Chapter 4: Chatting with a Friend
1380 Words
Falkon says nothing as he swims up to the bag resting on a rock, raising an eyebrow at the younger Mermatian’s quiet state. Kaelonne shrugs his shoulders and points to the dark sky, snorting as the elder’s face drops in despair. Even at their top speed, they would still be late for dinner with Father, having to face his wrath again about the duties of royalty, lessons, and everything in between. Their only saving hope would be their sister, who more often than not, enjoyed watching them pay for their disrespect with a quirk of her lips.
Kaelonne chuckles as Falkon grabs his spear and starts at the direction of home, flicking his tail and following after with him. He laughs outright as the older Mermatian comes to a sudden stop and waits for him to catch up with a pleading look.
They do indeed reach late for dinner and spend the entire affair in a lengthy lecture with their father, listening to him rant with aching ears about his days when his own father would’ve never tolerated such a behaviour. Idris eventually rescues them when she’d had her fill of humour, claiming that she has important information to discuss with him about their guards and more boring aspects that honestly just floats over their heads.
Kaelonne settles in his room that night, running his finger over the small pendent attached to the chain around his neck. He mulled over the events of the day, worrying his tongue between his teeth. The human, unsurprisingly, was at the forefront of his mind, the thought that the injured creature may not be in good health plagued him.
His thoughts habitually wandered to what may happen if his father were to hear news of his, would it end in a lecture or worst? What could become of him and his position as a researcher if the human figured out that it was not his fellow kind that saved him and reacted badly to it?
The reflections made him dizzy. Kaelonne scowled at his dramatic state, a hand shifting to rub at the marking on his shoulders, tracing the symbol for ‘Keen mind’ absentmindedly. Since the day the young Mermatian had gained the mark, he’d never had reason to doubt it, until now.
He startles as his door opens without warning, hissing his annoyance as he watches his best friend grin at him unapologetically. The Mermatian waves his hand in greeting, flicking his blue-green tail and swimming over to him, “Looks like you had quite a day, can’t be easy getting a lecture from the King.”
“It’s worse when that King happened to be your father as well because instead of a warning, he gives you a life story along with it.” Kaelonne huffs, letting the pendant float down to the middle of his collarbone as he raises the eyebrows at Eirian. He settles to the small opening that serves as a window overlooking the kingdom, smiling at the undersea life glowing a bit brighter as the water turns murky with late night approaching.
“I can see how that might be a problem.” Eirian chuckles, settling himself just opposite his friend and following his gaze into the night. Eirian had been, and still is, his constant companion at the castle for as long as he could remember, the pair always finding ways to get into trouble. His mother was the head of Research, a being with a sharp tongue and even sharper mind. It always amazed Kaelonne how she saw the world differently, like little pieces of moving parts working in tandem.
Eirian was just like her, a sharp mind that picked up on things in the same way that he did, able to keep up with conversations much easier than his own siblings. Kaelonne loved his company, he was free to talk his mind without worry that he might upset someone or bore them into irritation. Eirian, like many others carried a strong tail, but it was sleeker, built for speed and flexibility, and for that, he wanted to join the inner guards and work alongside Kaelonne.
Kaelonne supported him but he curiously asked from time to time why he didn’t consider research like his mother, he had the mind and spirit for it. ‘The action’, he’d respond every time, ‘to actually be out there and protecting those I know, being able to do something about it.’
In moments those late-night conversation, he’d mournfully remember that his best friend had lost his father, a civilian, to a rare shark attack near the borders. He’d been on the outskirts, watching Eirian and a couple other younglings play and test out their growing fins when the beast dared to come close, the brave soul sent the younglings to shelter while he distracted the creature. He fell a hero that day.
“You have that faraway look on your face again.” Eirian poked him with the tip of his claw, snorting when the young royal jerks in surprise. “Last time I saw you like that, we both ended up with squid ink stains and a day long lecture. What’s got you thinking so hard?”
“Just…today I guess.” He mutters back unhelpfully, pulling locks of his hair and wrestling it into a rope-braid.
“Did something happen?”
“Not really I guess?” He winces as Eirian shoots him raised eyebrows, but silently thanks him as he doesn’t question further, shrugging his shoulders and falling into a friendly report of the research his mother was doing as a form of fulling the silence.
Apparently, this storm season would be a little rougher than usual, if the colder water and stronger waves were anything to go by. There were a couple of fishermen ships wreaked as a result, so it was safe to be wary of any debris that might be in the water. The good news was that the new crystals that they found under the lava, carefully extracted, worked well with their weapons, almost doubling the power of it.
“What… would you do if you came across an injured creature?” Kaelonne words carefully as the report trails into silence, lips pressed thin as he wondered endlessly if his choice was the right one.
“I’d help it if I could.” Eirian frowns at him, running his claws over his own tail and scratching at a damaged scale around his middle, “Why?”
“I just… would you still help it if you were warned that it would not be a go idea to?”
“I guess?” He frowned and hissed as the scale finally came free, “You found a shark or something?”
“Something.”
“Look, you’ve been off whole evening and whatever’s got you bothered is getting to you, so I’ll say it out right if I understand this correctly.” Eirian catches his eyes, smiling softly, “If you found an injured creature and helped it, that a good thing, it doesn’t matter what it is, foe or friend, mercy of another being can go a long way. Does that help?”
“Yea, it does actually.” Kaelonne smiles and picks up the broken scale Eirian pitches aside, placing it gently on the ledge. The colour quickly fades, and it turns as clear as the water around it. “You’re breaking scales again.”
“I know, I must’ve bumped into something again. I hate that it happens, and I don’t even realize it.” Eirian groans and stretches his hands above him, sighing as the muscles in his back finally relax. “So… the chain’s new.”
“The chain?” The young royal’s hand fall to his chest, tugging at the pendant again, “Yea, must’ve washed away from a wreak, I found it in a crab cave.” Not just any wreak, after today’s events, he had a pretty good idea of who it belonged to now.
He morns silently that he’d completely forgotten about it when he left the rocky shore, the possibility of ever meeting again to return it was so slim that he’d had a better chance of finding a way to get out of his father’s lectures.
“It’s pretty, looks in good condition to.”
“Hey, I said the same thing to Falkon, he just laughed at me.” Kaelonne pouted, baring his fangs as Eirian laughs at his expense.
- Writer
