Swimming In It

"Hundreds of pearls, like in the entire ocean? That is what you mean right." I replied shocked. There is no way they could have hundreds of pearls on hand. "No really; we have mugs filled with them." She grabbed my wrist, and pulled me close to the edge of the reef. As we got close I could see a similar silhouette sitting on a mug. It was Zephyr. "Hey Zeph!" Trixy said loudly with a guilty face. She obviously hadn't noticed him as quickly as I had. "You know, we have been looking everywhere for you. You just disappeared in that crowd." she was nervous and was making excuses. "Trixy are you serious!? My dad would have killed me if something happened to her." he scolded. He began to whisper, "You know with their situation. If a word leaked out, even just a slip of the tongue, and my dad would disown me, and I am sure someone would end up dead. He would flip about ruining the Slade name."

My tail turned red and Trixy noticed. She swam back and whispered in my ear. "He was joking about the someone dying thing."

"And why are you whispering to her, right in front of me?" Zephyr asked. Trixy rolled her eyes, obviously no longer feeling guilty. "You don't need to know what Etty's tail color means. The elder already told you that it changes with her mood. You don't need to know what emotions they are." She stood proudly in a superwoman stance (swim). "Oh Etty I am your big sister now." Trixy noted. With her new announcement I felt a bit better. "So in a day I managed to meet you and become your little sister. How old are you anyways?" I asked. "eighteen, so don't worry about the age gap lil' sis." Trixy smiled." Zephyr and I both smiled. "Well I hate to break it to you big sis, but I am two years older than you." She looked shocked "but you are so small and know nothing." Trixy said. She was in some form of denial. "I could say the same thing of you on land." I said with a smile. "Actually" Zephyr chimed in, "You are on the smaller end for a fish person." I folded my arms and huffed "Fine, but I am not short on land." I lied. "This is a magical fluke." Both Zephyr and Trixie held their hands up to their mouths, trying not to laugh. I glared at them. "Fine, I'm short everywhere." I raised my arms in defeat. "but I am still older than you...big sis." I stuck my tongue out at Trixie. She smiled "Okay little sis, let's show you those mugs of pearls." She gestured over the four mugs. I peaked over. This is amazing I won't have to work for months if I have these. Why do they have so many gathered?

"Can I have these?" I asked. Trixy shrugged and looked at Zephyr. "Why do you even want these? It's not like you can become an elder with somebody else's pearls." he said. "Why would I want to become an elder," I cocked my head to the side "and what does that have to do with pearls?" I asked.

Zephyr looked at Trixy. "For real? You yell at me for taking her, then you are unpleased when I don't tell her absolutely everything about aquatic lifestyle!" She crossed her arms in frustration. "Okay sassy scales. Fine I will explain." he said to Trixy. "Okay pretty lady." he said. I blushed when he called by the nickname he gave me. The tips of my tail fin turned pink as well. "Just about every common tail in all of existence wants to be an elder. Why? You may ask. Well as an elder you tend to live longer, and I mean a lot longer like fifty years extra. You also gain the ability to read the scales of other common tails. The older you get the more wise and 'magical' you seem to be. Just like how our elder could instantly tell why your tail changes color. Now here is the kicker; in order to become an elder, you need to find a pearl that matches your tail color, and you have to be the one to shuck it from whatever mollusk, clam, oyster, or mussel you find. So all of the extra unwanted pearls are thrown into these mugs. Any questions?" I stared at him "uhh...yeah. Why are there so many black, pink, and white pearls?" I asked. "Well" he said. "Those are the rarest tail colors, and the most common pearl colors." I stared at the pearls. "I saw several small children today with white tails." I said. "Well yeah" Trixie chimed in. "Remember I told you that their souls are pure at first, so their real tail color comes in when they are four or five. Remember? I told you that." Then she looked up at Zephyr, "I told her that." Zephyr looked back down at her with a mocking grin. "Sure you did little sister." he said patting her on the head. "Ahhhh I am not the little sister I am the big sister darn it!" She yelled in annoyance. I giggled. "What's so funny?" Trixy asked, genuinely unaware.

"You guys are funny, that is all. The way you interact with eachother, it's like a family." I explained. They looked at each other. Zephyr put her in a joking headlock. He rubbed the top of her head jokingly. "That's right little sis, family. Just like a REAL little sister." Trixy gave him a suspicious gaze. "Yeah like family." she said slowly. "Eh Hem..." Zephyr started again, "A white tail means your soul is completely pure, a pink tail means that you have nothing but love for anything and everything, no room for hate, and a black tail means you are not afraid of anything, and that power can be consuming. The power of a black tailed elder can sometimes lead to war. Luckily there hasn't been one of those for centuries."

"Okay that explains the elder thing, but why throw them out? They are so pretty, it's a shame." I asked.

"Well on occasion people will find an odd colored pearl. Say someone finds a blue pearl, but they have an orange tail. There may be conflict if someone finds with a blue tail sees the orange tail holding the blue pearl. The blue tail could get angry, and well become disruptive. It is best just to put the non matching colored pearls in these mugs on the side of the reef where no one sees them." I nodded my head. "So one more question. Can I have these?" I asked with a big smile on my face. "Sure why would you want them though, It's not like you can become an elder with them." Zephyr asked. Trixy answered "Apperantly they are valuable on land." He looked shocked "Why?" He asked.

I raised my hand, "Because for humans who can't breath underwater, they are hard to come by, and they are pretty and make for excellent jewelry. We also take into account that each pearl is different, and takes years to be made, it starts by a shellfish holding onto a single grain of sand. It's almost magical. Which is why they are expensive." I said matter of factly. "Okay thanks for the lesson." Trixy joked. "Hey the last two days have been a lesson for me, with a massive pop quiz." I said. "What's a pop quiz?" Trixy asked. "Right" I said, "Not everything is the same down here. It's not really anything important unless you are in high school. "High school?" Trixy asked. "I will explain tomorrow." I said. "I only have an hour left until I have to leave. So can I have the pearls?" I asked "Yeah sure it will be bit of a process bringing them back." Zephyr replied, "I will see if Felix and his pod can help." He swam off. "Who is Felix?" I asked Trixy. "Uhh" she put her hand to her head, "He is a strong porpoise tail, he will flirt with anything that swims, so be prepared." Her expression changed and she held up her finger "Also something I should tell you. You can't date, mate, or marry anyone with a different tail type. You literally can not mate with other tail types, it is physically impossible. So unless you want a completely sexless relationship or marriage you avoid other tail types." I nodded yes. "Not that you have your eyes on any other tail types." Trixy said as she pointed to Zephyr swimming over. the sun shining through the water made his tail shine as he swam towards us. My tail turned pink again. "Ha not a transition color." She said. I didn't have time to respond before Zephyr and a small pod of porpoise tail fish people swam to us. "Wow Zephyr man you found a pink tail!?" a porpoise tail said. My tail turned yellow. "Whoa man! How did you do that!" the man asked. "Umm, I don't do it on purpose, it is just like that. Hi I am Harriet." The porpoise tail grabbed my hand and kissed it. "I, Miss Harriet, am Felix, and I am here to help you." My tail fin turned green while the rest of my tail stayed yellow. "Trixy fell to the sea floor laughing. She had obviously seen the green appear on my tail. "I told you! Hahahaha, I...I..I didn't know you felt so strongly." She continued laughing. "Zeph what's wrong with that one?" Felix asked turning to talk to Zephyr. I looked at Zephyr my eyes wide open shaking my head. I didn't want anyone else to know about my scaly mood ring. Zephyr saw me and replied "What isn't wrong with her?" he mocked avoiding the obvious reason as to why she was laughing. "Okay my friendly porpoise pals this pretty lady, is recently turned and is still living on land." yells came from the multiple members of the pod. "She was turned?"."Who turned her?". "Was she turned on purpose!". "It had to be an accident!". "When did this happen?" Zephyr yelled "Everybody!" All of the porpoises went silent. "We don't know who changed her, we just found her by the nearest cove, we found her yesterday. Good to know the story we would be sticking to."

"Okay boys we need your muscle to help haul the mugs of pearls to the cove. Harriet you swim there first so you can get everything in place. Us guys will haul the mugs." I nodded and began to swim back towards the cove Trixy followed me. She grabbed my arm and swam beside me. "I'm going with her boys! Have fun with your workout!" She yelled as we swam away. "Listen 'Pretty Lady', you have that boy around your little finger. He listens to no one. That sweet guy we keep seeing, that is not the the Zephyr Slade I have known my whole life. I get you are interesting with your changing tail, but it is more than that." as she spoke my tail continued to turn pink. "He has never acted like this, you are special." I rolled my eyes as I began to speak. "You are just saying all of this because you want to see my reactions." I said. "Okay I hate to play this card but you are forcing my hand. Most of us don't go on land, because it is easier to stay in the water, however the Slade family travels to different bodies of water. So Zeph knows human anatomy." she said. "and?" I responded. "So no one else here does, but Zeph still didn't want those boys seeing you *****. Which is why he sent us, well you, ahead." She smiled as she said this. "So I am thinking a Spring wedding." Trixy joked. I hit her arm. "Don't say that you weirdo. Besides the others don't know what a human female body is supposed to look like. Why would it bug him?" I said. "Because they are porpoise tails. They have to surface regularly because they don't have gills. They see girls in swimsuits all of the time, they know what is hot." She nudged me when she said that. "How would he know if I look good, he has never seen me *****." I said. She swam in front of me and flicked my forehead. "You can be pretty thick little sis. How do you think you got back to the reef after you changed the first time. I will tell you now it wasnt Milo who carried your ***** body all the way there." Every part of me turned red. Only my top half was about embarrassment. Immediately After that my tail turned black. "That pervert did what?!" I yelled. "hmm not quite the response I expected." Trixy said. I turned tail back towards the boys. I would give that Zephyr a piece of my mind. "No Etty! I lied he didn't do that! Umm your clothes magically shrank with you!" She swam behind me panicking. I was swimming on adrenaline and rage, there is no way she would catch up to me now. As soon as I saw the boys they could see the anger in my eyes. The pod parted just leaving an oblivious Zephyr and Felix who were talking in the back. "Zephyr Slade! How dare you!" I slapped him across the face and waited for a response, my tail still black with anger. He looked utterly confused, as he rubbed his face. Felix looked like he wanted to laugh at Zephyr, but just as he began to smile; I turned my glare to him and he shrunk back. Trixy finally caught up her gills flaring violently. She swam to Zephyr and whispered an explanation in his ear. His eyes went wide and his cheeks turned red. "Uh...em... boys you keep going I need to talk to Harriet." I could hear objection coming from the middle of the pod, "Nah, we gotta see this." I looked in their direction and the porpoise tails turned around and continued carrying the pearl mugs back to the cove. His eyes wide "Okay this sounds worse than you think it is."

***Download NovelToon to enjoy a better reading experience!***