Run XIII

"Oh my, would you look at those tears falling down her face! It must have been tragic!" A sweet voice spoke, almost delighted.

"I told you not to do that, mom! It hurts those who have already been through it once! Now she'll have to relive it again and remember her painful past again!" Another voice spoke. She sounded a lot younger than the sweet voice from before.

The mother only chuckled before saying seriously. "She needed this. She blocked this from her mind and thus, does not know who she is. Once she awakens, cheer her up."

"Ah, wait! Mother!" The daughter's voice faded away as she chased after her mother.

May opened her wet eyes. She could feel the back of her neck was drenched in the recent flood of tears from her. Her throat was dry, her nose was stuffed with snot, and the back of her head was throbbing from crying so much. Her body was heavy. She lifted her heavy body up and looked around. It was a warm room. Bright sunlight filled the room from the many open holes in the ceiling. The bed was soft. Very minimal items were in the room - two tables, three chairs, several shelves, and what appears to be a cabinet in the corner.

'Ari… I'm so sorry Ari…' May didn't know what to think. Several tears continued to fall. She was lost in her thoughts. 'I seem to have a shield. If I knew it back then, I could've given you the shield. But why do I have a shield? Why don't I know about it? And now that I think about it, I don't remember much of what happened afterwards. Police, firefighters, ambulances, and many other people came. Those who were still alive and could walk were taken out first. Anyone hurt was carried out. All the dead stayed behind until everything was cleared. I went to the hospital... Everything happened so fast but I went to the hospital but it was different. Yeah, I remember being taken a different route and… was it a hospital? It looked like one but why does it feel different?'

She held her head, trying to remember what happened but her thoughts were interrupted when the young girl huffed as she returned to the room. "Damn Mother! Always leaving me for the clean ups!" She looked up and noticed that May had awoken. "Oh! Hello! How are you? I'm Riang." She said in a cheerful voice.

May stared at her with no reaction.

"Okay. You must have a lot of questions. One at a time. Ahem. This is the MerWorld. We are mermaids and you came here from a hole at the East Stream. Queen Mother here cast a 'truth' spell on you while you were on your way to the village. It is also used as a protection to knock you out so you can't tell others where to find us, but it was too great of a burden as you didn't even last ten minutes since the spell was put in place. Meaning you've been hiding something. Something great. Usually it takes longer before the effects take place, and normally one doesn't pass out, just hallucinates. You've been asleep all night and most of the day. Dusk is on the horizon despite this beautiful sunshine. We usually have longer sunlight during the hot weather. Cold weather we have less sun. But, everything aside, any questions?"

Silence. May stared at her blankly before looking elsewhere.

"Okay. Do you want to eat something?"

The question didn't pass through May's mind. She couldn't think of anything. Everything that was said went through one ear to the next. She kept quiet and looked at the flap that leads to the outside. Riang followed her gaze.

"Would you like to go outside?" She pointed to the entrance.

May continued to look at it without answering.

"I'll take that as a yes. Come. Let me help you up." Riang supported May as she got off the bed and staggered to the door. "You have to be careful. Your body is still healing from the fall even though I've already healed all external wounds. Mother told me you had vision loss. I can help you with that if you'd like." Riang glanced over at quiet May. "Just let me know when."

Before her eyes laid a vast blue lagoon. Small wooden huts floated on top of the water. Giant green lily pads lined up to make a walkway for those who decided to walk with human legs instead of swimming with their tails. They walked down from where they were at towards a bigger one in the center. Many other merfolks were heading that way as well. Fireflies filled the air along with some blue balls of fire, lighting their way. May looked at a blue flame closer when she got near one. It appeared to be a cute creature taking a nap. Almost like a mouse but with wings and no long tail, only a stub.

"Those are 'blu-nas'." Riang said when she noticed May taking an interest in the blue flames. May looked up at Riang. "During the day their blue flames disappear as they can blend in with the sunlight. You will hardly ever see one in the sunlight. They have an almost translucent body, so at night their outlines glitter at everything. The blue flames are to protect them. It looks intimidating and it spreads a lot quicker than normal flames, but it doesn't hurt. It's mostly just a visual to scare away predators. We've made use of them as a source of light in exchange for protecting them from hunters."

"Hunters?" May asked for the first time since she woke up. Riang looked a bit surprised but smiled gently as she explained during their walk towards the big hut.

"Hunters abuse the 'blu-nas' for their blue flames ability. If you put them together with regular fire, the flames become very real and very dangerous. It will burn almost anything it touches but the 'blu-nas' only live for a very short time once it is exposed to fire. It's body can't handle the real flames so it gets burned alive. Such sad endings to such beautiful creatures." Riang gently stroked the back of one as it yawned and shifted its position.

May stared at another. Looking up and down. "How do you keep them afloat?"

"We make a thin layer of water for them to rest on and with our abilities, keep them up. We have several places around the area where the 'blu-nas' go and lay on the top of the water and it'll automatically lift up and float somewhere. I don't know who controls this but it's been this way for as long as I can remember.

So we are headed towards the big hut for our evening meal! It is also our daily gathering. We only ever meet up at night. My father and mother will be there and they can explain more things once we've arrived. Oh, and my little brother. I heard he was rude to you. My apologies on his behalf. He is still young and carefree. He is a great hunter, but also a great pain in the tail. He is always coming back with scratches from his hunts. It's like he wants to find everything in one go when he should only be hunting for what he needs and not more! I mean it is good to have some extras but don't go taking too much either!"

May drifted away from Riang's ramble and entered her own thoughts as she looked around the surroundings. It was like walking through a fairytale. Everything looked magical and fake. The tall cattails, the dragonflies, the blue flames, the water, everything was too beautiful. 'It's beautiful here. So quiet and peaceful. A mix of both worlds in one place." Sudden laughter perked May's ears as she turned to see a group of children racing each other to the big hut. 'Yup, definitely peaceful.' A smile appeared on her face before disappearing again when she remembered where she left off on her thoughts from earlier.

'The hospital looked like a regular one but the doctors weren't. I remember only one woman who took me in and took me straight to see that guy. I think she drugged me. She said… something about awakening, having to suppress my memories of the event or at least make it more believable and some dude said it was time I knew the truth… that I carry the ancient bloodline and need to learn how to control my abilities if I have any like the shield...' May gasped as she remembered the ladies talking about the ancient bloodline in the bathroom. It was something special and the fake Tri wanted her for that bloodline.

"May? May! We're here!" Riang's voice broke May's thoughts again. "Isn't it beautiful? That's where we are going to sit." She pointed to where the king and queen were. "Mother will be delighted to see you're awake. Let's hurry!" She pulled May along before May could say anything.

Many of the merfolks nearby murmured among themselves at the sight of May. Many eyes followed her as their hands and mouths stopped moving. May felt somewhat awkward.

"Mother, Father, I have arrived with guest May." Riang bowed down before them and May followed suit, not knowing if she was doing it right or not.

"We are glad to see you have awakened. You must be hungry. Sit next to Riang and enjoy the meal." Queen Web pointed to two open spots for them to take.

May nodded and followed Riang.

"This is my favorite!" Riang pulled up a leaf bowl that looked like pudding. "It's super sweet so I eat it last! We call it 'lush'!"

Riang continued to name off the food they offered but all May could think of was how some of them looked weird and inedible. She looked around at how the other merfolks ate and followed suit. Riang watched May as she took her first bite and smiled when May was surprised at how good it was.

"This isn't bad actually. Tastes good," May said after a mouthful. "What is this?"

"That, my friend, is Leaf Waste Tod! A classic dish to every meal! Not really but it goes well with almost anything." Riang put on a smug face as she continued to talk about the dishes they have.

'What weird names…' May thought to herself as she continued to eat.

"Ah, I am stuffed!! I don't think I can walk anymore. Imma swimmmm." Riang plopped into the water, causing very minimal splashes.

"How'd you do that, Riang?" May asked after observing Riang going into the water.

"Do what?"

"That. You going down into the water with hardly any splashes."

"Oh! Well, when you're a mermaid who has been with water all your life, you just naturally slip into the water with hardly a sound. I think it has to do with how you slip in." Riang got out of the water with her tail and demonstrated. "Like tail or feet first, but at an angle. Here you try it." She moved out of the way to clear the spot she was just on.

"I don't have any extra clothes to change into," May responded.

"Don't worry. I have extra clothing for you. The sun will be up soon anyways so the clothes will dry. Here, here. Try it."

May looked at the sky. It was dark and filled with sparkles, indicating it was still very late at night. She looked back at the water and crouched down to touch it. It was cold like any stream would be at night. "It's cold."

"You get used to it. We don't mind the water as much unless it gets a lot colder than this. Like ice. Our bodies aren't built for the glaciers like the Northern Merfolks are but we can adapt quickly. Our scales change according to the temperature but it takes some time to adjust."

May nodded in acknowledgement. She took her a step back so she could sit on the edge and attempted to slip in just Riang did.

SPLASH!

May pushed herself up and wiped the water away from her face. "That didn't work!"

Riang busted into laughter. "Oh that was so funny! That's too careful! Here try it like this!" She went to the edge and turned her tail into legs. "Watch closely. I switched to legs this time."

May moved a blu-nas over to Riang's direction and also moved closer for a better look. At an angle again, she slipped into the water with very little splashes.

"Huh… it looked the same as when I tried it... I think... I'll try again."