Disappearance of Roselei Hawthorne

Chapter Nine

"What do you want?" A young-looking woman, who Kallen could only assume was the water spirit, said angrily. She had lavender colored hair, that flowed weightlessly in the water surrounding her. Her tail, which was a slightly darker shade of purple, floated behind her. She was decorated in all sorts of pearl jewelry. Necklaces, anklets, bracelets, earrings... you name it, she was wearing it. But other than the extensive amount of jewelry, she was completely naked.

Kallen clasped his hands over his mouth and nose, trying his best to hold his breath. The water spirit sighed and rolled her eyes.

"You can breathe, you know. I put a bubble around your head. After all, you were the one who said you wanted to talk. You can't speak if you're drowning." The water spirit pointed to Kallen's head, which sure enough was surrounded by a large bubble.

"Wow... amazing!" Kallen reached his hands up to touch the bubble.

"Hey! Stop that! You'll pop the bubble if you touch it! I worked hard on that, y'know?" The water spirit was getting annoyed.

"O-oh, sorry." Kallen quickly moved his hands away from his head. "Uhh... do you think you could maybe put something on?"

"What are you talking about?" The water spirit raised an eyebrow.

"It's just that," Kallen averted his eyes, "you're naked."

"Naked? Is that some 'human thing'? Look, I'm not gonna accommodate your needs cause you were the one who barged down here."

"Technically you dragged me down here with a wave. Were you also the one who sunk our ship?" Kallen crossed his arms.

"Probably. I sink a lot of ships, kid." The water spirit sighed as she rubbed the temple of her nose. "Man, just being near a human is giving me a headache. You guys are absolutely the worst."

"Why do you hate humans so much?" Kallen asked.

"All they're good for is killing each other. And when they get bored of that, they start killing other things too. Plants, animals, even other races. Because of humans, I have lost everything." The water spirit sounded like she was crying, but its hard to tell if there are tears flowing from one's eyes when they are underwater.

"I'm so sorry. You're talking about the overfishing, right?" Kallen said sympathetically.

"I see you've done your research. But clearly you haven't done enough. Do you honestly believe I would constantly flood an entire village over some dead fish? Sure, its my job to take care of my ocean, but that's like the literal definition of 'overreacting'." The water spirit scoffed.

"So if that's not the reason you're so angry with the villagers, then what is?" Kallen asked.

"It wasn't just fish that they killed. They started killing mermaids as well. They would chop off their tails and pretend it was salmon. To put it into context for your simple-minded human brain, that's the equivalent of someone slaughtering humans and using their meat to make a shepard's pie!" The water spirit was getting quite aggravated.

"That's... that's so awful." Kallen was in shock. 'Awful' wasn't even close to describing just how horrible it was. "So this whole time you've been tormenting the village because they killed your people? Gee, now I understand why you're so upset. But just because humans were awful to you doesn't mean you can be awful to them. Besides, the villagers who are living on the island today aren't even the same ones who killed your people. You're hurting innocent people."

"That doesn't matter! I'm sure if it weren't for me then those horrible humans would kill my people all over again! I'm the one who's in the right here!" The water spirit shouted.