Chapter 4: Undercurrent of Fate
"Hey, Wingly!" Kelcie shouted from the side of the small fishing boat.
"I /do/ have a name you know." Aaron called back, striding across the deck to stand beside her.
"Yeah, but I'm not going to use it." Kelcie replied, crossing her arms and leaning back against the rail.
"Why not?" Aaron asked, arching an eyebrow.
"Because I have no respect for you, Wingly." Kelcie replied.
"Ahh, so it's because I'm a Wingly, eh?" Aaron arched an eyebrow in amusement.
"The day you earn my respect," She continued, ignoring his comment. "I'll call you by your first name."
Aaron gave a small grin. "Alright then, if that's how you want to play it. The day you call me Aaron… I'll tell you why I'm non-elemental."
Kelcie frowned. "Yeah, whatever."
"Admit it." Aaron said, his grin growing wider. "You wanna know."
Kelcie uncrossed her arm and turned around to grab one side of the net that was draped off the rail of the boat. "Are you going to help me or not?"
"You're avoiding the question." Aaron admonished, walking over to grab the other side of the net.
"What if I am?" Kelcie challenged, turning her head to glare at him. Aaron returned her glare for several seconds, then his glare suddenly lost it's edge as he noticed something.
"Your eyes are violet." He said suddenly.
Kelcie sighed. "Yours are gray, your point?"
"It's just that violet isn't a normal human eye color." Aaron answered as he began hauling the net up into the boat.
"I'm not human, remember Wingly? I'm a Dragoon." Kelcie rolled her eyes and started to pull on the net as well.
"You do have very beautiful eyes, though" Aaron said with a smile.
"Flirt with the fish." She said, tossing a fish at him.
"Hey!" Aaron protested as the fish bounced off his chest and fell back into the water.
"My, you two sure are taking your time." Serif's voice came from the shore. "I didn't realize you fishing skills had slipped so far, Kelcie. Perhaps you need less training and more manual labor."
"It's not me." Kelcie called back. "This Wingly you made me take with me is all thumbs. Give me a decent sailor and I'd have been back twenty minutes ago."
"Hardly" Aaron scoffed. "I was sailing when you were still a glint in your father's eye." Aaron realized his mistake as soon as the words were out of his mouth.
Kelcie released her side of the net and it fell lopsidedly back into the water, the fish swimming gratefully away as fast as their fins could carry them. She turned to face him, one hand clenched into a fist, anger blazing in her eyes. "What would you know
of my father?"
Aaron just stood there holding on to his half of the now empty net. "Sorry, poor choice of words."
"Kelcie." Serif warned softly. "I'm sure he didn't mean anything by that."
The anger in her eyes faded, but only slightly. "Fine. If you such a great fisherman, you can do it yourself." Without a backwards glance she dove off the side of the boat and disappeared beneath the waves. Aaron took one step towards the side of the boat when Serif's voice stopped him.
"Let her go, lad. Her father has always been a very touchy subject for her."
"Yeah… I can see that." Aaron shook his head and turn to retrieve the net before it was lost in to ocean
========
"Wingly!" The robust feminine voice could only belong to one person.
"Yeah?" Aaron replied without thinking, not even realizing how easily he answered to that name now.
"Can you swim?" The girl asked, appearing in the doorway two oddly shaped shells in her hands.
"Better than you can." Aaron retorted, putting away the stone he had been using to sharpen his sword and replacing the sword in it's sheath as his side.
"Then put this on and follow me." She said, tossing him one of the odd shells. He caught it easily and turned it over in his hands. It was oddly soft, feeling much like a sponge.
"What is this?" He asked, looking up at her.
"It's something the Merfolks gave us that allows humans to breath underwater." She held the shell up to her face and pressed it over her nose and mouth a moment before taking her hand away. The shell, however remained firmly on her face. "I'm assuming it works for Winglies as well." Her voice came out flat and oddly monotone. Aaron regarded the shell suspiciously for a moment.
"Oh, for Soa's sake! It's doesn't bite, Wingly." Kelcie said, the frustration in her words not really carrying through monotone of her voice.
Aaron held the shell up to his face and held it there a moment. It fit easily over his nose and mouth, sticking there with an odd tingling sensation. His first impulse was to rip it off but he fought down that urge and took a deep breath.
"Okay, now what?" His voice sounded metallic to his own ears. Whatever this shell was, it was obviously messing with the sound waves that passed through it.
"Grab a spear and follow me." Kelcie said, grabbing a spear of her own and running back out to the pier, not even hesitating as she dove headfirst into the murky blue waters. Arching an eyebrow in amusement, Aaron chose a spear of his own and followed her into the water.
As soon as the waters closed over his head, he felt a familiar sensation of serenity. It was so calm and peaceful beneath the waves. Sound was muted by the water, movements slowed. He closed his eyes, folded his hands behind hid head and just allowed the water to carry him for a few moments. This was why he had chosen the life of a sailor, this love he had for the sea.
"Endiness to Wingly." Aaron opened his eyes to find Kelcie waving a hand in front of his face. "Come in, Wingly."
"I take it we can talk underwater with these things on." He commented.
Kelcie made a sound he could not distinguish behind the shell. "Yeah, these handy little things filter oxygen out of the water for us, allowing us to breath and speak while in the water."
"Cool." He answered, moving from his relaxed posture to right himself. "So, why do the Merfolks want to see us anyway?"
"They have information about the Kraken. Come on, this way." Waving a hand towards the ocean floor, she swam in the direction she had indicated, looking as at home in the water as if she had been born there.
========
Time really didn't seem to matter under the waves and Aaron wasn't really sure how long they traveled before he noticed the two shapes coming towards them. He brought up his spear defensively, but Kelcie put one hand on the weapon and lowered it again.
"They are guards, don't act hostile." She whispered, as the shapes drew closer. Aaron could now see that it was two women, each armed with a spear similar to his own. He knew instantly that they were Mer women, because of the fact that they had fins instead of feet.
"State your name and business." The guard to his right stated without preamble. Her voice was melodic, even this command sounding like music to the human ear. It was no wonder that sailors would follow the voices of the Mer women into the sea and drown themselves. The reputation of the Siren was well deserved.
"Kelcie of Rogue" Her voice sound so harsh and grating after hearing the Mer voices. And it wasn't all just the shell. "and this Wingly here is my escort."
"Escort?" Aaron had to hide a small laugh, although the shell almost did it for him. Almost.
"Can it, Wingly." Kelcie whispered fiercely.
"You are expected, Kelcie of Rogue." The first guard said.
"But follow us exactly." The second guard continued. "Humans are normally not allowed in our waters. I cannot say you are safe should you venture away from us."
Kelcie and Aaron both nodded in understanding and the two mermaids turned and swam down, deeper towards the very bottom of the ocean. Time passed and the still continued to swim deeper and deeper. Aaron began to feel an uncomfortable pressure on his ears that grew worse and worse. He risked a glance at Kelcie and saw the same discomfort in her eyes. The human body wasn't made to withstand this kind of pressure. Yet they could not leave the company of their guards.
"You two!" A sharp Mer voice called out. It was different than the voice of the other two women, harsher and with a note of command. The woman who owned it was dressed in ceremonial armor but carried no weapons. Her hair was white and her eyes a striking, icy blue but the most interesting thing of all was that unlike the other she did not have fins but rather normal human feet. Yet, she had no shell to allow her to breath and seemed to be speaking just fine. "What do you think you're doing!?"
Kelcie and Aaron paused, thinking the voice was talking to them. But when the woman came in sight she swam over to the guards and began rebuking them in Mer tongue. Aaron and Kelcie exchanged puzzled looks, what was going on?
"Forgive them, the know very little about Humans -" The woman began, then stopped and grinned widely, swimming forward and sweeping Aaron into a massive hug. "Aaron! What in the name of the creator are you doing here?"
Kelcie hid a grin at this and Aaron, for his part, could barely breathe. "Uhh.. Hi.. Nova…nice to uhh.. see you too."
Nova immediately let go of Aaron and frowned. "You two really shouldn't be down this far, you can't stand the pressure. We had a temporary audience room set up." Turning to the guards she said something sharply in Mer tongue and they swam away. "Come, this way, follow me."
Once they had reached a depth where Kelcie and Aaron could breathe normally again, Nova paused and allowed them a chance to regain their wind.
"You two okay?" Nova asked, floating a few feet away. "I wouldn't want anything to happen to my two favorite land dwellers."
"I take it you two know each other." Kelcie commented, crossing her arms and trying not to let her amusement show.
"Yeah." Aaron answered. "She saved my life about four years ago. The ship I was in sank and she brought me to one of the underground 'air grottos' where the air is trapped underwater by a magic barrier. I owe her my life."
"I see." Kelcie replied. "Well, Nova here is an air breather too. She comes out of the water from time to time to train in the Rogue Arts. Over the years she has become a master herself. She actually trained me for a while in underwater combat and the art of swimming."
"So Aaron is your Wingly escort?" Nova was beaming now. "You two together? That's wonderful!"
"Stop that thought right there." Kelcie said, amusement vanishing. "He's just here as shark bait in case I get into trouble."
"Nice to know you feel that way about me." Aaron said, now taking his turn to be amused.
"Oh, well…" Nova looked disappointed. "It is still nice that you two know each other. I never thought you'd ever meet."
"By the way, how is your son?" Aaron asked, changing the subject quickly. "Little guy must be nearly five years old by now."
"Six." Nova corrected.
"Son..?" Kelcie's mouth would have been hanging open if the breathing shell had allowed it. "You never told me you had a child."
"Ian needs air to breathe at least once a day now, so my house has an air grotto in it." Nova said, ignoring Kelcie's shock. "The temporary audience is being held there, actually. You can meet him if you wish…"
"Sure, I'd love to see the little tadpole again." Aaron answered enthusiastically. "Last time I saw him he was still saying 'ga ga goo goo' and trying to yank my pendant off it's chain."
"This way then. My house isn't very far away." She said, turning and swimming away from the astonished Kelcie and amused Aaron.
"Just when you think you know a person." Kelcie muttered, shaking her head.
"Don't take it too hard." Aaron answered, even though the comment hadn't been directed at him. "She's already an outcast, being a half breed and able to breathe air. Her son must be even worse, being a mix of Human, Mer and Wingly."
"Wingly?" Kelcie glared at Aaron suspiciously.
"Hey! I know what you are thinking and you can stop right now."
"Oh?"
"She had the baby a year before I even met her, so stop looking at me like that."
"Yeah, right. Whatever."
"Hey, you two! Try and keep up, the Elders are waiting." Nova called back to the pair.
"Coming!" Kelcie answered for the both. "Get the lead out, Wingly. You are slowing me down."
"Yes, your majesty." Aaron growled under his breath as he followed her towards Nova's home and the council of Mer Elders.
"Hey, Wingly!" Kelcie shouted from the side of the small fishing boat.
"I /do/ have a name you know." Aaron called back, striding across the deck to stand beside her.
"Yeah, but I'm not going to use it." Kelcie replied, crossing her arms and leaning back against the rail.
"Why not?" Aaron asked, arching an eyebrow.
"Because I have no respect for you, Wingly." Kelcie replied.
"Ahh, so it's because I'm a Wingly, eh?" Aaron arched an eyebrow in amusement.
"The day you earn my respect," She continued, ignoring his comment. "I'll call you by your first name."
Aaron gave a small grin. "Alright then, if that's how you want to play it. The day you call me Aaron… I'll tell you why I'm non-elemental."
Kelcie frowned. "Yeah, whatever."
"Admit it." Aaron said, his grin growing wider. "You wanna know."
Kelcie uncrossed her arm and turned around to grab one side of the net that was draped off the rail of the boat. "Are you going to help me or not?"
"You're avoiding the question." Aaron admonished, walking over to grab the other side of the net.
"What if I am?" Kelcie challenged, turning her head to glare at him. Aaron returned her glare for several seconds, then his glare suddenly lost it's edge as he noticed something.
"Your eyes are violet." He said suddenly.
Kelcie sighed. "Yours are gray, your point?"
"It's just that violet isn't a normal human eye color." Aaron answered as he began hauling the net up into the boat.
"I'm not human, remember Wingly? I'm a Dragoon." Kelcie rolled her eyes and started to pull on the net as well.
"You do have very beautiful eyes, though" Aaron said with a smile.
"Flirt with the fish." She said, tossing a fish at him.
"Hey!" Aaron protested as the fish bounced off his chest and fell back into the water.
"My, you two sure are taking your time." Serif's voice came from the shore. "I didn't realize you fishing skills had slipped so far, Kelcie. Perhaps you need less training and more manual labor."
"It's not me." Kelcie called back. "This Wingly you made me take with me is all thumbs. Give me a decent sailor and I'd have been back twenty minutes ago."
"Hardly" Aaron scoffed. "I was sailing when you were still a glint in your father's eye." Aaron realized his mistake as soon as the words were out of his mouth.
Kelcie released her side of the net and it fell lopsidedly back into the water, the fish swimming gratefully away as fast as their fins could carry them. She turned to face him, one hand clenched into a fist, anger blazing in her eyes. "What would you know
of my father?"
Aaron just stood there holding on to his half of the now empty net. "Sorry, poor choice of words."
"Kelcie." Serif warned softly. "I'm sure he didn't mean anything by that."
The anger in her eyes faded, but only slightly. "Fine. If you such a great fisherman, you can do it yourself." Without a backwards glance she dove off the side of the boat and disappeared beneath the waves. Aaron took one step towards the side of the boat when Serif's voice stopped him.
"Let her go, lad. Her father has always been a very touchy subject for her."
"Yeah… I can see that." Aaron shook his head and turn to retrieve the net before it was lost in to ocean
========
"Wingly!" The robust feminine voice could only belong to one person.
"Yeah?" Aaron replied without thinking, not even realizing how easily he answered to that name now.
"Can you swim?" The girl asked, appearing in the doorway two oddly shaped shells in her hands.
"Better than you can." Aaron retorted, putting away the stone he had been using to sharpen his sword and replacing the sword in it's sheath as his side.
"Then put this on and follow me." She said, tossing him one of the odd shells. He caught it easily and turned it over in his hands. It was oddly soft, feeling much like a sponge.
"What is this?" He asked, looking up at her.
"It's something the Merfolks gave us that allows humans to breath underwater." She held the shell up to her face and pressed it over her nose and mouth a moment before taking her hand away. The shell, however remained firmly on her face. "I'm assuming it works for Winglies as well." Her voice came out flat and oddly monotone. Aaron regarded the shell suspiciously for a moment.
"Oh, for Soa's sake! It's doesn't bite, Wingly." Kelcie said, the frustration in her words not really carrying through monotone of her voice.
Aaron held the shell up to his face and held it there a moment. It fit easily over his nose and mouth, sticking there with an odd tingling sensation. His first impulse was to rip it off but he fought down that urge and took a deep breath.
"Okay, now what?" His voice sounded metallic to his own ears. Whatever this shell was, it was obviously messing with the sound waves that passed through it.
"Grab a spear and follow me." Kelcie said, grabbing a spear of her own and running back out to the pier, not even hesitating as she dove headfirst into the murky blue waters. Arching an eyebrow in amusement, Aaron chose a spear of his own and followed her into the water.
As soon as the waters closed over his head, he felt a familiar sensation of serenity. It was so calm and peaceful beneath the waves. Sound was muted by the water, movements slowed. He closed his eyes, folded his hands behind hid head and just allowed the water to carry him for a few moments. This was why he had chosen the life of a sailor, this love he had for the sea.
"Endiness to Wingly." Aaron opened his eyes to find Kelcie waving a hand in front of his face. "Come in, Wingly."
"I take it we can talk underwater with these things on." He commented.
Kelcie made a sound he could not distinguish behind the shell. "Yeah, these handy little things filter oxygen out of the water for us, allowing us to breath and speak while in the water."
"Cool." He answered, moving from his relaxed posture to right himself. "So, why do the Merfolks want to see us anyway?"
"They have information about the Kraken. Come on, this way." Waving a hand towards the ocean floor, she swam in the direction she had indicated, looking as at home in the water as if she had been born there.
========
Time really didn't seem to matter under the waves and Aaron wasn't really sure how long they traveled before he noticed the two shapes coming towards them. He brought up his spear defensively, but Kelcie put one hand on the weapon and lowered it again.
"They are guards, don't act hostile." She whispered, as the shapes drew closer. Aaron could now see that it was two women, each armed with a spear similar to his own. He knew instantly that they were Mer women, because of the fact that they had fins instead of feet.
"State your name and business." The guard to his right stated without preamble. Her voice was melodic, even this command sounding like music to the human ear. It was no wonder that sailors would follow the voices of the Mer women into the sea and drown themselves. The reputation of the Siren was well deserved.
"Kelcie of Rogue" Her voice sound so harsh and grating after hearing the Mer voices. And it wasn't all just the shell. "and this Wingly here is my escort."
"Escort?" Aaron had to hide a small laugh, although the shell almost did it for him. Almost.
"Can it, Wingly." Kelcie whispered fiercely.
"You are expected, Kelcie of Rogue." The first guard said.
"But follow us exactly." The second guard continued. "Humans are normally not allowed in our waters. I cannot say you are safe should you venture away from us."
Kelcie and Aaron both nodded in understanding and the two mermaids turned and swam down, deeper towards the very bottom of the ocean. Time passed and the still continued to swim deeper and deeper. Aaron began to feel an uncomfortable pressure on his ears that grew worse and worse. He risked a glance at Kelcie and saw the same discomfort in her eyes. The human body wasn't made to withstand this kind of pressure. Yet they could not leave the company of their guards.
"You two!" A sharp Mer voice called out. It was different than the voice of the other two women, harsher and with a note of command. The woman who owned it was dressed in ceremonial armor but carried no weapons. Her hair was white and her eyes a striking, icy blue but the most interesting thing of all was that unlike the other she did not have fins but rather normal human feet. Yet, she had no shell to allow her to breath and seemed to be speaking just fine. "What do you think you're doing!?"
Kelcie and Aaron paused, thinking the voice was talking to them. But when the woman came in sight she swam over to the guards and began rebuking them in Mer tongue. Aaron and Kelcie exchanged puzzled looks, what was going on?
"Forgive them, the know very little about Humans -" The woman began, then stopped and grinned widely, swimming forward and sweeping Aaron into a massive hug. "Aaron! What in the name of the creator are you doing here?"
Kelcie hid a grin at this and Aaron, for his part, could barely breathe. "Uhh.. Hi.. Nova…nice to uhh.. see you too."
Nova immediately let go of Aaron and frowned. "You two really shouldn't be down this far, you can't stand the pressure. We had a temporary audience room set up." Turning to the guards she said something sharply in Mer tongue and they swam away. "Come, this way, follow me."
Once they had reached a depth where Kelcie and Aaron could breathe normally again, Nova paused and allowed them a chance to regain their wind.
"You two okay?" Nova asked, floating a few feet away. "I wouldn't want anything to happen to my two favorite land dwellers."
"I take it you two know each other." Kelcie commented, crossing her arms and trying not to let her amusement show.
"Yeah." Aaron answered. "She saved my life about four years ago. The ship I was in sank and she brought me to one of the underground 'air grottos' where the air is trapped underwater by a magic barrier. I owe her my life."
"I see." Kelcie replied. "Well, Nova here is an air breather too. She comes out of the water from time to time to train in the Rogue Arts. Over the years she has become a master herself. She actually trained me for a while in underwater combat and the art of swimming."
"So Aaron is your Wingly escort?" Nova was beaming now. "You two together? That's wonderful!"
"Stop that thought right there." Kelcie said, amusement vanishing. "He's just here as shark bait in case I get into trouble."
"Nice to know you feel that way about me." Aaron said, now taking his turn to be amused.
"Oh, well…" Nova looked disappointed. "It is still nice that you two know each other. I never thought you'd ever meet."
"By the way, how is your son?" Aaron asked, changing the subject quickly. "Little guy must be nearly five years old by now."
"Six." Nova corrected.
"Son..?" Kelcie's mouth would have been hanging open if the breathing shell had allowed it. "You never told me you had a child."
"Ian needs air to breathe at least once a day now, so my house has an air grotto in it." Nova said, ignoring Kelcie's shock. "The temporary audience is being held there, actually. You can meet him if you wish…"
"Sure, I'd love to see the little tadpole again." Aaron answered enthusiastically. "Last time I saw him he was still saying 'ga ga goo goo' and trying to yank my pendant off it's chain."
"This way then. My house isn't very far away." She said, turning and swimming away from the astonished Kelcie and amused Aaron.
"Just when you think you know a person." Kelcie muttered, shaking her head.
"Don't take it too hard." Aaron answered, even though the comment hadn't been directed at him. "She's already an outcast, being a half breed and able to breathe air. Her son must be even worse, being a mix of Human, Mer and Wingly."
"Wingly?" Kelcie glared at Aaron suspiciously.
"Hey! I know what you are thinking and you can stop right now."
"Oh?"
"She had the baby a year before I even met her, so stop looking at me like that."
"Yeah, right. Whatever."
"Hey, you two! Try and keep up, the Elders are waiting." Nova called back to the pair.
"Coming!" Kelcie answered for the both. "Get the lead out, Wingly. You are slowing me down."
"Yes, your majesty." Aaron growled under his breath as he followed her towards Nova's home and the council of Mer Elders.