“Good day, Queen Serena. It has been a pleasure seeing you today.”
“Thank you.”
The council rises from their chairs and leaves the room. I turn toward Kai and fall into his arms. “I could not have done this without you.”
“I only did what any loyal subject would do. I protected my queen.”
We leave the meeting room and head for the main doors of the council building. Just as we are about to step outside, I turn to face Kai and ask, “You ready for this?”
He smiles and grabs my hand, and we both step outside. “I sure am.”
T he End.
Epigraph
Stalemate
A situation in which further action or progress by opposing or competing parties seems impossible.
Prologue
“T here it is!” Princess Calista swam as fast as her fluke would allow toward the foreign object. She had spotted it earlier, but a current had carried it off before she could get to it. Her father always told her not to follow the currents, as her little mermaid body couldn’t battle the strength of the waters. Instead, they had leisurely floated above the current while she hoped they would find it again.
Once she spotted the foreign item, her father shot past her to beat her to it. Her mother would have chided him for racing the young mermaid, but she hadn’t come along this time. She was expecting a young one any cycle now and couldn’t risk traveling at such a delicate stage.
Calista didn’t mind competing against her father; she had made it her mission to outrace him eventually, and she would. In fact, she quite enjoyed their little contests. She never gave up, especially when challenged.
She caught up to her father, who was already examining her find. It wasn’t something from the human world, as she’d hoped, but a colorful mollusk shell. She had dozens of them already in her room in Arelia, the capital of their region, and her home. She didn’t need to add another one to the collection.
“Sorry, Calista,” he said, letting the water take it from his hand. “I know you were hoping for more.”
She shrugged and started in the direction of home. “It’s okay. I just want to learn more about their world, I guess.”
He swam alongside her, matching her pace. “I am proud that my daughter is interested in the humans. It’s important for us to make strides in our relationships.”
The relationship between merfolk and humans was non-existent. From what she had been taught, most of the humans didn’t know about them, anyway. And, when they did find out, they did their best to kill those who made the oceans their home. His statement, however, made Calista question again her father’s many endeavors to educate merfolk about the humans.
“Father, what did you mean at Council when you said we should stop attacking humans? Don’t they attack us, too?”
Her father sped up, whooshed around, and floated toward her. “When did you hear me say that?”
Realizing she had given herself away, she backpedaled. She was not allowed in Council; he only brought her so she could see her friends in Caethas, the capital of the merfolk world. “I d- didn’t…” she stuttered. “I mean, I think I heard someone say it after Council.”
“You mean you weren’t listening into the affairs of the elders, again
? You know that’s off-limits for the young merfolk. You’ve been told many times-“
“I didn’t snoop… Well, I might have been listening a little.”
The look on her father’s face told her he already knew she did more than listen. “You were supposed to be with Alexandaria and Nerissa, not with Jergen. And, before you say you weren’t with him, I know Alexandaria and Nerissa would never let you eavesdrop on Council.”
Calista steeled herself for another lecture. He had made clear time and again his dislike for Jergen.
“Jergen may think he has good intentions, but he will corrupt your mind, young one.”
“What does ‘corrupt’ mean?”
Her father chuckled. “If you don’t stay away from him, you’ll be sure to find out.”
She frowned, hating how her father talked about her best friend. Sure, he was a few years older than she, and sure, he wasn’t from the “right” family, but she cared for him deeply. If only her father knew Jergen better, then he might not-
“I know what you’re thinking,” he said. “It’s nothing about him as a merman. I’m sure he’s good in his own right, and he will make a wonderful sub-mate for a mermaid when he is older. But, you’re a princess. You will be entrusted to rule as Queen when your mother has returned to the sea and to the realm of the eternal elders.
“Your sub-mate must be able to support your reign, and only a merman who has been trained up to do that. He must be a strong merman, one who will hold you up as Queen for all his time. One who will not allow your subordinates to question you. One who unites Arelia with the second strongest region, lifting our region even further in the eyes of Caethas.
“This is why your mother and I are so vested in your rising. You must be impeccable and untarnished when you become Queen.”
She had heard all this before, and still hated that it meant Jergen was lesser-than her family. She tried a different tack with her father, a half-truth. “It’s not like Jergen desires to be my sub-mate, nor I, him. I know my sub-mate will present himself when ready. But, Jergen is my best friend, father, and he wishes me no harm. He helps me listen to Council, so I will know what to expect when I have finished rising and I reign as Queen.”
“I see,” he said, as if trying to think over a response to counter her overvaluing Jergen.
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