remember when id post a chapter like every two weeks. what happened to me.
ive had this idea for like a year omg can you believe ive finally got it done
word count: 4k
"Marella! Marella!"
Marella Redek lazily looks up, raising her eyebrow at Keefe. "I am a captain."
She can see him struggling not to stomp his foot like a child. He relents, which means whatever this is, he's excited about it. "Fine. Captain Marella, will you please--"
"No."
Marella shuffles some of the maps spread on his desk, trying not to look up or else she'll laugh out loud. She's already envisioning the absurd colors Keefe's pale face is turning out of frustration.
"Mermaid! Marella, will you listen to me, it's a mermaid!"
That gets her attention. She's out of her seat in seconds, pushing past Keefe and through the door, down the hall to the dock. Wind hits her face, sails snapping a familiar beat in her ears. She scans the dock and catches Tam, her first mate, peering out over the rail.
Mermaids. Terrible, gorgeous creatures. Elusive and unafraid. They're a sailor's best dream and worst nightmare, the sort of creature you long to see but know you never should, unless you want to have your heart ripped out of your chest at first sight. Stories sing of a mermaid's devastating looks just as they warn of deceit.
A mermaid is not to be trusted. They will trick you without another thought. They've been known to enchant princes and heroes with just their smiles, and their voices are said to be a whole other horror. No one hears a siren song and gets away to tell of it. A mermaid will make them a fool before they get a chance.
Marella's heart catches in her chest. She rushes to where Tam is standing, eager, impatient. She has never seen a mermaid outside of her books and maps. She has always longed to.
Just don't believe a mermaid, and you'll be fine, her mother has told her a million times, between bedtime stories and brushing her hair. A million times, once for every time Marella told her she dreamed to sail.
Marella will heed her mother's advice. But she can't resist this opportunity, this first chance to glimpse the creature she's only ever heard of.
Tam looks up at Marella as she approaches, blank-faced. She studies him, worry plunging down her throat, but all he says is, "It's beautiful." And then: "It's waiting for you."
"What?" Marella digs her fingers into her palms, trying not to whirl over the edge and stare at the mermaid. "What do you mean?"
"It wants to see the captain." Tam shrugs.
"And you're the captain, now aren't you?" Keefe pipes up.
Marella scowls at them both, unhelpful crewmates of hers as they were. "Fine. I'll go see it, then."
She turns, finally, over the railing of her ship. A dozen feet down, past slick wood and metal bolts, bobbing in the white froth, is her mermaid.
And Tam is right. It's beautiful.
Marella knows all mermaids are beautiful, really, but she's fairly convinced this one is the most beautiful of all. Because she can't fathom another creature being any more perfectly gorgeous than this one before her.
Teal scales and a purple fin, curls wrapped unearthly brown among the cresting waves. Long, elegant fins in place of what should be ears, fluttering like the petals of an iris. Eyes looking up, serene and unblinking, filmed with the same green of the sea.
