Nate had never been this nervous in his entire life, he floated just on the other side of a large double door with royal guards on either side of it. On the other side of the doors was another drawing room, this one near the Northern grand staircase. His parents would be coming up those stairs in a few minutes, beside him Rose floated possibly just as nervous as he is. She was about to meet her future-in-laws and on top of that they were royal in-laws.
“Just relax everything will be ok.” Reassured Amara as she floated to the other side of Nate, he had meet his Aunt only a few hours ago only to find out she was the Prime Minster of the Kingdom. Her story about how she had been almost killed protecting him when he was only a couple months old took him aback and told him just how long it had been since his parents saw him, 24 years. They hadn’t seen their son in almost a quarter of a century.
“Will cameras be there? I don’t want cameras for this?” inquired Nate as Amara let out a heavy sigh.
“Sadly there will be, the public will demand images from this, don’t worry if any of them so much as crosses a line I don’t know who will kill them first the guards or our mother.” Said Amara with a grin. “Probably the guards, mother would make is slow and painful.”
“God, now you have me worried.” Stated Rose
“Don’t be.” Reassured Amara as a guard spoke into a small mic on his sleeve.
“The King and Queen have arrived and are about to enter the drawing room.” announced the guard as Nate’s heart rate picked up even faster, he reached down and found Rose’s hand and gripped it hard.
“Well…here we go.” Said Amara as she nodded to the guards, as one they each pushed open the wide double door. Before them was a smaller more intimate drawing room, with a few chairs here and there a table against the wall where food and drink was already set up. Three couches sat in a block U shape facing a large stain glass window with the seal of the Kingdom on it. His grandparents the retired King and Queen where already in the room, standing by one of the couches, near the far wall a merman held what looked like an advanced camera, there where two others as well with cameras. A few royal guards in full armor including tail armor floated to make the scene even more regal and grander. However none of that mattered.
Floating on the other side of the room, their double doors held open by a pair of guards was his parents. His only got a brief glance before a burst of orange and white rushed forward and he found himself wrapped in the tightest hug he had ever been in.
Beside Nate Rose smiled, she had gotten a better look at least in the second or two before she bolted then Nate had and she could see the women who was holding onto her future husband like she would never let go. She couldn’t see the women’s face but she did see the mass of impossibly red hair which flowed down to her waist and her tail, a bright orange tail with a few darker spots. It was the same bright shades of orange which graced Nate’s tail along with the same darker spots as well. He had more of the darker orange parts then this women but it didn’t take much to realize that this was Nate’s mother, the Queen of the Kingdom. She smiled as she looked on.
Nate did not know what to do as the women…his mother, pulled him as close to her as possible, he could feel tears on his chest as she finally pulled back and got a look of him and he got a look at her. She was about the same height as Amara, her long red hair flowed from a beautiful face, he looked into his mother’s face for the first time. Tears where running down her cheeks from her green eyes.
“Mom?” inquired Nate his voice on the edge of breaking.
“Cain.” said his mother with tears in her eyes and her voice breaking as she reached up and touched his face Nate kept looking into her face.
“Mom?” repeated Nate
“Son.” Said a male voice as Nate raised his gazed from his mother to his father who had moved up.
Rose smiled as she watched Nate’s father move up, he did look a lot like Nate, he had a short well trimmed beard which was as golden as his hair but with some flecks of silver. Nate had once tried to grow a beard but Rose didn’t like it all that much and it took Nate months to grow it. Both of them had the same blonde hair, only Nate’s father hair was short and well-trimmed while Nate’s hair was messier and wilder. The King looked to be in his mid-40 to late 40s, around his neck was a marriage necklace which was a solid gold disk which had multiple jewels and diamonds. The two of them where wearing similar jackets, only Nate’s father had many more metals on his chest. On top of his head was the royal crown of the kingdom, it was open top without a red covering like one would see in some royal crowns among the humans. Instead, it was a circulate of gold and silver with multiple large blue jewels which gave off a strange light affixed to multiple points around the crown. While Nate’s tail was like his mother’s a mixture of orange and dark orange, his father was red and black like his sister.
She turned her gaze toward Nate’s mother, she looked a few years younger than her husband. She also had a marriage necklace, which while narrower than her husband’s came higher up on her neck and came to a sharp point toward her breasts. A large green emerald sat in the center of the necklace. Rose had to admit that Nate’s mother looked very good for her age, she was wearing a white top silk top which covered her shoulders and her breasts with long sleeves which was tight to her elbows before opening up. Her midriff was covered semi-see-through fabric which showed a little of her skin, that would have been unacceptable in the human world but was perfectly acceptable for merfolk. Sitting on top of her head her red hair weaved into the silver and gold circlet with blue jewels which looked to be the same size as the King’s crown own jewel.
“My son.” Said the King with tears in his eyes as his wife stepped aside and allowed her husband to pull Nate into a hug. Side by side Rose did spot a few differences, beside the tail colors and Nate’s wide hair to the King’s short and the King’s beard to his son’s smooth face there was a few other differences. Nate seamed a little taller, not much but noticeable enough, a little bit wider in the shoulders as well but next to those they where almost identical apart from age. His father pulled back and got a look at his son. “You look good, welcome home.”
“Thanks.” Said Nate clearly overwhelmed by everything.
That is when his mother swam back in, she pulled her son back into a hug and then her daughter.
“My Children…I have both my children back.” Cried the Queen, but she wasn’t a Queen at the moment, she was a mother who had her children back. Coming in behind her, her husband the King wrapped his arms around his wife and his children pulling them all into a hug, tears where flowing like water from every face as the cameras snapped like crazy catching every photo they could. They snapped even more as the retired King and Queen swam into view, they didn’t join the hug instead stood back with a smile on both of their faces.
Rose began to gently swim backwards; this was a family moment for Nate and not her. She was had just started to pull back when a hand shot out and grabbed her wrist, she looked down to see Nate’s mother had pulled herself out of the hug and was now looking at her.
“Hello…I am Rose and I…” started Rose only to find herself being hugged by the Queen
No she was wrong, she was part well soon to be part of this family and was her place as well.