Song of the Ocean: Daughter of the Crestian Sea - Book One

Chapter Five: What Any Merrow Would Do

Laughter filled the coral walls of the dining room, every bubble released from our lips echoing and vibrating with chuckling and giggling. Our whole family was gathered together for the first time in many tides, and it was wonderful. I hadn't seen Father laugh like this in so long. It was like all his cares had sunk to the bottom of the abyss and freed him to be light and playful again. The worries of a king are just too great sometimes, I guess. Had I only known.

Seated at the table with Kairius to my right and Grandfather to my left, I listened to all the discussions going on around me as I ate kelp salad. It took everything I had not to cough through a laugh and spill half chewed seaweed into the water before me as Rimulus and Thalassa made jokes. Of course, Marinus was as sour-faced as a cat-fish, but what else was new? I swear, our eldest brother had been born without a sense of humour or a genuine smile.

Genassa and Inga were seated with us too, though only Genassa was laughing and engaging. Inga was stoic and cold, watching over everything with the iciness of the north and the frostiness of an immovable glacier. It was impossible for me not to sense her discomfort, but also her critical thoughts. Clearly, Finfolk weren't as jovial and fun-loving as Merrow.

We had all but finished our meal and were eating spongy cakes and seaweed cream when Thalassa told her last joke of the night. It was a story that had a few twists and turns, building up to the ultimate punch-line. I made sure not to have any food in my mouth now, swallowing my last bite as she spoke.

"So, Genassa and I were shocked, of course," she was relaying with animated hands as she leaned her elbows on the table. "We had never seen such a thing before."

"Oh, Goddess!" Genassa half lay her head over the table, hiding under the curtain of her bright red and orange hair as she battled laughter. "I thought I was going to die!"

Thalassa pointed a thumb towards Inga, gaining the finfolk mermaid's stony glance. "Then this one just stares down the dwarf and says in a clear, stony voice," she struggled not to laugh as she tried to get the words out: "I was told dwarves carry large axes for weapons, not small knives hidden by their garments. Or is that a land-dweller appendage I know nothing about?"

Laughter rocked the room again and I covered my mouth with one hand as Kairius slumped forward onto the table in a fit of giggles.

Thalassa shook her head, laughing as she went on with a shrug, sitting back. "Well, the dwarf looked absolutely furious with her and just let loose this incredible strain of profanities so bad that Master Tallinn actually went pale and Master Fawkner dropped to his knees laughing."

"And all in front of King Olfred and half the Vorhal Royal Court!" Genassa was so hysterical that she couldn't straighten up. "I thought the King's Steward was going to faint and fall into the lake."

"I thought it was a fair question," Inga remarked with no real emotion. "Besides, he was a rude man for remarking about our busts."

"Oh, no more! No more!" Kairius pleaded, holding his sides as he laughed so much it hurt. "You're killing me!"

Inga raised a sharp, pale eyebrow at him. "I do not have a blade to your flesh. How can I be killing you, Prince Kairius?"

That made him laugh even harder.

"My, I haven't had a good laugh like this in so long," Grandfather chuckled, his arms folded before him in some covert attempt to keep from collapsing as my brother had.

"Oh, indeed," Father agreed as Mother managed to ease off her own mirth at his side. He looked to Thalassa and Genassa. "You have some wonderful stories from your time spent by the mainland."