Chapter Text
Once upon a time there was a mermaid queen, loved by all her people. Padme Amidala was the most benevolent queen all the sea has ever seen. She was loved not only by the mermaids but also by all creatures of the sea.
Padme was also the most beautiful mermaid that ever existed, but more than anything she was kind and understanding. The mermaid led her queendom into a peaceful and prosperous age. The mermaids were never this loved before.
This didn’t go unnoticed by the siren king, Palpatine. The creatures of the ocean stopped asking favours of him and happily followed the mermaid queen. His kingdom was falling and Padme was challenging the authority he had on the ocean. She was trying to make him step back and he wouldn’t let that happen.
Palpatine asked for a deal. He said he wanted to unify the ocean. She would marry his heir. They would have peace and all the creatures of the sea wouldn’t need to be scared anymore. Padme had no reason at all to doubt his intentions — why would else Palpatine want this?
She didn’t realize that once she agreed to the deal, Palpatine would have the beloved queen wrapped around his finger and the whole ocean would be his to rule.
The thing no one expected was the moment Anakin, the fisherman, showed up. No mermaid had ever been with a human before; no mermaid had given up the ocean for a human. Land and ocean had never been together with any kind of connection. Not until Padme found Anakin for the first time.
She was intrigued. The man looked so different and she couldn’t help it —she fell in love with him. Padme couldn’t follow Palpatine’s plan and marry the siren heir, not when her heart already belonged to someone else. She called off their arrangement.
Palpatine couldn’t accept that, not when he was so close to being the king of the whole ocean. He went after her one day and found the fisherman and the mermaid together. No creature had ever betrayed the ocean like that by loving a human. Humans were the ones who were constantly taking from them and never giving anything in return, only poisoning their home. In front of King Palpatine, the beloved queen was with one of them.
When the siren king told the mermaids what their queen did, Padme didn’t try to deny it. She didn’t want to. If her people wanted to accept her, they would need to accept everything about her, every single piece. Palpatine tried to influence them and he thought he would be able to convince her. She would lose everything, she would lose her power, and he would win.
Only he didn’t. He should have known that Padme's reign had almost ended and the next queen wanted nothing to do with the sirens and never would. His heir, Maul, decided he was done too and left Palpatine. Palpatine had lost again and his rage never let Padme go, not even after she left the ocean and made her life beside the man she loved.
There were many stories before among the humans about the shape shifting creatures who used to walk on land, spending their time with the fishermen, helping them or just spending some time with the humans. But never in their history had a mermaid chosen to live on the land, let alone marry a human, like Padme.
But Padme couldn’t entirely leave. She spent her days with merpeople on the beach, until they grew silent. They stopped coming and she couldn’t understand why, so she went to them and she had never seen her people that scared.
“We can’t be seen, Padme,” Sabe told her. “The humans, they’re following us to the sea when we go to the surface. I think we’re cursed.”
Padme couldn’t believe that. She tried to convince them it wasn’t like that on land, any human followed her around there, she was just another one of them, but they didn’t want to risk it. They wouldn’t kill anyone.
Padme knew the only person able to do something like that. Only the siren king was that powerful and even now he was still angry. She couldn’t risk the people she loved, so she never entered the ocean again and begged for her husband to never go back to the ocean. “That place has so many bad creatures, so much evil is found on the darkest bottom of the sea,” she said. And for some time Anakin stayed away from the sea.
But the man couldn’t stay on land forever. Part of his heart belonged to the water; he felt complete there. The siren king finally had his chance — the man who had ruined all his plans was finally back within his grasp, and he wouldn’t let him go, not again.
That day Padme found out a storm had taken Anakin from her —at least that’s what they told her. Padme knew the truth. She knew exactly what took her lover and she promised her family would never go back to the ocean.
Palpatine thought he would have control now; he thought the creatures would rely on him, but they never did. The king lost all control of the creatures of the sea. He didn’t know why their love for Padme never faded, not even after she betrayed them.
But no. The merpeople were sad, because they lost Padme, because she lost Anakin. A human, of all creatures! He wouldn’t ever let a merperson get close to the surface again; they would have no one but the deep creatures of the sea to trust.
So many lives were lost that year that the land and the ocean cried together. The humans became afraid and felt betrayed. They thought the mermaids were plotting to get them killed. The mermaids never had the chance to explain what happened. They couldn’t be seen — not a single human was able to see a mermaid for the next few years. Later the humans couldn’t even remember what made them so scared of looking at the water. The mermaids were forgotten, and the connection between the land and the ocean was broken forever.
Present Day
Ben’s family always told him to be careful because the ocean was a dangerous place. He’d lost all his family on these waters, after all. Something about the water called to him. It felt like home. The land never really did. Somehow it was the only place he was able to feel close to his lost family, to feel a little less alone.
The Skywalker family had always been afraid of the sea. Ironically, his mother married a pirate. Han died when Ben was only fourteen. He would never forget his uncle screaming in their house, “It was him! Mom told us he would kill everyone who was related to the Skywalkers. Leia, you can’t go there; I can’t lose you, too!”
His mother didn’t listen. Ben remembered losing her too, only two days after losing his father.
He lived with Luke until he was eighteen and finally able to claim his parents’ house. Luke never let him go to the sea. He used to wake at night and find his uncle standing by the window looking at the horizon, beyond which lay the ocean.
“You know, Ben, one day he will take us all. I can feel it,” Luke used to say.
“Who, uncle?” Ben asked, feeling an unusual cold in his bones.
“The pale man. He took my father and he took Leia and Han.”
“Uncle?”
“Stay away from the water, Ben.” Luke turned to the boy, his eyes lost.
It was always the same. Luke would look at him and then he would have the worst headache. Every day it got worse. Then Ben would take Luke back to bed and the old man would make Ben promise him he would never go to the ocean.
Ben had migraines like his uncle. The ocean was the only place his migraines would finally give him some peace. When they came, Ben always asked himself if he would be like his uncle. He wouldn’t even be able to think straight until he was in the ocean again and his mind would go quiet, like the water under him.
He never was much of a fisherman, however he liked to be there and after all he needed to pay his bills, so he would eventually lie there, with his fishing rod on the water while he lay on his boat feeling like he was home.
***
Rey looks at the fisherman above her. It’s not the first time that she’s seen him. Like the other times he looks sad, and she wishes she knew why. Rey has been observing him for some months now — the first time he appeared here was eight months ago. Of course she was curious. She never saw many different faces around here, so when he appeared out of nowhere, she wanted to know more about him.
He always looks indifferent to everything around him, lying on his boat, clutching something. She would quietly swim beside his boat, watching him. His energy seems off, as if he is in some kind of pain, like most of the days he is in the ocean. Every day he just lies on his boat, feeling the waves carrying him and she would quietly swim beside his boat, looking at his face. She raises her hand above his forehead, always careful to not touch him and connect with the ocean, making the pain go away. The old merpeople were better than her with that kind of enchantment, but she lost her village before she could even start to learn the best way to use her power. So every day she tries to ease his pain, hoping she is doing it right.
Rey wants to show him who she is, but she can't. Legends say the Siren King enchanted the mermaids so they couldn’t be seen or the human who saw them would drown and die. Rey never really thought about it, why any mermaid would want to live with a human. They always looked so boring, every single one but him.
Her people always told her about the humans and how she should stay away from them for her own safety. She always did, until now. Rey doesn’t know why she wants to know him, but something makes her want to understand him. She looks at the letter in her hands. Maybe she shouldn’t give it to him; maybe he will never read it. If she doesn’t say something, she won’t be able to stop thinking about this particular human.
Rey sees his fishing rod and swims to it, attaching the letter and pulling the hook a little. She watches when he pulls the fishing rod back up. Ben looks at the letter on the hook — how the hell did it get there? He takes the letter, searching for some address or a date, but there are none.
He looks at the fancy writing in green — he never saw a letter in green before and he surely never saw a letter that wouldn’t completely dissolve in contact with water, let alone the ocean. Ben looks around, finding nothing but the endless blue. Going back to the letter on his hand, he can feel a different texture on the paper. He debates if he should read it; it surely wasn’t for him, surely just trash getting stuck on his fishing rod, but his curiosity is stronger and he starts reading.
Hello fisherman,
I don’t know exactly how to start writing a letter, but I’m following stories I heard from the things written by the humans. I've been watching you for some time and I have to say you look quite interesting for a human, no offense. But I also noticed that you look really sad. I saw fishermen before and you don’t act like any of them. I wonder why.
Sincerely,
Rey
PS: I hope I said this right. I’ll be waiting for your answer, fisherman.
Ben looks at the water. He doesn’t know what exactly he is looking for, maybe something that makes sense of why there’s this strange letter in his hands now. He can see absolutely nothing under the water, not even a fish. He looks at the letter again. What on earth does this mean?
Rey watches and waits. She knows she can’t show him her face, but she really wants to know him, the first human that ever caught her attention. She keeps looking at him; the confusion on his face somehow entertains her. She wonders if he will answer when she sees him putting the letter in his pocket. If he wants to keep it, it’s because he intends on answering it, right?
***
Apparently Rey was wrong. It has been one week since she gave him her letter and he has been on the ocean every day since then, but she never got any answer. Did she write it wrong? Maybe he couldn’t understand what she wrote? The human’s language is a second language for her She remembers it was more common in her village than the merpeople one. Has it been so long since she used the language of the land that she doesn’t know how to write it anymore?
Either way, she doesn’t intend to stop. She took the first step and that was the hardest one — maybe he just doesn’t know what to say in reply. Rey repeats what she did a week ago and attaches another letter on his fishhook and swims away. She watches as he does the same thing he did with the first one.
It’s like they’re playing a game she doesn’t really understand. Why does he never answer? Of course she knows about the old legends. How the humans won’t talk to them, because they fear them, but why are humans on the ocean for so long if they’re so scared of them? The merpeople are the ones who try to never be seen by the people of the land. Maybe for the humans this is just a legend they’re trying to see for themselves.
Rey knows she can’t talk to him directly. They were never supposed to swim close to boats; they shouldn’t ever get close to the humans, no matter what. So the merpeople never get so close to the surface, not when there are so many humans on the sea and they don't seem like they really care. Rey never got close to any human. She never broke that primary rule, but this time with this fisherman she really wanted to talk to him and she really wanted him to answer her letters.
***
Ben takes the letter, trying to understand what is happening — why all of the sudden is he getting all these letters? Were they just floating in the ocean and got attached to his hook? But this paper doesn’t even look like normal paper. He only saw something close to it one time, in his grandmother’s things. Ben puts this letter in his pocket, like he did with the first one, and goes away.
Ben gets to the table in the office of his house. He already knows what he is looking for, so he goes straight to the last drawer. Luke gave him Padme’s things when he moved back home, but Ben never really thought about them until he saw the paper of the letters he was finding on his fishing rod.
He takes out Padme’s calligraphy set, opening it for the first time since he buried it in the back of the drawer. It always reminded him of what he lost and now he feels a strange connection with it.
He remembers how he liked to play with Padme’s things while growing up. Luke never liked it, and Ben never knew why. He still doesn’t know why Luke gave them to him either, and more than anything he has no idea why he is receiving letters on this same paper again.
Ben takes the letter from his pocket — it’s in fact the same kind of paper. Padme’s paper looks older, but there’s no doubt it’s the same kind. Ben opens it and reads.
Hi fisherman,
It’s the second letter I’m sending you. I don’t know if you can understand me, but I am pretty sure this is the language you speak on the land; I heard it before many times. Maybe I’m writing in the wrong format and you aren’t able to answer me? I don’t really know.
I just want to say that I saw you in the ocean this week again and you didn’t fish for anything, but you’re always there. Maybe I’m wrong, but you look really tired, fisherman; are you ok? Do you want me to leave you alone? Is the ocean your quiet place? I have one, too, and I really understand if you want to be left alone, but if that’s not the case I want you to know that you’re not alone and maybe we could be friends somehow.
Please let me know what your decision is, fisherman. I’ll understand.
Sincerely,
Rey
Ben looks at the letter in his hand; it doesn’t make any sense. Who writes these letters? And why is he receiving them? Is there someone in the water writing to him? How crazy does this sound?
But it looks so strange —how is he receiving these letters once a week? If it’s only letters lost in the ocean, why is it only once a week?
He opens another drawer, finding some old registers. Maybe he could find this Rey person and finally discover from when and where these letters have come.
Ben has so many questions while he keeps looking at the words on the paper in front of him. What is actually happening and why with him?