k_a_webb | September Prompted Fiction: Fae School Collection: Naida's Story: 2505 words (Reply)

Based on the prompt 'a mermaid' from

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Naida, by fae law, was defined as a mermaid, because one of her parents, her father, was a merperson. Genetically she was much more fae than she was mermaid. She didn't have a tail, but both her legs and feet were covered in scales that needed to be regularly washed with salt water otherwise they'd become dry and sore. Having scales on her feet meant that she couldn't wear shoes as they were too uncomfortable. It was impossible for her to spend any length of time underwater as she hadn't inherited her father's merlungs. That was what Naida called them because he didn't have gills and yet he could still breathe normally underwater as well as above the water. At school she'd been taught it was some form of magic that gave them the ability but it wasn't a teachable magic.

Not being able to breathe underwater made it difficult for to have a relationship with her father. He had other children, some half-blood like herself and others who were pure merpeople, that had all inherited his merlungs so he spent most of his time with them. Every so often, which she defined as when he felt like dealing with his only earth bound daughter, she would spend the day with him at the beach. Occasionally she felt like she had missed out on something important but it wasn't something she could really understand. When she watched other children with their fathers she could see the bond and it made her wonder what it would be like to have that. Instead she just had her mother, which wasn't a bad thing. They'd always been really close.

Her mother, Kristin, had been disowned by most of her close family when she'd got pregnant with a merman's baby. To them it was as bad, if not worse, as having a child with a human. Naida knew of them, and she read about her grandfather in the papers sometimes, but she'd never met them. She didn't think she ever would. Then she found out that she'd managed to get a place at the best fae school in the country. It was somewhere she'd applied when she was coming up to the end of her compulsory schooling without ever believing that she would actually pass the exams with a high enough grade to actually get a place. On her first day there she'd been unlucky enough to meet her uncle, Quentin, who was her mother's much younger brother.

When she saw him walking towards her she recognised him immediately. The only person who hadn't disowned her mother, her older sister Emma, had sent recent pictures of all the younger children when Naida had been accepted into the same school as them. He was one of very few male fae who had wings. It was impossible for her to know if he even knew who she was. She had to walk past him to get into River's classroom, which was where her magic would be tested, so she kept to the other side of the corridor in an attempt to keep out of the way of his wings. The corridor was more than large enough for both of them to walk comfortably down it and yet she still walked into one of them.

“We're not related,” he said when she looked at him. “Don't tell anyone here that you're a part of my family and I won't have to make your life miserable.”

She raised an eyebrow. “I'm not a part of your family Quentin. When your parents disowned my mother they made sure of that.”

“If your mother hadn't of had a creature like you for a child then she wouldn't have been.” He ran his eyes down her body and she could see the disgust in them. “You shouldn't exist.”

“Thank you for your opinion. It's really not appreciated but I can tell you're one of those people who can't keep their mouth shut when they have something to say.” She sighed. “At least it's out in the open now and you've reminded me of why I hate the fae so much.” She went to push past his wings because she was going to be late for River but they were stronger than she had anticipated. “I have better things to do that stand here trading insults with you.”

“Leave her alone Quentin,” a male voice said from beyond the wings. “She passed the tests so she has as much right to be here as you do.”

“No mixed blood has a right to be here,” Quentin replied, but moved his wing so she could get past. “It doesn't matter if it's a fae human or a mer fae. The whole thing is wrong.”

Naida looked over at the person who had rescued her and smiled at the uncle she'd met a couple of times. It felt wrong to call Adrian her uncle because he was only three years older than her but then Quentin was also her uncle and she was older than him. Fae families were weird because the fae lived so long. Her grandfather was about three hundred so he'd had several groups of children. Kristin and Emma were a part of one group while Quentin and Adrian were a part of another group. Normally there would be at least fifty years between groups but her grandfather had got remarried and she'd accidentally got pregnant.

“Ignore him Nai,” Adrian said as she walked up to him. “He's been brainwashed.”

“Like most of your family.”

Adrian grinned at her. “I'll have to introduce you to Autumn. She's our cousin and she hasn't been brainwashed.”

“Then she's lucky.” She gave Adrian a hug. “Thanks for rescuing me.”

“You're welcome. River was getting impatient and sent me to see where you'd got to.”

Nodding, Naida stepped into River's classroom. She wasn't sure she was ready to have her magic tested because she didn't think she was very strong magically, but she knew that she had to in order to start planning her curriculum. When she'd looked through the prospectus there was nothing that really caught her eye and really that was a good thing when she had no idea what her magic was actually like.

“Afternoon Naida,” River said, from his position behind the desk at the front of the room. “I want you to stand in the middle of the room for me.”

Breathing deeply she walked to a spot that was marked on the floor that she assumed was the middle of the room. The room itself was empty apart from River, his desk and a stool next to the desk that Adrian sat on. He smiled at her encouragingly, which just made her feel more nervous. The part of her that told her it was a stupid idea to go to a fae school that focused on magic was loudly telling her that she was going to fail everything and that she should just go home, but she refused to listen to it.

“As you're a mer the first thing we need to test in your connection to water magic.” He set three glasses of water on the table. “One of these contains sea water, one contains river water, and one contains spring water. See what you can do with them.”

Naida looked River for a moment, wondering what it was he wanted from her. Then she turned her attention to the glasses of water. She didn't know what type of water each contained but she found herself drawn to the one in the middle. For a long time she just stared at it, trying to work out how she could get it to do anything, and then she felt something. It was a sensation that she didn't know how to describe that reminded her of the time she accidentally flooded the house using magic. A few moments later she realised that she was standing in a puddle of water that was slowly getting deeper.

“Stop the water,” River said.

“How?”

“You have to tell it to stop.”

“I didn't tell it to start.”

“Yes, you did.” River looked at Adrian. “They seriously have to start teaching people how to use magic at a younger age.” He turned back to Naida. “Water magic is difficult. It's all about control. Now what you did was tell the sea water that you wanted it.”

“I did want it. My feet scales were getting uncomfortable.”

River nodded. “Now you need to tell it to go back where it came from.”

“Where did it come from?”

“The sea.”

“So I have to want it to go back to the sea.”

“Yes, that's exactly what you have to want.”

Sighing, Naida focused on the water that was around her feet and tried to tell it she wanted it to go back to the sea. Part of her didn't want it to go back to the sea because it felt nice to have her feet in salt water. Instead of disappearing it started getting higher. Her trouser legs started getting wet and that was something she wasn't happy about. Wet trouser legs and scales didn't mix. Focusing hard on the water she told it she wanted it to go back to the see where it belonged.

“That was good,” River said, when all the water had disappeared. “You'll need to learn how to control it better but we know that you have an affinity with sea water, which isn't really a surprise.”

“Is it a useful skill?”

“It can be. Really everything depends on what you want to do with your life.” He smiled at her. “Now let's see if you can work with fire.” A red candle appeared in the table. “Light it.”

Naida wanted to laugh at him. “There is no way I am going to be able to light a candle.”

River just stared at her so she did as she was asked. Her mother loved candles so she knew exactly what the flame looked like. She often just sat there and watched the flames because they were pretty. The next thing she knew she was staring at a flame rather than just imagining it.

“Was that me?” she asked.

Adrian nodded, smiling at her. “It's real. I can feel the heat.”

“Make the flame bigger,” River said. The flame grew under her control. “Now smaller.” The flame shrunk. “Can you change the colour?”

Narrowing her eyes, Naida focused on the flame. She turned it purple, then blue and the black before leaving it alone. Running her tongue over her bottom lip she looked at Adrian. Adrian just smiled at her. When she looked at River he also smiled at her.

“You have better control over fire than you do over water. Very interesting.”

“Why is it interesting?”

“It means that you're much less mer than you are fae. The water side is going to need a lot more work than the fire side. Next on the list is earth.” A potted plant appeared on the desk, replacing the candle. “Some people are better with the plant and others are better with the earth around the plant.”

“While others have no connection to earth whatsoever,” Naida muttered.

“True.”

She stared at the plant, which burst into flame. River and Adrian looked at her for a moment before laughing.

“That wasn't what was meant to happen.”

It took them both some time to stop laughing.

“I don't think anyone has actually set the plant alight,” River said, putting it out with a glass of water. “What were you thinking of?”

“I'm not entirely sure. I just looked at the plant and it crossed my mind that it needed more light. Then it was alight.”

“Well you have an understanding of plant life, which is good.” The plant slowly came back to life as River stared at it. “Now try to make the plant do something other than combust.”

“I'm not sure I want to. I don't want to kill it again.”

“If you kill it again I'll bring it back to life.”

“It doesn't like being brought back to life.”

“What?”

“Well the plant is telling me that it doesn't like being brought back to life every time someone kills it. It's had enough of the job.”

“How is it telling you this?”

“I don't know. It's just talking to me.”

River looked at her. “This is something we need to work out Naida. If you have a connection to plant life then we need to know what sort of connection it is.”

“The spirit of the plant is sending me messages I think.”

“Technically that's not a connection to plant life but a connection to the spirit world in a minor way. Have you ever had any clairaudience before?”

“Not that I know of.”

“That's something we'll test later. Most fae don't have any psychic connection at all, unless there's a human somewhere in your bloodline.”

“I don't think there is. Mother's never mentioned there being a human anywhere in our family tree.”

“What about your mer side? I've heard of humans having relationships with merpeople before. It's doesn't happen very often but it's a possibility.”

Naida bit her lip. “I don't know a lot about my mer side. Father's never really been around to talk to about it and I'm not sure that I'd feel comfortable asking.”

“It might be something that you need to do if you're going to work to your strengths here.”

“I'll see what I can do.”

“Now try to do something with the plant or the earth around it that isn't setting the plant alight.”

Naida focused on the plant, sighing. It kept telling her that it didn't want to die again so she felt uncomfortable attempting to do anything to it. In the end she just gave up on the plant and tried to do something with the earth around it.

“I think it's obvious you have no connection with the Earth,” River said finally, making the plant disappear. “Air is next.”

“Is it really a good idea to play with the air?”

“Not always.”

“What should I attempt to do?”

River shrugged. “Air is one of the elements that will do anything it wants to do if it responds to your magic until you have learnt how to control it.”

“Great.”

She looked at Adrian. “Come on Nai,” he said, smiling at her. “It will be fine.”

“I appreciate your belief in me.”

Worried about what she might do, she forced herself to focus on the air and guide her magic into it as best she could. Her magic felt at its easiest to use when she was working with fire so she tried to remember what it was like then in an attempt to work with the air.

“You can stop now Naida,” River said.

She looked at River and realised that something else was on fire. All he seemed to be able to do was grin at her.