Yuri is a natare. A mermaid. He knows how to follow the rules that keep his kind safe. So why does a human dancer named Victor makes him feel like breaking all of them?
He swam just beneath the surface, stretching his right hand until his fingers were barely breaking the surface. It wasn't forbidden to break it while he worked, but if someone found out, he would have to take responsibility for it, and the punishment wasn't pleasant.
The yacht he'd been tracking had stopped moving over an hour ago. Yuri had hoped its pause was temporary, but it still lingered inside his watch zone, which made it his responsibility. He'd been working the arabesque zone since his coming of age three years ago and it had been an uneventful spot until today. Arabesque was going red today, and this yacht was in the worst possible spot.
The noise from the vessel had been low until now. For the past five minutes, muffled voices and pleasant sounds broke the surface, there was celebration, there was cheering. It filled Yuri with curiosity and before he knew it his nose was just an inch from the surface, his fingers tracing lines against it.
He remembered his mother's soft warnings.
"Every natare is born with curiosity, being curious is not a mistake. We all want to know more of what's above the surface, but the price of our curiosity is something you may not want to pay."
Yuri hadn't really understood the warning back then. He was merely a fingerling when his mother told him as such. It wasn't until he'd come of age and started working as a monitor that he understood. Seeing the foreboding shadows of the vessels above. Feeling the water becoming restless at their passing. Hearing the muffled noises and sounds outside the safety of the ocean. Yet none of these things had made him feel inclined to reach out to them, not until now.
"Being curious is not a mistake."
Another loud sound of sheer glee exploded from the vessel and Yuri swam up. His head breaking the surface for the first and only time since Takeshi dared him to do it the day before his coming of age. His heart had beat so loud back then, even if he did it in an area known to be safe, when the punishment wouldn't have been severe. He had never forgotten the infinite blue of the water and sky.
It was so different when there was no light.
It took Yuri a moment to adjust his breathing and take in the bright vessel in the dark. It wasn't as large as he'd initially thought, but still large enough that he couldn't see the humans on it, just hear them. Their sounds of blithe continued. Yuri once again felt an indescribable urge to see what they were seeing, what brought them so much joy?
Yuri swam to the side of the vessel, his left hand sliding against it. The ocean was no longer calm, the vessel moved up and down along with the restless water. Yuri knew the humans wouldn't notice. He couldn't warn them either. As the situation stood, if he was going to look — to do something stupid — he couldn't ask for a better moment.
Yuri's hands stuck to the yacht and he was able to pull himself up along its side, unseen in the dark. The sound of human music filled his ears, easing his fright of being seen. It felt like it was calling to him, closer, closer, and once his head went over the edge, the fear vanished.
Movement caught his eyes. Hands in the air swooping down in an arc. Feet sliding on a hard surface like it wasn't there. The movement matched the softness of the melody, and the melody became everything Yuri could think of.
A group of humans stood watching in awe as another human moved to the melody.
Yuri's hands gripped the rail tight, his eyes focusing on the display of human movement in front of him. The human moved like he floated, a weightless enthralling body. His long silver hair sweeping behind him. Like he was swimming, but there was no water around him.
Yuri couldn't help but feel the pull of the movement. The curiosity he'd felt suddenly being fulfilled. It was a feeling he couldn't quite explain.
The music stopped, and with it the spell of movement. The humans clapped while the dancer bowed with grace. His smile making Yuri sink his head back behind the edge.
The ship rocked back and forth. Maybe it had been a mistake to see.
"The price of our curiosity is something you may not want to pay."
Another melody started. Yuri pressed his head against the side of the ship. He wanted to watch the human more. See him move to the music. See the flow, and the dance. His curiosity had been filled already, so why did he feel the need to keep watching? Was this the price his mother had warned about? To know his beauty was about to be snuffed out and he could do nothing to stop it?
Yuri felt the water beneath the ship. Time was up. A somber feeling filled his heart and Yuri pushed himself with force from the side of the ship just as the burst happened. The seemingly calm water suddenly rose upwards with force, tipping the vessel sideways. Yuri crashed into the ocean and swam away from the event. He was only the monitor after all, he wasn't supposed to get involved. The ship had just been in the wrong place at the wrong time.
He turned around once he was at a safe distance, and witnessed all the humans that'd been just moments ago enjoying themselves, be flung into the dark water.
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