Chapter 2
CHAPTER TWO
AULANI
Idarted between currents, feeling the water tugging at my hair, trying to pull me in its own direction, but I was stronger. Father would kill me for swimming near the surface, but had he ever swam against the current? It was exhilarating, and stole my breath away.
Humu, my little fish friend, had abandoned me waves ago, too scared to go as far as I’d gone.
I laughed as a pod of dolphins joined and circled me, smiles on their faces.
They nudged their noses against me and clicked their tongues, and I could sense their approval of me.
I mimicked them, playful and bright, as they burst above the surface, twirling and splashing.
Spirals of light, reflections of rainbows, and dizzying glittering effects illuminated the surface.
It was dazzling and amazing, and I wished we could stay in the sunlight forever.
My tail caught the sunrays, and I splashed beneath, noting that human ships were scattered like sea urchins along the horizon. I’d memorized their sails, their shapes and I know which ones fished, and which ones transported items.
Merchant ships, I told myself, remembering the conversation I’d overheard on board one of them.
Father would be so mad if he knew all the things I’d learned. I’d been sneaking onto the sides of ships for years, listening to the conversations of the sailors on board, dying to know more about the human world.
I’d never been caught. Perhaps there had been a few close encounters, but after all I’d learned, I could not stay away!
Why doesn’t father see how fascinating their world is?
I passed a whale and smiled as it turned its body, leveling its eye with my face. Our minds connected, and I could feel its calm presence, like being in the ocean on a very still, quiet day.
Thank you. I rubbed my hand against its side, and began my dive into the deepness of the sea. I’d explored quite enough today, and if I tanned any darker, father would know I’d been spending more time in the sun than in the depths.
He’d tried everything to stop me from coming to the surface, including hiring some merfolk to follow me, but even they couldn’t keep up.
As I descended, the sea grew darker and darker, and, it was once merfolk hit the very darkness, that we had to keep going.
I hated this part, feeling as if the darkness consumed me, blinding me for only a moment.
But once we passed through the darkness, the cold water became warm again and the underwater city appeared.
Full of bioluminescent coral towers that glowed like lanterns, swirling seaweed gardens, kelp bridges that swayed like ribbons in the current, and pearl-covered dwellings, even I had to admit the Coral Realms was a sight to behold.
Fish of every color darted through open windows. Music thrummed through the water in waves of vibration, like whalesong and heartbeat merged. Merfolk swam in graceful arcs: efficient, elegant, and habitual.
They often looked like fish with their pale skin, hair tinted in every color, and bright eyes. I darted through the streets, smiling and waving to those I passed.
“Slow down Aulani!” someone shouted, and another yelled for others to hear. “Watch out for the princess!”
“Always in a hurry,” a mermaid huffed and scolded me but I hardly heard her. I had to get back to the coral castle, knowing my father wanted to meet with me.
“There you are!” Humu swam next to me, huffing as he attempted to keep pace. He had a thick black stripe around his eyes, with yellow coating the back part of his body and tail. I learned, by listening to human researchers, that they called Humu’s type a wedge-tailed triggerfish.
“You should’ve come with me!” I laughed. He attempted to go around a pack of sardines, but I went straight through them. They opened a space for me to swim through, and Humu grudgingly followed.
“And get myself sucked in the current?” he asked. “No thank you. You’re as reckless as those dolphins.”
“If I could be a dolphin,” I said, “I’d spend every day jumping above the surface like they do!”
As I moved through the hallways illuminated by giant glowing anemone, a figure waited outside the doors of father’s court.
It was my older sister, Mo, short for Mohala.
Her face was almost a mirror image of mine, but unlike me, her skin was fair.
No freckles spotted her nose and cheeks, and instead of a reddish tint to her dark brown hair, she had a bluish tint.
Instead of bright cerulean blue scales on her body, she had dark blue scales, and her tail was a colored combination of pinks and purples.
I, on the other hand, had a bright rainbow colored tail.
“You were at the surface again, weren’t you?” She asked, folding her arms.
I spoke lightly, a big smile on my face. “I didn’t touch anything, Mo, and nobody saw me.”
“Aulani.” Mo’s eyebrows furrowed. “Curiosity got the sea witch into trouble, and it’ll do the same to you.”
“You’re sounding just like father.” I looked from her to the closed doors, and understanding seeped in. “It’s going to be bad, isn’t it?”
“You must be obedient and respectful,” Mo said, and her expression softened, like it always did when she was trying too hard to be stern. “I’m just worried for you, Au. You know that, right?”
I hugged my sister and she held me tighter than usual. A lump formed in my throat. What was father going to say now? Was he going to chain me to the depths? He had tried everything to keep me here, below the surface. What would he try today?
“I know, and I appreciate you for that.” We parted and I held her shoulders. “I do love you, Mo. I just don’t like being trapped down here.”
She pursed her lips and tipped her head towards the door. “Good luck, Au.”
I then went in, finding my father speaking with a wise old sea turtle. It turned its green head towards me and stared at me with his bright golden eyes.
I bowed, he tipped his head, then excused himself.
Now it was father, mother, and I, all alone in this room that was larger than the inside of a whale’s mouth.
Father sat on his throne, his golden triton in his hand, and a shining crown on his head.
Even in his older age, he was a handsome man.
His blue eyes sparkled and his gray beard and hair floated in the water.
Mother was also dazzling, with her dark hair pulled into a long braid decorated with starfish and glowing pearls.
My heart sank as father spared no effort in pleasantries. He got straight to the point, and I rather appreciated that about him.
“You are hereby forbidden from going to the surface. Do you understand me, Aulani Laniakea?”
Oh no. He was using my full name.
I opened my mouth to speak but when he lifted his triton, I immediately pursed my lips together. When he lifted that, someone could get hurt. And I most certainly didn’t want it to be me.
Father was a good ruler of the Coral Realms, but he did use his powerful triton to enforce the rules, especially the one about magic.
He despised anyone who used magic except himself, because magic was difficult to control.
He said the triton controlled magic, and those who tried to use it without a tool risked unimaginable woes on the merfolk.
That triton though… I stared at its golden tips, the way it seemed to glow. Father had used the triton on people who disobeyed him. He turned them to coral, seaweed, and, sometimes, even jellyfish–helpless to the currents and tides.
He’d transform them back, of course, but he’d never used that triton on me. I was his daughter, and the youngest, after all…
Sometimes he used the triton’s powerful beams to destroy things.
I even saw him command a group of fish to swarm a merfolk’s home.
The triton did, indeed, possess magic that I did not understand, nor did I care to understand.
I felt magic, the tingling sensation in the water, and I was glad it was one less thing to worry about.
Gives me more time to explore and take care of the royal gardens…
Father’s words cut my thoughts short. “I have arranged a betrothal between you and King Malinoakea of the Brine.”
I gaped. “Father–”
Mother’s eyes hardened and before he could speak, she did.
“Aulani, you have disrespected and disobeyed your father for far too long. You will be grateful he even secured you a marriage. Your rebellious reputation has spread far and wide, and you have no idea the lengths we went to get an agreement for marriage.”
My heart sank. “I’m sorry,” I said, and I really meant it.
I knew my parents loved me, and I wanted to be grateful.
I had a good life… but there was just a part of me that couldn’t stay here.
I was dying to know what was out there: how the humans studied the stars, the things they created, the technology, the walking on land…
My stomach tightened. But I’m a mermaid.
I looked at my parents. “Were there no other prospects? King Malinoakea lives in the deepest part of the sea–he eats whale bones for dinner and never surfaces for light.” I thought I’d stop breathing.
“Not to mention he’s thousands of years old.
I’d be his what? His sixtieth wife? I’m only twenty-two years old–”
“Aulani!” My mother cut in. “You should be grateful to be marrying someone who takes care of this ocean. Unlike the humans you idolize, Malinoakea ensures our oceans remain clean. There’s so much that goes on in the brine.”
I knew this. The ocean floor fish and merpeople were unlike any others, with eyes that could see in the dark and lights in their tails that didn’t need rays from the sun to shine.
“But it’s so…” My voice cracked. “It’s so dark down there.”