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It was in the early morning hours when Vi finally saw the harbor of Piltover. She hadn’t been on the sea for long, only a few days, but the last night had been rough. She was sleep deprived, and ready to sleep in a non-moving, comfortable bed in an inn.
When she heard the loud screams, she opened her eyes she had closed for a few seconds, looking around alarmed. There it was, a small fisher’s boat not far away. The fisherman was fighting with a siren. Oh fuck.
On the second look though, it wasn’t a siren he was fighting (which, well, sirens were nasty with their luring, Vi would’ve understood that), but a regular mermaid. It seemed like the mermaid wasn’t the attacker in this case, the mermaid was fighting for her life, biting hitting, but the fisherman didn’t let her go.
In a split-second Vi decided to help. She turned around and headed straight for the two of them. Luckily, the waves were low, and the wind wasn’t blowing too hard. “Hey!”, Vi screamed before she arrived even, “Let her go!”
The fisherman only laughed and if anything only held tighter onto the mermaid. She was hanging half over the railing, flopping around without any success. When Vi was close enough, she jumped over onto the other boat.
She now had to decide what to do. The mermaid looked hurt but not injured in a way that Vi would need to take her along, she’d probably be fine if he just let her go into the water again.
The fisherman was in shock when, for him suddenly, Vi’s fist hit his chin, sending him flying with her right hook. He instantly let go of the innocent mermaid who fell back into the water with a splash.
He stumbled back, a little wonky and a little confused over what had happened. After his head visibly cleared, she shook it once more and then rolled his sleeves up. This was going to be a dirty fight, Vi knew so much. She was strong, but she had nothing to bring against the strength of an old fisherman. The only thing she had was her speed, her youth. Her first hit only worked out because he didn’t expect it, because his attention had been elsewhere.
Vi ducked away under a few blows, got one to her stomach, but landed one in his guts herself. They both bend down in pain for a few seconds, then Vi heard a “Hey”, scream from the water. It was the mermaid, and she was pushing Vi’s boat. Damn, she was strong underwater, Vi loved their magic abilities now.
Before she could think anymore, Vi turned around and ran. Well, running is a lot, she fisher boat was small, so she had three steps to gain speed. With a well-timed jump from the railing she managed to fly across the open water and land on her own boat in safety. The old fisherman couldn’t follow her. He might’ve been strong, but not as young or agile.
“Thank you”, Vi huffed, looking down at the mermaid. Her night blue hair spread around her beautifully, making her look almost ethereal in the morning sun. “No, I have to thank you, I don’t want to know what he would’ve done to me if you hadn’t been here.” “You’re welcome, I hope he feels my hits for a few days and rethinks his decisions.” They both agreed he probably wouldn’t and now Vi wanted to punch him all over again.
“I have to go”, the mermaid said, “May Jenna protect you.”, the mermaid said, waved one last time and then vanished into the blue of the ocean before Vi could say goodbye.
⊹ ࣪ ﹏𓊝﹏𓂁﹏⊹ ࣪ ˖
Vi got to the harbor, paid the fee for her boat and unloaded her goods. She had transported some beverages from Zaun to Piltover this time. After unloading and giving the barrels to the carriers for her customers, she went into town to find an inn to stay in for a few days.
She had been on the ocean for some time now, only spending one night on land, if she even spent one. She decided it was time to relax and breathe a little now.
Her customers in Piltover paid well, which is why she found herself in a little more expensive inn than she usually resided in. After a delicious lunch she made her way through town.
Piltover was impressive. Everything was bis, shiny, golden and Vi didn’t even want to know how much a single stone of the pavement cost. She walked through the alleys, the enormous streets and past a few shops with curiosities inside.
In Zaun, where she came from, the windows also had curiosities, they just looked very much different. Here, it were golden, shiny things, some extravagant furniture that might or might not be haunted, and tools Vi couldn’t identify. In Zaun, she had seen heads of all kinds of animals, potions and things, she tried not to remember.
Somehow, even when she spent most of her life on the water, at the end of her walk she found herself at the shore. At least not the harbor, she thought to herself. She sat down on some stones, the water underneath licking into the slits between them, trying to creep upon the land.
Listening to the water always calmed her, even if she didn’t need calming. She closed her eyes and just listened to the rhythmic sounds of the water, the birds screeching and the wind blowing past her ears. And then there was something else, something splashing in the water, breaking nature’s rhythm.
“Hi”, she heard a voice calling from the water. Vi opened her eyes and saw the mermaid sitting on a lower stone, her midnight hair covering her naked chest, her gaze curious. “Oh, hello”, Vi said, “Am I invading some territory I shouldn’t be in?” She knew of some stories where sailors had entered a mermaid queen’s queendom unknown and had to live with harsh consequences.
“No, don’t worry, you can sit here as long as you want. I’m sorry if I’m interrupting, but I saw you sitting here and thought I could come around.” She splashed her tail in the water. Now Vi could really inspect it. It was the same color as her hair, which was a beautiful coincidence, because she had seen multiple mermaids with different colored hair and tail.
“You’re not interrupting at all”, Vi smiled, “I’m glad you came here, I was getting bored anyway. I’m Vi.” The mermaid introduced herself as Caitlyn.
They fell into a light chat, about where they came from, how Vi became a sailor (her old man had been one, that was it). Vi found out Caitlyn’s mother was the queen of this underwater queendom with Caitlyn next in line.
From time-to-time Caitlyn jumped back into the water to wet herself again before climbing up the stones again to sit with Vi. The sky turned the color if Caitlyn’s hair when they parted ways again.
𓆝 𓆟 𓆞 𓆝 𓆟
The next day Vi visited some friends she hadn’t seen in too long who resided in Piltover, But it still left her with nothing to do in the afternoon. So, naturally, she found herself at the shore again, the same spot as the day before. She liked that spot, and it surely had nothing to do with Caitlyn (it had. She hoped the mermaid would come up there again. Vi fell addicted to talking to her in the matter of a singular day).
Luckily, the mermaid’s head appeared from the water only minutes later. Vi didn’t notice she started smiling intensely until Caitlyn smiled back. She heaved herself up on the rocks again.
This talk ended with Vi joining Caitlyn in the water, her clothes hidden under a rock on the shore. Vi, despite being a sailor, had never been the best at swimming. She was able to survive for some time, but you couldn’t call that swimming.
With Caitlyn by her side, explaining to her how to move, holding her safe, she was able to get a little more secure in her swimming abilities.
The next few days they met at the same spot, same time. They swam, they talked, Vi even got better at diving and got less scared when Caitlyn was a few meters away in the water. It was a bliss.
Unfortunately, Vi had to leave soon. Her money got tighter; her ship was calling. Usually, she loved getting around, she loved the freedom of a sailor, but now she was almost sorrowful when she realized she had to leave. For the first time in a long time, she just wanted to stay. She couldn’t though.
The day she left Caitlyn waited for her a mile away from the harbor to say goodbye. Vi promised she’d be back soon, and Caitlyn promised to be there when Vi would return.
𓇼 ⋆.˚ 𓆉 𓆝 𓆡⋆.˚ 𓇼
When Vi returned to Piltover for the first time, she brought Caitlyn a ring. She wouldn’t tell Caitlyn how she got her hands on the golden ring with the implemented blue sapphire. In exchange, Vi got the most beautiful red seashell she had ever seen in her life.
Every time she could, she took a job that brought her back to Piltover. She slowly but surely was known by the sellers; she could take higher prices for her service. She was fast, she was good, and, what no one knew, she had the underwater world of Piltover on her side. She had never felt safer before.
That was until one day. She had loaded some noxian wine, jewelry and other, smaller valuable shipments and she was only a few miles away from Piltover’s harbor when she saw it; the water on her little boat.
The leak was a big crack on the underside of the boat. It was big. Fuck. The second Vi saw it, she knew she wouldn’t make it to the shore. She looked around, and there was nothing she could do.
She breathed, adjusted the sails and started praying. She could try to get as close as possible to the shore, maybe she could swim the rest of the way. Internally, she wasn’t sure she could make it, but she better tried it out than accepting her faith before she even put any effort into her survival.
While the boat sunk more and more and moved slower and slower, she shed her clothes since they’d only drag her down in the water. The boat was now almost fully submerged, and Vi knew she needed to swim now, hoping some other boat would notice her and help her. The chances were low, though.
Vi swam and swam, the harbor not really getting closer, and she knew she was almost dead. The water was cold, she didn’t know if her strength was enough to bring her to shore. Thanks to Caitlyn she survived longer than she ever thought she could, but it wouldn’t be long enough to make it to safety.
At some point, her arms got heavy, her legs too. She was cold, so cold, so unbelievably cold. Every movement felt ten times harder, until she couldn’t feel anything at all anymore. She just noticed herself slipping past the surface, and she accepted it.
She closed her eyes, listening to the sound of the ocean while it took the life out of her. And then, suddenly, she felt a pair of lips pressed on her own. Her eyes shot open, and she looked into Caitlyn’s light blue eyes that were filled with shock.
Was this death? If this was death, Vi was very okay with it. Until Caitlyn pulled away, her hands still on Vi’s cheeks. “Breath”, she said, and Vi could understand her? She shook her head. “Please, trust me, Vi”, Caitlyn said, her eyes still fixated on Vi, her hands still cradling her face.
It was going against all of Vi’s instincts. But she did it. She breathed in the water, letting it flood her lungs. She waited for the burning sensation, for the feeling of choking and dying. But it didn’t come. The only thing she felt was relief.
Before she did anything else, she pulled Caitlyn close and pressed her lips on Caitlyn’s again. “How?”, she asked as they parted again. “A mermaid’s kiss turns you into one of us. I’m sorry” Vi looked down on herself. Instead of seeing her legs as she expected, she found a fishtail.
“You saved me, please don’t apologize”, Vi said, now it was her cradling Caitlyn’s face with her hands. “I saw you here, lifeless, it was my only option. I swear I didn’t want to do it without your permission, but I couldn’t have let you die.” Caitlyn swam forward, falling into Vi’s arms.
“I’m glad you did. If I had known about this option beforehand, I would’ve asked you to kiss me much sooner.”