Disclaimer: I own all.
Author's note: Wow, chapter seven already.
I'm really, really, really sorry this has taken so long. I just got a huge case of writer's block I guess. School is being awful too. I hope to get the next chapter out sooner but I'm not making any promises.
I think Elesea's speech is also a little screwed up but that's ok. I still don't know what it's really supposed to sound like. It keeps changing.
Thanks to everyone who reviewed!
Reminder:
"/Words/" = Common/ English.
"Words" = Melena's home language - Athenian
{Words} = Written words in Athenian
{Words} = Written common/English.
~A voice, a spell, an…argument?~
"You do not understand." Melena sat back on her bed and motioned Elesea to sit with her. "You know that Robert is a prince?"
Elesea shook her head. She didn't believe. "He is. He may not have told you but it is true. I saved his life once. He would not know me now. I was Mer then. My hair was green as was my tail and my face looked different. I know it was; I felt it change when I drank Kalypso's potion.
"I still can believe yare speaking Mela. It is a miracle. Ya must tell Robert. He will believe ya. Ya must talk to him. Find out why he reacted badly to the song." Elesea took Melena's hand and looked into her eyes. There was nothing but trust showing there and Elesea hoped that her advice wouldn't go astray.
"I will try Elesea. Thank you."
*~
"Will you play something for us after dinner Mel? Please?" Yvenne begged her bottom lip curling under. Ilane had a pleading, cute-as-kittens look as well. They were setting the table together after Melena had come out of her room a few minutes earlier. Her face showed no signs of the emotional storm that had broken earlier or her confession.
Melena shook her head with a small, sad smile appearing on her beautiful face. She got her slate and wrote quickly. {Not tonight. Maybe tomorrow, if you do your chores and don't torture Rowan.} They promised vigorously and ran to finish setting the table while Melena went into the kitchen.
{Is there anything I can do to help? I need something to do.} She wrote to Elesea, who was stirring something in a large metal pot. Vegetables, clams, and mussels brewed in a fragrant broth made up a wonderful stew that Melena herself had created a few weeks before.
"/Why are ya not speaking?/" Melena turned her slate over and wrote quickly.
{I do not wish to because I fear I will have to turn the spell back and I do not want to, to get hopes up and then not be able to talk about them.}
"I think I understand."
Melena held up the other side of her slate and shook it a few times to get Elesea's attention.
"/Not right now. Mayhap later I will. Why don ya go and talk to Deacon or find Rowan for me?/"
{Of course.} The tall beauty left the kitchen with the air of someone determined, and dedicated to their task.
*~
Trying to find someone when you can't call for him is very difficult, as Melena found while searching for little Rowan. He wasn't in his room. He wasn't in anyone else's rooms, or the main part of the house. She looked everywhere inside the house before going outside.
There she found the little boy, playing in the tall grass that grew to one side of the house. Clapping her hands to get his attention she waved him over. "/Mel! Mel! Mel! Lookit what I found./" He cried as he ran to her. Holding up a beautiful, palm-sized, light pink, conch shell he looked at her with wide blue eyes. She knelt to get a better look. Melena smiled her biggest smile and caught him up in a big hug. He hugged her back, putting his small arms around her neck.
She kept a tight hold on him for a few minutes until he began to squirm. To stop his movements she lifted him up and twirled him around in the air. Coming to a stop after the first circle she kissed his cheek but didn't say anything. Rowan laughed and begged for more spinning.
Melena spun around with Rowan in her arms for a few minutes until she spotted a familiar figure stalking towards them from the house. Robert. She stopped spinning immediately but did not put the small boy down. Robert continued his angry march to meet them stopping only when he was almost nose-to-nose with Melena.
"/Elesea sent me to find you. Dinner is ready,/" he ground out, his voice terse.
Melena just nodded and hugged Rowan a little tighter. Together the three of them walked back to the house in a tense silence. Robert sent many glares Melena's way but the beautiful mermaid only looked back at him as if she were staring through him. The small boy she carried noticed none of the looks; he was just content to sit in the pretty girl's arms as she carried him back to the house. He was much too tired to walk by himself.
*~
Dinner was a very quiet affair; aside from the clanking of dishes no one spoke. The younger children sat in baffled silence seeing the glares Robert sent to Melena and the calm looks she shot him in return. None wanted to ask what had happened for fear of finding something they didn't want to know.
"/Melena, would you play a song for us?/" Tianine finally broke the silence, her voice mocking and mean.
"/I'd rather not. I haven't had a very nice day and I would like to rest after supper./" Melena replied not missing a beat.
"/Melena?/" Deacon asked, surprised.
"/Yes, Deacon? Is something wrong?/"
"/Mel! Mel! Mel! You can talk now! Will you tell me stories now?/" Rowan cried climbing into her lap.
"/Of course I will. For the time being anyway. /" She looked sadly around the table. Giving Rowan a hug she sent him back to his chair just as Robert turned his attention to her.
"What do you mean 'for the time being'?" Robert hissed in Athenian. He was glaring at her again, his green eyes trying to pierce holes in her skin.
"/I mean that, even as I speak here, I have broken a spell that I must set to rights. I will not be able to speak tomorrow. I shall re-forge the spell tonight./" She looked at the others. "Robert, I suggest you plug your ears tonight," she hissed glaring ice shards at the prince in disguise.
"Oh, really, Melena darling? Why should I do that?" He asked his voice dangerously sweet.
"Well, I wouldn't want to traumatize you again Robert, dear." She shot back, her voice just as sweet as his.
"And why would I be traumatized? You can't be doing something you haven't already done." He replied nonchalantly.
"I will have to play the harp this time. I might even sing. Do you think you can handle it?" she let a small smirk slide onto her face.
"I will have to won't I?" he lets his own nasty smirk show.
"I never knew my voice was so abrasive. All the Athenian boys liked it. They came from miles to hear me." Melena commented in a small, little girlish voice, her mouth contorted into a pout.
At that Elesea began laughing extremely hard nearly chocking on the water she had unfortunately decided to ingest seconds before. The rest of the family just looked on in confusion, or in Tianine's case, glee. The two teenagers had not realized that their conversation had been completely in Athenian or that everyone knew they were arguing.
*~*~
And they were getting along so well.