Lady of the lake

They them

It was weird. They could have sworn that they left their bag by the shore last night. Luckily nothing valuable was in it, yet they knew that the pond didn't rise so the likelihood of it just being the water was very unlikely. They had searched for some kind of sign that some other source had helped the bag in its journey. But the only thing found was some more of those colourful scales. Something however caught their eye. It was a giant conch shell, it looked as if a sunset had arisen itself on the shell. The pinks and oranges were beautiful. Y/N picked it up and carefully viewed it to make sure there weren't any critters inside and looked around for more but only saw more of those colourful scales. They headed back to their house with the shell in hand. When they got home they washed it off and placed it on their table eventually deciding that it needed something else. They grabbed a jar and went back out to the pond spending lots of time picking up little pink and purple scales. Each time they dumped a handful into the jar they smiled enjoying how pretty it was getting to look. Before they knew it nightfall had come. They grabbed one last little handful and made their way back to the house. The jar was barely a quarter of the way full but they were still very happy about how much progress they had made.
Although while laying in bed they thought about how strange the situation had been, their bag gone and a perfect shell in its place? Deciding that they needed to figure out if this was a coincidence or not a plan was made. They would put out some more little goodies before next nightfall and check it in the morning. Although they weren't sure what they would put out sleep had taken over before it could even cross their mind.
When Y/N awoke they was quite excited to be up again. They grabbed their bag, a new one of course, and put some goodies in it that they would set out for later, than grabbed their jar of scales and headed off.
Once the day had gone they placed down some items, a pouch of seeds, a shiny spoon, they're least favourite mug and a small poppy. Leaving them slightly scattered they skipped off, not wanting to be out past dark. The next morning they jumped out of bed and ran out to the pond. When they got there the items they had put the night before were gone. And there was an item in place of each one.
They picked them all up and examined what they all were. A piece of kelp, some sea glass, a smaller purple shell and a small gold piece.
Y/N squealed in excitement as they knew that it wasn't just a coincidence. They weren't sure what the next steps were but now they knows that this isn't just a fluke! While giggling in excitement they hadn't realized the curious pair of eyes watching them.
Before to long Y/N had come up with an idea of how to get a glimpse of this mysterious creature.
Luckily they had a spare invisibility and night vision potion from their last adventure. Grabbing some more shiny things and the potion they snuck out to the pond and placed the items by the water. They slipped behind a bush, drank the invisibility and night vision potion and waited.
After a while there was no signs of movement from anywhere and their invisibility potion was about to wear off so they decided to give up on seeing the creature and went to go grab for their items. When they did their eyes were met with another's. The ones that met theirs looked dark and mysterious but were completely full of life. Both Y/N and the other were frozen staring at eachother.
"Uuuh... hi?" Y/N spoke. This seemed to spook the mystery woman, she had gasped and went back under the water, disappearing into the darkness. Y/N still sat there in shock. After a few moments they got up with their items and walked back to the house to sleep. After some thinking with tossing and terming they fell asleep.
The next morning Y/N was determined to find this mystery person. They weren't quite sure what this person could be but they were still determined to find her!
Y/N headed out to the house with bread in hand, they sat by the water and started talking. They weren't quite sure what to say so they started talking about their past, many things that they hadn't even told the people who had been closest to them. After a while they talked about things that seemed to be meaningless like what they had for breakfast or a cool flower they saw, anything to keep themselves talking. Soon it became sunset and they were about to give up for the day but there was movement in the water. The beautiful lady from yesterday appeared, looking quite cautious but also very intrigued.
Y/N smiled "hi, I'm Y/N" the creature didn't respond instead looked them right in the eyes. Y/N couldn't help but stare back. The Lady's eyes had so much to them, they were slitted like a cats and you could see almost no sclera. They had blue undertones but were mostly grey, Y/N guessed it was so the creatures eyes didn't get damaged by the light.
"I mean no harm. I know you've probably not seen many people as this place seems to be in the middle of no where. Could I ask for your name?" They waited a few moments and got no response, only the creature moving forward. This is when Y/N noticed the long pink tail that the creature had. Their face lit up, it was a mermaid. These creatures were very rare and there were almost non of them left. Y/N mentally kicked themselves for not putting the pieces together sooner.
Y/N was pulled out of their mental ramble when the mermaid took hold of their hand, inspecting it. Her hands had scales scattered along them and there was webbings between each finger. The lady carefully manoeuvred her hand to shake Y/N's "I'm Nikki, it's nice to meet you"
They were shocked to say the least. Remaining speechless while Nikki continued to toy with their hand and up their arm. Playing with the hairs that were now standing on end from the others cold hands. "I-it's nice to meet you as well. Sorry for my shock, I wasn't aware that mermaids spoke English"
Nikki giggled looking back into Y/N's eyes "well most people don't try and talk to us, although I find it quite funny that you spoke to me expecting no response" she gave a little laugh leaving Y/N embarrassed and fumbling over their words.
Y/N and Nikki talked for a long time, Nikki asking questions about different items or places above water and Y/N happily responding. Sometimes Y/N would ask questions but they knew that Nikki has never had the chance to talk to anyone from land.
Over the course of a few weeks Nikki and Y/N had gotten super close, Y/N would often bring Nikki things from land for her to investigate. Fire being the most interesting of all, they had taken a whole day talking about how that one works.
This was a different kind of friendship than either of them had ever had. There was no pressure to meet the others expectations and they were free to ask questions about anything. Nikki had declared Y/N as part of her pack, making sure Y/N knew that it meant they will always have each other to rely on. It is a friendship that neither of them expected but one that both of them would give the world to have forever.