Mystic Waters: Out of the blue

Chapter 12

           

Zane had no idea how to tell Roselyn that her mother was missing. He couldn't wrap his own head around the reality that Salmonia might be gone. He stood at the labs door watching his beautiful, smiling daughter, so happy and for the moment still innocent. She loved helping Meranda in the lab and that she had a friend closer to her age than any other being in the compound.

Zane was not good at hiding his feelings and Rosie would know the minute he entered the lab that something was terribly wrong. He decided he needed a minute to think about what he was going to say. He knew he was about to break her heart and then he had to try to comfort her, a tall order for a father. Sal was good at parenting, he was not. Sal would know exactly what to do, but she wasn't here.

On his way to the pool port he ran into Eira who had tears running down her face and she informed him they went to look for Sal: the soldiers, the Vikings, and Pete. Zane nodded and headed back into the water, he was ordered to stay behind but that didn't mean he couldn't sift through the facts.

After some time, he surfaced in the lab, and delivered the bad news. He figured he better tell her before she heard it from someone else. It was the singular most difficult thing he ever had to do. Roselyn sensed her father was near and transformed back into her mer-maiden form and message him, "Father what brings you to the lab at this time of day?"

Zane broke the surface of the pool port and slipped up on the ledge. Roselyn immediately moved backwards and started shaking her head no. She didn't know what he was going to say, all she knew was it was bad. Bad like her dream. 

"Rosie, there's was an attack on the hunting party. O-only the Viking warrior returned. We don't know where your mother is, but she was not among the casualties. Pete and all the warriors have gone to find her." Zane looked at Meranda who was stood frozen by the counter. 

"No daddy! She's not dead! I would know.... You have to find her--she might be hurt. Please daddy--you have to find her ..." at this point Roselyn slid down to the floor and cried a heart breaking cry that echoed off the labs walls. Each cry was like a stab to Zane's heart and he reached for her. 

Roselyn pushed him away, "Daddy you have to go find her and you are not going to find her here."

Meranda stepped up and laid a hand on Zane's shoulder, her voice barely a whisper, "I will stay with her."

Zane knew his presence was only making Roselyn more upset and decided not to tell her that he had been ordered to stay behind. He and Nia had never talked about what to do if something like this happened. Sal would've known what to do; Zane felt helpless and sank back down into the icy cold waters praying they would find her alive, if not for him, then for their daughter.

It didn't make sense to him that if all the other members of the hunting party were accounted for, where was she? Reasoning began to flood Zane's head, clearing the numbness from his brain. He realized at that moment why Pete did not want him to come. He couldn't risk Roselyn losing both her parents. Zane had to sit and wait, which was not his strong suit, but for Rosie he would endure.  

The minutes seemed like hours and the hours seemed like days, but eventually Pete and the warriors returned--empty handed. Meranda brought Roselyn to sit by the caves entrance, only because Roselyn wouldn't take no for an answer. When the search party returned the look on Roselyn's face was enough to make grown mermen want to cry. She didn't shed a tear she tilted her chin up and looked each of them in the eyes, "She's not dead."

Meranda thought of how much Roselyn reminded her of Salmonia at that moment. Roselyn dropped her shoulders back and her chin out and slipped into the port. Zane was right behind her; he needed to keep his little girl close. When he got to her room he treaded beneath the water for a moment to gather his own raw emotions before immerging to offer comfort to his brave young mermaid. Roselyn jumped into her daddy's arms and cried like Zane had never heard her cry before.