You were told, many times, by many different mers, not to go near the humans. They were dangerous. They were mean. They had no control, no honor, they would attack first and ask questions later, they would eat anything they found in the ocean. The reasons were endless, and for a long, long time, you obeyed without really thinking much about it. They were scary, if the stories were remotely true, and you had no desire to go anywhere near them. That was before you spotted Abe Takaya. The moment you laid eyes on him, suspended motionless in the water, you were possessed by a burning curiosity — who was he? Why was he wearing that weird fabric? Where was his tail, his fins, his scales? Then you realized that, for some reason, he couldn’t breathe. You panicked, pulling him up and toward the nearby shore, realizing somewhere along the way what he was, and for a moment you thought it didn’t matter, that you were too late, and it nearly crushed you. But he coughed, and spit out what looked like half the ocean, and saw you, and asked, “Who are you?” And you answered. Well, not with your voice — that doesn’t work above water. But you flicked your tail up above the surface, splashing him a little, and he sputtered and said, “Hey!” But then stopped suddenly, and his eyes widened, and for a moment you were terrified — had you messed up? Was the King right, to forbid human contact? Would he attack, or run away and tell others he’d seen you, or find a… a weapon? |
But he got a strange look on his face, and his mouth curved in an expression that made you warm down to your fingertips, and said, “Do that again!”
So you did. |