Day Two

The sun trickled through a hole in our alcove and disrupted my sleep.  I rolled onto my stomach and shoved my face into the soft sea grass and sighed.  I had just slipped into a new dream when Zenaide’s smooth hand touched my shoulder. 

            “Isolde,” she said, “Isolde, it’s time to get up.  Mother wants to see you.”

            I toyed with the idea of ignoring her, but then she shook me and I knew sleep wasn’t going to happen.  My tangled mat of hair flopped in my face as I thrust my body from the spongy rock and sat up. 

            “What time is it?” I mumbled as I rubbed my webbed hands on my face. 

            “It’s 7:30.  Mother let you sleep in.”

            I pushed the hair out of my eyes and looked at Zenaide with contempt. 

            “7:30 is not sleeping in.”

            She raised her perfects eyebrows and shrugged.  I remained in bed and adjusted my eyes to the morning light as Zenaide ordered our room.  She picked up my comb and placed it on the dressing table and pulled back the seaweed from the windows.   Her iridescent tail glimmered as she swam back to the table and sat in the chair.  I watched her ivory arms shimmer in the light as she brushed her hair out with the sea urchin.  Her hair rippled and flowed like the ink of a squid, perfect and black.

            Mother’s voice echoed through the stone walls: “Isolde!”

            I threw back the sea grass mat and flopped out of bed.  The sand rose around me in billowed clouds and I coughed.  I blinked to rid the dust from my eyes and sputtered to clear my lungs, when I felt a sponge thrust in my hand.  I wiped my eyes and stared at my feet. 

            “Thanks, Zenie.”  I said with a blush.  I looked up to see Zenaide smile.  She glanced towards the entryway.  “Better hurry up.  Mother isn’t herself today.”

            I wrinkled my nose, but didn’t reply.  The golden sand of our bedroom settled as I ripped through my hair with the urchin comb and stuffed it in a spotted cowrie.  Zenaide had finished dressing and sat on her bed to weave.  Her hair cascaded down her back and shoulders and a blue sea star held in place a ribbon of red kelp.  I searched the walls to pluck a sea star so I, too, could have something fashionable.  I could only find a red one, but I set it on my hip anyhow.  I skipped the sash because I heard Mother call again.

            Mother sat in the sandy clearing, her eyes fixed on the tapestry she wove.  Without a glance my way, she picked up a new thread of sea weed and said, “Isolde, you slept in today.”

            “I know.”  It must have come across cocky, but I didn’t mean it to.  Mother looked up at me.

            “What was that?”

            “Nothing, Mother.  I’m sorry I slept in.”

            Mother looked back at her tapestry and nodded.  “It’s okay, love.  Your breakfast is on the table and your tapestry is waiting for you there.”

            I spurted to the kitchen to eat my breakfast.  The crab was slick and stringy and I relished the taste.  It was almost as good as when I had it at the Grotenburg’s.  I reached for more on the table, but Mother walked in.

            “Is that how a lady eats?”

            “No?”  I guessed.

            “No, it isn’t. You’ve had your fill, now it’s time to get to work on your tapestry.”

            I slumped in the chair and quickly sat back up again when I caught Mother’s gaze.  My hands fumbled with the threads of sea weed as I labored to produce some kind of image. 

“Is it a shark?”  Mother suggested.

“I don’t think so.”  I held back themat and squinted my eyes.  Somehow, the colors just didn’t work out.  When I started the tapestry a year ago, I had grand ideas of making a coral reef, but I learned that my fingers were far too clumsy.  I gave up on the reef idea and hoped that I could discover some other picture in the threads, but the tapestry failed to produce an image.  After an hour or so, Mother had compassion on me and let me leave that horrid work to play outside.

I scampered out of the house.  The fishherder boy was out with the Yellowtail and I hoped he hadn’t seen me with my hair up.  I coasted over the flat sands that led to the great coral heaps until at last I arrived at the main section of the reef.  The market was alive with merpeople selling crustaceans and gastropods.  I passed by one vendor who thrust out an arm covered with shiny metals. 

“Upperworld beauties for sale!  Get them from Ol’ Hurlei!” The man croaked.  My eyes locked on the jewelry and I stopped to stare.  Just then Seine tackled me from behind. 

“Hey you.” She cackled.  Her green eyes glittered.  “I have a surprise for you today.”

“What kind of surprise?”

“A secret.”  Seine oozed mischief.