With the exception of Mirabella Plunkett in the 1800s, the idea of merfolk and wizarding kind mingling together was unheard of, and otherwise, considered to be taboo. Born to a mermaid and wizard, Nixie Dover is believed to be the first of her kind...
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Nixie remained completely still in the presence of Meri as if the mermaid was an apex predator and she had become the prey. Beside her, Bean had taken to growling in a protective manner, his hackles became erect as he bared in his teeth. However, despite the rather hostile greeting, Meri remained unfazed, and her smile only seemed to grow as she swam closer to where Nixie stood. As she reached a shallow area, Meri pulled the top half of her body out of the water, causing Nixie to stumble back and fall to the ground.
"D-don't come closer!" she yelled out, trying to scoot back. "Or...or...or I'll kick you in the face!"
Meri became still but her smile did not fade as her expression softened. "You don't have to be afraid of me. I would never think to hurt you, Nixie."
"How do you know my name?"
"As if I wouldn't know my own daughter's name," Meri laughed. "Though it's been many years since I've seen you, I know my daughter. I have dreamed about you, and I know you've dreamt of me. Surely, you've felt the connection, haven't you?"
Thinking back to all of her dreams of "The Woman," Nixie noted that the Meri in her dreams looked exactly the same as the one before her. And Nixie had long pictured her in her mind before she had seen the photo in her father's office.
"Not fully convinced, are you? Well, perhaps this will refresh your memory."
Without warning, Meri started to hum a very familiar tune. It was as soft and melodic as Nixie remembered all the other times she heard it. Though there were no words, there was a looming sadness to the way Meri hummed it, almost as if it were the cry of a mother animal calling to their lost young. However, Nixie responded by humming the end of the song with her. When the song came to an end, silence washed over them as they only stared at one another, until Nixie spoke first.
"It really is you, the woman from my dreams. You're my mother. You're here."
Meri nodded her head. "Yes, I'm here and I'm sorry it took so long for me to make my way back to you. I promise I'm going to make it up to you in the best way possible. If it had been up to me, I would have never left you or your father in the first place. I had to leave to keep you safe- "
"Because of my grandmother," Nixie interjected, "because she doesn't like witches and wizards, right? That's what Dad told me. He said you had to leave because she didn't want you with Dad. And she doesn't like me either, does she?"
"You don't have to worry about her, Nixie," Meri told her. "She is not here to hurt any of us anymore."
While that should have come across as comforting, Nixie found it to sound somewhat intimidating. If her grandmother had been the reason that Meri left in the first place, why wasn't she against the idea of Meri coming around all of a sudden?
"Where is my grand- "
Before Nixie could ask her question, Bean started barking but it wasn't due to Meri but rather the noise he heard back at the household. He quickly turned on his back legs and took off leaving Nixie alone with her mother. It took a minute for Nixie to realise that her father had told her earlier that he was only going to be gone for a few minutes, meaning he had already returned. She quickly turned back to Meri with a widened gaze.
