I found this to be such a wholesome chapter to write!
It was her first night on Tracy Island.
Marina stood on the balcony of her guest bedroom, happily taking in the sights and sounds of the evening paradise. She pulled the blanket draped over her shoulders closer to her body for warmth as she admired the indigo sky.
The world above the sea sure was beautiful, yet unexpected, but a nice kind of unexpected; not like it was portrayed to be in the old stories she used to read as a child. It was clear to her now that the elders of her people had gotten the terranean world completely wrong.
Everything on the land was as colourful as the sea.
She was still learning new aspects of the human world and thanks to her new good friends Atlanta and Fisher, who'd bought her several geographical books and visual dictionaries for her to gain new knowledge, she was quickly seeing that their domains were not as different as she'd first thought.
A knock on the door pulled her out of her musings.
Marina glided across the soft carpeted floor towards the door and activated the switch on the wall beside it. The door slid open and Marina was surprised to see the second eldesy Tracy son standing in the doorway, clad in his leopard print dressing gown and slippers.
"Good evening Marina." he spoke hushed as not to wake up anyone else on the floor. "I'm sorry to disturb you at this late hour but saw your balcony light was still on so I figured you might not be asleep yet."
Marina nodded.
"This is going to sound a little odd, but I was wondering if you'd like to stargaze with me?"
Marina tilted her head in thought. On the odd occasion she breached the surface of the sea in the evening on a clear night, she would often saw the stunning sight of stars swimming in the dark pool up above. Is that what he meant by stargazing? Watching the stars like that? It sounded delightful.
John smiled, noting this had piqued her interest. "Troy told us you still haven't seen many of the sights our world has to offer so I thought this would be a great opportunity for you, if you'd like that? I'm into my astronomy and tonight is a mighty clear night for watching the stars." he watched as Marina nodded her head enthusiastically, causing him to grin excitedly.
"That's great! The telescope is set up in my room just down the hall, let's go!"
Marina took John's arm and he led her down the quiet landing to his own room. His telescope was set up on his balcony perpendicular to the night sky. Marina peered at the equipment curiously.
John adjusted the lens. "Have you ever seen a telescope before, Marina?"
She shook her head.
"We use this to look at the stars. The glass inside it is called a lens and this magnifies the image so we can see all of those stars close up and in much better detail, as they actually appear in the night sky." he explained. "We can use this to identify star patterns and other celestial objects such as planets, nebulas and galaxies."
Marina smiled, not really understanding what he was saying but appreciating his enthusiasm.
John pointed at the eyepiece. "All you have to do is look through the little glass piece and you'll see what I mean."
Marina gestured towards her eye and then back towards the eyepiece.
"Yes, just like that, honey."
Marina did as the young man asked and felt her mouth open in amazement at how incredible everything looked through the glass. The stars were crystal clear and much more stunning than she'd ever imagined.
John smiled at the mermaid's awe. It was hard to believe that she actually lived under the sea when she looked so human. Her inquisitive nature spoke volumes about how much she didn't know about his home.
"Isn't it fantastic?" he chuckled. She nodded in response. He moved the telescope to the left slightly. "If you look through it now you'll see a planet. It looks very much like a star until you zoom in and see how it differs."
Marina nodded her head, acknowledging the difference.
"This is Mars, the red planet. It's the closest planet to Earth but its climate is much different to ours."
Marina pulled away from the telescope and clappes her hands, impressed by the discovery.
"We've been sending rockets and probes there for many years to examine the terrain and see similarities and differences in comparison to our planet." he smiled. "I bet you have lots of unique places like this under the sea, right?"
Marina nodded and pointed to the planet in the sky. She then pointed towards the sea outside and gestured the ripple of waves with her hand, then flattened these to symbolize the sea floor.
John seemed to understand. "You have places like that on the sea floor? That's incredible!"
Marina nodded once again with a smile.
"I bet Gordon would love to see that. I mean, I know he's seen a bit already - he was telling me about his adventure and being trapped by the 'fish people' as he so delicately put it, but to see all of those delights firsthand would be truly incredible."
Marina giggled. Although she'd only spent a bit of time with the freckled face redhead, she'd come to learn the appreciation he had for all things sea-related. It was nice to know a human possessed such a dedication to preserving marine life and all that came with it.
"Woah, look at that! A shooting star!"
Marina peered up to the sky to see the trail end of a sudden zip across the sky. She'd seen those before but had no idea that they were falling- no- shooting stars.
"You've got to make a wish now, Marina!" he patted her back.
She thought hard about her wish. Her mind drifted to Troy for a brief moment, then she shook her head in indecision.
All she really wanted was to remain happy and healthy, and for her friends and family to remain that way too. She wanted peace in the oceans and on land, and hoped one day King Titan would stop terrorizing her father's kingdom.
She wished things would remain calm for a while as she and her friends were burnt out from their recent adventures.
Little did she know there would soon be many reasons not to be…