Aquata Cove: Epilogue 01

"Hmph... Why don't you ask your Grandmother?"

"Because I don't want to ask her... I want to ask you." She persisted. Merrick gives surrendering chuckle as he adjusts his legs.

"It's more or less the same with how most human beliefs claim about." He explains, "Our bodies remain in this world, abandoned. While our souls are released. We swim though the ethereal boundaries of life and reality, where we come to this place called the Shores of Light."

"So that's our version of Heaven?"

"In a sense."

"Do we... Have a Hell?"

"No." Merrick shakes his head, "No matter how good or how bad a merfolk is, evil or benevolent, the Sea Mother Atargatis welcomes all of us to Her arms. She loves us all. The Sea Mother would never let a single one of Her children be alone when we reach the Shores of Light. She forgives us for all our sins and bathes us with Her divinity."

"Hm..." Naomi ponders.

"Some merfolk even believe we're given a choice after we die."

"What choice?"

"We can either stay in the Shores of Light and serve as invisible eyes to watch over the world. Or, we can choose to be reborn again -- a clean slate, a whole new beginning."

"So reincarnation then?"

"If we want. If that's even true." Merrick answered with a smile, "I know I'll never be in the Shores of Light."

"Wait, what? Why, Dad?"

"For your Papa." Merrick answered before he turned to her, "Because what good is an eternity of bliss and radiance if my human lover can't go to the same heaven as I do?"

"Wow, Dad. That is SO cliché." Naomi mocks.

"Well screw you, bitchcakes." Merrick nudges.

"Hahaha..." After a while of sitting together to gaze at the moon, Naomi gets a little bolder. "Dad, I have another question... But if you don't want to answer, it's cool."

"Go on."

"So, Grandpa... What was he like?" She asked. Merrick's smile faded. "I mean, you say he was like Aalton, but... I want to know more about how he was when you were younger. Like, you've told me bits and pieces about him, but..."

"Heh..."

"... I'm sorry, Dad, I shouldn't have asked..." Donna has given her some tips in the past, despite Merrick's protests about the way a psychologist does things. Naomi just wants to help Merrick get through this... "I just thought talking about him might be, you know..."

"No no, you're good, Naomi." Merrick says as he rubs her arm up and down. "My Father... He was a serious hard-ass. He would almost never give a straight answer to a direct question when it came to my training, but sometimes he had a way of teaching me an entire lesson with all of the details while asking ME questions the whole time."

"Father had a weakness for seastars -- those were his guilty pleasures like how your Papa is with sweets. He could be described as a military Dad, but he always gushed for Sister, but he never talked softly to me - he was harsh to make me strong. Father also had away of summing up a lesson with a cryptic sentence to give it a metaphorical sense."

"So... How did Grandpa really react when he found out about you and Papa? You were kicked out, right?"

"Before he found out, I would always sneak away from the pod to meet with Adam every time we went to Hawaii; it was my 'personal training', as I called it. Father never heard of any sort of personal training, and eventually he caught on to what I was doing, he even assumed correctly I was meeting with a human. Heh, at that point, he started to deliberately throw accusations at me to try and make me feel so defensive that I'd straight out confess what I was doing. It worked, by the way, and... He did not like what I had to say..."

"Was he homophobic, Dad? Was that why he was so angry at you?" Naomi says, piecing together something she knows from what Merrick told her a long time ago.

"No, my being gay didn't strike with his personal beliefs. It wasn't so much that I turned out to be homosexual that was really the problem. It was because I broke two of the Sacred Laws. He was a very strict and traditional merman. Having a child who even THOUGHT about breaking a Sacred Law was beyond unfathomable. I was supposed to succeed his pod when I found a Noita..." Merrick sighed for a moment, "But that was never going to happen... He was so shocked and furious that I couldn't take on his legacy..."

"What exactly did he do then?"

"I believe that Father didn't even conceive of the very idea of same-sex love -- to this day, homosexuality is still a foreign concept to merfolk. As an Adra Triton, I was entitled to a second chance after breaking a Law... Father thought if he were to put me on trial, I would come to my senses and fall in line. And, well... You can imagine what happened next..." Merrick says, putting a hand on the back of his neck, and rubbing his heart tribal symbol.

"It was hard, not just for me, Mother or Sister... My Father lost more than an heir on that day. He lost part of himself. He lost what kept the balance of the pod. It took years for me to understand that he wasn't just angry at me, but how betrayed he felt from my deception."

"But Dad it wasn't your fault, was it?"

"Fault or no, it was never going to end well. My actions aside, Father was confused and conflicted. Mother had to talk him through the situation several times, but it was always something hard for him to handle. To have so much promise and faith in someone, and then see that it was all for nothing. Especially when it was clear that I loved Adam more than I valued the pod. He had to force himself to deny my existence. He was practically having to crash his head into the wall because that is what tradition dictated. But... Something changed... When your Papa almost died, I became lost, and..." Merrick closes his eyes as tears start to well in his eyelids again. He takes deep harsh breaths as he puts the side of his fist to his mouth as he tries to contain himself. Naomi puts her hands on his muscular arm and on his back.

"I was lost, and... He was there." Merrick's voice shook a little, "He was there when there was no one else. I was trying to let myself die, and he pulled me out of despair. He wouldn't let me go..." He shook his head as his face tense as his lungs started to hurt.

"..."

"He beat me into shape and ordered me to stand back up and walk. He told me to get my shit together and be with m... To be with my Adam..." Merrick huffs as a tear rolled and dropped. He sniffs as he wipes his eyes, "He saved me, Naomi... He saved me when all I wanted to do was disappear. God..." Merrick starts to break again as the very principle brings him to tears. He coughs and clears his throat, composing himself as best as he can.

"He was a hard learner, but he learned nonetheless. He learned that I still mattered. I was still alive, and I still needed him. We abandoned each other, Naomi." Merrick looks at her, "And that is something I hope you will never have to face. We left one another behind, but we both came back... HE pulled me back..."

Naomi scooted closer to hug Merrick from the side, "I'm sorry, Daddy..."

"I'm going to miss him, Naomi... I wish he were still alive to see our homeland... And I wish he could've met you..." Naomi moves between Merrick's legs, and he hugs her protectively from behind.

Merrick closes his eyes for a moment. How would Kaiken have reacted to Naomi? What would he have said? If he were still alive... What would he say?

///

Kaiken drifts to them, his old trident mounted on his back, chipped and worn down as always -- all this time, and he still keeps it as it has always been, hardly really bothering to have Umiato help him restore it. "Son..." He says as looke up to him drearily, "I am glad you have made it..."

"Same to you, Father." Merrick smiles, "I'm so glad..."

"And..."

"Kaiken," Umiato says as she and Naomi turn to him.

"Oh? ..." He turns and gazes upon the young white mermaid next to his wife. His eyes stare and widen at her as he takes her in, "Son... What is this?"

"She is his, Father..." Savarna says, "This is Brother's Daughter."

"Son, you..." Kaiken looks to Merrick and then back to Naomi, "You have created a child??" He floats over to her, the old Navyn Bolt putting his scarred and roughed hands to her slowly, looking at the beautiful Arctic Veil, looking back at him with his own vivid blue eyes, "She is... By the Sea Mother, she is so grown..."

"She is 16 years of age." Merrick confirms.

"16 years..." Kaiken asks weakly as he looks to him and then back, "You are 16 years born. All of that time, and we have never known you have a child?"

"Honestly, I was afraid, Father." Merrick says as he holds his arm, "See, her mother is a human. She is my blood, but she is also of human flesh as well."

"Human... Blood, and..." Kaiken mumbles as he takes this in, his mind a bit scattered from his old age, "I do not understand, Son, she is perfect..." Kaiken says as his rough hands softly caress Naomi's tender face, "She is perfect, Son, I cannot understand."

"Father never allowed me to venture farther into the sea than the sands could see the surface." Naomi says as she puts her delicate hand onto Kaiken's arm, "What's more, the ocean does not call to me as it does to him."

"The ocean embraces you, child." Kaiken says with a weary chuckle as he observes her more, "By the depths, you are just the same as my mate. You are the mirror reflection of my Noita, you even talk with her words..."

"You... Do you like her, Father?" Merrick asked, still feeling on edge.

"She is perfect, my Son, I do not understand why you have waited so long for us to meet."

"I... I was foolish and scared..." Merrick admits as he looks to the side.

"I can sense her power, Kaiken." Umiato says as she rubs his shoulders, "She holds my light."

"You have the light?" Kaiken asked, "The Sea Mother be praised..." His harsh eyes seep with the glittering hint of tears as Naomi's smile brings forth a wealth of wondrous emotions from his younger memories.

"I have taught myself only what I can discover on my own." Naomi nods, "I have only met very few other merfolk, Grandfather."

"A mermaid Daughter of my Son, the inheritance of my true love, and the creation of your own temperance from your power. You are such an overwhelming blessing, my child..."

"Come." Triton Aalton says as he comes to them, "We must move on."

"Very well." Kaiken sighs as he turns, guiding Naomi with him, "Have you sung to the full moon yet, child? Has your Father told you of our traditions?"

"Heh..." Merrick scoffs as they swim. He can already tell Kaiken is not going to give Naomi so much as 5 minutes of space for at least several days, gushing over her like he used to gush for Savarna when she was a very young mermaid. It doesn't even matter that she's half human, he looks as though he is going to be holding her for the whole year...

///

Merrick looks to the moonlit sea as this euphoric thought plays through his mind, feeling a tear of calm apathy roll down his cheek. He wanted to hear how he felt about his daughter -- he wanted to know so badly...

"I wish I could've met him too." Naomi says to break the silence, "He sounds wonderful, Dad."