THE MORNING BROKE WITH A SCREAM. What had only been an hour or so felt like it had turned into days and Meri was sure, the task of childbirth was nowhere near finished. Beside her, the expression on her lover's face could only be read as fear. With no guidance from an experienced midwife, it was left on the two nineteen-year-olds to get through the intensive labour to welcome their first child. Every so often, he would clear the sweat away from her brow and offering the encouraging words that it was almost over. In the beginning, Meri had appreciated his enthusiasm and sweet whispers, but as the pains of labour sharpened, the intrusive thoughts of throwing him out the nearest window had crossed her mind several times.
Henry Dover was doing his best to remain calm, but it was easier said than done. It had started off with Meri complaining about increasing back pain during the middle of the night. He had attempted to soothe her pain then by massaging her gently, but as time progressed all his efforts didn't seem to be working. Soon after, she was practically panting, gasping for air in between the strong cramping sensation that surrounded each contraction. She would let out a cry or a scream every so often, sometimes apologising shortly afterwards, but Henry told her not to be silly.
He couldn't imagine the pain she was in and if she needed to scream to get through the process, he told her to scream as much as she possible.
And perhaps his advice had worked for better as Meri let out several harsh cries while she pushed with all of her might, and finally, only minutes later, the young parents were greeted by the sound of a little cry.
With Meri's state weak from delivering, resting back, Henry was given the opportunity to be the first to hold their newborn child. He lifted the baby in his arms, the sleeves of his shirt quickly becoming stained with blood, but he paid no mind to such details. Instead, the young father had suddenly become so enraptured that squirmed slightly in his hold. Thinking back to how panicked he had been when Meri initially announced she was pregnant, all sense of fear had vanished so suddenly in those moments.
"You were right," he whispered to Meri, glancing up for a second, "it's a girl. She looks just like you too."
Meri could only laugh, knowing that it was too early for them to tell who their daughter really took after in appearance. Nonetheless, she reached out her arms to motion that she wished to hold her. Henry grabbed his wand from where it had been resting on the nightstand, and with a quick wave, made sure to cut the umbilical cord. He summoned a fresh blanket, attempting to swaddle the baby before gently passing her over to Meri.
However, Meri removed the blanket promptly, placing the baby against the bare skin of her chest and draping the blanket over them.
A minute or so later, the child was already breastfeeding.
Nixie had been the name the couple had agreed on if they had been blessed with a girl; arriving in the world, only twenty minutes past six in the morning on the twenty-seventh of February.
She was small as expected, topped with a bit of black hair on the top of her head, quite fussy when it came to latching on during breastfeeding, but in the eyes of her parents, she was absolutely perfect in every way.
They had never anticipated becoming parents so young, both of them naively believing that Meri couldn't get pregnant due to her lineage, but there were no regrets that day. After Nixie had finished feeding, she promptly fell asleep, and the couple could only watch her, taking in every second they could. Of course, Meri didn't last staying awake for too long, exhausted after what felt like forever trying to deliver.
She, too, ended up falling asleep with Nixie resting against her chest, and even Henry couldn't deny that he needed a good nap after cleaning everything up. He allowed the two to sleep peacefully in the bed while he settled in an armchair next to them.
But Meri's peaceful slumber did not last for very long, only an hour later was she alerted to the sensation that her chest was on fire. Immediately, she opened her eyes and peered down to see that Nixie was damp with sweat, her breathing seemed to be laboured as well. The onset of panic washed over Meri and she quickly sat up, ignoring the pain in her lower back as she stood up. There was the urge to wake Henry up to tell him that something was wrong, but as Meri looked down at her daughter once more, the symptoms became familiar to her.
Her own skin started to feel cold and warm at the same time, a clamminess to her skin resembled Nixie's, and her breaths were becoming shorter and shorter. Glancing out the window, Meri could see the waves crashing against the shore and understood what needed to be done. Despite her legs stinging with every step, Meri made her way out of the bedroom, down the stairs, and outside of the home still cradling Nixie in her arms.
Henry awoke with a start as soon as he heard the front door downstairs close with a slam. He scanned the room only to see Meri and Nixie were missing, and as he turned his head to look out the window, he spotted Meri making her way towards the water. He nearly tripped over his own two feet as he hurried after them, racing down the stairs and out of the room. He ran down the small path that led to the water, only to catch up before Meri had entered.
She was staring up at the sky, even though the sun was rising, the full moon was still visible. Looking over her shoulder, Meri spotted Henry and offered a reassuring smile that everything was going to be okay. He hurried over to her side, noting that both she and Nixie were drenched in sweat.
"Water," Meri told him, "she needs to be in the water. I've been out too long myself. It's alright, Henry."
Henry couldn't argue, knowing he didn't come to experience what Meri did and he had hoped that their child would have been the exception to it, however, he shook with nerves at the image of Meri entering the water, holding their baby.
Suddenly, as Meri entered, the skin of her legs began to bind together, and slowly as they morphed together, scales started to form. She looked down at Nixie once more and before Henry could say anything, she dove right into the water, disappearing under the waves. Henry could only enter the water after them, his eyes keeping a lookout to when they would resurface again.
Travelling below the surface of the water where light still ventured, Meri continued to hold onto Nixie, watching as the newborn's eyes opened at the introduction of cold water. She opened her mouth to cry, and Meri could only watch intently to see if Nixie would take to transforming. Fear had a tight grip on Meri, knowing that if Nixie did not transform, she was possibly drowning her child at the time. She would only keep Nixie down for another few seconds before surfacing.
Just as she believed it wasn't working, Meri went to the surface only to feel a sudden jolt in her arms. Peering down at Nixie, she could see the baby's legs start to bind. Her crying only grew louder it seemed as she was actually able to breathe underwater. But finally, Meri could see it, a small and pale, orange-scaled tail had replaced her daughter's legs.
Such joy raced through her chest as Nixie seemed to settle again in her arms, acting as if nothing was out of the ordinary. She held onto the baby tightly as she resurfaced, only to find Henry practically waist-deep waiting for her return. His eyes settled on the new image of his daughter with a tail before he looked to Meri.
"What does this mean?" he asked her. "Does she have to stay in the water?"
"I don't think so," Meri said, handing Nixie over into his arms, so she could push back her own hair. "I think she needs to be exposed to the water like myself. My people always enter the water shortly after giving birth, even if it isn't a full moon. We'll just have to keep her entering the water regularly or-"
Her sentence was abruptly cut off as Meri suddenly disappeared under the water again, however, by the way, she had vanished, it hadn't been her own doing. Nervously, Henry took a step back, still holding Nixie in his arms as the air started to dry off her tail, slowly allowing her legs to return.
"Meri!"
Just a second later, Henry felt fingers wrap around his ankle and with a strong pull, he was dragged under. Unlike Meri and his daughter, Henry couldn't breathe underwater and being taken down by surprise had left him unable to hold his breath prior to being pulled. He struggled immensely, trying to keep his arms around Nixie, but eventually, she was ripped from his arms, and only then was he released.
He kicked off the seafloor and resurfaced, coughing up the saltwater that he had swallowed during the panic. But his own recovery was of little concern as he tried to figure out what had happened to Meri and Nixie. The answer was right before him as he looked straight ahead and found Meri held back by her arms, one merman on either side of her, while a mermaid front and centre held Nixie in her arms.
Henry quickly recognised the other mermaid to be Meri's mother, Galene, who never looked happy to see him in the past, and it appeared she still harboured ill feelings towards him as she peered up from Nixie with a glare.
"Mother," Meri called out to her, "Mother, please- "
"So, this is where you've been all this time, Meri?" Galene hissed, her eyes narrowing into slits of black. "After I forbade you from ever seeing him again! You deliberately disobeyed me! I thought you had been hurt or killed! I searched for you, but I should have known you would be here! And what do I find when I arrive? A horrid little half-breed being brought into this world!"
"She's not horrid!" Henry yelled at her. He went to take a step towards her, but as soon as he did, another mermaid surfaced, holding a sharply carved object in her hand that she aimed at his throat, warning him to remain still.
"What have you done, Meri?" Galene said, looking down at Nixie again. "What have you brought into this world?"
"Mother, that is your granddaughter, she-"
"NO! This thing is of no relation to me! She is an abomination!"
Galene's yelling, paired with the cold February air, caused Nixie to start crying again, but neither parent was able to get to her to tend to her cries. As her tail started to dry, her legs started to form, leaving everyone to witness her return to her human form. Henry moved in the slightest, yearning to get to her, but felt the sharp object pressed to his throat as a reminder.
"The shame you have brought to me, Meri, to your own people! How could you do such a thing?"
"Mother, why can't you understand that I love him and he loves me!" Meri exclaimed. "Nixie is our child and even though she's only been in this world for a short time, we already love her! That should be enough to you!"
"Enough?! You've fallen for the kind that has done nothing but suppressed us for centuries!"
"They're not all like that," Meri said, "and this could be the start of a new beginning for our people, for the relationship between the seavish and landish!"
"Ha!" Galene's laughter was sharp enough to cut the air. "A new beginning? What could this child possibly do? Nothing that we haven't tried over the years. We don't need any ties to land. You have already brought enough shame to your own people. I can't possibly let this little monstrosity live! Rin, bring over your dagger to me- "
"NO! NO! NO!" Meri and Henry screamed in unison.
With the dagger removed from his throat only to be passed over to Galene, Henry tried to fight his way over, only to be tackled and pulled underwater. Meri could only watch in horror as Henry was drowning and her daughter's life was at the mercy of her mother's hand. She couldn't escape the hands that held her, but she thought about one last thing to spare the loves of her life.
"EXILE!"
The scene at the surface became quiet and with just a look from Galene, Henry was allowed to resurface as all eyes fell onto Meri.
"What did you say?"
"I'll take exile," Meri repeated, leaving Henry to shake his head in protest. "Let them go. Let Nixie go on land with him, and I'll never see them again. You can monitor it however you please, but I won't see them. I won't step on land again. Just let them go safely."
"Meri, no," Henry's voice cracked, "don't do this. I need you. Nixie's going to need you."
Meri wouldn't bring herself to look at him, only focusing on her mother's face.
"I can hunt for our colony," she continued, "I'll stay in the open waters and hunt. I'm one of your best hunters, you can't deny that. Let them go and you can use me as you like. I won't fight it, I promise."
With the exception of Nixie's crying and Henry's protesting, none of the merfolk involved spoke for a moment. Galene seemed to be considering the offer and finally, made her decision as she dropped Nixie into the water. Henry dove for her and wasn't stopped as he scooped the baby into his arms. But as he looked to Meri, he could see that she was already being pulled away.
"Wait!" she cried out. "Please, just let me say goodbye! Let me say goodbye! I just want to-"
She tried to break free, and Henry tried to reach her but before they could, Meri was dragged under and the others including Galene disappeared, leaving only ripples in their wake. Henry could only stand in the water for several minutes, overwhelmed with shock. Nixie's tail had completely disappeared once dry, leaving her exposed to the cold air that blew around them.
Everything had been so sudden, one minute they were celebrating the blissful moment of becoming parents and the next thing Henry knew, he had become a single dad while knowing absolutely nothing about raising a child that was half-landish and half-seavish.