The Princess Of Elmariah

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"Why can't we live under the sun father?"

He thought the day would never come, when she wished for a life outside the waters. But there he was. The king of  Elmariahn Province. Speechless before his daughter.

She sparkled in the scattering rays of light which created mesmerizing patterns upon her. Purple strands of her clouded hair flowed untangled behind her head, each glimmering in the light. The glow faded when a huge Whale passed over head.

"We should go back. Come" he said and offered his hand. She cling her little fingers on to his index finger and wiggled her sparkling scaly tail with translucent fins and tail ends to move forward.

They descended towards the abyss from the turquoise backdrop of the sunny seas to the darker depths while a gam of whales moved along close to the surface.

Why can't we live under the sun?

He contemplated along the way unable to remember asking his father about the matter but there was some unspoken history which didn't seem important.

"Do you know why we don't go under the sun?" He asked.

"Well. Mother says that we are afraid of the people who swim in the air"

"Absurd" he exclaimed.

"Yes. There are no such thing called air swimmers" she said jokingly.

"No there are. But they aren't threatening, atleast they weren't a few centuries ago" he said.

"Have you seen air swimmers father?"

"Airentines. That's what they are called and yes, a couple when I was your age"

"Are they all handsome?" She asked while side eyeing him.

"Well the once I... Wait a minute..." He said and stopped swimming. He frowned involuntarily while bubbles of surprise fizzed out of his nostrils.

She swam away faster.

"Mar?"

"Yes"

"Did you do what I'm thinking you did?"

"Probably" she said all the while swimming without looking back"

"I wasn't that far off"

"But you were far off  enough to spot a "handsome Airentines" isn't that right?"

"I can explain"

They reached a giant coral reef plateform where the bubble train was parked - which is a series of similarly sized and equidistant spherical air pockets arranged in a row like a pearl necklace maintained by a handler who rides six chain linked sea horses that pulls them along. This perticular one had 8 bubbles, all empty.

"Im listening" he said.

"I was training with my Kaijin and suddenly it surfaced with me on top. Then I saw a bird, a very big one, an eagle I think. A boy was on it. Riding it. I wondered why he did that. He could've been fine by himself up there since they all can fly"  she explained.

"And?" he urged her to skip the details.

"That's it, I submerged before he could notice" she said.

They entered one of the bubble and the seem in the middle of their fish tails opened to reveal legs the enveloping sheath of scales became an under cape from hip to heel. They settled in within the bubble. The watermotive handler wiggled his rope and pressed a switch on his dash. An empty bubble at the end of the train popped and pushed the train forward while the sea horses flowed with the momentum carrying the vehicle.