Half My Heart

6) Carina

I swim home as fast as I can, knowing that Mama might worry for me if I'm out too late. She might even send her guards out on patrol. I certainly don't want those red tailed jerks to come after me, otherwise they'll find Baba's secret grotto and tell Mama.

It's not that I'm not allowed to visit Baba, but I'm not really allowed to visit the area that Baba lives in. The last time Mama visited Baba was when Alina and I were 12, before Baba moved and they stopped talking to each other. It would take use 5 minutes to get to her house and we could stay longer, now it takes me an hour to get to her grotto and my stays are cut short. Every moment counts and I have to make the most of it with Baba.

I reach the edge of the city, letting my eyes scan the perimeter for any red tails. I don't see any in sight, so I quickly swim through the perimeter before anyone notices I was on the other side. If anybody is caught beyond the border, they'll be gone for a week. The Red Guard can be unnecessarily ruthless. They wouldn't hurt me if I'm caught because I'm the princess, but I'd definitely get a stern talking from Mama. She's scarier than any red guard can be and she doesn't even have to slap you to do it.

It's pretty creative to just name all the people with red tails red guards, isn't it? They used to be a lot nicer and lenient with everyone, but things have changed ever since Alina's death.

Nobody's allowed to leave the city and if they do, they can't come back because they risk leading humans and any other potential predators back to us. It's certainly caused many people to leave the city, causing a smaller population in the past two years compare to the last century. Baba told me there used to be so many people in the city that many mermen and mermaids were left without homes and forced to live beyond the perimeter. The recent disappearances have certainly helped decrease the overpopulation, but is that a good thing? Mama's been trying to figure it out, but nothing has come up in the past two years. It's concerning, to say the least.

I pass the shops in the center of the city and reach the iron gates of the palace where two guards stand watch, stony faced and silent. As soon as they see me, they open the gates for me immediately. They instantly move back to their positions, standing tall and imposing with their expressions not changing, almost like they haven't moved to begin with.

"You know a smile can't hurt once in a while, right?" I ask jokingly, hoping to lighten the mood.

They continue to remain as they are, not changing their expressions even for me. You'd think being a royal would have its perks, right?

"They're not going to smile in a million years, you know that right?"

I turn to see Tania Zelena standing in front of me with her arms crossed and her brown eyes full of amusement.

I place my hands on my hips and lift my chin up, "Well what if I ORDER them to smile? Then they'd have to, wouldn't they?"

She raises one of her eyebrows at me and decides to humor me, "They might, but then you'd be abusing your mom's position and that's not how the queen raised you."

I drop my head down in mock exasperation and start swimming alongside Tania.

"You guys are so exhausting! Would it kill you to lighten up once in a while?"

"It won't, but who'd be protecting the city then?"

From who? There's nobody out here for miles! I don't tell her this though. It's a touchy subject and I've already caused awkwardness with one person today because of it. I don't need to add another person into the mix. So I just nod in agreement and continue swimming side by side next to Tania.

"You're right on time today, wouldn't wanna give your mom a scare by being out past your curfew."

"Yeah," I sigh as I look out a window towards the city. It's hardly dark out, with the sun still reflecting light into the water. The sun won't set for another two hours, but mom still won't let me stay later. She thinks I'll meet some guy and elope with him or something like that.

Cause I'm definitely gonna be that reckless, but it'd still be nice to go to a dance once in a while or just see the moon reflect off the night sky. I've never seen the moon before, or the sun! It's so simple, but it's something I'd like to see.

A red guard goes up to me and Tania and turns to address me.

"Your highness, your mother is going to be busy this evening and she will be unable to one to dinner."

"Oh," I say, trying to hide the disappointment from my tone, "That's ok. Tania can keep me company."

Tania gives me a smile to ease the tension in the air, "Of course! Let's go to dinner. I heard they're serving seaweed wrapped crab legs tonight!"

I follow my best friend, and laugh along trying to ignore my disappointment as much as possible.