They left the school and headed down one of the main roads toward the science center.
“Cura…question.” Said Chloe as Cura turned her head and looked at the green tailed mermaid.
“Yes.”
“That teacher, she said she is getting married in a week but her last name is staying the same.” Stated Chloe
“I was wondering about that myself.” stated Stacy “Normally the women takes the husband name.”
“On the surface but not down here.” stated Cura as they came to a stop. “Here the family name and line travels through the female children not the male.”
“It does?” inquired Damon
“Yes, when yours and Monica’s little girl gets older and marries either another mermaid or a merman, they will take her name not the other way around.” Explained Cura
“But you are ruled by Kings…doesn’t that mean the royal bloodlines comes from them?” inquired Tim
“Again that is on the surface, here the eldest daughter of the current MerKing and MerQueen will be the next MerQueen and who ever she marries will be the new MerKing and their daughter will be Queen after they are gone.” Explained Cura “On the surface you have a more male based society, here it is more a female based.”
“I think I am liking this society more and more.” Stated Stacy as Chloe nodded in agreement.
“Don’t think merman have no rights or power, in the more traditional families the merman still rules the family but all inheritance and birthright goes to the daughters, the sons have to make their own way.” Explained Cura before she looked at the ground. “Which is why I am such a disappointment to my own family, I may be the youngest but I am also the second daughter so half the inheritance would be mine.”
“Would be?” inquired Adrian
“I disappointed my parents so much, they got one of the major families to declare me no longer a member of the family.” Explained Cura with some tears in her eyes. “They kicked me out of the family and by law I have no last name and well…it is more of a standing thing, Mersocity is highly class based and went from a middle high level to two steps above the bottom.”
“That fucking sucks.” stated Lupe as Adrian placed a hand on Cura’s shoulder.
“Sorry about your lost.” apologized Adrian
“Sorry but to kick your own daughter out of your family is just wrong, most of all since all you are doing is living a good and helpful life.” Stated Harmony
“To my parents is all about class and position, hell most people outside of the main families and those who directly serve them really follow the class system anymore.” stated Cura as she wiped away the tears and patted Adrian’s arm telling him she was ok. “I mean there are still classes but people move up and down them with ease, it isn’t like it was 2,000 years ago where the class you where born into was the class you would die in. Here the child of two merpeople who are at the bottom level of society can become one of the richest merpeople in the sea and same the other way. It is just my family is in the group who likes the old way.”
“Why do they like it, it sounds so horrible and backwater.” Stated Monica
“Well, they like it because 11 or 12 generations ago one of my relatives was the 7th daughter of the sitting MerKing and MerQueen.” explained Cura as everyone eyes widened a bit.
“So you’re a mermaid princess?” inquired Lupe as Cura chuckled a bit.
“I guess you could call me that, that means nothing really it is so far back in my blood line it doesn’t matter.” stated Cura “My blood line doesn’t make me any different then anyone else.”
“Kind of like how a lot of families in Europe can trace their families to one royal or another in some way.” Stated Colton as Tim nodded in agreement.
“Besides, just like I assume in the human world your station in this society depends more on what your job is and how much money you make.” stated Cura “I don’t make much and while I work in the government managing our village, it isn’t a high position so I am not that high up in society, not like my parents and siblings.”
“I see.” Said Adrian
“Well enough about that…lets get you to the science center.” Said Cura as they headed out again.
In their mind they expected the science center to be a domed building with Greek style colonnades in the front, maybe white marble with wings shooting out. They expected that and that isn’t what they got.
Instead they found a very modern looking building with a large amount of glass and steel or something like it. It also had a more Egyptian feel, with two large stone statues of a sitting mermaid with a book in her hands and a merman with a set of scales flanking a large entrees. They swam in to find themselves in the center of a glass pyramid which served as the main lobby and reception area.
“Hello can I help you?” said a merman wearing a necklace which had a pyramid on it, marking him as a member of the staff. He had a deep purple tail which while not the most common color wasn’t a rare color either.
“Yes, I am Cura and I have brought some recently transformed humans and they would like to know more about education and possibly jobs.” Explained Cura as the merman blinked and looked at her a little annoyed at having to deal with this.
“I see…well we don’t generally do tours until a former human is placed by the government, but we can start the paper work and give you a brief outline.” Said the merman “Is there anything special you are interested in looking at?”
“I worked in IT.” Explained Damon “My friends all work in multiple different fields.”
“Such as?” inquired the Merman
“Harmony and I are nurses.” Explained Monica
“I am a teacher and my husband was in his 3rd year of college studying metallurgy.” stated Ana as the Merman nodded in agreement as he filled out paperwork.
“I work as a painter and artist.” said Lupe before letting out a sigh. “However I get most of money working as a hair stylist.”
“I work at a metal shop, making machine parts, welding stuff and the like.” Explained Colton
“Chloe and I were both in our final year of get our doctorates.” stated Stacy
“We actually did our research paper on how to better clean up the mess humans made.” added Chloe as the merman smiled a bit as he wrote down the information.
“I was in the army, other then that I don’t have any skills which would help you.” admitted Adrian, being a driver wouldn’t be much help in the ocean.
“He is hoping to become a hunter.” said Cura coming to the Adrian’s defense as the merman raised an unimpressed by the idea of another hunter.
“We always need more hunters, but I am afraid we don’t really have much for you here.” Admitted the merman “Give me a few moments to prepare some things for you all.”