UNEDITED: Our Forbidden Love

1: Starley

I'm just over sixteen and a half years old but most people who meet me believe I'm about fourteen, due to my height. Where I'm from, how I look is normal but I might not look normal to you which is why I always have to stay hidden if I plan on coming near enough to the shore; which I always do. I love being close to where the people are, watching their legs move them through the water, comparing it to my tail. I know that my dad would be absolutely furious if he ever found out how close I was to them but, he'll never find out because no one but me knows how near I get.

Our city is located a few kilometres off the coast of what the humans call Australia, what mer-people (excluding me) call 'Danger's Home'. Leaving the city is almost like I'm in a spy movie. I could wear a ninja suit and mask and no one would blink twice if they knew what I was doing. I have to make sure no one is following me, or that there's no one around who might see me. I have to be especially wary of the Scouts. They patrol the city, protecting it from dangerous enemies and threatening sea creatures. They're also meant to keep all of the citizens inside its borders but I can't say that they do a good job of that, especially when it comes to me. To make my escape even more reckless the Scouts know me by name. Not because I've ever been caught escaping but because my mother used to be one of them. Key words: used to be.
There isn't much to my mer-people family. There's just me, my dad and my sister. Of course there was mum but not anymore. Again, key word: was.

My sister's name is Bubbles. Just like me she can talk to sea creatures, but unlike me she cannot talk to the ocean and she can't heal, which secretly I'm very happy about. I'm glad that I am the Star-Bub sister with the extremely rare combination of talents. I know that Bubbles isn't happy with that, and I suppose I wouldn't be either if I was her, which is why I keep it quiet and don't bring it up around her.
Daddy loves it though. He is way too happy about Fate's choice in my talents. Every time we meet someone as our family trio, Bubbles gets introduced as, "my eldest daughter Bubbles." a regular introduction, whereas I get, "My youngest daughter with the rarest talent composition ever known to mer-people which was given to her at birth; healing, communication with water and correspondence with sea creatures: Starley." It's way too over the top, and every time I try to tell him that I don't need a paragraph summarising my life to introduce me to someone who is only just meeting me but he always dismisses me and ignores my request. I've given up trying to convince him to stop for about two years now.
Daddy has a rare gift too which is probably why he's so invested in mine. He's the towns Rule-keeper. As the title implies, he makes sure the rules are kept. The rules of the city are simple: do not leave the city, do not misuse your talents, do not use your talents against others, do not treat others as unequal, do not pay attention to humans and their world, do not break any of the rules. Simple you would think. Right? Well, yes, very simple until I found my love for sapienology (study of humans) and the water's surface.

My tail is so beautiful and I'm forever grateful because some mermaids that I see around the city are stuck with tails that are, in short, ugly. You can never change your tail, what you are given at birth is the same tail you'll be in when you die. My tail is a mixture of aqua, purple and pink all in a pastel pallet that creeps up my stomach and over my left shoulder. There's no particular pattern on it, it's kind of just there. Almost like it's been painted with paint being poured on top of it.
Bubbles' tail isn't bad either, thank goodness otherwise that would give her another reason to get to go first at everything. Her tail certainly isn't as pretty as mine but it's definitely not as ugly as some others I've seen. It's a bright pink colour patterned with some purple and orange flowers. Unlike me, her stomach is revealed and her top piece, which is the same pink as her tail, has only one sleeve over her left shoulder. An orange flower connects the sleeve to the top. Together we are the Star-Bub sisters, and I'm glad I've got her for a sister.