Count On Me (Don't Tear Me Down)

They returned to the castle and Sienna looked at the sewing she left incomplete. She didn’t reallyneed it now, but having some sort of more durable clothing than the fine linens she was offered would be good. She found a place to put her new clothes and hung them up. Yang was still curled up in bed and fairly shut down. Sienna could sense the distinct lack of activity in her soul. She wasn’t asleep, but she was awake and not really thinking. She could ‘see’ Yang had her eyes closed, but she was definitely awake. She sat down to her sewing and started again. “Would you mind teaching me about money while I sew?” She figured she could listen to Johnathan talk while she sewed. “Very well.” They sat at a small table, Sienna with her legs tucked up underneath her, and she watched while he explained the different values of the coins. Well. Listened. She could see him moving coins with his hands in her peripheral vision and could definitely see and hear the different weight behind all of them. The golds were the loudest and the biggest coins while the coppers were smallest and lightest. Thankfully, it wasn’t too hard to grasp. Ten coppers to a silver, ten silvers to a gold. So a hundred coppers to a gold. He also explained the different values of things as well, obviously not wanting her to skimp out. “However, the prices of things willvary depending on where you are… If you’re near a forest with a lot of animals, animal pelts won’t be worth as much, but if you’re near a desert, they’ll be worth a lot more… It’s supply and demand.” “That does make sense. I’ve never really used money before, so I don’t entirely understand its value… But that doesn’t mean I can’t learn. I’m just used to trading and bartering with whatever we have on hand… Often that’s animal skins or gems we’ve found. Sometimes raw gold we found while panning in streams.” They would often find gold in various streams and the merchants were more than willing to accept that. But it wasn’t gold minted into actual coins; it was just small lumps of unrefined gold. Now that she was seeing how much things cost…she was pretty sure they’d gotten… She tilted her head. “Is there a term for unfair exchange of money?” “What are you thinking?” She explained and Johnathan nodded. “Yes, the term you’re looking for is ‘ripped off.’ From the sound of it, those merchants definitely took advantage of you and your people. Even small nuggets of gold are worth a fair amount… I believe you were indeed ripped off.” Sienna frowned and sighed. “Of course we were. We have…had…no conception of money or the value of things like the way you do… We traded for what we needed when we needed it and there was a merchant that had what we needed.” She really hated how people were so willing to take advantage of others… But that was well in the past now and she would need to start learning the value of things and how money worked. Yang would probably require her to go out into the city and buy her things if needed. “Will I be expected to buy things for Yang?” Johnathan shook his head. “I won’t expect you to do that, and neither will she, at least not until you’re more comfortable with money. Though I’m not sure if the duke would be happy to know you’ve been sent off on your own to go handle things.” Sienna sighed. “Yeah, you’re right about that…” She would need to be careful what she did. The others didn’t seem like they minded her handling things on her own, but the duke would probably kill her if it seemed like she was attempting to escape. This entire situation sucked. She didn’t know what she could do here… She was already feeling incredibly trapped. She had never been inside this long anywhere. She was so used to being outside with the stars, moon, and sun, feeling the wind in her hair, and having the birds singing around her. This felt so… She wasn’t sure if there was a word for it. Secluded didn’t match, neither did disconnected. Everything was just so separate from nature. It felt excessively clean. Why did people separate themselves from nature so much? She didn’t like this one bit. “I’ll help you keep tabs on the duke. I don’t think you’ll be allowed outside on your own, but for now…I’ll keep an eye on you. Unfortunately, the duke does not seem the type of man that would easily allow a ‘prize’ to go.” The word sent a chill down Sienna’s spine. She was a prize… That… She didn’t have the words.But it did fit unfortunately well. She hated it. She hated all of this. But what could she do? She was trapped unless something happened to the duke out of the blue. She wanted her freedom back, but by the same token… Would she even leave? Yang seriously needed a friend and obviously needed someone to guide her. Sienna really felt torn. If something did happen to the duke and his wife, she was pretty sure Sun would let her go. But she still felt a responsibility toward Yang and helping her get on her feet. She clearly needed soul healing and manipulation. The girl couldn’t even stand up for herself very well or easily and Sienna… Well, she knew all aboutstanding up for herself. Yang could learn a thing or two from her no doubt. “Is something on your mind?” “I don’t feel like talking about it.” Her ears went down. She didn’t trust this man enough yet to delve into those sorts of thoughts. He seemed kind and respectful but even so… He was still a stranger. All of these people were strangers to her, and it seemed like most of them were strangers to each other as well. The only ones that knew each other were Johnathan and Yang, Weiss and Sun. Other than that, they were all strangers… They just had to try to make the best of a bad situation. A really bad situation. And she still wasn’t sure how to handle things with Sun. She wasn’t sure how he’d react to the news of the reason whyhe was being married off to Yang. He definitely had anger issues; she could feel that deep in his soul. But it didn’t seem like he’d be the type to lash out at others unnecessarily. Or she at least hoped so. She closed her eyes and sighed, putting her sewing down for a minute. All of this was a nasty mess and she hated that she or Johnathan had to be the ones to break the news to him. “What should we do about Sun, you think…?” She didn’t want to see war break out between the two nations. But she didn’t want to see him suffer either. From what little she’d gathered of Efrana’s culture, they wouldn’t accept no for an answer with the marriage. And she had no ideahow things would be handled either. It was all just such a big mess. “Give me time to think on it.” Sienna nodded. That was really all she could do… She just… She hated all of this. Things fell into silence and she sighed again, picking her sewing back up. Not much to do other than focus on what she was doing…

≈

“Hey Weiss, c’mon.” Weiss blinked when Sun spoke to her. Sun had been reading some books to Weiss aloud so she could get used to how books sounded. It was all very strange to her to have things written down like that. She didn’t quite understand the purpose. She could understand having legal and business transactions written down, but why write for the sake of entertainment? The idea of novels was strange to her. Yes, the mermaids had their fair share of stories they told to pass stormy days when they couldn’t go up to the surface, but to just write them down and reread the same thing over and over again? Stories were almost always told a little differently each time, so it made it interesting to listen to. But to read…? She just couldn’t understand. “Where are we going?” “Just follow me.” He offered her a hand and she nodded. He pulled her up off the couch and he got her sandals tied for her. He kept her hand firmly in his as they started heading out of his room and well and truly outside. Weiss was still a little startled by just how much vegetation there was above land. The trees were tall and cast massive shadows. She wasn’t sure how it really worked… How did they grow so tall? Sure, seaweed and kelp could get kinda tall, but nothing like this… And the grasses were high and tall too… The land above the sea was a strange place. Not bad, just strange and alien. He led her out to the barn again. She went to head for the hay loft, but he shook his head. “Not why we’re here this time, Weiss. Follow me.” He smiled at her and tugged her hand gently. She nodded a bit and followed him regardless. It felt strange to head away from the hay loft since that was where she’d been the couple of times she’d been out here with him and/or Yang. He led her out of the barn and they passed tall… She wasn’t sure whatthese structures were. They reminded her of ship’s railing, but it was a lot taller and seemed sturdier. They were made of wood and had vast expanses of grasse between them. She could see creatures similar to Moonstone, but they lacked the distinct horns of a unicorn, and they weren’t pure white, nor did they have blue eyes. “What are they, Sun? They look like Moonstone, but they aren’t quite the same…” “They’re horses, Weiss. Yes, similar to unicorns and our aura breeds have the same intelligence as a unicorn, but they aren’t unicorns. Usually, horses run purely on instinct. Are there any animals you guys have domesticated versus ones that run purely on instinct?” “Um… We do have some domesticated animals, but they aren’t high thinking like unicorns. What’s an aura breed?” “Basically an animal that was bred to have more aura—soul energy—than normal counterparts. In turn, it gave them heightened intelligence. They can think on the same level that you and I can, but they can still be slaves to instincts.” Weiss shook her head. “We don’t have anything like that, no. Domesticated animals, sure, but nothing with extra soul energy. No high-thinking animals. Obviously, some are smarter than others… Like whales and dolphins. They’re super smart, but we haven’t domesticated them.” Trying to make a whale or dolphin do something that it didn’t want to was going to be impossible because the animals were so big… They were actually outright dangerouscompared to mermaids. Whales often hunted mermaids if they were close to the shore because they were a lot slower moving than their usual prey… “Ah… Well, most of these are aura breeds.” Sun put his fingers in his mouth and let out a shrill whistle which made Weiss clap her hands over her ears. It reminded her of dolphin whistles, but it was much more uncomfortable. In response, though, a horse came… Well, it wasn’t walking; it was doing something quicker than a walk. Not very fast, but obviously faster to cover more ground. She just…didn’t have the term for how horses moved. “This is Kuvra, my horse. Would you like to learn to ride her in due time?” He looked at her feet. “You don’t have the proper riding boots or anything, so you can’t ride safely right now. Plus, saddles are uncomfortable if you aren’t wearing pants. Would you like to see me ride her though?” Weiss blinked. “You ride those things? They’re huge! Couldn’t they hurt you?” She couldn’t help but worry. Those things were massive and no doubt weighed a lot. Not as much as a whale or dolphin by any means, but still more than big enough to cause severe damage to somebody if they lashed out. Those little things they balanced on… Force multiplied the smaller the area was. If one lashed out with its feet, then that could be badnews for a rider… “Yeah, they’re how we get around long distances. Did you think Yang and Johnathan walked the entire way here?” Weiss frowned. “I didn’t even think about it… It’s not like I know about distances on land or anything.” She really didn’t. She really didn’t go too far away from shore most of the time herself. She really stayed within a small area and didn’t venture too far out or away from it. It was weird to think land dwellers could and would go far distances if they wanted to. Of course, there were mermaids that lived in the middle of the ocean and not near shore and they often covered massive distances, but they were practically another species from the mermaids that lived close to shore. They were distinctly different and more animal like. They were not the same as shore-dwelling mermaids at all. “Well, it’s the most efficient way to cover very long distances for us. I won’t have you get on one just yet since, well, you need pants for astride or a skirt for side saddle.” “Side saddle? What’s…what’s a saddle?” “C’mon. Let’s get Kuvra in and I’ll show you.” He patted the horse’s neck and they started walking back into the barn. He took her into one of the strange small rooms with bars and closed the door behind him. He left Weiss standing there for a few minutes until he came back with strange things that looked to be made of leather. One was long and stringy while the other was incredibly thick and sturdy. “This is a bridle and a saddle. They’re how you control a horse when riding.” He went back into the room and started putting the contraptions on Kuvra. The horse didn’t argue at all and just accepted what was happening to her. He slipped the long, stringy bit over her head and put it snug around her nose, then threw a blanket over her and put the much thicker, sturdier part on her back. He led her out of the small room and took her over to a block where he got on top of her. Sun explained the different parts of what he was using to her. The bridle was to tell the horse where to go while the saddle provided a sturdy platform that would be more comfortable than riding on the horse’s bare back. The frown remained etched on Weiss’ face though. “C’mon; let’s go outside and I’ll show you how I ride.” He clucked and lightly tapped the horse with his foot, very lightly tugging the reins to take her around. She responded quickly, easily, and without hesitation. He clearly didn’t need to use much force in order to get her to comply… That was definitely good. It didn’t seem like the horse was suffering or anything. She walked alongside the horse, though at a bit of a distance. “It still looks like she could hurt you.” “Oh yeah, horses absolutely canhurt you, or even kill you. They’re large animals and their hooves are hard.” “Hooves?” “The horse’s feet.” “Oh.” That was why they looked so different. Granted, she wasn’t really used to anythinghaving feet aside from when she took her land form and when she saw Sun. It was bizarre to see basically everything have feet on land. She was so used to having all three dimensions fully accessible to her and not be limited by the ground. She was still struggling to not just swim up and touch things. She would have to… She didn’t even have the words for trying to get on top of things or use her feet to try to get higher in the air for a moment. “Um, can I ask you some basic words?” “Yeah, sure, go ahead.” She described what she was thinking. “Oh, climb and jump are the words you’re thinking of. Climb is what I did to get on Kuvra and I can even jump her.” He looked around and found a fallen tree. “Watch.” He led the horse to somewhat near the fallen tree and started having her go at…a very fast speed. The horse bunched her legs up underneath her and cleared the fallen tree without much issue. He brought her back around and smiled at Weiss. “See? Jump.” “That…was really fast.” Weiss could feel the blood drain from her face. What on earth…? How could he stand going so fast?! It seemed like a very, very bad idea to go that fast for some reason. If he fell off, that would be bad. She’d fallen into the ocean enough times after cresting from it that she understood the concept of falling. Mermaids just did not have a lot of words to describe certain things because things like jumping and climbing were entirely foreign. “You could get reallyhurt if you fell off!” “Yeah, I could, but that’s what riding lessons are for. Of course, no horse or lesson is full proof; they’re still animals that can be spooked. Horses spook veryeasily.” “Spook?” “Yeah, basically they’re what we consider large prey animals. They can be prey for any number of carnivores like wolves, bears, and such. Because of that, they can easily get upset by something strange in the environment or sights or sounds. Does that make sense?” She nodded. “I think fish can do the same… They know we hunt them as well as other predators, so they often flee when we approach.” “Same concept, I think. Prey animals don’t like being snuck up on or anything like that. Horses can buck, rear, and even strike with their hooves.” “Why do you deal with such dangerous animals?!” She really couldn’t understand. She didn’t know what some of those words were, of course, but the fact they could spook and cause so much damage freaked her out. She didn’t want Sun anywhere near them because they could hurt him or even kill him by his own testament. She knew underwater life was dangerous, but on-land somehow seemed even more dangerous. Yes there were predators in the oceans, but they generally left the mermaids and their settlements alone. But the surface dwellers actively allowed such dangerous animals near them and willingly rode them. She had no idea how they had done that. It scared her more than anything. These things were terrifying. “Do you swim with sharks or anything like that?” “I’m not an open-sea mermaid, but yes, they often do swim with sharks.” “Same concept! Sharks can hurt you but they choose to swim alongside them. Why can’t we use horses if they swim with sharks?” Weiss sighed. She obviously wasn’t going to win this fight. “I just don’t want to ride one.” “You probably should learn to, though. It’ll be a lot faster to ride a horse on a trot or canter out to the ocean rather than walk there. Plus, it’ll let you slip away without my supervision and hopefully keep my parents at bay.” Weiss frowned. “I mean it makes sense it’d be faster, but what’s a trot and canter?” “Give me a minute. Let me show you the horse gaits.” He clucked Kuvra and tugged on her reins before taking her back out into the field. She saw him start her at a walk, then go up to noticeably different speeds. He came back and explained the gaits to her. “Some gaits are better for different things is all. For long-distance travel, you want either a walk or a trot. A gallop is really meant to be a last-ditch effort to get away from something because it’ll wear the horse out incredibly quickly. A trot is the best happy medium for long-distance travel without putting the horse through a death march. But you need to learn to post in order to ride a trot. You don’t wanna stay in the saddle when trotting.” “Posting?” “Did you see how I bounced with the horse?” Weiss nodded. “That’s posting. Granted, there are some saddles that let you sit a trot but your ass will hurtif you try to sit a trot the whole time.” “I see…” She really didn’t, but she didn’t want to start arguments or anything. She was trying to understand, but the horse terrified her beyond words. She really didn’t want to get on one, but it would be the best way to get to the ocean and back especially if it was under cloak of night. The ocean could be a dangerous place at night, but she hoped that his parents would be dead asleep if she stole away under cover of night. Kuvra lifted her head and let out a soft noise which made Sun blink. She let out a string of noises that seemed to have intelligence behind them and Sun nodded slowly. “Kuvra says she can smell strange horses approaching. It’s a carriage, but she’s not entirely sure who they are.” Weiss blinked. “Huh.” “Let me get her untacked then we can go greet whoever it is.” Sun slid down off Kuvra’s back and led her back into the barn into the weird room, took off the bridle and saddle, then rubbed her down with a strange brush. She let out a huffing noise. Weiss wasn’t sure if it was a good or a bad thing, but the horse leaned into the rubbing. Well, it seemed positive if she was reacting like that… With that done, Sun started leading her back out to the fields and Weiss followed. He turned her out to the field and nodded. “Let’s go.” “All right.” Weiss fell into step beside Sun and they made their way back to the castle where a decent amount of activity and bustle happened. “I wonder what’s going on?” “Let’s go find out.” He frowned. “Hopefully we avoid my parents.” “Hopefully…” She didn’t want to meet his parents again. They could and absolutely would kill her if given the chance. It still chilled her to think that these people hated mermaids so much. She wasn’t even sure why… She could understand how and why they were mad at mermaids for accidentally luring people to their death, but they actively huntedmermaids just to kill them. She just… She couldn’t understand how and why people could be so vicious to another race when they were honestly super close in a lot of ways… They came to the front of the castle where a young man with dark skin and green hair stood. Weiss felt Sun’s soul leap in joy and he took Weiss’ hand, going at a pace faster than a walk up to him. Weiss struggled to keep up since she wasn’t used to anything faster than a walk. Sun dropped Weiss’ hand and grabbed the other young man’s, pulling him into a hug. “Sage! Long time, no see!” Sun said. “Sun, it’s been way too long, brother.” Sage grinned widely, then looked behind Sun at Weiss. “So who’s the chick?” “Ah, this is Weiss.” “Oh, the mermaid you’ve told me so much about? Legit thought she was just a myth you had concocted despite how much you talk about her. Never met her before.” Sage grinned at Weiss and waved to her, stepping away from Sun a bit. “What’s up? How’re you?” “Um… Hi?” She had never been greeted in such a…casual manner before. Not even her step-siblings or Winter treated her like this. Winter treated her with reverence and respect. Well, she was used to Sun being casual, but she wasn’t used to someone she’d just met being so casual with her. Even her friends from other noble families treated her with a certain amount of respect because she was princess of their settlement. She was just to used to respect and even outright reverencethat this took her aback. “But you thought I was fake?” “I mean I’ve never seen ya before. Sun talks about you a lot in letters, but this is the first I’m actuallyseeing of you,” Sage said. “There’s no reason for Sun to lie about me…” She frowned and looked at Sun. He shrugged, his soul saying he didn’t expect it at all either. “I’ve told the truth the entire time I’ve talked about her, Sage. She’s one of my best friends aside from you. Just because you haven’t seen her doesn’t mean she didn’t exist.You should know by now most mermaids don’t come up farther than shore unless they have good reason to do so.” “I’m not the one living on the shore like you are.” “Well, I’ve still told youthat.” Sun shook his head. “Anyway, yeah, how about we go get you settled?” He grinned. “C’mon, Weiss.” Weiss nodded and the trio went upstairs. Sage and Sun talked a lot, obviously catching up on things from being apart so long. To Weiss, it was strange having long-distance friends. She couldn’t quite wrap her mind around the concept of having a friend to write to, considering she herself couldn’t read or write. It was just beyond strange to think about that was all. But they did seem to legitimately care about each other from the way their souls pinged back and forth, then wrapped around each other. It was a lot to take in. They were definitely familiar with each other based on how their souls interacted. They headed up the stairs where Sun led Sage to a room next to his. “This’ll be your room while you’re here. Why areyou here in the first place?” Sage rubbed the back of his neck. “Badargument with my parents. They basically banished me for the next year.” “Oof. My parents are too controlling for that. If given the chance, they know I’d leave and never return. And considering I’m their last child, they need me to stick around.” Weiss could understand that to some degree… She was running away from her own problems by staying up on land. She would need to go down to the ocean once a week for a bit, and she was pretty sure she’d start getting homesick for the world beneath the waves, but for now…she was happy to be away form her abusive step-siblings and that asshat who called himself her step-father. Winter didn’t get along with him either… The marriage had really torn their family apart. “Maybe you can skip town with me when I go back,” Sage suggested. Sun shook his head. “You know my parents by now. They would be hellbenton dragging me back.” He sighed heavily. “Especially now that I have someone to marry.” “Yeah, your parents are all sortsa fucked up.” Sage shook his head. “Anyway, I need to get my servants to bring my stuff up here. Talk to you later?” Sun nodded. “Talk to you later. Honestly, if you want, you can eat dinner with me. I eat with Weiss and Weiss alone. I don’t trust the cooks to make anything. They’re mostly honest, hard-working people, but they get paid by my parents, and my parents want Weiss dead.So I’m eating in the kitchen with her alone for meals.” “All right. Sounds good then.” He grinned and waved, leaving the area. Weiss looked at Sun. “Well, he was definitely…interesting. But he’s staying here for a year?” That boggled her mind. She wasn’t used to traveling anywhere that was far away and she couldn’t imagine not going home for a year. Some mermaids did travel like that and were relay messengers between different seaside kingdoms, but most kingdoms were alone and left to their own devices. There were ways to read and write underwater, but it was all based in stone, so it was really efficient or reasonable tolearn to read and write most of the time. Stone tablets could be heavy and took time to be quarried, shaped, and then written on. Mermaids just didn’t have much communication especially with such long distances between kingdoms… “Yeah… He usually gets along with his parents, but they have massive blow-ups from time to time. He’ll come stay here while they get their heads on straight. It’s usually only for, like, six months max he stays here.” Sun shrugged. “By time he gets here, they’ve usually calmed down but want to give him space. He’ll probably leave within six months. No need to get so up in arms over it.” “I’m not… I’m just asking.” She wasn’t trying to be aggressive or anything. “He’s just…so…casual.I’m used to a lot of respect even with you. You can be casual, but you still treat me with respect. I…didn’t get much of that from him.” “Yeah, his place is a lot more casual. There are still clear ranks in his place, but because he’s from a barony, he really doesn’t have much in the way of servants; they’re more like family to him. His family only became nobles a generation or two ago. They only own a small parcel of land so they don’t care as much about things like rank and noble/commoner. Yeah, they just do things their own way. There’s still respect; it’s just a different type than you’re used to.” Weiss nodded a bit. She was a princess, and there was a clear divide between noble and commoner for her… She wasn’t sure what a ‘barony’ was since she didn’t really understand the various ranks that existed up here on land… There was so much she didn’t know or understand about this strange world. “What’s a baron?” she asked. “Oh that. It’s the lowest rank of noble that exists. Technically land holders but barely more or less. I’m a duke which is basically just one step below royalty. I mean I’m not a duke yet as that’s my father’s—” He rolled his eyes hard. “—title and my mother is dutchess. I’m guessing you guys don’t have such an extensive set of titles underwater?” Weiss shook her head. “No, we don’t. Not at all. There’s royalty, then there are commoner classes like craftsman, merchant, and so on. You’re either royalty or a commoner. There are no in-betweens. We just don’t have enough space to accommodate for that sort of thing. Plus…we don’t really farm much either. I know you’ve mentioned people that work the land before?” Sun nodded. “Yep. Most peasants are farmers who work the land in the warmer months then do other things during the colder months when nothing can grow. Some are higher ranking like merchants, but they’re all still commoners.” “Weird… We mostly just fish because it’s what works best. We don’t really have land to farm on in the first place since not much grows on the shores and light disappears fast when you’re underwater. I’ve never been to the cold, dark depths where whales often spend time. We do live off ocean plants like kelps and seaweeds, but we don’t actively cultivate them because it’s a bit hard. Either we build or we don’t. We live in harmony with nature as much as we can.” Yeah, there was no such thing as working the land in the way it was up above the water. People who gathered their natural plants, sure, but it wasn’t like they planted anything. She didn’t even know how working the land, well, worked.“How do you even cultivate plants…?” “C’mon, let’s go outside for a minute.” He tugged her hand gently and she followed behind him, leaving the pasture and horses behind. He led her to a heavily planted courtyard where there were all sorts of different colorful plants. “See these structures that have all the bright colors?” She nodded. “These are called flowers. Things like bees and birds try to get at something called nectar that the flowers produce. In due time, the flowers wither and die, then you’re left with what are called seeds.” He got on his hands and knees, digging through the various flowers until he came on something. He brought up something on a… She didn’t have the words for plants that existed on land. It was a small, green tube-like thing and, on the end, stood a lot of white puffs. He pulled some of the puffs off and held them in his hand. “These are seeds. We plant seeds every year and work with the plants that grow from them. That’s how we propagate plants.” “Huh. I never would’ve imagined.” She didn’t know anything about land plants. She really didn’t even have names for any of these things. “Flowers… They’re pretty.” Sun nodded. “They are.” He grinned a bit. “Why don’t you go sit down and I’ll be back in a bit?” She tilted her head, but nodded and found a bench where she could sit. It was definitely quiet in the courtyard but she soon found herself bored, kicking her feet and rolling the rocks around with her toes. She was so used to having to deal with her step siblings or something else. She had duties to attend to and she could only imagine how much her mother was beside herself. She still hadn’t told her family where she was. Eventually, though, Sun came back with a bunch of flowers strung together. He put in on her head like a crown, grinning broadly. “What is this?” she asked. “A flower crown. I used to hang out with some girls when I was younger, other dutchesses. They taught me how to make flower crowns. Pretty, aren’t they?” Weiss took it off her hand and examined it. There were multiple types of flowers, all strung together expertly. It was very cute and it did kind of clash with the image she had of Sun. But she smiled and put it back on her head, giggling a litte. “Very pretty.” “Just note it’ll die in a day or two. If flowers aren’t connected to their stems and roots, they eventually die off.” Weiss frowned. “Why would you kill the plants?” Just to make something pretty? She couldn’t entirely understand that. Yes, mermaids killed plenty of fish and would use their scales for decoration and clothing, but she felt like there was a difference between using something’s body for sustenance and just mindlessly killing for the sake of something beautiful. “There are plenty more flowers where that came from, Weiss. We have plenty of courtyards. It’s not like there are tens of thousands more flowers where those came from.” “Still… It feels wasteful to me.” Mermaids were all about making sure things were able to be sustained. They never took more than was necessary, unlike humans and Faunus. They had a mindset of consumption, not just doing what was needed and only what was needed. It really hurt her. Even something as innocent as a flower wasn’t safe from the fact that people found them attractive and would pluck them just for the sake of looking nice. It was one of those things that Weiss would probably neverreally get over in the end… She wasn’t sure if she’d stay on land for most of the rest of her life with Sun or not. She really did love being underwater but she was learning all sorts of things up here… It was interesting. “Weiss, it’s fine. They’re flowers.You’re making a mountain out of a molehill.” Weiss raised an eyebrow. The saying meant nothing to her. He explained about moles and mountains and how the saying made sense. “Basically you’re making a big deal out of something that isn’t that big in the first place.” She sighed. It seemed like she wasn’t going to get through to him. “Is there any way I can give the flowers back to the earth after they’ve died?” Mermaids gave as much back to the planet as was possible for them. Sun clearly wasn’t going to back down from seeing the flowers as lesser and their lives not as meaningful as Weiss thought they were. Everything that had a life was useful and meaningful in some shape, way, or form. She really didn’t understand how he could see them as ‘just’ flowers when they had been alivenot too long ago. “Yeah, you can just leave them back in a courtyard or the forest somewhere. They’ll rot and become food for the bugs and return to the earth.” “Okay then.” She wanted to give the flowers back to the earth if at all possible. It would be better than just allowing them to rot in some trash heap somewhere and not return nutrients back. Mermaids were all about the circle of life and abiding by what was needed. She really did want to make sure things like this were returned to where they had come from. It was only rightthat they were returned to from whence they came. “So what else do you wanna do? It’s starting to get close to dinner…” Weiss sighed. “We should probably get something to eat and such… I’m not sure what else I want to do today.” She put the crown back on her head and shrugged. “All I know is I don’t want to get near those…thingsagain anytime soon.” “You’re gonna need to learn to ride if you wanna go anywhere farther, Weiss.” “Sun, I can’t. I’ll literally die if I don’t submerge in water once a week. Unless you wantthat?” Her tone was normal, just slightly emphatic. She didn’t want to travel anywhere far away and possibly get lost. She wanted to stay close to the ocean and probably go no further away than she already was. “Well, at the very least, it’ll help you get to the ocean a lot faster than walking…” He shrugged. “I’m perfectly fine with walking. Those things are terrifying. The way you so nonchalantly told me they can kill you was terrifying!” Seriously, how could he be so relaxed with potentially being killed by a strike to the head or something like that?! She didn’t understand. Open-sea mermaids interacted with large predators like sharks and different types of whales (at least non-baleen feeders) and formed symbiotic relationships with them. That was honestly just as terrifying as horses were to her. Some mermaids didget eaten by whales and sharks, but those were relatively rare. She was glad… “Anyway, let’s get some food, yeah?” He held his hand out and grinned, his tail curling a bit. She nodded and took his hand, heading back inside.