I swim over towards the small patch of bright green sea cucumbers on the sandy ocean floor. I quickly pick them and place them in my basket placing a small towel over them. I nod at them and look over to see some pastel pink arathriums sitting in a small grotto. I pump through the salty sea water towards the cave with my sparkling gold and dark gray/blue tail. As I am about to reach the arathriums I see a blue tail with silver come out of nowhere and grab the light flowers. I look up and grunt to see my older brother Calder. He runs a hand through his golden brown hair and looks at me.
"To late little sis. I got the flowers and I am going to make Arathrium Tea." He says speeding away quickly. I smirk a little bit and spin my finger creating a little whirlpool in my hand. I send it towards him as it grows bigger and bigger through the crystal clear water towards Calder. It suddenly catches him and I hear him yell out a yelp of distress before I see the whirlpool coming back towards me. I see the flowers come out of the whirlpool and I catch them and put them into my basket safley.
"Thank you dear brother but I think that Angleberry and Arathrium Lemonade is much better." I say as a swish my hand over the whirlpool watching it disappear and my brother land on the sandy ground. I giggle watching him huff his hair moving ever so slightly. I smile at him angelically before swimming off towards our families grotto. On my way I come across a young dolphin caught in some fishing net and help him out with my shell knife I had. Fishing is getting worse out here near our reef which means more humans. I sigh as I swim into our grotto.
"Adira! How was the gathering?" My mom says feeding my little brother Adrian some type of seaweed and fish mush. I smile at her and walk over and wipe a bit of smudge off of his face. He giggle as I pick him up at spin him in the air. "It was good, Mom. I got some sea cucumbers and some yellow tangs and was thinking of making a sea salad for dinner. I also got some angleberries and arathriums for lemonade." She nods as I hand Adrian back to her. I smile at him before going into my bedroom and placing my basket on my dresser.
I grab my peachy clam clip and clamp my wavy golden brown lock behind my head. I look into the mirror to see my gray and blue eyes staring back at me with the same curiosity like always. I smile as I grab the basket and go to start cooking dinner. As I walk into the kitchen I see my younger sister Aukai sitting by the shell-phone and talking to another one of her teenage friends. She is about 14 so I hear her whisper about a boy named Bay in her science class who she thinks is totally - and I quote - The mermazingness of the century. My god I hope I didn't make that bad of puns about my kind. I set the basket of the counter and start preparing dinner. I hear the door knock and see my father going to open it. I see two royal guards from the King's army standing my our door. "Mr. Nicchi, we are here to retrieve Adira from the King's personal request. She has been activated." He says handing him the envelope and giving him a curt nod before they swim off with there solid gold tails to who know where. My breath hitches as I think of what I signed two years ago when I was sixteen. I was top of my class at Ms. Seymours School for The gifted Merfolk. I was the only mermaid there with the powers to bend all elements when we went onto land for our practices. As we were practicing water bending the king came to observe the practice. He watched me carefully and assigned me to his team of Royal Merfolk Of Magic or RMM as people refer to it as. He said that when I turned 18 I could be activated t anytime to go on a mission for him. My dad hands me the envelope breaking me from my train of thought. I start to open the envelope and read.