Oneshot Collection

Sparks of Sunlight: Marellinh

Marrellinh, haven't written that in a while! My first mermaid au :)

When you were far enough underwater, it was too hard to see the sunlight.

Linh had to swim to the surface if she wanted to feel the warmth of the sun, let the light whisk through her fingers, let the silver tips of her straight hair gleam.

Her brother told her she was taking too many risks, going above the water so much. He could always tell when she'd been out of the water; there was always a brightness to her face, apparently, a spark in her usually calm eyes.

A spark.

Linh liked that idea.

She'd never seen fire, of course, but it sounded... warm. And bright. And free.

(she'd like to be free, she thought)

So she swam to the surface as often as she could. She wiggled onto a large rock and basked in the sun, letting her long hair splay against the warm stone.

But she never saw anything different. No people, no birds, no fire, nothing but waves and sky and the occasional fish.

Until the ship came.

Linh slipped into the water as soon as she heard it coming, but she peeked above the waves, eyes widening as she caught sight of it.

(torches burned bright with orange flames. maybe that was what prompted her to swim closer)

Linh wished she could fly. She could glide through the ocean, but she wanted to soar through the air, too.

(too close, she imagined Tam telling her, alarm ringing through his words. you're too close, Linh. back up. move down, back underwater. you could be spotted-)

"Hey!" the shout came from above her, and Linh quickly dipped down below the waves, panic slamming into her.

"Wait!" a tinny voice called after her, but she was already moving away, her tail pumping as she swam down into the ocean.

This had been a mistake. Tam was going to kill her.

"Hang on a second!"

And then there was a splash, and Linh froze. She spun quickly back, expecting there to be some sort of exploding object or anchor about to pierce through her tail, but there wasn't anything dangerous.

Instead... a girl.

She looked about Linh's age, but she was short and her legs worked hard to stay afloat. She dipped her head into the water and shouted, "Are you still there?" as if she wasn't scared at all.

Linh swam up to the surface before she remembered that this was a human who had followed her into the ocean, and her head broke the surface.

(too dangerous, Tam's voice echoed in her ears. she didn't care)

"You're real," the human whispered, and Linh moved a little closer at the wonder in her voice. The girl's eyes were like ice; something Linh had only seen a few times before, when her friends had snuck away to see a river and brought some back for her to touch.

Icy eyes, but something in them sparked with fire.

The braids in her hair shook as she treaded water, the cold ocean already making her shiver. Linh glanced anxiously up to the ship, and her tail accidentally made it above the surface as she flapped it a little too hard.

"Whoa," the human girl murmured as it slipped underwater again. "You really are a..."

"Mermaid," Linh whispered, and the human's eyes lit up.

"I'm Marella."

Linh grinned cautiously. "Linh."

"Whoa," Marella repeated, as if her name were something precious.

Something to be treasured.

Linh flicked her tail above the surface, this time on purpose. She wanted to see that wonder in Marella's eyes again.

Linh had always been proud of her tail, anyway. It was silver with black scales scattered across it, the opposite of Tam's, which was black with silver mixed in.

Marella hesitated before she reached out a hand, hovering it above the tail without touching it. "Beautiful."

Linh met her eyes as she lifted her head, and something sparked in Marella's gaze.

Kindling, with the potential to be flame.

Not sure how much I like this.

Oh well.