You wake up
A long time later, you wake up.
The last you remember is the dance, the dance over the Smoking Hole, and the tremendous power that coursed through you, the rhythm, the drumbeat that filled your body and hammered your soul.
You try to move, and moan helplessly: you ache from the top of your head to the tips of your toes- er, the tip of your tail (you still haven’t quite adjusted to your new state).
You open your eyes and look around: you lie on your back on a bed of soft purple seaweed like what you had seen growing near the edge of the Smoking Hole; you lie in a narrow little cave, lit by the luminescence from a sea anemone that hangs from the ceiling; a curtain of hanging green seaweed closes off the entrance to the cave, concealing what lies without from you.
You sit up, and see a bowl of what looks likes some sort of wine resting beside the bed. Feeling suddenly very thirsty (which is odd, considering you are living underwater) you reach over and grab it up. You take a deep draft of the wine, finding it is sweet, with a deep fruity taste that eases your throat and makes you feel a little light-headed. it is a lot stronger than it seems at first, you realize, as the room seems to rock around you.
Carefully, you set the bowl down, and try to get up, but then the hanging seaweed is brushed aside and a mermaid swims in.
“Oh!” she squeaks, staring at you with wide bright eyes. “You’re awake!”
“Yes,” you agree, though you find it hard to focus on her.
She hurries up and grabs up the bowl. “Don’t you worry- i mean, don’t move -not I’m not trying to order you,” she babbles almost incoherently. “I mean, I’ll get you breakfast!” She almost drops the bowl, barely recovers, gives you a sickly, embarrassed grin, then almost hits her head on the cave wall as she escapes back out again.
You stare after her, only more confused now than you were before.
You are feeling a little better by the time the little mermaid comes back, and you can get a better look at her: she looks young, and is short and stocky, with long green hair that curls around her shoulders and a short broad tail with green scales, shading from dark around her waist to very pale by her broad fin. “Welcome awake, Lady,” she says respectfully, setting down a platter by the bed within reach.
“Lady?” you say, confused, staring at her.
“Of course, Lady,” she says. She giggles, closing her eyes and pressing a finger to her pert green lips. “But you are new here, Lady; yesterday, you danced the dance, Lady: you were chosen by the spirits.”
“I was?”
“Yes!” she says brightly. “Now, you must come forth and take your place, lady! You are blessed by the spirits, and now you will take a wonderful place as our Lady!”:
While she was talk, you ate the food on the platter. Now, you look up at her, only more confused now than ever before. “Huh?”
She reaches down and takes you by the hand. “Please, Lady!” she says excitedly. “Come!’
You let her lead you away, up from the bed and to the curtain of hanging green. As she sweeps the curtain aside, you hear the cheers of scores of merfolk as you swim out into the light: they stare at you with wide, almost worshiping, eyes. You look about at them, and you realize that your life is about to enter into a different, glorious new chapter.
Written by J-B-Hickock on 26 December 2014
The end (for now)