“Wow,” Mary Anne breathed. “It’s so beautiful.”
“Thank you,” Lallie smiled graciously, opening another door. “You may rest in here.”
Mary Anne sat down in the bed and giggled a little as she sunk into the mattress. She laid back and curled up under the covers. Zac smiled.
“I’ll come back later,” he promised her.
Mary Anne nodded and closed her eyes. Lallie closed the door and she and Zac sat at an intricate white table.
“Girlfriend?”
“Ex, actually.”
“Really? You’re still friends then, I take it?”
“Oh sure. No hard feelings at all. It was just because she had to move to Arizona for at least a year, and with me touring and stuff, well, she didn’t want to deal with a long-distance relationship.”
“I see. And she never knew?”
“No, but I hated not telling her,” he sighed. “My brother Isaac is so lucky. His girlfriend is... has powers too so he doesn’t have to deal with the agony of deciding whether or not to tell her. I know one guy – her father actually – who never even told his wife he had powers and she died before he ended up triggering their kids.”
Lallie nodded.
“I’m afraid I can’t really sympathise. I’ve lived here all my life and never had to deal with that. But... I can imagine how hard it can be to keep a great secret like that from someone you love.”
“And now she knows,” he murmured.
“Yes. And she has seen our city. I’m sorry to say you may well have a problem in Con.”
“Con?”
“The one who threw the plates.”
“Oh.”
“I’m afraid he’s been to the surface too often,” she explained. “Too many bad encounters with, umm, humans without powers. He was born a mutant too. Oh, people wonder why we live in secret, but for every human that would be biased against us, there is one of us that is biased against humans. To prevent bloodshed is the answer to that question.”
“Hmm, we were thinking more about getting experimented on and stuff when my family and I decided to keep quiet. That was before we had met any mutants,” Zac paused. “You sound like you’ve had to make yourself clear on the subject heaps of times.”
Lallie smiled.
“Too many times. I used to be on the MIA council.”
“MIA?” Zac repeated.
“Yes, you’ve heard of it then?”
“Yeah, well, briefly. There’s a council?”
“Certainly. Someone has to be in charge! I served with MIA for a good few many years, and then I came back home and was asked to be a part of the Oceana council. That is an honour you simply can’t refuse and I have never regretted it.”
“Even dealing with Con?” Zac teased.
“Especially with dealing with Con! Working in MIA tends to train you to be wary of his sort. Sometimes his logic actually makes sense to the others and I consider it my duty to keep him in check. That display today, oh, it has won people over to you, Zac. And for that I am well pleased. If Con has his way, I fear for Mary Anne’s life, but you have my support certainly. And Kavita’s – the one who looks like a mermaid. Rama doesn’t believe in simply killing people but he does believe in keeping the people of this city happy. Considering today’s display, I’d say she’s safe. How did you manage that wall of water?”
“Practice,” he shrugged.
“Hmm. I suspect being triggered, as you call it, may well have something to do with it.”
“Probably.”
“Don’t act so modest. Like Kavita, I have heard stories from the insect people about you Triggered. It is what you are. Never belittle your powers, even in the presence of those who would hate that you are stronger than they are. Con is like that, but he will have to deal with the great power of the Triggered just like the rest of us.”
Zac looked embarrassed.
“I just... I don’t like people to think I’m full of myself or think I’m better than anyone else.”
“You may not be. But you’re powers are. Like the rest of us, your powers, strength, abilities and limits are like the throw of a die. Determined at random, and there is nothing any of us can do to change who we are. People simply have to learn to deal with that aspect of our lives.”
“I believe people can change. But I guess that’s more their attitudes than anything else.”
Lallie nodded.
“Exactly.”
“So, umm, are there many other underwater cities?”
“Plenty. The oceans are full of them, and many people to fill them. A good thing too. There can be problems with those of us with animal powers. The shark-people have their own cities, along with some of the more dangerous predatory animals. It’s more a precaution than anything else. We can’t have our own eating our own, not that they would do so in their right mind, but all you need is one shark not to realise that the school of fish nearby is really a school of fish-people.”
Zac had to smile.
“Yeah, that would be bad huh?”
“Very bad,” she agreed. “I, myself, am what the Celts would call a selkie – I turn into a seal when I touch water.”
“Really? Awesome!”
Lallie smiled at his enthusiasm.