บท 235: Fracture

Deeper and deeper she went; Oleandra ended up lighting her wand to be able to see, as visibility was dropping fast. After getting lost in a forest of algae, Oleandra was about to surface to get her bearings, since using the Lake rune as a radar was not helping in the slightest.

"Half an hour down here already," Oleandra said, checking her pocket watch. "If this were the second task, I'd hopefully already found what had been taken for me, and I'd be on my way back."

"We've taken what you'll sorely miss," the ever-present Viviane repeated thoughtfully. "We; we've already determined that this we is probably the Merfolk living in the Black Lake. Can your earrings translate from Mermish, Oleandra?"

"Doesn't matter, as I've stopped putting them on," Oleandra said. "With all these foreigners stopping me in the halls to ask where I've learned to speak their native tongue so perfectly, it was becoming impossible to come up with excuses without being able to lie."

The translation earrings that Oleandra had purchased in Nidavellir worked automatically; any person hearing her talk would hear her in their native language.

"At any rate, you should stop relying on the Lake rune so much," Viviane chided her. "Just feel."

Eventually, Oleandra emerged from the forest of algae to find herself overlooking what looked like an underwater village. The houses were crudely constructed with smooth and rounded stones, though there was one more ostentatiously decorated with colourful shells.

"Why don't we stop and ask for directions?" Oleandra suggested.

After wandering for so long, she had completely lost her bearings. And without waiting for an answer from Viviane, she jumped down from the small cliff and floated down to what looked like the village square. Surprised, the Merpeople residents quickly surrounded her and began babbling in their language. It looked like some of them had been taking their pet Grindylows for a walk— or rather, a swim.

"Tell them this," Viviane said, and she began speaking in gibberish, which Oleandra tried her best to replicate to the Merpeople, who looked at her in incomprehension.

"Ho!" a deep female voice boomed through the water.

Oleandra turned to see who was speaking; it was a seven-foot-tall Mermaid, wearing a necklace of long shark fangs. Merpeople didn't look like their modern depictions in Muggle media; they were much more fishlike in appearance, their mouths filled with narrow, filed teeth. This particular Mermaid was particularly imposing; perhaps she was their mayor?

"Where did you learn old Mermish?" the big Mermaid said in English. "It's a dead tongue— only used for ceremonies. Not even the wise one— Dumbledore— knows this tongue very well. But to answer your question, north is that way."

She turned around to point, and Oleandra took the occasion to shoot a glare at Viviane, who only shrugged her shoulders dismissively.

"As long as it works," she said.

"Well, thanks for the directions," said Oleandra. "I suppose I'll be on my way, then."

"Safe travels," the Mermaid mayor said.

Well, that was easy. At least they didn't ask her to stay to listen to their songs; she had places to be and sweets to buy! At any rate, finding the Merpeople's village had been one of her goals, apart from getting the lay of the land. If the Merpeople really were the ones mentioned in the golden egg's song, then this village would be an important landmark to keep in mind.

Ten minutes later, Oleandra emerged from the water and stepped onto the northern bank, where Daphne and Tracey were waiting for her.

"You went in with your regular school robes, and you're not even wet," Tracey marvelled. "How was the water?"

"So-so," Oleandra replied. "Shall we go?"

Daphne's eyes narrowed dangerously.

"Sis," Daphne said abruptly. "Has… anything happened to you, recently? You seem… different."

Startled, Oleandra was briefly at a loss for words. Daphne had known her all her life; if she couldn't tell that something was off with her, then who could?

"Define different," Oleandra said, in an attempt to buy time.

"You seem distracted, lately," Daphne said. "You're talking to yourself more than usual and you're jumping at shadows. You keep looking at empty spaces where there's nothing to look at, and you're coming up with new tricks out of nowhere, even though I never see you training. What's going on with you?"

Oleandra could tell that Daphne was only concerned about her, but how could she explain Viviane and her Fairy heritage? She would carry that secret to her grave, but her nature wouldn't allow her to lie, so she would have to change the subject.

"I've already explained this," Oleandra said tiredly. "When Professor Moody invited me to his office, I saw a Dusk-Elf in his Foe-Glass. When I asked Draco about it, he admitted that he had opened the gate to Nidavellir again. I'm only keeping an eye out for further attacks."

It was true that Oleandra was watchful for sneak attacks, so she technically wasn't lying. She was just omitting the fact that some of the times she was staring into open space was because Viviane was talking to her.

"You mean you think you saw a Dusk-Elf," Daphne corrected her. "You saw a vague silhouette that maybe had pointed ears."

"I was almost poisoned at the Yule Ball," Oleandra pointed out.

"That could have been Beauxbatons or Durmstrang looking for an edge," Daphne reasoned.

Oleandra had to admit that the silhouette she had seen had been rather undefined, and there was no proof that a Dusk-Elf had to be behind the poisoning attempt. Was it only paranoia? Maybe she was going crazy after all— only she could see Viviane and the other shadows.

"You're doing it again," said Daphne, catching Oleandra's eyes drifting towards Viviane. "I already know you can see things others can't; but what I don't understand is why you don't want to talk about it. Merlin only knows how many times I've asked you, but you keep changing the subject."

"I do want to tell you," Oleandra said miserably. "But… I can't. I really can't; please believe me."

Daphne sighed.

"Fine," she finally said. "I can tell when you're telling the truth. This is important to you, so I won't ask again. But I hope you'll trust me enough to tell me someday..."