“Ech! Wake up, It’s time for school!” My mother's voice started me out of my dream and caused me to tumble out of bed. The blanket floating down around me.
“Everything okay in there?”
“Yeah mom, everything's fine. Just fell out of bed that's all.” I replied, tossing the blanket back over the bed.
Dashing out of my room, excited to get to my first day at Triton academy. Finally, I was going to get to show everyone that I was going to be a good warrior, and people would stop looking down on us. It had just been mother and myself for a while, though I knew that it was father's fault for what happened. Yet, even so, I missed him, and I knew mother did as well. The way everyone treated us because of father angered me. It wouldn’t be so bad if they just treated me badly, but my mother was a good Mermaid and people were mean to her.
I was in the main room and almost out of the house. It was still early and there was time to get to school, but I wanted to be early to explore. When mother's voice stopped me, from leaving. “Woah, Ech, honey, slow down! There is still some time to eat a little breakfast before you go.”
Even not looking she was able to tell what I was thinking and where I was. She was an amazing Mer. Her skills fell just shy of getting into Siren academy, but she was still able to provide for us. I tried to help with the foraging as much as possible, but there was only so much I could do with school as well. That was another reason that I had wanted to get into the academy, it would make it easier on mom until I graduated, then I would be able to prove everyone wrong and it would fix everything.
Sighing and entering the eating area, grabbing some of the kelp that she had laid out for me. As I chewed the food I had to agree with here, it was even unlikely that we would start training today even if I got there early. Father was a very powerful Tritan and had started teaching me when I was young, saying, “All the males in my line have always been Tritons, no reason not to start training you now. Even if you are not able to be a Triton, there is much use for the skill I will teach you.”
Mother knew that I loved the red kelp verity like dulse, as well as Carrageen Moss. So she always made sure to keep an eye out for then while she was foraging. I wished that she could get some in town, but I knew that although this was more dangerous, it was better than her entering the city. Also, the only reason I had been allowed to attend the academy was that there had been no link back to me and my father's treachery.
Making contented noises while eating, and resting my arms on the table. Glad to have listened and taken this break. Grabbing a couple more pieces of kelp to eat, before heading to clean up. I should probably put a little effort into my appearance. Today was going to be the start of a new chapter of my life. If I wanted people to take me seriously, then I should take myself seriously as well.
Swimming back to the bathroom. Settling my nerves and looking into the mirror as I ran the sponge across my body. My coloring was a mix of gold, red, black and orange. My hair was kept short but was the same colors as my scales.
My eye were a vibrant mix of color, that seemed to shimmer between the colors of my scales. Along with my tail, both of my forearms had scales on them. Similar to my father though his coloring was a little different than mine. Thinking about him brought a lot of painful memories bubbling to the surface.
Breathing deeply and leaving the bathing area to head back to my room. Sitting down on the bed for a few minutes trying to reign in my thoughts, thinking about father or my brothers could make me sad for days. Though this was an important day and I needed to be at my best. It was time to enter Triton Academy. To prove that I was more than what people thought. To prove that even I could be an amazing Triton.
Looking myself over in the mirror in my room, and sighing. I was short for my age and damnably cute looking. That wasn’t my ego talking either, it was what everyone in town said. My name is Echo Etch, I’m fourteen years old and I look like I’m ten. People are always saying oh you’re so cute. They never take me seriously, which is part of the reason that I think, I want to prove myself so much. I want to show them that I can be better than everyone else even if I don’t look as impressive. My biggest advantage would be my training and general knowledge about Tritons. I already knew that I could do this, I just needed to prove it to everyone else, though maybe a part of me was waiting for me to prove it to myself as well. Taking a deep breath and recalling everything father taught me. Calm, collected, intelligent, I repeated the mantra over and over in my head.
Aquius was the main city in this part of the sea. It wasn’t the royal city, but it was just as important. On one side of the city was the drop-off, on the other side was the academy. Not just the Triton Academy, but the Siren Academy as well. They were right next to one another so that we could get used to each other. Though even though they say that, they have the two academies separated by magic. To keep Tritons out of the Siren dorm and vise versa. Even a lot of the classrooms are spelled. On certain days the spells are lifted so the classes can mingle.
There was a standing detachment of Royal guards here, all of them were Tritons or Sirens. They kept the peace in the city, and while officially they answered to the mayor in town, their allegiance was to the crown. They were the ones who banished my father.
Shaking my head and taking a few deep breaths, focusing on clearing my mind, just like I was trained to do. Calm, collected, intelligent.
Training at the academy was most children's dream. At the ages of 8 or 9, you are tested. If you are male you are tested for being a Triton, if you fail that test you can try to see if you qualify as a Siren.If you are female you are tested for being a Siren, if you fail that test you can try to see if you qualify as a Triton. Out of the entire population of merfolk, 95% of Tritons are male and 5% are female. The Sirens are the opposite, being 95% female, and 5% male.
I didn’t truly understand what the difference was. I knew some of the basics, but I didn’t know why the ratios were like that. It had something to do with the way the magic in our bodies formed.
Once sure that I looked okay, I left the house. We lived in a small cave just outside of the city. Even though mother had been allowed to stay in the city she chose to move out here, no one asked her not too. Getting to the Academy took me roughly an hour, only to find that there was a large crowd by the gate, I couldn’t believe it. How early did these people get up? It took roughly twenty minutes for me to get through the gate. Shortly after passing through the gate there was a large commotion.
Turning to look, but there were too many people and I wasn’t able to make out what the issues were, so I continued on my way. Getting checked in was easy, finding my dorm didn’t take long. There was another name on the door letting me know that I would be sharing the room with someone, I hoped they were nice, or at least not total jerks.
Deciding to explore the campus while there was time, I set out. Looking everywhere and trying to take it all in, this was where I needed to be. This was where I would learn to become a Triton, and I wasn’t going to settle for just being a Triton. I wanted to prove that I was going to be the best Triton.
There were a few close calls with me almost running into people and a bunch of people telling me to slow down and watch where I was swimming. There was just so much to see, and trying to take everything in at the same time.
I slammed into something and crashed to the ground, a grunt coming from me and what I hit. Looking down, into a pair of silver eyes, caught me off guard.
“I’m so sorry, I wasn’t watching where I was going. I’m Echo, so you're a Triton too, cool.” I said swimming up to get off of him, then reaching a hand out to help him up.
“I’m Silves, and I’m in the Siren program.”
My eyes widened, a MALE Siren. I got to meet one on my first day, they were supposed to be like super rare. This was amazing, and I knocked him to the ground he must think I’m a jerk. “A male Siren, that’s rare, but good luck. Getting to room with all the ladies, you must be happy.”
“They are trying to find me a spot in the Triton dorm, but currently I have a room to myself.”
“Still lucky, the only man on campus who can swim with the Sirens. If we didn’t have to change to being a siren there are probably a lot of guys who would like to switch with you to get onto the other side of campus.” I wanted to hit myself, what was I even saying that sounded so stupid.
“It’s the being a Siren that stops a lot of them, I guess.” The way he said it made me wince, he had probably gotten picked on more than me. I had asked mother about male Sirens and female Tritons, mother said they were not treated very well. People looked down on them for being different. I’m an idiot, Normally I’m so good at controlling my thoughts and mouth, why did it have to run away from me now.
“True, Sorry for running into you, hope everything works out,” I said waving before swimming away, wishing that would have gone better. “I’m an idiot,” I said quietly as I kept swimming.
The rest of the day passed with me exploring the grounds that I had access to sadly that was just the common areas where Sirens and Tritons could mingle and get to know one another. Heading back to the dorm to get a few things, I headed out. Even though the night was setting I could see perfectly well. Most merfolk lived at much deeper water than this. While not all the merfolk could see at the bottom of the ocean, there were many spells you could cast to allow you to see. Many didn’t even require you to be formally trained in them.
The skill I knew was a Triton ability, it was an advanced skill. It had been one of the first father had taught me telling me that you never knew when someone would attack you, it was always best to make sure you had every advantage possible.
Thinking back on today, made me remember the Siren with the silver eyes I had run into earlier. Turning to look at the door wondering which one was his. Shaking my head it didn’t matter. Training mattered, there was no reason to waste time just because there was no school currently. I could go for a week without sleep if necessary because of another triton ability father had taught me. Though the longer you stayed awake the more energy it drained from you. It had taken a lot of training to get the skill to last a week.
Father hadn't always done the right thing, I knew that. There were many things he taught me before I was ready for them. There were many things he taught me, I still wasn’t ready to use or even to practice, not without harming myself. Finding an empty flat area, I started moving through drills. Focusing on the different fighting styles father and my brothers had taught me. Though they didn’t get to teach me all I wished for, I was grateful to them for everything they did. I was going to make them proud.
Silver eyes haunted my thoughts as I moved through the forms. It took much more focus than it should have. About halfway through the night, I whipped around looking for someone. Using every ounce of skill I could muster, but there wasn’t anyone I could see. Though I knew that someone was watching me. There didn’t seem to be any hostile intent, but being watched by someone and not knowing who it was worried me. Did someone at the school have plans to harm me, or was it a guard trying to see what I was doing so late. There were many ideas, but as long as the person didn’t intend me harm, they were welcome to watch. Let them watch as long as they left me alone.
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