The Legacy of the Alliance

Chapter 11

Val's eyes fluttered open as the sun shone into the open tent. Wait. Tent? Wasn't she just swimming? Then the memories came rushing back.

The night before the group set off for a swim, Val pulled an all-nighter getting lost in her research of avian foliage in comparison to human plants. Before she knew it, she was getting dressed for a day in water. Of course, the sleep (or lack thereof) caught up to her and she could barely keep her eyes open - even in the water. 

Val put two and two together and realised she passed out in the water. Which then begged the question - do the others know?

Do her friends, her first real friends now hate her for keeping secrets? Did they figure she was a freak of nature? Everyone knows about merpeople but who had ever heard of a mer with human skin. Mers could morph into versions of themselves with legs so they could still go on land but they all kept their unnatural skin colours, ear fins and gills.

A certain white-eyed man came into the tent, interrupting her thoughts.

"You feeling ok? You kind of passed out in the water back there..." 

She could only nod at Atlan. "I didn't sleep last night so..."

Atlan sighed "What have I told you about sleeping schedules... That actually doesn't matter. You slept for a while. It's actually been a day since you passed out. It just hit breakfast time..."

Val groaned tiredly. 

"We saw your, uh, gill thing..."

Val groaned louder.

"It's a good thing, Val! You could've drowned! But, now, that couldn't even be possible anymore!"

"You're not upset...?"

"Stars above, no! Sure I wished you talked to us but that doesn't matter. Nobody is upset about this..."

A glimmer of hope shone in the researcher's eyes. Her friends didn't care  that she was some weird human mermaid mix breed! Oh. Mix breed.

"Can I talk to everyone about something?"

"Of course!" Atlan helped her up and led her to a campfire with some eggs cooking on a pan.

"Morning!" Lyra waved energetically.

"Don't know how you can be that excited about morning, Lyra," grumbled a very tired-looking Zeke.

Lyra shrugged and continued flipping the eggs.

"You ok, V?" Celeste guided her down to a log she was sitting on.

Val quietly nodded.

"You wanna talk about it?" the avian offered.

She nodded again.

Noticing this, the others looked up at Val.

"I realised something..."

"Was it that you can breathe water?" joked Zeke, only followed by silence. "Tough crowd..." he coughed.

"I'm pretty sure my mom was a mermaid..." she started.

"I know for a fact my dad was human and my mom wasn't really in the picture," she looked at the ground "Dad always said she was an adventurer or something going to explore the open ocean."

"All I remember was her eyes." she paused momentarily. "I have her eyes..." she smiled slightly.