Golden

Chapter Two: Match

When we arrived at the docks, I pulled my clothes off, forgetting Kai was watching. I heard him make a surprised noise and I looked back at him. He jerked his gaze away. His cheeks were reddening. I rose an eyebrow.

"What the hell, you weirdo? Stripping when I'm looking,"Kai sighed at me. "Whoever you marry will enjoy that habit, I tell you." I rolled my eyes, shifting and sitting on the dock, with my tail hanging over the edge.

"You're my brother. I don't care,"I told him. He scoffed.

"That's no excuse. You're still a girl,"Kai replied. The sunlight shown down on my tail and glittered blindingly off of them. My scales were almost like real gold. "Isla....I wanted to warn you." Kai told me, walking over. I looked away as he stripped and changed, knowing that if I kept my eyes on him while he did so it'd bother him. I hated removing my eyes from someone in the middle of a conversation. Usually eye contact was important...though I know you could argue that I had a bad habit of looking down or away. I always kept eye contact with Kai, though. He never said anything to bother or embarrass me in such a way as to look away from him. Occasionally, he'd be boring enough to make me ignore him. Still, even that was rare. "Fate...what she shows you will be disorienting. It might freak you out." He sat beside me and shifted so his tail was in view. His tail was something I wished I had. It was black and white, the same as my father. Mother's was a blue-ish green, and while that was beautiful in it's own way, black and white was rare too.

"Fate will not show me something terrifying,"I replied. I sighed at him. I crossed my arms. That wasn't completely true. Knowing your own future, and being unable to completely prevent it? That was scary in of itself. It was almost enough to make me want to not go to my coming of age ceremony. "It's not like I'd wish to see it anyways. You know it might not even be a vision, it could just be a prophecy." Kai snorted.

"It might be terrifying, that's what I'm telling you. You need to prepare yourself mentally,"Kai answered. He stared up at the sky, watching some of the clouds drift by slowly. "Besides, you know how rare actual prophecies are. It's usually always a vision." I fell silent, staring out at the ocean. It was vast and blue, and shimmered under the sun. A little ways away, some dolphins were swimming. I saw a rock in the distance with a few of the Rois family members giggling and sunbathing. I snorted. I hate other mermaids, I thought bitterly. "Don't look so down. I'm sure you'll be paired with someone as spontaneous as you truly are." I frowned. Spontaneous, huh?

"I'm not spontaneous,"I defended. "If anything I am stoic. Emotionless."

"You are too spontaneous! You've got adventure in your heart. You're just too much like mom, hiding away everything like that,"Kai laughed at me. I sighed. He shoved me into the water and jumped in after. "Come on." We swam to the mansion. We were greeted with several servants whisking me away to get me adjourned in a decorative ensemble. When I looked in the mirror, my hair was decorated with a crown made of shells and jewels. My normal everyday seashell bra was replaced with a golden one, matching the golden shade of my scales. My tail was decorated with nets and shells and jewels, stuck skillfully to the scales. Now I really looked like some girl who should be princess of her entire clan. Like that young stupid cartoon mermaid the unknowing humans of the other countries had concocted. I was lead out to the party area for the festivities. The servants swam away, leaving me alone. It was at these occasions that I normally floated in one spot to avoid being social. This time, several people took the initiative, and they swam over to greet me. My mother eventually swam over, parting the small crowd around me. Everyone bowed their heads at her. She grinned at me widely and threw her arms around me.

"You look beautiful!"She exclaimed. I gave her a half smile. My mother pulled away and gazed at me with admiration. She'd always treated me normally, though as strict as she was. It wasn't uncommon for us to argue, yet we'd always have greetings like this.