The blood pounded in Riley’s ears as her heartbeat thrummed in her chest. She could not stand it as the silence stretched, and she found her fingers clasping together of their own volition. “Please,” she pleaded, suddenly feeling full to the brim with desperate emotion as if – for a moment – she believed her own lie. “I need you, Aunt Becca.”

And she did. It was more than just about Luna – though that was enough to drive her to a frantic state – but Riley desperately wanted her aunt – who had cared for her so tenderly in her youth – to meet her new family now. She wanted the old and new to mix and know her completely. She imagined Sophie and Aunt Becca would get on quite well. It was going to be a larger family reunion than she had initially thought or planned, and it meant a lot to her.

But there was still visible reluctance plastered across her Aunt’s face, and her Uncle Ixion’s brows had dipped as he frowned. Neither looked like they were inclined to agree.

She felt terrible for lying to them, and the idea that it would be for nothing and she would simply betray their trust was a powerful torment on Riley’s soul; enough that she wound up sinking to the sand, her fingers curling through the coarse grains. “I am sorry,” she whimpered through gritted teeth. “I do not know what else to do.”

Riley bowed her head and squeezed her eyes shut. A few heartbeats later, she felt tender hands cup either side of her face and slowly pull her head back up until she was staring into the softened brown gaze of her aunt.

Rebecca leaned forward until their heads touched and her eyes slid shut. “This is not a small request, Riley. I have a role to play here, among our family and I do not care to stray from those I love. But for you, I will come; it clearly means a lot to you that I do, and it would be cruel to send you back to watch those you love die without attempting to aid. But know that I cannot offer any guarantees. Injuries are one thing, but disease does not befall us often, and there may be nothing I can do.”

Riley nodded. “I understand. Thank you, Aunt Becca.” She wrapped her arms around her aunt’s neck and squeezed her tightly. Relief swept through Riley. She still felt guilty for lying, and there would likely be consequences for it, but she would deal with those as they came. She trusted they would forgive her for the false words when they learned the reason.

“We cannot leave just yet,” Aunt Becca continued. “I know you will be anxious to set out, but I require a little time to prepare. We will leave when the sun is at its peak. In the meantime, you will do something for me.”

Riley glanced up at her aunt with a slight frown marring her features. She was more than willing to assist her, but there was something in her aunt’s tone that made her weary of the request.

Her aunt pursed her lips. “I want you to go talk to her.”

Riley bristled instantly. She did not need a name to know who her aunt meant. She opened her mouth to protest, but Rebecca raised a hand and the refusal died with a gurgle in Riley’s throat.

Rebecca’s tone was sharp, her gaze hardening as she stared Riley down. “If you want me to come, you will do this, Riley,” she instructed. Though she did not bare her teeth, Riley saw the flash of her aunt’s fangs behind her pursed lips. Then Rebecca’s expression softened and she brushed some of Riley’s hair behind her ear. “I know that Iliene hurt you, Riley and that there are many unpleasant memories; but it has been a long time now. You are not a child anymore and you may find that more has changed than you think. She has made many mistakes, Riley, but she is still my sister. All I ask is that you give her – and yourself – another chance.” Rebecca’s deep brown eyes were wide and glistening with a deep, tender sorrow that had Riley glancing away.

She sighed and then hissed her frustration into the open water and lashed her fins. She did not want to do this, and when she caught Nero staring at her out the corner of her eye, she could see the sympathy etched onto his features. It was not truly her Aunt Becca who was doing her a favor, but rather the other way around. Her aunt did not know that however, and Riley knew it would take a lot to convince her to part ways with the family group she had never left; even if it was only for a short while.

Riley hissed again. “Fine,” she caved finally. This was her aunt’s price, and she would pay it. Luna deserved that, was worth it. Riley would not go back having failed before she even tried. “I will go, I will greet her, and I will try to maintain patience and not be hostile. But I will not linger to be berated or abused if she has not changed, that is not fair.”

Her Aunt Becca nodded. “That is all I can ask of you, Riley. I will be ready to leave before the sun has climbed to its peak in the day,” she stated.

Riley nodded. She supposed she should get it over with. Iliene would already know she was here – she had been unconscious for two days after all – so there was no point in delaying the inevitable. She turned in the water and lashed her fins to propel herself away from her aunt, uncle, and cousin. As she swam, she had to keep repeating in her head that this was all worth it. Her heart was squeezed into a tiny ball deep in her chest, paining her with every beat at just the thought of being in the presence of her mother.

She pulled an image of Sophie to her mind’s eye and felt a bit better, though not by much. All the joy in the world could not erase the pain her childhood had brought. She shuddered and hugged her arms to her chest, spreading her gliders and slowly flapping them to pull her through the water while allowing her tail to drift. She was stalling, purposefully ambling through the water rather than speeding ahead, but she could not help wanting a bit more time to emotionally prepare.

As she swam, Riley could not help but notice that her pod seemed far sparser than when she had last been here. She supposed that something could have happened – though she hoped not – pods could easily be desecrated by any number of things, from a scarcity of food, sickness or pollution in the water, storms, even predation could take a fair few of their numbers out if they were not careful. They did not tend to have many direct predators, and were high on their food chain, but a hungry shark or whale had been known to prey on smaller or elderly Mer.

She did not get the sense that was what had happened here, however, as there was not an air of devastation hanging over her family, and no one had mentioned anything. Rather, she imagined there had been a split.

It happened from time to time, that larger family groups would cleave in two and go their separate ways. Fighting or resource scarcity could drive them to take up smaller numbers and new dwellings. It would certainly explain why they had come here, and why they no longer migrated. They no longer seemed to have the numbers to safely travel large distances of open waters.

Riley wondered what had caused the divide in her family. Since the group dwelling here seemed so small, she could only assume that the majority had gone with the other group. She just could not quite fathom why or what had happened.

Regardless - due to the smaller numbers - it did not take Riley long to find her mother, though she hesitated to actually descend to the sand and make her presence known.

Iliene had her back to Riley, and her long blonde hair waved in the current. She had woven small strips of flowering seagrass into it, and twisted some of the front locks along the side of her skull to keep it off her face. Her skin, unlike Riley’s deep tan, was creamy like the inside of a shell, though it had darkened a bit. Riley imagined it was due to this reef being shallower than the ones her pod would normally dwell on, so Iliene probably saw more sun now.

Iliene’s scales were a deep magenta shade, that rippled up over her hips and glistened with faint flecks of green and pink all the way down to where her fins split from the tip. They were a softer, more pink shade, and were framed by two smaller fins just above that Riley felt were purely decorative, though her mother claimed she felt they helped with balance. It did not matter, really - no Mer could control the details they were born with - but there always had to be a reason for Iliene, everything had to have a specific use and purpose. Riley did not fit into the purpose Iliene had imagined for her, and that was the root of why they clashed.

Her mother could not accept that Riley was her own person, and Riley resented that she was expected to fall in line simply because it was how Iliene wanted things.

“Are you going to announce yourself, or continue to hover rudely? You never did learn anything I taught you, but I would have thought basic manners would have stuck even in your head.” Iliene’s voice had always been smooth and warm in tone, but it never failed to make Riley cringe like fangs scraping over stone.

Taking a deep breath, Riley flicked her fins and dove down to where her mother was sitting. “I did not wish to disturb you,” she replied evenly, surprising herself at the calm coolness in her speech. She regarded Iliene’s full hands, which were weaving fronds of seaweed and roots into a sack. While Mer did not tend to carry much with them or make use of tools, it was often helpful when hunting for a group to have something to carry the catch or merits of foraging back with. Iliene was always weaving.

However, she sighed and lowered her work to twist her head and regard Riley with a piercing gaze. Riley had her mother’s pale blue eyes, and she never felt wholly comfortable with their resemblance. “Why are you here, Raelyana?”

Riley gritted her teeth and squeezed her forearm with the opposite hand to keep from snapping back a retort. “It is actually still Riley,” she replied.

Iliene shrugged. “You must not be who I thought you were then. Forgive me, but I have not the time for entertaining strangers today.”

Riley sighed and resisted the urge to roll her eyes. “Does it have to be like this?”

“Why are you here?” Iliene repeated. The huff in her tone sounded tired, and Riley noted the weary slump in her shoulders. Though she tried not to let it, hurt prickled along Riley’s spine at how quickly her mother seemed to have grown tired of the conversation, and of her.

“It would have been impolite not to say ‘hello’,” Riley answered with a shrug.

Iliene nodded but her lips pressed into a scowl and her slender blonde brows dipped together over her eyes. “Very well, now how about the truth?”

Riley’s fins twitched and bubbles jettisoned from her gills as she shook her head and barely contained her frustration. “Because Aunt Becca asked me to,” she admitted with a soft growl.

Iliene threw her head back and chortled in a way that startled Riley. Her mother always pushed for things to be prim and proper, and such behavior was easily considered ill-mannered. “My sister means well, but she should learn not to meddle. Still, I should have known that she was the reason behind this conversation. No, I mean why are you here at all? You were eager enough to leave us back then. I do not remember seeing you so much as hesitate or muster a farewell before you left, and I believe I told you then not to dare returning,” Iliene snarled, baring a set of short, thick fangs. “Was the world too cruel, Raelyana? Are you hoping your family will take you back now that you have realized no one else will ever want you around?”

Riley bit her tongue to keep from snapping back. She wanted to fling the truth in Iliene’s face. She was happy, she was accepted, and she had a family a hundred times the worth Iliene would ever be. But she held it all back. Iliene would merely mock her, and Riley had no desire to share the most cherished truth of her heart to someone who would seek to tear it apart. “Why I am here is nothing to worry yourself over,” she responded icily. “I will be departing again long before dusk approaches.”

“Then go,” Iliene shrugged with a flick of her wrist. “I thought I already made it clear you were not welcome here.”

Riley opened her mouth to reply, but before she got the chance, the current around her shifted and drew her attention. Rebecca had come gliding over the dunes. She had a bright, hopeful gleam in her eyes and she brushed her fingers along Riley’s shoulder as she swam by and settled down on a protruding rock between the two. She glanced at Riley as if to ask how things were going. Riley looked away.

“You should stop trying to orchestrate these things, Rebecca. The gesture is appreciated, but there is nothing to be said that will change how things are. Riley is leaving now anyways,” Iliene decided. Her gaze twisted to meet Riley’s firmly. There was no room for argument in her hardened irises.

Riley shrugged. “I tried,” she told her aunt before pushing up off the sand and turning to leave. Just before departing, however, Riley paused and turned back with a shake of her head. It was quite possibly the last time she would engage with her birth mother, and she still had one unanswered question that burned on her tongue.

“You know what? No. Not yet,” Riley decided. She lifted her chin and met Iliene’s gaze evenly. The older Mer’s brows had dipped down, casting dark shadows over her eyes as she glowered back. “Tell me why, you owe me that much at least.”

“Why, what?” Iliene muttered with an exasperated exhale that sent tiny bubbles spilling up from her gills.

Riley lifted her chin a little higher, but her fluttering gliders betrayed her nerves. Part of her was not so sure she wanted her answer. “Tell me why I was never good enough? Why you could not accept me for who I am, or want me regardless,” she demanded. “What did I do wrong to make you hate me so much?”

She had expected Iliene to scoff, to tell her that she was being ridiculous or immature and everything she had done had been for her own good. Iliene said none of it. Instead, her gaze darkened, and her lips moved with three simple words that stabbed into Riley’s heart. “You were born.”

Riley stiffened and jerked back slightly, shocked into a stunned silence. It confirmed everything she had feared. Her mother did hate her, and clearly had since the moment she was born. Riley shook her head and bared her fangs, hissing loudly. “It is not my fault you got pregnant. Why mate if you did not want a child?”

Iliene shook her head and flicked her fins. “No, Raelyana; you misunderstand. I did want a child, more than anything. I simply did not want you.”

Between them, Rebecca’s gasp echoed through the water. “Iliene!” she scolded. “Surely you do not mean that.”

Riley shook her head. “No, Aunt Becca; it is alright,” she refused with a shake of her head. An icy calm spread through her veins as she stared Iliene down. “I do not need her to want me. I have a family. I found them all on my own. They love me for who I am, unconditionally and entirely. I have a place to belong,” she hissed. “I have a mother. One who wants me and whom I can love in return. I choose her. I do not need you, and I never did.”

There was a moment of immense satisfaction at watching Iliene’s eyes widen. Riley almost convinced herself that she saw sorrow and regret cloud the pale irises of her birth mother, but it was more likely that she imagined it. That satisfaction, however, quickly morphed into a raw, pulsing agony spilling directly from her chest. Riley turned silently and fled before Iliene could see her cry.

Riley had only made it a few tail-lengths out of sight before she sunk to the sand and curled in on herself. She had always known that Iliene saw her as a disappointment - it had always hurt - but the answers she had been given were an entirely new type of agony, one that roiled like a furious beast within. It clawed deep, burning gashes in Riley’s heart and she choked on the salt in the water as she sobbed openly. For the first time in her life, Riley felt incredibly homesick. While she tried not to show her heart too openly - lest it be stabbed again - she knew back home Sophie would require no explanation to hug her and pet her hair and simply hold her until Riley felt safe and loved again. Sophie was the mother Riley needed and wished she had always had, and she longed for her home now.

It was only a little while later that her aunt caught up to her. Rebecca curled up next to Riley in the sand and silently began to rub her back. Desperate for some form of comfort, Riley leaned into the woman. Rebecca’s face was colored with a receding red, and her gills were flaring in short, sharp bursts. When she spoke, it was through clenched teeth. “I am sorry, Riley. Iliene had no right to say those things to you. You do not understand the full story and it is not my place to enlighten you, but she should have been more sensitive. Nothing that has happened with her is your fault, and no matter what she threw at you in her pain, you were always cherished, you understand?”

Riley shook her head. “I do not need her to love me, Aunt Becca.”

“I love you,” Rebecca corrected. “I always have, and I always will. You are beautiful, Riley, inside and out. Your mother is wrong.”

Riley shook her head. “No, Aunt Becca. My mother is not wrong. My mother is actually very wise and warm and perfect, and she taught me many things about family and love and acceptance, and I think I am ready to go home now.”

Though sadness sparkled in Rebecca’s dark brown gaze, she smiled softly and took Riley’s hand in her own, lacing their fingers together. “Then let us take you home, because I would love to meet her.”