As the squad swam across the drop off, heading southeast toward Hemssted, Felix came up alongside Merletta.
“You’ve got a lot to answer for, you know,” he told her cheerfully.
“I do?” Merletta asked, narrowing her eyes in mock wariness.
Felix nodded. “I have a little sister. She was a surprise—she’s much younger than me. Not to blow my own conch,” he said in a tone of modesty completely belied by the accompanying wink, “but I’m kind of her hero. She’s been talking for years about becoming a guard when she grows up. But now, thanks to you, she wants to be a record holder.”
“Thanks to me?” Merletta repeated, astonished.
“Well, thanks to the phase you’ve started, anyway,” Felix amended. “Every merman and his seal wants to join the program now. You’ve made it seem cool and exciting.”
“How, by publicly heaving up her breakfast in front of half the triple kingdoms at that memorial?” chimed in one of the other guards in the patrol. He sent Merletta a roguish grin, robbing the words of any malice.
She groaned at the memory, and Felix chuckled. “No, that was just how everyone heard of her in the first place. Apparently, and these are my sister’s words, not mine, Merletta has showed by being a tough outsider who can succeed against the odds that the program isn’t just for snobby stuck-up academics.”
“Oh, well…good for her, I guess,” Merletta said blankly, trying to find herself in this heroic image.
“That was pretty half-hearted for someone whose life dream is to complete the program,” laughed Felix.
Merletta acknowledged it with a rueful smile, but she didn’t have it in her to fake enthusiasm. “Reality rarely reflects our dreams, does it?”
Freja made a tutting noise with her tongue. “That’s very jaded for such a young mermaid, Merletta. It’s not like you.”
Merletta fell silent, not sure whether to be chastened or frustrated. Everyone seemed to have an idea of what she was really like, but none of it matched her own sense of self. Perhaps that was the inevitable result of her becoming so visible, through no intention of her own.
The group spent the afternoon patrolling the barrier along Hemssted’s border. Merletta couldn’t help examining the residents as they passed through the city on their way to the outskirts. They didn’t seem disapproving and cold, as Oliver and Lorraine both were. But neither was there anything familiar about them. If this had once been her home, no trace of connection remained.
The first half of the patrol was uneventful. However, when they swapped with another group, moving up to the northern part of Hemssted’s boundary, closer to Tilssted, things became more interesting. The first time they encountered a random resident attempting to cross the barrier, Merletta felt a flicker of surprise. She couldn’t remember ever seeing anyone other than herself doing so, in all her years of sneaking out of the triple kingdoms.
She’d seen merpeople outside the barrier, of course. Harvesters, hunters, guards—all with legitimate reasons that took them beyond the triple kingdoms, although never far outside. But this young merman appeared to simply be exploring. His medium-length hair was a little unkempt, and he wore no adornments in it, as she would expect a merman from Hemssted to wear. They were close enough to the boundary that he could well be from Tilssted, of course.
Freja, her manner kind enough but unyielding, directed him back inside and warned him against the danger of wandering outside the barrier alone. Merletta didn’t even feel uncomfortable to stay silent. She had to agree with Freja on this occasion—the merman didn’t look very strong, or sufficiently prepared to wander the open ocean alone.
The second time, it was a group of three—two mermaids and one merman—and they weren’t quite as young as the first one. They required a sterner approach in order to convince them to turn back, although again Merletta made no attempt to intervene in Freja’s response. She was too perplexed by the unprecedented occurrence.
The third time, Felix actually had to seize one of the inquisitive mermen and drag him back across the barrier.
The disgruntled wanderer glared at them, looking ready to do battle.
“Come on,” his companion muttered. “It’s not worth dying over.”
As he pulled his friend away, the first merman’s murmured reply came wafting through the water to Merletta’s ears.
“But you must have seen their weapons. They’re Center guards. Why are they turning us back when it’s the Center who said it might be safe to live outside the barrier now?”
Merletta froze, gripping her spear so tightly it was painful.
“Did you hear that?” Felix asked, looking perplexed. “That’s the opposite of what the Center is always reminding everyone. Why would they think the Center said anything like that?”
Merletta swallowed nervously and forced herself to move slightly in the water, knowing how suspicious her total stillness would be to any canny observer. She could only be grateful the men hadn’t recognized her somehow as the Tilssted trainee, or no doubt she would be facing some very uncomfortable questions from the rest of the patrol.
Because, she reflected as the patrol headed back to the Center a short time later, she was pretty sure she knew exactly why the random Tilssted residents would think that. Just how far had the story of her conversation with the shellsmith apprentices reached?
Chapter Thirteen
“Focus, Heath.”
Reka’s gravelly voice betrayed a hint of impatience. Most unreasonable, Heath thought, in an immortal creature with unlimited time at his disposal.