The Unreached Duchy

Chapter28

As Patera was flying through the air towards Bucatius, Senara played a simple tune that she learned as a small child when she was first learning to play the ocarina. It was also part of how she was able to earn a chair in the Royal Orchestra and play at all of the functions hosted by the Royal Huns.

Playing as they traveled, Senara could not help but notice that some of the natural wildlife chimed in with her song as they went. Patera peacefully kept flying on their way to Bucatius, enjoying the calming feeling that was coming from Senara nestled in her perch on the saddle.

Once they landed in Bucatius, Senara went to the Temple to lend her assistance to the Royal Orchestra that was playing for the Alaiceaus Festival on the tenth. Senara knew the songs by heart and she enjoyed playing them, even when there was no festival to play them at.

RUSALKA THE LAVA MASON

“I love coming here! Pyanepsion is always so much fun!” squealed Rusalka as she spun around in a giant circle with her arms stretched out, her light blue hair shining in the sunlight as a gaggle of Mimas flew overhead.

“Rusalka, come on. We need to get going or we’re never going to make it back to Maimakterion on time.” Namtao called out to Rusalka while he and Senara floated lazily in the water watching their friend and the graceful Mimas.

“Oh, you’re always a spoilsport Namtao. Alas, you’re right. We do need to get going back home or someone’s liable to have a bubble gasp.” Rusalka replied as she came to a rest next to her friends, letting the sun reflect off of her reddish-brown skin and orchid colored scales. The red-orange spots that went down the scales to her fins looked almost brighter in the setting sun. “It’s such a pity we have to wait until Pop to celebrate the next birthday.”

Senara was the first to start heading back towards home. “If we don’t hurry, we’ll all be flipped off of our posts and as much as I dislike humans; I actually like my post. I just wish I could travel on a mima more often than they let me.”

Namtao, blonde hair with blue eyes that sparkled in the setting sun, “It’s not so much keeping my post that I’m worried about keeping, but it’s my future promotion that I’m worried about securing. I aim to be a Royal Guard.”

“I can’t wait to until I’m allowed to fully go to work as a Lava Mason; it’s going to be so aether.” Rusalka admitted as she joined Namtao and Senara heading for home. “But relaxing to celebrate birthdays is so much better than being a Lava Mason.”

As the trio of lifelong friends was passing over a patch of mushroom corals with their bright colors proudly displayed, one couldn’t help but notice just how at peace and relaxed the three of them looked just swimming along towards home, without a care in the world, and talking as if they hadn’t seen each other for signs; when in reality, they lived next to each other and have known each other all of their lives.

“I truly wish I knew why you insist on talking like a human sometimes. It’s not proper for someone who was born in to Makara, like we were, to be talking like that. Humans are that way for a reason, they have a debt that they have to pay and they have chosen to pay it on land; which is fine with me because I don’t want to spend any more time with them than I have to.” Senara was scolding Rusalka as they were passing over a mushroom coral just as it was closing for the night, the water rippled across Rusalka’s fins made her feel comforted somehow.

“Look, I say expressions that I feel have a perfectly good meaning. Aether is what the stars are made of. The stars are the things we set our calendar by, they’re kind of important to us.” Rusalka retorted just as she turned to dive and follow the trail of perfectly flat rock that the masons had put together with humans and then the humans installed, all under the supervision of Merfolk masons of course.

Reluctantly, Namtao and Senara followed her under the water, unsure if continuing the conversation would be a smart thing to do. “Still Rusalka, they’re humans still for a reason. You shouldn’t get too absorbed in their lives. They were given a choice and they chose to not join Makara but to become Makara’s servants.” Namtao said “You would be surprised at how many Merfolk get rounded up by Cohorts and some eventually get turned into human slaves as a punishment for turning their backs on Makara. I don’t want to see that happen to you.”

“It’s not going to happen to me Namtao,” Rusalka said kind of injured that her friends would think so low of her “and I’m not turning my back on Makara by any means. I’m just saying that humans need to be understood some more. There’s one human who works with the Lava Masons that his skin falls off if he touches water. He says that he wants to be a merman in Makara’s society but it would kill him. What about the humans like him that want to join our Makara but can’t?”

Rusalka shot up as she spun around and resurfaced leaving only enough space to look 1 of her life long best friends in the face; Rusalka almost got hit in the chin by Namtao's head as he resurfaced, struggling to match her speed. Despite there being a height difference when they are above water level, Rusalka was able to maintain being at Namtao’s face level for what felt like forever before Namtao broke her gaze. Senara decided it was safer to remain just out of arm's reach of Rusalka since it was obvious that she made a mistake by commenting on Rusalka's vocabulary.