Aquata Cove

Chapter 17: Mermaid Chorus

Equipped with his trident, shoulder shells with the shark teeth cross-belts on his upper body, shell-kelp band around his head, Merrick and Adam walk to the small cliff over at the beach, under the night sky. His shell shard is vibrating and glowing on his chest as he walked.

"Is there anyway I could be there without any of them seeing me, Merrick? I'm very interested on what mermaid singing sound like."

"No, you can't, Adam. I told you, humans are an absolute danger for merfolk. If a merman even senses you, the pod must evacuate." He explained, "You HAVE to stay here." Adam pouted as they came to the spot.

"Aww, but I REALLY wanna check it out."

"You can at least SEE us. I can sense my pod about a mile or so directly in front of us. Lemme see that thing again?" Merrick said as he pointed to the bulky binoculars hanging around Adam's neck. Adam took it off of him, and handed it over. Merrick held the dual object up to his eyes, and looked around, still fascinated on how this human device allowed him to see great distances, "Yes, you'll be able to see us." He said as he gave the binoculars back.

"Alright..." He said as he put the strap back over his head, "Are you gonna come back after the recital is finished?"

"Maybe. We'll see. Chances are, my Sister will want to play with me. She's been waiting so long for this night," He said as he turned around, smiling at the clouds over the dark sky, "It's her first song. She's been so nervous and excited when we migrated back here," He turned around and embraced his human with a one-armed hug, "Lay down here, and keep low. I'll probably be back tomorrow at the latest." Merrick pulled back, and kissed Adam affectionately, before the human let go of the merman.

"Alright. Have fun, sweetie." Merrick turned back around, took a few steps and dove off of the cliff, and into the sea. Adam then crouched down, and crawled on his hands and knees to just behind the edge of the cliff, and placing himself down onto the sandy-grassy rock. He held the binoculars up to his face, and peered through them, casually glancing around on the surface here and there.

-3 Years And A Half Ago-

"Your turn, Adam," Merrick said, sitting across the human in front of him in the cove.

"Ok, umm... If you're a merman, does that mean you can talk to sea animals? Like, can merfolk tell a shark where to swim? Or have a conversation with dolphins? Or anything like that?" Adam asked.

Merrick nodded, "Yes. Mermen can, anyway."

"Wait, what does that mean?"

"Only mermen can communicate with animals of the sea. Mermaids do not have that ability."

"Why not? What can mermaids do then?"

"Mermaids possess the ability to sing." Adam scoffed at that.

"What? Come on, you're telling me mermen don't sing?"

"Mermen CAN'T sing. Only mermaids can sing, while merman can signal. Mermen swim with creatures of the sea, help us hunt and protect each other. Mermaids are able to charm the winds and give rhythm to the waves."

"Why not? How does that work?" Adam asked. Merrick put his hand on his own neck.

"It's they way are throats are - it's the difference in gender. Females can sing, and males can't. Males can signal, and females can't."

"What, so you're saying males can't sing? HUMAN males can sing." Said Adam. Merrick laughed cutely at the human.

"Hahaha, no they can't. That's impossible."

"Sure they can. LOTS of men can sing. Women too." Adam said, a little defensively.

"That CAN'T be true, Adam. No male has ever been able to sing."

"Maybe not mermen, but human men can sing."

"Ok, prove it," Merrick said with a smirk as he crossed his arms, "Sing for me."

"Heh," Adam snorted, "Alright," Adam cleared his throated, and opened his mouth, and began to sing the first lyrics of Lady Gaga's 'Bad Romance'

After that short, beginning hymn of the song, Adam saw that Merrick is starring at him, his jaw dropped as he leaned forward, and crawled to him.

"H-How in the moon did you do that??" Merrick said, his eyes wide open, "D-Do it again! L-Longer this time!" Adam chuckled as he readied his throat again, and began to sing, 'Make It Shine' by Victoria Justice.

Merrick crawled closer as he watched the human in astonishment as he lowered, rose, and sounded his voice in a rhythmic fashion.

Merrick came right up to Adam, and put his hand on his neck, and felt him as he sang. He pressed his palms around Adam's neck, feeling under his chin, and onto his chest, "Ho-How are you doing this?!" He asked, absolutely stunned by this human's capable of song, "I don't understand how this is possible!" Adam giggled as those fingers tickled his neck.

"Hehehheheh, I told you, men can sing, women too."

"Ca-Can you talk to animals too?!" Merrick asked hastily.

"No, I can't. Some humans have to train with animals for a long time before they do what they ask. I imagine it's a lot easier for mermen, isn't it?"

"Yeah..." Merrick said. He felt his own neck. Adam blinked and tilted his head.

"So... You REALLY can't sing? Have you ever even tried?"

"I can't sing, Adam... I told you, our throats just aren't the same."

"Not even when you're in human form?" Adam asked. Merrick shook his head.

"I HAVE tried... Nothing comes out when I try to sing," Merrick looked back up, "But it's still nothing short of amazing that YOU can sing. Can you sing some more for me? Please?" Adam blushed as he chuckled sheepishly.

"Ok..."

~~~

Savarna looked around, very nervously, she whimpers as her eyes dart here and there, searching here and there for a familiar male.

"Brother still is not here!" She said frantically, "Razirah Denizyr, he is still not here!"

"He is coming, Adra Savarna." The long, grey merman stated, "I sense his arrival."

"But... What if he does not come? I have been looking forward to this, how can he not be here for me???" She said nervously, "This is the first time I- WAAHH!" Savarna suddenly felt herself get tumbled forward. She was moved upside down in a wheeling spin, before she felt her hands held as she was whirled like a cycle. The mermaid then saw her brother's face, and then his body as they wheeled slowly, "BROTHER!" Savarna broke free, and hugged the Adra Triton.

"Do you really think I would miss your first song, Sister?" Merrick asked as he looped right side up.

"You were running late, Son." Said Kaiken, looking sternly down at his two Adras, "Where do you go when we come to these waters?" He asked inquisitively.

"Personal training, Father. Nothing more." Merrick stated.

"You are here," Umiato said, "That is well enough, my Son." She said with a gentle smile. Merrick nodded as he looked around.

"Are the other mermaids ready? What of Brishen's mate?"

"Penina will be joining us as well. She is apart of our Pod now." Umiato said happily. Speaking of which, the translucent, jellyfish-like mermaid came looming in, and swam towards the rest of the mermaids.

"The full moon is now upon us! Places!" Triton Kaiken announced, "May the selected mermen guards take formation!" He commanded. Ten mermen of the pod swam into a circular formation, holding their weapons at the ready in their webbed hands, and then started to send signals out into the ocean - warding sounds to keep away any manner of predator, "Mermaids, gather!"

Savarna looked nervously at her brother. Merrick smiled before he hugged her tight, "You will be fantastic, Sister. Fear not." Savarna hugged him back, kissed his cheek for good luck, and swam to the other mermaids of the pod.

"Noita Umiato shall cast the stage!" Kaiken said. The white, beautifully veil-fin mermaid then moved her hands in a slow, hypnotic movement. Her hands began glowing a mystical white aura, crystallizing the water particles around her, before allowing the white energy to slow morph into a vertical pillar from her palms. The light left her hands, yet her eyes shimmered in white glimmers as the white mass gleamed around a sphere of ice-crystal that elevated over the mermaids, rising up and growing in size and over the cluster of females. The magic soon formed an iceberg with gaps and grooves, with curved spikes on various spots of the mass.

~~~

Adam moved the binoculars around, until his spotted a large, white object from afar, "Oh! That must be it!" He said eagerly as he saw points on the iceberg rise and curl like a giant crown. He gasped and grinned as he saw a few feminine, fish-like figures climb out of the ocean, and onto the iceberg. More and more mermaids climbed onto the ice mass, gleaming with water and pulling themselves into position.

Soon, a lot of similar, and a few different mermaids were on the iceberg. "Hm?" He looked up, and around the air. Everything just went... Quiet. Everything - the wind, any far-off seagulls, birds, even the waves of the water calmed to a complete stop, as if the appearance of the mermaids muted everything in sight, even Adam felt compelled to keep completely silent, making his breaths shallow and steady as he peered through his binoculars again.

~~~

Savarna gulped as she looked around, with her mother positioned right next to her. As the Adra Noita, it is her task to start the song. She looked up at the dark clouds, at the faint glimpses of the moon's glow. Hesitantly, she took a deep breath, and began.

"Ressssssaaaaaaawwwwwwwwnnnnnnnannnooooorrrrrrraaaanniiiiiiaaaaaaaa~ Kaaaaaaaalllllllleeeeeeeeennnnnnn~~ Waaaaaaahhaaaayyyyhaaaaaayyyyyooooooo~~~"

Noita Umiato then joined in, singing second in with Sarvarna, "Leeeeeeeee~eeeeehee~heeeeyyiiiiiiii~~ Sooooonnnaaaaa~ Soooooonnnnnnaaaaa~aaaa~aaaaaaa~ Keemorrrreeeeeeeenaaaaaatuuuuuuuuussss~~~"

Three more mermaids sang in with the Noita and the Adra, "Hoooooosssoraaaaaaaaaannnnntaaaaaaannnaaaaaaa~~ Noooohhooohhhhooooorrrrraaaatoooookeeennnaaaa~~~"

After which, seven mermaids rose their wondrous voices into the melody. As they sang, the clouds began to move. A single beam of white light appeared from the mass of clouds, and lit unto the group of female Pisciens. The beam got wider and wider, showing a bright white glow in the sky.

"Sooooonnnnaaaaaaaaaa~ Morrrrrriiiiiiiiiiinnnnaaaaaataaaaaaa~~ Waaaaaaavvvaaaaaaaakaaaaaaaaaaayyyaaaaannnaaaaaa~~~"

While the mermaids rang their beautiful voices, the mermen had risen up, their heads poking up from the water, watching their mermaids and hearing their songs play into the winds and sky, spiraling the notes and sound through the atmosphere.

~~~

Adam slowly smiled, and looked in great astonishment at the far-away chorus of mermaids.

He can hear them.

Adam can hear the mermaids! He can hear them in perfect clarity! He has no idea how it's possible, but even though he is so far away, he is hearing them as if he has a front-row seat! He laughed excitedly as he hears them like he was up close, listening, right next to Merrick, as if he and him are at a musical theatre!

After a while of hearing the mermaids' singing, Adam looked up at the sky, noticing that the moonlight is pouring though. He looked in awe as the mermaids' songs seem to be very gradually clearing the sky! The human witnessed as the clouds parted away in a slow, spiraling motion, circulating around the full moon.

~~~

"Haaaassssssssaaaawwwwwwnnnnnn~ Ssssssaaaaassssshhiiiiiiiiinnnniiiiiiiiiiii~iiiiiiiiiiii~~ Sssssoooorrrroooossssrrrrroooooooo~~~"

Belinda sang as she coils her long, serpentine tail around the bouy, the water holding it afloat as she called her steady, hissing voice into the night. Even as a Coshiton and a Latolcus, she cannot resist the light of the full moon that yearns for a mermaid's song.

~~~

As Adam watched the sky and far-away iceberg of mermaids, he began to feel somethine else. His head feels light, AND heavy, intervolving inside his mind. He rolled onto his back, feeling a little dizzy. He took a moment to close his eyes to ease the sudden sensation.

His vision blocked out, Adam can see unfamiliar colors. With the notes and sounds blowing in the winds, he can see spiraling light and color. Hues and shimmers dance and fly like a melodic storm of collective majesty. He can see the interplay of souls, voices, and spirit spiraling and tangling in his mind's eye. Everything is distorting and grooving like a perpetual cloud of flames, waving whirlpools calling out for more energy, light an life.

So many voices and music is surging in his system, Adam can barely compose himself! He feels so much happening right in the space inside of his head! It's like he can hear every single mermaid on the dark, moonlit side of the world, singing from everywhere where there is a pod of merfolk, lending their voices to the silver lamp in the sky!

The symphony of mermaids is exploding in his mind, singing the lyrics of untold and unseen stories, emotions, lives, deaths! The fear and happiness, transmuting into overwhelming excitement almost commanding him to never open his eyes again! Adam feels if he opens his eyes, he'll fall off the face of the earth! The terror of falling into the sky rivals that of his desire to release from the intense tornado of mystical fantasia that rages in a dream of whirlwind feelings.

Adam finally gasped for air as his eyes flew open. The human panted as flashes and remnants of his empowered imagination still gleamed and lingered in his line of sight. He propped himself up, leaning back, and looking up to the sky. The mermaids are still singing, and the sky is completely clear, dark violet, twinkling with its infinity of stars and lights, with a large, glowing white orb at the center of everything!

Around the moon, there is a very subtle ring; a colossal, near-invisible halo that outlined the moon.

This will always be a once-in-a-lifetime moment for Adam the Human, as he panted, feeling like he was personally in the maelstrom of singing and thought.

~~~

"Adam? Adam. Wake up." Came a soft voice. Adam felt someone gently pushing on him, stirring him awake. He opened his heavy eyelids, and turning to see Merrick knelt down beside him, "I'm back, Adam. I'm sorry I took so long, my Sister wanted to play with me for a little while before I come back." Adam sighed and shivered; he feels so cold.

"Mmm... What time is it?" He mumbled as he dug for his phone to check.

5:48 am

"Oh God..." He moaned as he rubbed his eyes, "Been out here for almost 6 hours..." He smiled as he looked to his boyfriend, "That singing was fantastic." Merrick raised his eyebrows at him.

"You heard us? From all the way out here?"

"Yeah, I don't know how, but I was able to hear the mermaids all the way here." He yawned and gave a shudder before standing back up, and escorting Merrick back to his house, "So Merrick, why do mermaids sing under a full moon? You didn't explain it, you just said they do."

"Mermaids sing all the time. However, during a full moon, every mermaid who feels the light is compelled to sing to the Shining Sea Mother Atargatis; for we believe she dwells in a world from within the moon itself, and watches over us.

"Tonight was my Sister's very first song..." Merrick smiled happily, "She was spectacular..."

"And what about the clouds disappearing? Did the mermaids do that?"

"Yes. Mermaids have a small influence over the winds and tide, but the Noita is truly one with power."

"Hm? How so?" Asked Adam.

"While mermaids charm the waters and sing to the winds, it is the Noita who can truly summon hurricanes, call upon lightning, make the sky weep and infuriate the waves." Adam raised his brows.

"Whoa... That's kinda scary... I'd hate to piss off YOUR mom." He said, chuckling nervously.

"Mm," Merrick shook his head, "No. My Mother is so kind and gentle. She would never give in to wrath command a storm." Adam smiled as he hugged around his lover.

Soon, Merrick placed his trident on the corner of Adam's room, and placed his shells, shark-teeth belts, and kelp bands into a box, and slid under Adam's bed. He climbed nude into bed with his human. Adam smiled as he scooted up, and wrapped his arms around the blond to hold Merrick close, grinding his own naked body against the other. He dozed off soon after that, but Merrick seemed a little... Troubled.

He sighed as he moved his hand up to look at the neat little chain around his wrist that Adam got for him at the pier.

~~~

"My Son..." Noita Umiato said as Merrick began to swim away. The merman stopped, and turned around.

"Mother?"

"That silver on your hand..." She said as she pointed to the shiny bracelet on his wrist, "That is of HUMAN make."

"..." Merrick hesitated and looked at her, "I found it. We always find human objects, do we not?"

"... It carries a strange and foreign aura. The feeling emanating from that silver identifies with affection." She said. Merrick shrugged.

"Maybe it belonged to a human lover. I found it on the sand during my personal training. I have no idea where it came from." He lied, talking as he normally would, heavily suppressing the very thought of Adam picking it out, purchasing it, and linking it around his wrist; it is almost impossible to directly fool a Noita - they can acutely sense emotions and changes in one's aura and energy.

"... You carry a very faint trace on you... When we come to these waters, you feel different, if only a little," Umiato said, "I cannot fathom what it could be, or why you prefer to train on your own..."

"I can assure you, I have nothing to hide, Mother," Merrick said, "I must find my own method of becoming a Triton. That is all." He then turned around, and started to drift away.

"Heed my word, my Son..." Umiato told him, "Whatever you are learning and training on your own, I pray it does not involve the forbidden. As an Adra, you are given but one chance. I worry for you, you know."

Merrick glanced back to her, not daring to let in the slightest sign of guilt, "I know what I am doing, Mother. I must leave now..." With that, he swam forth.

"... I believe you, my Son..." Umiato looked after him, who soon has disappeared in the deep, dark blue, "... I believe you, because I do not desire to believe my fear..."