(For Mermay 2022). Princess Poppy's life is turned upside down when she learns she has been promised to a noble from a neighbouring kingdom. Heartbroken, she wanders the rocky shores about her father's kingdom and happens upon a sad curious creatur...
Princess Poppy trailed her fingers in the water as her father's small, personal sail boat clipped along at a steady pace. She loved the way the sun hit the water, making the glistening ripples shine and jump and she imagined the countless shoals of fish that darted beneath the surface, in their myriad of colours like an aquatic rainbow.
Her Nanny watched from close by, a constant eye on the four year old trolling, whilst her father steered the boat through the bobbing waves of cyan and azure. The prow hit a swell and the boat bobbed sharply up and then down. Poppy yelped as she slipped and giggled as the boat hit the water again and fell back on her seat.
"Careful Princess!" Her Nanny gently chided. "Don't want to join the mertrolls do you?" She chuckled light heartedly.
The pink princess's head bobbed up excited at the mention of the word and stared back into the gleaming waters. "Oh Nanny Rosiepuff, tell me about the mertrolls again!"
Somewhere behind her father laughed at her enthusiastic innocence.
Rosiepuff joined the Princess to look into the waters herself, trailing her hand in the water. "Well, mertrolls are the caretakers of the seas, they look after many of the sea creatures and plants that live beneath the waves. They sing quite a lot-"
"Like I do!"
Rosie laughed. "Well yes of course princess!" And she ruffled the child's rich pink curls. "You would make a beautiful mertroll!"
"Rosiepuff-"
The nanny glanced back and nodded respectfully at the gentle warning. As much as she loved to tell the young girl stories about the fantastical tales of the ocean, she had to watch what she said. Poppy was an impressionable child and her imagination knew no bounds and as much of a joy it was to see her smile in wonder, Rosiepuff was expected to keep her stories to a minimum. Poppy would have many royal duties to perform when she grew up and filling her head with stories that many regarded as mythical beings, wouldn't help her rule the kingdom one day. It seemed a shame to the old troll, stories despite how fantastical they seemed were in essence based in some form of truth, a truth many trolls were not ready to hear.
"Nanny, is it true that mertrolls save sailors from drowning?"
"I think that's enough my princess," her father's voice echoed above her. "You'll exhaust dear Rosiepuff before we even get back home."
Poppy sighed as her nanny ruffled her hair again, "come princess, let's finish that book your father gave us, huh?"
"The one with all the pretty pictures? Yes!" Poppy nodded at the water and stood up to follow the old troll across the deck when the sail boat hit another swell, a sharp breeze hit the sails and the boom arm unexpectedly came sweeping round too quickly for any troll to react.
"Poppy! Watch out!"
She turned about only to see the boom swinging towards her. It smacked her smartly in the temple and she fell over the side of the boat with a reaching splash. She was unconscious before she even hit the water.
*TDOL*
The water was both warm and cold at the same time. Poppy drifted downwards, oblivious to her desperate plight and unbeknownst to the trolls above who saw the accident, there was another witness to this event.
As Poppy's small body sank, a blur of indigo, teal, brown and green shot upwards through the clear waters. It scooped the young princess up and kept on going as it broke through the surface tension of the bobbing waves with a sparkling splash. It looked across at the boat a good distance ahead that was struggling to turn about. The creature glanced around and spied a beach not too far a swim away.
Decision made, the creature plunged sideways and swam to the shore with apparent ease and little effort even with its small burden. With a rush of tidal waters the creature slid up the beach and laid the young princess down in the gentle lapping waves. It tilted its head in a sharp twitching movement. The child wasn't breathing.
A semi transparent, scalloped ear was pressed against the princess's breast. The creature looked worriedly down, as if uncertain what to do. After a few seconds it pressed a webbed hand over her nose and tentatively reached down and enclosed their mouth over hers and breathed into her deeply. It did it twice over before the pink troll spluttered and coughed up a cup full of salt water.
The young creature darted swiftly back, as if not knowing what to expect but it lingered watching closely. The girl grumbled, raising a hand to her faintly cut and bruised forehead and slowly sat up. "Daddy? What, what happened? Daddy?"
The princess opened her eyes groggily and the creature froze, ducking down low in the foaming waters.
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Poppy gasped as for a moment two creatures from totally different worlds regarded each other. The pink troll marvelled at the half submerged entity that looked so troll like and yet so alien. Wide eyes, blue as the sky above her shimmered and gleamed with an almost unworldly glow that both frightened and enthralled her all in the same moment. Green and chocolate brown scales sparkled in the sunlight and a bountiful mane of dark indigo spilled over to the side of his face, soaked with sea water but still glossy and luscious. It was the most strange and amazing creature that she had ever seen...
"You're so beautiful," Poppy smiled and automatically reached forwards as any curious four year old troll child would...
"POPPY!"
The moment her father's voice boomed across the beach, the mertroll child instantly rolled about, quicker than one could blink and disappeared into the water with barely a splash. "Wait!"
"Poppy! Oh my princess! Thank hair, you're safe!"
"Dad! You scared him away!"
The child was enveloped into her father's embrace and she hugged back. "Dad! You'll never believe what I saw!" She cried leaning back to look into his amber eyes.
"What's that princess?"
"I saw a mertroll!"
Her dad looked at her curiously. "What?"
"A mertroll dad! He was this close!" She showed her parent with her hands, which was actually closer than he actually was, but to her that was how close he felt.
"You took a bad knock to the head Poppy, we'll have to let the palace doctor take a look, okay? Thank hair that the currents brought you to the beach."
"I'm pretty sure the mertroll boy saved me," Poppy said rather matter of factly.
Her father made a face for a moment and then smiled. "It was probably a dream sweetheart."
That said she was gathered into her dad's arms as he stood and walked back toward the boat that was docked a short distance away. Poppy gazed over her father's shoulder and stared out at the cyan sea and sighed. Her dad didn't believe her, but Nanny Rosiepuff would!
As she was carried further away an indigo head suddenly bobbed out of the waters not too far from the shore. She caught her breath and smiled, waving to what she knew was the mertroll boy.
A few moments passed and suddenly the young sea creature raised a teal hand waved back at her. Poppy let her head fall against her father's and waved until she lost sight of her rescuer.
"Thank you," she whispered as she slipped into a peaceful sleep, dreaming about mertrolls, her small shoe slipping off her foot into the sand as she did so.
