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At first, Merida was sure that her eyes deceived her. She’d been along the shore many times before, and never once had she found anything strange. Now, as she stared along the gray, rocky beach, she looked at the bright colors of a woman lying in the sand.
Not a woman, though. Her skin was dark, dark as a Moor’s, but that wasn’t what surprised Merida. No, not only was she naked from the top up, but her waist gently sloped into a long fishtail, green scales catching the tiniest shimmer of the sunlight through the clouds.
Merida approached cautiously, thinking of tales of women who entranced men and drew them into the water, only to drown and eat them. But she was no man, nor a tiny child that might make a good feast for creatures like kelpies or other mysterious beasts. And this woman, or possibly girl, seemed so alone, stretched out on the sand like someone left to die.
As she came up behind her, she gently touched her hair; it was springy, but not like hers. It was much coarser, almost brittle with sea salt.
The woman gasped, and turned onto her other side with a burst of energy. “What do you want?”
Merida hadn’t thought beyond coming closer to see. She stared for a moment at the woman’s lovely features, and thought how her warm, rich voice sounded like it belonged in a sunny country, and not here in cloudy Scotland.
“I don’t want anything…” She eyed her again, flushing as she saw that the bare back of before had indeed been naked. “What are you?”
“Don’t mean who?” A frown had appeared on the woman’s face, as she eyed Merida. It seemed as though she was trying to determine whether or not she ought to trust anything Merida said, or if the girl was there to torment her.
“I’m sorry,” Merida said, feeling a little silly, being corrected by a sea woman. She cleared her throat, trying to shake off the feeling of being embarrassed. “Who are you?”
“My name is Tiana,” Tiana said, and she pushed up against the ground to look up at Merida better; her upper body was at an angle to her lower body now, and Merida noted her fins were quivering. Her voice had a rasp to it.
“I’m Merida. What are you doing here on the beach?” Merida wanted to ask what she was doing in Scotland at all; there were Moors in Scotland, to be sure, but nothing quite like Tiana. She tilted her head to one side, as if to match the angle that Tiana was at.
“Sunning.” Tiana looked up to the gray clouds, and then back at Merida, a worry about her lips. She seemed uncertain, arms already beginning to tremble at the weight put on them.
And it couldn’t be fatigue from that; her arms were well-muscled, clearly used to swim. Merida looked up to the gray clouds, and wondered if Tiana was being sarcastic. She let out a snort, saying,
“Sunning? Is that the best you can come up with?”
Tiana looked indignant, demanding, “Well then, what are you doing here?”
“Avoiding my mum,” Merida answered honestly. Yes, they got along a lot better now, but there were still days when they got on each others’ nerves. Today was one of those days.
There was sand stuck to Tiana’s elbows, and her stomach looked scratched up. She sighed, crossing her arms and dropping onto her side. “Well, I’m busy here. So you just scoot along.”
“Busy doing what?” Merida was curious now. If anything, Tiana looked like a beached whale. Not in size, of course, she was fairly petite, but her scales were lacking a serious luster, and her lips were dry and cracked.
“Fish things,” Tiana replied, looking away from Merida and up at the spot in the clouds where the faintest outline of the sun broke through. She stuck her chin out, as if she had settled that.
“Like drying up in the sun because you can’t get back to the water?”
She’d hit the nail right on the head, because Tiana’s head snapped over towards her. Her eyes were wide, and she said, “What makes you think that?”
“You would have gone back by now, if you could. Besides, I doubt it’s easy for you to move about on land with that tail…” Merida tilted her head to the side again, considering Tiana.
Tiana shivered a bit in the chill air, and, looking around for other people, she finally said in a quiet voice, “You can’t tell anyone. No one, you understand? The things they do to people like me… I would rather die here quietly than be discovered.”
“Why don’t I take you back to the water?” Merida asked, already imagining the smooth scales under her hands.
Tiana wrinkled her nose, saying, “Human hands are so rough…”
“Not rougher than the sand, I would wager.”
Tiana looked from her, to the water longingly. She seemed to come to a decision, saying, “All right. Take me to the water.”
Merida came forward, and gingerly wrapped her arms around Tiana’s waist. “So,” she grunted, as she heaved the surprisingly heavy woman towards the sea, “Where are you even from?”
“Warmer waters,” Tiana said, with a bit of a strain in her voice.
“What made you come to Scotland?” Tiana was solid through, like a sack of meat. Merida inched her closer to the water, feet scrabbling in the sand.
“A storm came through, and the currents swept me away. I come from a land where people aren’t quite so pale as you,” she said, and Merida could feel her stomach muscles clench against her arms.
Her scales felt so slippery and soft, smoother than glass. It was as though she was made to be the smoothest thing on earth. From the sounds she was making, the difference between the texture of Merida’s hands and her scales must have been great.
Merida felt relieved when her ankles splashed into the water. “Not much farther now…”
“What are you doing? What is that?” A shout came from the top of the cliff, that of a boy of her father’s court.
Merida’s blood turned cold. Tiana’s voice came frantic, as she said,
“To the water, please, to the water!”
“It’s nothing! Just a log,” Merida grunted out, redoubling her efforts to drag Tiana into the water.
“Merida’s found something,” she heard, and she realized there was a whole group of boys up there, from the surrounding farms. It being fall, the harvesting season was over and they had time on their hands, to some extent.
“No, nothing!”
“Merida, I know you’re not that big, but I need you to go faster,” Tiana said urgently, slippery-smooth arms brushing against Merida’s.
“Stay there, let us see!”
Only another foot. Merida’s dress was soaked, up the hem and further. She could feel Tiana’s tail begin to move, feeling the water swish around her calves.
“Stay up there! I’ll be up in a moment!”
She could see them moving to come down, and she knew Tiana’s time was limited. There was no telling what adolescent boys would do to a creature like Tiana, no telling what could happen if more people discovered her.
Her muscles ached, her back was angrily nagging at her. Tiana was about her size, and heavy to boot. If only she could get about knee deep, she was sure Tiana would be able to swim away.
“Merida…” Tiana breathed anxiously, as the boys came closer. They were hidden by the scruff on the path down, but soon enough they would burst onto the beach and see Tiana. And then they would tell the others, and Tiana would end up stuffed on a wall in her family’s castle.
Suddenly, Tiana broke free of Merida, and splashed into the water. She dragged along the bottom, but with a swish of her tail, disappeared into the water.
Her fast-moving green form was there for an instant, and then gone.
The boys burst onto the beach, and looked around in disappointment. “What happened to that thing you had?”
“It was just a log,” Merida said, and she walked onto the shore.
Tiana was safe.