Seirra: Chapter Twenty-One

Nothing happened.

King Tideus gave his daughter a fatherly hug when we came to see him before the Ceremony of Kys. Then he launched into a short but firm lecture about how I should treat his princess. Marina had secretly rolled her eyes at her father while I simply nodded in agreement to his terms.

A few moments later, we were facing the crowd of eager Aquanians. Some were there to get a first glimpse of their newfound princess; the others excited about the union of the youngest Celari leader and the only remaining princess of the land; while the rest were there to see for themselves if the ceremony would really end the troubles they had to face ever since the veil had started to malfunction.

Erma began the ceremony by mentioning the importance of the veil and the kiss that strengthened it through the Crystal Key of Saol. She then continued with the history of the Fates—who, in this case, were Marina and I. When she was finished narrating the tales that had bonded the Fates, Lukos came up and chanted the song of the ancient tradition:

Seek the woman that must be kissed,

The power to protect, it will release.

Search for your princess and find true love.

Use the key to hide from above.

Upon the ending of the song, King Tideus faced us and waved the Trident over the new pair of Fates. Magic in the form of lightning struck out of the three points of the fork-like staff and wrapped both Marina and I in a swirl of water, current, colors and sparks.

The magic slowly died down and left the two of us surrounded with red, purple, blue, green and white sparkles. In all truth, it made me feel like a newly-polished artifact on display.

Being surrounded by sparkles was…ugh. Too fancy.

I was told the colors were the idea of a mermaid who was fascinated when her human friend showed her the effects of this thing called glitters. Apparently, the elders liked it and decided to add that effect for this particular ceremony.

I shivered.

Then it was time for the ceremonial kiss.

We were made to face each other and as I looked into Marina’s eyes, I told myself that there really wasn’t too much of a choice. This was the right thing to do—the only thing I could do. I saw Marina’s hesitation, not only because she knew the whole story but also because she obviously didn’t want to do it. I gave her a small smile of regret and she responded with a slight shrug which meant ‘Let’s just get this over with’.

So I held her cheek and leaned down to touch my lips to hers, hoping to really get it over and done with. We opened our eyes almost at the same time then moved back from each other.

Nothing happened.

Everybody’s faces registered curiosity or surprise. Marina looked like she wanted to laugh at me. I felt annoyed that we were being humiliated in front of everyone and so I pulled her close again and kissed her—this time, a bit longer than the previous one.

Still, nothing happened.

I didn’t know what consumed me but I suddenly kissed her over and over willing the Key to change its colors and do its job.

I didn’t leave Margaret for this, was the thought I kept hearing each time the kiss failed to trigger the Key.

I kissed Marina again and again that it was almost comical. Finally, she wriggled out of my strong grasp to rub the pain away from her tender arms.

“I think it’s already clear that it’s not going to work,” she hissed, her eyes spearing mine with accusation.

“Why?” I whispered in disbelief.

My desperation must have registered in my face because she looked away before she answered, “I have no idea.”

For a moment, everything was silent and unmoving, including the water and every sea creature present in the ceremony. And then a school of fish must have disturbed the water and everybody’s reactions suddenly erupted—angry questions, disbelieving no’s, and cries of desolation—turning the entire ceremony into chaos.

My father escorted Marina and me out of the sight of the Aquanians as King Tideus, Erma, and Lukos tried to calm every one of the confused, angry merpeople.

We reached the palace and were instructed to lock ourselves in one of the drawing rooms before Kalus left to help in crowd control.

“What’s going on?” I asked amidst the silence of the room.

“Don’t ask me,” Marina sarcastically answered, “I don’t know anything about this.”

I sighed. “This can’t be happening. The jewels can’t lie. I am the Celari leader and you’re the Princess of Aquania.”

My eyes wandered towards Marina and she merely gave me a shrug of helplessness. I leaned my back on a wall and covered my face with my hands. All those years of searching, choosing my duty over the possibility of becoming a Huntre to be with Margaret; they were all for nothing.

“Maybe it was a glitch?” Marina tried to rationalize. “Maybe there’s supposed to be a date to be followed and all that?”

I considered it for a second then dismissed it. “There’s no way the elders would not know about the right timing.”

“Uhm, so maybe we should…be in love with each other?”

She could be right. And it was my fault because I couldn’t fall in love with her.

I was already in love with someone else.

It made me feel all the more desperate and I let my silence be the answer to her question.

She understood and swam over to one of the soft coral seats. We did not talk in what seemed like hours until Erwann came in. He bowed to Marina who seemed to be surprised, delighted and annoyed at his presence, and then proceeded to tell us what happened.

“For now, the Aquanians have been convinced that there wasn’t really anything wrong and that the veil would be restored immediately. As far as I know, my grandparents decided to use their magic to calm the merpeople who were angered by the…uhm, ‘malfunction’ of the kiss. Right now, the elders, including my parents and Sire Kalus, were all in the Scribe Chamber, looking for scrolls that could possibly contain the reason for what happened.  They don’t want you leaving the castle premises.”

I sighed. There really wasn’t anything much I could say to that.

“We should at least do something to help,” Marina blurted out when silence took over the room.

Erwann gave her an admiring look before saying, “The question is: What could we possibly do to help, Princess?”

We all didn’t have any answer to that question and she looked away, dispirited.

Both Erwann and I gave her a look of sympathy before Erwann announced, “By the way, I was assigned to guard the two of you. Just in case.”

My gaze flew to his, confused. “You’re a royal. How can you be a bodyguard?”

Erwann smiled. “You forget that I received the same training as you. And my family is already a far distant cousin to the King and Princess that if not for my grandparents, we would be treated like a member of the Celari clan.”

He had a point and I nodded. “If we needed a bodyguard, I would have chosen you anyway. It’s easier to fight battles when I trust the person fighting beside me.”

“Do you think this is going to cause some sort of civil war?” Marina asked.

Her question immediately brought grave expressions to our faces. “That’s not too far a possibility,” I answered solemnly.

The answer I gave caused silence among the three of us, making us think of what would happen should bloodshed arise.

“Doris!” Marina exclaimed out of the blue. She looked at us with excitement, obviously thrilled at her idea. “She might know something that could help us.” When she saw that we still didn’t quite understand what she meant, she whisked her tail in frustration and explained, “I mean, hello, who else knows how to show you what’s happening to Margaret when you aren’t on land?”

Realization dawned on me and I gasped. “She probably knows something that wasn’t written in the scrolls.”

“Isn’t she the old Oracle who claimed the need to retire from her job because of waning powers?” Erwann asked, still confused.

“Yes. She’s the wisest mermaid I know and I think she could help,” I replied.

“What’s an Oracle?” Marina inquired.

I let Erwann answer her as I went to the opening to check if anyone could possibly prevent us from leaving the drawing room.

“An Oracle works closely with Sire Kalus and my grandparents. He or she functions as an observer: warning the Celaris of danger outside or within Aquania; or providing answers from the gods or the dead should my grandparents need advice for the decisions they would suggest to your father. In short, an Oracle is considered Aquania’s omniscient onlooker. Nobody’s allowed to harm the Oracle for it was believed that it would bring eternal suffering.”

“Oh. Now that’s what I call power,” Marina commented.

“No one’s outside. We need to go now,” I interrupted.

We successfully got out of the castle grounds, thanks to the secret passageways Erwann and I found from way back when we were kids. As we swam towards Doris’s humble home, my mind wandered towards Margaret.

I wonder if I’ll ever hold her again. I miss you, Margaret.

I was still consumed by my thoughts while Erwann and Marina seemed to be arguing over something trivial when a scream pierced through the water.

All three of us froze, recognizing the voice of an old woman. And then we swam swiftly towards the origin of the sound and found a shadow escaping to the other direction. Erwann and I were about to follow when Marina’s voice stopped us cold.

“Doris!” she howled.

We went in and found the former Oracle disappearing into a cloud of bubbles, leaving a mere gold chain behind.

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A/N:

I know you guys wanted to see more of Margaret but I really can't do that considering the flow of the story. Don't worry, a bit more patience and you'll get to see her in no time. =)