The Mermaid's Egg

10 -- The Orphan

Meara held Kiandra gently in her lap, focusing on his hurt ankle. She first worked on the open wound, taking saltwater from the ocean and used it to clean and purify the wound. She then checked to be certain that all of Caelan's barb was successfully removed.

Afterwards, she plastered the wound with the green herbal medicine and then draped seaweed over the open cut to keep out the harmful bacteria. Lastly, she placed a wooden stick on the outside of the foot to stabilize the ankle and bandaged it in place with a white cloth.

"You are very good at doing this." he commented, watching her work.

"Niamh has been a good teacher." she answered.

With the foot taken care of, she then said to him.

"Try to control your transformation. We do not want to lose the herbal paste in the water. It is difficult to make."

"Understood." he commented, keeping to himself. He said many unkind things to Meara, and then even told her about his greatest embarrassment.

When he mentioned that he possesses a set of Merrow gonads inside him, this seemed not to faze her one single bit. It was as if she already knew this.

Meara laid Kiandra back down on the thatched bedding as she had other things that she needed to attend to, and she especially wanted him to rest and recover his energy.

"Where are you going?" he asked her as she turned, glancing down at him.

"I have to prepare for a ceremony." she told him, seeming to be holding back tragic news.

"Ceremony?" he wondered what she meant.

"Do you remember Ashling?" she asked him "The young Breeder Merrow who you were trying to rescue?"

"Yes!" Kiandra nodded, quickly glancing at the Egg and then back at Meara "Is—is she doing much better? When does she want her Egg back!?"

"Uhm, Kiandra..." as this was devastation for her to say "...she passed away about an hour ago. Her injuries were far too extensive for the healers to mend."

"What?!" he cried out "No..." He slumped there as the news was far worse than he could ever imagine "...no...I told her that she was going to be okay..."

"At this moment, you are now the last Merrow Breeder alive." Meara's words striking hard in Kiandra's heart "At this hour, all Merrows are facing the real possibility that our species might be at an end. We are asking for help from the Selkies with the hatching. But there isn't any hope that they will agree."

Kiandra glanced at the lonely egg as he felt a pang inside his heart.

'It is an orphan! I couldn't save her, and now the Egg has no Breeder to hatch it!'

"Uhm," Kiandra glanced at Meara "I'd like to pay my respects to her."

"You must not." Meara said, opening the seaweed-like curtains to reveal a view straight to the water "Our customs strictly forbid Breeders from participating in the ceremony to pray for the deceased. Vengeful spirits can do terrible damage to the unborn. And with you being our last Breeder, I cannot bend this rule, not even for you. You can however watch from this window, but please stay in here and rest. The palace guards will bring you breakfast soon, please obey them."

With the windows open, Kiandra looked at the sunlight coming through.

"It...is already morning?" he asked, surprised.

"Yes." She nodded "You have been asleep for almost much of the night. I only returned at sunrise to administer the salve." She watched as Kiandra got up and walked gingerly over to the window, wincing at the discomfort in his foot.