Chapter 23

Surprisingly, or at least to Kyma's expectations of what a home owned by royals would be like, the living room is quite similar to that of Alai's. She swims around the room, occasionally stopping to examine objects in the small storage ledges. She picks up one of them, and finds a curious carving of water and waves. Kyma puts it back and continues on, barely stopping in the kitchen at all. Once she has returned to the living room, she ascends to the sleeping quarters. The chamber is larger than the one in Alai's house, but not by much. The main difference between the two houses is the carvings, or lack of, in Alai's home.

As she approaches the sleeping ledge, she sees a dark object sitting just out of reach of the water. She sits on the ledge and sheaves the water off of her hands before pulling the object towards her. It is a notebook wrapped in a dark brown material like leather. Kyma hesitates, not wanting to intrude on her mother's privacy by reading her journal, but curiosity wins out, along with the feeling that she needs to see it. She carefully opens the journal to the first page, and looks at the curious paper.

It appears to be both familiar and unfamiliar, despite not being like normal paper. She searches her brain for the information that will soothe her confusion. It clicks, and she lets out a gasp, pressing her face close to the paper to examine it through the ink marks. The paper is made of reed filaments, it is a modern papyrus. Kyma turns her focus away from the paper itself and towards the writing it holds. She reads it carefully, letting it tell her of her mother's thoughts and feelings, letting it teach her about her mother's character. Reading her mother's writings is both freeing and saddening to her as it shows her mother's pain.

When Kyma looks up from the letter and moves her hand to brush a lock of hair out of her eyes, the back of her hand brushed against her cheeks. She pulls her hand back, surprised by the feeling of water on her cheeks. Her hand is glistening with smeared tears, and she touches her cheek again to trace the tears. She hadn't even realized she was crying. Kyma looks back down at the journal, knowing there are many more letters contained within it. But the first letter is enough for now. She can read the others if and when her mother chooses to give her the journal. Kyma wipes her cheek with the back of her hand once more, trying to get rid of the tears before she returns to Alai, not wanting people to see them. Then she stops smearing them away, having remembered that she has to go through water to go back to Alai. The water will wash away the remnants of her tears, no one will notice them at all.

Kyma closes the journal and puts it back in the same spot she found it in before sliding into the water and swimming down to exit the sea home. When she emerges from the house, she doesn't see Alai and looks around for her, growing more and more worried with each passing second. From behind her, there is a tap on her shoulder and spins around, hoping it is Alai. Instead, it is one of the Crownguards, and she deflates, worries once more. He points up to the air pocket and she nods, smiling gratefully. She zooms up to it, hoping desperately for Alai to be waiting there for her. As she approaches the surface, she sees the movement of Alai's tricolored tail and grins, adding a burst of speed to her movement in relief. She breaks through the surface to see Alai looking at one of the walls on the side of the cavern across from Kyma.
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I know this chapter may appear to be really short, but there is a what, 500 word letter contained within it? And about that letter, please tell me if it isn't loading for any of you, as I can always come back in and put the letter into wattpad text form. It's a bit better as the picture, because you get Lahira's writing style, but it can work without it. What did you guys think of the letter? Did you get a feel for Lahira's character like Kyma did? Tell me your thoughts, and happy reading! I'll see you next chapter!

~Goddess of Fate, signing out.

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