Chapter 2 #2
Before either of my parents could respond, a rush of words came out like a tsunami.
“What about Prince Eryn from the Pearl Realms? He might be vain, yes, but he’s not in the depths of the sea.
Or what about the noblemerman from the icy parts in the north?
It would be cold, yes, but I could handle it–”
“Your sisters have been offered a hand in marriage by these choices,” said father. “But you, Aulani… There is no hope. The merfolk know what you are: a human lover. Human seeker.” He looked disgusted, and a lump formed in my throat.
“I just think there’s so much they can–”
“Silence!” Father rose from his seat. “You have dishonored me too many times. You will marry Malinoakea. Furthermore, between now and your marriage–which will be in one month’s time–you are forbidden from ever going to the surface, here or in any realm.”
“And if you try again,” father added. “Your punishment will be severe.”
I frowned. What did they have planned?
“The triton can create a barrier,” mother said and my whole body froze. “It’s what keeps the veil of darkness over our beloved realm, so the outside world cannot see us until they pass through it.”
Understanding seeped in, like squid ink blackening the water. They were going to create a barrier just for me, one that would keep me below the ocean’s surface.
Father’s gaze hardened, and I knew he would do this if he had to.
He’d done it for one other mermaid in the kingdom, and she could not break the surface.
I nodded, but my heart was racing. I had to get away. There were no words.
I bowed, and swam out, darting past Humu, who sighed and asked, “What now Aulani?”
But he wouldn’t understand.
Nobody would.
Nobody… except her.
I swam through the coral forests, past illuminated jellyfish, and into the darkest corner of the realm.
To others, this lair was dark and ominous, but to me, it was warm and strange. As I swam in, I was greeted by cracked seashells, swirling sand pools, driftwood shelves full of jars, and bioluminescent jellyfish floating around.
“Aunty Lorelei?” I hadn’t reached her when the tears started pouring.
“Oh dear.” My aunt quickly pulled me into her arms. We weren’t actually related, but she felt like a dear aunt.
Her skin was the color of ash, and her hair a dark brown with an emerald tint.
Her scales were green and her tail was a dazzling iridescent display of green and gold.
Since she had been under the sea for so long, her skin turned an unnatural gray color.
To others, she was quite terrifying to look at.
To me, she was safe. “What happened?” She stroked my hair and I cried.
I sobbed as I shared what had just happened.
“You’re to be wed?” Aunty Lorelei sounded more shocked at that than my impending prison.
“I’m going to be caged in.” Fresh tears blended into the saltwater around us. “And I don’t want to marry King Malinoakea. He keeps his people and his wife trapped on the sea floor.” More tears.
“I just want to run away,” I admitted. “I’m so tired of this, and father lifted his triton.
” It felt like my insides were being squeezed at the thought of being under father’s wrath.
“I just want to see the human world,” I said.
“I want to learn. I want to read. I want to explore the land. Climb their mountains. Feel their fresh water. I don’t want to be stuck here anymore. ”
“You don’t have to run away to belong.” Aunty Loralei’s voice was calm and soothing as a sea harp singing the ocean to sleep. She stroked my hair. “You can stay, use your gifts, love bravely, and be exactly who Akua made you to be — both ocean and land, past and future.”
“I’ll be happier if I leave,” I said quietly. My aunt’s gaze softened, her green eyes shining like the sun on the lush mountains in the distance. I could feel the weight of her years in those eyes, the quiet sorrow of someone who had once wanted more but had been bound by magic.
“I wanted that too, when I was younger,” she said.
This is why I loved her. She’d told me many stories, and the risks she took to even walk on land, to shed her tail and have legs even for one day.
That very action had made her an outcast, but she seemed to have seen everything there.
And now she was trapped here, just like me.
When father found out she’d created a potion that allowed her to walk on land, and she used magic to aid with that potion, he imprisoned her here…
just as he was going to do to me if he ever found out I went to the surface again.
My heart seized up at that thought. I loved my adopted aunt, but I didn’t want to be trapped here like her. And she understood that.
"Aulani," she said, her tone soft but knowing. "I see the fire in you, the same fire I once had. But that world is dangerous. There are things humans do that you will never understand.” She smiled gently. “You should listen to your father’s counsel. It’s safer down here.”
I wiped my eyes and nodded, but I couldn’t help looking past my aunt to her driftwood shelves with jars of strange items and potions. An idea entered my mind, one so forbidden and dangerous, I did not have the courage to say it aloud to my aunt.
But she seemed to understand anyway. “No, Aulani. I will not make you a potion to walk on land.”
“But I don’t belong here,” I pleaded. At that, she gently pushed me away.
“Go home, sweet girl. I love you, but I will not entertain that.”
I grabbed my hair in frustration.
I loved my aunt. I loved my parents and my family… but… I have to leave. If I didn’t, I’d be imprisoned in the Brine, sweeping up the ocean floors, feeding on whale bones, and living in darkness for the rest of my days.
No… I could not fathom it. I had to get out.