The Real Mermaid

~~~Six~~~

Weeks passed before Nya finally accepted that her merman could never see her the way she saw him-- as something more than a friend, a companion and a protector, the roles which he assumed readily, the moment he found her waiting for him on the seabed.

She was too different from them. The pod treated her like a pet, their prince's pet-- as that was how they regarded her merman. And even though she could feel them all admire her different sort of beauty, her otherness, she could not speak to them, and her slowness at learning their sign language was preventing her from becoming a proper member of the pod. She was always left behind when they went to fish and explore, she was sent to the surface to breathe once a day with the blue-eyed man, the only one who needed to breathe as often as she.

Her initial excitement grew to melancholy as time passed. She missed her grandmother, the life she had given up, and Liam always more as she understood that even though her merman loved her in his own way, it... wasn't enough. It wasn't what she had come here for. More than once, she thought of going back, her fingers closed tightly around the oval glass case containing the syringe at nights... It would be so easy to push it through her merman's heart as he slept with his arms around her... but she couldn't. His only crime was that he wasn't able to reciprocate her feelings in equal measure. How could she give him to the Sea Witch for that?!

Then, the same day when to Nya's surprise her possessions-- the dresses her merman had given her, rare shells and fossils, ancient coins and jewels which the pod found on the bottom of the sea-- were moved to another room of the shipwreck, a group of visitors appeared in the village to drop off a pretty mermaid who took Nya's place in the prince's cabin.

For the first time since she had arrived, tears fell down Nya's cheeks when she rose to the surface at sunset with the blue-eyed man. She started when his arms closed around her tentatively as she stared at the empty horizon shrouded in the mist, in the direction where the town she had come from lay, too far too see, turned away from him to hide the emotions showing in her face.

"He will never love you, girl. Not the way you seem to love him," he murmured, his voice gravelly from disuse.

Hearing a human voice after weeks of silence took Nya's breath away, and she turned around in his embrace, her eyes meeting his questioningly. She had noticed how different he was, taller, more muscular, and how the mermen looked up to him, seeked his advice, followed his suggestions... She had realised that he was more like her, and his knowledge about humans which he learned to share with the pod in perfectly mastered sign language made him an indispensable part of the pod, their true leader. But she had never thought that he could speak.

She studied his blue eyes as he continued, "Eric and Ariel were promised to... become mates years ago. And from what I've seen, they love each other well." He shrugged.

Nya laughed, forgetting all about her recently shed tears, "Eric? Ariel?" she asked, then covered her lips with both her hands. "I can still speak? How?" she muttered, letting her hands drop to his shoulders now, ready to shake the answers from him if she had to.

"That's how I call them," he replied, smiling. "Their real names are unpronounceable. And of course you can speak. We, those like us, only lose voices when we are under the surface."

She shook her head, unbelieving, one of her hands closing around the glass case with the syringe. "The Sea Witch told me..."

It was his turn to laugh. "The Sea Witch?"

"I want you to destroy this, please," Nya said, ignoring his question, taking the leather thong off her neck, passing it to him. "It's dangerous."

He took it from her, his eyes boring into hers as he said, "I did not speak to you until now because I didn't know... if we could trust you. I've been watching you. The pod sees me as their guardian, and they asked me to keep an eye on you the moment Eric brought you with him. I admire how you settled in and how you accepted this new world so different from our own. I saw you struggle with yourself, and this thing that you never took off your neck... You're strong. And... fascinating."

She shook her head. "If you were supposed to protect them, protect Eric, why did you not make them send me away? I'm dangerous, I was thinking about... bartering him for being able to return home, only because he loves Ariel!"

Despite the seriousness of what she had just confessed, Nya had to smile-- those names were silly but fitting. Great weight lifted off her heart now that she revealed her awful secret to someone.

"You would never do that. I can feel it. You already love them all as much as I do. You would never leave nor harm them."

The truth in his words made Nya's heart stumble; how could he know her so well? She watched him shatter the glass in his large hand, the tiny shards glittering like falling stars in the twilight as they flew towards the water's surface on a gust of wind.

"What shall I do now?" Nya asked, meeting his eyes again, feeling elated. She was finally free. She made her decision-- she loved the sea itself more than she loved the merman who could not love her, and she was staying.

"You could start by moving out of Eric's shipwreck if it feels crowded. The cave next to mine is empty. I know it doesn't sound as posh or romantic as the ship, but we will be moving soon, and then, maybe, we will find a shipwreck to share, if you want..."

"Are we moving?" she asked on a sigh, her eyes strolling to the invisible coast again, even the horizon now lost in the falling dusk.

"We move often. There are too many people trying to prove their, our existence. It's safer not to stay in one place for long. Of course you can go and say goodbye to anyone you are leaving behind, and tell them you'll visit when we return. You could even stay with your people, I guess. You won't change back entirely, but it should not be impossible to live outside again, being careful that no one notices these," he said, taking one of her hands in his, caressing her webbed fingers gently.

Nya saw him hold his breath as he waited for her reply; she could feel how much he wished her to stay with them.

"I don't want to return." She smiled. "The sea is my home; you all are my family now. But I'd love to visit Grandma before we move on. Will you come with me?"

He nodded, another smile illuminating his face. There were so many things Nya wanted to ask-- Who was he? How did he join the pod? Where was he from? How long had he lived in the sea?-- but they had already stayed on the surface too long tonight. The questions would have to wait.

"What's your name?" she asked the most important thing, only to hear the same question echoed from him, their voices entwining like their breaths, before the wind took them away, dispersing them into the night.

"Nya," she spoke first.

"I'm Kai," he said as he pulled her under the surface, never letting go of her hand.