Liriope felt beaten, broken to her core. Though she woke to the soft kisses of a seahorse, she still felt the pain from her last two days of training with Aoide. The Wren had pushed her to her limits. She'd scolded her and praised her and scolded her again. Though she must have felt like she had done her duty because she told Liriope to be ready in the morning for the surface.
Liriope was too sore to be excited. If anything, she felt only a fear of failure. She pushed herself to wake and swim a few laps around her room, stretching out her fins and her arms. Her reefs glow was still dull, so she knew there was time before Aoide came to fetch her. She decided to practice her call. Aoide had told her that her voice held power and if she was going to the surface, she would need to use it more than ever.
Speaking would be different on the surface. Her voice would carry more volume and would resonate more from her throat than her mind. But whether here or there, practicing was still the same. It was not the volume that mattered, it was the control felt from within to carry the will of the call.
Liriope began to hum a song she had learned as a child. A soft tune, one she had hummed her whole life. But she was different now. She wanted to test just how different she had become.
It was subtle at first. The seahorse who had found its way into her room swam around her head, dancing through her long golden brown curls. When she began the second verse, a small cluster of seahorses made its way through her window. There were six of them, each coupled with another, linked by the tail.
She was quite surprised there were so many in such close quarters to her room. She would only rarely see a single seahorse or two a day, and never a pair of mates. They kept to themselves, hiding in seaweed for protection against crabs or the occasional stingray. But there were six couples, their skins changing color with each movement; pink to brown, white to grey. They joined their single cousin in a dance with the young mermaid.
Liriope delicately changed her tune, and with a small inkling of thought she persuaded the creatures to let go of one another. It worked like a charm. A smile spread across the young mermaid's face, and for a moment, she forgot about her aches and pains.
Reality burst back into her thoughts as Aoide entered her room. The Wren looked well-rested and lavishing with gold strings interwoven in her hair and around her waist.
"Today's your day. You feel ready?"
"I think so."
"You don't think, you must know."
"I am, Mistress."
"Good. It's time you met your Queen."
As Liriope followed her Mistress to the Incubation Centre, she felt confused as to who the Wren was referring to. She had met King Glaucus twice and had seen him speak once or twice a year since she was young. Yet she was never told they also had a Queen. Was this King Glaucus' wife? Why was this hidden from her people? Who else knew?
Then it dawned on her. She must mean the Queen of the Wrens. She gulped. It made sense. Wren business was so secretive that their Queen must be a secret too. She was both nervous and excited to meet the head of her new coven. She wondered how many of her other associates would be there. Would there be some sort of initiation? Would she have time to say goodbye to her favorite teachers? Her classmates?
Maybe it would be for the best if she just left without any word at all. Her classmates had wanted nothing to do with her since her Wren training started. They made their way deep into the Incubation Centre's inner chambers until they came upon King Glaucus. He waited outside his chambers as if expecting them. There were two other Wrens with him who Liriope didn't recognize. Perhaps this was an initiation.
"Welcome, Liriope." King Glaucus nodded to the Wrens at his side and they began to sing.
Suddenly she felt at ease. All her concerns and the anxiety she felt about meeting the Queen melted away. The singing Wren's each took one of her hands and led her into a room shrouded in darkness. Only a small altar stood in its center.
If she was feeling herself, Liriope may have been able to pick up the differences in the water's texture. The sea was thicker here, meshed with Scylla's mucous and ammonia. Her enclosed quarters were secured for the safety of the younger mermaids. King Glaucus was not certain if she would readily feast on her own children or not, so he kept her secured within the Incubation centre. She had never complained.
Liriope was set atop of the altar and told to stay perfectly still and that her Queen was coming to prepare her for the surface. Of course, she wouldn't remember any of the imprinting process. Scylla would imprint the cursed DNA she sought on the surface and combine it with Liriope's magic to create a sonar ability inside the new Wren. This sonar would lead Liriope to her host, wherever he or she was on the surface.
Scylla slithered out of her cave quickly and swooped Liriope up with her red tentacles. She twisted and turned her body, sniffing her out, licking her skin. Atop of the water demon's main head swirled four long, white stringy antenna's. They prodded Lirope's face until they found her nose and her ears. When Scylla pushed her antennae into Liriope's brain, the young mer went rigid and convulsed, only for a moment, until she relaxed in Scylla's grasp.
The demon released the newly appointed Wren and let her float away slowly. She snorted at her lover who still looked on and then glided back into her dark cave.
Liriope was collected and brought to a separate room where Aoide waited to take her to the surface. She would soon wake with memories of her and a beautiful queen sharing a warm embrace. Aoide stroked her student's hair and felt a sadness growing within her that she hadn't felt since the days she learned the truth of what she really was.