Love Triangles and Cat(Fish?) Fights

Stuck up, prissy, melodramatic, and self centered mermaids. Oh joy.

I was moving.

Something was pulling me along.

I blinked, blearily, only to have water attack my eyes. I shut them again quickly.

"Güp qûyø." I said, and even though I couldn't hear myself underwater, the spell for eye shield worked. Shivering slightly, I realized that I hadn't ever been taught the word for eye. I just.....knew it, somehow.

I opened my eyes again, this time with a tiny shield bubble keeping the water away from my pupils, and examined my surroundings.

My body was moving downwards, to a certain destination, and looking down, I realized that......creature was pulling me along by ankle. It obviously had no idea that I was conscious, and I decided that my best option to keep up that illusion. I kept my body limp and still, and only peeked down from time to time.

We travelled deeper and deeper into the watery depths of the pond (How deep is this thing?), until I was able to make out a solid wall of rock. The creature, who I decided to call Ms. Super-Freaky-Fish-Thing-That-Kidnapped-Me (Ms. Fish for short), was heading straight for it, at an alarming speed, until it suddenly changed direction, speedily moving downwards at a steep angle. Looking down, I could see the sandy bottom of the pond, and wondered what the purpose of this trip was.

Ms. Fish approached a spot where the wall met the floor, and placed her webbed hand on the rock.

To my surprise, a small part of the rock slid away, making a doorway into something, and Ms. Fish swam through the opening, dragging me behind her.

As we moved past the rock wall, a jolt ran through me, and I felt a little bit hazy, like a huge weight was pressing down on my head. With time, it subsided a bit, and I watched as the door behind us slid closed, dashing my hopes of escape.

I glanced upwards, and almost cheered out loud when I found that I could see light, filtering in through the water's surface. Ms. Fish swam upwards, until we both emerged. I heard chattering voices, all female, whose voice raised upon the arrival of Ms. Fish and I.

Finding that my gills made it impossible to breathe, I quickly murmured something, keeping my eyes closed.

"Üñkt." I barely moved my lips when speaking the ancient word for away, but I felt my gills vanish, and breathed in the fresh air.

"Mara!" a voice shrieked. "You got a girl human!" I guessed that Ms. Fish was actually Mara.

"Of course I did." Mara's voice was thick and gurgly. "Oh, hold on. Silly me. Forgot to morph." Her hand let go of my ankle, but the water kept me afloat. The water rippled slightly, until a pretty female voice spoke again.

"There. All better." it sang, vastly different from the other voice. "Coki, help me with my human." So it's still Mara, I thought. Her voice changed.

I heard a splash nearby, and something approached me. Two sets of hands pushed me in the water, until I could feel the ground beneath me, but I still remained limp and unresponsive. 

"Aw, Mara." a voice whined, awfully close, so I guessed that it was Coki. "Is it dead?"

"No." Mara scoffed. "Just pretending. I saw it move before."

Damn.

"Hey, get up." Coki prodded my stomach, but I kept my eyes closed a moment longer, deciding to make a run for it.

Three......

Two......

Something was clipped around my ankle.

Damn.

"Oh, I just knew I'd be able to find a use for these bracelet chains!" came a giggly and happy voice.

I opened my eyes, staring at my ankle in dismay, as it now had a metal shackle attached to it. I glanced up, only to let out an exclamation of surprise.

Instead of hideous fish creatures, there were two beautiful female faces staring at me. One had black hair, pale skin, and dark eyes, wearing a pink coral comb in her hair. The other had blue-green hair, the exact same shade as the hair of that fish creature who had kidnapped me. Her large blue eyes stared at me.

"You're not....ugly." I stammered, and her lips turned into a pout. I let out a squeak when I realized they had no legs.

Instead, they both had scales instead, starting at the waist and joining their legs together, creating a fish tail.

Mermaids.

"Wha-?" I choked, feeling light-headed. Their unbelievably good looks didn't help. "What happened to that thing that kidnapped me?"

"That was me." the mermaid with blue-green hair spoke. "I'm Mara."

"But....you look....different." I managed. She tossed her hair with a vain expression.

"Of course. That was my other form, the one we use to save treasures. But this is us in our real state." Mara adjusted her coral necklace, then looked at herself in a nearby mirror. I realized that there were dozens of mirrors, all around the room. There were also at least fifty mermaids, who examined their reflections every single time they passed a mirror.

The rock wall was within sight, and a series of pools dotted the room, branching off from the long, continuous body of river that went past all the smaller and shallower basins. I was sitting in one of the small lagoons, and decided that each separate pool belonged to a mermaid. In the basins, there were random assortments of junk; treasure chests, jewels, coins, mirrors, pretty seashells, jewelry, shoes, clothing, hairbrushes, combs, dolls, vases, and other items. Even Mara's shallow pool held an assortment of things, scattered around near me.

"Wait.....save treasures?" I asked, partly to stall as I scoped out possible escape options. I saw none so far.

"Yes. Whenever we see treasures in our water, we save it." 

"You mean....I'm a treasure?"

"Yes."

"And you.....saved me?" I squawked. She nodded. "What?! You did not save me! You kidnapped me!"

"Minor details." she waved her hand. "What matters now, is that you're mine, forever and ever."

"What?!"

"Anything we find, is ours." Mara said smugly. "You are mine, because I got to you first. We rarely get any humans. Even fewer make the swim here. Then again, none of them had those nifty gills I saw on your neck. Dead ones aren't as fun as alive ones, but we can still use them." To my horror, I spotted two or three human skeletons, sitting in a few of the pools.

"Ooh! We're going to have so much fun!" Coki squealed, clapping her hands. "Mara, can I dress her up?"

"No." Mara said irritably. "She's my human."

"I'm nobody's human!" I protested, but it fell on deaf ears.

"But....." Coki's lip quivered. "But Mara.....we're best friends!"

"But she's my human!" Mara repeated.

"I can't believe you could be so......mean!" Coki wailed.

"I could be mean? You wouldn't let me wear your seashell comb!"

"Because I was using it!"

"You still wouldn't let me!"

"Oh, yeah? Well, I think you're....selfish!"

"You're a pig!"

"You're ugly!"

"Rude!"

"Fat!"

"Scale butt!"

"Sardine breath!"

"FISH FACE!!!" Mara screeched angrily, and dead silence descended on the cave. Coki looked devastated, staring at the defiant Mara for a moment before bursting into tears.

I wondered if it was always like this.

"You're...so....mean!" Coki choked through her tears. "I never wanna.....see you....again!" Mara looked a little regretful, but kept her arms crossed angrily. Some other mermaids came over to pat Coki's back consolingly. One with purple hair, and another with pink.

"There, there, Coki..." the pink one murmured, and Coki fell into her embrace, sobbing. The pink one shot an evil glare over Coki's head.

"Coki!" Mara spluttered. "You're crying to Pim?!"

"I'm the better friend." Pim, the pink one, tossed her hair arrogantly.

"No, you're not!" Mara screamed. If mermaids could stomp their feet (fins?), she did so then.

"She is too!" the purple one sneered.

"Shut up, Uma!" Mara snapped. "Coki, do you know what Pim said yesterday? She said that Terr doesn't like you because he hates the color pink!"

"What?!" Coki pushed away from Pim, her face tearstained and red.

"That's right." Mara said smugly.

"I did no such thing!" Pim shouted.

"Yeah!" Uma stuck out her tongue. "Pim didn't say that! She said that Terr hates black, not pink!"

"Uma!" Pim rounded on her friend. "I can't believe you ratted me out like that!" Then she promptly burst into tears, and swam away rapidly, down the narrow channel. Uma swam after her, shouting apologies.

"Don't listen to her." Mara soothed a hiccuping Coki. "I know for sure that Terr loves black hair."

"Really?" Coki sniffled.

"Really." Mara nodded.

I looked around for something to bang my head on. I might be stuck here the rest of my life.....

Oh, gods.

I might be stuck here, listening to these guys for the REST OF MY LIFE.

Why does everything bad happen to me?

"Come on, let's go have some fun!" Mara giggled, and Coki squealed happily. The two of them halfway beached themselves onto the shallow water next to me.

Coki held up a brush.

Mara presented a mess of some pink fabric.

They grinned.

I groaned.

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Finneaus wrung his hands in dispair.

Everything was wrong.

His life was a mess.

"Why me?" Finneaus moaned. "Why, why, a thousand damned times why?!" he kicked at the dresser in anger.

Polaria.

Missing.

Pasquel.

Missing.

Ava.

Missing.

Dantaus.

Distraught and broken-hearted.

"Why can't just one person stay put?" he growled. And to top it off, Leopold had ordered Dantaus and Finneaus to leave tomorrow, claiming they had "forced his hospitality long enough," and that both of them were being unreasonable, as a queen, or any woman, is "expendable." Finneaus had to quickly drag a seething Dantaus out of the room, babbling words of thanks for Leopold.

Finneaus had to stay and find Pasquel and Polaria, but how?

There was a knock at the door.

"WHAT?!?!" Finneaus screamed, and flung open the door in a terrible rage. He immediately regretted it, when he saw a frightened looking servant, cowering in the doorway.

"Oh, gods! I am so sorry!" Finneaus bleated. "I wasn't mad at you! I was mad at......something else." An awkward silence followed. The servant cleared his throat timidly.

"You ain't gonna....hit me?" he asked tentatively.

"Oh, no! Oh, gods no!" Finneaus assured him. The servant relaxed somewhat, and slowly extended a hand, holding an envelope.

"All right. I'm Pakki, and I needs a letter to get to me family, in Islan. I know it ain't somethin' Your Lordship does often, but I can pay." he was already reaching into the pockets of his drab and dingy uniform.

"Oh, no, that's not necessary." Finneaus quickly stopped him, and took the envelope.

"Oh...." Pakki seemed unsure of how to respond. "Oh! Thank you kindly, yer Wonderfulness."

"No need. Now, where would I find your family?"

"Me wife, Vinnie, she lives in the poor part. Dunno where. I couldn't afford to go meself." he finished sadly. Finneaus looked at him intently for a moment, then smiled broadly. Clapping him on the back, he laughed.

"Well, Pakki, a letter is nice, but how would you like to join your family?"

Author's Note

Ms. Super-Freaky-Fish-Thing is a fan of the arts. More specifically, drama.