Triton nods his head in agreement as does Dylan, then Triton asks a question. “Why is it you are specifically denoting that Francois is human, are you suggesting we are not?” Aquas mate answers, “well that leads to problem two and perhaps Dylan can answer that for you Triton.” Morgane and Triton turn to Dylan, “well technically we are no longer human. Our blood has started shifting to being copper based, unlike humans who are iron based. I think it would be best if you didn't let the idiot cut you at all Morgane, or the world will see your green blood. Yes, it's green like a good deal of our livestock now is; have you noticed some of the fish you eat doesn't taste right anymore? Those ones are the fish that is hunted verses raised and why do we do that? If we didn't our parents would have to become vegetarians, as they can't eat the meat from the copper based life forms. It was discovered six years ago, when everyone came in for the medical screenings that year. Everyone our age group and younger have been shifting to copper based, it's why we crave certain foods.”

Dylan then looked at his feet and said quietly, “it's also happening in our sister city on Mars. Though unlike us those children need low gravity, less than earth has or their lungs will collapse. The medical staff in Oceana and at Mars Base are not telling the surfacers anything about it. Mars Base said also if Earth decides to go against us at any time they will cut ties with Earth for their own protection, as they are now self sufficient. Their city planners were as smart as ours was ensuring that everything they could need could be produced in their city. Also both cities after finding out that all of us children were becoming non human sent for frozen embryos, that are being stored for now. It was discovered that the child had to be formed in the city for the changes to occur, but an embryo brought in would not. Have you met Simon, the six year old who seems behind the rest of his age group in learning?” Morgane and Triton nod in agreement, “he is part of an experiment to see if the frozen embryo's produce humans or us children of the sea. Which is the name they are giving us, those on Mars are being called children of Mars, they are conducting the same experiment.” The three Apsaras nod their heads to this information and the Elder speaks, “we know of the changes occurring in your bodies. It is one of the reasons why we can communicate like this to you, we can create a holographic image that humans can see; but your new species can connect to us. To the extent that the changes in you will come to we do not know as yet, however we do believe that something buried in your human genetics will impact your breeding ability and we need to address that.”

The Elder nods to Aqua's former mate, “the problem is instinctual and considering Morgane's abilities it could cause an issue for her specifically. Human females are instinctually designed to seek out mates that are capable of protecting them while they have offspring and also need to be able to help them care for said offspring.” Aqua's former mate turns to Triton, “I recommend son that you get those trainers of yours to get you better than Morgane. Or you two will never be able to have children when you do decide to pair up finally, we are fully aware of the feelings the two of you have for one another. Also I believe Dylan might have already seen evidence of this.”

Dylan clears his throat and rubs the back of his neck obviously uncomfortable. “um, yeah. About that guys, the foxes and lynxes as they grew and the populations expanded. The following generations had harder times acquiring mates and having offspring, as it seems while we shift towards being of the copper based blood we rely more on instinct for our reproduction. We found loaners in the first generation of these animals that were not as good at hunting, the females could not physically reproduce with these males. It also made them all become life mated, which in lynxes is unheard of. Yet it has happened, also when there is an abundance of venison at the market it is because we are tracking the herbivores as well and if we discover they aren't reproducing we cull out the ones that fail to after two attempts. We did testing before the first batch this was done to and discovered that they were sterile, these herbivores like in the case with deer weren't the swiftest of foot. So I believe they have a point, I would like to run some blood tests later Morgane. We had discovered that all the females had a marker in their blood that prevented 'unworthy' males of breeding with them.”

Morgane slaps Triton on the back hard, “whelp; looks like you have a lot of training to do. Though I wonder,” looking at Aqua's former mate Morgane continues. “Are you the lead warrior here? Can you help with his training needs?” Morgane gives the male a pleading look especially after hearing the story of their fall of their people. If they were the start of a new species they needed as many breeding pairs as possible. Aqua's former mate nods his head waving Triton out the door, “no better time to start than now. Even though this is in your mind, the techniques will transfer because your fight and or hunt with skills memorized by your mind and body.” The male's voice trails off as they walk out the door, Aqua following with an amused look.

Morgane then turns to Dylan, “so when were they going to share that information with everyone else?” Dylan puts his hands up and waves them at Morgane as if to ward her off, “please it wasn't my choice. However I had planned on pulling the two of you aside at a later time to discuss this because it will be a problem later, however from the gossip going around; I believe that Triton might have known at some level. As he did step in front of you when that idiot came to challenge you, he was trying to protect you; how did you feel after he did that?” Dylan's scientific mind was obviously out and curious now and Morgane could see a slightly amused look on the Elder's face. Morgane thought a minute before answering Dylan, “well; I know I suddenly had an overwhelming urge to hug Triton. Translate that more to hold on for dear life and not let go, would that be part of it?” Morgane turns to look the Elder in the eyes as she asks.

The Elder smiles and answers, “yes my dear. I would guess so, I would guess also that for you two either he would have to defeat you in combat or he protects you from death would enable you to be able to have children with him. If you are lucky only one time will be required. Now there is a third problem we should talk about, if the humans of your world turn against your people you will need to find a place to go eventually where your kind will be safe. We are thinking of teaching you how to transport yourselves to other locations via the power of your minds, we are still debating this however; but I think you should look into worlds that might be able to support your people on them. You could transport your parents to the Mars Base if that were to occur. I believe even your science has a few places they could comfortable stay and could support your species and the plant and animal life you have now cultivated. That reminds me, the plant seeds you found Morgane, they are equivalent to a potato from your world but reproduce with seeds rather than the edible tubers. Also the leaves can be turned into thread like your flax plant can, it is a much sturdier cloth however; as you can tell from the garb you wear.”

Morgane stifled a squeak of surprise and felt the fabric of the half skirt, it was much softer than linen fabric was; and if she was right probably warmer than wool. Triton's parents would probably love to work with this fabric. The Elder speaks, “we are aside from eating aquatic life are mostly plant eaters. There are no large animal or bird life on the islands of our world, there are various sized species of aquatic life however. Our people started life as fisher people just living on the coasts of the islands, eventually moving farther inland as we grew as a species. That was a very long time ago even to our people, we existed on this world for over double the life of your Earth.”

The Elder got a proud look on his face, “we even were looking into our past when the disaster occurred. Once we had discovered we should record our history our species had been on this world for over a billion years based on your concept of time. While we were researching our past we had discovered something, in some very old ruins (by our reckoning) we discovered information that told us our star had gone through two changes before it's current state. Which our star by the time we took this memory was stable as a blue giant, the previous two states was first an unstable blue giant then a white or yellow dwarf, and now back to a blue giant. I know based on human science that is not possible, however science is suppose to be about discovering things; not proving that your beliefs are correct.”

The Elder looks out the window again and apparently saw something he was waiting for, “alright; I am going to have one of the other females show you around what we grow while Triton is getting beaten up. I am sure you will enjoy this tour, after you will be shown how we craft weapons, please enjoy yourselves.” A rather large female, (read as massive) comes in the room and waves the two of us out the door and Morgane asks; “I hope this is not offensive to your people. Are all the females larger than the males?” The female chuckles, “it's not offensive; and yes our females tend to be larger than the males. The males tend to do the fishing and the aquatic life here is very fast so they need speed more than bulk, while our plant life sometimes require more muscle than speed to handle.” Morgane and Dylan follow the female past the 'houses' Morgane thinking deeply on that.