The ocean was beautiful in the morning. Soft golden green glows filtering from the surface down to the rainbow corals stretching out along the seafloor. Aalya loved being here amid this world and couldn't understand how her sister could bear to leave for the dry upper world. Her younger sister, Layla, had just married a human prince. Layla was happy and that was what should have mattered but, the feeling of betrayal was growing too rapidly for her to squelch. Layla was the only family member she felt close to and the sensation of loneliness swarmed like eels in her stomach.

Aalya watched as the waters flitted through the coral beds surrounding her home, Issea the royal city of Merfolk. The city itself was carved in the heart of a stone plateau just off of the shore's drop-off. The white coral buildings could just be seen shimmering in and out of view as the city shield flickered with the current. The sheer walls below the dome were riddled with hole like doorways to keep fresh water breezing through the city. At first glance it was prosperous to any outsider, but from within the weakening of old magic was causing all she knew to crumble. The dome itself was visible to all merfolk, she guessed it was the last bits of lingering magic in the blood of her people. It was the grandest magic left in Issea.

The magic was part of the reason Aalya never shared her sister's desire to roam and explore the upper world. What did humans have to offer when there was magic just within her reach. From the stories Layla filled her head with, the humans sounded tragic rather than interesting. Having to deal with so many burdens of life above the ocean didn't strike her as the kind of adventure she wished for.

Aalya's family was swimming away and the ache in her chest gradually dulled until it was firmly locked away. A lone guard held back, Dante. He had a way of always noticing her absence and never let her stray far. Dante was waiting a just far enough for her to finish her musings. She stilled the currents in her heart and brushed the tips of her feathered tail fins along the rocks, refusing to look at him directly. He swam back to her and bowed a tails length away. "Is all well my lady?" Aalya slid her gaze just enough to study his face, as it now matched her diminutive height, and attempted to gauge his motives. 'He is probably the only one I can trust now.' Her thought was bitter and it made her feel even smaller. "Dante, I wish I was needed." It was painful, the truth was rarely ever something kind. She couldn stand the loneliness but having no viable direction for her life was more than she could stand. Finally she met his gaze. It was sad and kind, the exact look of pity she hated. It made her feel weak to be pitied and she hated to be seen as frail. All she wanted was for the ache to spread into the watery world around her, to leave her fragile pride alone. 'I know he means well but even if it's him, I can't accept that pity.' She flicked her tail and chased after her disappearing family. If magic still existed maybe her plea would find an answer, but magic only lived in sparks now.

Magic had been dying out of her people for centuries, only popping up in small gifts within the royal family. In the last 200 years the only one to have had any gift was her mother and she was still a sore subject for the kingdom. Her mother had been some distant relative, barely above a scandal for her father to marry, but the gift she processed had been the strongest in living memory. 'If only it had been useful, then she may have lived.' She tucked an errant lock of black hair into the golden looped ring at her shoulder to keep it from floating in her face. Her mother had been able to produce light, which for Issea hadn't been that great of a gift when the clear waters and strong year-round sunlight made it easy to see even on the blackest of nights. Only a few merfolk knew that her mother could not only produce light but also store it in objects. The castle lighting had been her doing, the globes dated back to the ancient kings but her mother had been the only one they had reacted to. Aalya shivered, the thought of her mother's light shining on her should have been a welcome one, it used to but today her dead mother's light was a morose thought. Her hand brushed over the lock of hair and rubbed it between her fingers. It was the only thing she remembered about her mother. Her hair had been as bright as the light she created. As a merling she had wondered where the color had come from, but her father had discouraged her from bringing up such painful memories. His face had been so open and soft that it made her skin crawl all these years later to think about it. She had never asked again.

Dante had caught up to her and she could feel him abreast of her tail fin, as protocol decreed. Her family has stopped a few tail lengths ahead and were gazing through the waves up to her sister's wedding ship as it sailed towards the heart of the sea. Aalya cupped her fins to slow, she could see her father frowning at the ship just as she stopped at his side. "A storm, I think." He muttered and turned with a smile. "My daughters, go on ahead and prepare for our midday meal." Aalya was within his reach as he spoke so, she was the one graced with his affectionate pat on the head. "I will see that no small storm comes to harm your sister and be along shortly." His smile was subtle but kindly as his hand combed once through Aalya's loose hair. The smile came unbidden to her lips, so rare was her father's affection that it disarmed her from all else. She could feel the quadruplet's glares and her eldest sister's ire at the delay but she couldn't bring herself to care. Because, for a moment she was important but then the moment was gone and so was her father. "I'll be but a moment my pearls."

As her father's guard disappeared after him, Aalya turned to her sisters not expecting to find them still there. The soft smile on eldest sisters, Asea's, lovely face caused uncertainty to flare within her. "I think I'd rather face sea dragons than return with her." Asea's hand rested softly on the spot her father had just graced. Fear laced its way from her sister's hand, sending chills drifting down her spine to settle in her tail. "Sweet fish I think we've taken long enough. I grow tired of these wild waters." She looked at the quadruplets lovingly. "Let us hurry and see if we cannot persuade the cook to find us something sweet to celebrate our little Layla." Aalya's hands clasped before her without thought and the words of her teacher flitted through her head. "Fear without cause serves no purpose. Fear with a face provides knowledge." The weight of her sister's hand was light and by all means affectionate, but she knew her sister's face better than her own. A smile was Aalya's first memory of fear. "Come sweet fish." Her sister's hand slid from her head to wrap around her arm, as if she as if she felt the love she played at. The hand was still soft but there was no give. So, Aalya stayed silent and felt the trained smile pull at her lips. "As you wish sister." The quadruplets had started to swarm ahead towards the city's gate laughing and jeering at one another. "Just think sweet fish, how quite our waters will be now that Layla has left us." The smile never faltered, her muscles didn't tense. They both knew the comment would garner no attention, the realm all knew of Layla's wild streak. So, the comment was only truth. No, the pain came from the undertone of it. Her sister's words drove home the point that none of the sister's would welcome her company, that she was well and truly alone within an ocean of merfolk.