“Darya!” Sofie screeched and moved to her side. Keola moved to help and the two of them moved the passed out woman to a nearby chair, and began fanning her and calling her name.

When she finally came too, she stared at Keola. “What are you doing here?” she whispered, then sat up quickly, “your father isn’t here is he?” she panicked.

“No, no, I’m here alone,” Keola said calming the woman down, “mom….” she said squatting down and looking up at her, “I’ve been looking for you.”

Darya brushed her hair aside, “sweetheart, I’m so sorry.” she sighed and it looked like she was holding back tears.

Sofie stood up after telling her wife she was going to get her something to drink and call their kids home. Darya nodded and offered a chair to Keola, who quickly sat down and held her mother’s hands. The two talked for an hour before the door opened and two children walked in; Sam was a tall man with brown hair and hazel eyes and his sister was the mirror reflection of him, but Sara had a metal ring in her nose and part of her brown hair was cut to a buzz-cut length on one side of her head. The two stared at the strange girl sitting with their mom, Sofie walked back into the room and gave Darya the glass of water she went to retrieve, then stood facing her kids.

“Kids, this is...Keola…,” Sofie said, opening her hand towards Keola, “Darya’s daughter…” she took a shaky breath, “She’s going to be staying here for a few days.”

Sam and Sara stare between their parents and the stranger before starting to complain about Keola’s sudden appearance and her coming to be in their house. Sofie tried to calm them down, but Sara was the only one not calming down. She screamed and yelled then left the house, Sofie ran after she and Sam moved to Darya.

“Are you ok with this,” he asked. Darya looked at Keola then at Sam and nodded. Sam nodded and left the room. Keola felt unnerved and offered to leave.

“No, you’re just as much a part of this family like them. Sara just...has a hard time with change,” Darya explained.

Hours passed till Sofie and Sara returned. Sara coldly apologized to Keola and walked out of the room. Sofie apologized again and told Keola it would talk time for Sara to get used to the idea of having a sister. Keola merely nodded and listened to the sleeping arrangement that Sofie was going to put together for her.

That night Keola, Sofie, Darya, Sam, and Sara all sat for dinner and talked about Keola’s travels in search of Darya. The two of them had spoken earlier about not mentioning Neptune or that Keola is a mermaid., to which Keola agreed and instead modified her tale to that of a wealthy runaway in search for her lost mother. After dinner, Keola went to the spare room she was given to sleep.

“Tomorrow,” Darya said, “We’ll have all day to talk.” Keola nodded and went to bed.

For three days, Keola stayed with Darya and Sofie. Sam and Sara had left the day after Keola arrived for work and school and didn’t come back to the house till close to dark, but Keola didn’t seem to care. She spent the day talking to Darya and learned more and more about her mother and everything she had been doing the past sixteen years she’d been away. Darya would ask Keola about herself, but all she would say is “I spent most of my time looking for you” or “learning about father’s kingdom” or “just swimming in the open waters”.

Slowly, the two of them began to get closer than Keola had hoped, and Darya even told her she could stay longer and never have to return to Neptune again; however, Sofie overheard that conversation and jealousy and anger began to grip her heart like being tangled in a kelp forest and dragged her down into a dark idea.

The next day, Sofie offered to take Keola out, to “get to know her better” and Darya agreed. She kissed Sofie’s cheek and Keola’s head as the two of them left the house. She told them to be back for dinner because she was going to make something special, and Sofie answered for her and Keola. The two walked to a lighthouse, miles away from the house, and looked out over the cliff to the sea.

“Why did you come here, Keola,” Sofie asked coldly.

“As I said at your shop when we first met, I was looking for Darya,” Keola answered and walked towards the cliff.

“But why?” Sofie asked, “She left you all those years ago, why look for her?”

“She’s my mom,” Keola said. She looked back at Sofie, “Why wouldn’t I?”

Sofie began to laugh, it was a hollow cold laugh. One that sent shivers down Keola’s back like icy waves.

“She left you because she didn’t want you,” she mumbled, loud enough that Keola could hear but quiet enough that the crashing waves below could muffle it out enough to make it hard to hear.

“What do you mean?” Keola asked.

Sofie laughed again, “Don’t you think if she wanted you, she would have taken you with her when she left your father?”

Keola looked at the ground, “I...I don’t…”

“She didn’t want you. And now your here making her feel guilty for leaving, and upsetting our children,” her voice began to grow louder and had venom in the words.

Keola shook her head, “No. I...that’s not true…”

Sofie walked over to Keola and placed a hand on her shoulder, she whispered in her ear, “You know I’m right.” She left Keola alone on the cliff and returned to her home; where her children and her wife was waiting.

But Keola stayed at the cliff and looked out towards the setting sun. She had been searching for so long, that she realized that she didn’t know much about her mother at all. And worse, that Sofie might be right about her reasoning for leaving. Keola’s heart shattered at the thought, and pain began to rip through her.

She screamed at the crashing waves and felt hot tears fall off her cheeks, she screamed and cried till her face was red. Then she felt something rising up from a dark place in her heart that she hasn’t felt before, she screamed again and soon the waters became rougher than before. The sky darkened and storm clouds began to appear and cluster together, the winds began to grow in strength and blew the trees to the point in which many shattered. The inhabitants, human and creature alike, flee the forested areas in search of shelter.

Back at Darya and Sofie’s house, the parents were on the phone with their children and their neighbors in attempts to see if everyone was safe. Dial tones and conversation echo in their kitchen, as the two of them, pace back and forth across the laminated floor.

“Alright, Mrs. Lanny... Yes… Yes… You stay safe too… Bye Bye…” Darya hung up the phone and looked over at her wife. “How’s your end coming along, hun?”

“Fine,” Sofie said, “the shop’s closed and boarded up. All our friends are safe, Sara’s staying with Meggie, and Sam’s with Jason and Thomas.”

“Good…” Darya leaned against the counter, “And Keola? Have you heard from her?”

Sofie suddenly paled, “Keola isn’t back yet?”

Darya looked at her guilty wife, “What happened?”

Still, on the cliff, Keola finally looked up and noticed the brewing storm. She sat there and watched it, thinking that perhaps it was Neptune’s doing; completely unaware that it was her doing, thanks to heartbreak, sadness, pain, anger, and hatred. Emotions caused by the hurtful conversations she had with Sofie. And her emotions only grow as she thinks about what Sofie and her mother are talking about at that moment; “Thank god Keola’s gone”, “Hopefully she’ll never come back”, “She wasn’t wanted before, why would she think I would want her now” these thoughts echoed in her head, and has her pain grew so too did the storm.

“KEOLA!” the sound of her name, barely audible through the wind, brought her out of her dark mind.

Darya struggled up the cliff’s slope towards her, bracing herself against the wind she staggers over to Keola.

“What are you doing out here? It’s dangerous” she called out to her.

“Leave me alone!” Keola yelled and a crack of lightning echoed behind her. “Go back to your family!”

“Sofie told me what she said,” Darya shouted, “She was wrong to tell you that. But you have to understand why I left your father!”

“You didn’t want me!” Keola replied, “You never wanted me! You never thought about looking for me!”

“I wanted too, but I didn’t know where his kingdom was,” Darya explained, “I know that’s not an excuse, but please understand…”

“What? ‘Understand’ what?”

“I was suffocating with your father. I wasn’t myself,” she told her daughter as the gap between them shortened, “I wanted to find myself and he wanted me to stay in the cave you were born in.”

“I don’t understand,” Keola said, tears streaming down her cheeks.

Darya reached Keola and held her close, “I love you. I loved your father.” She then looked into Keola’s blue eyes, “but I couldn’t be the woman he wanted…”

“So you just left?”

Darya shook her head, and told Keola the whole story; how they were young and thought they were in love, how she felt isolated from the world around them, how they fought when she wanted to leave, and how he took Keola after she left.

“When I came back after finding a boat to take us away, the cave was destroyed and you were gone,” she finished her story, “after that, I meant Sofie and her kids and started over. I’m so sorry Keola, I never wanted to leave you…”

Keola looked at her mother and began to laugh, “He can be horrible can’t he?” Then Darya started to laugh along with her.

As the two laughed and bonded the storm began to dissipate, and within a few minutes it’s completely gone. The two women walked down the cliff towards their home. Sofie ran out of the house as soon as they came into view and hugged them. She apologized to Keola for everything she said out of jealousy and fear, but Keola didn’t forgive her for her words but made her promise to take care of Darya.

“Of course, but aren’t you going to stay with us,” Sofie asked in a hopeful tone suggesting she wanted to start over with her.

Keola shook her head and looked at Darya, who nodded, “I’ll walk you to the beach.”

The three women walk down the walkway, through the boarded uptown, and over debris, down the branched covered slate path to the sandy beach. Once there, Keola removed the clothes leaned to her by Sofie and walked to the water’s edge. She looked out at the horizon and saw a figure far out in the waves.

“He’s waiting for you,” Darya said as she walked to Keola’s side. She looked at her daughter, “Are you sure you want to go back?”

Keola nodded, “I think so.”

The two hugged for the last time, and Sofie walked over to them as their embrace broke. “I can’t apologize enough to you, and I know that I will never understand what’s going on…” she trailed off, “but I will keep the secret Darya shared and the one we made.”

Keola nodded, “Just don’t let Sara miss me too much.” the two laughed and shook hands for the last time.

Keola started walking out into the lapping water, before looking back for the last time, “Goodbye mom…” Then she dove under the waves. Her tail the only thing slapping the water as she swims towards her father.

“Goodbye...Keola…” Darya said, and Sofie held her wife before leading her back to their home.

Keola swam towards Neptune, breaking the surface a few feet in front of him. “Hi, dad.”

Neptune smiled at her and patted her head, “Did you find what you were looking for?” his voice was gentle again. Keola nodded, and he repeated the gesture, “Let’s go home.”

And the two sank below the surface and returned to their sea kingdom, to celebrate Keola’s sixteenth birthday and the crowning of the return of their princess.

The End