Page 24 of Whispers of the Starlit Sea
He tried again, getting closer this time. When she nodded her approval, he laughed. He said more words, then turned to include the woman. “Elsbeth,” he said, placing his hand on the woman’s shoulder. The woman pointed at herself and repeated the word.
“El-bet.” The unfamiliar sounds were hard to make. She touched her hand to her chin and brought it forward in a gesture often used under the sea. Even knowing Elsbeth wouldn’t understand her, she wanted to express her gratitude. “Thank you for your kindness.”
Elsbeth’s brows raised, then she smiled, and replied in a gentle tone.
Arick shifted, then said something. Elsbeth shook her head. The two argued for a minute, their words flying too fast for her to understand anything. In the end, Arick raised his hands in defeat. He laughed at Elsbeth’s smug look, then bowed to Sorcha. He straightened and offered her his elbow.
She looked at it a moment, wondering whether this was some strange human tradition. He seemed to be waiting for something, so she turned her own elbow out and bumped it against his.
Elsbeth let out a peal of laughter. Arick’s ears turned pink. At prompting from Elsbeth, he reached for Sorcha’s hand, so she let him take it. He stepped closer and tucked her hand under his elbow.
Ah, so that’s what he wanted. She made a note to avoid elbow-bumping in the future — though perhaps it was a custom humans could take up. It seemed preferable to being this close to someone.
He tugged her forward, and she clutched his arm as the daggers shot up through her foot.
Elsbeth frowned, then gave Arick an order. He bent and swooped her into his arms with ease and carried her outside to the bench she’d sat on before. She’d been too distraught earlier to notice how strong he was.
“’tay,” he told her, holding his palms out flat. He hurried around the corner of the building, and she braced herself for the sharp pain that wrapped around her lungs every time he walked away. Her chest grew tight, and she focused on keeping her breathing steady. As the minutes dragged on, the pain grew no worse, and she found she could bear it.
Outside of the building, the noises grew louder. She’d always missed the way the ocean muffled sounds when she surfaced, but here, there were just so many things to make noise. She pressed her hands over her ears, wishing she had shells to tie over her head.
While she waited, Elsbeth approached with two odd-looking items in her hands. She showed Sorcha how to put them on her feet and lace them up. At least she seemed to accept that Sorcha had no concept of human things, but she wondered how much the older woman knew. Elsbeth went back inside, and Sorcha stared at the strange leather wraps around her feet, wondering if they’d help with the pain.
The tightness released.
Arick appeared around the corner, leading another of the funny animals with long legs and shaggy fur, a cart attached behind it. She stood and took a tentative step forward. To her surprise, the pain dulled slightly. She shuffled closer. Arick hurried over to support her, but she pulled against his guidance.
“I want to touch it,” she told him, pointing at the round shaggy beast.
He laughed and brought her closer. He showed her where to pet it, with firm strokes along its muscular neck. The hair was rougher than she’d expected, a gold that reflected the light like sunbeams on the waves. The creature nuzzled her with its velvet-soft nose.
“Oh!” she couldn’t help exclaim. “What do you call it?” She gave Arick a questioning look.
“Pony.” He rubbed the little creature’s back and repeated the word a few times.
“Pony.” She liked it.
This time when he tugged her hand, she let him. He had an urgency to leave here, so she didn’t want to hold him up any longer. He lifted her into the front of the cart this time. She stood in the narrow space until he climbed up and sat on the bench.
Right. Like the other man had done. She pressed her lips together, determined to pay better attention. She didn’t know how Arick would react when he found out she was a mermaid. He had been kind, but the cautionary tales of how humans treated merfolk existed for a reason.
Thelittleponytrottedalong the street, its head held high as if it knew how pretty it was. Sorcha took in everything around her. Arick talked, pointing every so often, repeating important words so she could learn the names of things.
She tried telling him the merfolk equivalent, but he tripped over many of them until she struggled to hold back her laughter.
“Street,” he said, pointing at the cobblestone road in front of them. “Street.”
“Sraid,” she tried. He nodded in approval. She pondered what she would have called it at home. There were no cleared spaces on the ocean floor, but they did have familiar paths. That was it. “Slighe,” she said.
“Slee-ee,” he tried.
She giggled. “Slighe.”
“Slee-ai.” Little lines formed between his eyes as he tried again. “Slee-ay.”
The ride passed with them sharing words back and forth until she grew tired. Arick took over the conversation, telling her stories she couldn’t understand. The cart rumbled over the cobblestone street, passing the little structures that seemed to house the humans. Ahead, the street climbed toward the castle that loomed over them. She observed everything — the way the structures grew larger the closer they were to the castle, the little creatures that roamed around free, the humans as they went about their day, the pockets of flowers growing on and around the buildings, casting bright spots of pink, purple, blue, and white.
Shortly before they reached the castle gates, Arick guided Pony down another street. This one wound around the hill, and soon the buildings on the right stopped, leaving only the steep hillside below the castle. The road curved, and the town fell away behind them.
