Chapter 147: Aella’s Journey
Despite their perfect night, Aella was happy enough to take a quick break from their vacation to head to the frigid, damp, icy beach. They walked into town, a long process with the boys, only made better by the fact that they allowed the boys to take the sleds down the hill. Nereida tied the sleds to a bush, and positioned them beneath so they were less easy to see, though Aella doubted anyone would steal the death trap “toys”.
They dressed in their warmest wools, the boys heads covered, though Aella doubted that was going to keep people from watching them. At this point, it was well known across the kingdom that Princess Nereida and her sons were sirens, and if they saw her, they’d know the boys were sirens instantly. In the capital, though, Nereida was well liked. At least that is what the servants Aella had spoken to claimed. The story of her trying to save the princess, of her weeping, of her returning kindness with kindness from those who stepped in had spread far. One of the servant’s grandfathers had received new leather boots from Nereida after he had wrapped her son’s feet in socks. She loved Nereida, and was always stopping by with extra treats from the kitchen for the boys.
The market was different as spring approached. There were more merchants about, and a lighter mood. Most of the nobles were still in the city, filling inns and spending money as easily and quickly as they breathed. Only now that the weather was starting to turn to warmth were they starting to leave. No one wanted to travel in the dead of winter, but to not appear at the King’s funeral or the new King’s coronation would have been social suicide, or so Nereida had explained.
“I missed my cousin’s coronation,” Aella revealed, when Nereida explained the frankly annoying amount of aristocrats that wandered the streets as if they owned them. Nereida stared at her with horror on her face. “Not on purpose!” Aella protested. “Damn demons attacked a convoy, and the Tooth and two of my other ships intervened. Convoy got out fine, but the Tooth, not so much. She had to limp to harbour, and I refused to leave her and go with the convoy. It was fine though, I didn’t get much flak.”
They made it to the beach after a stop in a wood shop that sold adorable toys. The boys picked out a little wooden and cloth doll, with painted eyes and long black hair in twin braids, to give to their sister.
“She’s going to be bigger soon, and needs to have her own special toy,” Alejo declared.
“Love, she’s not even half a year.”
“Yeah, but if she’s on the ship with us, she won’t have any toys.” He blinked up at her, with a tiny, sad frown. “You wouldn’t want Little Sissy to have nothing to play with, would you Stepmiral?” His blue eyes were big and round as he “pleaded” on behalf of his sister. She laughed, appreciating the manipulation, and bought her a doll, and both boys little wooden knights on horses. They squealed in delight. The old carpenter who made them smiled at her indulgence, thanking her for her business.
The beach was covered in ice and a deceptive layer of fresh snow that gleamed in the sun. It looked solid, but experience had taught Aella that stepping on the snow would cause it to break and shatter like glass, and they risked cuts.
“Stay here,” Nereida said to the boys.
“But I wanna hear the song,” Alejo protested.
“You can hear it from here,” she replied firmly. “Close your eyes and truly listen. You’ll hear me too. The song only travels over the waves.” He nodded sullenly, crossing his arms. Aella was not looking forward to the boy’s adolescent years, if he was already this sullen!
Aella watched with trepidation as Nereida picked her way across the slick, treacherous ice and snow. Her wife was not the most graceful person, and more than once the heavyset siren missed her step, smashing the ice beneath her booted foot, or scraping the ice with her lizard claws. Alejo jumped the first time she slipped as the terrible cracking sound seemed to echo over the mostly deserted beach. There were a few folks off by the docks, where the ice was broken daily and the snow shoveled into the sea, but here no one had reason to tread. No one but the head-strong siren.
“What are the songs saying, Alejo?” Aella asked, trying to distract the boy.
"It's the same message, I think, from before. It comes and goes in waves, every couple of minutes.” He closed his eyes, and Aella felt the wet, cool feeling of Alejo’s magic washing over her.
“The Tooth is coming, and she should be here by spring,” the boys said after a few minutes. “She’s not alone, she has a friend. The… uh… I don’t know the word, but a ship called the “something” of Storms.”
“The Knave of Storms?”
“Yeah!”
Aella whooped aloud. That foppish fool had done it! He was escorting her daughter to safety! If he was there, then she might not have to stay in exile from her homeland.
“Mama is singing back, telling them it’s safe and asking for when they are going to hurry up and get here.” Aella snorted back a laugh, very much doubting that her diplomatic wife had phrased it quite like that. Alejo looked up at her with a frown.
“I’m not laughing at you, crewman,” she assured him. “I’m just picturing your mother bossing around the sirens from the shoreline.” He grinned at her, and went back to listening. There was a long moment where Alejo stood still, his head cocked to the side. Egaz shifted uncomfortably, dancing back and forth on the snow, looking bored and frustrated. He sat down, played in the snow, drawing circles with his fingers.
“I can’t hear,” he admitted at last. “Just wave sounds… not even mama’s voice.”
“She’s under the waves,” Aella said, looking out over the water. Nereida had been under a long while, and she was growing worried. She looked down at Alejo. “Any word, crewman?”
“No… I think mama is waiting for something.” He sighed down to the depths of his toes. “She gets to have all the fun.”
“You can have adventures when you are grown, but not a moment before,” Aella said. He snickered at her, looking rebellious.
“Being on a pirate ship is an adventure, all the books say so!” Egaz said from the ground, more interested in his snow creation than in his brother or step mother. He was digging for stones to put in the snowman’s eyes. Aella sighed heavily, shaking her head. These boys…. Alejo looked up at her.
“They said by spring. Mama is telling them about the wedding.”
Finally, after what seemed like an hour, but was likely only minutes, Nereida came out of the water. She was shaking by the time she stumbled to them, and Aella threw her coat around her wife. She was dry, but the air had leached all the heat from the siren’s body.
“They’ll be here before the first day of spring. Jules was the last one to sing, I recognized his voice. He’s their translator. He’s still with the Tooth.” Nereida sounded relieved, and she started crying into Aella’s chest. “She wasn’t alone. She wasn’t alone.” Aella held Nereida as she cried, then lifted her chin so she would look up.
“Let’s go back to the cabin, love. They won’t be here within the week. You can warn your family after the week is out. But… I think we all need to build a few more snowmen, and use those thrice damned death traps to slide down hills and drink warm cider and tea until we fall asleep in front of the fire.”
“Paradise,” Nereida agreed, hiccuping. “Let’s pick up Damara. She should be with us.”
“Agreed,” Aella replied, though she did worry, slightly, that Damara’s presence would mean no more alone time with her wife. Ah well, there was always a cost to paradise.