Brellitine Grever and The Sea of Gelled

by Ruhi Jain

  “Could I have some soup, please?”

  The old woman flashed a broken-toothed smile. “Got some manners in ya, new fish.” she said, and poured boiling hot soup into Brell’s bowl. She wondered idly what kind of magic make the soup not simply float away into the water as she smiled back and headed towards one of the tables. Almost all the chairs were occupied but she finally found one. Brushing away the remnants of the previous person’s soup, she placed hers on the table and sat down.

  “So you’re the new fish.” A girl sitting next to her said. She looked like one of those emo-type merpeople Brell had seen along the way. Dark kohl rimmed her eyes, black lipstick stained her lips and she could swear she saw the tattoo of a skull at the nape of her neck, partly covered by her bob cut black hair.

  “Yes.” Brell said. “My name’s Susan. What’s yours?”

  “Amanda,” the girl said, and grinned. Something told Brell she was rebellious in nature. “Which room did ya get?”

  “D-5.” Brell replied and looked at her soup, which consisted of disproportionate chunks of seaweed bread and fish. She removed the fish pieces carefully, using her spoon.

  “What? D-5?” Amanda gasped.

  “Anything wrong?” She became wary.

  Amanda snickered and yelled so loudly that Brell had to cover her ears. “Yo! Natalie! You gotta hear this: new fish got your room!”

  The entire hall hushed into a deadly silence. A tall, bulky mermaid rose from the sixth row. Dark, bushy eyebrows knitted together and glinting black eyes peered down at her. She had small lips and a huge face with a squashed nose. Her body was just like Aunt Lucy’s; bulging forward, and she wore an extra-large apron. Her tail and hands were fleshy masses that clumsily destroyed anything and everything in its way. Natalie slumbered towards Brell threateningly, knocking down a chair on her way.

  “Amanda, you’re kidding.” She rumbled in a deep voice and took a seat in front of Brell. “No one gets my room!”

  Amanda grinned like a little girl. “Na-uh. Ol’ Thomas gave Susan here D-5.”

  Brell didn’t bother correcting her about Salamandar giving her the room and not Thomas. Natalie’s meaty hand thumped hard on the table.

  “Is that so?” she sneered. “Well she’ll have to move then.”

  Amanda wiggled her fingers. “You forgot, all the rooms are occupied and yours is the only free one!”

  Every single mermaid in the hall had now turned to stare at the three of them. It was rather strange.

  Natalie’s face turned as sour as a lemon. “We’ll see about that.” She stormed out of the hall, upturning a mermaid from her chair on the way. The mermaid scrambled up and repositioned her chair, turning to look at Brell.

  Brell gasped involuntarily. That mermaid had a striking resemblance to Meaken. She too had honey-like skin, but she was very thin. She had straight black hair that was tied into a ponytail and her eyes bore a striking resemblance to the resistance leader. Brell realised who this must be - Erene.

  Amanda swatted her on the shoulder. “Oh, you are so dead!” she laughed.

  “Why? I mean, what does Natalie have against me?” Brell asked, not wanting to take her eyes off Erene.

  “Not against you, silly,” Amanda chuckled. “Natalie basically hates anyone who gets her room or comes in her way. Usually she goes and complains to Thomas, who changes that mermaid’s room, but you’re stuck with her because there is no other room for you to be in.”

  “But the previous mermaid who left, where did she stay? There was a vacancy.”

  Amanda gave her a queer look. “She didn’t leave. Nobody ever can. But she slept in the storage cupboard. Natalie literally kicked her out.”

  Brell’s focus snapped. “I’m not going to sleep in the storage cupboard. No matter what Natalie does, I have a right to stay in that room.”

  Amanda’s smile vanished and she said grimly, “She’ll make your life a living hell to make you leave. But I can see you’re a fighter, so I’m sure you won’t give up that easily.” She patted Brell’s hand.

  Suddenly a large mahogany door at the end of a hall burst open and a fat middle-aged mermaid swam in and roared. “All right missies, you’ve had enough! Get your lazy tails here to collect your chores for the week. Come on, move it!” She bellowed.

  “Who’s that?” Brell whispered. Everyone had quieted down.

  “Miss Fern Nigella,” answered Amanda in a low voice. “We call her Figgie but address her as Ma’am.”

  “Figgie?”

  “Yeah. She is our supervisor. She has the eyes of a hawk… really. If you miss one spot while cleaning a room she’s be right upon you to double your chores.”

  She sounded just like Aunt Lucy. Fern Nigella was fat and round as a bowling pin. Her brittle sienna hair screamed in protest in the neat, tight bun it was twisted into. The buttons on her mauve blouse were on the verge of extinction and her thick brown tail flicked angrily whenever any mermaid passed by her. The best way one could describe her face was a mass of warts, moles, and red bumps with thick, fat lips poking out.

  “Come on, chop, chop, chop!” She disappeared behind the doors.

  Brell did what all the other mermaids did; she got up and followed Figgie. All the mermaids formed one line, and Amanda stood behind Brell.

  Amanda murmured, “We’re getting our duties for the week. Did you get yours from Thomas? It will be a seashell.”

  Brell fished out the seashell that she had tucked in her apron. Amanda sighed. “Ol’ Thomas gave you all the difficult tasks for the whole week.” She clicked her tongue twice before reading out the list. “Clean the Hall after breakfast, do the laundry, clean the east ramp way, prepare the first five guest rooms, and clean dishes after dinner. You also have to clean the Hall after dinner. And …” She finished reading the last line. “You’re paired up with Erene to do the work. She’s a little slow so you’ll have to do most of the work, Susan. What a pity. We usually get an hour and a half per chore.”

  Erene. At least now she had time to spend with her. The line moved forward and Brell saw herself facing Figgie.

  “Name?”

  “Susan Morris.”

  Figgie shuffled through a stack of seashells. “Hmm…Your name is not here. Are you a new?”

  “Yes, I’ve already got my duties.”

  “You’re paired up with …?”

  “Erene”.

  “Listen to me carefully. I will not tolerate any clothes apart from your standard uniform, no bright or offensive makeup, no flashy jewellery — that bracelet will be fine because it is simple — and no breaking of the curfew time.”

  Figgie waved to her right, where a line of mermaids were waiting for their partners to start the chores. Second in line was unmistakably Erene. Up close, Brell could really see how starved-thin she was.

  “Amanda! Wipe off that lipstick right now!” Figgie growled.

  Brell joined Erene and they both went to the hall, which looked bigger when it was empty.

  “You’re Erene, right?” she said.

  Erene nodded. “You’re Susan, I know. You got Natalie’s room.” Her voice sounded similar to Meaken’s but with a childish edge to it.

  Brell didn’t know how to start the conversation. She didn’t know how to break the news to this little girl who had lived a decade of her life away from anybody she knew, that her sister was searching for her.

  “Erene, we’ll start from the first row, and work together from the starting till we reach the end, is that fine with you?”

  Wasn’t it like this back at the farm? She and Timmy working together… his memory made her eyes cloud with tears. She quickly brushed them away and starting scrubbing the table clean, erasing out the marks of the soup that the others had spilt. Erene cleaned the other side of the table, opposite her. For almost an hour, they didn’t speak at all. She, for one, wasn’t sure what to say. What she was afraid of was that she might reveal too much too soon.

  When they were finished, Erene led B
rell to the laundry room. The circular green area was bustling with activity. On the far side of the room, five mermaids were thumping their tails against a bundle of the Royal Family’s clothes that were submerged in a huge brown tub with air in it, for cleansing. Next to it a couple of mermaids were drying previously washed clothes in bubbles of air and seven mermaids were ironing the clothes on a long and wide table. On another circular wooden table, three mermaids were folding ironed clothes and stacking them in neat piles.

  A bustling, worried-looking mermaid with auburn hair swam up to them.

  “Right, you two go to table three and fold those clothes neatly.” Without waiting for a reply, she swam off to yell at the mermaids who were ironing.

  At table three they were welcomed with a pile of expensive clothes waiting to be folded. Erene picked up a nylon emerald shirt that was still warm from the ironing, and Brell chose a golden shimmering skirt to fold.

  While folding, Erene said. “Since you’re new, you must be confused about what is where in the castle. Do you have any questions? I basically grew up here, so I’ll know the answers.”

  Brell sighed, glad that someone for once was willing to give her explanations.

  “Could you tell me the layout of the castle?” She needed to know that if she wanted to find Timmy.

  “You have to pay attention okay? I’ll start from the lowest level, the dungeons. It’s cold, gloomy and is full of metal boxes. The next level is our servants’ quarters with Ol’ Thomas’s office next to it. Above that, as you know, is the servants’ Hall. On the same level, are this laundry room and the kitchen.” Erene sighed airily and went on in a distracted tone. “The next level up is the proper Castle. On both sides, a ramp way goes up to the side of the castle, which is full of rooms and halls, with the layout reflected on both the east and west sides. There are so many rooms.” She smiled sheepishly. “I may lose count of them from time to time. But slowly, when you clean them, you’ll start to remember their position. There is also a Dining Hall, Breakfast Hall, Welcome Hall, Training Rooms —”

  “Um… do any of the rooms have ebony flooring?” Brell asked casually.

  “All the rooms in the west side of the castle.”

  Brell’s heart sank. This meant that she had the full west side of the castle to search for her brother.

  “The east side has maple flooring.” After a second, she burst out, “Ooh! And I almost forgot!”

  “What?”

  Erene came closer to Brell, a wide smile on her face.

  “There is another room with maple flooring. It’s the Ballroom!” her eyes had become big and wide with excitement.

  Brell started piling up the clothes she had folded. “The castle has a separate room for ballroom dancing?”

  “Yes! It’s so big! The flooring is maple wood, like I told you. It also has a fountain right in the centre. There are these velvet soft curtains, and …” Erene was literally bouncing up and down.

  “And what?”

  “A few days from now we servants get to dance!” She squealed.

  “Wait… what did you just say?” The idea of dancing frightened her; she had never been good at body coordination.

  “See.” Erene picked up a soft red gown to fold. “Every year, the Royal Family holds the ‘Royal Ball’. They do ballroom dancing and we wait on them, but we also get to wear good dresses. Well, we’ll have to wear a black apron on top of our dresses, but we don’t have to wear this awful uniform. After the Royal Family and all their guests leave, we get the Ballroom all to ourselves for about half an hour and we can get rid of the aprons. There will be shining lights. Oh! It’s so much fun!” Her eyes had a dreamy look about them.

  “Of course, in the end we have to clean up and tidy the area, but who cares about that?” She happily patted the dress she had just folded.

  Brell smiled just looking at Erene’s enthusiasm.

  “What are you going to wear?”

  Erene rolled her eyes. “I thought you were never going to ask me that.” She leaned forward eagerly. “There is this pink dress that someone mailed to me four months back. I have no idea who sent it but it’s so lovely! I’ll show it to you, okay?”

  Erene broke off and nudged her, gasping. “I can’t believe we’re here. It’s come.” She pointed to a sliver dress that had just entered in the laundry room. Two mermaids were gingerly carrying it. Miss Red Hair supervised its washing and ironing which was being done within bubbles of air, separately from the other clothes.

  “Princess Lenny’s Ball gown.” Erene whispered in awestruck reverence. “She gets a new one every year for the Royal Ball, and they all have bits of pure silver on them and are always completely silver in colour too. Last year pure silver lined her neckline and the year before that it was around the waist like a satin ribbon! Each year she gets different designs. Travis Co’olner is the royal family’s dress designer. I would do anything to wear a dress by him.” She sounded as if she was making a promise.

  Then the dress was laid out before them.

  Long enough to cover the whole tail yet short enough to show hints of it while dancing, the dress was tailored tight at the top and flowy at the bottom. One shoulder was supposed to be left bare. When she touched it, the material was so delicate that it felt like silk on her fingertips. The pure silver accent was at the hem of the dress.

  The red-haired mermaid raised her eyebrows and they quickly but neatly folded it. Miss Red Hair took the dress, deftly slipped it into a hanger, and passed in on to a servant who wore a light green shirt instead of a dark green one.

  “How can she wear that shirt?” Brell asked Erene.

  Erene followed her gaze. “Oh! I forgot to tell you. We have three ranks. The lowest — us — have to wear dark green shirts. We do the laundry, dish washing and cleaning of the corridors etc. The middle rank wears light green shirts like that mermaid. Their work is not much different from ours, but they do also have some chores which requires them to associate directly with the Royal Family members. The highest rank one can go to is the one who wear white shirts. They are the Royal Family and Great Queen Zeldae’s personal servants and have to appear when they are called, even if it’s three in the morning, and attend to their smallest whims or do any task given to them by the Royal Family.”

  The red-haired mermaid came to them, “Right ladies, your time is up, you may go.”

  Brell happily left; her hands were starting to ache. “We still have to make the guest beds and clean the east ramp way.”

  “And clean the dishes after dinner,” piped in Erene.

  “Every day for a week,” Brell sighed.

  *

  The actual interior of the castle left her gaping like a child in a candy store. Brought up in a small, sleepy, laid-back village in the Cotswolds, this golden palace was too luxuriously rich for her to even imagine.

  The walls, covered with rich red fabric, had lanterns positioned every few intervals or so. The ceiling was painted with rich images of mermaids circling a central mermaid who was draped in a black gown. The mermaid in the centre had long black hair, as long as her gown. A couple of mermen were swimming towards her with gold platters in their hands, enriched with fruits and delicacies. The paintings on the ceiling bled down the inner walls. A large rock painted on the ceiling sprawled across the wall and supporting beams so that it looked like the rock jumped from wall to ceiling. The rest of the background had hints of gold, indicating a more luxurious setting.

  A long red carpet ran down the length of the floor, covering the passageway which they had just swum through. In a central atrium stood an enormous statue made of bronze. A mermaid was bent over a merman, driving a spear into his chest. She could only see the back of the statue, the flying long hair and the victorious way the woman arched her body. Had she swum to the front, she would have seen cruel eyes, a mouth set to a sneer and a broad bracelet that hung from the dead merman’s wrist. She would have seen Zeldae’s face.

  They swam the long dista
nce to the east ramp way. The whole time Brell’s jaw gaped, head turning quickly to take in all the sights. The east ramp way was huge and made out of glistening Italian marble. She wondered why mermaids even needed a ramp, but she guessed it was more for decoration than use.

  They cleaned the ramp with a mop and a bucket of air. She noticed many more mermaids cleaning the castle, but she didn’t see any member of the Royal Family, and voiced the observation to Erene..

  “They rarely leave their chambers. All their meetings are held in a separate hall.” Erene said, cleaning the already spotless area below the hand rail of the ramp way. The castle was so clean that it reminded Brell of a hospital.

  When they had finished, it was almost lunch time.

  “You’re a fast worker,” Erene said shyly. “Usually this work would be done by the evening. That means we will have some free time after making the guests’ beds.”

  They headed to the hall while other mermaids came swarming in, chattering making a loud noise that echoed off the hall’s grey, stone walls. The soup for lunch was a little bit thicker than the one for breakfast and Brell was grateful for that because her stomach was rumbling. She quickly removed all the chunks of fish she could see and had just drunk the last drop of the gravy before she realised that the hall had become eerily quiet. She looked up to find Natalie standing across the table from her.

  “Right, punk. You will be sleeping in the storage cupboard from now on.”

  Brell looked around the hall, at everyone who was looking at her. It seemed like Natalie liked to pick on people in public. She kept a cool face. “That won’t be happening Natalie.” She stood up and gasps ran everywhere. “I have a right to sleep in one of those beds.”

  Natalie flashed a sly smile. “We’ll be seeing about that now, won’t we? You —”

  She was cut off by the entrance of Figgie, who ushered them all out of the hall to work. Brell quickly disappeared with Erene before Natalie could find her and make more trouble. When they reached the guest rooms, Erene whispered in wonder.