The Dominant Species
5

The next day, I had lunch with my parents like I always did. “Remember the human you saw?” Mom asked.

“Of course,” I said.

“We think we are going to have to talk to him.”

“Why?” I asked, intrigued.

“Because they are the only species we know of that we can have an actual conversation with. We need to know if we can trust them.”

“I think we should make them our allies.”

“Why do you think that?” Dad wanted to know.

“Well, if they are advanced like us, then it would be better to have them on our side.” “On the side of this kingdom or merpeople in general?”

“Merpeople in general, but I may want to secure an alliance with this kingdom, even if the humans don’t want an alliance with other merpeople.”

Mom smiled at me.

Dad looked proud.

“Well, that would be your responsibility as queen, but we will do what we can to help you,” Mom pointed out.

“I’m not even queen yet,” I reminded them. “I don’t have any experience. I’m not sure I’m ready for allies.”

Mom held my hand.

“We are sure that you are ready,” she said.

“Mom...”

“You’ll do great and this is not coming from blind faith. We’ve seen how well you have been doing as a princess so far. Trust us, you will be great or we wouldn’t let you be queen.”

I was relieved that I had to prove myself as a queen to my parents. Yes, I wanted unconditional love, but whether or not I was ready to lead a kingdom is a different story. The fact that I had given them proof that I would do a good job and their belief in me wasn’t blind faith was a relief. I always felt better whenever my parents told me they had faith in me. I didn’t always agree, but I wanted to prove them right to make them proud and to know that I have skills.

“What do you think of the humans?” Dad asked me.

“I think we need to know more about them to decide if we want their friendship, but it would be smart to be friends with the only other species that can think in an advanced way like us.”

“I agree,” Mom replied. “Me too,” Dad added.