Forever Fins Chapter 4

Four
School was out so I had nothing planned for today. I decided that I did not care if Finny threatened me, our laws prevent anyone from harming another mer's mate. The punishment is death. Finny had no power to keep me from Eli. Today I am going to bond with Eli. I put on my Korsta, I want to go for a swim before my transfiguring is tied to Eli's first transformation.
I snuck past Finny's room, hoping I would not have to confront her after our fight. I looked up the hill at Eli's house. Then I ran down the winding path between the rocks to the small patch of beach where I can transfigure and no one can see me no matter what direction they are looking from.
I dived into the water and transfigured, relishing in the feeling, knowing that I would never be able to do this freely after today. I swam for my cave and sat thinking about what it would be like to be bonded with Eli. Some merfolk who have bonded have said that the experience is similar to the mind seeing. I wonder what that would be like. I could talk with Eli without using my voice. It was something I have always wanted to experience ever since I learned about the bond.
I spent almost the whole day in my cave. I slept some, I nibbled on some barnacles on the hole near the celling, and I made a bracelet out of some lose crystals I found. I would give it to Eli as a present before I bonded with him. It was made out of some rope I had found that had fallen off a ship. It was similar to the rope used in a bracelet called a sailors knot. The only difference was that the rope I had was black.
I inlaid the crystals in between the twists in the rope, and then fast froze them, which held them in place. The crystals I used were blue, red, teal, purple, and orange, and clear. I hoped Eli liked it. When the light filtering through the coral changed I swam to the surface and transfigured. I started walking up the path, rubbing the bracelet to sooth my nerves.
I walked up to Eli's house and rang the bell. He answered and smiled as he saw me. "Hey Aura what ar' ya' doing here?" I took his hand and placed my hand with the bracelet over his. "I wanted to give you something." He looked at the bracelet and smiled. "Ya' made this?" I nodded. "It's beautiful…… just like ya'. I'll wear it always." I blushed and took his hand. "I want to show you something, but you cannot ask questions until we get there alright?" He nodded and closed the door. "Lead on."
I walked down the hill and saw the light was off in Finny's room as I passed Sybil's house. I wondered where she was. "I like your dress by the way, it suits ya'." I realized that I still had on my Korsta. I blushed. "Thank you, my father made it for me." "Your father sounds nice." I nodded. "He is the best." "Ya' must miss him a lot." I nodded. "I will see him next week though." "Cool, say hi for me will ya." I nodded, not saying that if everything went like I hoped Eli would see Daddy in a couple days.
We reached the path I had gone down just hours earlier and I sat Eli down on a rock. I let go of his hand. "Stay there ok. Do not move no matter what happens ok." He nodded, a worried look passing over his features. I leaned towards him and he closed his eyes. I closed mine and kept leaning towards him. I felt a hand on my shoulder and felt myself pulled back from Eli.
I turned and saw Finny, her face blank but her eyes blazing with rage. "I told you not to do this Aura. You don't know what it'll be like if he dies. I won't let you put yourself through that." Before I could say anything she grabbed Eli and kissed him. Eli's eyes widened and he pulled away from Finny. "What the-" Finny let go of him and turned towards me.
She got this weird look on her face and she looked back at Eli. I felt a few tears fall from my eyes. "Finny how could you?" She glared at me. "I lost Joseph and it destroyed me, I couldn't let you go through that if he died. You could never have another. I'm doing what's best for you." I felt rage run through me.
"What's going on?" She looked back at Eli. "Aura, do you want to show him or shall I?" I glared at her. "I guess I'll have to do it then. Come on Eli, step into the water." He looked at me. "Aura what's wrong? Why are you crying?" I shook my head. "I will explain everything later but for now you should do as she asks."
He looked confused but he did as he was told. Finny went in waist deep and pulled off her shorts and underclothes. A look of annoyance passed across Eli's face before it went blank. Finny had begun to transfiguring. It took all of a minute and her legs were replaced by powerful red fins. Eli looked at her fins, shocked and slack-jawed. "What?" Finny flicked water at him with her tail fins. "Aura and I are mermaids Elias. And in about five minutes, you'll start turning into one as well." He looked at me. "How?" He stepped out of the surf and onto the sand. He turned to me for answers?
"When a mermaid or merman kisses someone for the first time we form a bond. That bond is caused by our magic which will turn the mate we chose into a mer as well. In our laws, a bond is the equivalent of marriage and the person that was bonded with is taken to the king or queen of our kingdoms to seal the bond permanently. The bond lasts until death." He looked confused. "So ya' and your cousin are mermaids and I'm going to become one because she kissed me? But I don't love her, I love ya'."
I felt more tears running down my face. "It does not matter who you love, the bond is final." He reached out for me. "Can't the king or whoever break the bond instead of sealing it?" I nodded. "Yes but-" "Well can't the king break the bond between Finny and me, so I can bond with ya'?" I shook my head. "A person who bonds with a mer cannot bond with another mer who shares the same blood. So you can never bond with me, even if Daddy breaks the bond between you and Finny." He looked distraught, then confusion flashed across his eyes. "Wait, did ya' say your da can break the bond? Then that would mean that ya' ar'." I nodded.
"Finny and I are Princesses. I live in the kingdom of Nure, it's about 9,000 miles away and 9,000 leagues under the sea. Finny lives in the kingdom of Moeg, near Brazil. Our other cousin Tiderick lives in the other kingdom of Geki, which is the Great Barrier Reef." He blinked. "What do we do know?" Finny answered for me. "We go to Nure and ask Aura's dad to break the bond between us. I only bonded with you because if Aura had bonded with you she wouldn't have been able to bond with anyone else ever again."
"What? Why? How could ya' do that to someone, I love her." Finny pursed her lips. "There is a full moon in five days and it also happens to be Aura's birthday. On her birthday she will transfigure into her fins for the last time against her will. Before a mer's eighteenth birthday our transfigurations are mostly controlled by the moon. There is a ceremony we have that seals our magic and breaks the tie we have with the moon. Also if any mer bonds before the ceremony, when the ceremony is over the bond is sealed as well, that means that the magic that causes the bond can never be used again. Understand, I did it so she wouldn't have to suffer the loss of a mate if you died and so she would be able to move on and bond with someone else."
"That's not a good reason to ruin my future with Aura!" Eli was angry now. "I will never forgive ya' for this. I just want to break this bond and get as far away from you as possible. I'm so sorry Aura, I wish I would've known sooner so I could've stopped her." I looked at Eli, I loved him and it hurt so much to look at him because I knew I could never have him as my prince, I could never have him by my side when I finally took my place as queen.
"Well the bond strengthens after a day so we'll take you to her kingdom tomorrow and get this over with." Finny transfigured back into her legs and put on her clothes and left. Eli hugged me and I cried into his chest for hours. After I stopped crying I took him back to Sybil's house. "Sybil I am guessing that Finny told you what happened? Eli needs to stay here so we can make sure that his transformation goes smoothly so we can take him to Daddy safely." She nodded and hugged me. "I'm so sorry this happened dear. If I could I would punish Finny, but I can't because she technically isn't related to me." Her words were meant to comfort me but they did not." She led Eli to the spare bedroom in the basement. I went up to my room and cried myself to sleep.