Love by the Water

Salty

Magnus sighed heavily as he sat down on the sand of the beach not far from the town.
His wounds were fresh and he was there with nothing but his heath potion, bandages, and the overwhelming thoughts in his head.
Of course he expected to put up a fight but it's no where near to having a winning side, but just as he was about to drink his potion he heard something from the water. "Is someone there? I'm not willing to play stupid games with the enemy." Magnus said, irritated and cautious at the fact that someone could be watching him from the enemy side.
To be safe, he stood up and pulled out his battle axe but no one showed until he heard, "I didn't mean to startle you sir, I just didn't know if to approach you or not." A female voice said with a hint of fright in her tone.
Clearly she is scared of Magnus, (who isn't really?) As he is a centaur with a muscular build and a default expression that reads "leave me alone or I'll rip your head off", Magnus slowly put away his battle axe and sat back down on the sand.
"I promise that it's alright to approach me, I don't bite."
He said with the intention of it being a joke but his deep deadpan voice is very misleading to many.
Nothing happened for a minute then two minutes and eventually five.
Magnus drank his health potion to start healing his wounds and thought the mystery person or something had left when he heard movement in the water, he turned his head to the noise and came face to face with a mermaid.
Magnus flinched, startled to actually see a merfolk in the flesh and let alone up so close.
Her skin and tail were a soft blue with her tail fading into a dark purple at the fin, light grey but kind eyes, blond hair in a short wolf like cut and had a smile that was brighter than the sun with sharp teeth.
Magnus was surprised that she was so close without any fear on her face even though she sounded scared before but he cleared his throat, "We're you the one watching me, am I correct?" Magnus questioned, though he was sure already knew the answer.
"Yes! That was me." She said cheerfully, "Though I didn't exactly mean to. I just saw you were injured and I thought I could help."
Magnus was surprised, he had heard legends and read about merfolk and how that while can breathe both water and air, most are usually unseen or very undercover on land and are naturally reserved in nature,
so the fact that the first one he's actually seeing has no fear of see him and trying to help is just making his brain short circuiting.
Without anymore hesitation, the mermaid took the bandages that Magnus and had started to bandage up him when he finally snapped back to reality,
"Please, no need to help me"  Magnus said, but he didn't make much of an effort to stop her since he was pretty sure she won't listen.
I mean she seemed so kind and sweet but Magnus knew to not let his guard down so quickly,
"You know, you're the first mermaid I've ever technically seen." Magnus said, meaning to say it in his head and failed but before he could say anything else she spoke,
"And you're the first horse men I've seen. Sorry, I'm not exactly sure what you are."
Magnus let out a kind laugh because out of his 6 years of traveling, not once has he been called a horse man.
Sure he was called half a man, human pony, and many other names by different races either in a racist way or not, but he couldn't help but laugh because of her genuine kindness but a little bit of her stupidity.
"I'm a centaur if that's what you mean miss." Magnus said, holding back his laugh a bit,
"That's cool, though I might have sounded a bit rude though, probably happens when you stay in the ocean all your life I guess." she said, while looking extremely guilty.
Magnus had assumed that she had never left the water before but hearing her say it just confirmed the rest of his question that he didn't want to ask her,
he can be VERY blunt when asking or answering questions and he learned that there is something called sugar coating which he finds stupid.
"So you have never left the water before?" Magnus asked since that was the nicest way he could ask a question,
"Well no, I have been to the surface before but have never been this close to anyone. I have always wanted to be with the two leg creatures but people aren't exactly fond of my kind so I have only ever watched from afar." she said, sounding more sad with each word and her eyes becoming glossy with tears.
Magnus looked at her with pity because he could understand the feeling of not belonging among a minority.
He started to think back to his time growing up in his village where the only centaurs were him, his parents, and the elderly couple that ran the farmers market.
The kids called him a freak of nature, half human, and other names that he internalized and accepted as his norm.
The feeling of being alone when he was reading under the big old apple tree in the school yard but secretly watching the other kids play hide and seek, catch, and hackysack.
He would say he didn't mind or care but deep down he wanted so badly to be included in normal things but thanks to his reputation as the Elder Headache, that really didn't help him. Magnus, snapping back to reality, had realized that while he was zoned out, he had put his hand on her cheek and had started to wipe away her tears that were slowly rolling down her face.
"I may not be you but I understand you. People back home weren't so fond of me ether"
Magnus said, choking back the urge to start crying with this mermaid he just met next to him. The mermaid looked at him for a long moment, then cracked a small smile.
She leaned her head against Magnus's hand, embracing the warmth from it and they sat in a comfortable silence for a long while until she asked,
"What is your name?" she said looking at Magnus's deep green eyes.
"Magnus, Magnus Darkwood." Magnus answered, "And you?"
He asked, looking at her pale grey eyes as if they were the moon and stars.
She tilted her head slightly and not breaking eye contact she said "Nerissa, Nerrisa Grove."