The Call Of Thalassa
A Crushing Truth

“For whatever we lose

it’s always ourselves we replace in the sea.”

- E.e. cummings

Grasping the wooden rail tightly, he let a nervous breath before starting to descent down the stairs. He was being extremely careful, taking one step at a time but making sure he wouldn’t tumble down the rest of them. He wasn’t in a hurry, preferring to get down slowly than to stumble upon his newfound limps.

His knees had taken an angry red hue, being sensitive and swollen from the many times he had struck them on the floor. He felt them burning as he went down the stairs, but the pain had not stopped him from trying to learn how to use them. With immense patience, he had listened to all the instructions nana gave him and tried to follow them. And no matter how many times he fell, he never gave up –rising more determined than before.

When he reached the end of the stairway, his legs were wobbly and tired. But he was proud of himself. He had managed to make his way to the living room without a single fall. He smiled widely before sitting down on the small couch. His breathing was labored but he was extremely pleased.

He was taking it one step at a time but still making progress.

“Hey! Did you just come down by yourself?”

His blue eyes took in Aide’s form as she approached him. She gave him a glass filled with a strange orange liquid before sitting on the armchair across from him and starting to sip hers. He nodded in answer before smelling the vibrant liquid in curiosity.

“That’s great! You’re a fast learner”, she gave him a warm smile, “I am so proud of you!”

“Thank you?“, he didn’t know what to say, “What is this?”

Aide’s eyes sparkled in amusement.

“What do you think it is?”

“Hmm”, he observed the liquid closely, “A shrimp potion?”

Aide chocked while drinking her orange juice. Havelock didn’t mind her coughing neither her widened gaze. He just leaned in closer, taking in the fragrant of the weird-looking liquid. His nose twitched as a sour undertone invaded his senses.

“It doesn’t smell like shrimp”, he mumbled after a while.

She stared at him like he had grown another head. Moving uncomfortably in her chair, she looked at him awkwardly.

“Maybe because it isn’t a shrimp potion?“, she stated the obvious.

Havelock pouted slightly, placing his drink on the table.

“Pity”, he shrugged his shoulders uninterested in it any longer.

Aide gazed at her juice in misery before placing it down. She wasn’t sure if she would ever again like oranges. Her view of them had changed.

“Ah, you are both here”, nana suddenly appeared from the kitchen, “Good, we have a lot to talk about.”

She placed a plate filled with cookies on the table before giving a warm smile to the young prince. He seemed to be too huge to fit into anywhere –her couch seeming like a miniature compared to his size. Her lips stretched into a wide smile at the sight.

“Here you go, dear”, she urged him to taste her cookies, “This was a recipe of my mother.”

She was pleased when she saw him reaching for one and smelling it curiously. He munched on it hesitantly, before his eyes widened at the explosion of cinnamon and sugar in his mouth. She sat comfortably in her armchair, gazing contently as the young merman devoured her cookies. Until her gaze snapped to the half-empty glass of her granddaughter.

“Aide Marina Clayton”, she narrowed her eyes in warning, “Drink your juice right this instance!”

Aide shook her head in refusal.

“No!“, she said mortified, “I can’t!”

“Why?“, Alexandra raised an eyebrow at her.

“It smells...“, Aide scrunched her nose in disgust, “...fishy.”

Alexandra let a heavy breath before pinning the young prince with her stern gaze.

“What did you say?”

Havelock could only stare at her like a deer caught in headlights. His mouth was filled to the brim with cookies –his cheeks seemed like a bubble ready to burst. Crunches were scattered on the clothes nana had given to him, falling to the grey couch. He couldn’t put any more cookies in his mouth, but that didn’t seem to stop him. His hand had already reached for another one.

He shrugged his shoulders, before cocking his head to the side in confusion.

“I think we have more urgent matters to discuss rather than why I don’t want to drink my orange juice, nana”, Aide tried to desperately change the subject, not wanting to think of the orange-shrimp potion juice anymore.

This piqued Havelock’s interest.

“You said you’ll tell me everything I wanted, but you still refuse to explain to me where my soulmate is”, he glared impatiently at the older lady.

Nana sighed deeply before leaning against the back of her armchair. This was going to be a long talk and she wasn’t sure how the young merman would feel about it. She let a few moments of silence pass by, trying to put her thoughts in a logical sequence.

“Let’s take things from the beginning, yes?“, she finally said, “Your tail has turned into a pair of legs. Any idea why this happened?”

Havelock shook his head negatively, making her nod in understanding.

“Thalassa has given to your people the gift of soulmates. That doesn’t necessarily mean that your other half has to be one of your own kind.”

“No”, he admitted, “Many merpeople had humans as mates.”

“Exactly”, she gave him a small smile, “And this is why merpeople are so aware of the ways of humans and how their communities work. They have learned their language, their cultures, and their beliefs just in case their mates happen to be humans.”

" What’s that got to do with my transformation?“, he gazed at her in confusion.

“There is an obvious difficulty with these kinds of pairings -humans cannot live underwater. Do you really believe that your Goddess would bless you with a mate you cannot have?“, she gave him a pointed look, “To give you someone you’ll never be able to be with would be a curse, not a blessing. It would drive anyone to madness.”

“You mean that...“, Havelock stared at her in shock.

“In these pairings, merpeople are given the ability to turn into humans at will”, she confirmed his suspicions, “It’s a mechanism to ease your mind that you’ll be able to protect your mate even when she or he is on land. A way to reproduce too -you can’t honestly think that you would complete the bond in fish form, do you?”

His thoughts became a swirling mess. Everything made sense now that all the pieces of the puzzle had fallen into place. Or at least, most of them.

“Wait a minute”, he said after a while, “I’ve been meeting with Aileen for so long. Why would my tail change now?”

Aide exchanged a nervous look with her grandmother.

“Firstly, you weren’t aware you could transform back then -now that you do, it will be a lot easier to change forms. And secondly, you had no reason”, nana said slowly.

“You knew that your mate was safe.”

His head snapped up at her words. Anxiousness started to fill him as he registered what she meant. A few moments of silence passed by as he tried to keep his breathing calm and not jump into fast conclusions.

“And now...she is not?”

“No”, Aide grimaced uneasily, “Not really.”

His ears began to ring at her words. His breathing catching in his chest as the worst-case scenarios started to run through his mind. His fists turned into tight balls as his gaze hardened. The blue gems turning into an angry ocean, ready to swallow anything standing between him and his beloved.

“About four days ago, a fisherman’s son was murdered by one of your kind”, Aide explained slowly, “His father returned back to the village with the bodies of his barely recognizable son and two dead mermaids. ”

He hissed in fury, feeling his veins burning from the wrath running through them. So, this is why they had never found their bodies in Atlantis. Osmond was right –he was always right. Sethelious had exposed their kind to the world, but why?

“People became terrified, they didn’t feel safe anymore”, she continued nervously, “Seaworth was under total lockdown, not only for safety measures. The villagers believed we had a mermaid walking among us. They were scared for their lives. They wanted to replace her.”

“What’s that got to do with my mate?“, he asked through gritted teeth.

“Aileen wanted to warn you”, Aide played nervously with her fingers, “She knew things weren’t going good in Atlantis. That Sethelious was killing people and preparing an attack. She wanted to make sure you knew about his moves on land.”

“But I never met her”, he furrowed his eyebrows, “I remember waiting for her but she never came. It was the day before the attack.”

“They caught her”, nana let a heavy sigh escape her, “She’s been imprisoned ever since.”

“What?!”

He stood up abruptly, not caring about his shaking legs. Confusion, worry, stress, fury, terror, rage -all his emotion light up a huge fire in his chest as he tried to wrap his head around what had happened. Of course, he would have tried to get to him through his mate! This was his plan all along -to press him where it hurts. He knew she would try to warn him! That’s why he never returned the mermaids back in Atlantis in the first place.

He gazed at the two nervous women in front of him, who refused to look him in the eye.

“What else are you hiding from me?“, his jaw clenched tightly.

“We have to save her”, Aide finally mumbled, “Find a way to get her out before it is too late. We don’t have much time!”

“Why?“, Havelock glared daggers at her, “What are they gonna do to her?”

She didn’t answer him -her words had become a knot in her throat, making her speechless.

“Aide?“, he growled angrily, “Answer me! What are they gonna do to my mate?”

Alexandra cleared her throat before coming to her granddaughter’s rescue. The girl looked at her in relief and appreciation. His blue orbs focused on the old woman as his body trembled in stress and worry. His muscles locked tightly from his tense stance.

“Aileen has been blackmailed”, the elder’s voice was shaking, “The person who captured her –he is an old tormentor of hers.”

Havelock’s eyes narrowed in disbelief. His mate had never told him about anyone harming her. She would have told him if someone was bothering her, wouldn’t she? He was her mate after all –the man supposed to love and protect her for the rest of their lives.

She wouldn’t hide something so important from him.

She wouldn’t suffer silently.

She wouldn’t face this alone.

“Tormentor?”, he waited for clarification.

“Alastor, he…”, Aide took a shaky breath, “He bullied her since we were kids –he insulted her, turned others against her, threatened her, hit her. And now…”

Havelock trembled in rage –his thoughts started to take dark turns as the truth unraveled.

“Now”, nana continued, “He threatened her that either she’ll marry him or he will convince everyone that she was the mermaid. And you know…people do strange things when they’re scared…”

His fists balled into tight balls –drops of blood fell from them as his nails dug into the sensitive flesh. His gaze observed the two women in front of him. The one was looking at him in worry, trying to comfort him with words filled with hope and encouragement. The other wouldn’t dare meet his eyes.

“Aide…”, his voice was low but deadly, “What are you not telling me?”

The young woman chewed on her lower lip as her leg moved nervously. She refused to speak about it. Even nana Alexandra wasn’t aware of that.

“Aide…”

She took hold of her juice, gulping it down. She scrunched her nose in disgust, but at this moment…she would do anything to gain time.

“Aide…”

The growl sent shivers down her spine. She wanted a hole to open up, so she could disappear from the face of the Earth. Anything would be better than facing this.

“Aide…”

That was her last warning –the enraged merman had had enough. He took two huge steps and grasped her shoulders, forcing her to look at him. Tearful chocolate eyes met furious blue ones.

“What are you hiding from me?”, he yelled at her, waiting impatiently for an answer.

His heartbeat was going faster by the second as a heavy silence fell into the room.

“The day you and Aileen met, she didn’t accidentally fell from the cliff.”

Her lips trembled as the words fell from her mouth.

“She was pushed from there.”

Nana gasped in shock, her hands covering her mouth as horrified tears started to fall from her eyes.

“He pushed her.”

Blue eyes met chocolate ones.

“Alastor tried to kill her.”

Red clouded his vision.

He completely lost it.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

End of chapter 35!!

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