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Somewhere far out in the vastness of the sea, there lives a race of creatures that most humans could only dream up. These creatures, from where they usually appear just floating just above the water, look exactly like a human woman. However, if you get any closer to them and look out onto the water, you’ll see they have the bottom half of a fish. They lived to be about 300 years old, then they just melted into sea foam, as if they never existed at all.
No one knows what happens to a merfolk’s soul once they turn to seafoam; it is just known that they just simply cease to exist, unlike humans who are able to rise up to the great beyond. Because of this, many merfolk fear potentially having their lives ended early, so they mostly remain under the sea, as they were peaceful creatures who desired little of the outside world; most were content remaining under the water their whole lives. Except for one, the youngest daughter of the seven daughters of Triton.
Because of her mother’s death, her grandmother was the only maternal figure in her life. Her grandmother told her stories of the inventions that the surface dwellers create to be able to traverse the ocean that they as merfolk have no trouble doing. How the flowers on the surface smelled sweet, a stark contrast to the scentless ones they had down here.That they had forests up there that contained large rod things with leaves at the end, which were called trees.
The surface dwellers themselves also intrigued her; the creatures with the long, slim stilts that they walked on were interesting, as they did many odd things, such as construct strange structures out of wood that floated upon the water once put in. They also seemed to enjoy swimming, although many of them weren’t very graceful, with their clumsy little nubs that replaced their tails flailing around like a fish out of water as they did. It served as good entertainment for the princess, as she had already seen all that the sea had to offer her.
The thing that intrigued the little mermaid the most about them, was something that her grandmother had said: “Humans do not live as long as us mermaids, but instead of ceasing to exist after they pass, their soul remains and flies beyond the stars to a place of paradise where it spends the rest of it’s days.” The idea that a soul could live forever was something the mermaid could never dream of; she wished and wished that she one day would be able to be like a surface dweller and live on forever too.
She was an oddity among merfolk; she was always found sneaking out of the castle, to her father’s dismay, and going to see the surface dwellers. She often snuck out to a hidden grotto in a forest of kelp, where she kept a treasure trove of items she had collected along her journeys to the outside world. The variety of items she kept there was quite a sight; there were things that looked like mini versions of her father’s weapon, there were creations of string weaved into a crosshatch pattern, and there were things constructed of wood that had four stilts coming out of the bottom of a square of even more wood. There were too many things in the grotto for her to be able to list them all.
However, there was one thing in her collection that the little mermaid was particularly proud of, a carving of rock of one of the creatures she had seen on the surface. The statue was of the most beautiful woman she had ever seen. The woman had a pretty rounded face, making her look youthful and full of life. She had a slim body that perfectly complemented the long, draped outer garment she was wearing. The garment had a small slit that started at the bottom and went about where her tail would start if she had one. Her hair was long and in an elegant braided fashion with a tiny crown upon her head.
The little mermaid thought she would never meet the woman who was portrayed on the statue… until she did.
On her 15th birthday, the princess used some chaos to sneak away from the festivities to escape and look at the surface once more. The little mermaid peered above the murky blue of the deep ocean to see one of the wooden constructions of the surface dweller floating nearby, so she went to investigate. The surface dwellers inside of the construction were lively; cheering, singing, banging, and popping could be heard even from down in the ocean where she was.
The noises startle the mermaid, as she wasn't used to a lot of noise, the depths weren’t that noisy after all, most marine animals were silent aside from the occasional song of the whale or playful squeaks of dolphins.
She hid up behind a rock so she could observe the humans, yet be a safe enough distance away that the sounds of their celebration wouldn’t continue to bother her. That’s when she saw… her.
She was conversing with a few older men; she was wearing an exquisitely made garment that reached all the way down to the bottom of her stubs and was a nice shade of blue, like the shade that occurs when the night sky hits the calm of the sea. She was as pale as a seashell, with eyes the color of the sky and hair as dark as night neatly tucked into a braid along the side of her head. She looks just like… No, more beautiful than the surface dweller whose statue she kept in her grotto.
As the little mermaid admired the beautiful person of the other world, she was suddenly snapped out of her trance by the sky breaking into a harsh crack of light, followed by drops of water beginning to fall from the sky. The sea began to pick up the waves as the wind, which was just a gentle breeze a few minutes ago, because it felt so heavy it could pick her out of the sea and throw her somewhere far, far away. The wooden structure began to tip and tilt as the sea began to throw it around as if it was its plaything. Yet another harsh crackle occurred and hit the construct down its middle, causing it to split in half.
The mermaid was panicked, but she had one thing on her mind: “Save the beauty.”.
The mermaid swiftly came out from behind the rock and rushed towards the woman with the hair as dark as night, but she had seen she had already begun to go under, so she swiftly dived. She was frantically looking for her, her eyes darting around more than a mantis shrimp looking for prey. She then saw her, sinking towards the bottom of a sea ravine, barely moving; was it too late? The mermaid vigorously swam towards her, desperately trying to grab onto her, and once she had a firm hold, she launched into action, swimming back up to the surface. She scanned the area and found land nearby, which she eagerly swam to, and once she got there, she set the woman there.
She looked into her eyes, which were for now tightly shut. The mermaid lay on the land waiting to see if she would wake up. She gently places her hand on the woman’s chest, silently admiring her as she did so. Soon the woman’s eyes opened, and she saw those beautiful pools of sky looking at her.
She stayed there for a moment, she and the woman locking eyes before she realized it was already sunrise, and her father had probably noticed she was missing by now; she would feel a wrath more terrifying than 10 of those storms once she returned. She hurriedly rushed back into the water; she could faintly hear the woman call out to her, “Wait!” before she had to swiftly swim back down into the depths of the vast ocean.
She rushed through the coral gates of the palace and swam around the castle until she reached the small opening on the side that led into her bedroom. She quickly covered herself in her nest of seaweed and pretended to be asleep in hopes of escaping her father’s potential wrath.
The next day she went to her grotto to see it completely destroyed. The statue was beheaded, there was a mess of the shiny trinkets she collected, and a lot of her beloved items from her collection were missing. She knew this was the doing of her father, but it has just solidified her decision in her mind. She has decided she will find a way to become human and gain an immortal soul.
She decides to go visit the Sea witch, her aunt who was cast out of their underwater city for practicing magic. She swam through the darkest depths of a ravine, where the light of the sun no longer shone down. No fish dared wander here, no plants dared grow here, no one, not even a barnacle, was here, but the mermaid dared to. The whole place reeked of death despite most of the ocean having little to no smell aside from the small scent of a tang of salt you could almost taste.
Soon enough, she slid into a small hole that was lined with sharp rock formations and found herself in the home of the witch, who didn't seem too shocked at her appearance in her home. The witch simply stroked one of the two water snakes that was holding itself against her body tightly and snarled, not happy to see the little mermaid at all.
“I know what you want, my child,” the witch said before she could even get a chance to speak to her. She then continued in a way that was soothing and appealing to the mermaid's ears. “You want to exchange that gorgeous tail of yours for those hideous things humans call legs?” The mermaid didn't take her time agreeing as she nodded quickly as she said, "Of course, ma’am.”
“I can make you a brew that will do exactly that.” The sea witch offered with a small hum as her eyes inspected the mermaid. “However, it will feel as if you are walking on knives, and if the one you desire ends up being betrothed to another, you will end up as foam on the sea. And in order for it to be effective, you will have to make a sacrifice.” She continued clicking her tongue against the front of her teeth. “And what would that be?” The mermaid replied meekly, and the sea witch’s neutral expression quickly turned into a smirk. “Your voice, I will need your voice.”
The mermaid nodded to agree, and as she did, the witch grabbed her face, forcing her mouth open and taking a sharp knife and cutting out her tongue. The sensation of her own blood in her mouth almost made her gag. The witch dropped the tongue into a caldron she was working on; she was clearly waiting for her. The little mermaid didn't know how or why, but the witch knew she was coming before she did. The witch then swiftly bottled up the concoction after it had stopped bubbling and gave it to the mermaid, her smirk still there. "Go to land and drink this, my child; you will find that tail you dread will be gone,” she promised.
The little mermaid did as the sea witch said; she swam back through the dark of the ravine back into the light of the main part of the sea. She rushed towards the shore where she remembered leaving the surface dweller she so admired. She drank the brew, which after about a second of finishing it, the mermaid fainted.
She was soon awakened by a familiar voice. She tried to move her tail but it felt completely numb, as if it wasn’t there anymore. She opened her eyes and raised her body to find herself without clothes, however she did notice one thing. Her tail wasn’t there anymore… It was instead replaced by two long slim “legs” as the sea witch called them. She was now one of them!
She looked up to see the source of the voice to see the surface dweller she had saved. She opened her mouth to say something to her but just as the witch had said, no sound had come out, not even a squeak or groan. She was mute… This is going to make her life very hard. How was she supposed to be able to communicate with her?
However, it seemed the other woman was much understanding and lent her a coat off her own body to hide herself before taking her with her to the castle.
Just as the witch had said, every step the mermaid took felt like she was walking on pins and needles. As if something was digging into her feet, but whenever she looked there was nothing there. She would just have to grin and bear it as she walked along side the woman.
The steps to the castle were made of a beautiful marble; the castle itself stood tall and proud against the warm colors of the sunset. Its sharp towers made it look almost like the one in the Little Mermaid's home under the ocean. However it felt different… A Good kind of different. This was a new beginning for her, something that would cause a change in the course of her life.
The woman took her up to her room and let her borrow a dress of hers, a purple long of made of a material that felt like what the former mermaid could only imagine a cloud felt like. Silk is what they called it.
She was kept at the palace as a sort of companion to the woman for months. It was nice. She was always near her, even if she couldn't speak to her directly, she was fine with just listening to her. The woman had many stories about places where she had been that the former mermaid could only dream of.
Occasionally they would visit the sea together and the mermaid could see the silhouettes of her sisters watching the two of them. They seemed almost saddened as they watched her with the woman, but they dare not say anything about it.
The woman thought of her as her dearest friend, which was far from what the former mermaid thought of her… But for now the former mermaid was satisfied staying by her side in that manner.
But of course, all good things must come to an end.
One day some important people from a nearby land were over to have dinner with the woman's family. The woman’s father stood up at the dinner table raising his glass of wine to toast. “It is my great honor that I announce the engagement between my daughter, and this prince,” he said boastfully and confidently. The inside of the mermaid’s chest began to ache at those words, because she knew it would be the beginning of her last days.
Then, in celebration the King had a few servant women sing to the group. It reminded the former mermaid of what she could not do anymore. It made her regret trading her voice in, perhaps if she had it still she could protest to this arrangement, convince the princess not to go through with it, tell her that if she weds she will turn to seafoam and never be seen again.
In a few weeks, the little mermaid got to see the person she held dearest walking down the aisle, she was standing there as a bridesmaid, but she couldn't be more unhappy. The seaside wedding let the familiar salty scent of the sea set into the mermaid’s nostrils, at least she would go with a sense of familiarity in her final moments, for once the sun rises tomorrow she will be nothing more than foam on the sea.
After her dearest had said “I do” to the man she had only just met, the mermaid's heart settled into a feeling of hopelessness. She couldn't object, she couldn't speak, she couldn't even tell her goodbye.
However, the little mermaid heard a splish behind a rock and rushed over to see what it was. It was her older sisters, all with their beautiful long hair chopped off. The oldest held a knife in her hands and offered it to her. “We gave our hair to the witch, she said if you kill the Princess you will be able to live past sunrise. You need to hurry though.” She informed her before the sisters swam away.
That dark and saddening night , the little mermaid snuck into the room of the woman and saw her cozied up with her new husband. It filled her with an empty feeling. She raised the knife just above the woman’s heart, but the woman mumbled something and moved in her sleep causing her to reconsider what she was doing… Why would she kill the woman she cared so much about? She decided against it. The princess will live, even if it meant the mermaid would cease to exist.
The mermaid dropped the knife and went back to the ocean. She dipped her pained feet in the water and waited, watching as the moon lowered and was replaced by the rising sun. Her eyes filled with tears thinking of all the memories she had made on the surface, memories that she would never forget,even if she was nothing more than foam on the sea. She took one last look at the castle. Then when she looked back at the sun, her body dissolved into foam.