Mermaids are Menacing (Book 2) Complete

67.) Crying

I was left with three crying kids and one quiet one standing at the door.

I groaned to myself over the chaos that man caused.

"Why was he even up here!" I grumbled angrily. Going to the girls. Jen was still having hiccuping sobs from thinking i had drowned in the bath tub and the sudden scare of someone bursting in, while the girls were starving and would under no circumstances be quiet about it. I bent downstill dripping all over the place trying to calm them down and dress at the same time.

"Im sorry." Vee said. His shoulders were slumped and half his body was angled away. His tail tucked between his legs.

"Vee, baby im not mad at you." I said as i tried to wrangle the twins who were now crawling up me and Jen was hanging on my leg.

"I asked grandsire to let him accompany the hatchlings up." He replied quietly shrugging. He looked dejected and sheilded his face from view with his long black hair. Before i could say anything els he took off runnging down the hall. His claws were silent as he went due to the carpet.

"Vee. Veee! Come back!" I looked down but the babes were all crying and clinging to me still. I sighed. I wasn't doing anything right, first ill feed the girls and talk to Jen andc then ill go find Vee.

"Alright alright." I said above the crying. "Everyone is okay. Nobody is dying so lets all sit down and take a big breath alright!" I could feel Jen wiping her nose and nodding against my leg. We sat down and I fed the girls. The furniture was to large for Jen to climb up so i picked her up by her clothes and dropped her on to the long padded bench seat. I leaned against the wall and tried to reposition the girls, who were basically rabid raccoons in a sack at this point, to sit comfortably in my clothes as they ate.

"I thouhhtt. You. Died." Jen struggled to get her words out between big sobs. Her pale skin was now flushed with red and her eyes were puffy. Her clothes were also damp from hugging me. I shouldn't have fallen asleep. Had I not had the ability that I got by the beach, her worst fear would have been a reality. I wasn't careful enough.

"I can breath underwater Jen, i wont drown." I said rubbing her back.

"Why didnt. You. Tell me!" She continued to breath erratically. She was mad at me, furious. "You can't. You cant leave me. Alone!" Her little arms wrapped around my arm. I stuggled to find the right thing to say.

"It never came up..." And in the back of my head, the way I got that ability was not a story to share with children.

"Well it should!" She wheezed.

"Your right, your right, ok im sorry Jen. I didnt mean to scare you like that." I tried to sooth her. "Are you going to be ok?"

She just nodded her head. Idelia and Aelia moved under my clothes and i had to dislodge a foot from my stomach but for the most part the chaos and dizzyness i had experienced was over. We sat together for awile in relative quiet. The girls making smacking sounds when their tails would hit me or eachother and Jen wiping her eyes on me.

Kids. I didnt think I'd have this many. Or so soon. But now before i realized it i have four I laughed to myself. I have more kids than Hawthorn... the thought of his wife and child lying still on the ground assaulted my brain. And i shook the image away, the smile dropping from my face..  those images dont pop up in my nightmares like they used to but being back in this place.. maybe they will again? Hawthorn always joked saying he would have the more kids than our parents, to which his wife would deny it loudly whenever he brought it up. Now I have more kids than him when I was never the big family type. The worlds funny like that, i guess.

A grumbling broke me out of my somber thoughts.

"Jen is hungry to?" I asked. She nodded again her cheeks changed to a slight flushed pink color. I realized the girls were not eating anymore and were mostly just asleep but clinging on to me.

"Alright lets go raid the kitchen." I told her.

We passed by Vees room and i kicked at the door since i was holding the girls in my arms.

"Vee!" I called out to him. "Vee moms going to the kitchen are you hungry?"

He didnt reply again. I waited but didnt hear any noise from the inside.

"Jen baby, open the door for me." I told her.  She stood on her toes and opened the door. I looked in to find a somewhat messy room but unlike hid room in his dads wing it was mostly devoid of odd items and only had some treasures inside. Vee must be off somewhere els. After closing the door we carried on to the kitchen. It wasnt hard to find since I had snuck through it to see Vee before i ran away.

Although unlike last time the kitchen was full of people working, dressed in the usual brown. The whole in the wall had obviously been filled in with heavy rocks and patched haphazardly. It wasnt a place you would usually find dragons being so it wasnt necessary to fix it beautifully.
When they saw us coming many of them stopped moving and stood to the side.

"Hello." I greeted them. "The girls are hungry. Is there another kitchen i could borrow?"

"The meal will be ready soon." A man replied.

"Oh were you cooking for us?" I asked him.

"The morning meal is scheduled in the dinning hall. Please wait in your wing for the call."

"I see. Is there anything you can give me now while we wait?"

"I'll send it over with the maids." He said his head still bent low. I thought how the dragons dont let other dragons make that posture because its a threat but it seems acceptable for humans to do it.

"I see." I replied. We walked the short distance back to the room and i couldnt help but feel a little annoyed at the lack if autonomy. If i was out in the wilderness I could immediatly feed my kids but in the mountain I had to wait on others.

"They will have it soon we just have to keep ourselves busy untill it gets here right?" I told her.

"I can wait a long time to eat." Jen told me. I didnt like the way she said that. Like she had done it many times and her smaller stature was probably because of her waiting a long time to eat.

"The men here are dumb, but the food is good and theres always alot. More than you can eat."

We walked up stairs and layed the gurls on the bed and began going through the room again. There wasnt any clothes in the room to change into so i would end up meeting the high lord in damp clothes with unbrushed hair. I ran my fingers through my hair. It didnt retain water like it used to. Each black strand felt like soft flexible cat wiskers.

I heard the maids come in and went out to the balcony. They brought with them plenty of things in each hand and under their arms. Fabrics. Food items and crates of something els. One of the maids noticed me and gestured with her fingers up to me. This maid was carrying a tray of snacks: fruits, meats, and nuts. When the maid came up i had her place the tray on the bed, Jen started eating as soon as the tray lamded on the blue covers. The maid had seemed suprised at finding Jen on the bed and more suprised at her eating. I eyed the maid suspiciously.

"Thank you." I told her as she walked out of the room.

"Thank you!" Jen repeated with a mouth full of fruit.