Schellenakya swam swiftly, propelled through the water by the side to side motions of her tail. She swam higher than the tallest sea stone structure in her city, far enough that the mermaids in the streets looked small as krill.

A few other mermaids swam at the same height. All of them were looking at the city down below, trying to pinpoint the location of their destination, almost like humans studying a map.

Schellenakya was looking for her sister’s house. It was a small domicile, tucked between two larger apartment buildings. After a few moments, Schellenakya’s eye locked upon it. A moment later, she was swimming down toward it, going through an open window and directly into her sister’s living space. 

It was a mess inside. Human artifacts were littering the floor: a bunch of metal sticks, some with tines, some conclave, and some with sharp edges; there were also a few metal cylinders, as well as flat metal circles with raised edges and long handles. On top of that, there was some sort of wooden board, with stiff bristles poking out of it, floating on the ceiling.

In the center of the house was Ozmydine, a mermaid with flowing green hair, the color of fresh kelp. She was sleeping; floating a foot above the mess she’d created. Schellenakya swam over to the other woman, and - careful to avoid the barbs that extended from her sister’s elbows - pinched Ozmydine’s side.

“Ow!” Ozmydine’s outer eyelids opening to reveal brilliant purple irises, and wide pupils. Those same lids narrowed, again, when she saw her sister.

“What was that for?” Ozmydine demanded.

“I have news!” Schellenakya grinned, not bothering to hold in her excitement. “Elidorri proposed.”

“He did?” Ozmydine’s mouth opened in surprise, before transforming into a wide grin. She reached out, grabbed hold of Schellenakya, and began to spin in a circle with her sister. “I’m so happy for you!”

Schellenakya smiled as the spin wound down, waiting until she was reoriented before giving her sister a serious frown. “What’s with all the human stuff, though? I thought you promised you were going to clean this place up.”

“Oh, but I can’t stand to throw any of it out,” Ozmydine protested, bending down to pick up one of the three pronged metal sticks. “Like this. We found a whole bunch of these in an abandoned behemoth. All lined up, next to a bunch of these clay plate-shaped things. There were so many of them! We think it must be used in some sort of community based bonding experience, for humans! Though. I can’t imagine what…”

“You could find a human and ask,” Schellenakya teased, smiling again.

“Don’t even joke about that, Schellenakya! Everything we know about humans tells us they’re violent, horrible creatures - and that they’re obsessed with circlets and rocks.”

“Circlets and rocks?” Schellenakya tilted her head to the side in confusion. “What’s a circlet?”

“You know, the little metal circles they keep in those wooden containers? The ones with the engravings. They’re always being kept with the shiny rocks?”

“Are you sure humans are obsessed with those?” Schellenakya asked, unable to keep the doubt from her voice. “They lose them an awful lot, for something they like so much. I even found some in a grotto, once!”

“Yes, I’m sure they’re obsessed with them,” Ozmydine promised. “My friend Dellinart showed some to a human, once, and the human promised to give her anything she wanted for it. It was so pathetic, she just gave it all to him and swam away.”

“If you say so, Ozmy. But I still don’t understand why you’d cover your apartment in their things.”

“Because they’re a mystery, Schellenakya! Human lands are the greatest mystery known to merkind! I’m fascinated by everything we don’t know about them.”

Schellenakya shook her head, unable to understand it. “Whatever makes you happy, sis. But can you try to find somewhere to store this all? At least for when you throw my wedding shower?”

“Fine. But it’s all coming back the day after,” Ozmydine warned. “This stuff is my treasure.”

“Whatever you say, Ozmy.” Schellenakya knew better than to argue with her sister, on this. It would only cause them to fight, on what should be one of the most wonderful days of her life.

“I’m going to go tell Mom and Dad the news,” Schellenakya added, swimming away from her sister, and out the window. “I’ll see you later, okay?”

“It’s a promise,” Ozmydine declared, a bright grin on her face.

Schellenakya smiled wordlessly back, then turned to swim back up above the city’s buildings. When she got there, however, she was surprised to find another mermaid, floating directly above her sister’s place.

“Umbriddia.” She spoke the name as a polite greeting, hoping beyond hope that she’d managed to keep the disdain from her voice.

The blue haired mermaid in front of her only scowled, in response, and crossed her arms in front of her chest, each hand gripping the other arm. 

Exposing one’s barbs like this was a sure sign of aggression, and Schellenakya swam back a tail-length in surprise. 

“Wh-what do you want, Umbriddia?” Schellenakya asked, her voice now tinged with nervousness. There were other merpeople about, but none close enough to bring Schellenakya comfort. Even if they’d been closer, though, it wouldn’t have necessarily been a deterrent for Umbriddia. A few punches thrown between mermaids was nothing the town hadn’t seen before, after all.

“What do I want?” Umbriddia asked, her voice mocking. “Hmmm. Let me think. Perhaps what you stole from me?”

“I took nothing of yours,” Schellenakya protested. “You and Elidorri had severed your relationship for a moon cycle. Besides, Elidorri was the one to ask me on a date, not the other way around.”

“Of course he did,” Umbriddia scoffed. “He felt sorry for you. You had been interested in him ever since our formative cycles, yes? Waiting patiently, refusing all dates so that you could pine after him. He felt pity.”

“Perhaps he did, at the start,” Schellenakya admitted, cheeks flushed with anger and embarrassment. “But that was three full cycles ago, and we’ve been with each other ever since. In fact, he proposed to me, this very day.”

“Just because he never had the heart to break up with you, you think you have the right to bond with him!?” Umbriddia’s voice raised as she spoke, until she was practically screaming at Schellenakya. “I will never allow this! I will have him back - and even if I can’t, I’ll make sure you can never have him!”

“And how will you do that?” Schellenakya scoffed, crossing her own arms. It was clear now that Umbriddia had no intention of throwing a real punch. Even if she did, Schellenakya thought she had a good chance of winning.

A cruel smile flitted across Umbriddia’s face, in response to the aggressive gesture. “Tell me, Schellenakya. Do you know what a wizard is?”

“A wizard?” Schellenakya asked, frowning. “I was expecting a fight, not a lesson on… whatever that is.”

“A wizard is a human who can wield magic. Like a merperson’s Song - but they can do a lot more than mesmerize people with it. They can create something called a ‘curse’ - a special magic that brings misfortune down on its target!”

“And do you have one of these wizards nearby?” Schellenakya asked, mockingly. “You know that humans can not survive in the depths of the Deep Mother.”

“He doesn’t need to be here to curse you. He only needed a lock of your hair.”

“My hair?” Schellenakya asked, then swam another tail-length back from Umbriddia. “I won’t let you have it!”

“I already took it from one of your brushes, fool! It’s what you get for always leaving your window open.

“Now all I have to do is crush this shell/” Umbriddia took hold of a small conical shell hanging from her neck. “Once I do that - well. I hope you can swim fast.”

“What are you talking about?” Schellenakya demanded, nervously. “Get away from me with that!”

“Oh, don’t worry - the curse will find you, no matter how much distance you put between us. But I suggest you swim toward the surface.

“I mean. Like you said. Humans can’t survive the Deep Mother’s embrace.”

There was a faint crunch, as Umbriddia closed her hand about the shell. When she opened her hand, letting the shell pieces scatter, there was a glowing ball of red light in her hand.

Schellenakya stared in horror for a moment, barely able to understand what she had heard. She couldn’t begin to process what was happening.

The ball was floating toward her, though, so she swam backward. The ball sped up in response, coming toward her at a speed that put it just below her own top swimming pace.

Panicking, she turned away from it and began to swim, first down toward the buildings, and then up toward the surface. Wherever she swam, it followed her doggedly.

“Swim toward land!” Umbriddia suggested, laughing loudly. “If you want to survive, that is!”

Schellenakya had no time to waste on a response. The glowing red dot was moving toward her at top speed, moving through the water effortlessly while Schellenakya was forced to swim with all her might.

This is impossible… she thought to herself. A magic that will turn me human? The mere thought was laughable, ridiculous. The light was probably harmless.

Probably.

Still, she turned toward land, and swam with all her might, hoping beyond hope that it would be enough.

***

 

Schellenakya’s eyes snapped open. Without even time for conscious thought, she found herself leaning forward, hands pressed against the sand, coughing sea water up for all that she was worth.

Eventually the coughing gave way to dry heaving, at which point she realized there was a hand rubbing patting her back.

“There, there,” came an unfamiliar woman’s voice. “All the bad water’s out. Just take a deep breath.”

Schellenakya spun, or tried to, but only succeeded in falling on her side. She’d tried to move her tail to the side, only to find that she didn’t have a tail. She had, instead, two meaty sticks attached to her hips, with a bend half way down and a flat protuberance at their ends. Legs, and… what were they called again? Felts?

A human woman was standing over her. Her hair held none of the vibrancy of the sea, and was colored a dirt-like brown. Her eyes were a bright blue, though, almost like the color of the skies above.

The skies above. She could see the sky above, and there was something sandy beneath her. She was a beach. She had made it to land - for whatever good that did her.

“Uhh… About that breathing thing?” the stranger said. “You don’t seem to be doing that yet.”

I’m not? Schellenakya reached for her neck, and then flinched back in response. Her gills were gone, replaced by smooth skin. She wasn’t sure they would have been useful on land - but in either case, she wasn’t sure how to breathe without them.

She looked at the stranger, pleadingly, and received a concerned look in response.

“Did you… forget how to breathe? The water must have addled your brain something fierce… okay, just follow me. Deep breaths, like this,” the woman said, opening her mouth and sucking air in, before blowing it out again.

Humans breathed… with their mouths? Hesitant, but already getting dizzy from lack of air, Schellenakya pulled a breath past her lips.

It felt so much better than not doing it. She breathed out, and then back in again, grinning at having gotten the hang of it.

Would she have to do this the entire time she was on land, though? That could be a long time, and she could already see this getting tiresome. And what about when she went to sleep? Perhaps it was handled automatically, like using her gills? In any case, it would take some getting used to.

“Glad to see you’re getting it,” the human said, now smiling. “I was getting worried there for a second. Do you um… Are you able to talk?”

“Yes.” The word was an experiment, as much as a response; Schellenakya herself hadn’t been sure that the attempt at speech would work, above water.

“Great!” the human grinned, looking relieved. “You were floating in the water so long, I wasn’t sure you’d even make it. You must come from hearty stock to have survived that…”

“...Yes. My family members are all very healthy, and strong,” Schellenakya promised. “My mother in particular has protected our city from many sharks.”

“...Okay then. Maybe you are a little addled, still. But. You’re alive! And you can talk. Now I just need to make sure you can walk, and I’ll be able to go on my way without a guilty conscience.

“So uh. Can you walk?”

Schellenakya did not respond, instead taking a moment to take stock of herself.

Her gills were gone, she knew that much. She had legs, instead of a tail. On top of that, the webbing had disappeared from between her fingers, and her lustrous purple hair had become yellow, for some reason. On top of that, the venomous barbs at her elbows had disappeared.

She was still wearing the same clothes as before she transformed: a tube shaped top of woven seaweed, and a skirt of scallop shells, strung together with wire.

She was relieved to know that no one had touched her personal belongings, but... She was definitely, entirely, human.

Could she walk?

“I’ll try,” she promised, taking a deep breath and pushing her way up onto her feet.

Her legs felt strong, having the same strength as her former tail, but she still couldn’t help but wobble from the sheer strangeness of needing to support her own weight, yet alone with such strange appendages. 

Unsure how to balance herself, she settled with her legs spread wide and her feet firmly planted in the sand. Then, with a wide gait, she took two hesitant steps forward, before turning back to the human.

“I can walk.”

“That’s… Good…” The human frowned, then shook her head rapidly from side to side, as if trying to dismiss a bad idea. “Well. It has been a pleasure to meet you, strange lady, but I should really get going. Henry gets impatient when I hang around in one place too long.” She gestured behind her, to where a strange four legged creature was standing, further up the beach. It was covered in fur, had floppy ears, and a face with grossly distended jaws. Schellenakya instinctively flinched back, upon seeing it.

The creature made no move toward her, however, and the human was only staring at her in confusion.

“...Have you… Never seen a mule, before?”

“I have never seen anything so strange as that in my entire life,” Schellenakya promised, fervently.

“...Right. Well. I’ll see you later, okay? I’ve got places to go - a mountain to climb, a wizard to see.” 

“A wizard?” Schellenakya demanded, stepping toward the human. “You know where there’s a wizard? Can you take me to them?”

“Everyone knows where there’s a wizard,” the human laughed, rubbing the back of her head. “You know. The Wizard of Mount Krosef? I mean, even kids know about him.

“And I’m going to go see him.”

“Take me with you,” Schellenakya begged, clutching her hands together.

The woman gave a firm shake of her head. “No way! I’m a solo adventurer - I travel alone.”

“But I don’t know any other way to remove the curse,” Schellenakya protested. A strange wetness was forming in the corner of her eyes. Before she knew what was going on, water was leaking down her cheeks. When her tongue darted out to touch it, she found it salty like the ocean.

“What… What is this…?” she asked, upset. “What is happening to me!? Why am I leaking from my face!?”

“They’re called tears? They happen when people get upset. I know you’re water addled, but how do you not know this?” the human demanded.

“Because I am not people! Not human people, at least. I am a proud merperson!”

“A…” the woman swallowed, loudly, then took a step back, before pausing, shaking her head, and laughing. “No way. You don’t have a tail! And you definitely don’t look like a people eater.”

“We don’t eat people. And I don’t have a tail because I was cursed to be human by one of your wizards!”

“You were… cursed. To be human.” The human lifted an eyebrow, clearly skeptical. “Alright. Let’s say I accept that you’re a mermaid. And that you need to see a wizard to break the curse, or whatever.

“Let me ask you this: What’s in it for me, if I take you?”

“What’s in it… for you?”

“Yeah. I mean, I already saved your life, free of charge. I’m not going to throw anything extra on top of that. Especially since if you are a mermaid, that brings up the whole question of whether you do in fact eat people…”

“I don’t eat people,” Schellenakya insisted. “And…” Schellenakya looked down at herself, then about at her surroundings, unsure what she could offer. All her things were under the sea, after all - and she wasn’t even sure she had anything worth her life.

No. Wait. If she was at the beach, the one closest to her home, that meant she knew where she was. She knew where she was - and she knew where something else was, too.

“I know where there’s a grotto, with lots of shiny rocks and circlets!” she declared, grinning. “I’ll show it to you, if you promise to take me to the wizard.”

She expected the human to jump for joy at that declaration, but the woman only frowned. “Why would I care about shiny rocks and… Circlets?”

“But… Ozmy said humans were obsessed with them…?”

“Look - what’s your name?” the woman asked.

“Schellenakya.”

“...Yeah, I’m just going to call you Shelly. Look, Shelly - I don’t even know what a circlet is.”

“You don’t?” Schellenakya asked, more of those strange tears forming in her eyes as her only hope, faint as it was, left her. “I was sure they were valuable. We find them a lot under water, inside behemoths.”

“...Behemoths?”

“Yes. The giant wooden things that you all use to travel along the water,” Schellenakya explained. “Sometimes you sink them, and we find containers with shiny rocks and circlets inside.”

“...Holy heavens, are you talking about treasure!? Why didn’t you just say so!” the woman crowed, holding a hand toward Schellenakya.

Schellenakya stared at it, and slowly gripped it, unsure what was to happen. To her surprise, the human pumped her arm twice, and then let it go.

“There. Now we have a deal. You get me that treasure and I’ll get you where you’re going,” the human promised, putting a hand on her chest. “My name’s Andrea, by the way. Though you can call me whatever you want if you’re paying in gems and gold.”

“Andrea…” Schellenakya - or Shelly, as the human was going to be calling her - murmured the strange name under her breath, before giving a cautious smile to the human.

It was clear to Shelly that this Andrea was callous, uncaring, and as greedy as any human she could have hoped to meet. Still, she would have teamed up with a shark if it meant getting back home to Elidorri.

If it meant getting back to her true love, Shelly was sure there was nothing she couldn’t overcome.