2nd of Ashan, 717
“This cave has lovely acoustics.” Marin commented as her laid out the blanket to sit on, Cirrina only watched having refused to assist as she lazed on the shore line. “You did well.”
“I know I did.” The mer said with no shortage of prize, “You should be lucky I’ve shown you my home.”
“Your home?” Her teacher looked around with narrowed eyes, “I see.”
A slow, self-satisfied smile parted her lips, “You don’t approve.”
“It is not that, I worry about my prize pupil.”
“Liar.” She whispered softly, but the word echoed easily in the cave, “You wonder if more mer have hid under your nose, if we lurk in caves like the monsters you paint us as. You find it strange creatures like us, so ugly to you, live somewhere so beautiful.”
And it was a true, the cave with its glow of crystal clear water, luminous stones, clear sands was something picturesque. The only true defilements of it were the mer beaching herself, rising up as she stood on her own imaginary podium and the human who sat crossed legged on the blanket while eyeing her with an indulgent smile.
“Those are your words, not mine.” He replied smoothly, “Now if you’re done, come over here.”
Lips pulled down the mer sulked forward, annoyed her mentor hadn’t raised to the bait but he hardly ever did. When she settled he grabbed her tentacles without flinching, the glint in his eye telling her exactly what he’d thought of her earlier words to which she rolled her eyes in response. He’s still been shocked the first time they shook hands and Cirrina would never let him forget it.
“Do you remember what I’ve told you?”
A scathing remark was at the tip of her tongue but she bit it back, he’d finally agreed she was ready. If she were to annoy him now she’d never get what she’d been denied so many times before. The mer nodded curtly.
“What is the first rule?”
“Clear your mind.”
“And is yours clear?” It wasn’t. But his tone was a warning she heeded, letting the anger sink back to the depths were it always rested to happily. Without hesitation Cirrina closed her eyes, breathing in and out deeply, focusing on the counting and the feel of his hands in hers. When she opened her eyes the surface waters of her emotions were still.
“As clear as I can be.”
“You’re nervous.”
“Impatient.”
He smiled blandly, “Then listen closely,”
“And you will hear all.” Cirrina finished quietly, a saying of his he liked to repeat so often. Touting it as the corner stone of Attument, listening to the world around them. But now she honed in on his voice, it started out so soft she strained to hear it even in the echo of the cavern. But once she could hear it, it was impossible to tune it out. The sound rooted in her ears, burrowed in her brain making all of her twitch and her teachers hands tighten around hers.
A part of her wanted to scold him for subtly telling her to be still but the more focused part, that part knew better than to interrupt the warnings he’d instilled before telling her it was time. Then those thoughts fled as the song seemed to begin to echo now, louder and louder as it bounced off the walls, soon bouncing around inside her skull.
Cirrina let her eyes fall shut, giving herself over to the music. For a simple hum it sounded like a symphony in her head, it even gave the same presence and it was beautiful. There was little the mer thought so about that wasn’t herself or her animals but there was no other way to described what she heard.
At least, not at first.
Without realizing it the mer had begun to try and hum along, and it it was in that moment that the music took a sharp, sour note. But the music was already at home in her skull, and even when her tentacles flew to her ears out of habit, the noise did not stop. It grew louder and louder still, until it seemed nothing more than a shrill ringing in her ears.
Cirrina was ready to scream but hands prying her tentacles away reminded her of what was happening, a solid grounding to reality as the melody continued. She just had to listen, give in as she had before. So with her teeth sinking into the plush flesh of her bottom lip the mer let her body relax, allowing herself to listening to the shrieking haunting notes as she had before. On and on it went until the mer was certain her ears were bleeding and yet—
And yet the melody rang through her ears, both wonderful and woeful, terrible and terrific, the notes twining together in a familiar circular tune that she could not keep hold of. Each time she thought she had it, it slipped through her tentacles like water. Yet every note was an old friend, entirely unforgettable even if she could not recall any of it.
Round and round it went, off the walls, off her skull, as if the music was sinking into her very blood. Her own throat struggled to hum the tune back, unable to yet never missing a note. But as she tried to sing the notes back she was swallowing them instead, they slipped down her throat like a cool drink or a fresh kill. Down, and down until they settled in her gut so painfully her tentacles were finally allowed to slip free as her body slumped forward, head hitting her teachers still crossed legs. Tears ran down her cheeks, perhaps even small whimpers escaped but were drown out by the music that would not stop, and Cirrina wasn’t entirely sure she even wanted it to.
It was only then that she screamed silently, for when the notes settled they tore her apart like a shark in a feeding frenzy.
