The Mermaid's Egg

16 -- The Past

"Hurry!" she asked Kiandra "Open the windows! We need fresh air."

"Yes." Kiandra replied as she hurried over to the crystalline windows, unlocking the hatch and opening the windows as the cold air circulated inside the metallic-smelling room.

[Meara...I can't breathe...] Niamh choked as blood foamed in her mouth.

[What did you do?] she asked as Niamh cried.

[My tail...it will not turn back into legs!] Niamh coughed, blood seeping from her gills [I lost my ability to walk. I was out of the water for far too long. Curse my life! Why am I being cursed like this!]

[Please calm down.] Meara begged [You need to take it easy. Your gills dried out and any further stress could cause further hemorrhaging.] Meara glanced at Kiandra as she asked "Kiandra, please keep watch over Niamh, I need to get the medicine. If her condition changes, force her gills underwater."

"Uhm...okay." Kiandra answered as she glanced at the ill Finn. Niamh glanced at Kiandra as she waved for the young Merrow to come over closer. She gently parted the young girl's hair as she looked at the modified mark.

[You evolved again.]

"I am sorry, I still do not understand you." Kiandra softly said.

"Any changes in her condition?" Meara asked as Kiandra shook her head, stepping away from Niamh. Meara plastered a salve around Niamh's gills and forced her to drink something that smelled awful.

[Thank you, Meara. I am doing better now...you can leave.] Niamh said, lightly coughing.

[I'd feel better if I kept you under observation for two more hours, Seer. Problems still could arise. I also want to find out why you cannot transform again.]

[And what of your mate?] as Kiandra returned with her Egg, caring for it again.

"I need to stay for two more solar hours." Meara told her "Maybe you wish to rest in your room." she advised.

"I'll stay here." Kiandra said as she sat near the window, shivering.

"Okay...then come closer." as she patted the floor next to her "There is a draft near the window, and I do not want you getting sick." Kiandra sat beside Meara as they both watched Niamh. The pair of staring eyes certainly was enough to make the Finn sink deeper in the water, submerging her gills.

As they waited, the snake slithered from Meara's pocket, slithering across the floor. Even holding the Egg, Kiandra managed to grab the snake and held it.

"Uhm, you dropped this." as she handed the snake back to Meara.

"Ah, thank you." She quickly stuffed the snake back into her pocket as she wanted to study later, when she was alone. Niamh enchanted a ball of water and threw it at Kiandra as she was throwing a temper tantrum.

"Explain!" she demanded, but this time speaking Kiandra's language "I thought you two were not actually mates, but acting! So why do I sense that it is something more!?"

"Why the water works!" Kiandra cried out, dripping wet "Wait, you speak English now!?"

"Of course, silly girl!" Niamh gazed at the young human hybrid "I am a Finn; I speak all the mortal languages. Makes it easier to seduce a mortal man so I can steal their soul. I will tell you only this once. I permitted the 'act' of you two becoming mates, because it worked in my favor. But I refuse to allow a mortal to mate with a Merrow! Especially when you have no intention of staying here, star-child."

"Meara," Kiandra asked her mate "exactly what relationship do you have with her?"

Kiandra turned her focus back to Niamh as she argued with the Finfolk.