The next morning, Nate was woken up by a male guard. He gulped as he felt the submarine slowly stop in front of the stop that led to the Summer Palace. Rose let out a yawn as she stretched her arms.
“We’re here, Prince Caine.” The guard said.
Nate nodded at that and helped Rose get up. Soon enough, he and Rose were now in the submarine’s hallways, near the entrance was Princess Amara, flanked by two female guards.
Rose looked around to see that she and Nate were the only ones up and present in the hallways.
“Where is everybody?” Rose asked.
Amara answered. “They’ll be up very soon and accompany you. Don’t worry. I just think that it will be a lot more meaningful if our grandparents got to see you and Caine first before introducing your friends to them.”
“Understandable,” Nate said calmly before Princess Amara slowly swam up to him.
“Are you ready to finally meet the rest of your family, brother?”
Nate paused for a moment, trying to take it all in. Finally, he answered, with excitement in his voice, “Yeah. I… I’m actually quite ready for that!”
Amara smiled and gave her brother one big hug. With that, the guards opened the front door and the mercouple took the very first swim into merfolk society.
Immediately, Nate was hit with the intense rays of the morning sun that reflected from the marble ground and the colorful coral that surrounded the entrance to the Summer Palace. It was a beautiful yet peaceful sight.
It took a while for Nate’s eyes to adjust to the new environment but he soon caught the figures of various elderly merfolk having leisurely activities and small chats. Accompanying some of them were younger merpeople that were willing to volunteer and care for them. Two old mermen played checkers against each other, an old lady mermaid was walking what could be assumed to be a pet shark, a group of life-long friends was playing board games, and a merman with glasses laughed as he defeated the king piece that belonged to his younger assistant.
However, one thing that caught the sight of Nate, and the reason why the sunlight felt so blinding, was the main building of the palace. It was made out of a combination of gold, sapphire, and ruby. Surrounding the building were small but various kinds of underwater flowers and coral.
While the Summer Palace was meant to be a retirement home, it was clear that a lot of love went into the architecture and aesthetic.
Some of the royal guards were already present and opened the door for Princess Amara, Nate, and Rose for the three to come inside the palace.
The inside of the palace was just as peaceful as the outside, but for a different reason. Contrasting the warm and relative busyness from the outside, the inside of the place was characterized by a cooler color palette, less intense lighting, and the more relaxed activities of the residence - Which meant that a lot of the elders were watching old shows on the holographic TVs.
Princess Amara approached the front desk and talked to the main mermaid lady who was in charge.”
“Good morning, Princess Amra. You’ve set up an appointment to meet with your grandparents, right?” The lady asked.
Amara nodded. “Yes, and I also brought several guests. For now, I’m just taking these two to visit my grandparents. If you see more merfolk accompanied by my guards, please let them in as well.”
The lady nodded. “Understood. Just follow the left side of the nearby hallway and you’ll see their rooms. Can’t miss it.”
“Thank you.” Princess Amara said with a smile.
“My pleasure, your highness.” The lady said with a bow.
With that out of the way, Amara, Rose, and Nate swam to the hallway that led to their grandparent's room. As they made progress to the room of the retired royals, they saw that the overall hue of the place was becoming a light lavender purple, caused by the sun shining through the silk shades.
Nate felt his heart thump as approached closer and closer to a large brown door that had two golden crowns in the center.
“Well, here we are, brother. Do you want me to go in first?” Princess Amara said.
Nate looked around nervously before sighing. “Yeah, I would need the help.”
At hearing that, Rose cuddled herself against her merman. “It will be alright, Nate. You’re not alone.”
Amara smiled before she gently opened the door to her grandparents.
“Hey, you two. I’m back, and guess who finally is here with us?”
---------------------
Nate swam inside the room to see an old mermaid and a merman sitting comfortably next to each other on two large chairs. The former wore a seashell bra decorated with pearls and her midriff was covered up by a white semi-see through gossamer silk, almost resembling the dress worn by Rose. The latter wore a more simple attire, he wore a light sea green top.
For a brief moment, he saw the image of an aged couple, right at the twilight stage of their lives after nearly a century and half of being on this Earth.
However, after another brief moment of silence, Nate a spark of youthful vigor flashing before the eyes of the couple as the realization finally came to them - Their grandson was alive, and he was right in front of them!
“Caine!” His grandmother said as she swam up and embraced her grandson.
Nate’s grandfather followed his wife and looked at his grandson. “Oh my goodness, look at you. You look just like your father when he was your age.”
“Oh, honey. Look at Cain’s chest, he took so much from you, too.”
The old merman laughed. He raised his arm and managed to flex it. “Well, I was quite the looker for my day.” His eyes turned away from Nate and focused on Rose.
“My my… You look just like my wife back then!” He said, chuckled. “Hey, Amara. Did you guys just invent a time machine or something?”
Amara chuckled at that. “No, grandpa. That’s Rose, she's engaged to Caine.”
“Engaged?!” The old mermaid released, releasing the embrace from her grandson. “Since when?”
“Since a few days ago, woman. Didn’t you get the news? Cain’s alive and going to be a married man, soon!” The old man said in mock outrage.
“Oh my! Just where are my manners?” Nate’s grandmother said, finally calming herself down. She flicked her tail away from Nate. “We didn’t even introduce ourselves to our little prince, yet!”
Nate was speechless. These were his grandparents. Real, tangible grandparents right in front of them. Despite their age, they seemed so lively and eager to reconnect to the grandson that should have been with them since the beginning.
Nate didn’t want to admit it but he could feel tears starting to appear in his eyes as he looked around. Rose, Amara, his old folks, the rest of the family were going out of their way to meet him very soon. It was all coming together now. This was home, the sea was his home.
“So…” His grandfather said, “Want to catch up with your old pops?”
Nate sniffed and rubbed his eyes. “Yeah… Yeah, I’d love that.” He said with a warm smile.