"Come. Follow me. There is much to show you."
Emma and the others followed Arethusa behind the left staircase, through a doorway, and into a long hallway. Doors on both sides of the hall piqued her curiosity, but their guide continued walking, clearly on a mission.
"What's in all of these rooms?" Rikki asked from behind her.
"Fair question Ocean's Daughter. Most of these are private studies, some are staterooms. None are being used. I cannot even imagine the condition they must be in after all this time. I will see to it that the palace receives a thorough cleaning before I give you all the full tour. Right now, we are looking for information."
"So where are we going?" asked Zane just as the hall came to an end in front of two double doors.
She smiled but didn't answer him as she pushed them open. Emma stepped through the doors behind Arethusa only to stop short as she tried to take it all in.
"This is the Library of Thalassa. Named after one of the first mer queens, it has grown extensively since her time."
"Woah!" Lewis gasped.
Emma looked over and saw him so excited she thought he might break. To say that the library was impressive was an understatement. Floor to ceiling shelves perhaps five meters tall lined every wall of the generously sized room. There seemed to be mix of both ancient scrolls as well as various codex shelved similarly to modern books. She instinctively went to get a better look, and was about to brush away the ancient dust, when she gave pause.
"Wait, so you're telling us that these books are eight hundred years old?" she questioned still in a bit of shock and disbelief.
"Most of them are far older, Ocean's Daughter."
"Shouldn't we be using gloves or something then?" Her thought was interrupted from a cry from across the room.
"Hey guys look at this!" Lewis shouted holding up one of the scrolls. "My Greek is a little rusty, but this looks like it could be a tenth century manuscript of the Iliad!"
"I can't find anything in here in English. What's the point of books you can't understand?" Cleo asked holding up a scroll sideways as though it would help in comprehension.
"I don't suppose there are any picture books in here." Rikki commented.
Emma turned to see Rikki absently blowing dust off some stacks atop a generously sized desk. Ash and Zane were slowly looking through the shelves: hands grazing without picking any out. She then noticed that Arethusa had made a beeline toward the far-right corner of the room. Their guide was holding a large stack of books some of which had some beautifully intricate gold-leaf bindings which she set down on a large table in the center of the room.
"The royals were fluent in most of the ancient languages, Ocean's Daughter. As am I. Though this chamber holds a collection from across numerous human cultures, these tomes," She made a gesture to the stack she was holding, "speak a history you will not find anywhere else."
"Ocean's daughter?" Rikki asked. "Why do you keep calling us that?"
"Yeah, you called me 'Son of Land' earlier. Why is that? My name is Lewis by the way."
"And why not? You are mermaidens are you not?" Arethusa asked Rikki.
"Well yeah, but…"
"And you," she now looked to Lewis, "Were you not born of the land?"
"Yes, I was, but so were the girls." He answered pointedly. "We're mer too." He added pointing at the guys for emphasis.
"Ah, I suppose we have a place to start then:" she said as she located a book from her pile and opened it up, "mer classification."
Emma moved toward the large table to stand next to her boyfriend. And to peer slightly over Arethusa's shoulder to glimpse a few illustrations of mer-people next to a language she did not recognize.
"What does it say?" Ash asked politely.
"This gives descriptions of various types of mer and their ranking primarily based on power set."
Zane piped up, "I didn't realize there were different types of mer-people."
"But of course, there are! Some were born on land and were changed, some born at sea, some even between the two if they co me from mixed parentage. Those are just mer types, which don't really change. It's the rankings that get really interesting because they have been known to change every once in a while."
All six looked at her with deep interest. Emma realized that for over a year, all they really knew about themselves was speculation, now they were possibly going to find real answers. The others must have realized the same because Arethusa was able to continue without any comment.
"Let us see here. Three main mer types: Moon Blessed, Sea Born, and Land Born, with subcategories under Sea Born. The Sea Born mer have, as implied by their name, tails from birth and can be divided into two categories based on the nature of their conception: natural by two mer parents, or by Supernatural means. This is of course extremely rare, but not unheard of." Arethusa looked around to all of them. "You were all born human until you were changed by the moon, is that correct?"
The group gave a few nods while Emma and Lewis simultaneously responded with "Yes."
"Then all of you are Moon Blessed."
"What about Land Born?" Cleo asked a little confused. "We were born on land."
"Indeed, however Land Born refers to a child born of one mer parent and one human parent. It is common for their offspring to spend their youth on land as they are usually born without a tail. Most eventually gain one during the transition to adulthood."
The group nodded, and Emma could not help but think about her future. Even if Ash had never become a merman, and supposing they would stay together, her children would most-likely have been mer-people. And now? It was basically a guarantee.
She had a little flash of panic as her reality, one she should have considered before this moment, began setting in. She had thought about how she might have a career or even a relationship with her condition, but she had managed to go all this time blocking the idea of a future family from her mind. Supposing she had a daughter, she would be a mermaid, and her daughter's daughter, and her granddaughter's daughter and so on. Not only was she never going to be normal, but neither was the family she didn't even have yet.
She turned to look up at Ash who must have sensed her distress and had put his arm around her. He looked down at her with a smile as if to say, 'we're going to be okay.' She supposed it wasn't so terrible one day maybe raising little mer-babies.
Especially if they were Ash's mer-babies.