Canary, sing (boyxboy)

[2] Four Years Later

Four years later

"Think you're ready now?", Quinto gave Jord's hand an affectionate squeeze. Out of all of his sisters, Jord trusted Quinto most. She looked the complete opposite of him, with her perfect eyes and pure-white hair and tail. It even shined rainbow at certain angles, under the light that filtered through the water.

But Quinto was the closest in age to Jord and they were like best friends.

Just a year ago, Quinto had been allowed to go to the surface for the first time. The year before that had been Fire. And the year before that had been Drei, with the inferiority complex that was now seemingly cured.

When Quinto had gone up, there had been great chunks of ice as white as her hair. She said the sea had been almost as green as Jord's eye, but that nothing could possibly compare to the vibrancy of 'Jord-green', as she called it. Quinto had continued to insist that the water up there was as murky as the sea-witch's peat-bog, compared to Jord-green. Her brother had listened with half a smile and the beginnings of a giggle, as his sister had described her first day at the surface. It had only been them two, and not with their other sisters, as it had been on the day Anden and En had their first trip to the surface.

All their older sisters had no interest in the details of Quinto's first time, as they themselves could now go to the surface whenever they liked.

Jord, as the youngest, had had the longest time to wait until he came of age and got the bragging rights for his own stories about near-encounters with humans.

In the meantime, Jord had learned the words to many human songs, from his sisters who had frequented the surface. The six siblings used to sing these new songs together all the time, but as they had each grown older, the ritual had become less and less of a habit.

The twins kept more to themselves than usual now, always whispering secrets and giggling ferociously together.

Drei had gotten herself embroiled in some love affair with a merrow prince from a neighbouring kingdom.

This, their father had not been too happy about. He had secretly thought that the twins would be a little too intimidating ruling together, and that giving the kingdom to only one of them would be too cruel of a divider between the inseparable pair. His next eldest, Drei, had been his second choice. But even that would not work-out now, if Drei ended up becoming the queen to another kingdom.

Fire would also often go missing for days at a time, apparently exploring the other kingdoms. When asked, she said it was to quench her never-ending curiosity. Quinto always defended Fire's bold and sometimes brazen actions, insisting that Fire cared more about her family that Jord thought.

And so it was, that Quinto and Jord sang together. Quinto always memorised and brought back with her the memory of the lyrics to a great number of songs -many more than her older sisters had ever brought back, altogether.

When Jord asked how she had come to know so many, Quinto just smiled and said she only happened to get lucky enough to hear so many, as the humans sang them, on their boats and ships.

"Enough day-dreaming, Jordy", Jord's grandmother swept her fingers through his hair. "Did I ever tell you that your hair looks just as nice as your grandfather's did?", she asked wistfully.

Jord shared a look with his sister.

"Uh, no, Grandma . . . you didn't . . .you haven't . . ." Jord had never even asked about his grandfather, after his father had warned him that it was a sore topic for Grandma.