“Do you eat such animals on land?”Her voice was trepidatious, as if she was afraid of the answer.
I thought for a moment. Animals with lungs. Mammals.“No. We don’t eat mammals. Only other kinds of animals.”
“Mammals?”
“Yeah, mammals are animals like us, with lungs. Along with other characteristics like us.”Even as I said it, I realized I was lying. I was thinking about puppies, cats, and dolphins. Then realized we ate many mammals—cows, pigs, and such. Not to mention all the other animals with lungs we ate that weren’t mammals.God, I’d kill for a burger right now!I didn’t see the benefit of correcting my error. It probably would sound the same as if I told someone I liked to snack on kittens.
I would have laughed at the look of relief that washed over her face if I hadn’t been feeling guilty about the lie.“So, what if you find a dead whale or seal or something that has lungs? Will you eat them then?”
“We eat what the sea provides.”
“So, what are we supposed to hunt tomorrow? Really big clown fish?”
“I was not privy to which type of hunt was being discussed.”
“Whichtypeof hunt?”I wasn’t sure why, but the way she said type made me nervous.“How many kinds are there?”
Her drying hair was beginning to flutter across her face in the breeze. With a slender finger, she brushed it behind her ear. For a flash, she looked so much like a teenage girl that it seemed ludicrous to consider she was a sixty-something-year-old mermaid swimming with me in the middle of the ocean.
The illusion dissipated at her next words.“Most often, the hunts are simply a more organized excursion to gather more varied types of plants and smaller shellfish. When the tribe chooses to stay in one location for a prolonged period of time, going out for long hunts provides us with more options and a healthier assortment of nourishment.”
The blonde tendrils had worked free of their confinement and once again blew across her face. With an expression of annoyance, Lelas dove under the surface. For a moment, I lost her in the dark water, then saw the pale purple reflection as her scales darted under my feet. She came up on the other side of me, her head tilted in a way that forced her hair to lie slicked back from her forehead.
“My favorite,”she continued as if there had been no interruption,“are the ones where we actually get to hunt. When I was younger, I hated them. I could not make myself spear the fish. It seemed too cruel. I still consumed whatever we killed, but just could not force myself to take that step. However, the older I got, it was clear that was the way of things. Everything in the ocean eats fish. There are things that eat us. It is the way life maintains balance.”
She must have seen my smirk through the dimness.
“What? What humors you?”
I couldn’t suppress a chuckle.“Just the thought of you swimming through the ocean, toting a spear in one hand and a net in the other. Like some underwater warrior princess.”
“What is a princess? And we rarely use nets. We are fair and just in our hunts. We have seen what humankind’s nets have done to our kin.”
I wasn’t sure if by kin she meant other mers or simply other mammals. I decided to let it go, as well the definition of princess.“So, your hunts are either gathering ventures or hunting for fish to eat. That doesn’t sound too bad.”
In silence, her gaze slipped over my head, traveling around from star to star.
“There’s another kind of hunt, isn’t there?”
Without returning her gaze to me, she nodded after an extended pause.
“I was afraid of that.”
She continued to inspect the world around us, then once again darted under the surface to wet her hair.
“We should probably return soon. The more time in the open, the greater the possibility for danger.”
“You’re not very good at avoiding the question, you know.”
She nodded, still refusing to look at me. “I am aware. That does not change the truth of my statement, however.”
“You think whatever this third kind of hunt is, that’s the one they’re having tomorrow, don’t you?”
“I have heard no information that would confirm any suspicion.”
“Come on, Lelas. That’s what you think, isn’t it?”
“It is.”She nodded slowly, then finally met my gaze once more before hurrying on.“It is because there were no specific details of the hunt discussed while the tribe dined. It was only stated that there would be a hunt and then a pondering of the merits of your inclusion. And because of the ceremonial lack of fish in our diets as of late.”
