Birthday Bash 2023

Prompt 1

Musical/Music

Baroness Louise von Gikkingen wouldn't have slept a wink that night. It would have felt right to blame it on her worry, but in all honesty, it wasn't the first storm that kept her awake and frightened. Every now and again she would try to force herself back to bed, but she couldn't stand the anxiety and kept returning to the glass door of her balcony.

Not that it eased her mind in the slightest. The wind itself seemed to be alive and desperate to tear the ocean into threads, never mind ribbons if it would just stop reforming into turbulent waves.

She choked out a sob as she thought about her husband and child out in that. Losing one would be intolerable enough, but both?

As much as she desperately wanted to deny it or perhaps sell her soul for a way to turn back time to yesterday, which had dawned so beautifully that it had lulled all into a fatal sense of security, she knew it was very likely that she no longer had her perfect little family.

She leaned her head against the glass, trying to make her eyes cry more tears as she unwillingly remembered all the trivial instances where she took her husband for granted, or scolded her son for things that were suddenly so unimportant that she couldn't remember the cause.

"Please," she whispered hoarsely, turning her eyes to an angry sky that were hiding the stars from view. "Just one. I want both, but just one. Please."

ooOoo

Louise wasn't sure whether or not she was dozing when the whisper first came, just as the dawn was approaching and the storm was finally dying down. She tiredly blinked her eyes, only half interested in where the sound was coming from. The words were not discernable, but someone was definitely saying something.

For lack of anything else to distract her, the baroness straightened up slowly from her uncomfortable position by the glass door, checked that her dressing robe was securely fastened and slipped her sturdier slippers on out of habit.

The halls were unusually quiet. Perhaps the help were sleeping in to combat their own lack of sleep. Perhaps she was just missing people as they made their own rounds for early morning tasks.

Whatever the reason was, Louise was grateful for it. The last thing she needed was empty platitudes concerning her husband's ship.

She knew the man ran life like his watch, perfectly on time. He was definitely finished with his business and out on the water by the time that storm seemed to come from nowhere.

After a while, she noticed that she was nearing one of the smaller doors leading out to the courtyard. Just as her mind tried to reason that whatever it was she heard, it couldn't possibly been this far away from her personal chambers, the whispering came louder and more discernably.

"Come."

Louise was helpless to fight against such a command. She let herself through the door and walked through the courtyard, only bemused at the fact that the guards present had slumped against the walls they were manning. Part of her mind tried to ring alarms at such sloppiness, but the baroness serenely swayed until she had to duck slightly in order to avoid waking the soldier at the gate by bumping against his long-handled axe.

"Come to me, oh ye of heavy heart…"

'That's most certainly me,' the noblewoman would have laughed if she wasn't so tired. Frankly, it was amazing that she was still on her feet, walking the beach outside her home like she had when her husband was courting her.

She had so many fond memories of this beach. Right there, beside that large rock, Hubert had stolen her first kiss, and a bit later her hand in marriage. Just over there, that was where her precious boy stood on his tiny but sturdy legs for the first time and took his first steps, laughing like it was all a game.

"Thy most precious treasure awaits thee," the voice crooned.

'She's singing,' Louise noted in passing as she continued her dreamlike march. The voice had not changed its tone, but it was strange how she didn't notice-

Her eyes suddenly caught something new on this beach that she could have walked blindfolded. She squinted slightly, and immediately snapped out of the strange fog her mind had been trapped in. "Humbert!" she screamed at the top of her lungs, running at the still form covered in seaweed.

Her only child was cold and wet, but he began to stir when she forcefully shook one arm to check if he was alive. "Mother?" he asked tiredly, rubbing his little eyes.

Louise couldn't stop herself. She lifted her eight-year old into her arms and squeezed him so tight. "I thought I lost you," she wept, endlessly kissing her son's hair and paying no mind to the saltwater or sand that clung to the soft golden hair that he'd gotten from her.

The little boy wrapped his arms around her neck and held her tight. "I love you, Mother. I was so scared the pretty lady would get lost."

"What pretty lady?" Louise asked, looking all around for someone to thank, but it was only her and her son on this lonely beach.

"The one Father gave me to so she could bring me home."

'… My miracle?' Since her son was soaked clear through and shivering a little, Louise got to her feet and brushed the remaining seaweed off her son's legs so that he could stand as well.

It was rather strange. She'd seen seaweed washed onto shore before, but this piece had been made up of several pieces, like someone had made her child a makeshift blanket to keep him somewhat covered until his mother came.

"Can you tell me what happened?" Louise asked, holding her son's hand perhaps a bit too firmly as they began walking back to their home.

Humbert winced as he walked slowly. "… The ship broke. The waves were taller than the castle. Father was clinging to some wood and me, but when the pretty lady showed up, he begged her to take me home."

"Did she have wings?" Louise asked, wondering if help was literally sent thanks to her prayers the whole night through.

But Humbert shook his head. "No, she was swimming. I don't know if she was wearing clothes, but her arms were bare."

Louise stopped dead in her tracks, gaping at her son in complete shock. "A… pretty lady?" she managed to ask as her heart seemed to stutter in her chest.

"A very pretty lady," Humbert informed her, looking out at the sea as if he expected to see her. "I wonder why she didn't wait for you. How did you know I was out here?"

The world seemed to sway in her vision. Between the terrible night, confirmation that her beloved husband was indeed lost to her, and finding out just how her sweet boy survived the storm, Louise was lying on the sand by the time she heard her son crying for her and rocking her shoulder the same way she'd done to him.

"Mother? Mother?! Do I need to run for help?" he begged, looking so scared.

Before he had any ideas about leaving her side, she grabbed his arm and pulled him down with her so that she could hold him tightly again. "Tell me everything. How did the pretty lady show up?" she asked, wondering if it was truly possible.

"I don't know, Father saw her first," Humbert admitted, burying his face in her shoulder and snuggling into her like he'd had a bad dream. "He begged for her to take me to the Piaal baronetcy, and she said she was sorry she could only take one before she pulled me out of his arms. I wanted to stay with Father, but he ordered me to take care of you and the people." The poor boy started crying.

Louise started crying as well. Of course that would be Hubert's last words. His duty and his family, all else was secondary. But his firm sense of duty had been one of the traits she had fallen in love with first.

It was a few minutes before her son was calm enough to say anything else.

"She had a strange shell necklace. She put the big blue one in my mouth and told me to pinch my nostrils so I could breathe through the shell before she took me under the waves. It was so dark. So dark. The water moved around like the wind. I don't know how she could talk underwater, but she kept kissing my hair and telling me over and over that 'your daddy is so brave'."

Somehow, Louise managed to squeeze out a few more tears of gratitude. "What happened when the storm began to die down?"

"She took me back up to the surface, and asked if the Piaal castle was mine. I said it was Father's, but she just shook her head and kissed me again before saying it was mine now while looking sad. I was scared about who would find us when we got to shore, but the pretty lady said she could make sure that only my mommy would find me before she started singing. She has the prettiest voice, did you know that?"

"I-I think I heard her," Louise realized, a bit relieved that there was an actual reason why everyone in the castle including her was less than awake. "What happened after that?"

"I fell asleep, and you woke me up," Humbert reported like it was obvious, but he was still looking out at the sea. "I wonder why she didn't want to meet you. You like pleases and thank yous."

Louise took in a deep breath, trying not to look too closely at a certain rock jutting out of the waters not too far from where she'd found her son. It was big enough that a mermaid could easily be hiding to make sure the boy was fine.

Making up her mind on the spot, she sat up and made her son do the same while looking straight at her. "Humbert, I may not be able to thank her in person, but there's a way we can show the pretty lady the gratitude she deserves for bringing you back to me." She didn't exactly shout, but she couldn't resist hoping that her words were carrying to that rock in case there was a way her son's rescuer could hear them.

"Really? Do you think she'd like a party?" her son asked excitedly, but his mother could only laugh.

"Oh sweetheart, I'm willing to bet she has a different idea of a party than we do. Humbert, darling… that was a mermaid."

Her sweet son looked confused. "… but she was nice! Nanny says mermaids are evil!"

Faced with such overwhelming evidence, Louise could only shake her head. "We don't know everything about mermaids, my love. But what I do know is that if people find out that you met a real mermaid and she might still be around, that will put her in a lot of danger. Bad people will do bad things to get their hands on a real mermaid."

Humbert's little face turned stern like his father's. "Not on my watch."

"Or mine," Louise promised, taking her son's hands in her own. "Sweetheart, the best gift we can give your new friend is to never speak of her. Keep her locked in your heart if you must, bite your tongue when people say bad things about mermaids, but whatever you do, don't let anyone find out about who you saw. You only washed up on shore by the will of Heaven, do you understand?"

Humbert saddened. "That seems so ungrateful."

"She'll more than understand," Louise promised, sneaking another kiss of her own. "If we see her again, we can adjust, but for now, let's be her secret keepers."

"… If that's what is best," her boy sighed regretfully. "But I'd like to see her again. I never did get to see her tail."

"I'm sure it's lovely," Louise couldn't help adding a bit wistfully herself. As a child, she'd been fascinated by stories of mermaids, and had all but given up on them when she'd gotten older.

Although she knew she shouldn't, the baroness looked up at the rock as she got to her feet.

There was a small set of unusual waves near the back of the rock. They looked like they could have easily been caused by a large fin, but no fish big enough would go so close to land without getting beached.

Although relieved at the miniscule proof that the mermaid had likely heard the plan, Louise couldn't help feeling cheated that she didn't get to see her son's rescuer for herself. She sighed and began leading her only child back to his castle, and the life he had been preparing for since the cradle.

It was a selfish wish. But Louise couldn't help hoping that someday, she would have a better way to thank the mermaid for the priceless treasure she had returned.

ooOoo

It was many years later when mother and son were again walking that same beach. Although it was hardly a rare activity, they always made a point of revisiting the shore the morning after bad storms.

Louise smiled as she squeezed her grown son's arm with genuine affection. "Isn't it odd, how everything looks grey on mornings like this?" she asked softly.

"I find it appropriate, myself," Humbert confessed, looking down from his father's height to smile at her.

It wasn't lost on her that he had to tear his eyes away from the sea to do so.

"Mornings like this are good for new beginnings. With all the color stripped out, it's easier to start with a palette more to one's taste."

She gave him a sad smile, marking the spot as always where her sweet Hubert both stole her first kiss and later proposed. 'We're getting close to where I found Humbert that day.'

The spot where Humbert had taken his first steps seemed to confirm it.

Feeling wistful, Louise looked ahead where- "Humbert!" she screamed, making him jump from his quiet contemplation of the sea. "Look!" she demanded while pointing at where someone had washed on shore.

Her darling son wasted no time dropping his mother's arm and running ahead in order to check the fallen person, who was face down next to a rock.

As Louise also ran, though much slower thanks to her age and easy lifestyle, she could see that it was a young woman with shortly cropped brown hair just under the earlobes, and wearing only a strange shift.

But it seemed too form-fitted to be undergarments, and had a strange sheen to the plain cloth that was more or less a long tube nearly to her knees with delicate straps over her shoulders.

Louise regardless tore the shawl from her shoulders as her son turned the woman over to more easily check her breathing.

The young Baron's breath caught in his throat. "Mother!" he hissed, reaching up and trying to gently guide her down to kneel on the other side of the fallen woman. "It's her!"

"Pardon?" Louise asked, wasting no time covering the poor girl with her shawl, both for decency and for warmth.

"It's the pretty lady!"

The elderly baroness stopped short, her eyes traveling between her beloved boy's face and the young woman that had both sand and an unsightly bump on her forehead, likely from the rock right next to her. "You're certain?"

"More than certain," Humbert confirmed firmly. "I've had that face locked in my heart ever since that day." He gave a bemused look at what he knew was under his mother's shawl. "That outfit is certainly more suited for a mermaid than a human. But what is she doing here? And with those?" he asked while trying not to look at her long legs. "She also had longer hair when I saw her."

Louise frowned worriedly but could see little help for it. "Please wake up, my dear," she tried to stir the girl, gently shaking one shoulder. "You're safe, but we'd like some answers."

The former mermaid twitched, moving her arms slightly before they came up to rub the sand off her face while her eyes were still closed.

Humbert was quick to take out his handkerchief and help her with the task. "It's been a while, hasn't it?" he asked with a nervous laugh.

Large eyes the color of hot chocolate slowly opened before blinking a bit. She stared up at the sky, and at the two humans peering down at her. She seemed confused and opened her mouth.

Nothing came out.

"Please don't be shy," Humbert encouraged. "You do remember me, don't you?"

Her mouth opened again, but she winced and held a hand to her throat.

"You seem to have lost your voice, my dear," Louise told her gently. "Perhaps a nice hot cup of tea will do you some wonders?"

The girl gave her a baffled look.

"Oh no," Humbert groaned, looking at the large bump on her head. He helped gently ease the girl to a sitting position, though keeping a hand on her back for support. "If you don't remember me, so be it, but do you remember your name?"

She winced, and held her hands to the sides of her head as she tried to concentrate. After a while, she began to silently cry while shaking her head.

The young lord immediately pulled her close to comfort her while looking at his mother. "No memory," he stated before glaring at the rock.

"And between the legs, cut hair, and possibly her missing voice… it appears our little friend upset someone," Louise had no choice but to conclude before staring out to sea. "I wonder what someone like her could possibly have done to make banishment the only thing for her behavior."

"That's unimportant now," her son stated fiercely, still holding the girl close to him, almost turning his back on the sea as if to keep her all to himself. "What's important is that she's here with us, likely for the rest of her life."

Louise nodded. "This will have to stay between the three of us, naturally."

"Naturally," he agreed, running one hand over her hair in his efforts to calm her down and brushing sand out of it in the process.

Louise blinked, realizing what was very likely to happen if this young woman stayed in the baronetcy, and more specifically, under her son's care.

After the young woman's tears were under control, Humbert took her by the shoulders so that he could look her dead in the eye.

"Here's what's important for you to know right now. You saved my life some years back, and I plan on returning the favor in full. Mother and I will help you find a home here and happiness. Can you write?"

She appeared to understand what he was telling her, but she only looked confused at the last bit.

"Very well, we'll teach you how so that you can speak your mind." He gave her a melting smile. "It's too bad we were a little busy for me to catch your name last time we met, and I promise to explain what I know when you're ready for it. But regardless of whether you get your memory back or not, I hope you will be happy with us."

The girl looked thoughtful, and a bit worried, but nodded.

"That's the spirit. Do you think you're ready to stand?" he asked with an encouraging smile.

She looked confused again, so he stood to his full height and offered her his hands. After a second of hesitation, she placed her own in them so that he could help her rise, sending his mother's shawl to the sandy beach. She hissed from pain, but considering her former shape, it would have been more surprising if her feet weren't tender from disuse.

"Hmm, perhaps some adjustments for propriety's sake," Louise mused, taking the shawl and tying it around the girl's waist for a makeshift skirt. Then she braced the girl by the shoulders so that her son could hurriedly take off his jacket and wrap it around their friend, even helping to guide her arms through the sleeves.

"There, that will at least that will be enough to preserve your dignity," he sighed, taking one of her arms in his as Louise did the same. "Walking is very simple. Just raise one foot like this, and place it farther ahead of you," he explained while slowly taking a step himself.

The former mermaid looked intrigued at the idea, and very clumsily took a step that almost sent all of them into the sand again thanks to the tight tube of shift that had the top part of her legs bound together.

"Very well, new plan," Baron amended, sweeping the girl into his arms instead. "If only you could remember why this is ironic," he chuckled at her before he and his mother began the walk back home.

That was plenty for Louise to think her suspicions were on the mark. Even if she was still pouting over not getting to see the girl's tail.