Rose swam out of the Palace and onto the grounds, it was a beautiful day in general and the sun was just rising, well rising per say. It had to pass through the water before the light reached the “ground” which was really the ocean seabed. Rose had looked at a map of this magical world and it was really a vast ocean world with a few islands here and there and a small low-lying continent which was only a few feet above sea level. In truth the whole world was an ocean. Taylor, Sam and Amanda where still gone and in an amazing piece of luck her teachers had to cancel on her due to a family emergency, so she had another day off which was the 1st time she had two days off since becoming a mermaid. She would of course do some studying but decided first to do a swim around the grounds. She did not go near the far gate she knew the press was there waiting to take her photo. Kelly had gone that way a few times and had been blinded by the flashes of cameras until they realized she was not Rose. Kelly’s blue tail, hair and skin tone compared to Rose’s red tail, red/pink hair and skin tone told them as much. The rest of the palace grounds was on lock down when normally it would be open to the public, so she went for a swim.
She was enjoying the rows of towering seaweed trees and the coral which served as bushes/hedges when she heard a voice.
“Good girl…good girl.” said the voice as Rose moved around the corner and spotted a few royal guards. They came to attention for her and let her pass, as she did she spotted Queen Kaia in mid throw. She was throwing what looked to be a football shaped ball but the size of a tennis ball. When she threw it a shape darted forward and up chasing the ball. It took Rose a moment to realize that it was a type of shark.
It looked like a nurse shark, she had seen a few of them snorkeling before this all happened but the sides seamed to have a silvery panels which to her amazement light up in multi colored lights. The shark grabs the ball and came back to the Queen who rubbed it’s side earning a different light show before she threw the ball again and the shark took off. That was when Queen Kaia noticed Rose.
“Ah…good morning Rose how are you doing today?” inquired Kaia as the shark came back and Kaia patted the shark again.
“Good…I hate to ask but what is that?” inquired Rose as she pointed at the Shark. Kaia smiled as she pets the side of the shark.
“It’s a Ka’u shark, I believe the animal you call it a kin to on the land is a dog.” explained Kaia as Rose nodded her understanding, it made sense that mermaids and merman would have pets it was only natural. The shark swam upwards up to Kaia’s waist/chest level and was happy being petted, its mouth opened and swam tightly around the Queen as the bio illuminate sides lite up in a rainbow of display.
“It’s a beautiful animal.” stated Rose as she reached out and pet the shark, it didn’t have fur so it felt different but it was still nice and almost at once the shark swam to her and began to circle her turning into the petting loving every moment of attention.
“I was considering give Cain one of these, he loved the one we had when he was a baby.” Said Kaia with a smile as Rose tried to hold her face straight but she failed. Kaia raised an eyebrow. “What is wrong.”
“Well…” said Rose not really know how to say this. “Nate doesn’t like dogs, he has some bad experiences with them in foster care not sure if he will like a Ka’u Shark.”
Kaia looked away, she was Nate/Cain’s mother she had lost him when he was not even a year old and it was clear it hurt her to remember how much she had lost. Nate had grown up without a family, while she had lived with the false knowledge that her son was dead, murdered by her own brother-in-law. She was hoping against hope that Kaia would not ask any more questions about why Nate did not like dogs, she didn’t want to say what she knew.
“Nate was always more of a cat guy.” Said Rose hoping to avoid any questions, it did not work.
Kaia’s eyes narrowed as she studied Rose.
“Something happened to my son on the surface didn’t it.” said Kaia “Something horrible which is why he doesn’t like dogs.”
Rose gulped which gave away the game. She wouldn’t tell about that horrible night when she had seen Nate break down and tell her about the worse time in his life when the foster home he was in was abusive in. Shoved into a dog cage with the fighting dogs his foster parents kept biting at the bars for punishment. It was horrifying to hear that people could be that curl to a seven-year-old boy and then his foster parents were reported and sent to jail for what they did to Nate and the other kids they had. He had broken down and she held him and truth be told that was also the night she knew she truly loved him, for if a person could go through all that and still remain good and kind he was beyond human.
She turned her attention back to Kaia who was still awaiting an answer, her red hair an even brighter shade then Rose’s own but without the pink waving a little in the water, her orange tail flicking in bit in anger.
“It isn’t my story to tell.” Said Rose her voice breaking a bit “Nate…sorry Cain has been through a lot, the foster care system can have some horrible people in it just for the money the state provides and Nate got a bad family when he was under.”
“I failed him…” said Kaia her voice breaking as tears began to flow from the older mermaid’s eyes. “I failed my little boy…I should have been there…I shouldn’t have wanted to go out on a date night if we where there that night then Cain would never have been taken from us…never had been taken from his family. He would have grown up here, with us, his family.”
Rose understood that was reasonable for Kaia to wish Nate had not been taken what mother would have wanted to loss her child but if that had not happened then Rose and Nate would never had met.
“You couldn’t have known and besides Nate is back, you have your son back and a future daughter-in-law as a side bounce.” Said Rose with a chuckle which Kaia gave a sad one in return.
“I shouldn’t have cried; a Queen needs to be more refined.” stated Kaia whipping tears from her eyes.
“You’re a mother before you’re a Queen.” Countered Rose as Kaia nodded her head.
“Well…why don’t we sit down and chat you and I haven’t really had a one-on-one talk.” offered Kaia as Rose gulped a bit.
Back in the Palace for a change Nate had Royal lessons in the morning instead of the evening so with his Grandfather’s help he was going through some Royal history with his Grandfather as the teacher.
“Now Queen Juniane the 3rd was the one who made peace with the…” said his grandfather as he sat on a large chair while Nate flipped through another book and saw a photo of a stern looking mermaid in full armor and a shield. Going off the date and from what he was told the current year was in this world, they used a different calendar year, this Queen lived over 2 and a half thousand years ago.
“Grandfather may I ask you a question.” Interrupted Nate as his grandfather nodded his head.
“Of course, my boy.” He said in a warm smile.
“I want to ask you something before I ask my father, just promise me you will not get angry.” Said Nate as his grandfather nodded his head. “I am considering having my name changed to Nathan, Nate for short it is what I am used to as a human and…”
“It seams natural.” Said his grandfather nodding his understanding.
“Yes, will my father be ok with it.” Asked Nate fearing the answer
“Truthy…I don’t think so.” Said his grandfather as Nate’s heart sank a bit. “Can you do this old merman a favor and go to the third shelf and get that black and red book vol 9.”
Confused Nate followed his grandfather’s orders and swam up to the book in question and pulled it off the self before taking it to his grandfather.
“Sit down my boy.” Said his grandfather as he opened the book and flipped through a few pages, it was a photo album and after a while it came to a stop on the photo of an elderly very elderly merman holding a bundle with a baby merchild with an orange tail. “This is a photo of you only two days old being held by your great grandfather Cain, your namesake.”
“I…I didn’t know I was named after my great grandfather.” Admitted Nate as he looked at the elderly merman in the photo.
“It is more than that, Cain is a family name when you take the throne you will be King Cain the 19th.” Explained his grandfather “When your father told him that he was naming you after him, that made him smile like he hadn’t smiled in years. He had been fighting against a sickness for a long time, very painful but he fought it long enough to hold his great grandson in his arms. He died 5 days after you where born with a smile on his face and you will have a large King to live up to, my father doesn’t get as much credit as I do but he was the one who truly started to turn our Kingdom from an absolute monarchy to what we have now.”
Nate looked down at the floor, wondering what to do. He was torn between his duties as Cain and his mind answering to Nate.
“Your father and the rest of your family will support you if you decide to change your name, it is not only your choice to answer to what you want to answer to but it is also totally understandable considering what happened.” Said his grandfather “I just want you to understand the history of the name you where given.”