Summer days were growing shorter as a late season storm rolled passed the island and a righteous fury raged inside the lab.
"Why didn't you tell me?" Olivia paced around the lab while Professor Ling sat in an office chair nearby.
"I didn't feel it was relevant," Professor Ling shortly answered as she held her arms.
Hearing this caused Olivia to throw her hands in the air in disbelief. "Oh yeah no, being a runaway Merfolk Royal is totally irrelevant to this situation. In no way would it have been helpful. Like knowing a general direction to search in, to get to the people that you knew needed help!"
Ling's gaze lowered to the floor.
"I spent, weeks aimlessly wandering before knowing that they existed. MONTHS even," Olivia paused to calm herself. "And to make it worse. When I did find out about this little fun detail, you hid from me. Because even you know, you should have told me at some point." She pressed her lips together before lightly tapping her fist against her leg then speaking in a softer voice. "You trusted me enough to give me the equipment I'd need to help them, hoping I would, but not enough to actually ask me to help them. Why?"
The professor opened and closed her mouth a few times as she struggled to find an answer. "It's not that I didn't trust you," Ling paused again. "Maybe not at first, but I did eventually. I wouldn't have given you the translator if I didn't." With that said she shifted in her seat and looked away. "And I didn't say anything because." She took a breath. "Because I was afraid. I don't want to go back there. I wasn't happy there. I needed to leave, but I didn't want to hurt my sister or my Niece so... I just left." Ling's grip on her arms lessened allowing her to lace her fingers together and rest her hands in her lap. "Maybe I took the coward's path. Even then, surely you of all people can understand that feeling. It's why you're here isn't it?"
As Olivia listened the tension in her jaw and shoulders slowly eased. While it wasn't the best answer, it was at the very least the truth as far as she could tell. "Yeah."
"If you're going to keep diving. Please don't tell them about me," Ling solemnly requested. "The truth would likely break their hearts more then it would give them closure."
Olivia gave a tired sigh to expel the last of her anger. "Alright," Holding onto it even after her questions were answered would only give Ling more of a reason to take her diving suit back. Besides. Her own family had its drama between members considering her mother and grandmother. Who was she to interfere in someone else's? "You have my word. Just know your niece, she's a lot like you. I will not nudge her towards it, but don't be so surprised if she finds her way onto this island on her own accord."
"I understand," Ling nodded. "I'll prepare for when and if that time comes. Until then," She motioned to the door. "I need a moment. I'm closing the lab for the day."
"Fair enough. I'll let you know if I make any more progress," Olivia agreed and walked with Ling to the door.
"And Olivia?"
"Hm"
Ling hesitated a moment before opening it. "I am sorry for not being more upfront."
Hearing this helped quiet the last embers of anger in her mind. "I get not sharing everything up front. You weren't completely wrong… The less people that know, the better." Olivia reluctantly admitted. "And for what it's worth, I didn't handle that as well as I could have so. I'm sorry too."
The professor shifted to pull Olivia into a side hug. "We're two imperfect people, doing what we can. It's all we can ask for." With that said she let go. "You should take a break too. Get something sweet. It will help."
"That. Yeah, that sounds like a good idea," Olivia agreed, giving a gentle wave in parting before heading on her way. A swirl of emotions sloshed around in her mind with each step. Shifting from fear, relief, concern, determination, justification, and guilt. Why did things like this keep happening? At least that confrontation worked out in the end, but what if it didn't? What if Ling was actually still mad about it? Does it matter? She knew what she needed to do either way. Besides, she was right to be mad, she was for all intents and purposes, lied to. Confrontation was necessary for the sake of progress… Did she have to shout though?
Seeking peace led her steps to the lake's edge and onto the increasingly familiar sunken path. Each pace forward felt meditative in its own right as waterlogged boots eventually climbed crumbling stone steps to the temple's second floor.
Upon stopping in front of the alter, Olivia slowly dug through her bag and placed a few items from her latest harvest as an offering. A good size quart of blueberries, peppers, and shallots, along with sun flowers and hibiscus. Seemed only right to offer flowers to the Goddess of Flowers after all.
"I'm back again," She whispered as she stared down at the meager tithing. "The village is making progress. They have some rating system going on this island. It's at E now. Almost D. The waters are a little cleaner, the museum isn't completely empty and Alice even mentioned she has a few late season tourists booked at the Inn." Olivia chuckled. "I have a proper kitchen now. Things seem like they're looking up."
She looked down at the offering that was still there and her smile fell. "Are you okay? Am I moving fast enough to make a difference?"
While it took a moment longer, a comforting breeze brushed passed her cheek and Olivia closed her eyes. When she opened them again the offering was gone, replaced with a decent handful of seeds.
She gingerly picked up the seeds to cradle them in her hand. "Alright. I'll keep trying. I'm getting stronger, I think. Maybe I can try working a little later. If I work harder, things will have to get better. Right? You will get better… they need you," Olivia turned to leave.
Olivia did just that. An extra hour each day was spent working before bed most nights, leading into the morning before she finally crawled into bed. Those extra hours translated to a slightly larger field for the next season's crops that would be planted in a week's time.
Even then, the majority of her time was still spent below the sea.
"And this thing you travel with. It is, your pet?" Miranjani asked as yet another lesson was in progress.
"Not really. It's a robot." Olivia answered before gesturing to the contraption. "It allows a scientist on the surface to monitor my condition. It will provide advice and alert me if my vitals signal I'm at risk of fainting or running out of air."
"I see, so Land-dwellers have figured out how to teach their devices to speak on their own?" She asked as she swam over to Kible to get a better look at it. It's advice about sea weed sounded like muffled chittering to her. "That's incredible. And you understand what it's saying?"
Hearing this caused Olivia to laugh. "It's a little muffled but yeah. If I turned off my translator, I'd probably sound the same."
"What else can it do?" She asked while moving to grab the little egg like device and search it for any hidden secrets.
"Well, it navigates my boat for me so I don't have to drive to and from the site I'm working on," Olivia mentioned before shaking her head. "That being said, I wish I could convince Professo-err… to add a music player to Kible. It would help pass the time while working. They're insistent I need to keep my ears open and undistracted. Probably wouldn't sound right anyways."
"I wonder…" the princess let go of Kible in favor of swimming over to a nearby bookshelf to retrieve a music box. "I found this at one point. Would this help you?"
"Oh wow, a music box. Cool! It looks like you've taken good care of this one." Olivia gently accepted the antique and gave it enough of a winding to get it to play for a few moments. "This style of music isn't as common anymore. At best you might hear a small quartet playing something similar at fancier events for people to dance to."
This answer caused the princess to knit her eyebrows together. "Dancing. What is that like with legs?" She asked as her head tilted slightly to the side while glancing down at Olivia's feet. "I can't see it being particularly. Graceful."
Olivia laughed and offered the music box back. "I'd dance with you if I could move better under water, but as it is, I'd just prove you right."
Before she could continue to speak, Semeru leaned to look through the door way from his guarding position outside. "I'll remind you only once that your orders allow you to TALK to the Princess."
Princess Miranjani giggled at the warning. "It's alright Semeru, I asked." She waved him off for Olivia, causing him to grumble and return to his self-assigned station. "So what are these events like?"
"Well, hm." Olivia paused to think it over. How much detail did she really want to give? Semeru seemed particularly protective of the princes-Oh my gosh. Wait. How did it take her this long to put two and two together? He likes the princess! Haha poor guy. The knight and the princess is such a cute story though... does that make her the dragon?
Olivia glanced over to the doorway where he once was. No worries Semeru, I'll be a worthy dragon to fight, I promise, she happily thought.
"Land-dwe- I mean Olivia?" Miranjani asked as concern set in.
"Hm? Oh sorry. What were we talking about?" She asked before trying to think back on it. "Right, events where people dance. Well. It kind of changes. Theres a lot of them." Olivia looked over to Kible's display to check the time. "Maybe that can wait for another lesson. I'll use the spare time to think of a better way to explain."
"Very well, I suppose that's fine," Miranjani agreed. "I look forward to seeing you again soon."
"See you around," Olivia replied before swimming over to the door way where Semeru was waiting. "Ready when you are."
"Alright, keep up," Semeru instructed while doing his best to swim at a pace the land-dweller could reasonably match. He'd known merlings that could swim faster.
Olivia glanced around as they swam through the castle in silence before speaking up. "So… What's on your schedule for the day?"
Ugh. "I'm guarding the depths today. Don't make my job any harder." Semeru answered as he offered only a warning glance.
"What's that supposed to mean," Olivia asked though her mask hid her frown.
"It means, make sure you don't run out of oxygen, because the last thing I need is the inconvenience of rescuing you from your own recklessness." Semeru bluntly replied without missing a flick of his tail.
"Reckle- I am not," Olivia started to argue only to stop under Semeru's silent judgmental gaze. "Only some times."
He gestured to Kible who only just managed to catch up as they stopped moving. "That thing of yours. It incessantly makes noise every time you return from your trip into the depth. From what I've heard, it only does that when you're vitals show you're at risk." He nonchalantly argued. "You're reckless."
What a stick in the mud, Olivia thought while rolling her eyes. "Careful, you almost sound worried about me."
If there was an attempt at hiding his disgust, it was not a particularly effective one. "I'm devoted to fulfilling the King's commands. Even if he orders me to march into a battle we're destined to lose. So don't confuse my presence with acceptance, land-dweller." With that said he began to swim again. "I am following orders. Nothing more."
"Oh…" Olivia followed along side him all the same, though the rest of their trip was made in silence and she wordlessly left to enter the depth once they arrived.
He watched an made sure the land-dweller followed the expected path before returning to his station by the entry way of the depth. There he stayed, unmoving. Simply watching as life in the town he called home went on. Merfolk cautiously swam from place to place keeping a watchful eye for the plastic and rubber clad monster swimming among them.
'Did you hear about the land dweller?'
'I've seen them! It's so… gangly and flails like a struggling flounder…'
'Why are they still here?'
'I heard they're the one behind the coral tree's recovery'
'A land-dweller? Try to be serious.'
'I heard they've healed two more plots of land. The old amphitheater is accessible again!'
'Well, I wish they'd just hurry up and leave. My poor baby hasn't slept well since! Keeps crying in the night that the monster is going to burn them.'
Passing conversations like this continued in the background as time rolled by slowly and his watch continued on uneventfully. Always watching, never speaking as a figure hidden in plain sight. Though to his surprise after only a few hours, the land-dweller returned.
"Warning, Low stamina detected. Oxygen at 15%"
That same bleating sound came along with her causing him to raise an eyebrow. "Back already?"
"Yeah. I need a break. Can you escort me to my ship?" Olivia requested, and tried to keep any small talk to herself.
"Very well," She needed breaks rather frequently. How such a frail thing managed to get this far was beyond him. "Lead the way."
Olivia nodded and did as she was told. Showing Semeru the way to her boat and allowing him to follow along so her location would be known as much as possible. Just like every time before this he waited and allowed her to climb out of the water. Leaving him to stay there with little else to do.
It was admittedly rather boring, but doing this would help his kingdom feel a little safer so he would do it without question. This boredom left him to stare up at the edge of where the ocean ended and the surface began.
What was taking the land-dweller so long? Call it curiosity or call it frustration, he wasn't sure which was more accurate, but he took a hesitant breath and slowly swam up. Just enough for his eyes to peer above the water, leaving his mouth and nose submerged so he could breathe.
The air caused his eyes to water as they squinted to fight back the unfiltered light of the sun. With time his eyes adjusted enough that he could see the other half of the strange land-dweller's boat and the land-dweller herself sitting inside, shaking water out of one of her ear covers with one hand while the other held some serving of food.
To his surprise, the land-dweller's face was fully exposed and seemed almost merfolk in nature. Completely normal in fact. There were no fangs, tusks, unhinged jaw or extra eyes that would be befitting of a monster. Since those unusual nubs on the side of her head were removed as well, a plain boring set of ears were visible. No points, barbed spikes or hidden horns. Even their food seemed normal enough. Myths of land-dwellers consuming living merling by soaking them in acidic ichor like the disgusting bile that was present around the village seemed to be just that. A myth.
The sting of the air against his eyes eventually became too much, forcing him to submerge once more and blink a few times to help them recover. He waited more patiently after that, and a few minutes later an explosion of bubbles formed in the water from the land-dweller jumping in.
"Thanks for waiting. I feel better now," She greeted thanks to having her mask back on. "Lets go back."
Her robot said she was at risk for fainting yet suddenly she's fine? "The sun's blazing, and you're still at it." Semeru looked over to the device and oddly enough it was quiet. "Strange, but I can respect that."
"I've finally earned some of your respect then?" Olivia joked, smiling behind her mask as they went back to the depths.
How tiresome. "I respect the sentiment, not you." Semeru corrected.
Another day another set of dives for the books and with it came a new recycled jar with a blue, red and yellow jellyfish inside. The newest donation was placed on the dock long enough for Olivia to kneel and tie down the boat. As she stood up again she winced and held the side of her head as she slowly opened her mouth to try and force the pressure in her ear to decrease. Once the pain passed, she shook her head with a shutter.
"Well that happened," she muttered under her breath. "Come on little guy. You probably don't want to stay in there." With that and a quick change back to her day clothes, Olivia left the docks in favor of the museum.
She'd just barely walked passed the donation bin when she felt a hand on her shoulder that caused her to jolt and almost drop the jar. Luckily for the little critter in side, quick hands caught it.
"Woah, sorry about that, Thought you heard me before." Scott admitted as he checked over the jar to make sure it didn't crack at all.
Seeing that her catch went unharmed caused her to give a sigh of relief before placing a hand over her heart. "Scott! Oh goodness you gave me a heart attack."
"Sorry, Sorry," He repeated through nervous chuckling. "What brought you in today?"
Olivia gestured to the jar in his hands. "I was just going to drop that one off. Haven't seen one like it before so I figured it was a safe donation."
"Let me give it a quick look over then," Scott agreed and did just that before looking back to her with a softer grin. "Yep, another great item from the lovely Olivia," he was about to go and prepare it for the salt water tank when a realization caused him to stop mid step. "Hey wait a minute." He quickly double checked his math. "I think this is the last item we need. You've donated enough items for us to get the Pickstarter campaign started!"
"Wait really?" Olivia asked as she looked around and counted as quickly as she could. 47, 48, 49. She looked at the jar. And that was 50.
"Oh no, I have so many people to call! I have to contact Macy and Millie. I also gotta talk to Lily! Should I talk to the mayor too? Oh, I have to clean the museum first!" Scott pushed his hair out of his face as he moved to hold his forehead. "Who's best at cleaning? Not me, for sure. And then I-"
Olivia cut him off. "If you panic, I'm going to panic too!" He cannot be panicking right now. He's the one that started this! If he doesn't know what he's doing they're doomed!
"What? Oh," Hearing this seemed to snap him back to reality. "Okay let's take a few deep breaths together and we can both calm down." He suggested as he finally let go of his head in favor of taking Olivia's hand in his and closing his eyes. "In… Out... In… Out…. Hooooo."
Seeing the sudden change was amusing, but she followed along, closing her eyes to breathe in time.
After a few more moment she peeked an eye open to find Scott smiling. "Looks like Charles' meditation lesson is pretty useful after all." He admitted as he let go of her hand.
Olivia chuckled at that. "You'll have to thank him later."
"Right. So as you can probably tell, I have a lot of things to do. So I'm gonna get right on that. I'll need to talk to everyone involved to get the wheels rolling. We've got most of the necessary things sorted out but the pictures from Macy will take at least a few days, I think. Maybe even more." Scott thought this over for a moment longer before shaking his head. "You know what, why don't I just send you a letter when we're ready to launch the campaign? I'm sure you're busy with other things and I've already taken a lot of your time."
"Or I could just give you my number," Olivia pointed out.
"Huh? Oh, right. Sorry. It's a small island and with import taxes, Not everyone here has one of those. I just sort of got used to writing letters," He admitted with a laugh. "If you're okay with it, sure."
"Yeah, it's fine. Here, I'll text you. What's your number?" Olivia asked as she took out her phone. After getting the digits from Scott she send a quick hello and stowed her phone again. "There. Now you can reach me when ever."
"I'll try not to abuse that," Scott looked around the museum again as excitement jitters set in once more. "So many things to do! Thanks once again Olivia. I'm going to get to work. See you around?"
"Yep, See you."
Three days passed since then and sure enough the text finally came.
[Scott] We're ready to launch the pickstarter. Head to the museum as soon as you can.
It meant being late for her first dive of the day but, well. She'd apologize later. Olivia made her way through town and to the back office of the museum where Millie, Macy and the Mayor were all waiting and chatting.
"Hey Olivia, good to see you here. We're all waiting for Scott to arrive," Millie greeted as Olivia joined the slowly forming group.
"Wait he's not already here? But he's the one that said it was ready," Olivia asked as she looked around. Sure enough he was no where to be seen.
"This is a really bad habit of his…" Millie muttered through her disappointment.
"Look at that, everyone is here," Scott greeted as he walked in on queue and looked around. "Hmm… Well almost everyone. I invited Lily too, but she said she'll see but it's 'very unlikely.'" He heaved a disappointed sigh. "It's too bad she's not here, but what can I do?"
"Nice to see you too," Olivia replied while giving Scott a dead pan stare.
"I'm still not sure why I'm here or if this… What did you call it? Pigstarter?" Mayor Connor started before looking at Millie for confirmation.
"It's Pickstarter, Mayor."
"Right, Pigstarter. I'm not sure if this idea of yours will work. You say other people will give us money to build the museum?" The mayor skeptically questioned. "But why would other people care about our little museum? It's so… Little."
"You underestimate the power of crowdfunding, Mayor. There are tons of successful crowdfunding campaigns! This one is going to be one of them." Scott confidently insisted.
Even then the mayor winced, "I still don't get it, but I'm just going to trust you."
"Good, I'll go get everything set up," Scott replied before walking away to the nearest desk to open up his laptop.
As he did this the Mayor leaned over to whisper to the remaining three. "It is okay to trust him. Right?"
Millie chuckled. "Yes sir, I've personally looked over everything and done my own research. It should be fairly risk-free for us."
"Oh good," Olivia whispered. Not that she didn't trust him but, the more eyes that were on this project the better.
"We're already on our way to building an expanded museum thanks to some returning income from what few tourists we get," Millie further explained. "But if this campaign is successful, we can make it even better then the original plan."
"When, Millie, When this campaign is successful," Scott chimed in.
Olivia's expression fell as she realized he likely heard her as well. Oops.
"All right, only one thing left to do. Time to officially Launch this campaign," Scott announced while motioning for the others to come over and join him. "Macy, will you take a photo of this momentous occasion?"
"Will do," Macy agreed as everyone walked over to stand by Scott and the computer.
"Okay everyone. Huddle up," Macy instructed as she held up her camera to make sure everyone was in frame.
The four did so and the Mayor moved to put his arms over Scott and Millie's shoulders. The action caused Scott to laugh and do the same, putting one arm over the Mayor's shoulders and one around Olivia's waist to move her closer for the picture. Olivia Smiled as she allowed her arm to rest along Scott's back so she could stay balanced.
"And three, two, one. Say cheese!" Millie instructed before a press of a button resulted in rapid shutter flaps that took several pictures in a row. "Got it."
"Thanks," Millie replied as Scott had already turned and distracted himself with the computer.
"All right, here we go," The archeologist announced before clicking several keys and buttons on the screen. "There it is! We're live! Now all we have to do is sit back and wait for 1 month and see what we've got."
Upon seeing a lack of response from the others Olivia piped up. "Woohoo!" She cheered to try and match his excitement.
This earned a half-hearted chuckle. "Thanks for all your help Olivia. Now, this doesn't mean you should stop donating to the museum, though! We'll always welcome anything you have for us."
"If we do end up making enough, we'll need new items to fill the space," Millie agreed.
"Speaking of, I should probably get out there. The ocean doesn't like to be kept waiting," Olivia replied as a pending sense of dread built up, knowing a less then happy Semeru was probably waiting for her to show up so he could get back to his job.
"Alright, stay safe out there," Scott replied as Olivia left before he looked over to Macy. "Can you send me the pictures from earlier? I want to add it to the campaign."
"Sure, I'll e-mail those over once I get home. I'll need to convert the file type for them to show up properly." With that she shifted to start leaving as well. "See you around. Good luck."
"Thanks,"
"I'm going to head out as well. I'm still confused but, I hope you get the result you're looking for." Mayor Connor gave Scott a pat on the back leaving just Scott and Millie.
"Try not to refresh the page too often," Millie jokingly warned. "Maybe head home after this."
"Me? Nah I'm probably going to be here a while," Scott laughed. "If I go home, I'll just annoy Charles and get kicked out."
"At least try and do something other then stare at that screen all day, See you around." Millie insisted before leaving as well.
Millie's prediction wound up being correct. Scott sat in front of that computer refreshing every 5 minutes. Then every 3. 2. The number just kept going up! He needed to post about this!
Scott quickly opened his e-mail which became the focus of his refreshing impulse until the email from Macy arrived with the picture files. He immediately opened it only to pause as he looked at the faces smiling back at him.
His expression softened as he emailed the file to his phone, then clicked around until a message thread with "Lils" at the top showed on screen.
[Scott] Hey the pickstarter is ready to launch! Everyone is meeting at the museum. You should join us.
[Lils] I'll think about it but it's highly unlikely.
An audible sigh of disappointment escaped him as he thought over what to say while attaching the picture to a new text.
[Scott] Wish you could have been here. Donations are going crazy! Thanks for your help with the website. Maybe we can grab dinner some time?
He didn't have to wait long for a response.
[Lils] UGH! Scott. No. Just. No. I'm not interested. Congrats on the campaign but I'm not going on a date with you no matter how casually you ask. Knock it off. If you ask again, I'm blocking you.
Scott deflated as he read the quick response. "Well. That's a no from Leah, no from Alice, and definitely a No from Lily." Strike three. This sucked. He reluctantly poked at his phone an updated Lily's contact info from Lils to Lily.
Now what… He glanced back over at the computer as the photo once more caught his attention. "Millie's my boss, so I can see that might be weird…" His eyes drifted across the image and stopped at the woman next to him in the photo.
Olivia had barely known him more then a few minutes when she first agreed to help bring donations to the museum. She helped when he messed up the computer, and didn't mind spending time with him outside of work. Hell, she was fun to spend time with and while being a voice of caution, she still supported him enough to show up.
Maybe, he wasn't focusing his attention in the right places.
