25. 25
twenty-five
Orion
Final preparations for the Wave Rite did not take long, and upon my arrival, it appears the festivities have already begun.
Tidelets dart about, their gifts most likely held by their guardians.
Subjects converse freely, enjoying beverages and delicacies meant for the occasion.
Small finger foods, light enough to sustain without overwhelming.
Tonight is not about us. Tonight is about Mother Ocean and what we give back to her.
This year is special. This year, she gave me Sarah. Losing my father was hard, and that year I had nothing to give. Now I have so much.
As I draw closer to the celebration, the announcement of my arrival silences the gathering.
“Please, continue. Tonight I'm an equal, just like you. Enjoy the festivities.” My voice carries with excitement unlike any I have felt in some time. At once, the merriment resumes.
I continue forward, scanning the crowd, in search of two familiar faces, yet I find none. I turn to the Sentinels following close behind. “Is there any word on the attendance of General Nyxalene?”
They glance at one another but remain silent. My heart pounds faster as unease sets in. She and her charge were to arrive before me.
“Find them,” I command. Both guards depart, and I press deeper into the audience, still searching as I make my way toward the channels where we present our offerings.
I'm only a few feet from my destination when I spot Lord Zevrin. My eyes widen in disbelief when I notice who stands behind him. Sarah’s opponent, Defymin.
“Your majesty, great ceremony tonight for the land-dweller, Sarah. She looked graceful,” says Lord Zevrin.
“Yes, she did. Have you by chance seen her or my general?” I ask.
“No, my apologies, I have not. I departed from the ceremony shortly after you. I had to gather Defymin from Coravaluné so we could attend the festivities tonight.”
“Ah yes, your injury. How are you doing, young finling?” I ask, turning to Defymin, my patience running thin. I don't want to seem rude. Sarah did wreck his fin up pretty badly. But honestly, I don't care.
“I'm healing. The process didn't take long.
Some vessels in the fin are permanently ruined but the healing springs patched me up decently.
Some physical swim training will have to commence for several weeks, too, but I'll be alright. Thank you for asking, your majesty,” he says, a quickness in his tone.
“If you happen to see Sarah or General Nyxalene, let them know I'm looking for them.”
I swim to the front of the crowd, floating directly next to the water channel, in position for when the celebration starts.
My sentinels return moments later, with Nyxalene leading them back to me.
She wears special garments only a few times throughout the year, and it's usually only for these events.
Otherwise, she wears her armor. She grins as I see her wearing a silver-shelled garment on her chest, with thin seaweed wrapping around her back and neck to hold it in place, the color matching her tail.
Her hair is pulled back into a tight braid, and holds her gift in her hand.
An unspoken rule of the Rite is one may not ask what their gift to Mother Ocean is, but I plan to tell Sarah what my gift is anyway.
“Orion, please start the Rite. Sarah will be arriving shortly. She wanted me to let you know that she was trying to find a gift for Mother Ocean, and wanted it to be special since this is her first time attending,” Nyx says, a teasing smile on her face.
“What are you planning, Nyx?” I ask, no longer panicked, but now very curious.
“Nothing you cannot handle, Orion. But I do have a shell to crack with you,” she says. Her tone is laced with teasing reproach, warmth threading through the accusation. “I cannot believe you didn't tell me first.”
I give no sign of it, but her words refuse to align.
“Sarah is your sea mate! How sure are you? Sea mates are practically unheard of, and there is no record of a human being able to be a sea mate,” she continues, returning to the tone of a general.
“Damn, could you keep it down a little, Nyx? I don't need the entire kingdom’s population to hear this. It's still up in the tides, okay? I only told Sarah, because if it is true, best she knows now rather than later,” I say, my heart hoping she feels the same magnetic pull I do.
“Orion, she's human. She cannot be your sea mate. It's physically impossible.”
“I have plans to confer with Velmira’s knowledge on the subject. Now, our Rite is due to begin. Please take your place,” I say, noticing the crowd gather in closer, leaving an open space down the middle where the channel resides slightly above us.
Tonight’s Rite will also be accompanied by the sea turtles that use the channel for travel during migration season—which begins shortly, as the ocean waters will become colder in only a few months.
Excitement rises, and some tidelets are becoming restless from waiting.
“Thank you all for joining. Last year’s Rite was special, as every year before.
However, this year I deem it even more extraordinary.
Our Mother Ocean has brought us a new face to call our own.
I waited to present her fully until the time was right.
I know rumors have spread about her, and many questions remain about who she is. ”
The whispers in the crowd rise, rippling through the gathering like an unquiet undertow.
“I understand how this could raise alarm, and that welcoming someone new into our world may be difficult. But remember, we are a kingdom that opens its arms, not one that turns new faces away. This face has proven she belongs here. She holds magic. She has adapted to our ways. She has even begun the stages of training with our Neravyn guard, completing her first current last night and received her daggers today. I announced her there in front of the kingdom’s nobles and royal advisors, but felt you all should know who she is as well. ”
Movement stirs at the back of the crowd. My subjects part as if drawn aside by an unseen tide, their eyes fixed on the shadows. From the darkened edge, Sarah emerges. Gasps echo, jaws fall slack, and the murmurs swell into astonishment.
As though guided by the rhythm of the sea itself, Sarah inches forward, gliding until she reaches me and takes her place at the front.
All eyes are on her, mine most of all. I keep my expression composed and my body rigid, unwilling to betray what I'm truly feeling in this moment—though she makes it unbearably difficult.
Her attire tonight is nothing short of divine.
She has fully shifted her tail to an emerald green, the scales glimmering with every subtle movement as the glow of the channels dances across them.
It's dazzling, yes, but not what steals the breath from my chest. That honor belongs to her form above the waist.
She wears a fitted corset in the same deep emerald hue, trimmed in gold.
Intricate swirls pattern the bodice near the base, like moonlight etched into the sea’s surface and captured in gold, while from her hips flows a soft fall of matching cloth that sways with the water’s pull.
Her upper arms are circled with golden bands, spiraling like serpents, each anchoring lengths of fabric that drift outward and swell with the currents—transforming every motion into something both graceful and commanding.
She's the embodiment of beauty sharpened into power.
Around her neck rests something I have never seen before.
A collar of gold, its form fitted perfectly to her bone structure, tapering to a point just below her collarbone.
Suspended at its end is a pearl, held fast by woven metal as though clutched in a snare, yet balanced so precariously it looks as though it could slip free at any moment.
She looks less like someone attending the Rite, and more like a vision sent by Mother Ocean herself. I have no time to linger on her beauty, but she knows I am staring.
Sarah moves beside Nyx and me, saying nothing, her gaze fixed on the crowd ahead.
Does she know how exotic she looks right now? How utterly breathtaking she is?
She doesn't fidget beside me, the usual anxiety she portrays subdued.
Her hands stay folded in front of her body, neatly poised.
My hydro-senses ripple between us, carrying a rush of anticipation from her mind to mine.
It swirls through her like a shoal of darting fish, quick and bright, carrying a pull I cannot name.
If it's for the Rite, or for me, I cannot yet decide, though the thought threatens my composure.
I release a breath I hadn't realized I was holding from the moment she appeared. Forcing myself to focus, I turn back to my subjects and the Rite.
“As I was saying, she may be new to our kingdom and our ways, but she's already begun to devote herself to learning and adapting to our kind. Citizens of Virellan, I present to you—Sarah Fischer.”
A chorus of cheers surges through the crowd, echoing against the channels. The celebration resumes with renewed energy. Sarah nods politely at everyone from all angles.
The next part of the Rite unfolds as it always does: the announcements, then the offerings to Mother Ocean.
As it's implemented every year, three lines are made on each side of the channel, and subjects start falling in. Gifts are presented and flow within the channel, the bioluminescence responding as each gift is passed through the channel’s barrier.
I watch in bliss as everyone places their gifts carefully inside, and leaves with the saying, “Be blessed, Mother.”