6th Wave - Venturing in Dark Waters [2]

Princess Eirin’s hand would not stop shaking.

She kept staring at the doorknob, her fingers almost touching it yet not daring to make the final contact. Her mind felt at the same time weightless and cumbersome, shivers running through her scales and skin.

It’s all right…everything will be fine.

Eirin grabbed her own hand, forcing it to cease its trembling. She took one deep breath. Then another. After the third time she let go of her breath, her hand was steady.

Things will be all right...

                      …won’t they, father?

When she opened the door and saw her mother, all it took was one swift glance for her confidence to be ripped away.

A gaze ice cold, showing a blue that was so clear it was almost white.

“You sure took your sweet time. To think you would force me to leave all my duties simply to have a conversation with my own daughter.”

The current queen of the Palace of Pearls.

Though both palaces were on the same sea, it took more than half a day to travel from Pearls to Corals. Queen Yūritsu, even after the long journey, had not even one hair out of place. Though part of her hair was styled in a high bun, most fell from her back. A hair that was whiter than Eirin’s, her tail glistening as its white and black scales reflected the light—as if it was made of white and black pearls.

The queen’s crown was made of pearls, however, and those were so blinding, it forced Eirin to look away. To avoid the symbol it represented—the role carved into its heavy metal and mesmerizing jewels.

“The palace will hardly fall into ruins because you were absent for a day.” The princess managed to find her voice, yet the words were dry and weak.

 The older mermaid swam closer.

“This is the kind of reasoning that motivates indiscipline. That gives space for disorder to set its roots.”

Eirin’s lips trembled, her heart faltering. She was not ready to face her mother. Much less to go back home. Yet the arguments, the flawless logic the queen would demand of her to justify her absence, she could not find them.

As she opened and closed her mouth, trying to find her voice once again, the queen averted her gaze.

“I will not ask whether my messages were relayed to you. Let’s assume you know nothing but what was first discussed between us, before your departure. You may correct me later if any of these assumptions are wrong.”

They were not.

Though Risei, King Taon, and his children tried multiple types, Princess Eirin always did her best not to listen. For she knew those words would do her no good, especially when she didn’t want to go back.

“I won’t ask you to return home.”

For the first time, Eirin raised her gaze with a glimmer of hope, the knot tied aggressively around her chest loosening just a bit.

Yet such hope was short-lived.

“Since you are so adamant in maintaining this…rebellious phase of yours, I shall indulge you. You may stay here at Corals, with not a care in the world. I will cease my messages and won’t be as rude as to show myself uninvited to my brother’s place.”

A smile began to form on the princess’ face, yet when her mother met her gaze, that smile was shattered.

For there was nothing joyous or warm to be found in those eyes.

“You, however, will attend the ball we will host by the end of the week. Not as King Taon’s guest, but as the future Queen of Pearls. This is non-negotiable.”

Eirin hid her hands behind her back, so her mother would not see them shaking.

“Yes, mother.” Her voice could barely be heard; the sound faint, cracking.

“You may wish to forget this fact, yet you are no longer a child. Your role carries its own responsibilities, and it should be clear by now you are old enough to own them.” The queen’s tone carried no anger or disappointment. It was firm, assertive, like a slap in the face. An act to reprimand and remind.

Queen Yūritsu saw her daughter fight back tears as she gave the briefest of nods. As Queen of Pearls, she did not change her expression. Her heart did not waver. The elegance was not broken.

“You will meet your fiancé at the ball, so please dress accordingly. He is traveling a great distance only to see you, and as my daughter, you will show him this much courtesy, at least.”

“…of course, mother.”

The Queen’s shoulder relaxed for a fraction of a second. “Good. We shall see each other soon, then.”

Her mother passed by her side without exchanging a single word more. Yet right before the queen left, right before Eirin could hear those doors opening and closing behind her, her voice reached Yūritsu. A voice that could not hide the sorrow or the tears, a voice that carried words Eirin knew would hurt, yet she could not stop them from being spoken.

“… Father would never do this to me. He would’ve never been so cruel.”

Queen Yūritsu froze.

Neither mother nor daughter turned to face each other. In a way, it was as if time had stopped and the entire world had faded, leaving only those two souls alone in an empty space.

A space strayed and void, existing within a time that was anything but forgotten, with no place to go to, much less belong.

Before the silence could become eternal, the queen did reply. Though her voice was low, and her words were hollow, her reply came.

“There are many things your father wouldn’t do. Alas, he is here no more, and his absence will never justify an unruly reign. So things must be done, whether we wish for them or not.”

When Eirin heard the doors closing behind her, she fell to the ground. The world returned to its natural course, time and space flowing once again. Yet the sound of those doors closing kept echoing inside her heart, again and again, as if to remind her of all the things she would have to abandon.

Of all the things Eirin was being forced to leave behind in order to walk toward the one future she was allowed to have.

                                                                   𓇼 ⋆.˚ 𓆉 𓆝 𓆡⋆.˚ 𓇼

“Dear me, are you scaring the fish, boy?”

No one could really guess Tomi-san’s real age. Though people knew she was an elder woman simply by counting how many years she had been around, there was barely any gray in her hair, and her wrinkles were so subtle, the woman could be anywhere between her late forties and seventy.

In the woman’s small living room, Okihiro could smell and watch the sea. Better than he could in his own room. Yet in that moment, looking at the sea hurt. So he kept staring at the wooden floor.

“I’ve been talking with the men around here, their nets are always full. So just what in heavens have you been doing to come back empty-handed again?”

Okihiro was a terrible liar.

His only grace was that, since people never expected him to speak, he could get away with a lot of things just by shrugging and faking ignorance.

Yet not only was old Tomi-san someone hard to fool, she was far more perceptive than Okihiro would like.

With a shaken heart, he began to write in his notebook, the pen becoming more desperate and apologetic the longer he went.

‘Forgive me, Tomi-san. I didn’t want to disappoint you, truly. I will try my best tomorrow. I am ashamed of my incompetence, and I completely understand if you wish to revoke your permission to lend me your boat. However, I do ask one more chance to redeem myself and to prove to you I can be a better—’

“Ah, no, no, stop. I barely have the patience to read the news, you think I want to read this boring essay you are writing?”

She took the pen out of his hands before he could finish, giving him a mean look when he tried to get it back.

“No, no. I won’t have any of that. Be honest and clear with me, boy; do you like sailing or not?” Okihiro’s shoulders slumped before he gave a brief nod.

The older woman put her hand on her waist, raising one of her eyebrows.

“And do you really enjoy eating fish so much that you come here to get my boat almost every day?”

Okihiro opened his mouth, her questions making him almost uncomfortable.

“Well?” the old woman pressed.

He shook his head.

“Why sail then, boy?”

Okihiro could shrug, as he would often do. He could even ask for his pen back, or do a mimic the woman would understand.

“…it’s quiet.”

Yet he used his own voice because, at that moment, it felt like the right thing to do. A voice he could no longer hear and felt odd to use, yet his voice nonetheless.

“In the sea, it’s quiet. I feel…at peace there.”

Tomi-san’s eyes softened, the boy’s expression making her heart throb. To Okihiro’s surprise, the old woman patted him on the head, her smile warm and kind.

“That’s why you are still a child, boy. You keep things all bottled up, suffering by yourself, when you could just be frank with this old lady.”

As she gave him back the pen, before he could even write his question, the woman put a cup of tea in front of him and sat by his side.

“You seriously thought I was letting you use my boat just to fish?! Dear me, young people these days! Why do you keep making assumptions all by yourselves? If I wanted fish, I would go and fish for them myself!”

Okihiro blushed, drinking the tea so he wouldn’t have to reply. It was as if he could hear the nagging and annoyance in the woman’s voice through her face alone.

Yet when the woman touched his hand, forcing him to meet her eyes, Okihiro knew. Though he could not hear her voice, he knew her words were being spoken with the same warmth and kindness being reflected in her gaze.

“Listen here, boy. This boat is as much yours as it is mine. Whenever you want to sail, you come here and take the boat. No need to ask my permission, much less fish the entire ocean. Are we understood?”

A few moments passed before he nodded.

…Tomi-san is far too kind.

Just like that person was.

A type of kindness that resembled a mother’s. A kindness someone like Okihiro was a stranger to. A warmth he feared to get too close to, for he knew it would make the world far colder than it previously was, once it was taken away.

He suddenly saw Tomi-san tapping in front of him, calling for his attention.

“So, tell me something, boy. The reason you’ve been sailing so much these days—is it a lover?”

Kojin Okihiro had two options at that moment; either spit the tea in the woman’s face or choke.

He chose to choke.

After a couple of minutes, before Okihiro could start denying for his dear life, Tomi-san pulled something from the man’s bag.

“Since you were not scaring the fish away with that face of yours…”

A painting made in a white seaweed.

“I’m wondering what folk from down there you charmed instead.”

A painting of the Palace of Corals.

A place, Okihiro realized, Tomi-san knew.