Chapter 20 of Princess of the Sea

Silira opened her eyes.

Light brighter than what she was used to shone back at her. It was about seventeen bright sunbeams, coming in the large window of a smallish room. A strong breeze blew the white linen curtains into the room. The walls shone bright yellow in the light.

Silira had a feeling that there was something she should remember. She sat up and looked out the window. It was a beautiful morning. Gulls called outside, and the sea crashed on the rocks...she knew those rocks. There was a smooth sand beach, rocks at the water's edge, foam washing up around them...the open sea...mountain peaks...the sun shining high above...

She knew this place. Somehow it was important, but she couldn't remember why. She tried to remember her days of swimming along the coast, but she had never gone this far. Where was she?

Then everything came back. Corwin, the storm, the wreck, and everything that had happened since then. This was the cathedral she had left him at. This was the place that had been her doom ever since he saw that girl.

So why was she alive?

And why did she have a tongue again?

Oh, I understand. This is heaven.

No, it couldn't be. Was she really human now? No. Her teeth were still pointed. Her eyes were still huge. Did she have her tail again?

She whipped the bedclothes away and saw her feet at the end of a long linen nightgown.

Silira did not understand any of this at all. Not the tears, or the tongue, or being alive.

Lord, I do not understand any of this. Perhaps, this being an important, though confusing, situation, maybe You can help me understand.

She tried to listen, and realized she hadn't in a long time. Why hadn't she paid any attention? Had she thought that only she could fix everything? She had fixed nothing. She had done her best and lost everything. So why did she have another chance? Why did everything seem fine now? Even the question of...

Your soul.

Silira had never really heard the voice, never thought about why she wanted to live forever, or Who she wanted to live forever with. She rolled her eyes at herself. With all her recent silence, she should have become a good listener, listened to Him.

My image is not in the body. My image is within you. You tried to save yourself and failed. I can save you. Without Me, you are foam on the sea. With Me, you are a princess. I died to save you, as you and Corwin would have died to save each other. You cannot save their souls, but they can choose Me. They always could. Millions of your kind have chosen and come to Me at the end of their lives. Your mother is waiting for you.

She didn't need to speak, but she was thankful. Extremely so. She had been so afraid and in pain and thinking it was all on her. But it was not. It never had been. Silira flopped back on the bed, arms spread out, in a mad fit of giggles that she couldn't hold back. She realized that, though she hadn't been able to speak, she had always been able to laugh. But the pain and the fear had gotten in the way.

She noticed a note on the chair and reached to pick it up.

Lady Silent,

You probably have a few questions. Here are a few answers.

You are alive because, in the wedding ceremony, Leonardo married Corwin to the woman who saved his life, and that's you, not Serena. When you threw the knife over the side, one of them found it and brought it with them to the cathedral. All the world now knows that merfolk are real, by the way. They took the knife back to Twilight, which I think is your capital city, and went to the Sea Witch. They demanded that she make a potion that would give you back your tongue and let you walk without pain. I gave you the potion while you slept. When you wake, you should be entirely well and free of the curse. Corwin is not married, not to Serena because she didn't save him, and not to you because Leonardo said Serena's name. However, no matter who he marries in the future, your life will not be in danger. I think you'll have a human lifespan, but it's hard to be sure.

We shooed the students out on a walk. Serena, Lady Audrey (the matron of the school), Queen Wintress and myself are probably downstairs in the hall, arguing. You can sneak out by going through the gallery and out the French doors.

Rosanna

Silira dropped the note, threw off the covers, and ran out of the room. She rushed through narrow passages and down spiral stairs, through guest rooms and sitting rooms and classrooms, and eventually saw the hall at the bottom of a wide flight of stairs. She didn't stop, or even slow down, but slid silently down the right banister and leaped off at the bottom. She did hear arguing in the hall, but no one noticed her, and she kept running, through the wide sunlit gallery and outside onto the beach, into the wind and the sun and the sparkling sea and the gulls flying.

Corwin was sitting on the same rocks she had hidden behind a few years ago. Her sisters were floating where she had hidden, and the wind blew a few words from Nyrie to her. "And you know the rest...I'm sorry I would have let you die."

"Don't mention it," he said, or something like it.

"Corwin!" she shouted, running to him.

He stood up and spun around. "Silent!"

"My name is Silira!" she said, running up to him.

"Silira," he said, trying to think of something clever. "I...I'm sorry. I should have seen! You were in such pain and I could have done something about it--"

"No, you couldn't," she said. "You never hurt me."

Her speech, though human, didn't exactly seem normal. She had a slight accent left over from her years in the ocean.

Corwin didn't move. "I almost killed you."

"No. None of it was your fault."

He grinned. "Thanks for not killing me."

She grinned. "Thanks for not being angry because I nearly killed you."

There was an awkward pause.

"Just kiss already," Levana groaned. "With tongues."

Eylee smacked her.

"Don't," Silira said. "It's actually a rather good idea."

"Can we save it for the wedding?" Corwin said. "Is there going to be one...Silira?"

"No," Silira said, folding her arms.

He looked like a disappointed puppy. "No?"

"I meant the kiss," she said. "Of course I'll marry you."

He coughed uncomfortably. "Ah...it's a promise of eternal love, and you don't have an immortal soul..."

"Who says I don't? The rule was made thousands of years ago, when humans came to this world with their short lives and early deaths. It was before anyone in this world had died, before we realized we could. Now, though, we know that everyone dies, and everyone has an immortal soul. The image of God isn't in the body. It's in the mind. Do you really believe you look more like Him than I do?"

Corwin put his arms around her and paused. "Tongues?"

"Like this," Silira said, sliding her arms around his neck.

The kiss was the first ever between a man and a mermaid. Something in the physiology of it made it different from other kisses. Better.

Extremely better.

She was so light that Corwin spun around and around and her feet left the ground and it didn't feel like swimming, or running, but like flying.

They would never have separated, except for the fact that Silira tripped and fell off the rock.

"My love!" Corwin yelled, running to the edge.

"It's all right," she said, splashing to the bank. "I'm not hurt--"

She gasped. There was something under the water shining and gleaming like pearls and diamonds, something bright and green and sparkling like the sea--

Corwin didn't see it and climbed down the rock onto the beach. He ran into the surf and took her arms to pull her up. Then he dropped her in his surprise. "I'm so sorry--"

Silira laughed, swimming in wide circles around the rock. "Corwin, do you think it's ugly?" She dove down deep, deep into the cool shadows, soaring through the blue, floating as if in the night sky, and then she swerved and spiraled up, spinning faster and faster until she shot out of the water, like a dolphin, but higher, almost like flying.

Corwin had tears in his eyes. "She's leaving forever."

"Silira!" Levana shouted. "He thinks you're leaving!"

She swam back toward the rock, going faster and faster until she leapt out of the water like a dolphin and landed in Corwin's arms. Corwin looked at her, a real mermaid on a rock with the wind in her hair. "Do you think it's ugly?" she repeated.

"No. It's beautiful."

Serena didn't put up too big a stink, which rather bothered Corwin. "I suppose she never loved me," he said to Silira. "Which makes sense. I mean, she punched me out the second we went into the pavilion."

She left for Aeryn, and it was agreed by all that no insult was meant to the country. The story of Corwin and Silira spread to all Aragon, and everyone loved it. Astrakhan kept complaining, but the Kadif slowed down the war effort when he realized that his navy was worth nothing against the merfolk. Silira decided to visit Twilight once a month, and to learn to read and write the humans' way.

One month later, the cathedral hall was full of guests in fabulous, splendiferous clothes. The bay was full of merfolk, except for the Sea King and Silira's grandmother, who had been carried in on wheelchairs. Corwin swallowed. He was nervous, feeling like an actor about to start a lengthy soliloquy. Henry, extremely adorable as ever, was standing next to him holding two rings. "Don't be nervous," he whispered. "She'll be in in a minute."

"I'm going to faint," Corwin whispered back.

Leonardo the priest stood on Corwin's other side, smiling. "It's normal," he whispered. "Trust me. I know."

"Or throw up," Corwin whispered.

"Stay undecided," Henry whispered. "Until she shows up...Here she is."

Corwin swallowed again and looked straight ahead.

Human and mermaid designers had collaborated on her dress, and all who saw it agreed that it was the best they'd ever seen. Shining white silk, nearly invisible lace, exquisite dressmaking, but the best part was the pearls, thousands of tiny pearls, glowing like sea spray all over the long skirt, in intricate patterns on the bodice. She wore the pearl crown that she'd worn for her ascension on her head. One of her sisters had found it in the bay.

The ceremony was a great success. Corwin did not hurl or faint, and the kiss was spectacular. Henry caught the bouquet and almost died of embarrassment. But he soon forgot his woes as they went out onto the ship for the beginning of their honeymoon.

It was sunset. Tiny spunkies shone like sparks in every part of the ship. The feast was nearly over. Desserts were scattered around the ship, and merfolk swam all around it. Silira and Corwin were together at the head table when she rose to speak. "Excuse me? Gentles of both genders and races...You already know I have some talent in the musical area..."

"Best singer in history!" Rika shouted from the sea, and cries of "Hear, hear!" rose from all around, Corwin's the loudest.

She laughed. "Whatever you say. We've already had the dancing." She had been awesome, and Corwin had been good himself. "But no one on this ship has ever heard me sing."

Cheers from all around.

Silira realized that she could finally cry, which was in the potion too. And, if you feel sorry for her people who don't have potions, then let me remind you that sometimes you want to cry for joy. And, when merpeople can't, they also rejoice infinitely more than humans do. Her eyes shone, not unlike the sea, and she took a deep breath and began, with all that was in her, to sing.

And they lived happily ever after.