The Siren of the Titanic

Chapter 6: Newness

Talon led me through hallways decorated with mosaics of sea glass and shells depicting Merfolk wearing crowns and wielding weapons. I must have slowed down because Talon stopped and looked at what I was staring at.

"Those are my ancestors, past kings, and queens. The one you're looking at was my father."I looked at him, expecting to see sadness, but instead, I saw pride in his features. "He died a year ago, but he died a hero, much like your friend Mars. He gave his life to protect others." Talon turned to me with a bright smile on his face. "Shall we continue?" I nodded and continued following him.

"Got a question for ya Frost." He turned to look at me while we swam, his eyebrow askew.

"Yeah, what's up?"

"Well, I was wondering why you've got seaweed wrapped around your waist?" He almost laughed.

"Well I got hungry at one point and somehow I knew that this was edible. So I grabbed a stalk so that I could snack on it whenever I needed. It was before I found out that there were others. I thought I was the only one for a while." Talon laughed then, long, loud and deep.

"You're saying that you've been carrying that on your hip since you woke up? Why didn't you just use your powers to hunt?" He slapped me on the back hard enough to make me double over.

"I didn't have my powers then I only gained them after that, and the thought of hunting never even crossed my mind. I'm new remember, I didn't know what I could eat and what I couldn't." He just laughed even more and promised to have 'real' food brought to me later. He opened a wooden door to a large room. It was a round room, most likely one of the tower rooms, but it felt rather big. Across from the door was a large window with glass panels that could be pushed open by pulling them apart rather than out. A large round bed made of a spongy material sat beside the window and was covered by a cloth, like an old sail from a boat. A desk sat on the other side of the room, and the walls were decorated with carvings and paintings. The whole room was illuminated by a crystal chandelier that contained the same balls of light that illuminated the rest of the castle. Their brightness reminded me of the electric lights that were on the Titanic.

"What are those balls of light?" I asked Talon pointing at the lights.

"Those are called mediolux or 'fairy lights'. Before you ask, we use a lot of Latin-based words." Latin was considered a 'dead language' but there were people who still learned how to read it. I always thought it was an interesting language.

"Really, that's cool. I always liked Latin. When I was human, I studied different religions. Greek, Roman, Egyptian, you name it. I learned some Latin because of that, but back then it was considered a dead language since no one spoke it. I don't know about now though." I laughed. "You know, I don't even know what year it is, or how long I've been dead." I trailed off.

"Well, I could be wrong, since I haven't been on land for a while, but I believe it's the year 2005. Although it could be 2006 by now." He said throwing his arm over my shoulders, leaning on me a bit.

My eyes widened. "Did you say 2006? It's been that long." I looked down my eyes wide. "I died almost 95 years ago? Didn't Lady Silinia say that sirens are born from the wishes of the dead?" I looked at Talon. He only sighed and nodded once. "Then Emma, my fiance, is dead?"

"Most likely. Humans have such a short life-span." A flash of sadness crossed his features.

"Wait, if you don't mind me asking how old are you and your family?" Curiosity took over, sometimes I hate having a science type of mind.

"I'm about 26, Sai is 23, Mimi is 19 and Mother is like 245." He said as if it were obvious.

"HOW? What's with the huge age gap?" Somehow I was able to laugh, which made Talon smile.