How to Catch a Fish (ManxMan)

Chapter Twenty-four: Somewhere Beyond the Sea

~Chapter Twenty-four: Somewhere Beyond the Sea~

It started out like a normal Saturday – if not better than normal with the unnerving presence of the king still gone – with everyone enjoying breakfast when Laelia brought up the topic of spending a day at one of the amusement parks on a beach not too far from here. Apparently, she and the twins had been planning on taking Cyra to one for a while, and now that the trapping business is pretty much out of commission for a while and has been for a couple days – a team of Mer are now stationed outside Taiji, ready to sabotage the humans once their nets have been fixed – they wanted to go through with it.

"Atasah-aum, how would you like to go topside with us for a day of fun?"

Nero had looked at Laelia in surprise, as he was apparently not consulted on this idea before his oldest sister brought it up. "I don't think that's such a good-"

"Shut it," Laelia had snapped, and Nero warily had fallen silent. "He's going with us."

"I didn't say 'yes,'" I had pointed out, setting my fork down to look at Laelia and her sisters. "Don't I get a say in this?"

In response, I had received a chorus of, "No."

Which is how I end up on a sunny beach crowded with people of all ages while two casually-dressed guards - both a few inches shorter than me, one blond and one redhead – watch me like hawks. Nero was not invited, so he had sent a couple soldiers to accompany us in his place. The girls had put up a fight when they heard this, claiming that it was a girls' day out – they completely ignored me when I had taken the opportunity to point out that I am, in fact, not a girl – but Nero had insisted.

And, in all honest, it is probably best that we do have guards. While I can fight if it comes down to it, I have no idea if the princesses have been trained to fight or not, so I feel better knowing that it will not all fall on me to keep them safe. Though, to be fair, I am pretty sure that the Mer guards are under orders not to fight but to pull us all back into the ocean the moment something bad happens. They also might or might not be keeping a closer eye on me than the others, which suggests Nero might not trust me enough to be unmonitored on land just yet.

While Laelia buys tickets, the twins chatter excitedly about the rides with each other and Cyra. They are clearly trying to distracted the youngest princess from the crowds, which she has been eyeing apprehensively since we arrived, though I am not sure how well that is working for them, as she seems pretty tense still. However, she is not so afraid that she does not argue loudly with her sisters about what ride to go on first.

My attention shifts from them when Laelia pokes my arm. As soon as she has my attention, she gestures at the cashier in the ticket booth. "Hold out your hand, please," the cashier requests, and I reluctantly do so, making sure to keep my palm facing down, even though it is already mostly healed. The cashier barely glances at my hand, though, as he secures a weird bracelet over the silver cuff on my wrist.

Before I can ask the purpose of it, the twins push me out of the way to receive their own wristbands. Cyra gets hers after them, and then even the escorts receive one. Noticing my confusion at the band, Laelia explains as she pulls me away from the booth so we do not block the other customers in line behind us, "Just show it to the person in charge of a ride, and they'll let you on. It's like a ticket but better."

Laelia leads me over to an empty area , and the others join us once they are ready. When we stop, everyone gathers into a sloppy circle. "What did you decide on?" Laelia asks, looking at her sisters.

The twins beam at their older sister while Cyra crosses her arms and looks away, feigning distaste. "The Pirate Ship," Annia and Amica reply in unison. While I have no idea what that is, it, going off Laelia's instantaneous grimace, cannot be good.