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  Amadala was stunned into silence before she too jumped into the free-for-all that had become their lives.

  She wanted to know what game Elanna was playing, scaring them like that! Then she wanted to know how she had accomplished such a feat. She wanted to know what the epimorph did to her body, what changes were there, and why she could speak to them at all when she should have been dead.

  Rage was a bit more subtle, when she asked if Elanna knew what was going to happen. Then she turned to Storm and said, “You had better hold onto this one. She beat death to be at your side.” Her sisters, ever silent, nodded and the trio departed.

  The Life Binder just nodded and said that some ties were forever.

  They escaped to the small, sun-filled cavern, trying for a little peace as they assimilated what had happened to them in such a short time.

  Then Elanna told Storm of her memory.

  “You remember what?” he asked. “What death feels like?” He was deadly serious and quiet as he gently held her in his arms, her leg resting on his fin.

  “I remember my past,” she responded as she squeezed her arms to force his arms tighter around her, comforted by his large bulk beneath her.

  “And?” he prompted as he placed a kiss upon her forehead, marveling at the feel of her flesh, soft, warm, and blessedly alive, in his arms.

  “And I need to go back,” she said quietly.

  “Elanna!” Storm all but shouted. “No!”

  “I have to!” she insisted. “What I know is of great import to the world.”

  “What you are is of great import to me!” Storm argued as he began treading water, turning her to face him as both of their bodies became vertical in the warm blue water of the sea.

  “Try to understand,” she began, and her eyes teared up as she stared at him. “What I know could save lives, Storm! It could save a lot of my people!”

  “I am your people,” he said as he gripped her arms tightly. “We are your people!”

  “I am human, Storm! I can’t turn my back on them for my happiness.”

  “But you can turn your back on me?” he asked as his body tensed up, all the relaxation and happiness he’d felt replaced by a deep sense of foreboding.

  “I am not turning my back,” Elanna argued, though she was unable to meet his eyes, and her very words caused her pain.

  “Then what do you call it?”

  “Being responsible!” she argued. “I call it doing what I have trained my whole life for, meeting my goals, realizing my dreams!”

  “And what of me?” he asked. “I thought I had become our dream!”

  “You are!” Elanna said, jerking her gaze, shimmering with unshed tears, to his. “You are the most perfect thing that I could ever imagine.”

  “Then why do you abandon your dream?”

  “For the good of my people!” she said again.

  “We are…”

  “You are my heart, my life, Storm! But what good is my life if I sacrifice thousands of people for my happiness?”

  Storm could formulate no answer for that one. He, as once a ruler, had to use this line of reasoning to comfort himself as he made a decision that affected his life for the good of his people. There was no good answer for the question. What was the life of one when compared to the lives of so many?

  “I can’t let you go, Elanna!” Storm finally said, releasing her arms and floating back from her a few feet. “How can I?”

  “We have now,” Elanna said, looking pleadingly up at him.

  “What good is now, when I live for the future?” He asked, “You are the one who taught me that, living for the future.”

  He felt a cold dark pit building in the center of his chest as he observed his mate, so recently rediscovered, and now about to become lost to him yet again.

  “I have to help my people,” she repeated as she clenched her fists and her tears began to fall freely down her cheeks.

  “You are correct,” he said quietly as he watched the silvery trail fall down her face and drop, causing faint ripples in the surface of the waters. “You are not one of my people. Mermaids cannot cry.”

  Discovering the need to be alone, he slowly sank below the surface of the water, leaving a stunned and devastated Elanna behind, treading water and crying silent tears.

  Chapter Twenty-three

  “So, you can, like, breathe underwater now?”

  Elanna turned to see Amadala, of all people, staring at her.

  She had treaded water in the same spot for what seemed like hours, and thought of the decisions she had made in her life.

  What was the right thing to do?

  She had always tried to do the right things in life, even if it cost her.

  She had studied because she knew she had the intellect to do what she wanted to do, and to make her parents happy.

  She had studied medicine, because her professors had told her that she could contribute to society, to make the world a better place for her fellow man.

  She took on the frustrating cancer research, because, if God had blessed her with the vision to muddle through problems, then she should tackle the biggest problems man had to offer.

  Now, she knew she was the only one who could complete her research, to follow up on the cure she had discovered, to adapt it to other ailments from AIDS to the common cold!

  It was the right thing to do!

  But was it worth giving up her very happiness?

  Was that not too, a gift from God?

  So she stayed there, treading water, sickened by the pain she had caused her mate, the man who had suffered so much and would suffer again when she was gone.

  But, she didn’t want to go!

  Was there a way that she could fulfill her obligations and still keep the treasure that she had in Storm?

  “What?”

  She looked in Amadala’s face but couldn’t remember what the woman had said.

  “Are you one of us now? Can you breathe underwater? Can you communicate with sound waves? Will you drown if I hold your head under?”

  “I don’t know,” Elanna sighed, her eyes downcast and her body trembling as her tears continued to flow. “Why?”

  “Because I would dearly love to drown you, human, for what you have done!”

  Amadala’s pink eyes flashed fire at her as she curled her lips in disgust.

  “What did I do?”

  Elanna was shocked by this display, and a bit frightened. She backed away from the angry Mermaid, determined not to give her the chance to make good on her wishes.

  “What did you do? Humans! You are all so blind and egotistical, not to mention selfish!”

  Amadala flung her pink hair behind her shoulders and placed her hands on her hips, her anger apparent.

  “You, human, had it all! You had a man who treasured you above all others! He loves you and you tear his heart out!”

  “I wouldn’t…”

  “You did! You destroyed him! He had just reclaimed you from the jaws of death, and now you plot to send him into insanity once more!”

  “I couldn’t…”

  “You could and you did!”

  “But I have a responsibility to my people!”

  “Since when did you care about races, Elanna? Since when did you look at Storm and decide that he was not worth saving?”

  “Storm is worth more that anything!” Elanna argued hotly, her eyes imploring the other woman to understand. “He is the best thing to ever happen to me!”

  “Then why are you throwing your happiness away?”

  The anguish in her tone told Elanna that something was wrong. The desperation in her eyes only increased that belief.

  “Amadala…”

  “I have lost the one man who would have truly loved me, human. And the tragedy is, I never realized what I had until it was gone! You know that feeling, do you not?”

  Elanna looked down, awash in the memories of the moments after her joining, when she thought that she would never see her S
torm, her quirky, irritating Fish Boy again. Never had she felt pain so great as when she knew that she was dying. Never had anything devastated her so completely.

  “Yes,” Elanna said quietly. She remembered that pain, she felt it now!

  “So tell me, what is more important, human? The fact that you live your life catering to the responsibilities of others, dead inside, or that you live your life?”

  “But I can’t abandon my people!”

  “The same people who threw you away?”

  “Not all of them are bad! Most of them are kind and honest, and just.”

  “So, my people are worth throwing away.”

  “I didn’t say that! I would never wish to leave this place! It breaks my heart just thinking about it!”

  “Then what will you do, human? You cannot live in both places. You had better chose the side on which you stand for.”

  “Why do I have to chose? Why can I not have them both?”

  “Because we are too different, Elanna. You have two legs and we have gorgeous, multicolored fins with scales that shine and glow!”

  “Well, you are missing a few sparkles, Glenda,” Elanna snarled, looking down at Amadala’s once-beautiful tail fin which now was dull and lifeless, the sparkle missing. “And I thought all good witches were supposed to sparkle.”

  “Witch?”

  “Never mind!” Elanna sighed remembering the futility of calling her witch names when she had never even seen The Wizard of Oz. “There has to be a way.”

  “So why don’t you give the humans what they want, and then come back.”

  Elanna froze. Her legs stopped treading water, and she dropped like a stone.

  It was so simple! The plan was foolproof! It was so basic and straightforward it would work!

  Sputtering, she propelled herself to the surface, smiling and laughing at the same time.

  “Amadala, you are a genius!” she laughed as with one mighty kick, she reached the woman who had given her such torment but now gave her a grand idea! Gripping her by the shoulders, she dropped a kiss on her startled lips before releasing her and dropping below the surface of the water.

  “Ish!” Amadala wailed. “Human spit! I am contaminated!” Then she paused in her furious mouth-scrubbing and tilted her head to the side.

  “Human,” she called out, curious and confused. “What did I do?”

  * * * * *

  Without thinking, Elanna sank below the waters, her mind on finding Storm and telling him this brilliant and so simple plan.

  But then she realized something…rather important.

  She was breathing! She was breathing water! She was breathing water and she was not dead!

  Elanna paused, mid-stroke, and just sank. This was impossible! This was unreal! She was breathing water!

  A broad smile spread across her lips as she realized that she could see clearly, too! No salt water burned her eyes! Everything appeared to be lit up as bright as daylight! No hidden shadows scared her; nothing could sneak up on her! She could see!

  Storm! she called out, laughing as she realized that she was sending the words as high-pitched squeals, almost like the dolphin language. And even more surprising, was that she now heard thousands of voices, so many they became background noise breaking the silence of the sea!

  The waters were alive!

  There were millions of voices out there, calling out to each other, greeting each other, sending welcome and telling of danger, ringing out warnings! There were millions of them and she could hear them all!

  Like a child with a new toy, she threw back her head and laughed her joy to the world!

  She spread her fingers and felt the thin, almost invisible membranes spread, giving her the buoyancy to swim with greater speed! She felt her lungs, taking in water painlessly, and sending it back through her body, leaving precious oxygen behind. She felt her whole body tingle as it adjusted to the cooler temperatures of the deep sea, the waters now caressing her, welcoming her home.

  She was not the same person who plummeted from the plane so many days ago! And yet, she was the same inside.

  She had a man! She loved her man! She had a plan to help her keep that man!

  She was going to succeed in fulfilling her obligations, or the whole world could go to hell in a hand basket!

  But first she had to find Storm and explain.

  She had to explain that she was leaving, but she was coming back! And nothing, come hell or high water, would keep her from her man!

  * * * * *

  “Human!” Amadala wailed, as she dropped below the surface of the water, to give chase to the excitable woman! Humans were so high-strung! “Human! Elanna, wait! What are you planning?”

  She spied what she thought was the flash of the human’s—yuck—legs, and dove toward it, pouring on all the speed she could muster.

  But then, as fates would have it, she rammed headfirst into something large and hard with powerfully muscled arms.

  “Oomph!” she grunted, as she jerked back and attempted to get the tangle of hair from her mouth and eyes.

  “Amadala?” Sting asked, as he gripped the woman by her arms and held her until she regained her equilibrium.

  “Sting?” she squeaked, as she ripped the hair from her eyes and stared, wide-eyed, at the man whom she tossed away.

  “Amadala, I need to talk to you.”

  “No, you don’t!” she denied, as she felt the unmistakable tingle of scales threatening to fall. “We don’t have time.”

  “What is the problem now?” he asked, looking grim. This place grew problems like rocks grew mold!

  “It’s the human! She is going to do something, and I don’t know what it is.”

  “Leave that human alone!” Sting roared, losing his patience. “Haven’t you done enough to them, Amadala?”

  “I was only…”

  “Trying to help?” he barked. “Haven’t you helped enough? Leave them alone!”

  “But Sting…”

  “Amadala, no! This ends right now. I cannot have a mate who is this troublesome! The council agrees. I will become co-ruler and we will share the decision-making, Amadala. Nothing more!”

  “The council!”

  “They agreed, Amadala. You are a good ruler, but you take on too much of others’ personal lives. You need to be controlled before you do harm!”

  “Me? Harm?”

  “You, Amadala! You caused so much trouble with your schemes that we almost lost the true Child of Triton and his mate.”

  “Oh, now the human is his rightful mate?”

  “Amadala…”

  “I know my name, Sting! And I care not for the council’s ruling. They can go to the sharks! Elanna is about to do something rash, and I have to stop her!”

  “Amadala…”

  “I said no! Do what you will, Sting! I shall return after I invade their lives once more. She needs help, and I intend to give it to her! It’s a pain thing. We both understand it well.”

  With that, she jerked away from Sting, leaving him with a sour taste in his mouth.

  Had he overreacted? What was wrong with the human? He had to find Storm. This did not bode well.

  Chapter Twenty-four

  Where was Storm?

  Elanna searched all over for her mate, desperate to find him and tell him of her plans.

  She checked the cave where he had first taken her, the flames still burning bright from careful tending.

  She checked the place where he stored his powders, shuddering as she entered and remembered the last time she was there.

  The space was neat and orderly, but no Storm.

  She even checked the bathing room where she had first met the triplets and Amadala had almost perished at Storm’s hands. But no luck there.

  Where could that man be?”

  She ran her hands through her hair in her frustration, for once not even complaining about the ravages of salt water on natural hair!

  She still marveled at what her body
was able to do, tolerate and accomplish, but the miracle—and it was a miracle—paled without her mate beside her.

  Depressed, her eyes stared at the sea around her, teeming with life and bubbling with energy, and it all looked gray.

  A tear filled her eye, but was quickly washed away in the salty water. The sea was no place for tears; it was made up of them.

  Then she heard it, a mournful wail that touched her heart and brought her loneliness to the forefront.

  It was a low, exacting sound, hauntingly beautiful and so eerie it sent shivers down her spine.

  Entranced, she paused, floating in her sea of tears, and concentrated on the sound.

  The distorted cry pulsed through her body, making her eyes close and her head tilt back, embracing the lonely cry, letting it become one with her.

  The ancient voice filled her waters, filled the seas, its slow pulses filled with some fathomless emotion that called to her.

  Her body began to sway with the sound, her mind connecting not with the meaning of the chords, but with the emotion they conveyed.

  It twisted her heart, made her eyes burn with unshed tears; it stilled the beating of her heart.

  “Whale song,” she heard in her mind, her brain transferring the clicking sounds into an understandable language.

  Slowly, as if she were forcing her movement through a vat of mud, she opened her eyes and turned towards the foreign sound. Nothing should disturb the tranquility of these wails and cries, she thought, as she faced the intruder to her misery.

  Amadala floated there, her bottom lip trembling as she faced the human who had taught her so much about herself.

  “Whale song,” she repeated. “They cry for us, you know. They cry for all that we are, that we were, for all that we had the potential to be. They see us as we really are, and they mourn.”

  “It does sound like a keening dirge,” Elanna allowed after examining the woman for a moment.

  Pain was etched on every surface of her countenance. It seeped from her arms, crossed defensively over her chest, to the dull sheen in her eyes. Amadala was pain.

  “They are the wise ones,” she whispered faintly.