Aqua

Heading home everything stood still. No fish was in sight, the sea laid still, even the wind ceased to blow. 

Nothing! 

The silence burdened my eardrums, enough to cause damage. It was as if the earth stood still on its axis. The ocean was too quiet. It had never been this way before. Lucky enough, I was accompanied by my parents and their guards to land.

Though the circumstances were terrible, the gesture warmed my heart.

Near land, I kissed my parents. 

"I know you have a new home, but it doesn't mean you have to forget the old one." Mother's eyes glossed. 

I never went home because I thought I was no longer welcomed. It was not like I left home on good terms. Now, it was different. Everything would be different.

A tight smile stretched my lip while I engulfed her in another embrace. "I know, Mother. This is not goodbye." 

When she released me, Octoria handed Marvelon to a younger version of herself, her sister Shelliot.

"I want to keep a guard around the boy." Father lifted his palm before I could say anything. "It's to keep a watch on him, for my sake." 

His palm fell to his side. There was no point in arguing with a man who got his way twenty- four seven. Therefore, I provided a curt nod. 

I was somewhat pleased Shelliot was assigned to be Marvelon's guardian. Like her sister, she was strong.  Marvelon needed that around him more than ever. 

It never took long for us to part ways. Our journey home was not long since we resided near the beach. Peter insisted we stayed close to my home, even though my home was miles away. However, it portrayed how wonderful of a man he was.

Back home I changed Marvelon's clothes without getting as much as a stir from him. Laying him to rest in his crib, the thought of how he was to be trained came back to mind. This was an eighteen-month-old child. 

He was not even at the terrible-twos. What would happen when he was a teenager? I had seen how land folks were. Their children were nurture different than those from my pod.

Gosh, I hoped he wasn't as stubborn as I was. The world didn't need this. I didn't need it.

I sighed aloud but held my breath at the sight of him moving. He stretched and rolled on his back. Big bright eyes stared at me. In that same breath, a slight breeze caressed my cheeks.

"Momma!" he beamed.

I swallowed.

Who said being a mother was easy must have bumped their head somewhere along the way. Parenting this child was not going to be a walk in the park.