A Tale of Tails

Look Mom, No Legs!

By the time Ari reached the surface the sun had begun setting over the water. Kat was still laying on the beach, having not really moved since the mermaid left. "Friend! Friend! I have it!" Ari shouted at her friend as she bounded up to the shore, skidding to a stop in the shallows, nearly beaching herself in excitement. Kat looked up from her sand at the mermaid with a dull expression. "You're sure this thing is even gonna work?" Ari nods her head vigorously wet hair swinging everywhere. "Our best medicine.... Only medicine merlady made it. It's sure to work!" Ari carefully passes the vial to Kat who holds it with mild suspicion. She continues examining it as she questions Ari. "So this will turn me into a mermaid?" Ari nods, anxious for her to take it. "Will it hurt?" Ari begins to nod again but stops and tilts her head, "I'm not really sure...." Kat sighs and shrugs her shoulders, swinging her head back to take the potion. "Wait!" She stops and looks at Ari. "Get in the water and then drink it" Kat does as she's told and steps in waist deep, Ari circling around her. This time as she goes to drink the vial she gives the mermaid one glance for approval and swallowed the liquid. The both of them hold their breath for a moment, the agony of waiting. Just as the moon began climbing over the horizon Kat cried out and collapsed into the water. Ari diving under to save her only to find a strange sight, where her legs where meant to be a brilliantly shiny white tail had taken their place. The moonlight bounced off the scales creating rainbows in the water around her. Kat's eyes snapped open as she looked around her. Ari had pulled her to deeper waters so as she wouldn't hurt herself. For some time she tried holding her breath as Ari swam around her with a concerned look. After some time she could no longer hold it and gasped, expecting a rush of saltwater to fill her lungs. But nothing happened, she could breath. And in that moment she finally notice every aspect of her transformation and gasped. Ari watched with a wide grin, ecstatic at her friends reaction. "Well?" Kat looked at Ari nearly out of breath from delight, "This is amazing!" Ari giggled as she began testing out her new features, gliding through the water with ease. Ari watched for a time and then was hit with what the merwitch had told her. "3 days...." she muttered to herself with an increasing frown and distant look. Kat finally came back over to her and did a twirl to show off before notice her friend's change of mood. "What's wrong?" Ari was shifted out of her thoughts by her voice, "Huh? Oh nothing." Looking around at the darkening sea made her anxious but when she spoke to Kat she kept a smile and cheer tune, "I think we should head back to the city. So you can met everyone and I'm sure your tired!" Kat grins and nods, "Heck yeah I wanna met other mermaids, merpeople whatever." Ari nods and begins leading her friend into the depths of the ocean, the water around getting darker and cooler the further they go down. "Um, there aren't any sharks down here right?" "Oh no, they usually stay over in the canyons." Kat nods uneasily and sticks closer to her friend. Within an hour or so soft lights can be seen glowing in the distance which are practical one large glow surround many elegant coral structures. Ari looks behind her to see the others reaction only to see her wide eyed and gaping. She can't help but giggle at the reaction, "Welcome to Atlantis!" Kat's lips widen into a grin as she grips onto Ari, hugging her tightly as possible. Shocked by this action it takes her a minute to process it and hug her back. However her hug is very different, instead of tightly grasping it gently holds to fill the gaps. Upon release Kat begins to shower her in verbal praise going on and on about how great this is and how happy she is. After Kat calms down Ari leads her into town and to her small room in what resembles an apartment complex. Inside is only one small bed and a couch. Ari settles on the couch and points over to the bed. "You can take the bed and tomorrow I'll look into getting you you're own room or a larger room." "I can't take your bed after all you've done for me." "You can and you will. It's only proper seeing how you're the guest." Kat throws up her hands in defeat and settles herself on the bed. "So what are we gonna do tomorrow?" "Go get you registered in the town hall.... And lie about where you came from. Vivian could get into serious trouble if anyone found out what she did for us." "Speaking of, what exactly was in that potion?" Ari gazed at the ceiling a moment before answering, "I don't know." "What if it had been something dangerous?" "I know Vivian. She wouldn't hurt us." Kat just grunts in response as she dozes off. However, Ari does not.