Angelia watched into the video of the image of Rose that seemed to float before her. It was like looking a screen on a small portable DVD player and showed a figure that was clearly Rose, or at least of a mermaid with Rose's facial features. And the message was one that was clearly from Rose.
"Hey, Angelia," Rose said the message, "I know things may seem a bit rough right now. I'd imagine that reports in the local news has gone crazy. Rich family yacht goes missing with college students, including rich family's son. Crazy, right?" Angelia nodded as she watched the image of Rose continue. "But as crazy as things are, in some ways they're actually even crazier... and yet it's not necessarily bad. Difficult, but not bad."
Angelia watched with some curiosity, as she could see the mermaid move her hands and noting the webbed fingers and the view did come down to her waist where she saw the beginnings of a red scaled fish tail. Clearly this was a mermaid or Rose dressed up as one, and she spoke the same way that she'd known Rose to speak.
"We're all fine and completely fine, but it's just complicated," Rose continued, "we kinda sailed into some portal/storm and took us to another world... one connected to Earth and where the dominant lifeforms appear to be merpeople. And well... we all became merpeople ourselves, me, Taylor, Nate... everyone. But because of some rules, we can't come back. Which sucks... they're not things that can be changed, though that's not the biggest surprise. Nate has family here... and I mean blood family. They had a whole Game of Thrones thing going and he was kidnapped as a baby... and then came the best surprise! He proposed! So... we may be here as merpeople, but we'll be together forever and that makes me happy!"
Angelia slowly smiled. She'd heard a fair number of emails and calls about Nate, and had some sense that the man was decent and that it'd be likely that the two of them would end up exchanging vows at some point. Angelia couldn't exactly have predicted when that would happen, but it appeared in the message that it had happened. And in some ways she was happy for her friend. Some of the whole magic and merpeople thing would be a bit hard to believe, but Angelia had a bit of difficulty in believe that when she looked pas the hologram to the mermaid and her guards that sat across from her, Kat, and Taylor's mother, Karen. If it was makeup, it was very good make up, and even there, that'd be hard to picture how the three of them were presently in a bubble of air well out at sea at the moment to talk with this mermaid, which raised some questions on Angelia's mind, though she couldn't ask them immediately as Rose's message got to the end of the message.
"And that leaves some things... we're all fine," Rose spoke, "but they do have an offer that I couldn't resist on. It was an offer that we would bring in some friends or family... if they were "needed." And well... I would have liked to bring in my folks, but the merpeople can only bring so many and my family's big enough that I couldn't nail it down to just one or two. So... I wouldn't want to split them up... but I thought... that maybe one who I'd thought might one day battle it out with Taylor to be Maid of Honor might take up the challenge... but we're all fine if that's not the case."
It was only then that the holographic message cut off, and Angelia looked over to Karen and Kat. Karen had one hand drawn to her chest and looking down to the image of Taylor, who looked like she'd gone through a similar transformation to Rose, and Angelia thought she saw a tear slide down Karen's cheek, though that could just be good news and her friend's mother was happy to know her daughter wasn't dead. Kat was a bit tougher to read, but then Kat appeared to have hit into some kind of alcohol pretty hard on learning of Amanda's disappearance. That was something that Angelia guessed at when noticing some of the behavior of some of the other family members that come down to Florida looking for coast guard updates and anything that would relate to their missing children. Karen, and Rose's parents, Martin and Daisy Williams, seemed to have looks of genuine grief, even if Daisy was only Rose's step-mother.
As the image cut off, Angelia looked over to "Crown Princess Amara" who had remained still and silent with her guards as the three humans watched the messages from Taylor, Rose, and Amanda. This mermaid princess seemed calm and collected, and to Angelia's eye looked to a great deal smarter than how Disney had characterized its merpeople, though it also seemed that this princess didn't catch onto the message within the message that Rose had sent. It was something that Rose, Angelia, and Taylor had worked out over the years, as good parents always wanted to pay attention and they had to find ways to spread a message that they didn't want their families to know about. Some of the repetition of "we're fine" seemed to strike Angelia that Rose had something more of a secret message to deliver to the others. That things were fine, but complicated. It was almost as Rose WANTED Angelia to reject the offer just to spread that message, but Angelia also knew she had to ask some questions of this mermaid princess.
And this was necessary. Sometimes their parents did figure out the codes that she had worked out with Taylor and Rose and they didn't always work, and sometimes the situation was such that it wouldn't matter whether or not anyone figured out the "code" that had been worked out. The best example of that was to try and get into an R rated movie when they were sixteen and didn't want their parents knowing about it, and while Angelia had wanted to go to the movie, getting sick that morning made going impossible. Right now, Angelia had to figure out what that situation was before making a decision. For if "magic" was real, and to a degree it might have to be given how the three humans were presently in a protected bubble of air from the ocean water, there could be things that merpeople could do things that could interfere with delivering the message that Rose wanted sent.
"So... this invitation is essentially for us to go through this portal... and become merpeople, is that correct?" Angelia asked.
"Yes," Princess Amara nodded, "My people do generally try to protect our privacy and avoid conflicts with your world... but incidents, like that which brought my brother and his friends... your friends and family... do happen and they do not always bring the entire family with them... And while we have rules that would forbid new merpeople from returning the human world, that doesn't mean we want families separated and unhappy and thus we try to offer what we can to assure there is balance between our worlds."
"And put us in a cage?" Kat asked, her tone half drunk half suspicious.
"No," Princess Amara shook her head, "all will be free to join our society and even bring aspects of your world to ours... and Rose on her wedding will become a Crown Princess and she and Crown Prince Cain-Nate will eventually become king and queen. You would be perfectly fine to love who you wish and do as you wish."
"Which sounds good," Angelia said slowly, "though... if I may be curious... the message doesn't say much about what would happen if we refuse this offer... May I ask..."
"This happens from time to time," Princess Amara answered, "and you may ask, as joining us is entirely voluntary, as it is an option we give those that have joined us some comfort in having those they know with them. But neither do we wish to interrupt your lives and hurt them in ways you would not like..."
"And the wave?" Karen wondered.
"Merely a way we could make contact without leading into something that might reveal me and my guards and aids at the moment," Princess Amara explained, "Just in case some has some means of capturing our image in a way that wouldn't come off like a... how would you call it... a fib tale?"
"Fish tale," Karen corrected.
Princess Amara looked down to her own tail and then to three women in the bubble, "interesting." She then recomposed herself, "but this to let us talk. If you don't wish to join us... we will accept that and will inform the others that you would wish to remain here on your world."
"And what about us?" Angelia asked, "what would happen with us... would you just let us go?"
This was thing that Angelia needed to know before giving any answer and she hoped that Karen and Kat recognized what she was getting at. It fit with what she suspected that Rose had sent a message within a message. That she was to reject the offer and then inform the family of her friends that they were fine. The exact the details might not be able to be shared, but some assurance that they were alive and okay would be good news, even for some of the more disagreeable family members. All of what Angelia was to do was going to be dependent on that.
"Well, we would return you to the beach and make sure you are unharmed," Princes Amara answered, "though we would also have to make sure you have no memory of this meeting... as it would risk the human world learning of our world and thus leading to conflict and a lack of balance between our worlds."
This left Angelia to think and glancing to both Karen and Kat. She couldn't tell quite what decision Kat would make, as she was presently drunk, but a part of her figured that Karen might take the mermaid princess up on her offer. Angelia had been there with Rose when Taylor lost her father and the sorrow that did to both Taylor and Karen, and she'd seen now that with it suspected that Taylor had "died" at sea, that Karen was pretty close to breaking. Karen might just go if only to be with what remained of her family. Angelia, however, had a different issue. She had a loving family and family she didn't want to really leave, which she figured accepting this offer would ultimately require some thought. As being there for Rose's wedding would also be something she wanted and at the same time it appeared that whatever Rose's coded message was wouldn't work.
"Is there any way we could let some of the others know... know that their family and friends are alright?" Angelia asked.
"I am afraid not," Princess Amara said slowly, "our world's kingdoms fear conflict with your world and the affect that such struggles would have on both, and I am under strict instructions NOT to allow that to happen."
"Could we get some time to think this over?" Angelia asked.
"Of course," Princess Amara answered and drifted back away from the edge of the bubble, which Angelia noted remained and held a slight bluish tint to it.