A Merman's Tale

Margaret: Chapter Six

     “What?” I exclaimed as I opened the door again and rushed into the room. Amanda could manage on her own if no one went down to help her. “What do you mean someone like him? Gramps, you know what Seirra is?”

     Seirra turned to look at me and I saw his lime-colored eyes glisten with solemnity. “He’s a Huntre, Margaret,” he informed me, “A merman who chose to be permanently human.”

     “Whaaat?” Not even a day passed by since I met Seirra and my world had turned upside-down.

     “Sit down, dear.” Grampa instructed me. “Let me tell you about me and what happened to my daughter.”

     This was yet another mystery about these mermen that I could not help but be curious. The only thing missing was finding out that I am a mermaid myself. I shivered. Let’s hope that last bit would never be true.

     I sat on the couch beside Grampa’s chair and signaled for Seirra to sit on the space beside me. No, I didn’t tell him to sit there because he’s hot but because there really wasn’t any other chair in the apartment’s living room. Grampa and I lived simply.

     Silence filled the room for about ten seconds before Grampa decided to begin his tale. “I fell in love with a human girl and chose her over my own people.” He paused, and I saw a smile form in his lips as he apparently reminisced those days when his wife was still alive. “To be with her, I sacrificed the longevity of my life as a merman.”

     “Mermen live far longer than humans. The oldest of our kind is now two hundred years old,” Seirra clarified.

     I felt my eyes widen at his statement. “If that’s the case, why would your queen want a fountain of youth?”

     “I remember that our queen did not want to look old,” Grampa told me. “Mermen may live longer but they also get wrinkly and weak as they age.”

     “Oh.” I forgot about the universal obsession with looks. “Right. Got it. So what happened next, Gramps?” I asked.

     “I am a different case from the Celaris. I voluntarily wanted to be human even without the infamous Key of Saol.” Gramps looked at the pendant hanging by my neck. “I had to go through the Huntre’s ritual and only if I don’t die do I become a human.”

     “And you obviously didn’t,” I pointed out.

     “Yes. Little did I know that a shorter life isn’t all that I had to sacrifice,” he declared sadly. “I looked too old compared to my real age by the time I got my legs.” He sighed. “Her parents thought we didn’t suit and disowned her. More problems arose and the worse was when she gave birth to my daughter, Alana.”

     That was not what I expected for a worst problem and I was about to tell him so but his sadness stopped me. There must be something more to it.

      “That was when I found out that I had to choose. I had to sacrifice one o-of t-them,” he said in a broken voice.

     “Two legs for one human life. That was the pledge I had to say before I went through the Huntre’s ritual.” I saw tears fall down his cheeks. “I thought it meant my human life.” He took a deep breath. “But I found out too late that it meant the life of a human I love. There can only be one or none. My wife begged me to choose Alana—and I couldn’t deny her wish. We both wanted our daughter to live.” Grampa was sobbing more openly now. “T-the day after Alana was born, m-my wife d-died.”

     I don’t usually cry easily but this was Grampa’s story. I didn’t know how much he had sacrificed just to be with the person he loved. Knowing this story made me admire him even more. This is the kind of story I wanted to have for myself—finding someone to love and will love me in return that we are willing to make sacrifices for each other.