To say that I had forgotten about that secret night would be like the memories I had of mother. They were real, I remembered them both, but...it still felt like a dream, something untrue. It had already been two weeks since that fatal encounter but it never slipped my mind once, no one in their right mind would be able to forget those two humans.

I was snapped back into reality as Swish suddenly grabbed the nearby fish and gulped them down. I gave him a weak smile letting him know I was sorry, he and I were suppose to be hunting for his next meal together but my stupid brain was so preoccupied with those humans that I had seen above. I had gone back up to the surface countless times when the sun shone down on the ocean rather than the moon, but the feeling was different.

Swimming back to the castle, I accompanied my sisters to the enjoyment of the private beach that they had found. Ever since I had started coming up to the surface with them, they began talking to me about all sorts of fascinating things they saw up in the surface world.

Everything seemed to swirl inside of me, as I thought about it all. The night I broke the surface, I had wandered near the human lands where we were forbidden to go. No one knew but it explained why I had seen those humans on that vessal having a celebration of their own. Lounging on the rocks near the tidepools of the tiny island, I carefully swam over to Alise. She was the oldest of us six sisters and also the wisest, being next in line for the throne as well as the caretaker of the rest of us princesses.

I sat next to her and propped my face onto my hand, Alise looked so peaceful with her eyes closed and the sun reflecting off the droplets of water on her light blond lashes and hair.

"Alise...your the oldest among us and the wisest. Have you ever seen any humans before? What were they like?"

Slowly she opened her eyes as her blue-green eyes seemed to scan the sky for something to tell me about. Finally she frowned and her eyebrows crinkled in disappointment as she lifted her head off the rock she had been sleeping on and turned towards me to answer my question.

"Actually Breya...yes. I have seen humans before...stupid humans actually. They were either lost or trying to kill themselves since their boat was far from the shore and they looked like they both haden't eaten for a few days. Such idiotic things they were mumbling, talking to each other about the 'Bermuda Triangle'. You know? The place where father banishes all of the untamable sea monsters and unlawful people. They kept going back and forth about such sirens being there and killing all of their traveling machines."

I gave her an uncertain smile, humans didn't seem stupid...especially if they were able to make devices to travel our oceans and the sky, but it was always better to agree with Alise than to get her upset.

She looked at me before continuing, "I wished so much that I could have correctly informed them that the area was a dangerous place to travel and that not all of us were like those murderous people but...you know father forbids us from talking to humans. I kindly directed their boat in the right course and sent a small wind to usher them back to the land where they belonged. Such uncapable creatures." Shaking her head with another disapproving frown, she slunk back into the water obviously done with that conversation.

"You know what I think?" 

Startled, I turned around to see Anemone, the second eldest and our bold sister of the bunch. She was unique with her bright red hair that resembled the fire coral protecting the reefs. 

"Humans can't be stupid...I mean they flipping made large boats to sail the oceans and machines that can fly through the sky. Breya, they efficiently hunt for our fishes and are even able to dive down into the sea without gills like us." She paused before a humorous twinlke appeared in her eyes and a small smile appeared on her face.

"Although I will admit that they are very very foolish creatures that constantly fight and bicker with one another like hungry sharks. Their arguments and the supposed reasons for these arguments are very foolish, so many sea creatures have told me of the nature of them, but...the weapons that they use to conduct these wars are quite intriguing."

At that, I frowned. Anemone was always known to be the best at strategy and knew how to set traps and plans whenever there were sea creatures or our own people that tried to attack or even wage a uprising. Everyone knew that she was most definately going to be the next leader of the Shuí guards and protector of the seas, but I never was comfortable with her discussing these things with me.

"Think about it Breya, you know those large black pufferfish balls that the humans dropped into the sea long ago? Father called them mines, although that is such a stupid name, 'Mine'?

Ha, with a single touch of a ball and you won't want it to be yours anymore. Or how about those underwater vessals that they have, the one's with quills that use to shoot out of the sides and blow up whatever they touched?

Submarines were the vessel names and those quills were called rockets. I enchanted a soldier to tell me their names and how they were used before leaving him to think that...."

She stopped talking after noticing my slight squirming and darting eyes, "Ah um...maybe Evylon can tell you about her thoughts on humans instead Breya."

With a sheepish smile and a scratch on her neck, Anemone splashed Evylon who had been busy collecting abalone shells to decorate herself with. Rolling her eyes Evylon stopped her little collection and turned her icy blue eyes towards both of us. 

Evylon had the beauty and the voice to immediately become one of the watchgirls of the kingdom but I doubted that she had the motivation. She constantly had suitors who would try to win her affection but my third eldest sister, Evylon, had a heart most likely made of the pretty fossils she collected, dead and unfeeling. 

Fluttering her thick lashes and tossing her wavy pale-blonde locks behind her shoulder, she leaned forward with a sigh and tsked at the both of us. "Humans may have fancy gadgets but they sure are greedy. They are always taking fish and jewels from the depths of the ocean, I can barely find enough pear shells to put on my tail, pearl shells...their not even pearls."

She leaned back and tilted her face towards the rays of the sun before continuing her thoughts,

"The coral, the abalone, the turtles, even the ammolite's remains...should I go on? My flipping tail doesn't have enough room to be decorated with the amount of things they take from the ocean. They don't even have tails, it's humorous to think of them wearing all of that jewelry...it's not like they don't have enough shiny rocks up there to decorate themselves. I've looked through the lost human ships and I've found plenty of shiny rocks that they fashion into jewelry, ugh such greedy creatures always wanting more and more."

In a fuss, Evylon began swishing her dark blue tail to the point where the small stack of shells she had collected toppled back into the water. With a huff and a glare, she went back to collecting the fallen shells from the small tidepool.

Slipping back into the waters, I left Anemone and Evylon to sunbathing and shell collecting, shaking my head at the hypocritical remarks Evylon made and the dangerous ones that fascinated Anemone.

Swimming around aimlessly in circles I closed my eyes, while three of my elder sister's opinions ran throughout my mind, being new to the upper world I had no right in arguing with the things they had seen but....it just didn't seem right, what about the beauty of those humans and the enchanting songs they sang? 

Darting down to the little reef a few feet from the mini island, I spotted Kalin and Asa, the twins and the sisters closest to me in age. Kalin was the elder twin but acted much younger than Asa who although younger, had a love for taking care of the ocean and everything within it. 

No one except our Alise, our eldest sister, and I were able to tell the two girls apart, they were identical in look and acted identical when they were out in gatherings. With their long and straight white hair, light pink eyes and similar features, it was like looking at a reflection of a single girl. Kalin who was busy frolicking with the numerous fish around her, spotted me first and beckoned me over with a cheery smile.

She was surprisingly naive and innocent despite not being the yongest of us fishlings and almost always saw the positives to a problem. 

Making my slow and leisurely way over to them, a bright yellow fish immediately came over to me and stuck close to my side as I wove through the coral. Kalin was already sitting on a brain coral as I immediately extended the telepathic communication line to her and Asa. Unintentionally, the question I had slipped to my three eldest  sisters darted through the line and presented itself to the twins.

Kalin looked up at me and blinked slowly before a sorrowful smile appeared on her face.

'Breya, humans are poor helpless creatures. They are very...creative in their endeavors but overall they are quite weak without their devices. They aren't fast and can't swim that far, but they are like children, you know?'

I shook my head, confused with what she had been telling me and what Alise, Anemone and Evylon had told me about them. 

'For example Breya, the humans have soft skin and two tails. We have soft skin and also scales to protect ourselves, also we have one tail to powerfully propell us through the water. Those humans are ever so curious about the world around them but they don't understand that they are not in control of everything as they think that they are.

Their human boys can be very handsome, like some of the males in the kingdom. Although...they are weak as well, they possess no gills and seem to die far to quickly whenever they begin to sink in their ships. By the time they reach our floors, they have all died!'

Asa and I turned to look at Kalin who had just said something quite dark in a light and conversational manner. With a quick intake of the seawater, I turned to Asa and waited patiently for the more mature younger twin to speak her mind.

Slowly shaking her head, Asa turned her solomn wide pink eyes at me before speaking

'Humans...they may act childish.......but their also cruel. We don't block them from swimming in our oceans or exploring our depths but they show us....respect by...by harming our home! They steal and take creatures from the oceans to satisfy their needs, sometimes even killing them just for sport. Whenever I go out near the shallow reefs their boats always seem to destroy the bones of the reef and the homes of the fish.

Breya...the things they put into the ocean is horrible, not even they would be able to survive it. The small fish that are....are....forced to live in those conditions either die or...or they often turn horribly mutated'

Kalin and I rushed over to Asa who looked like she was about to burst into a saddening tuneless melody. 

I had never quite seen my sister's opinions and mindsets be as quite different about the land dwellers as it had been at the small island. As soon as Kalin and I got Asa to calm down, I immediately headed back to the kingdom. I was just so intrigued by the upper world and the advice from my sisters didn't match any of what I seemed to have seen on that celebration on the boat.

I wanted to ask my grand-mother who seemed to always see and know what was to come before it happened. She was the wisest and always helped father with the management of the kingdom and the people, the sea gardens were the place she most commonly spent any time in. 

Grandmother was already swimming through the thick warm waters of the kelp forest by the time I arrived. The playful seals circled and nudged her to pet them as she swam around the plants making sure that they were healthy and growing strong. My telepathic line with grandmother was almost always the strongest and quickest to connect, I spent much of my time with the wise woman who had often hinted the futures of my sisters to me.

Beckoning me to follow, she kept swimming and checking the status of the tall and thick seagrass. I didn't bother asking her anything since she already knew my past, present, and future actions. After she was satsified with the results of the plants, grandmother turned around and looked at me with a loving smile and on the cheek.

Sinking to the ground of the sea garden, she took a comfortable seat against the plants before observing me observing her.

Although one of the eldest people of our kingdom, she had a tough heart and did not give up until her goal was achieved. Grandmother was not a person to break promises, but she had promised me once that I would see mother again although I had been a little girl back then. Her vivid green eyes and tail paired with the youthfulness of her features disguised her true age and wisdom that she possessed.

"Breya.......my youngest, no person that you ask within our kingdom will be able to answer all of the questions that you seek an answer to. It never hurt to explore and question, but you must always remember to use your head over your heart.

If you truly need to know the answer, there is a seawitch out near the jagged caves of the west. She can be quite a tricky sea witch but she is mostly honest in her trade and will be able to answer any questions that you have about the land dwellers. I won't tell your father about your curiousity but take heed and make sure that you are not spotted or caught."

I sat stunned at the bluntness and quick answer that grandmother had given me, usually it was riddles and tests or tricks but was it possible that she did not know about the upper world either?

Getting up, she opened a sea vortex for me to quickly travel through and gave me the stone necklace that would easily open portals for me. I gave her a final tight hug before excitement and nerves took over my body and swam through the portal.