The newly-made mermaid and crocodile looked out in awe, slowly swimming out of the tunnel.

“There you are!” Cici and Mizu had been waiting for them just outside the cavern. “We were getting worried you were taking so long.”

“Breakin’ in yer fins slowlike?” The shark asked with a chuckle, “Don’t cha worry. You’ll get yer… “sea legs” before you know it!” He burst into a full throated laugh, enjoying what must have been a favorite joke of his.

Cici let out a sigh, “This, sweetie, is why I normally bring the new arrivals down by myself.”

“Oh you love it!” The shark continued to laugh and kissed the seal woman from behind, earning a chuckle from her. “Ha! Made ya smile! I win!”

Jana couldn’t help but beam at the sharkman cuddling the large seal. Down here, love was always love, no matter who you were. 

Jana turned to talk with Ella about this new world they had entered, only to see that Ella and Chase had already swam down to the seabed, the two of them spinning and weaving as they relished in their newfound swimming abilities. 

Ella twirled and giggled as she reached the sandy dunes that lined the sea floor, whereas Chase crashed down on the sand, as if he was attempting to do an underwater superhero landing.

Jana smiled as she swam down to meet the two dorks, knowing that it was best to let them enjoy the moment. After all, it’s not every day you get to be turned into a mythical sea creature. Ella was now lying on the seabed, gazing up at the sunlight shimmering through the waves, with an expression of sheer bliss and wonder on her face. Jana could just make out the tune that her girlfriend was humming; it was “Part of Your World”, from The Little Mermaid.

Over by the rocks, Chase was prowling around, trying to look menacing, but failing to convincingly hide his dorky grin. He admired his claws, and swished his new tail back and forth. “The world trembles before the might of Chase-Zilla!” the mer-croc muttered to himself.

“This is beautiful!” Ella said, swimming quickly through the open water to get a better look at everything. Once up out of the sand cloud they had kicked up on the seafloor, Ella could see the city glowing like a jewel in the dark water. “Tellonna…” she repeated the name Jana had called it with the reverence of a magic spell. “Does it mean something?”

The shark chuckled, “It’s not as… deep, as you might think. Follow me!” He motioned for the group to swim after him towards a dark outcropping of rock just outside the city, with what seemed to be a road running alongside it. Upon closer inspection Ella and Chase saw that the rock was the remains of a sunken ship. An old wooden vessel that had begun rotting and was overgrown with algae, kelp and barnacles. “Here’s yer answer.” He gestured to the ship as if it was a neon sign explaining everything.

Jana and Cici clearly got it, but Ella and Chase looked at each other in confusion. “What are you… oh!” Ella thought she had the solution after a moment of thought and swam close to the front of the ship on the side facing away from the city and smiled. “Found it! Come have a look Chase!’

The lizard swam close and saw in faded gold paint the message “T-- -ell--onna” written across the wood. “Huh.. So the city is named for this wreck?”

“Not just any wreck!” Jana said, getting into the spirit of things. “Fill in the missing letters Ella. Does the name seem familiar?” Having looked through Ella’s collection of books she knew her girlfriend would kick herself if she didn’t figure this out on her own.

Ella had to admit it did remind her of something… she had a bit of a fascination with pirates, both historical and fictional, so maybe… “... no…” she checked the number of spaces and the name seemed to fit perfectly. “The Belladonna… This is the wreck of The Belladonna!?”

“The very same, little guppy!” Mizu nodded and beamed proudly. “This here is a true treasure from the age of piracy!”

“Pirates? That’s awesome!” Chase said, suddenly much more interested in the discolored pile of old rotten wood than he had been moments before. “Who’s ship was this?”

“You’ve never heard of the Belladonna!” Ella seemed a mix of shocked and outraged that her new friend didn’t know the history here, but now was also excited that she got to talk about it. “This ship belonged to the Ravishing Captain Rosalind! One of the greatest female pirates of the era! Not as flashy or well known as Anne Bonny and the like, but she was amazing!... or at least, I always heard she was amazing.”

“Heard? Don’t you know for sure?” Chase asked, equal parts intrigued and worried by the enthusiasm of the mermaid.

Ella calmed down her fangirling just a little, “Well… Most of what I know about her is from a historic fiction story. It’s not very clear how much of the story is true, and how much was the author.”

“More than you’d think.” Mizu said with an approving nod.

Ella stared at the shark, remembering him saying that the merfolk lived longer than you’d think. “Did… did you know her, Mizu?”

“Know her? Cor, how old do ya think I am?” He grumbled “Ros was long before my time! At least 10 years before I went before the mast meself!”

Jana exchanged a look with her girlfriend “Is 10 years really that long when you’ve been alive that long?”

The shark waved it off, “I was human then! 10 years sure felt like a ruddy long time! But I was of an age to know Ros from stories in the business.”

“Business? Were you a pirate too?” Chase asked this time.

“Of course! Lotsa pirates find their way to pretty little towns like this.” He gestured towards the glowing city, before leaning in to whisper, “Lotsa pirates that had to walk the plank or were tossed overboard, if ya get me meaning.”

The group exchanged a look that said that they got it just fine. 

“I always appreciated the merfolk for saving as many drowning souls as they could.” Jana said with a small shudder. “My gods weren’t very kind to drowned souls… Trapped forever in the twirling nets of the goddess Ran… It always sounded worse than Helheim to me.” Ella reached over and took her hand to comfort her, receiving a smile in return. 

Cici nodded her approval and motioned for the group to follow her towards the city, “It’s good work. The sea is powerful and dangerous, but it can also be beautiful, life giving. A place for a second chance.” 

They swam in silence for a while before Chase spoke to Ella, “Can you tell me more about that ship? If I’m going to live down here, I’d like to know about it.”

“Well, Mizu can definitely tell the tale better than I could, but I’ll do what I can.” said Ella, as she recalled the many stories she had read about the famous ship. “The Belladonna was meant to be a slave ship, meaning it was built to be very fast and hold a lot of cargo and supplies, since… Well the “cargo” would die if the captain didn’t hurry his passage. But Ros and a few friends stole the ship before it could launch on its first voyage! After that, they spent a few years doing the standard pirate stuff, growing their numbers, raiding ships, the usual activities.”

“I like her already!” said Chase, as Ella continued the story.

“Eventually, they attacked a naval vessel and found something onboard that they hadn’t expected; the captain’s wife!” Ella grinned. This was her favourite part of the story. “Ros recruited the woman, taking her with them rather than leave the poor girl with a man who seemed so cruel to her… I did mention that most of my information comes from a romance novel right?”

Chase smirked and chuckled, “Yeah I think I can imagine just what sort of story this is. And so the captain’s wife and the pirate fell in love and ran away together?”

“Yep, at least in my book’s version. Historical accounts never seem to mention a romance between them, just the rescue and a lifetime partnership as pirates. Still cute, but less fun.”

“Daft landlubbers! Those eggheads spoil so many of our best stories.” Mizu cursed as he was listening in. “Ros and Sonya was a love story for the ages! In fact pirates were far more romantic than any of those tossers writing it down would ever want you to know.”

“Really?! Yes!!” Ella pumped her fist. “It’s so great having one of your ships be confirmed as cannon!” Ella said before blushing at how big a dork she must sound. “But… wait if they were active in the Caribbean, what’s their ship doing here?”

Mizu shrugged “That’s a long tale, lass. I can tell you that story another time if you really want to know.”

As they swam Mizu told Chase of his own days at sea, but Ella was only half listening. She was watching Jana, who seemed rather aloof for the last few minutes, as if caught up in thought. Leaving Cici to lead the way, and Mizu to talk Chase’s reptilian ears off, Ella ducked back to swim beside her girlfriend. “Doubloon for your thoughts, angelfish?”

The genie smiled, “Oh gods, are Mizu’s puns getting to you? I’m fine. I’m just… thinking about that other genie down here. And wondering what the odds are he’s… you know… my lamp’s previous tenant.”

“Your… Oh…” Yeah that would be trouble. “Well I’d say the odds are pretty low, right? I mean there have to be a lot of other genies in the world. It has to be a different guy. Besides, it was a long time ago. If he’s free and mortal then… I don’t think he’s still around.”

“I guess…” Jana responded with a small flinch, hoping Ella missed the subtle reaction to the topic of death. She quickly tried to change the subject, “I’m also wondering if I’ll run into another old master down here. You remember the pirate I was with before Sofia? He wished for all the treasure of the sea. I introduced him to a mermaid to ask if he could have the treasure. He ran away with her instead of taking the gold.”

“Good for him picking love over money!” Ella said, squeezing Jana’s hand.

“Good for him, less fun for me.” She smiled, returning the pressure, “See his crew sailed off with all his stuff when he didn’t come back, my lamp included. So I had to leave to keep an eye on it before I could finish helping him. Never knew how he ended up. Never really found out since I was stuck in the lamp till Sofia found it after that.”

“I hope he’s still down here. What was his name?”

“Captain ‘Blood ’n’ Guts’ Billy.”

Ella wondered if it was possible to snort water through your nose if you were breathing it. She was struggling not to laugh as she continued, “Interesting name. Sounds like a real character.”

“Strong personalities are a big requirement for pirates. Officers especially.” Jana trailed off as a party of various merfolk swam out to meet them, waving and cheering for the newcomers. Ella saw people walking along the ground on crab legs, people propelling themselves through the water with fins or tentacles, and some that seemed more mythical than human. One woman waving at them seemed to be made entirely of water herself, only a faint outline distinguishing her shape and features. Jana later identified this girl as an Undine, a variety of water spirit.  

“Welcome to Tellonna!” An oddly beautiful young man with long flowing hair of jellyfish tendrils called as the group came to a halt. This new arrival seemed almost human if not for his hair. He wore no shirt, only a skirt of woven kelp. “I am called Box. It’s always a joy to have new residents join our city!”

“Thank you very much Box.” Jana responded to him with a bow, “But only our reptilian friend Chase is here to stay.”

“Ah, more’s the pity!” He seemed genuinely disappointed. “Still, I’d be more than happy to show you around our fair city. Chase looks like he might want a rest. Follow me.” He rose up from the ground, swimming effortlessly in front of the group. 

The thing that fascinated Ella and Chase most about the city, as they followed yet another odd guide, was the use of vertical space. From a distance, Tellonna looked like just any collection of skyscrapers and towers. But up close, they could see that streets, houses and shops occurred at all levels of the structures. It was like the most beautiful parts of New York City had been piled on top of one another and then were coated in glowing jewels and pearls. All around them was life! Families played fetch with a barracuda in a dog collar, a mermaid and a large girl with lobster claws and tail sat outside a little cafe. Ella even spotted a small turtle-like creature with long thin hands and a shaved head, a Japanese Kappa if she wasn’t mistaken, setting up an awning outside a little sushi shop.

That last sight gave the girl pause, and she turned to Jana to quietly ask a question. “Merfolk eat fish?”

Jana shrugged, “It’s not that different from humans eating other mammals. But since some fish are popular pets down here, I’d wagger there are more vegetarians under water than on land.”

As Ella thought about some of the implications of this, she found that Box was leading them towards a building towards the bottom of one of the middle towers. A glowing sign out front proclaimed it as “Son-air”. Once inside a hostess with octopus tentacles for legs was waiting to greet them. “Welcome to Son-air. Would you like wet or dry seating today?”

“Relatively dry please, Attina.” Box spoke for the party. “We need at least heads above water.”

“Very good, if you’ll swim this way.” She grabbed a stack of menus and led them inside. It seemed that this establishment was only partially underwater. As they swam towards the ceiling they found a large air pocket with several tables floating on the top of the water, and even a few on a small section of completely dry land towards the back. On their way to the table, Ella also spotted a stage down on the seafloor and a band setting up to play. 

“Ohhh. Sonar, like music. Son-air….” Chase spoke aloud to himself, just putting the pun together. 

“Bit slow on the joke, huh friend?” Ella chuckled playfully. “This place is great!”

“Oh you haven’t seen the best part yet.” Cici said, as the group breached the water’s surface. 

They now found themselves in a large section of cave, with a floating piece of wood serving as a table. Attina placed the menus down on the table, before heading back down into the water.

“Just wait till the band starts playing! You’ve never heard music till you’ve heard it underwater.” Box smiled to himself as he pushed his long hair out of his eyes.

“The music’s good, food’s better!” Mizu quickly looked through the menu, eyes seeming to gleam with excitement.

Around that moment another mermaid, this one with the lower body of a stingray appeared from under the water and spoke to everyone. “Hello everyone. My name is Alana, and I’ll be taking care of you today! But if you have any questions and I’m busy, you can ask any of my sisters if you need help.”

“Wait a minute…” Ella cut in with an idea. “Attina, Alana… Aren’t those the names of the sisters from...?” 

The waitress smiled, “The Little Mermaid. That’s right. I have six sisters and a brother named Eric. My mother used to live on the land, and “The Little Mermaid” was her favorite movie. She was obsessed with it!” 

Mizu nodded his agreement and smiled at the memory. “Oh, we remember! Her mother, Pat, sang “Under the Sea” all day every day when she first got down here.”

Alana smiled, “She got some payback with my youngest sister, Andrina. She became obsessed with Frozen. Would not let “Let It Go” go! Anyway, let me know if you need anything.” She gave a little bow and swam off to help another customer. 

“How did you connect her name to Little Mermaid?” Chase asked, casually glancing at the menu.

“Ariel had six sisters, all also with A names.” Ella explained, “I’m not going to lie, for half a moment I wondered if the movie was a true story, and I was meeting one of Ariel’s actual sisters. Her mom being a fan and naming her kids after the movie makes much more sense.”

“And Eric was the prince from the story, right?” Chase asked and received a nod in confirmation. “How exactly do merfolk take depictions of your people like that?” He asked Box, curious but a bit nervous, as if it might be a sore issue.

The jellyfish boy shrugged, “I can’t speak for everyone on that. Most of us like the film, much better than the book, that’s a real downer. But the movie sorta whitewashes us a little, so it hasn’t exactly aged well.”

Ella looked around. It was true to an extent. She had seen no two merfolk that looked alike since coming down here. In the movie, everyone was white, everyone even had the same tails except for the villain! “Were you involved with that movie too angel?”

Jana gave a little laugh, “To an extent. All those movies at Disney I just got the ball rolling. The writers, artists and studio took it from there. I was rarely happy with the final product.”

She would have kept going, but they could see lights come on the stage under the water. It was hard to make out all the activity below them, but they could distinguish a singer and a few musicians getting in position and heard the muffled sound of applause from the underwater tables. The group was silent as they prepared to listen.

The music started faintly, working its way up to the air chamber through speakers in the walls. It was very pretty and soothing, but Ella couldn’t see what was so spectacular. She turned her attention to speak to their host and was surprised to find that Mizu, Cici, Box and Jana had disappeared.

“Jana? Sweetie?”

She looked around as she heard a splashing and Jana came up from under the water. “Chase! Bunny! You have to hear this!” Without waiting for her girlfriend to respond, the eel girl grabbed her by both arms and pulled her under the water.

The song that had been pleasant and simple now soared with depth and complexity. A single voice rang out like a full choir of echoing voices, and the simple instruments were a symphony!

“Odin’s eye…” Ella muttered to herself in wonder. “How is this possible?”

“Sound Waves travel differently in the water.” Box smiled with pride. He also seemed happy to be back in his element, his hair free to float around him and not clinging to his face. 

“This is wonderful!” Ella clapped with the rest of the crowd as the band finished their first song.

“This is nothing. Wait till they’ve warmed up!” Cici chuckled.

Ella looked over to Chase to see if he was enjoying this as much as she was, but was surprised to see his eyes were on the door rather than the stage, and she smiled as she saw why. A merman of about their own age had entered the dining room and was looking about. Both his tanned shirtless human body and spiked fish tail were covered in red and white stripes. His hair was short and white and he had sharp teeth and claws similar to Jana’s own. 

“A lion fish, if I’m not mistaken…” Ella chuckled and gave her friend a knowing smile. Even though she preferred girls, she could understand Chase’s attraction.

“What is he doing here…” Chase nervously weezed out, eyes unmoving from his rescuer. 

“I invited him.” Mizu said, enjoying the reptile’s embarrassment. “He’s the whole reason you’re here after all. Thought he’d want to say hi.”

“You could have warned me first!” he hissed, leaning in close, hoping that the conversation didn’t carry as well through the water as the music. “You know, given me a few days… or months to get used to my new body so I don’t embarrass myself in front of him!” 

“Hey come on Chase-zilla. You got this!” Ella gripped her friend’s rough hand behind his back as the lionfish reached them. 

“Chase? Is it really you? I wasn’t sure if Mizu had gotten it right. I didn’t expect you down here for another week!” The exotic young man had his own music in his voice with just the hint of an accent. 

“Hi Lance!” The gator said a little too loudly, blushing as his voice cracked. “Yeah I got a little help.” He was awkwardly silent for a moment, “Help from my friends here. This is Ella, she’s a shapeshifter, and Jana, she’s a genie.” 

“A genie? Like the old shark that lives in the trench?” He asked after shaking hands with both of them. 

“From the sound of it, yeah.” Jana smiled back, trying her best not to show the little tension that had just come into her body. She looked up as the band started to play again, a much slower song, and couples were getting up from tables and swimming out to the dance floor. She smiled, getting an idea, “Would you like to dance Bunny?”

Ella gave Chase’s hand one more squeeze for comfort before letting go. “I’d love to. If you’ll excuse us.” 

The girls swam out to the dance floor and were happy to see that Mizu and Cici had decided to join them. Moments later they saw the jellyfish excuse himself from the group. This would give the boys either privacy to talk, or a hint to get up and dance themselves. It was only then that Ella remembered to be nervous about dancing in public for her own sake. “You might need to help me Angel.” She tried her best to whisper. “I’ve never done this before.”

“Not to worry dear.” Jana said with a comforting smile. “Underwater is a great place to learn to dance. No chance of stepping on each other’s toes for one thing.” She kissed Ella softly on the forehead and proceeded to lead the dance. 

Ella held herself tight to Jana’s body. She was colder in this form, but the closeness was still comforting as they twirled and swayed to the music. Ella wasn’t entirely sure how things worked for ballroom dancing normally, but she was pretty certain it wouldn’t include dancing upside down or doing loops through the water.

“We should do this again on land some time soon.” Ella said as the song ended and they applauded with the rest of the dancers, all of them waiting for a moment to see if the next tune was worth a second dance.

“Yeah… Yeah I’d like that.” Jana responded hesitantly in the relative silence. Though she had danced very well it was clear that Jana had her mind occupied again.

Ella thought she knew what was going on. She waited for the band to start a livelier, more energized song before speaking. “You want to sneak out of here? Go meet this other genie in the tench?”

Jana bit her lip before nodding. “Even if he’s not the one I knew… there’s so much I could ask a free genie…” 

Ella looked first to Cici and Mizu cutting a rug, as Lance convinced a hesitant Chase to get up to the dance floor. “I don’t think we’ll be missed for a little while… I’m up for sneaking away from the tour if you are.” 

Jana smiled and mouthed a quiet thank you and took her lover by the hand, navigating their way out of the club and back to the streets. 

__________________________________________________________________

“The Trench” that Lance alluded to was much easier to find than they had thought. It was just a canyon on the sea floor outside the city limits. The space seemed unnaturally dark and quiet compared to the light and life not too far away. 

“So… We’re looking for some sort of shark, down… in that.” Ella couldn’t help but be frightened just a little and was comforted as Jana gripped her hand. 

“Don’t worry sweetie. I got this.” She snapped a finger and her eel tail started glowing as she moved. “There. Should be plenty of light…. What’s up?” She asked, noticing Ella making a face.

“Nothing!” she said quickly. She had been trying not to laugh. The tail undoubtedly would help them, but she couldn’t help but imagine a meme she had seen involving a couple walking about at night helped by light up sneakers. She felt like she might have just seen the merfolk equivalent of that joke. “Let’s get going.” 

Ella tried to compensate for her initial hesitation by leading the way down into the darkness. “If he’s actually living in this thing he has to be on the bottom. We go straight down and we should find him easily from there.” That is if he’s the only thing down here… Her fear returned for a moment as she saw a large crab scuttle along a rock wall and mistook it for something else.

“Yeah… I don’t think there’s going to exactly be a neighborhood association down here…” Jana said, sensing the thought Ella had left unspoken. “Let’s talk about something else babe…” She shivered at a growing cold the deeper down they went. “What are you thinking of painting next? One of the blank rooms maybe?”

Ella smiled and thought. “Hmm I do need something eye catching for the foyer. Maybe a nice bright spring garden. Wild flowers all over… But before I do that, I think I’d like to try my hand at painting you.”

Jana had not expected that, “Me? Like as a model?”

Ella kissed her quickly on the lips, thankful for the warmth it sent through both of them. “Well I could paint on you like a canvas, but you’d work wonderfully as a model too.”

Jana’s blue skinned cheeks turned purple with blush, “Be serious.”

“I am being serious, Angel! You are the most beautiful thing I have ever seen! Even part fish with claws and fangs you are a treasure! A masterwork that should already be hanging in a gallery with the other works of art!”

Jana laughed, blushing even redder. “Laying it on a little thick, aren’t you Bunny?... Don’t stop now you are doing so well!” 

Ella laughed with her, the tension of their surroundings momentarily broken before they heard a voice from the darkness. It was barely a whisper, but even that seemed to echo off the walls in a way that their laughter hadn’t.

“Who’s there… What do you want here…”

The girls looked to each other, then around in the darkness. “We had heard a genie lived in this trench. We wanted to talk to him.” Ella responded as Jana seemed unable to move.

“You heard wrong… the genie died… Go away… I don’t have the magic you want…”

Jana gripped Ella’s hand almost painfully tight and whispered. “That voice… I know that voice!” she took a deep breath and shouted into the darkness. “It’s not your magic I want! It’s you Jynn! Come out and face me you spineless bottom feeder!”

“Jynn?” Ella repeated a bit nervously. 

“It’s him alright…” Jana growled as a shape emerged from the darkness and into the light. The anger died on Jana’s face upon seeing him. 

The lower half was that of a long thin shark with mottled grey skin. This same skin covered the entirety of his human half making the man in front of them seem to be almost rotting. His sharp teeth were few, his limbs were emaciated, and his eyes were milky and probably close to blind. He was either a greenland shark, or a corpse barely able to move through the water. “It is you… My how the years have changed you…” She used her magic to make her human half seem more like her natural self for a moment.

The shark weezed a faint laugh and tired to smile, but the action seemed to hurt him. “Well now… What are the odds of seeing you again? Welcome to Tellonna, Mistress. Have you come to wait for me to die too?”