Life on the Sea

The Father, the Son, and the Other Son

Moments later, Lorcan, Ramsay and Maera come out. They all look a bit worried about me but at this point, I've decided I don't care anymore as long as she leaves me alone.

"Uh, are you okay, Kaito?" Lorcan moves closer to me as we all swim to Mami Wata.

"I'm fine. Let's just go and get this done."

He nods and leads the way to where Mami Wata resides. We lead our way through what seems to be a kelp forest? Suddenly, there's an open area and there she sits, surrounded by male Mers. She sees us and tells them to go away.

"Kaito, Maera. Lorcan and Ramsay, if you would, can you prepare Laura for housing? She's going to be just a moment away in that direction."

"Of course, Mami Wata."

They swim off and Mami Wata has Maera and I sit down. "So, do you think you'll both stay after seeing what our community is like?" We nod, "Amazing. Now, we should find a family for you Maera."

"Uh, I kinda wanna stay with Kaito if that's okay."

"What? Really? Me?" I ask, shocked.

"Yeah, you protected me against your own people. You'll probably keep me safe from anything, right?"

"Of course. I just thought you'd want a real family if offered one."

"No, you're enough."

"Oh." I don't quite know how to respond to that.

"Well, that's amazing. So a two room cove for you guys. Do you want to be closer to the surface? You're allowed to go up there every now and then."

"I'm fine either way. What do you want?" I ask Maera.

"I like the surface, sure."

We finish setting up our cove and then Laura takes us over to it. I'm surprised it's ready since we were just talking about it but I shrug and try not to overthink it. We settle in for the night and try to get used to this new life.

I wake up the next morning at 8am. I'm so used to waking up early to cook for everyone, I guess. I think of cooking but realize I don't know if I can. I decide to just sit in the living room until Maera wakes up and then we could explore and stuff and see if she wants to try one of those education programs. I float down into a cushioned dent in the wall and look down to see a book on an end table.  I start reading to pass the time.

A couple chapters later, I hear a gentle knock outside the cove. I drop my book and go to poke my head out to see who it is but they poke theirs in.

"May I come in?" Mami Wata asks.

"Oh, of course. Is everything okay? Do we need to do something?"

"I just have a request of you. If you don't mind," she says as she pulls herself through the cove entrance.

"Uh, no. I'll probably do it."

"You can change your mind after I tell you what it is." She lowers herself into a seat, "Turns out your ex-crew have been disregarding the treaty we have. I have no idea if everyone on board knew about it but when told, they continued to disregard it. So, I'm done with that ship."

"Yeah, I didn't know about any treaty you guys had. I was very annoyed when my food would go missing."

"Hm. Anyways, I know Mr. Sallow owns a shipping business and I want to make a deal with his business."

"You want me to be the communication between you guys?"

"Yes. But only if you're okay with it. If not, I can find someone else to help with this."