Chapter Text
The best way Beauregard Lionett could describe her work at the lighthouse was “welcome loneliness.” The red and white building towered over everything in sight. The light it gave was the only thing between the ships and the rocky cliffs of the island. She worked alone.
Once a month her supervisor Dairon would come to check on her, and twice a week one of her friends would come to spend the night with her to keep her company. At first it was just Caleb. Then he introduced her to Veth, who introduced her to Jester who was dating Fjord who introduced her to Caduceus. She got enough human contact to not go insane, they got the impression they were doing a good deed.
On mornings like this, when the morning sun shone bright enough she could leave her post, she would take the 252 step climb down to the base of the lighthouse and then to the small beach on the south side of the island. Island was a relative term. No one else lived on it. Most of it was covered in rocks- large and sharp and dangerous to any ship that could come near and too small to sustain anything more than the few native creatures. Food had to be brought to her bimonthly so she wouldn’t starve.
Usually, the beach was exactly like it was when she left it last. Maybe different shells on the shore. Sometimes seaweed would wash up which she would save for Caduceus’s tea making.
If today were a normal day, she would take her shoes off and walk along the edge of the water; feel the sand between her toes. The strands of her hair that refused to stay pulled up would whip around in her face. Eventually she’d make her way into the water. She’d only make it up to her ankles before she would stop walking. If anything, the beach was her favorite part of her job.
Today was not a normal day though. The second she opened the door out onto the shore, she saw a woman passed out in the waves. But she wasn’t just a woman. She was covered in black and silver and white scales from tail to collarbone. Her hair was the same mix of colors as her tail and it spread out in waves where she lay.
Beau was a lifeguard in her youth, and the first aid training rushed back into her as she ran to meet the woman. She was breathing, which as step one was good. She only saw a gash on her forehead, though she had never done first aid on a mermaid before. Her father made fun of her for reading about them too much as a kid, but here she was.
The woman stirred as she moved her onto her back. Her face was full of confusion as she stared up into the face of a woman leaning above her, an expectant look on her face. Right. She asked a question. Her name. “Yasha,” she responded, finally putting the pieces together.
“Alright Yasha, I’m Beau. I’m gonna make sure you get some help,” she pulled a salve Caduceus made out of her bag to start to apply it to the wound. It wasn’t too deep, it hopefully wouldn’t be a big deal.
“I have to go,” she pulled herself up from the sand.
“Wait-”
“Thank you but I can’t stay.” She went under the water and was gone.
Beau was altogether self sufficient but it didn’t hurt to have company on occasion. Of everyone, Caleb was one of her favorites to come and visit. He enjoyed sitting in the same room reading their own books. He was the one who expanded most of the light house’s library. Before it had a few old books on marine biology that were about 40 years outdated and several books on other lighthouses in Exandria. Now she had most of the series she read pseudo religiously as a kid, actual marine biology books, and a few on the history of the area.
“Hello Beauregard,” Caleb said, entering into the main area of the lighthouse. Caleb was the only person who didn’t get punched when they called her Beauregard instead of Beau. He was essentially her brother so he got a pass.
“Hey man, what's up?” Beau looked up from the light she was polishing. If she got all of her chores done now, she’d be able to hang out with Caleb more later. The sacrifices she made.
“Jester told me to give you this book to read, she wants it back later though,” he handed her a worn book, the words “Tusk Love” emblazoned on the front.
“Oh yeah she was telling me about that one, thank you.”
“How has everything been going on here?” Caleb started pulling out a few more books from his bag along with some fresh bread.
“Pretty good,” she paused. “Have you ever met a mermaid?”
“I can’t say I have. Have you met a mermaid, Beauregard?”
“Yesterday morning. She washed up on the shore when I went down for a walk.”
“Interesting.”
A few days later, when Beau went back down to the water, to walk in no deeper than her ankles, she saw a familiar sparkle gleam in the water. “Hello?” she called out to the water.
No response
She waited another few moments before she called again, “Hello?”
A splash in the water
She bent down and rolled up her pants to her knees and walked deeper in to follow the sound. She hadn’t been this deep in water in years. Not sense Kamordah.
“If I come out any deeper, my clothes will get wet and I don’t want that,” she called out to the noise. The water was already up to her mid shins. Panic started to rise in her chest. She pushed it down.
Splash.
She turned to look at the noise and Yasha was sitting in front of her, the tip of her tail flapping lightly just out of the water. She looked more lively this time around, clearly feeling better than she had the few days prior when she had washed ashore.
“Yasha?”
“I just wanted to say thank you. For the other day.”
“Oh yeah, of course, that’s technically part of my job.”
They fall into a nice rhythm. At least once a week, Yasha shows up during Beau’s morning walks. They talk about anything and everything. Somehow in conversation one day, it comes up that Beau has never gone swimming in the ocean propper.
“You live in a lighthouse how have you never gone swimming in the ocean, it's right here?”
“Last time I went swimming, bad things happened,” She and Tori had fought one night when they snuck away to go swimming in a nearby lake. Tori almost drowned. Her dad was mad she snuck out and sent her to the lighthouse.
“I can show you how to be safe, if you want.”
“You’d do that for me?”
“I’d do anything for you,” Yasha answers in an instant. It’s forward but it’s true.