Chapter Text
She’d been told countless times not to do it, it was against the rules, it was dangerous. But she couldn’t resist any longer.
It wasn’t like she was going to do anything horrible. There was a nice spot where long rocks and caves jutted out far into the water, a safe distance from the shore. She wasn’t crazy enough to go straight on to dry land and possibly get caught. All she wanted was to see one human, just one. Then she’d go back and behave like her father and Souda always told her to.
That was the downside of being a mermaid princess – always having to follow rules, acting proper, and worst of all not being allowed to have fun. Well there wasn’t a rule strictly forbidding fun, but it seemed like her father might as well make one considering what she was and wasn’t allowed to do.
But she’d managed to lose Souda, bless his clingy and overprotective soul, and decided this was probably going to be the only time she could even possibly see a human.
So now here she was, hiding behind one of the many large rocks scattered around the peninsula that jutted out into the sea. Only crazy people would dare go to its edge, but she figured maybe some daredevils would wander her way.
Nothing yet. So the mermaid waited, swishing her green tail back and forth to keep herself afloat, the sunlight shining on her long golden hair. Some fish would swim by her and circle around her tail playfully, causing her to giggle.
Despite that, it seemed like no one was ever going to come. Perhaps she’d chosen a bad day, it was a little chilly today after all.
Just as she began to head back underwater, something weird happened.
A whole pod of seals hurriedly swam by her, heading towards the peninsula she’d been watching for so long. They seemed rather excited, bumping into each other and making delighted noises. Maybe there was a school of fish nearby.
The mermaid peered from behind the rock to see where they were headed only to immediately hide back behind it.
There was a human. An actual human.
She’d been so shocked she hid on reflex, but after a moment of deep breathing, she dared to look again. They were so far away it’d be almost impossible to see her, but she decided to play it safe.
It was a he, she could tell it was a male by the broad shoulders. He seemed well dressed for the weather, covered in what looked like heavy clothing. Funny, she’d always heard that humans didn’t wear too much when they came to the water because they wanted to be as similar to mermaids as possible when swimming. She thought it was silly and it seemed this human agreed with her.
He’d sat down at the edge of the rock, his legs dangling a few inches above the water. Oh, she’d heard about legs and now she could see them. So strange, they looked just like two tails… only they were made for land.
Her tail twitched, as if envious of the human’s legs. They were so weirdly beautiful, she just wanted to touch them…
Such thoughts were interrupted by seals barking and the mermaid was shocked to see that they were barking at the human. She watched as he reached in a container next to him and pulled out a fish, tossing it at one of the seals. The others barked at him more and he obliged them all, making sure to give each one a fish.
Now it made sense as to why they were so excited to get over there.
Her father always said humans were evil, hunting anything that moved in the ocean and attempting to slaughter the whole race. Yet this one, despite having dead fish, was helping the seals. Maybe he was a different kind of human.
Once he was out of fish, the human looked out into the water, scanning to see if any other wildlife was going to join him. He noticed a flurry of movement and focused on the area. Nothing came up though, so he got up from his seat and began to head back home.
Meanwhile, a terrified mermaid had just hastily hid behind a rock, her heart racing because a human had practically looked right at her. Hopefully he hadn’t noticed… It didn’t seem like it since he got up to leave. She was relieved and disappointed at the same time.
Her father would kill her if she interacted with a human, but she’d been quietly hoping that maybe he’d see her and not be afraid. He’d already shown he was different, so maybe he’d treat her differently, too.