The Dominant Species
12

We met Caleb again. We had met him many times. He usually asked us a lot about marine animals. His eyes lit up whenever we talked about them. Still, we also talked about our respective cultures and gathered information about each other. I was glad that we were getting to know each other. I told my parents and my advisors everything Caleb told me. And Caleb told his parents and his advisors everything we told him. When I met Caleb it was to share information. And that information should be shared with as many other members of our species as possible. We needed to get to know each other, if we were going to be allies. So far, I was thinking that I did want humans as allies. I definitely didn’t want my people to have enemies and I thought it would be good for humans and merpeople to work together.

I felt so bad for humans. They were always hunted by the creatures, so they were always scared and looking around. They were prepared to fight, but a lot of the time they lost. So many human children, including Caleb, have had to grow up too quickly because of their stressful lives.

On the way to this meeting, Giselle and I saw a female humpback whale give birth. We watched only a part of the process, but it was amazing. Whales are among my favorite animals. Whales have to be taught some things by their mothers and I liked that. It’s not all instincts. I have always wanted an education because I liked to learn and develop. I liked that whales had to learn like us too.

Giselle and I continued swimming and talked excitedly about whales. A half hour later, we swam through a tube and into a river. I know, I said merpeople don’t like to swim in freshwater, but that doesn’t mean we can’t for a little while at a time. If we stay in it for too long, it could cause skin diseases. But for a short meeting we would be fine. That was also why all of the tubes were filled with saltwater.

Finally, we found Caleb. We swam to the edge of the pool where he was standing so we could talk to him.

“Hi, how are you?” I greeted him. Sᴇaʀ*ᴄh the Find_Nøvel.ɴet website on Gøøglᴇ to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

“The creatures have killed more of us.” I felt a chill.

“I’m sorry,” I said.

“What are you going to do?” Giselle asked.

“I don’t know. There aren’t enough humans to fight them all off.”

“Are you sure?” Giselle asked.

“If there were, we would have just fought them off by now.”

“Is there anything the merpeople could do to help?” I asked.

“I have talked to my parents and advisors and the land we want would be a safe place for us to live.”

I was uncomfortable, but I realized that he made a good argument. And I didn’t see how giving up this land would hurt merpeople. Still, I didn’t have any experience as a queen and I wasn’t sure if giving it up was the right thing to do. I was starting to see Caleb’s point of view, but I was confused.

“I know a lot about merpeople,” Caleb said.

“What are you trying to say?” Giselle asked.

“I know that you have conquered land. I wanted to know if there was a chance humans could have their own land where they live. We want this place, so we could build our own cities with tall buildings.”

I sympathized, but I wasn’t sure if that was a good idea. I had to think of what was best for my people first. But not at the expense of hurting others. Besides, the humans were asking for some land that wouldn’t be a big deal to sacrifice. They even deserved more.

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