Aliénor's Song

Exploring Home

I went into the wreck, trusting that Mairi was watching my back for me. I went from room to room in the old ship, looking for anything that could be dangerous. Once I was convinced we were as safe as we could expect to be, I went back out for Mairi.

"Hey we're..."

Mairi was gone.

I looked around frantically for her. Where had she gone? Was something wrong? Panic tightened in my chest as I searched around the wreck where she had been just a minute before. My eyes darted all around searching for any sign of her. I couldn't imagine losing another person. I realized at that moment just how much this vibrant girl had come to mean to me. I swam around to the other side of the wreckage, and a few feet away I saw her bright red hair.

I was so relieved to see her, that I laughed a little from sheer relief. Quickly my happiness faded into mild annoyance. She had just left. We were just talking about the possibility of dangerous creatures lurking around! Why in the world did she just disappear like that? She had scared me half to death.

"Mairi!" I called

She whipped around and put a finger to her lips. I narrowed my eyes, why in the world was she telling me to be quiet? Did she have any idea how much she had worried me in just a few short minutes?

I followed her gaze and I understood. The sight was so pure that I was in awe. Just ahead of her was a beautiful black and white whale. As it swam the filtered light reflected off of it in ways that were truly ethereal. Then I gasped out loud. Along with the creature were two tiny babies swimming beneath her. I instantly felt a pang of sadness.

Twins. Just like my beautiful Eloise and Elaine. I missed them so much. I wish I could just tell them that I'm alive.

The longer I looked, the deeper my melancholy got. I would never have my own family, no children playing by the fireplace. No Cayne to lift them on his shoulders and sing to them, I began once again to cry.

It still surprised me that I could feel my tears here under the water. I suppose your grief is always tangible, no matter your surroundings. We watched them swim by for a few more minutes, then Mairi returned to me.

The grin on her face would have been infectious had I not been so solidly buried in my own pain. Mairi saw the look on my face, "Oh Aliénor, what is it?"

I smiled, even with the tears still streaming on my face. "I miss my family."

Mairi pulled me into a tight hug.

"I can never replace them Aélie, but I'll be your family. Thank you for not leaving me behind. Thank you for helping me save Eóghan."

I hugged her back and remembered that Mairi didn't have a family anymore either, amd she lost hers even before her human life was over. I knew that no matter what happened, I would be here for this girl. I would die for her or kill for her, whatever the situation called for. Mairi was my sister.

"Come on, let's get some sleep. Tomorrow, we find your new world and the bastards who took you from it."

I nodded. At least I had something to occupy my time and keep my mind busy. Tomorrow we were going to start looking for the man who murdered my husband and stole my future from me, and if we could, we were going to make him pay. He had thrown me to the sea believing that it would swallow me forever. He thought he was getting rid of his problems. He had no idea what I was now. What was coming for him was more terrifying than any storm. I had become something he had never dreamed he would have to fear. He thought throwing me overboard would calm the waves, but instead I had become the monster beneath them.

☆☆☆

I had discovered a few cool things in my search of the ship, so I decided to give Mairi the tour before we retired for the night. We went into the side of the ship and I showed her the heavy cannons. They were made of bronze, turned green after who knows how many years on the ocean floor. Barnacles clung to the barrels, which were covered in seaweed. Strewn about nearby were several cannonballs.

Mairi ran her hand over one. "Imagine being hit with that." She shuddered "I would hate to be the unfortunate one to know how that feels."

Then we went into what had to be the kitchen, we found a few rusty knives and flour sacks full of soggy flour. There was what I assumed had to have been a cooking stove in the corner of the room, the coal in it was useless here. Going all the way to the aft of the ship, I showed her the room that I hated the most: the captains quarters. I almost turned back, even though I knew the captain and crew were long gone, it took me a minute to swim through the doorway. Here there was a half rotted wooden globe, a compass, some type of charting tool that looked like two metal sticks connected at the top. I showed her the spyglass, broken now, that lay where I had thrown it in my initial rage after finding the wreck.

The most interesting find however, was the armory. Inside we found some spears that were still usable, those would come in handy for hunting. We needed our tails for swimming, so we couldn't always rely on the spikes on our tails to catch our dinner. We also found some really pretty swords, they were covered in rust, but the handles had a complex filigree of metal bands, presumably to protect the hand of whoever was wielding them. I didn't recognize any of the words on the various things around me, and neither did Mairi, so the ship was definitely not Scottish or French.

I went out to see if there was a name stamped on the ship, I finally found it up near the front. Some of the letters were eroded, but I made out S_NT_ MAR_A.

I wondered for a moment what kind of ship this was. Where did it come from? Where was it going? Those were questions for another time. I would probably never know the answer. Either way, we needed to get some rest.