The Dominant Species
4

I thought about the merman-like creature we had seen over the next few days. I talked to Giselle and my parents about him. My parents were surprised and they sent a team of scientists to replace these creatures and study them.

No, I was not getting obsessed. I didn’t need a support group. But you have to admit that discovering a new species is a big deal.

The scientists had a hard time replaceing these creatures, but they studied them from afar. One of the things they learned about them was that they were called humans and they had a civilization.

My jaw certainly dropped when I heard that.

I practiced magic again. Sometimes I practiced alone. I was trying to cast a spell so powerful that no one else had been able to cast anything like it before. I hoped to get it right. I couldn’t get anywhere so far. I was frustrated, but I didn’t give up. Sometimes I practiced for so long that I lost track of time. I always told myself to practice a little more, a little more. I constantly thought if I practiced more I might succeed. So far, I haven’t, but if it were possible to cast a spell that no one else had been able to cast yet, then every bit of practice brought me closer.

I told you I was looking for something that made me special. I didn’t want to be more special than other merpeople, but I felt like I wasn’t even as good as anyone else in my life. And I wanted to change that. But it wasn’t just that. Magic was one of my passions. And I wanted to do something special with it.

A few nights after I saw the humans, I snuck out of the castle in the middle of the night. I swam to a place outside the city. It was an open area between my kingdom and another one. There were lots of fish of many colors. Any color in the world can be found on fish or the tails of merpeople. No merpeople lived here. We all lived in cities in seas and oceans around the world. Even in the coldest parts of the world we have managed to build structures to live in and stay warm all year long.

On my way, I saw a huge school of fish. Some fish use the fact that they swim together as a way to protect themselves from predators. Predators can’t focus on one fish when they’re hunting, if they are confronted by a huge school of fish that keeps moving. Fish have something called a lateral line, which helps them sense their surroundings. And a school of fish can appear as one bigger creature. Because of their lateral line they can feel the movements of the rest of the school and respond to them. I watched them, mesmerized, for a while. They were moving faster than merpeople ever could.

After a few minutes, I continued swimming towards my destination.

When I arrived my pulse quickened in anticipation.

I was meeting a merman named Alastair who was from another kingdom and I couldn’t wait to see him.

When he arrived I was beaming.

He smiled at me.

I threw myself in his arms.

“I missed you,” I told him.

“I missed you too.”

“I have something important to tell you.”

“Yes?”

We started practicing magic together.

I told him about the human.

“Do you think they can talk like us?” Alastair asked. “I mean, we are the only creatures on Earth who can.”

“I would say yes.”

“What makes you say that?”

“He was wearing clothes like us, so it seems like they could be advanced enough to have a language like us. Besides, we saw two others with him and it looked like they could talk.”

“Did you hear what they said?”

“No.”

“Fish can also talk,” Alastair pointed out, grinning.

“So can we.” I grinned back and shoved him gently. “Did I tell you he was even wearing clothes on his legs?” “Seriously?”

“Yes.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes.”

Merpeople don’t wear clothes on their tails because it made swimming less easy and it made us less flexible.

“Hey, maybe they even have cities and cultures,” I realized.

“I would love to explore that.”

My heart skipped a beat as I was reminded of one of the reasons I loved Alastair. Like me, Alastair loved to learn and develop.

I know, I know, I said I’m not fond of school.

And no, you didn’t catch me in a lie.

I may not enjoy the process, but I have always wanted an education. Alastair was a much better student than I was and he had always wanted an education as much as I did. After school he would still go to libraries and research all the topics that were his passions, such as magic, acrobats, animals, cooking and the different cultures of merpeople cities. He once told me that his research wasn’t going to stop once he graduated from school.

I respected that.

I also wanted to continue learning for the rest of my life, but I was more focused on anything that could help me be a great queen.

I looked into Alastair’s eyes and I felt my heart hurt a little.

I wanted to be with him. Merpeople usually stuck to their cities. We only dealt with other cities when we had to. We weren’t friends.

Part of my responsibilities as a princess was talking to the royal family from a neighboring city about a midair pool we were going to build together and share. I mainly talked to Prince Alastair because the kings and queens from both kingdoms were preoccupied with other issues, so they left that up to us and read our reports. This happened when Alastair and I were fifteen. He and I talked many times about that pool. I learned many things about him from those meetings, even though they were completely professional. One of the things I liked most was that he took his responsibilities as a prince seriously.

One time, Alastair asked to spend some time with me as friends.

“Where?” I’d asked.

“There are a lot of empty spaces where we could meet and I could show you some acrobatics.”

“You’re into acrobats?” I had asked, excitedly.

“Yes.”

“Me too. I could show you some of what I’ve learned.”

“I can’t wait,” Alastair had said, smiling.

He had wanted to meet me, but he was glad to replace out that I shared one of his interests, which he didn’t expect. We agreed on where to meet. We met several times after that and became good friends. We continued meeting in secret for a year and we fell in love. That was four years ago. We’ve been dating in secret ever since.

I realized that things might not end well for us because everyone had to choose a spouse from their own city. My heart always sank whenever I thought about that. We had to meet in secret because no one would approve and the law forbade us from getting married. I have wanted to be with Alastair for four years. It was a source of pain and joy. I would do anything to be with him. Every time I remembered that people wouldn’t approve and the law forbade it it hurt.

Once, I asked Alastair how he felt about our future. He said he felt the same way I did, but he wasn’t as stressed out about it as I was. He held me and said that we would figure out a way to be together. I loved it when I was in his arms. The way he saw things made me feel better. I also had hope, but Alastair gave me more. He made me feel more hopeful about anything, not just our future. And I inspired him to work and not just listen to his hope whenever there was a problem. It was nice to know that he wanted the same thing I did. Only our closest friends knew about this relationship and they supported it. Giselle once said she wished there was something she could do to help us stay together.

I was worried.

“Do you think we could figure out a way to be together?” I asked. “I think so.”

“Based on what?”

“I don’t know.”

“Then, what makes you think we could be together?”

“The same thing that makes you think we could be together.”

“Which is?”

“Well, like me, you always have hope, no matter how little. And I would rather listen to that hope than anything that tells us we can’t be together.”

“I agree and I feel that way about a lot of things, not just us.” “Me too.”

I kissed him.