Chapter 101
A short time into their trip, Rikki slowed to a stop.
'Do you feel like you're being watched?' She asked the others.
They had left the Yasawa Islands behind and were now at the southern end of the Fijian archipelago.
Emma looked around. 'Yeah… but I can't see anything'
'There!' Rikki exclaimed into their minds. Something sped past them too quick to see clearly.
Suddenly, they were surrounded.
OoOoO
'Whoa,' Jessie said.
There were not just one or two mermaids, there had to be at least twenty encircling all of them. Where had they come from? Surely they would have noticed twenty mermaids following them? The mermaid leaders looked surprised to see children with the group. The strange mermaids had blue patterns on their arms and faces; they looked to be tattoos of some kind. Their scales seemed to have a purplish tinge. All of the mermaids had their hands out; essentially, they had their powers at the ready. A few of them had tridents fashioned from the water. In response, the group raised their hands, the children following their mothers' demonstrations.
'Stand your ground,' Rikki warned.
'Who are you?' one of the mermaids closest to Cleo asked. She had to be the leader. 'What are you doing spying in our waters?'
'Spying?' Cleo responded.
'We're not spies,' Emma said. 'We're just passing through.'
'Really?' the leader said. 'Why should we believe you?' she asked suspiciously.
'We've been visiting in the Yasawa Islands, North of here. We're on holiday from Australia and we are returning there now. We have our children with us, see?'
The leader looked confused.
'You have male children with you. Mermaids are not permitted to keep their male offspring,'
The group was shocked. What happened to the mermen?
'As we said, we are not from around here,' Rikki put in. 'May we go on our way?'
'We have to make sure you're not spies. Come with us,' the leader said.
What had they got themselves into now?
OoOoO
'Mummy? What's going on?' Andy asked her mother.
'I'm not sure, sweetie,' Cleo replied. 'It's just a misunderstanding – we'll be fine.'
'Are you sure you want to lead us to where you live?' Rikki asked. 'If we were spies, are you sure leading us straight to you is a great idea?'
This made the leader hesitate. She seemed to be mind speaking to her second in command…or maybe even the leaders at their home. After a few minutes, she spoke to them again.
'Queen Varine requests an audience with you, despite the risk. She believes your story and wants to know how you have maintained possession of your male young.'
At least that was somewhat comforting. The group looked at each other before following the strangers.
OoOoO
They passed a few troubled looking mermaids with tails of differing degrees of purple. They were led through the reef until they swam above a crevasse. Following the strangers, they swam down into the ominous looking darkness.
To their surprise, the hole was not as dark as they expected. Glowing rocks, similar to those in the moon pool, glowed, lighting up the passage way as they ascended. A few other mermaids were going up as they were coming down. At the bottom of the passage, the hole widened and they realised that they were in an underwater village, a village situated within this cavern beneath the reef. They could not see the rooms entirety. They supposed that there were probably many other tunnels, under the reef, and probably into the sea floor as well. It was a hive of activity, every mermaid seemed to be doing something busy. There must have been around eighty mermaids, with not a male in sight. There were no built structures in this part of the cavern except for an intricately moulded gel water palace at the north wall. It was beautiful.
'Wait here,' the leader said. Her followers stayed with the group while the lead mermaid removed her headband and entered the palace. A few minutes later, they were escorted inside. Emma was thankful that the children were being so good.
OoOoO
Back on Mako Island, the guys and the youngest children were eagerly awaiting the return of their family. After the night where the little mermaids had a rollercoaster ride without a car on a stream of water, there had been little drama, thank goodness. Stefani and Ben fixed the houses, and made sure to create barriers to prevent flooding while it was still raining. They all stayed in the one house until the monsoon had lifted. Lewis repaired their reception tower that he built for their internet access and cell phone coverage. He also made sure to get the generator back into top condition; his watermill electricity generator wasn't quite finished – the goal was that the waterfalls would power their electricity and in dire circumstances, would not cut out. In their day to day lives, other than using the television and charging cell phones, when everyone was on Mako, they had little use for it…which is why Lewis hadn't made it his top priority.
A few hours earlier, Emma had called Ash from Fiji, telling him that they were on their way back to Australia. Ash had explained the drama…minus the part where three little mermaids sailed away…he didn't feel it necessary to worry her when there was no longer anything the matter. He would tell her when she got home, of course.
The sea was still a little rough even though it had stopped raining. Therefore, they were all stuck on the island, calling into work to let them know they couldn't get safely back from their 'holiday.' The coast guard expected it would be safe in the water (for humans) the following day.
OoOoO
The palace seemed to double as the hospital. That was the first surprising thing they noticed. A few mermaids lay on sponge mattresses with their injuries or sicknesses. One mermaid seemed to have had a fin amputation, poor thing. The leader swam to the end of the room where two mermaids seemed to be in a discussion. When the taller one saw the leader arrived she said something which made the other bow and move away.
"Kuana," the mermaid said. "Ko wai enei kaitana?"
"He vulagi enei, e to matou adi-ariki," Kuana responded. "Iko via rai i a ira, ni te mea, a au rai i enei gonetagane."
"Io." The mermaid replied. The group looked at her blankly. Kuana bowed her head shallowly, and swam to the left-hand side of the mermaid.
A/N: Translation: "Kuana" the mermaid said. "Who are these foreigners?"
"These are the visitors, my lady," Kuana responded. "You wanted to see them all, because I saw these boys."
"Yes. ) For this construction, I used my knowledge of the Māori language ( a Polynesian language), my knowledge of linguistics, and a Fijian dictionary. Most of the words are Fijian, and some of the structures are Māori, but most are a mix because I don't know true Fijian structuring. These mermaids speak a Polynesian language which is very similar to Fijian in many ways (due to where they live).
eg. Vulagi – Fijian for visitor, enei- maori for these, E to matou ariki – maori for our lord/leader, adi – Fijian honorific prefix for a woman, Ko wai enei – Maori for who are these _ (ko is Fijian and other Polynesian), Kaitana – Fijian for foreigner, gonetagane – Fijian boy, iko- Fijian for you, io - fijian for yes
'We were just travelling through…your majesty,' Emma responded. 'We mean no offense.'
'You are not spies?'
'No. Why would you even think that?' Rikki said. The Queen did not answer her impertinent question.
'You have mermen with you,' The Queen said.
'They are our sons,' Anna said.
'And where are you from?'
'We live on the Gold Coast of Australia,' Cleo said.
'That means nothing to me,' the Queen said. 'How do I know you're not making it up?'
'Just because you don't know of it doesn't mean it doesn't exist,' Rikki replied exasperated.
'And in this place, amongst your fellow mer, you are allowed to keep your male offspring?'
'Yes, of course! I would never part with my son,' Emma said, squeezing Eric's shoulder. 'What reason would you?'
The Queen looked surprised at Emma's conviction.
'Mermen are the enemy, dear,' she said. 'They corrupt a mermaid's power and morality. Hundreds of years ago, the pod split in two. The mermaids were tired of being oppressed by the evil mermen, so they parted. Every year during mating season, the mermen join with us to mate, so that neither of us die out. The merboys are sent to their fathers, and the mergirls stay with their mothers. It is how it has always been done for centuries. Many of the pods we have met in our history, both nomadic, and reef dwellers like ourselves, use the same system. They made the same discover many ages ago.'
The group were shocked. What an amazing culture…and apparently not unique.
'We live on land,' Cleo said.
'On land? What a preposterous suggestion!" the Queen exclaimed. 'How dangerous and irresponsible. And I suppose you live with your mates too?'
They shrugged. The Queen's jaw dropped in shock and near disgust.
A/N: Hey everyone! Again I'm so sorry it has been so long...I hadn't felt like writing when I got home late from work (it takes me a few hours to get a chapter out). But I had a day off today and finished it off :D I hope you like the resulting work. Thanks for sticking with me. Tell me what you thought :)I enjoyed using my knowledge of the maori language to create a fijian/maori hybrid language :P
I'm also finally fully recovered from my appendicitis surgery :D On hot days, the scars do bother me though, but other than that I'm good :)
Thanks so much to the following people for reviewing.
CrazyHayniac - I hope you like this storyline too :P Thanks for the well wishes.
zikki 3 - Yup :P And you all would have had to wait months before even getting suspicious at if I was still alive lol:P
The Writer Es - Thank you. I highly appreciate that.
YaleAceBella12 - Thanks so much for reviewing
Starlightdreamer12 - Thanks! I'm glad you enjoyed it.
WannabeeAussie - I'm glad :) I hope this 'what next' didn't disappoint.
Beth813 - Aw, I'm sad to hear that, I hope you are better now/ feel better :) Thanks for reviewing :D
KarlieAndieLightwoodCullen - Thank you :D It's always nice to see new names :D I hope you continue to read and enjoy...and review lol :D
Thanks again everyone! I hope the next update won't be too far :P