Brennan really should have been more freaked out by what happened but he was too excited about meeting a real live mermaid to care. He never thought he would get the chance and had to take advantage of the opportunity while he could.
This was the most exciting thing that had happened to him in centuries! He could worry about his job later.
Considering what happened, it might be best to lie low for a few days anyway. He could say he had found something to drift on until he was rescued when he showed up again. With any luck, they would be so relieved to see him that they wouldn't question why it had seemed like he was flying against the wind at that point.
Brennan didn't know why Talori's brother was so overprotective at first but he was pretty sure he understood it after they had spent time talking. When he asked about mermaid society, she told him about how the merking had many concubines so bids for the throne were fierce.
Their mother had been one and was put to death after being falsely accused by the merqueen because she was jealous and upset that she had managed to have two children over the centuries instead of just one like her. Zale was afraid of the losing the only family he had left, as he did not considering the merking family after what he let happen.
Brennan couldn't blame him. He had never forgiven those who killed his family either, though time had lessened the sting.
The merking had reigned for over seven hundred years since there weren't as many threats at the bottom of the ocean. He couldn't help but wonder how long the average merfolk—he learned that was what they preferred to be called rather than all lumped together as mermaids—lived.
Fairies were considered fairly weak among the fae and he had met very few who were older than him. Witches, vampires, and werewolves were the ones who lived the longest. The latter two were hardier than most fae and the former were smarter and knew how to avoid getting caught.
Brennan didn't know how hardy merfolk were but they didn't seem to have many natural predators down here. That had to count for something in terms of longevity.
Despite the merking's long rule and many concubines, he only had a handful of children because of the rarity of fae children being born. One each from the merqueen and four other concubines and then Talori and Zale.
Talori confided that one of her half-brothers was suspected to have been poisoned by the merqueen's son and that the rest of her half-siblings were female and had been married off to other merfolk kingdoms decades ago. No wonder Zale was overprotective!
Brennan couldn't believe she spoke about all of this so matter-of-factly, as if it was completely normal. Fae killing each other instead of being killed by humans definitely wasn't normal where he came from!
They all lived together relatively peacefully, depending on each other for support in a world that they didn't quite fit into anymore. Witches were the glue that held everything together but all fae races had their parts to play as well, if only to fund the witches' research.
He was used to fae looking out for each other not infighting. He wondered if all merfolk societies were like this or if this one was unique because the merqueen had a terrible personality.
The problems weren't the only things he learned about though. He had gotten some valuable information about the way merfolk interacted with other marine life, what their buildings were made of, what they ate, and so on.
He couldn't wait to tell all of this to Harmony! She had been dying to know more about the merfolk since the first time she met who Talori referred to as the liaison.
Brennan wasn't surprised that she was unique among her race for being interested in the surface. If other merfolk were interested, the witches would know a lot more about mermaids than they did.
He was lucky enough to be one of the only fae in history to have unfettered access to such a reclusive race's secrets. He felt like an anthropologist more than a marine biologist at the moment but he wasn't complaining!
Even having to hide in the wardrobe wasn't so bad with how much information he had gotten. He could hear Talori speaking to another vaguely female voice in another language.
Mermish. She had told him about it and how very few merfolk spoke English because of their limited interactions with the surface-dwellers.
It was a bit hard to describe what Mermish sounded like. If he had to put it in words, he supposed it sounded somewhat similar to dolphin chatter. More musical though somehow and less high-pitched.
Brennan was quite curious how they were biologically capable of both that and human speech but wasn't sure Talori would know. She said merfolk were able to breathe water and air as well but hadn't explained how that was possible so it was likely she wouldn't.
No matter. He was already getting more of his questions about merfolk answered than he ever thought he would.
After a while of hiding in the cramped wardrobe—there really wasn't space for his wings in here—Talori opened the door and smiled cheerily at him. "I have food!"
Brennan left the wardrobe eagerly and stretched his wings, curious about merfolk food. He saw a bunch of sea grapes on a plate. He had seen them underwater before but had never eaten them. The only sea vegetable he had ever eaten was nori, the stuff that sushi was wrapped in.
"Is this a common breakfast food?" he asked curiously.
Talori nodded. "Oh yes! We have it nearly every day. We do not eat other sea creatures, as we are their protectors."
It made sense that they would be vegetarians now that he thought about it. He never had been because there had been an abundance of fish in his stream in the old days, though his family had eaten more plants than fish. That had been a special treat.
These days, meat was so readily available that he had it a lot more often. That was how things worked in the human world. They specifically raised animals to be eaten.