Nightsong Chapter 16
I don't know how long i kneeled there, weeping. Suddenly I heard laughter and giggles. I looked up, my face streaked with silvery tears, my eyes blurry from crying so long and so hard. Something was riding along the waves. I slowly got to my feet, grasping Helen's shawl in my white-knuckled hands.
Then I saw it, a cap of long, glossy black hair, flowing in the waves. A sob ripped from my throat. "HELEN!" I screamed. And nearly fell to the ground when I saw her look at me, her face a picture of glee. When she saw mine, however, her smile faded. She looked down at something in the water and seemed to speak to it.
Then suddenly she was coming towards the shore, but every once in a while, her body was ...thrown...was the only way i could describe it, right into the air. "Helen!" I called. She looked up and was grinning once more as her body went airborne and then landed softly in the waves. Then she was standing in the shallows. I ran to her, and hugged her tightly.
"Lady Asya...I can't breathe!" She said, and tried to push at me. Tears poured down my cheeks. "I'm sorry, sweetheart!" I said, and kneeled in front of her. "Where were you, what..how...?"
"It would be my fault, Lady." Said a voice behind us. I stood up to look over the top of Helen's head and saw something that made my heart nearly stop. There in front of me was something I'd never before thought I'd ever see, even in this land of magic. Half in and half out of the water, long hair streaming over her back and covering her breasts was a mermaid!
"I do beg your pardon, but I had not seen her outside in a very long time." She said, her voice very strange, but lovely. It contained a strange lilt and the singing of the waves during high tide.
She must have sensed my shock because she simply smiled at me. "I am Merina. My father is Migrael, High King of the oceans. And Helen is a particular favorite of our court. Her mother was my sister, Cortinea. Helen is not yet old enough to have developed the abilities she inherited from her mother, so instead of her coming to visit us, we must come to her."
Her pale ocean-blue tail flicked in the water, sending a light spray up and along her skin. Her skin was an even paler blue, her hair a dark oceanic green with a mother-of-pearl sheen. Even her eyes were the liquid blue-green of the ocean. I knew now why Helen's eyes held such a shockingly green color, it was the same as Merina's but stronger.
I sighed in relief. "I would beg you that next time you take her, please ask first, I was frantic when I couldn't find her." I looked at Helen. "Understand, young lady? And we need to get you inside and warmed, we don't want to have you getting sick on us again, do we?"
She looked slightly ashamed. "Forgive me, Lady Asya. I forgot myself." She ran to Merina and gave her a quick hug. "Goodbye, Auntie Merina."
Merina smiled and hugged her back. "Goodbye, Love. Be safe. I want you to have this." She said, and pulled a necklace from her own neck and placed it over Helen's. Helen grasped it's pendant and squealed. "Look, Lady! It flows like the ocean does!" She said, thrusting it into my face. It was love, and I told her so. It's colors of green, blue and white flowed and ebbed with the tides.
"We must go now, I'm afraid, Mistress Merina. I'm sorry. Perhaps you could visit us soon."
She laughed and nodded. "Once every full moon my people can walk upon your earth. I will visit and soon. It is the first time since Cortinea's death that I have had leave of one in the Black Castle to enter." She turned and swam into the waves.
I took Helen's hand and began to walk back up the pathway we'd come down. I saw Lucy coming towards us, a large basket bundled on her hip. "Oh, Lucy! I'm so sorry, Helen has gotten soaked and I'm afraid she'll become ill again if I don't get her inside, dry and warm. Could you bring the food to the child's room, and we will eat in there?"
"Of course, Lady. I will send the lads up with the tub and hot water." She said.
I nodded. "Thank you, Lucy. I will be getting Helen dried and dressed."
Nobody saw the grimace on Lucy's face or heard her grumbling as she made her way with the basket of food back to the palace.