One With the Waves

Soulmate

-Aura-

"Aye, Monty, don't break anything, okay?" Someone said outside of the tank. My eyes flew open. Was that...? No. It couldn't be! His voice came again, muffled by the water, "What is it?"

Another voice, this one younger and less masculine, "A merman!"

Brae laughed, "Oh, come on, Monty. Merfolk don't exist."

I frowned in confusion. What did he mean? Did he honestly believe that? I looked around for something - anything! - that could help me, but there was nothing. I was in a small rectangular glass box filled with salty ocean water, my hands bound behind me. And honestly, I doubted he would even recognize me. The black coral reverted me back to my original form, meaning the white-blonde hair and sun-kissed skin were a thing of the past. When I was younger, my dark hair and deep sapphire fin had been fine. However, as I grew older and made more enemies, a disguise became necessary. Turns out people don't like things they don't understand, especially a merman who could transform into any creature he wanted  to. The pale hair and aqua blue tail made me less recognizable, harder to find. But now that I had reverted back to my original form, I could only hope he would somehow know it was me.

Brae lifted the cloth that hid me from view, his beautiful green eyes finding my own. They widened in surprise, his eyes scanning my face, my broad shoulders, down to my sapphire blue fin. I'm sure I looked like a mess. I was weak, malnourished, scrapes and bruises and scars littering my skin. There were missing scales on my once-beautiful fin, the thin skin at the end of my tail was ragged and torn, and I probably looked pretty pathetic in that tiny ass tank.

"Greenie?" Brae called, turning away from the tank. "Greenie, what's with the man in the fish tank?"

The wrinkled old man who presumably owned the shop came out of the back room then, carrying a vial of strange green liquid. "What is it, Braemond?"

"What's with the man in the fish tank?" Brae asked again, an eyebrow quirking up. I idly wondered how the old man knew Brae's full name.

Greenie shrugged, "My son brought that in here about a week ago. Plans on selling it at the auction tomorrow. Why?"

"How much is the starting bid?" Brae asked, "I'll take it off of his hands for him."

My heart stopped beating. Here I was, thinking I was going to live out the rest of my days in a display case, or as some sort of medical experiment or something horrible like that. But now, Brae was here. I could trust him. I could trust Brae.

"I'm not sure," Greenie shrugged, "But the auction is tomorrow at Lucia's Tavern. Starts at ten."

Brae nodded, "I'll be there. And I'm taking him back with me." He motioned to me, his eyes lingering on me once more.

I put my forehead on the glass, closing my eyes. I wished I could speak with him, but my mind-speak abilities were stripped away by the coral as well.

"How much do I owe you for the medicine?" Brae asked, taking the vial of green liquid from the man.

While the man and the young boy negotiated a price, Brae wandered back over to me. I flipped my fin, watching him silently. Oh how my heart longed to be closer to him, to speak with him and hold him as I had done for that single night so long ago. Whether he realized it or not, I had known from the second I had laid eyes on him.

He was my soulmate.

I don't know how I knew, I just did. It was as though my heart had known all along and was simply waiting to see him. Now, as we came face to face once more, I wished there was some sort of recognition in those bright green eyes of his. Sure, I looked different, but somewhere in my heart I wished he felt as strongly as I did that we were meant to be together.

Finally, the red-headed boy and the old man came to an agreement, smiling and shaking hands. After that, he and Brae left, his only promise being that he would collect me tomorrow.

I truly hoped he was right.

-Brae-

It was difficult to sleep that night. My thoughts were plagued by that strange man in the tank. Merman? But how? Surely that sort of thing didn't exist!

But I had seen him with my own eyes.

He had seemed somehow familiar, especially his eyes. Ice blue, glowing the second they landed on me. It was eerie how familiar they seemed, almost appearing to call out to me, a cry for help. He was hurt, that was obvious, but that wasn't all. There was something so sad in his eyes, a plea for... Something.

Finally, after tossing and turning half the night, I found rest. But those blue eyes still followed me through my dreams.

***

I sighed softly, annoyed at all of the people who had shown up to the auction. I didn't usually come to these sort of things, yet I found myself bringing a pouch of gold with me, ready to purchase myself one soul-haunting merman.

Presently, they were negotiating the price of some strange painting of a woman. I yawned. These things were usually pretty boring to me.

It was a good hour and a half later when two large, burly men pushed the closed tank to the front of the room. The cloth had been placed over it once more, obscuring view of the merman.

"And now, we will open the bidding for this strange creature," the auctioneer introduced, waving his hand. The men pulled the cloth off of the tank. This time, the merman was blindfolded, a new set of abrasions snaking up his arms. My fingers tightened into a fist when I saw this, anger coursing through me at their cruel treatment.

The whole room gasped when they saw the man, wide eyes and whispers exchanged. Obviously, I hadn't been the only one who thought merfolk were merely children's tales.

The bidding started with ten gold, but quickly shot up. I tensed slightly. I knew U had more money on the ship, but had I brought enough now? I had brought a sizeable pouch of gold, but the bids were already over a hundred gold. I doubted I had more than two hundred.

Finally, it came down to me and one other. We went back and forth for a bit until it finally came down to 187 gold.

"188," I offered.

The other man fidgeted, as though he were reaching his limit. He bit his lip, thinking.

"Going once? Going twi--" the auctioneer was cut off by the other man.

"189," the other man said.

I crossed my arms, "Fine, 190."

The other man hissed in anger, as though upset that I insisted on fighting with him on this. After a moment, he growled, "Fine."

"Sold!" The auctioneer announced.

I went to collect my prize, the two crew mates behind me ready to assist. Turning in the 190 gold, I motioned for my men to take the tank, but one of the burly thugs who had brought it in stopped them. With hard eyes, he growled, "Don't trust it. It has special abilities. Here," he handed me a black ring made of some sort of smooth stone or something. "Wear this. His mind powers can't work on you."

I raised an eyebrow, curious what he meant, but took the ring from him, "Thank you."

"Also," the man said, "If you untie it, it will get it's powers back. Be careful."

I nodded, wondering if this guy was being serious or if he was just crazy. Even so, my men took the tank, and we headed back towards the ship.

I didn't really know what I planned to do with a merman, or why I was willing to go to such lengths to get him, but I felt somewhat smug to have gotten what I wanted.