Oracles of Ice

Oracles of Ice 12

Aethelfrith picked at the pine needles that got caught in his beard when he ducked under a low-hanging branch and made his way to the rock. He hadn't seen Gaielle in several days, and he was anxious to speak with her. She had a way of putting his heart at ease when he'd had a rough day or felt overwhelmed. Her presence calmed him. They'd agreed to meet, and he couldn't be happier about it.

When he emerged out of the pine, he noticed her sitting on the rock. She had her back to him, but her shoulders were slumped as if she was sad. The thought of her being sad bothered him more than it should have; he knew it did. His priority should have been Anya, but this girl had gotten under his skin in a way no one else ever had. He strode with purpose across the rocky ground, but when he approached her and noticed her fin, he froze. He had never seen her in her natural form. She looked up at him over her shoulder, and he saw a frown on her face. The feeling of apprehension caused him to stand aloof for a moment until she turned away. The fleeting look of shame in her eye pierced his heart, and he sat beside her, keeping a slight distance between their bodies.

"Hello." It was an awkward greeting, he knew it, but he wasn't sure how to greet her.

"Hi," Gaielle mumbled. She didn't look up at him. Her head hung like a bent bow of a tree. She had her hair in a braid; it reminded him of his sister Yael when they were children, how she would always braid her hair.

He sat in silence for a moment, staring at her fin. Scales covered her body where legs ought to be, creating a shimmery reflective surface that entranced him. Skin transitioned from the purple scales just below her hip bones hiding her delicate portions. Aethelfrith blushed at the thought. She was every bit as dazzling as a mermaid as she was when she was human. The curve of her back, the pout of her lips, he had never seen a woman so beautiful before. He resisted the urge to reach out and touch her, but he did lay his hand on the rock between them. She responded by placing her cold fingers on top of his.

"Is everything okay?" he asked, trying to remain sensitive.

"No."

He'd already known it wasn't before she even spoke. He had never seen her so down.

"Is there anything I can do?"

Aethelfrith looked out over the ocean. Small whitecaps formed as waves crested and sank back into the depths. White foam lapped at the sand as if reaching out to the earth for salvation before it got swept back to the jostling water. He waited for her to respond, taking her hand into both of his and warming it. Something was different about this meeting. He sensed a distance between them he hadn't felt even the first time she'd spoken with him in the pine. He wondered if it was the distance he kept from her physically, or if she was placing an emotional space between them.

"Gaielle, what is it?"

"I'm pregnant."

"You're what?"
The words hit him in the gut like a kick from a mule, and he felt his stomach clench. His mouth went dry. He didn't think it possible for her to be pregnant, especially after he'd been fruitless in his efforts to bear a child with his wife for so long. She looked up at him and squeezed his hand, her eyes brimming with tears.

"It gets worse... My father has called a council..."

Aethelfrith shook his head, searching for the words to say. "A council?" He knew nothing of the customs or politics of Pelagius. Before meeting Gaielle, his only knowledge of merpeople was what had been told to him by his parents: they were dogs of the sea, scum, and no one should interact with them, and all of that information had been wrong.