The R.S.U. & The Water Tenders

Having received the news that the Firstborn Princess, Stephanie Goldmaracynthia Bell, had finally been located, but was not showing signs of cooperation, Vanessa Lumingale stood gravely with nine other assembled members of the Royal Spokespersons Unit in what was called the R.S.U. Meeting Room, located within the Palace grounds of Alpheabrook. It was so large and the ceilings were so high that the room, although small compared to other Palace rooms, was like an entire castle all by itself. Its towering pillars were made of a softly glowing green substance known as ‘Kalper Stone.’ The room was adorned with plants next to each of the twenty-four kalper stone pillars and each pillar and plant had its own name and an individual fairy assigned to its routine maintenance.

Natural light flowed through the magnificent looking twenty-four arched windows of the colossal room. But this solar light flowed from a binary star system, consisting of a larger star which was pale blue in colour and a smaller reddish star. These two suns that illumined the Higher World were in close proximity to each other and it was often speculated that one day, they might combine to form a single celestial body. But for countless years, this still had not taken place. The pale blue sun was named, Malàkia Saltania, which means ‘Higher Source,’ and the smaller red one was named, Yarònia Saltania, meaning ‘Lower Source.’

Lastly, the floor of the great R.S.U. Meeting Room was partially made from a very smooth, dark purple stone, similar to marble, though it contained some richer and more durable elements. But this only covered half of the floor. The other half was made of thick glass. The reason why the floor was built in this way was because underneath it, lay a small portion of the Trans-Keldervalian Ocean. And the regular land-dwelling fairies could look down under the floor to where the Tenders of the Waters lived. Tenders of the Waters, or Water Tenders, were more at home in the deep rivers and oceanic depths of the fairy world, where they eventually enclosed their waists and legs in great fishtail-like casings. This enabled them to swim far more efficiently than in the past. These water fairies, or Water Tenders, later became known as ‘Mermaids,’ a name originally given to them by humans after they learned of their rather bizarre existence. But many fairies also liked the name and began using it themselves, even though the official name for such beings was still, ‘Water Tenders.’ They took care of the rivers and oceans where they lived and their bodies were well adapted for the task.

The fairies in the R.S.U. Meeting Room often had some leisure time while waiting for a Sub-Royal Meeting, or for their Queen to arrive with her escort for the commencement of a Royal Meeting. They liked being able to look under the glass and watch the water tenders gracefully and silently swimming to and fro and gathering all kinds of things for various purposes including materials for the upkeep of their elaborate underwater, mansion-sized dwellings. They did not usually feed on fish but mostly on edible water plants. In fact, they cared for the fish as much as they could and were able to communicate with them, but only on a basic level. However, there were some exceptionally dangerous fish, collectively known as ‘Destroyers,’ which they did occasionally hunt down and consume. They used weapons such as bronze spears and armour made from various materials including hard shells, when taking on these pernicious monsters of the deep.

One noteworthy business founder was known to have a large trading station, thousands of feet below the sea where she sold some of the finest underwater food, made from her own recipes. She also sold homemade cosmetics, waterproof books, household goods and jewellery. This was known as Maria’s Trade Centre and was located in one of the largest underwater cities, called Boozelda Hull. Maria Elga-Harpòna was considered to be the wealthiest mermaid of the Trans-Keldervalian Ocean.

Among themselves, they had various ways of communicating. They could use their minds to speak to each other but there was also a more natural and physical way to communicate. They did this through developing a language based solely on blowing bubbles at different lengths, sizes, pitches and frequencies. Unfortunately for them, this did lead to a rather sarcastic expression that was first coined by a land-dwelling fairy: ‘babbling like a mermaid,’ or ‘babbling like a water tender.’

One R.S.U. member named Talrania of Crimson Butterflyvale, approached and squinted her eyes as she looked through the glass into the beautiful, deep, greenish-blue depths below. The others were conversing in low, concerned voices about the upcoming Royal Meeting. There was little to no movement under the glass except for one fish and the gentle ripple of various blue, green and orange sea plants. Everyone was expecting two water tenders to arrive and position themselves just under the glass where they were due to attend the meeting and have their say. They would use Talrania as their interpreter who had very painstakingly learned and finally mastered the Mermaidian language. At least, she liked to think she had mastered it. But most mermaids who communicated with her knew that she wasn’t quite fluent. But they didn’t tell her that. They usually just kindly complimented her on her ceaseless efforts to master their notoriously difficult language. No form of communication, whether from the fairy or human world, was believed to be as difficult and challenging to learn as Mermaidian, let alone to master.  

As she stood there, looking out for the two tardy members, Vanessa called out to her, “Where’s Katriona and Vonlivia?! Can you see them, Talrania?”

“No, my Lady. I’m afraid not. I briefly thought I saw one of them but it turned out to be a large stealth fish.”

“Oh, that’s so distressing! Those mermaids are a constant source of trouble! I have a mind to expel them both from the unit.”

“Oh, don’t do that, my Lady. I’m sure there’s a reason why they’re running late. Or swimming late, should I say?”

Vanessa shook her head and sighed with annoyance. Another fairy then broke into a smile and said, “Do you suspect something fishy might be going on, my Lady?”

“Oh, stop it. Enough jokes!”

“Sorry, my Lady.” She then giggled to herself while all the others smiled broadly with amusement.

Another rather anxious silence followed as they continued to wait. But at last, Talrania who continued looking through the glass, hoping to see the two mermaids on their way, was finally heard to say, “Oh, I think that’s one of them! Um, wait. I’ll just try to identify her. Okay, yes. That’s Vonlivia. She’s still a long way down there, but she’s on her way up to the surface and she swims fast. She’ll reach the glass soon. I can’t see Katriona though, which is surprising. They usually swim together and at the same pace. It seems to be just Vonlivia.”

“Well, you know what to do,” said Vanessa. “As soon as she arrives, ask her what’s going on and where Katriona is. By the way, does she speak any Luminenya? Probably not any English, but what about Luminenya?”

“No. I think she understands bits of it, but she doesn’t speak it. I think she also understands a little bit of English but she doesn’t speak that either. But I can try to speak to her and see what happens.”

Bubbles and a faint splash could be heard as Vonlivia swiftly reached the surface and looked rather expressionlessly at Talrania from under the glass. She started swimming slowly in small circles, making sure the water was calm enough for her to begin speaking in Mermaidian.

“Listen Vonlivia,” said Talrania. “Can you just keep still for a moment, please. Our leader here wants to know what’s been going on and… Wait. Can you understand any of this? No? Okay, wait a moment.”

She then tried speaking to her in Luminenya but the mermaid beckoned for her to come closer to the glass so that they could communicate in Mermaidian. Talrania then gave up on trying to talk to her in the other languages and bent down, positioning herself close to the glass. She then placed a large glass vessel to her mouth. It was spherical and filled with water. Next, she began blowing into it while the figure under the glass started carefully looking at the vessel, gathering the information that was being communicated through the skilful blowing of bubbles in a very precise manner.  

The others could just about hear the sound of the bubbles as Vonlivia moved her lips and head about, and gently swished her tail while speaking back to Talrania in her water language.  

After some time, Talrania put the water vessel down and stood up, indicating that the mermaid had finished speaking.

“What did she say?” Vanessa demanded, rather impatiently.

“She said Katriona can’t make it today because… um…” She then started to go red with embarrassment.

“Because what?!”

“Well, my Lady,” Talrània said in a reluctant tone, “this is going to sound a bit… umm…”

“Just say it!”

“Her boyfriend broke up with her,” Talrania blurted out.

“Oh, that’s ridiculous! We don’t even use that term here. It’s extremely earthly. We say suitor. Boyfriend indeed! She never mentioned having a love interest before. This had better not be a joke. Are you sure you understood her correctly?”

“Oh, yes, my Lady. I even made her repeat it twice after the first time she said it. And if I may say so, I don’t really see a problem with that term. Typically, a boyfriend is simply an adult male who is not yet the fiancé of his beloved but hopes to marry her one day.”

“Yes, I know! Stop getting off topic. Inform Vonlivia that she is to let Katriona know that her services are no longer required. This is bad form and today’s meeting is very important.”

“Well, my Lady. That’s the other part of what was said. Vonlivia says that she thinks Katriona just needs some healing time after losing the merman whom she thought would marry her. And if you terminate her employment, then Vonlivia will no longer offer her services either.”

Vanessa knew how wise, intelligent and useful the two mermaids had been in the past. It was useful to have at least one of them in the unit, especially as they were a link to what was happening in the underwater world. She would have to let Katriona stay on as an R.S.U. member for the time being.

Vanessa sighed with exasperation and said, “Very well. Tell Vonlivia we will keep Katriona. Also, tell her we’re sorry to hear about her friend. Lastly, tell her to focus – I want both of you to get ready for the Royal Meeting which will soon commence.”

“Very good, my Lady.”

Talrania then carefully delivered Vanessa’s reply to Vonlivia.

After this, she turned back to Vanessa and said, “She says thank you, my Lady and we are both ready for the commencement of the Royal Meeting.”

Just then the sound of heavy latches being undone could be heard as two great doors began to open at the far west end of the room. The sound of the thick metal latches and ancient hinges echoed throughout the room and at once, Vanessa clapped loudly and shouted, “Elivonya!” which means, ‘Attention!”

At this, all the members of the unit immediately faced the Royal Escort as it approached through the double doors and all in perfect unison, they assumed upright and rigid postures of respect. Even Vonlivia faced the same direction, knowing that the Queen was approaching, and went into an upright position in the water. As with each of the other oceans, the one she lived in was not ruled directly by the supreme Higher World Monarch but by a delegate called the Nena-Dolrelshia, which means ‘Sub-Ruler’ in Luminenya. But a sub-ruler was also sometimes referred to as a Quela Dolrelshia, which means a ‘Sea Ruler.’ At that time, the Sea Ruler for the Trans-Keldervalian Ocean was a merman named Kaltin Ràna. He had various messengers and ambassadors including Vonlivia and Katriona, through whom he communicated with Queen Aerilyn and carried out business in conjunction with the R.S.U.  

As the Monarch continued to approach, Vanessa made sure that each member was standing in the correct position, just in front of their large, ornate chairs. The backs of these chairs were tall and decorative. They also featured armrests with transparent cushions containing petals from the Tefelglazia plant which is a species of flower whose petals take a very long time to decay, even when separated from the flower. The plant is Keldervalian (native to Keldervale). When a fairy sat on one of these chairs, they had the option to make it rise into the air by pulling out the foot rest from underneath and commanding the chair with the word, ‘Deconia,’ which means ‘Levitate.’ It would then slowly rise to a height of about five feet. But they had the option to make it go lower and would usually make it rise just two or three feet above the ground. Some fairies found it more comfortable to hover in this way on an enchanted chair, and doing so could also enable them to think more clearly.

But it was of course bad practice to levitate above someone who was of a higher rank and since the Queen never used the levitation function on her Throne or meeting room chair, none of the other fairies were permitted to levitate either. Vanessa would be quick to punish anyone who dared to start levitating in front of the Monarch.

She kept a special eye on Rosemagenta Shell-Borne, who often liked to hover over the glass on her chair and watch the mermaids. She would wave at any that came near enough to the surface, and she often peered very far into the depths of the water using her mini, gold-plated telescope which she named Barney. But she still couldn’t see far enough down to set eyes on the nearest town or city. This distressed her somewhat and she was always trying to improve the quality of her telescope so that she would be able to see further and further down. She also stubbornly refused to listen to anyone who told her that she still had no idea just how deep the ocean really is and that a telescope the size of Barney, no matter how sophisticated the lens, would never enable her to see that far down.

Vanessa swallowed hard with tension and a sense of worry and fear as the approaching Queen in her magnificent flowing garments and hanging jewels, slowly lifted her sad, penetrating eyes and looked at her from the other end of the room. Oh, if only Princess Stephanie wasn’t so much trouble! If only she would agree to leave the ensnaring Lower World and simply return home!

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