[PRV] S.H.M & Aphrodite

"Sienna" He smiles, the name suited her, He tries to keep her upright, she seems weak, Jacen can't help but to wonder what happened but he knows better to ask, not now that she seems to shaken. "We can take a different path to the castle and I'll go and find the physician, he'll make you feel better" Jacen hopes that she understands that he means no harm,
Luckily the tunic can cover most of her, he'd rather the injured girl not get any stares, the servants luckily have a habit of looking down.
Jacen takes her through the small hallways of the castle , towards the physicians room, hoping the man will help. Knocking on the door, where an old man answers and let them in.

With Jacen's help, walking was much easier. Her legs were still shaking slightly underneath her weight, but at least she was able to walk forward. She looked at Jacen and blinked. She had no idea what a physician was, but the way he said it made her feel like she was supposed to.

As they walked into the town, Siennas eyes grew bigger. It was beautiful. The humans were walking around, chatting in the sun, shopping for food or, in the children's case, running around and play. It was surprisingly beautiful; Sienna had expected ruins, dirt and darkness. She was still on her guard, of course, but she had been positively surprised which felt like a good omen.

She wondered where they were going, when she saw how they were walking towards a huge castle. It was grey and tall, which was different from the one she lived near in the ocean. In the ocean, the castle was gold and almost sparkled, which the human castle didn't. It was still very impressive, though. In the castle, there were even more humans. They were dressed in the same clothes, which was different from what Jacen was wearing. They didn't look at them, at least not directly. Sienna found it very strange, but apparently that was the way it worked here. She wasn't sure if she was supposed to do the same? Jacen hadn't commented it, so maybe it was something you could choose.

Jacen stopped in front of a wall and knocked on it, and Sienna realized that it wasn't a wall, but something that could be opened in the wall. In Atlantica, they didn't have those things. She stepped inside with Jacen, and was greeted by and old human.
"Lord Jacen" he said, bowing to him.
"Who do we have here?" he asked, looking curiously at Sienna.

He smiles at the servants as they walk through the halls and stops at the large door. "This is Sienna, she may need your assistance, if you please" The old man has a clean shaved face but with longer hair which is tied back. Jacen walks in and helps Sienna sit down so the man can examine her. "She was on the beach, unable to get up, so I brought her here"

The old man nods "Come come, child. Sienna was it?" he examines her. "can you tell me what happened to you? our dear Jacen doesn't have a habit of finding girls on the shore" a chuckle leaves his lips, it was a joke, clearly.
Jacen himself shakes his head with a small smile. "I should go and find you some more appropriate attire, don't worry, Len will take good care of you until I return" the kind smile is still there

Sienna was led to a chair, and Jacen pushed her slightly to make her sit down. As she did, her legs stopped shaking and she felt them relax. The older man looked at her carefully. When he asked how she had gotten here, her answer got stuck in her throat. What would she say? She couldn't say that she came from the sea, they would think she was crazy. But she had no idea of what anything was called in this world. She swallowed.
"I- I" her eyes flickered and landed on a spot on the floor.
"I don't remember" she said hoarsely. That should made sense, especially since Jacen had found her in distress.

Jacen told her that he had to leave. She looked at the older man. She would be alone in a small room with a human. That scared her, but it would be better with only one than two. But on the other hand, the minutes she had spent with Jacen had at least felt better than she had thought. This new human, she had no idea who he was or what he would do to her.
"I'll help you the best I can, Miss Sienna" Len said with a smile, looking her in the eyes.
"Temporary memory loss can be hard, but we'll help you" he said as he touched her temples and her forehead.

It has barely been twenty minutes for Jacen returns along with a a girl , dress in far less fine clothing as he is. The servant girl curtsies at the door and walks towards Sienna. "I'm Alys , my lady, I'll be taking care of you." she says, holding a multitude of fabric in her arms.

Jacen greets her again. "I hope that you're feeling better, Miss. I took the liberty of finding someone to assist you and fetch something more appropriate for you to wear" The words were kind and warm, making the old man chuckle. "He takes good care of us, Miss"

After a while, Jacen returned. He wasn’t alone. Another human was with him, carrying what Sienna guessed was something for her to wear. The girl bent her knees forward as if she was about to sit down, but didn’t. She also called Sienna my lady, and she had no idea why. Was that what humans called each other? The old man had said my lord to Jacen, did humans have two names? If they had used the words King and Queen had made sense, since the mermaid world had a King or Queen, depending on who was democratically elected. Sienna had heard that the human world hosted multiple Kings and Queens. Although, she had never heard the expression lord and lady. She was unsure if she was supposed to call the girl my lady, too. She decided to go for it, what could go wrong?
“Thank you, my lady” Sienna said with a smile. She wondered if she was supposed to bend her knees in the same way the girl had done, but since she was sitting down she couldn’t do it. The girl blinked, and looked surprised. Sienna saw how she threw a glance at Jacen before speaking. Maybe Sienna should have stood up and bent her knees forward anyway?
“I’ve got a dress for you right here, Miss” the girl said, taking Sienna by the hand. A soft pull told Sienna that it was time to stand up, and so she did. Her legs shook, but she stood up straight. Alys led her out and walked through the corridors for a while until they found themselves in an enormous room.

The room had a lot of things that Sienna had never seen before in her life.
“The bed is recently made, if you want to rest” Alys said and gesticulated to the biggest object in the room. She led Sienna to a chair, and made her sit down. Sienna looked in front of her with awe in her eyes. She saw....herself! Her reflection was clear and bright, not blurry as it could be those time humans dropped things in the ocean that reflected her face. She looked at her hair, which had started to become a shade of lighter black, and Sienna realised that it was getting dry. She had never had her head above the surface for so long before. Alys looked at her expression with a bit of a frowned forehead before picking up something that she pulled through Siennas hair. It felt very nice, and her hair turned soft. Alys made her hair into a pretty hairdo before she held up the dress. It was light blue.
“This will look beautiful on you” she said with a smile. Quickly, Alys helped Sienna out of the piece of clothing Jacen had given her on the beach and into the dress. Sienna looked at herself. She looked so different. She herself thought she looked a lot like a human, and hopefully, the actual humans did too.
“I’ll tell Lord Jacen that you’re all fixed up, my lady” Alys said and did the bending thing again. Sienna smiled and stood up with the help of the table in front of her. This time, she was going to do it right.
“Thank you, my lady” Sienna said and tried to imitate the movement Alys had done with her knees. It went wobbly, but Sienna was proud of her attempt. Alys just gave her a quick look before exiting the room, leaving Sienna alone. She sure hoped that she had been convincing, because she actually felt like a human being, which was a very strange feeling.

Jacen stays behind with Len to discuss how their newest guest is. "That was certainly strange" he starts to say after the women have left the room. "Maybe she hit her head, I doubt that she was mocking poor Alys" Old Len is washing his hands in a small basin near the wall. "I saw no sign of trauma to her head, only sand. My Lord, the way the girl speaks she must be a foreigner, I'm sure" he old man states before continuing "but I did not find any injuries, she must just be dehydrated and hungry, some food and rest will do her well -" Len pauses and Jacen knows what he wishes to say and quickly interrupts the elderly man "I'll speak to my father and hope that he'll allow her to stay, untill she has recovered" A small, quick nod finds his way into Jacens movements, a nervous habit, and a bad one.

The servant girl Alys hurries back to her duties, to wash and clean Jacen's clothes and chambers, all the while thinking about the odd girl, a soft giggle escapes as she has never been called my lady before, such a strange thing to hear for a lowborn girl such as herself.
Jace steels himself to the conversation with his father who is usually found in his study. It's covered with dead and stuffed animals and creatures, even one from the depths. His fathers steward Hafvor , a foreign man who came into the familys service many years ago. He always wears long sleeves and gloves, strange at times but a good man. The young lord sighs as he stops infront of the heavy wooden door, willing himself to know a few times.

Sienna found herself walking around in the room. It went quite well, it was as if she had started to get used to have legs. She walked up to the big object Alys had called a bed. Sienna felt it, and it was soft. Alys had mentioned rest, which Sienna guessed meant that she was supposed to lie down in it. She walked over to the window, a bit wobbly this time, but she didn’t fall. She looked out the window from which she could see the sea. Her heart ached for her home, but she couldn’t return unless she had what was needed.

Sienna turned around. Nobody had come back for her, and she decided to go and have a look around now when she was a bit more steadier. She opened the door and walked out in the corridor. She only met a few people, and all of them quickly looked down when she walked past. She wondered why that was. Sienna found two enormous doors at the end of the corridor. She opened them, and found a big room. It was huge, and it didn’t look at all like the one she had previously been in. This one had neatly lined things alongside the walls. Sienna walked up to them. She saw that it was symbols on the things, and figured this would be what humans called books. Sienna had heard the word before. She had apparently found herself in a room filled with books.
“Who’s there?”. The voice almost made Sienna drop the book she held. She quickly put it back where she had found it. She looked around, and saw a human not far away from her. It was a girl, younger than Jacen. She was also different, because she sat in a strange chair. As she moved her arms and hands, the chair moved forward, but she didn’t walk. The girl smiled.
“You must be my brother’s new friend, rumours travel quickly around here” she said with a giggle. Sienna looked at her. Was she supposed to call this girl my lady, too?
“What’s your name? I’m Clara” the girl said before Sienna managed to say something.
“I’m Sienna” she said, briefly looking at the chair. Why wasn’t this girl walking like the other humans? Sienna looked at Clara’s lap, where one of the books lied.
“This one is really good, it’s about mermaids! I love it and I don’t believe what the myths say, if mermaids were real, I’m sure they would be very nice! I would love to be able to swim in the sea like they do” she said while gesticulating towards the book, and got a bit of a dreamy expression on her face. Sienna didn’t answer, there were myths about them, her and her people? Of course, if mermaids had stories about humans, it was bound to be the other way around, too. The difference was that mermaids knew of the humans existence, but the humans didn’t know mermaids existed for real.
“Father says he is going to go across the sea for my twelfth birthday and find something for my legs so I can learn how to swim. Soon I’ll be moving just like a mermaid!” the girl continued and she spoke very quickly, which required Sienna to focus to understand what she said. Learning how to swim? Was that why humans used those horrible big things that floated on the surface, because they were unable to swim?

—-
The Lord himself sat behind his desk, looking at maps of the world. He was studying them, trying to figure out where to go to find a good inventor. His daughter had been wishing for so long to be able to swim, since she wasn’t able to walk. Clara had been born with weak legs, and they had turned weaker and weaker every year. The Lord had loved his daughter from the moment she was born, and wanted to do everything for her.

The Lord looked up as he heard knocking on his office door.
“Enter” he said, stroking his beard and leaning back in his chair.

Jacen bows as he enters the room. "Father" he moves towards the desk and peeks over to the maps. "are you still searching?" he asks with a sigh. "they have done all they can for her legs. That chair will do her well" He couldn't help but to feel frustrated at his fathers actions and unwillingness to see that his sister was never going to be able to walk or swim. She has floated on her back, with her Lady mother to help her. A memory comes to mind, where he was still young and little Clara followed him like a puppy wherever she could , he wonders if she would still do the same now.
He clears his throat before speaking again. "I came to ask - I found a girl on the beach, injured and brought her here, as I assume you're aware of. I was hoping she could stay until she is well enough? after all, she was found on our land, is her well being not our responsibility?" a cheeky question, he hopes is father would not take offence to it.

Clara is continuing to talk in a gleeful manner. "I think they must be beautiful, father said he found one, she had long hair , he says she had the moon in her hair, it was so bright" she giggles and squeezes the book against her chest. "You're beautiful too, Jacen must be very fond of you" another giggle escapes the girls lips. A dreamy sigh follows before she speaks again, she does it alot. "Could you imagine swimming like that? being so free to never have to worry? wouldn't that be lovely?"

As the firstborn son, Jacen had a duty to do good things, learn and see how to be a good man, help his father with work in any way he is able. Right now it happens to involve a pretty damsel that he found washed ashore a few hours ago.

Lord Richard looked up as his son entered the room. As his son spoke about the maps, he looked down on them again.
"That chair has been her prison for the last three years now, and you know how she started to crawl before she got it. If there is something I can do to ease her pain, I will" he said, looking up at his only son. The tone in his voice made it clear that this wasn't something to be discussed. It seemed as his son had understood, considering he changed the subject. Ah, the woman on the beach. It hadn't been long before the castle had been whispering about it, and Lord Richard had heard it from Hafvor.
"I heard about your finding on the beach" the Lord said and pushed the maps to a heap in the corner of the desk.
"As a Lord, you did correctly to bring her here, what would people say if they found out that we left an injured woman, a foreigner no less, to die on our beach?It would definitely have started a disturbance between us and wherever this girl is from. She may stay, as long as you take full responsibility of her actions and behaviour". The Lord leaned back in his chair, scrutinizing his son.
"It's your Lady mother who needs the most convincing, make sure this girl knows what she is doing whenever your mother is present" he added, and a note of a smile could be traced on his face. Lord Richard's wife was a strict woman, who didn't bend on how people were supposed to behave. She had been known for firing handmaidens that didn't know how to curtsey properly and was very strict in how her children were behaving, especially with strangers present.


Sienna had a hard time following the girl as she spoke very quickly. She couldn't help but frown when Clara told her that her father had seen a mermaid. That couldn't be true - could it? She couldn't ask her about it, that would be suspicious. Instead, she nodded.
"I love to swim. How come you haven't learned?" she asked, truly interested. Clara got a sad smile on her face.
"You're sweet, pretending not to know" she said, gesticulating to her legs.
"Father says that I was born with weak legs, I've never been able to walk properly and in the end, a few years ago, they didn't work at all, and I had to be carried everywhere. That's when father found an inventor that created this for me" she said, sighing. She shook her head.
"That's why I love being in here, reading. It's the closest I can come to actually do things on my own" she said, holding up the book with a smile. She looked at Sienna.
"Do you want to go out in the garden with me?" she asked, her eyes turning big.
"We can read out there, it's lovely! You can bring a book, too" she said, gesticulating around the room. Sienna swallowed. Was she supposed to walk around like this? She hadn't been meaning to end up here, she had hoped to find Jacen on the way. Although a thought hit her; she knew what a garden was, and the flower must be growing there, right? A bolt of joy went through her body.
"I'll go with you" Sienna said and the girl beamed.
"You can push me, if you want" Clara said and pointed to the back of her chair.

Sienna had been standing still for a long time, and when she took the two steps to the back of the chair, she felt them shake. Clara looked at her with a frown, but didn't say anything. Sienna grabbed the handles and it took her a few seconds to understand what she was supposed to do. As she pushed the chair, she had to walk behind. Surprisingly, holding the chair made it easier for her to walk. Clara gave instructions as they went on where they were going, and after a while they found themselves in an enormous garden. It was absolutely beautiful. Sienna was surprised that humans could make such beautiful things. She started to walk towards the different flowers, determined to find the one she was looking for.
"Where are you going?" Clara said, and Sienna looked back. The young girl looked slightly sad, and Sienna realized the she couldn't just leave her.
"I just wanted to have a closer look" she said and walked back to the girl. She sat down on a stone fountain next to Clara, who held out the book.
"Can you read for me? I love to listen to other people reading" she said with a smile and Sienna took the book. She looked at it. The symbols were strange, and she had no idea what it said. The potion had given her the ability to speak the human language, but not to read it.
"Um - I don't know how" she said silently, closing her eyes. Was this how she was discovered? Would this little girl understand that she wasn't what she said she was? Sienna swallowed and wondered if she would be able to run if something happened.