Melody and Echo had started swimming halfheartedly back to Tiamata’ka, contemplating explanations for the behavior of the orcas, when they spotted a pod of sleeping sperm whales. As is customary with sperm whales, they were all suspended vertically, bulbous heads up and tails down, motionless except for the slight movement of the water as they bobbed in place. Echo stopped swimming and stared at them. She moved closer to one and then swam up and down the length of the gigantic creature as she examined it.

  “Echo!” Melody motioned to her as she quietly said her name. Echo ignored her as she moved towards another whale, then began tracing the deep scars on the whole length of its body.

  “Fascinating.” She squeaked, tracing the scars with a finger that was still a few inches away from touching their skin. After a few minutes, she swam back over to Melody.

  “What in the oceans were you doing?” Melody hissed at her friend. Echo just shrugged.

  “I’ve never gotten that close to a sleeping treach’inaka. I wanted to see if the scars from a thousand battles are really there like the legends always say. I feel bad staring at them when they’re awake, but since they’re asleep they won’t know.”

  “Well if they had woken up, they might have been angry at you for creeping around them like that.” Melody huffed nervously, rubbing one of her arms. “With the treaty, we couldn’t attack each other of course, but I still wouldn’t want to make a whole pod of treach’inaka mad at our tribe.”

  Echo just laughed. “Honestly, from my interactions with them, I’ve come to the conclusion that they tend to be pretty gentle giants. They’re hard to really piss off, unlike the humpbacks, whose sense of humor could use some work.” Melody just continued to glower. She acknowledged that her irritability had grown quite a bit in the past few days, what with all of the extra stresses put on her, but not getting any information on the forest seemed to be the barnacle that broke the manta ray’s back. Anyone who knew her could easily see that her attitude was at an all-time low.

  “Okay, well if you’re done here, we should get back.” Melody snapped. Echo nodded. They started to swim again, when they heard clicking sounds behind them. They turned as the clicking continued to grow louder, intermixed with soft, low rumbles. The sperm whales were starting to stir and awaken. They looked at the two mermaids, many eyes opening and turning towards them as the whales slowly moved from their vertical sleeping positions to horizontal. They swam with a leisurely pace, as if they had nowhere in particular that they were keen on going to.

  “Great.” Melody said under her breath, crossing her arms over her chest. “Can we just go, please? I don’t know if we woke them up or what, but I don’t really want to stick around and find out. We’re a lot faster than them, so let’s just take off and let them go about their day.”

  Echo shook her head. “No, let’s ask them about the forest. We came all this way. Maybe this would make our journey worthwhile, if we could get even a sliver of information.”

  Melody produced a halfhearted, lopsided smile. With an open hand, she motioned for Echo to proceed towards the giants.

  As Echo approached the closest sperm whale- a large female with an inordinate amount of scars across her face and body- she clicked gently at them. Although unable to match the exact tone of the whales, Echo’s ability to mimic them sounded, to Melody, uncanny.

  Melody watched in awe as her friend and subordinate conversed with the fearsome giant for several minutes. The click sounds of their language sounded ethereal, otherworldly… she had heard their language many times- how could she not, considering how loud they are- but this was the closest that she had ever been to a conversation. Usually when she heard their clicks, she was hearing tones that were echoing from many leagues away. The treach’inaka usually spent most of their time much deeper than the merfolk did, so their contact with each other was rather limited. She wondered when the last time she had actually seen one was, and she was having a difficult time remembering. She saw Echo bow to the whale, and the whale turned to swim up to the surface, following her pod.

  Echo rejoined Melody, grinning from ear to ear.

  “What are you smiling at?” Melody asked skeptically.

  “I’ve garnered some-” Echo looked around as if an unknown someone was watching them “interesting information.”

  “Go on.” Melody realized that she, too, was looking around now, as if she felt eyes on her.

  Echo moved towards her until they were only inches apart. “Let’s go to the surface, where we can’t be heard.” She whispered softly. Melody nodded, and they made their ascent towards the surface. Once their heads broke through to the air, they looked around for a good spot to talk. Melody pointed to a small island nearby, around which there were several large rocks. They swam swiftly there and, once they had positioned themselves comfortably onto the rock formation, they looked around once more to ensure there were no eavesdroppers. Echo took a deep breath, and then she launched into a translation of her conversation with the sperm whale as she braided her lime green hair to give her hands something to stay busy with.

  “The treach’inaka have known about this place for a long time. She said there are many dark kelp forests like this one, spread throughout the world. Their pod partakes in great migrations, so they have encountered them in various places. She surmises that there may be somewhere between five and ten of these such places. The treach’inaka are drawn to them because they harbor great numbers of their most valuable prey- the giant squid-”

  “Wait, giant squids don’t come up to the shallow waters where the kelp forests are at. They only live in the deepest parts of the ocean!” Melody interrupted.

  “I was going to say- before you interrupted me- that these kelp forests are different than most kelp forests, which are usually found only off of the coasts of large pieces of land. These darker kelp forests are different in that they are circular formations that can be found in any part of the oceans. The more shallow area that the kelp are attached to surround a very deep and wide hole, whose depth extends down almost an entire league. The treach’inaka matriarch said that as far as she knows, no whale has ever reached the very bottom of the hole, but they often venture far down, hunting the giant squids that live there. She said there are many dangerous creatures, such as the sharks with unusual eyes, that seem to protect the forest, preventing merfolk and others from exploring too far. They do not bother the treach’inaka since the protectors know that they are only there for hunting food. She told us that we should not go down there.” Echo stopped speaking and looked at Melody imploringly. “Do you think it’s too dangerous for us? You said that our magic doesn’t work in that place. How could we explore the secrets of the dark kelp forest without any powers? We would not be able to stand up to the fierce protectors of the forest.”

  “Let me think…” Melody said, chewing on her lip. “All I know right now is that I have to explore what’s down there. We live here now, close to that darkness, and I can’t let whatever it is threaten to affect our villagers.”

  Echo nodded at this, still braiding her hair into a fat rope that now fell over her right shoulder and ran nearly halfway down her tail. She finished the braid off, and used a strand of thin seaweed to fasten it.

  “I’ll help you explore. We’ll need to suit ourselves up like the chieftess’s soldiers- things we don’t usually need to utilize, such as weapons and armor. We will need at least one other person, someone who is adept in fighting by hand without the use of magic.” She heard a seagull overhead now, squawking loudly to its friends, each of which had a mouthful of food. The gull swooped over to one of the other gulls, taking part of the meat that was hanging from its mouth.

  Melody thought on this for some time, observing the crashing of the waves against the rock that she was on. The cold spray of the water shimmered on her emerald green tail. She thought of the man that she loved, in his leather armor and with his shield and sword. She wished she knew where he was. She saw him brandishing his sword. His strong arms, fighting back against her sirens.

  “Luna.” Melody said suddenly, making eye contact with Echo as the name came out of her mouth.

  “She’s good at hand-to-hand combat?” Echo looked surprised.

  “Yes, you didn’t know? Before being chosen to become a siren, she worked tirelessly for years since she was a small child, hoping to get into the most elite of the chieftess’s soldiers. Although she takes her duty of being a siren very seriously, it wasn’t her first choice. I could tell that she was rather disappointed when she was chosen.” Melody laughed bitterly. “I guess I wasn’t the only one that saw a different life for herself.”

  Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

  “Do you think she’d actually join us? I figured she’d be more on Hydra’s side right now, and probably wouldn’t want to associate with you.” Echo said, then added, “No offense meant, by the way.”

  “You would think so, right? Except I know how much she misses her spears, and I’ll bet she wouldn’t say no to getting an opportunity to practice with them. Besides, she’s always been more of a neutral party in any conflict. Haven’t you noticed that?” Melody shrugged as she finished talking.

  “Okay, it’s agreed then, we need to find her and see if we can get her to come with us. We also need to visit Coral. Do you think she’ll outfit us with armor and weapons without asking too many questions? I don’t want for it to get back to your mother what we’re planning to do.”

  Melody looked at Echo with a sly smile. “Of course Coral will help us. She owes me a few favors.”

  Echo raised an eyebrow but didn’t ask any further questions. “Okay. You lead the way. I’m ready to tackle this. We need to get it done before your tiamata’vanya happens- because let’s be honest, you’ll probably be completely wiped out after that.”

  Melody grimaced at the thought of her upcoming ceremony, and jumped into the water below. Echo covered her face from the chilly splash back, and then followed suit.

  Once they returned to Tiamata’ka, their first stop was at Luna’s residence. Unfortunately, she wasn’t home, so they made their way back to the main tunnel between the rows of shops, and they eventually arrived at the hot springs. It was still fairly early in the morning, and so there was very little activity going on at the moment. A group of several young mermaids was sitting around one of the vents, laughing and gossiping. Melody swam over to the group, and they quieted quickly.

  “I’m sorry to interrupt, t’willa.” She bowed at the group, then turned to two of the mermaids in particular. They were twins- both with long, intricately braided hair, the color of squid ink. They had identical golden tails that shimmered in the lights of the village. They also both had a small, gold starfish pendant in their hair- on opposite sides, of course. “Celeste, Pearl, do you know where your sister is?” Melody asked them politely. The twins looked at each other, and then back at Melody. Their deep blue eyes sparkled.

  “She’s at the Hall of Memories.” Celeste answered succintly.

  “Why do you need her?” Pearl asked as she studied Melody’s face, her eyes narrowing.

  “I just need to ask her for help with something.” Melody said quickly. “Thank you both.” She bowed and swam away before they could ask any more questions. Echo, who was waiting at another vent on the other side of a large rock, heard the interaction. As Melody came around the side of the rock she saw Echo smirking.

  “Smooth.” She said jokingly. Melody ignored her and grabbed her hand.

  “Let’s go, before they get any ideas to follow us or something.” Melody said as she swam towards the main tunnel.

  The Hall of Memories was located on the opposite side of the village, closer to the Realm of the Chieftess. They swam as quickly as they could while still trying to appear as if they weren’t up to anything in particular. Every time that they passed someone they smiled and waved nonchalantly, swimming at a leisurely pace. Then, once the person was well behind them, they would pick up speed again. Soon, they arrived at the Hall. It was a very large, circular structure that was made entirely of opal. The top was adorned with a pyramid made from different types of shells- the topmost being a very large conch. One could not help but admire the Hall of Memories, even someone like Melody who had seen the structure countless times. It mirrored the one that had been left behind at the previous site where their tribe lived in the tropics.

  Upon entering, the Hall was found to be extremely dark. There was almost no light presence, except for the glow of the various types ofjellyfish that filled the building. Therefore, it was difficult to find anyone or anything in such a place. Hydra and Melody searched for quite some time before Echo saw a glimmer of gold out of the corner of her eye.

  “There she is!” She grabbed Melody’s hand and swam over to the gold glimmer, which had now faded as the bioluminescence of the nearby jellyfish temporarily disappeared. As they approached her, they heard Luna muttering under her breath.

  “Oh great one, I beseech you to continue to protect my departed mother, who has come to join you in the endless ocean of darkness…”

  “This is too personal- we shouldn’t be listening.” Echo whispered quietly to Melody. Melody agreed with her and they turned to leave so that they could wait for Luna at the entrance, but before they had swam very far, they were stopped by Luna’s voice.

  “What are you doing here?” Luna asked in her signature even tone. She was neither loud nor quiet, and her voice always enveloped the listener like a warm embrace as it rang with calm determination and poise.

  “I’m sorry, Luna, we have a favor to ask of you. However, this doesn’t seem like the appropriate place. We can talk outside- later, when you’re done.” Melody said, bowing to her friend. She could barely see Echo or Luna in the darkness that was broken only by the faint, intermittent glowing lights of the thousands of jellyfish surrounding them.

  “It’s fine. I was nearly finished anyway. We can have this discussion here if you like- there is no one else among us in this building.” Luna said, motioning towards the huge empty room. It was then that it dawned on Melody that because Luna had complete vision in the dark- one of her Goddess-given powers- she could indeed speak with confidence that they were truly alone.

  “Thank you, Luna. We have a lead that there is a kelp forest nearby that harbors some sort of dark magic. We need to investigate, however there is a problem. Our Goddess-given powers are somehow completely null in this forest. There are strange creatures in there, too, possibly touched by this darkness, and we will need to protect ourselves the old-fashioned way to get through them.” Echo finished speaking, hoping that she hadn’t rattled off the information too rapidly to sink in. After a beat, Luna cleared her throat, then spoke.

  “You must be needing my help due to my prowess with the spear.” The way that she said this statement made it sound like she was still contemplating the information that she had been given. Melody and Echo waited for her to continue, but she did not speak further.

  “Um, yes.” Melody said. “Do you, um, have any questions for us? Or are you willing to come along and help us?” She nervously rubbed the back of her neck.

  “I will come.” Luna said, and in the light of the jellyfish they saw her nod. “My only question is, when will we be setting out on this quest?”

  “As soon as possible! We just need to get outfitted with armor and weapons at Coral’s shop.” Echo said enthusiastically.

  “Shhh” Luna said suddenly. Then, in a whispered tone, “We must leave here, now.”

  As they quickly followed Luna towards the light pouring in from the entrance to the Hall of Memories, Melody could swear that she saw a shock of ruby red hair in her peripheral vision.

  Once outside, Luna turned towards them, her glowing gold eyes piercing their stares.

  “We don’t have time for Coral to make us our own armor. We will have to be outfitted with armor that has already been forged. Let us go.”

  They swam through the main tunnel until they found Coral, the blacksmith, hard at work over the hottest hydrothermal vent in the village. The noise from the vent drowned out anything that they tried to say to her, so eventually Melody picked up a nearby spear and gently tapped Coral on the arm with the flat side. Her red tail jerked out quickly from being startled, but once she turned around and saw Melody’s face, the anger that had settled in amongst her brows softened.

  “Melody, my t’willa, oh you almost stopped my heart in my chest.” She laughed heartily and removed the shark skin gloves that she was wearing. “What can I do you for, love?”

  Melody smiled back at the older mermaid, trying to stay as relaxed as possible so as not to alarm her.

  “The three of us,” She motioned to Echo and Luna, who were behind her, “We’ve got a little project going on. We need some armor and spears, your finest if possible.”

  Coral looked Melody up and down. “A siren like you needs armor and spears? Whatever for? I doubt you would ever need the likes of the things I make, what with the powers that She gave you. It’s not like those humans put up much of a fight against your attacks anyway.” She was raising an eyebrow, and now her hands were resting on the top of her hips, just where her tail started.

  “Please, Coral. Remember all of those shields and swords I harvested for you?” Melody was whispering now. “You know I wasn’t supposed to bring anything back from the humans. But because you asked me, I did just that, so you could melt them down. Do you know how furious my mother would have been had she found out?” She was pleading now with her eyes and her hands. “I can’t tell you exactly why I need them, but just know that they really are necessary. I promise I’ll tell you later what they were used for. I just can’t risk any information getting back to my mother right now.”

  Coral thought for a few moments as she looked around. She looked at Echo and Luna. She looked at her hydrothermal vent, her workshop. She looked up, towards the surface. She sighed.

  “Goddess forgive me.” She muttered. Then, she swam towards her made pile of armor, shields, and weapons. “Well, you lot better get on over here and pick out your wares. If you want me to make a custom piece just for you, I can do that also. Although it will take a few days to create a piece like that.”

  Melody and Echo laughed with glee, clasping each other’s hands. Luna was trying to hide a smile, but one could tell that she was equally excited to wield a spear again. They swam over to meet Coral at her horde, and they picked through it. They tried on pieces, put them back, and tried on more pieces. They wielded swords, spears, and axes through the water, and once in a while began stabbing or slicing at each other to test them. Coral swam back over to sit on her rock and watched the young mermaids. It took them a good amount of time to get through the whole pile, so she just sat back and sucked on her glass pipe full of paki’odo, blowing out the hot water after holding it in her mouth for a few seconds after each pull. She giggled as they hit at each other with the weapons.

  Eventually, each mermaid was adorned with armor, a small shield, and a weapon. Luna and Melody had chosen spears. Echo had chosen to go for a long sword instead. She had a sheath made of shark skin that she wore around her waist to hold her sword. The mermaids swam around with the armor on, commenting on how much heavier it made them feel.

  “How do the soldiers wear this every day? I don’t know if we’re still going to be able to hold ourselves up once the Goddess-given gifts of strength are negated at the entrance to the forest.” Melody said quietly to Luna and Echo, out of earshot of Coral.

  “We will have to do our best. This armor will protect us from shark bites or whatever other foe wants to attack us.” Luna said matter-of-factly.

  They now swam over to Coral, who was smiling largely at them.

  “Look at you! You all look like proper warriors. I shall have to keep this memory in my mind forever.” She hugged Melody, despite the fact that she was holding a spear, and then held her out to take another look at her. “You look just like your mother did when she was your age, when she was in the chieftess’s guard.” She said. Melody cocked her head to the side.

  “Chieftess’s guard? But my mother was a siren.” Melody laughed. She looked at Coral’s pipe in her hand, wondering if her head was starting to get a bit fuzzy.

  “Oh, yes, of course, but that wasn’t until later. She was a late bloomer siren, not chosen initially at her Tiamata’pala like you were. But you didn’t already know that? That will have to be a story for another time, my dear. You should really ask your mother about it, but I would be happy to share it when I am feeling a bit more awake.” Coral suddenly yawned. “If you don’t mind excusing me, I’m going to go take a small nap in my workshop hammock.” She motioned to a hammock hanging near the hydrothermal vent. “Don’t worry, it’s far enough away to not get scalded, but the warm water does feel nice while I sleep.” She grinned and slowly floated towards her napping spot.

  “Thank you so much, Coral. I won’t forget this.” Melody shouted after her. Coral, without turning, raised a hand and waved at her.

  Melody turned back to the others. “Are you ready?” She asked. Echo and Luna both nodded in unison. They all three clanked their weapons together, then swiftly left the workshop, making their way towards the entrance of the village. Thankfully, the smithy workshop was somewhat close to the entrance, so they didn’t have to answer too many questions. Once they arrived at the entrance, they took one last look at their village before setting off into the open waters.

  Glossary (so far)

  Paki’odo: Pufferfish toxin. Taken in small doses, the mermaids can feel a sense of euphoria and intoxication from it.

  Tiamata’ka: The name of Melody’s tribe, literally “The Spear of the Goddess”

  Tiamata’pala: The coming-of-age ceremony

  Tiamata’ka’shiva: The chieftess’ title, literally “Chieftess of the Spear of the Goddess”

  Tiamata’vanya: The blood-letting ceremony

  Treach’inaka: sperm whale, literally “trench warrior”

  T’willa: Affectionate name for younger mermaids, from older mermaids.