Mer Tales 01 - Everblue

mission. The whole thing reeked of danger. He shouldn’t have to feel obligated to go if he didn’t want to. What happened to the man who fought for his family? For honor? For what was right?
    “ Colin, stay close by. We’ll start our stay in Tahoe tonight,” Uncle Al said while my parents continued their goodbyes.
    After several minutes, Mom reluctantly let go of Dad and joined everyone in front of the exit portal. Down the tunnel was a world I enjoyed visiting, but didn’t want to live in. Colin dove into the glistening doorway first, making a big splash.
    Tatch growled and wiped the water off her face. I didn’t care. I had to know what was going on. I stalled, hoping to catch a snippet of conversation. But Azor stayed tight lipped, waiting for everyone to leave. Mom and Tatch finally disappeared underwater and I could no longer avoid the inevitable.
    “ Don’t worry, Son,” Mom said quietly as we swam towards our world. “Everything will work out.”
    I wanted to believe her.
    Upon entry, our beautiful city wrapped me into its arms as the melodic songs of our people filled the void in my soul I often tried to ignore on land. I’d forgotten how enchanting our kind can be when you’d been away for so long. Located in between the ocean floor and the earth’s mantle, the mers lived in harmony far away from the knowledge of man.
    Light blue larimar lined the ceiling of our endless enclosure, giving the illusion of the sky. Above us hung one of many crystal balls that daily reflected beams of sunlight streamed in from pipes containing strategically placed mirrors. Tonight with only a half moon in Tahoe illuminating the sky, the ball was dim. Instead, light from trapped lava under gel-covered domes ricocheted out like a roaring campfire from the center of our colony. Structures of gold and silver, decorated with gems of every color, towered out of the reef in a circular pattern, reflecting the warm hue. In the distance, the palace loomed, teeming with excited merlife, enjoying their evening. If there was a heaven on earth, this was it—complete with streets of gold.
    I inhaled the briny water and hummed. Tahoe’s fresh water pulled all the minerals from our skin, leaving our scales void of color, but the salt content was far richer here than our melted-snow fed lake. Silver and emerald streaked down my tail, as if someone turned on a light switch under my scales. My fin was the last to fill with red and orange.
    “ I think waiting around might be a mistake,” Mom mumbled, her accent in mer tongue prominent. “Tatiana, let’s go.”
    Tatch frowned. Her tail, too, had changed color: blue, pink, and purple. Her hair floated in the water, framing her head in a golden halo. I had to agree with Mom, but for my own reasons. The quicker Tatch put distance between her and Azor, the better.
    “ Fin, this is exactly what I was worried about and I don’t want to go to the castle without you, around all those uncultured sea serpents.”
    “ Just play nice for now. I’ll see you later. We’ll get back to the mainland soon.”
    “ We’d better, or else.”
    She gave Colin, who seemed to be shamelessly checking out her tail, one last sneer.
    “ You look nice ,” he responded.
    “ Mermen are pigs,” she spouted only to me. “Yeah, whatever. Let’s go, Mom.”
    “ Feisty.” Colin chuckled and watched Tatiana leave.
    I punched him in the chest. “Knock it off. You’re her cousin .”
    “ How does that matter?”
    I rolled my eyes but everything in me wanted to beat the crap out of him. I gritted my teeth and counted to ten.
    “ You’re going to lose the lake, you know. Your family has been getting a little too friendly with the humans and someone finally noticed. Maybe if you’d have stopped acting like you’re better than everyone else and lived with the pure-born, you’d get to keep it.”
    “ I’m not an idiot, Colin. Don’t you have something you need to do?”
    “ Like move in? Yup. Just waiting on Dad.”
    I smirked, wishing I could be there to witness his disappointment when he broke into my room and couldn’t find any of my stuff. But at the mention of our dads, I wondered what took mine so long. I wanted to at least talk to him before he left, see if I could come along.
    I leaned up against the rock face and flipped my tail, disturbing the sand. Having fins in the water was useful to travel quickly, but the bulky appendage left much to be desired for exerting dominance. Something