet me.
Her eyes are shimmeringly beautiful as she smiles at me, warm brown against the gold of her skin. "I missed you." she says seriously, locking her eyes on mine.
I nod, "I've waited for you ever since you left, Saldowr said you wouldn't be back for weeks, but he hasn't got a clue where you're concerned."
Sapphire blinks slowly "Did… did I just hear that right?" she asks "Did I just hear you bad-mouth Saldowr? Again?"
"Yes." I answer her gravely "My teacher may be the Guardian of the Tide Knot and the Protector of Ingo, but he knows next to nothing about you. I knew you'd come back as soon as possible," I smile "you cannot resist the pull of the sea."
Sapphire shakes her head, causing a few waves of maroon hair to escape her 'hair-bobble' "Actually, it was you I came to see," To quote Sapphire when she's excited – yayayayay! "I wanted to tell you that I spoke to Conor, and calmed him down – by threatening to otherwise not to help with his girlfriend troubles." phew… "And, umm, that I think I had a dream about you last night."
What? Did she just say what I thought she said… "You think you had a dream about me?" is the question that comes out of my stupid mouth.
"Yes, think, because I'm not sure." she rolls her eyes and sticks her tongue out at me.
"Well, I definitely had a dream about you."
She puts her elbows on her legs, watching me intently with a small smile "Do tell."
Oh, umm… Well, might as well just get it over with…
…
Faro looks uncomfortable, but he answers me anyway "I don't really remember much, except that something was trying to take you away from me."
My heart does a little somersault, trying to copy Faro's endless spins. I bite my lip, not trusting anything I say to sound normal while my heart is doing acrobatics in my chest. Yayayayay!
"I'm sorry I let that happen to you Sapphire…" Faro is looking at me through his lashes, ashamedly.
"I already forgave you." I whisper, trying to stop the squeak of my voice from being too obvious.
Faro's lips twitch into a small, pitiful smile "I haven't forgiven me. I'm supposed to look after you, and I let you get hurt."
He thinks he's supposed to look after me… "Faro… You saved me, you've always saved me." I search my memory, thinking of all the times he's protected me, and show them to him.
Remember Faro? You pulled me out of rogue currents, you tried to follow me into the Deep, you stopped that Claw Creature from getting me, you rescued me during the flood in St Pirans, you helped us fight the Kraken, you saved me from that bear in the North, and sharks…
My list goes on and on, and his smile grows along with it, until he's outright laughing at the babbling of my mind.
"What's so funny?!" I demand, pouting.
Faro is still shaking with his chuckles when he answers me, "It's just…" he sobers "You're so loving, even when others don't deserve it. It just reminded me of something Saldowr said about you once."
"What? Why? Why was Saldowr talking about me?"
"I wasn't anything bad Sapphire." he says, glancing worriedly at my probably-murderous expression as it calms, appeased "And I don't know why, we just somehow got onto the topic of you. He said you epitomised a human philosopher's words that he knew 'A part of kindness is loving people more than they deserve' and I think it sums you up brilliantly."
"Oh…" I answer with a blush. I had actually spotted that quote yesterday after Rainbow left – I'd been inspired by her idea and wanted to find a few for Faro – and I had found one to reply with. "I heard something the other day which made me think of you actually…"
Faro stares at me, surprised. "Really? One of your human thinkers was able to summarise me?"
"Yes." I hmph at him, then grin "'Love is someone who tells you something new about yourself' and you taught me so much about myself Faro…" There was another quote that I'd thought was even more perfect, but there was no way I'd ever say it to his face, it was more of a girl-gossip thing to whisper to Rainbow in an alternate dimension where she knew about the Mer… "Anyway, I was gonna tell you about my dream."
"Yes, yes you were." Faro is still smiling goofily at me, just as I am him.
…
It is just not normal for anything to be that beautiful. I'd glimpsed it several times: when the sunlight caught her hair just right, or when her eyes lit up astride a dolphin, or when she was resting peacefully on the seabed. So, if I've seen it so many times, why does it always catch me unawares, and send my heart crashing against my chest, as if it is trying to escape? Why do I always want to stroke her hair, and hold her tight and sing to her – and show her how much I need her?
It takes all of my willpower to not let my lips or mind shape the words I think so often. I cannot say them so soon, she wouldn't want me to, she loves being in the Air. No, I tell myself for the millionth time, I cannot be so selfish as to lure her away from her home. I will not make her so miserable.
"I guess it must've been you in my dream, because it started with something holding me, here," she gestured across her chest, above her breasts, then to her abdomen "and here."
I stare briefly at her, more than a little disturbed by her description – yes, of course I knew that the Mer could on occasion share dreams, but it had never happened to me before, and it was more than a little bizarre to hear her describe things I'd experienced whilst asleep.
"It must've been you, cos um," Sapphire shudders, grabbing my hand and crushing it as she closes her eyes tightly "she was pulling me away and you wouldn't let go. I didn't recognise it was you until the end of the dream, when you said—" she broke off on a gasp as she dissolves into endless trembling.
Sapphire had turned pale when she began shaking, and the energy and life had drained out of her in moments. Her eyes now had the empty quality they'd had when I'd first brought her back. I couldn't let her have dreams of whatever she had experienced then, not if the mere thought of it made her so ill… I could not allow her to be haunted like this.
I pull her to me, giving in to my desire to stroke her hair, and murmuring "I've got you Sapphire, you're safe."
"Th-th-that's w-w-w-what you said in m-m-my d-dream." she shivers, her skin is icy against mine and she is leaning on me heavily, as if exhausted.
"I know." I inform her, as it's true, I remember saying those exact words when I found her trapped by boulders and shadows, a tiny star of light amidst the darkness swallowing her body. "And I mean it, I'm not ever letting anything happen to you again."
Her trembles fade slowly as she relaxes into my arms, and the feeling of it is perfect, I never want to let go.
…
Faro? What is it? Something's troubling you.
His thoughts are light as they flow into my drowsy mind. It's nothing Sapphire, go to sleep if you want.
No, you need to get back in the water soon, your tail will dry out.
I can last a lot longer than any other of the Mer Sapphire…
And I know why, but I don't say anything, do not even think it, as I know it is a distressing topic for him. Faro, go on, tell me what's troubling you.
It's not troubling me Sapphy, it's… puzzling me.
Well, what is it?
The rock behind us, its cliff furthest out to sea crumbled last night.
So?
Remember how our dream ended Sapphire, the rock really did collapse when you needed it to. Saldowr always said you would have strange abilities but…
Faro? Are you saying I caused a landslide?
Yes, I think you might have, or else it is a very suspicious coincidence.
I pull away from him, stunned, and he lets me with a mournful expression. "But… I didn't do anything, I just knew I couldn't stop," I grimance "her."
"I'll show you, come on." Faro pushes off and into the water.
"Faro, come back here." I call weakly, following it with my silent confession. I don't feel strong enough for Ingo just yet.
And, darling thing that he is, he comes right back to my side, pulling himself back up onto the rock, giving me a totally delicious view of his muscles in action. And, a happy little voice in my head murmurs, now I'm allowed to openly watch! Yayha!
It only occurs to me just at this moment that Faro didn't exactly answer my question about the boyfriend/girlfriend thing, but I don't really care. Surely waiting around for days and protecting me even in my dreams and… so many other things I could list, are proof enough of his feelings for me?
It also only just now occurs to me that I am grinning like a kid at Faro, and he's doing the same to me. Guess since we'd both been waiting forever to admit it to the other, we were gonna be doing this completely stupid smiling for a while – to make up for lost time.
Probably. Faro whispers into my head, and I don't object as I usually would. If he's going to be my karer – yippee! – I'm just going to have to let him.
This goofy grinning needs to stop, we probably look like we're drunk.
That's not a bad explanation for it. He shrugs, stroking his thumb over my fingers – when did he take hold of my hand? I didn't notice him do it… but oh it feels nice, the warmth of his smooth skin. Sapphire? What is it? You're puzzled now.
I'm trying to work out why your hands are so smooth compared to mine. The stereotype is that girls have soft hands.
Faro looks at his fingers, holding them next to mine. Since when did you believe stereotypes Sapphire? But you're right, I might not have the blue tint of the rest of the Mer, but I still have their sleekness of skin.
I have Earth hands.
Yes, but since you don't live in the water, it makes sense for you to have rougher hands.
Why Faro, you're being remarkably tolerant of this. I think teasingly to him.
"When was I ever intolerant of anything?" he asks innocently with his smile growing ever bigger.
"Well… the first time that comes to mind was when I called you a mermaid." I grin back at him, trying to imagine his tail covered in glittering scales.
"Don't you dare!" he exclaims, having spotted the image in my head.
"Aww, why not, you'd look great covered in diamonds."
…
Obeying her opening for mischief, I murmur in reply "I'm sure I'd prefer sapphires."
Sapphire sits for a moment, open-mouthed in surprise before launching herself at me, knocking us both into the water as she laughs "Don't be cheeky Faro!" then, upon adjusting to the different method of speech continues to chortle "Bad, bad Faro, no hugs for you!"
"I am not your pet. Mer don't keep pets." I growl at her, realising immediately that she is pretending that I am her dog.
"Aww, poor Faro, poor Faro is jealous of Sadie…" her playful tone fades as she murmurs again "Sadie…"
"Sapphire?" I reach for her as face clouds with Air thoughts, making her eyes shimmer with unshed tears.
"I don't know who's got Sadie!" she cries, fighting against my hold on her.
"Sapphire, shh." I whisper, again caressing her hair which begins to calm her instantly, but I can feel the thrumming of her mind as she panics. "I'm sure your doggie will be fine."
"But I'm suppsed to look after her! It's my job!" she snuffles, closing her eyes as I sing to her.
"Omdhiserri, a'm kader kares,
Tewel, ankevi anhwek awelow,
Hedre tewedhow koler a-ugh Moryow,
Ty kavasa hunya a-ji hebask.
Omdhiserri, omdhiserri,
Moryow awelow hwibana kanow,
Omdhiserri, omdhiserri,
Moryow awelow hwibana kanow.
Myrgh a'n Neshevyn Lowenna a-dhann Moryow,
Bynitha awel kana kanow,
Gwavow oerwyn po havow awel glor,
Leunhe dha hunrosa gans aga tresor.
Omdhiserri, omdhiserri,
Moryow awelow hwystrenn kanow,
Omdhiserri, omdhiserri,
Moryow awelow hwystrenn kanow…"
…
My mind hushes when Faro's flowing words bubble beautifully around me. My only thoughts are the translation from Mer to English, and the correction of context.
Calm yourself, my beautiful girlfriend,
Hush, forget harsh winds,
While the storms rage over the sea,
You shall sleep in peace.
Calm yourself, calm yourself,
Sea winds whistle lullabies,
Calm yourself, calm yourself,
Sea winds whistle lullabies.
Daughter of the Happier Kindred under the sea,
Evermore the winds sing lullabies,
Winter blizzard or summer breeze,
Fill your dreams with their treasure.
Calm yourself, calm yourself,
Sea winds whisper lullabies,
Calm yourself, calm yourself,
Sea winds whisper lullabies…
I've never heard Faro sing before. Yes, he'd hummed in front of me, and joined in a little when I sang songs he knew, but that was kids' stuff compared to this – Faro has one of those voices, and it kills me when he falls into silence.
My thoughts buzz in the quiet. Why did I never hear his music rising above the others when the sea called to me? Why did he never sing to me before? Why— He called me his 'beautiful girlfriend'! Yayayayayayay!
Yes, I did, His thought comes, glowingly happy into my head, and that's why I could sing for you. The Mer can only sing for their loved ones.
Well that answered that question…
And, now it's your turn Sapphire.
No. Nonononono. I'm not singing. I'll sound terrible in comparison to you!
You won't Sapphy, trust me.
I do trust you, but I also trust you to flatter me more than tell me the truth.
I won't lie to you Sapphire, not ever.
What was the Conor-thing then?
Just not mentioning it.
I roll my eyes. Fine, you get that one, but I am not singing for you.
Puh-leeeeeaaaaassssse. His pleading thought comes to me as he strokes my cheek with his fingertips, and runs his thumb across my lips – which is both very distracting, and incredibly persuasive.
N—
What were you singing last time? Sing that for me.
You want me to… No! No I am not singing that! I only started singing that because you were unconsious!
I'll knock myself out if you really want Sapphire, but I want to hear you sing first.
No. No-nuh-no-nuh-nono. Not happening.
Yes. Yesyesyes, happening. Sing for me Sapphire, please.
Faro, do you seriously think that if you ask it again and again, the answer will change?
Yes.
You are impossible!
You are beautiful.
I float in complete silence, registering his comment and trying to fit it into my logic, except it refuses to stay put. The words bounce around my head endlessly, too perfect and wonderful to sit in the clutter of my mind. Um, I think to myself, hiding it, I have absolutely no idea what I'm doing. How the hell do you reply to that?
Faro waits patiently, arms still around my bare waist, the warmth of his body is both strange and appreciated in the ever-constant temperature of Ingo. It occurs to me that his heat must be another thing separating him from the other Mer, as I don't remember any of the others' having a human body temperature – but I don't care what he is as long as he's mine.
His comforting presence reminds me of a song I loved as a child, one I always wanted to sing, but could never get high enough for. However, upon taking Drama as one of my classes in school, I have longsince learnt that there are ways around the limitation of personal range – which was helpful for me, as I actually had a lower voice than a lot of the other girls.
…
I begin to panic just a little bit when she closes her mind to me, but when one tiny little thought escapes her wall, I cannot help but grin at it. I don't even mind that it meant she's probably thinking about me not being entirely Mer, the fact that she said I don't care what he is as long as he's mine diminishes my anguish about the subject. After all, I think privately, what does blood matter if she can still love me?
"Okay, I'll sing for you…" Sapphire finally says quietly, only looking at me in quick glances, like she's nervous – I don't think I've ever seen her look nervous for anything less than something trying to kill her. "But don't you dare laugh at me, I haven't ever sung it before."
"Sapphire, you know I won't." I tell her, meaning it with – forgive the cliché – all my heart.
"I'll show you worlds,
You've never seen,
The sun and moon and shadow,
The rainbow's arch, the mountain stream,
The sunny clouds,
And the winter's dreams."
And she had, Sapphire has shown me so much about my own world – so many different ways of looking at and doing things. One day, maybe, I will see hers too…
"I'll play you sounds,
You never heard,
The waterfall, the river,
The thunder of the hummingbird,
The whisper of the snow."
Sapphire, what's a 'hummingbird'?
Be quiet Faro.
"What if you never know,
How much I care,
Till we are parted,
By the stormy sea?
How could I let you go?
How could I bear,
A life without you,
Here with me?"
The passion and melancholy she put into that verse almost broke me. The rising of her voice as if demanding an answer of the sky, and the sheer depth of feeling she conveyed put a shaking inside of my soul that I couldn't stop.
I can feel the music flowing from her memory, the haunting lyrics accompanied by graceful acoustics which embodied the natural beauty she sang of…
"The world's a door,
That's open wide,
Because you're here beside me!
And with the moon and sun,
To guide me…
Now my heart,
Can fly.
Now our hearts,
Can be:
Free…"
Sapphire falls silent after holding the longest note I have ever heard, and is remarkably not gasping for breath, just floating with a thoughtful expression as she looks at nothing in particular. After a moment or two of quiet contemplation, she shakes her head and turns her attention to me.
"There, I sang for you."
I smile slowly "Yes, you're a brilliant singer."
"And you're an incorrigible flatterer."
I roll my eyes at her, then say seriously "No, I mean it. You put more passion into song than anyone, human or Mer I have ever heard."
"Well, um, I, um learnt from the best I suppose…" but the adorable red fades from her cheeks as she forces out the words: "Dad had a great voice, and I have his voice."
…
I am not going to cry. Dad died two years ago, and he was lost to me long before that. Dad chose Mellina and Ingo over me, I shouldn't care anymore. But I do, I cannot stop loving him even though he broke my heart… I can't stop loving anything or anyone, even if it would be better for me.
I should hate him for what he did to me, to Conor, to Mum – but I can't. I haven't even been able to make myself hate anyone, ever, the closest I've got is being pissed off enough to severely dislike them – but I'd still die at their loss.
What is wrong with me? Why can't I hate?
I can feel anger, betrayal, loss, grief… so why not hate?
I don't even hate Mortarow or Ervys, the two men who were responsible for the death of my father, I'm sad that they were so lost and misguided that they felt it was necessary…
But, even though I can't hate them, or my father, I still want him back, no matter what choices he made which separated us – he'll always be my daddy…
"Faro?" I hear my mouth ask from amidst the grieving pain in my mind.
He's watching me with, well, actually I don't know what to call that expression, but it looks like he thinks I'm going to shatter if he even breathes. "Yes Sapphire?" he murmurs softly, probably aware of the anguished thoughts that were racing through my head.
"Do you remember your parents at all?" Stupid, stupid, stupid mouth! Why do you have to say the things I tell you not to?! Why do you always pick the most insensitive, embarrassing or outright rude questions?!
"Not really, I didn't let Mellina or anyone else give me memories of them, I wanted to only remember things that were mine."
Now, with a bit more tact – since he was strangely acquiescent of the topic – I continue to ask the questions I've been dying to know the answers to "What memory was so special?"
Faro blinks a lot – and even though the full-blooded Mer cannot cry, I recognise the symptoms of I-am-not-going-to-cry syndrome – and swallows before speaking "I'll show you."
He opens his past to me, and I float in the feelings of an infant Faro.
…
I have never shared this recollection with anyone, not even Elvira, I realise, giving the thought to Sapphire, along with the memory itself.
Mama is singing, Dada is singing. Elvy is in Dada's arms, I am in Mama's, surrounded by her hair. We don't want to go to sleep, but music is swirling around us as we are rocked gently.
The water is beautiful here, 'sunwater' Dada said, and Mama said 'Howl-dowra' it confuses me for something to have two names, but I'm too tired to mind much.
No, I'm not tired. I want to play some more, I want to go and play with my friends, or the dolphins – yes the dolphins are my favourite, they swim above the water. When I'm with the dolphins, I go places Mama would never let me go. The dolphins go close to 'syghtir' right up to 'land' where the 'tus' or 'humans' are.
Humans are so strange. They don't live in Ingo. But how? I once asked a dolphin this, and she simply laughed at me and said to ignore them, that they're no fun to play with – so I believed her, as dolphins are always right.
Dada is lying Elvy down on her mossy bed, and she yawns before falling into sleep. I resolutely and stubbornly refuse to let my eyelids close – I am not tired, I want to play some more!
"Come on my little golowji, sleepy times for baby Faro." Mama whispers, but I still cannot see her face, it is hidden by her hair, as is Dada's when he comes to her side, still humming the lullaby.
"Na-na." I say "Not tired… Difun." I add to please Mama.
"Omdhiserri, omdhiserri,
Moryow awelow hwibana kanow,
Omdhiserri…"
"I don't remember anything after that, I fell asleep." I admit, embarrassed.
"How old were you, cos your mum called you 'baby Faro'?" Sapphire is smiling a little in amusement at the title, and I cannot help but smile back.
"Probably younger than Mordowrgi is now."
Sapphire bites her bottom lip, and I can feel from her mind that she's trying to keep her impulsiveness in check.
"What? What is it you want to say Sapphire?"
She avoids my eyes for a second then blurts "How old are you?"
"Oh dear." My mouth says before I can stop it.
"Why 'oh dear'?"
"Umm…"
"Don't 'umm'! Just answer me! You've never actually told me how old you are, though I've been trying to ask you for nearly six years!"
She had a point, I had been avoiding answering her, just as… Elvira, probably had Conor. Well, if Sapphire is to be my kares and is truly my karadow, I have to tell her.
"I don't know."
…
The words sit in my numbed head uselessly. Faro doesn't know how old he is… How is that possible to not know how old you are? What about birthdays? Can't you tell by things like when you make the Crossing, because that's done by age group? My mind spins, searching for all the various ways to tell age.
"What do you mean you don't know?"
"What did it sound like I meant?" he snaps back.
"How can you not know how old you are?! Surely Saldowr or Mellina can tell you when you were born."
"No." Faro shakes his head "You remember when you and Conor spoke of time in Air and Ingo being different?"
"Yes."
"Well, you record time through watches, and clocks and the sun, but the Mer don't measure time at all."
"So then how are you supposed to say how old you are…?" I mumble, thoroughly confused.
"We only say our age group. They're like your Maiden, Mother and Wise Woman categories."
I smirk "Which does that make me?"
Tactfully avoiding an answer to that question he states "I would be in the same age group as you, but maybe a little older."
"Yes, but when does one stop and another start?"
Faro shrugs "When it looks like it? Surely you can tell a baby from a teenager, and an elderly from an adult?"
"Well, yes, but—"
"That, Sapphire, is the difference between Mer and human, humans have 'buts'."
Oh yes Faro, that is definitely the difference, I think to myself, trying not to burst into tears of laughter, or even let him know the major pun he's completely unconsciously made.
So, to avoid going further into that conversation, I scrounge up an earlier one and say. "So, you wanted to show me this cliff I made collapse? Since I happen feel a bit better now, shall we go?"
Faro grins "Of course, as you wish."
…
I turn tail, swimming a little ways from Sapphire, only to hear her scream.
"FARO!"
I didn't actually plan any of this chapter, I just knew I needed to fill out the gap, and this is what happened. BTW, that 'buts' pun was completely unplanned and I didn't even notice until about three sentences later – after which I nearly died with laughter.
I know it's really annoying, but I'm going to request at least five reviews before I post the next chapter.
