Merrow Tails: The Daughter Of Seasong: The Mermaid's Melody

CH1 ~ Cries of Fate

   The silvery white mist swirled around, flowing across the eerily quiet Celtic Sea.

   There was no song of shorebirds, or crashing waves against the stony black jagged rocks that hugged the edges of the strand.

   Within the cocoon of limestone rock was a sandy strip of land that dipped down ever so gently to the mysterious sea. The waves would rush ashore, only to retreat once reaching the uppermost foamy iridescent line.

   Human footprints made a ninety-degree angle towards the dark blue-green sea, ending at a pair of silvery shimmering scaly legs attached to a hauntingly beautiful adult woman, standing knee deep in the rushing grey water.

   Her bright summer-day blonde hair was strewn with vibrant deep green seaweed. It silently blew across her dainty white shoulders, and came to rest atop a crudely fashioned dress made of green kelp leaves, fastened together by alternating blades of brown kelp, and held together by fisherman's spun wool netting.

   By her side, laying in the surf was a delicate flower of a 13-year-old girl. She was radiating with a blue glow; her skin soft, supple, and enchanted. She no longer spoke a word, only smiling so happily content with her fate. Letting the whole world know that all was going to be okay.

   She hardly looked like a human, compared to the woman standing over her.

   The only thing that spoke of her humanity was the shades of pale salmon-colored skin washed over with a shimmering oil sheen that glistened a translucent bluish-green in color. Her hair was a beautiful golden glow, meshed with long drapes of yellow/green kelp that grew out of her scalp.

   Her eyes were deeply enchanting. Occasionally flickering with light when the clouds vailed the hazy coastal sun. Yet, behind those beautiful irises, the last shreds of humanity were fleeting from her being. She was already as wild as the ocean splashing against her bare back...a wild child.

   Unheard, the ocean called to her in song. She turned to face the sea, her scaly tail helping her turn westward into the rolling kelp laden surf. The fish-like appendage sparkled and shimmered with its own radiant light. Shimmering with all the colors of the early morning sunrise.

   She slowly turned back to the two humans cuddling mournfully on the strand. Yet, smiling ever so softly with tear-soaked eyes. The mermaid smiled back, wishing to cry too. But being a mermaid meant suffering dearly for all eternity. For a mermaid cannot cry when she is in her aquatic form.

   She waved farewell to them with her delicate soft hand. Her fingers revealed the eggshell-white webbing that connected each finger to the next. The light shimmered through the thin skin, translucent with bluish veins feeding blood into the webbing.

   Slowly, the mermaid and her protector began to dissolve and fade away like an old photo aging rapidly across the decades. It only took a few seconds as they finally blended in with the surrounding mist, gone forever; gone back home to the 'Other World'.

   The two grief-stricken lovers just lingered there in one another's arms, drowning in their own seas of emotions.

   The ocean rushed onto shore, swirling around their ankles, whipping around the grey sand under their sea-soaked shoes. The woman finally broke down all decencies, falling to her knees in a crescendo cry like frightened the gulls on the beach. Her hot salty tears falling into the retreating waves, carried out to sea, along with her heart.

   And upon the tide, she mourned and cried. Holding within her hands, an ancient Merrow relic which would finally free her family from an ancient and terrible curse. A simple crystalline egg that shimmered and flowed with tiny ocean bubbles. And hidden inside was precious crystallized salt from Tír Fó Thoinn to aid in the breaking of said curse.