43The Mermaid Disease
8/Answering
"Dolphins. Your friends are dolphins."
Kelsea's voice drew away his attention from his quickly approaching friends. The human's statement sounded confused, as if the human was questioning what was so obviously true. However, her facial expression reflected pleasant surprise.
"Aye, your observations of the obvious are impeccable," he said wryly, glancing at the pod of eight dolphins.
She rolled her eyes, but she smiled as some of the dolphins began to circle and nudge the two.
A couple of dolphins lingered around him, rubbing heir noses and pectoral fins against him. He in turn patted them and ran his free hand down their smooth bodies as they moved. "It is good to meet you all again. You look well and healthy," he murmured to the dolphins. If only the same could be said of himself.
The dolphins clicked and whistled back.
"Can you actually communicate with them?" Kelsea asked the merman.
"Dogs are land creatures, are they not?"
"Yeah, but-"
"I can understand these dolphins much like you might understand a dog," he clarified as he stroked the dorsal fin of the largest dolphin. "I know their personalities and can interpret some of their actions, but I cannot act as a precise translator."
"Okay, I guess that makes sense."
He expected a follow-up question from the girl, but she stayed quiet as she reached out to touch a small female who had playfully blown an air bubble towards his human companion. Her fingers barely skimmed the animal's skin when the pod swam up to the surface.
Izmuir and the human followed.
Kelsea exuded childish glee. "Dolphinariums have nothing on this," she said excitedly, though to whom she spoke he was not completely sure. He was unfamiliar with what an "arium" was.
Regardless, he was happy that she was delighted by their travel companions. Being able to travel with a pod he was familiar with made him relax. Dolphins were known for their altruistic behavior, and there was security in numbers.
Plus, bringing a little joy to Kelsea's life made his heart lift a little. He felt he had much to atone for.
If they successfully made it to their destination, he would owe her his life.
"I'm pretty sure that wild dolphins don't normally act like this. Man, I wish I could take a picture right now. My friend Mercedes set her profile pic to one of her kissing a dolphin, but I'm pretty sure this would one-up her."
A short time later, Izmuir and Kelsea continued their journey with an additional eight companions surrounding them.
Kelsea appeared happy swimming alongside the aquatic mammals for awhile, but eventually she complained her legs were sore. He surmised that swimming underwater for a relatively long time – for a human – had caused her to use muscles she was not as accustomed to using on land.
The merman could have told her not to be a weakling, to power through it, but instead he showed Kelsea how to properly hold on to the dolphins so as to not burden them considerably.
Admittedly his entire body ached as well albeit for a much different reason. He silently cursed his own malady. He eyed one of the dolphins, debating on whether or not to hold on to it for a little, but decided against it. He grit his teeth and continued to swim.
"So... Where are we going now and how far is it?" Kelsea looked at Izmuir expectantly, one golden eyebrow raised.
"Lazurdun. Two weeks."
Her lower lip protruded in a pout in response to his brief answer. "You know that I have no idea what that means. What is that? Where is it? Why do you want to go there? Why do you need me to go there?" She rattled off query after query.
Izmuir closed his eyes and shook his head. He respected curiosity, but the girl asked too many questions at once.
"Don't shake your head at me, dolphin boy. You promised to give me answers. Now talk."
The merman sighed.
And then he started to tell a story.
-x-
The biggest, most grand and beautiful of the undersea kingdoms in the northern hemisphere was Lazurdun. It was built upon a somewhat small and solitary mountain, but its grandeur was visible in the clear water from far away. Enormous carvings graced the exterior of the fortress: kings and queens past, some fish and corals, ships and swirls.
Huge stones and crystals that in all colors decorated the natural brown-gray rock of the mountain. Some adorned the carvings, like in the eyes of the giant faces. The crystals slightly fluoresced and looked to be so fragile they would shatter at the slightest of touches, but in actuality they were one of the most sturdy materials known below the surface.
The entire northern quarter of Lazurdun was covered in stones that ranged from deep blue to pale green. Those were carved into circular shaped and layered to resemble scales.
The kingdom was awe-inspiring for all who saw it, and that was only for the outside.
The merfolk of Lazurdun lived inside a portion of the mountain. Entering the kingdom could be done by passing through one of a few guarded gates. Once inside, the viewer would be rewarded with the sight of a massive chamber flooded with light. The semi-opaque crystals on the outside also served as windows to let some light in. Mirrors and bioflourescent rocks and mosses were also used when the window light was not sufficient – not that the merfolk necessarily needed it since their eyes were adapted to the darkness of the deep sea
Across from the wall of crystals were dozens of circular holes; many of which were tunnels leading to businesses and residencies. A few of the smaller holes were shafts that constantly brought fresh, oxygenated water from outside to the deepest recesses of Lazurdun.
Merfolk filled the halls. Their tails glistened every color imaginable. A disproportionately large number of the merfolk were male – perhaps one in five was female.
They were social creatures, merfolk. There was no such thing as a mer-hermit; they always traveled in pods and schools, and at the very least in pairs. The larger and louder the entourage, the more important the mermaid or merman at the center.
And yet, alone in a chamber located high in the mountain, was a merman. He was odd for a mer, enjoying occasional solitude. Most of the introverted merfolk tended to be "alone together" in the quiet corners of the kingdom.
The merman, being one of the most important figures of Lazurdun, was accustomed to a lack of privacy. However, whenever the opportunity arose for him to sneak away for the briefest slip of time, he took advantage of it.
He could not avoid society for too long, so shorty after arriving into the room he steeled himself to return to the masses. He looked out of the clear crystal wall out at the open ocean. The view was half the reason he liked going there.
He saw a shape in the distance. He blinked, thinking it must have been a fish, and trained his sharp eyes on the approaching object and was astonished to see it was a mermaid traveling without so much as a single escort.
Without further haste, he rushed to alert someone of the incoming visitor.
-x-
"Wait, you can't stop there," said Kelsea, her grey eyes large, after Izmuir went quiet. "Seriously, now I have more questions."
Despite the bitter memories swirling through his mind, a corner of his lips turned up. "We all need to eat and rest for the night," he said, patting the nearest dolphin.
Kelsea grumbled, but Izmuir ignored it.
During their trip, the dolphins chased after schools of fish and ate whenever they desired to. Izmuir occasionally speared a fish for himself and Kelsea whenever the dolphins hunted. By the time night had come, he had more than enough fish for himself and the girl.
He gave Kelsea her share. As he ate, she talked and asked questions. He did not listen.
When they went to sleep, resting on the backs of slowly swimming dolphins, he slipped into a nightmare and Kelsea into a dream.
25 February 2017
Confession time. This chapter has been up on Wattpad since ~August and I haven't written basically anything since then because I suck. Sorry for the huge delay, folks! It won't happen again.
By the way, check out this awesome fanart I got from Akarui-Hanako, on Deviantart! /art/Doomed-Fate-631516357 . Thank you so so so so much!
As always, thank you for reading, and thank you for sticking with me and this story for so long.
-Lauren