Deep, blue secrets

Chapter 6

Rosalind floated behind me, as I perched on the stool she had provided, her eyes flitting around, assessing my form. I caught her glancing at my face in the reflection of the cracked mirror, a slight furrow occasionally marring her forehead. 

"Ok," she took a deep breath. "We will start with the clothes - I will lend you one of my bodices for now so we are able to visit the seamstress with some dignity in tact." She swam over to the other side of the room and rifled through a large chest. I noticed her tail flex slightly as she dug deeper into the box and I moved my gaze to my own tail and watched as I tried to bend and move it. 

I cleared my throat before getting the courage to speak; "How long does it take to get used to having a tail?" Rosalind peered over her shoulder at me, a slight pursing of the lips. 

"It takes a while, to be sure. To find your fins - I suppose you could say." We both chuckled lightly at her little joke. She straightened and I saw in her hand a bright, vermilion red garment. With what seemed like no effort at all, she flicked her tail and was back at my side, holding the garment out for me. "Here, this should fit you and we can take it in or let it out on the back if not." She gestured to the privacy screen in the corner and, with heavy reliance on my arms, I made my way over to the screen. 

I unzipped the tattered dress and slid the straps of the corset over my arms. It closed in the front, with a decorative stomacher that sat beneath the laces. As I ran my hands over the top and down my sides, I noticed well hidden slits that lay at my gills. I winced as my hand touched one of the slits in my skin. "Are you ok?" Rosalind asked, concern evident in her voice. 

"Uh... yes, I just caught -" I paused, realising the insanity of this all "I just caught my gill." I laughed at this. 

"Ouch! That never feels good. You should always try to avoid touching them. Are you all finished? I can check that it's all tied up and fitting right." Rosalind asked. In response, I moved out from behind the screen and was given the once over. "It looks good. Though - while you're at court, these," she put her hand on my shoulder a gave it a push "Need to be back, and these," she made a lewd gesture to my bust, "need to be up, up, up." My jaw dropped at her crudeness; although I had never been in a royal court before, this was hardly how I expected a lady to behave. 

"Oh relax, we're behind closed doors! Besides, it's not always like this - I get to serve in the royal guard and don't have to bother with all of these formalities." Her hand fluttered around the room. "Now we should discuss a few things," 

"Of course, I couldn't agree more" I replied. 

She led me to the other side of the room and nodded to the bench-like seats where we settled. Across from me she lounged with her tail laying on the bench and coiling down the leg. She cleared her throat. "I'm not sure what kind of world you have come from but there are certain rules of court; the correct addresses, the royal events and, the easier to tackle: polite conversation." I quirked my brow, wondering exactly how much work these 3 things could really need. "Like I said, we are behind closed doors but normally, the topic of where people come from is frowned upon in polite society. It - well - it is considered rude to suggest that anyone of high rank may be anything less than pure bred."

"Oh, I'm sorry - I didn't realise. I didn't mean to be rude."

"No, it's okay. You could probably tell from my accent that I'm not from Atlantis." She scoffed and added with a snicker "Neither is the queen with her haughty British -" She stopped, hand on her mouth, as if to chastise herself "Do not repeat that! To anyone."

"My lips are sealed" I chuckled. "So, I can't ask if people were born here or came here in similar ways that I was. Right?" Rosalind nodded. 

"We also really do need to address your tail. I mean, sit with a little more style, try to drape yourself and your tail." She watched as I tried to comply my face scrunching with exertion and her eyes creased as she tried not to laugh. "Just relax." I did as she said, took a deep breath and allowed my tail to just fall. The less forced it, the more I came to realise that they were like legs; sure it was just the one, scaly limb that bent and moved in slightly different directions, but you don't need to think about it too much. 

"Much better," Rosalind encouraged "It certainly looks better when you haven't got that soured look on your face!" I laughed. She can't have been wrong - I had been told many times by my parents and Rachel as we studied that I had a hideous thinking face!

"Thank you. So what else do we need to cover? I'm sure there's more I need to learn."

"Indeed. We should cover the basics of swimming," Rosalind rose from the chaise, "You will still need some more lessons with Christian but I will cover the more formal, court focused aspects of swimming. This should be enough for you to settle in as you won't be leaving the safety of the city any time soon."

"What do you mean by that?" I asked, a little fear creeping into my voice.

"Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to scare you with that - we won't force you to stay! I simply mean that we won't be casting you out to fend off sharks and sting rays; you won't need to swim and fight to simply go to the dress makers." I smiled a little sheepishly at my paranoia. 

" Of course, sorry about that." I rose from the seat, matching Rosalind's height, "Anyway, what about this swimming then?"

We must have spent nearly an hour in that room swimming back and forth in that room. Eventually, Rosalind stopped criticising my poorly coordination and moved her focus to my "shrimp-like posture". By the end of this hour, I was shattered and Rosalind announced it was time for lunch.