Lily waited anxiously outside Nikos' hut while the waves splashed over her. The sun was beating hard on her and yet she persisted. Two people in there are not even aware that she is so close. The storm from a few hours back had just disappeared from the sky, but it still left wild winds and dangerous waves in its wake. The mermaid did not know how long she could wait there, but she kept on remembering that she told Nikos she would. Nikos had wandered off again, probably bored. The least he could have done was keep her company, but it was too dangerous right now.
Of all the humans she encountered, Nikos was the only one who did not bother her when she was around. He was even pleasant to talk to despite a few times when he was just irritating. He sure surpassed the other humans in how intelligent she found him. A good number of men (and a handful of women) had sought her with lust in their almost disbelieving eyes. A decent number of women looked at her with nothing but jealousy, but merely dismissed her inhuman beauty as a mirage, the hot sun playing tricks on their minds.
Skin and scale created a barrier between her and the human race. To some she was a demonic embodiment of lust, sent by the devil to tempt the people. To the rest, she was just a freak of nature. Mermaids and mermen made sure to be extra careful when humans could see them. Discovery at least once in your life was unavoidable, but if it happened too many times, the humans would start to believe that the stories of old were true. That's probably how Jesse became a mermaid herself, she believed hard enough and she received her wish.
Lily hears a noise in the distance that wakes her up out of her daydream. She turns left and right searching for anything dangerous. No unfamiliar humans, but Jesse has just left Nikos' hut in the arms of her cousin, Damien. Lily submerges herself and swims behind a rock to peer around.
Damien has his cousin cradled in his arms as he walks into the surf. Jesse is looking back at him with a tired look on her face. He smiles back at her. In the uncounted minutes they spent talking and reminiscing in that hut, he barely recalls that Jesse is now a mermaid. That hardly matters to him anymore. She is still the same person he loved growing up.
He kneels down and sets her gently in the water. Jesse does not move from that spot, and she does not say a word. The mermaid just stares back at her human cousin. They can see the confusing mix of happy and sad in each other's eyes.
"Can I see you tomorrow? Here at this spot, at this time?" asks Damien.
"Of course... I'll be here... But what will you tell my mom and dad?" replies Jesse.
"I don't know yet. They won't believe what happened to you... I don't know how they'll take it... Still, I'm sure they would be happy to know you're still alive," says Damien.
Slowly and steadily, Jesse and Damien turn around to go back to their worlds. Damien walks back towards the hut. He remembers that the first thing he was supposed to do today was to get more information from that Nikos character. It had only been two hours since he got here so Damien decides to stick around for a bit. In the meantime, Jesse dives into the water and swims back towards Okeanos. Only a second passes before someone blocks her way.
"Nikos disappeared somewhere a while ago, Victoria...," she says.
"I'm not Victoria, Jesse," says the mermaid.
Jesse looks up at the mermaid's face and gasps at the sight of Lily.
"I- You- Were you following me?" asks Jesse.
"I couldn't help it. I was a bit curious about where you were going so early in the morning. So I followed you all the way here and waited outside. Nikos told me what was going on while you were in there."
"Nikos told you? You know him?"
"Of course I do. He isn't exactly human for a six thousand-something year old. Plus, the idiot has had that same hut on that beach for at least a couple thousand years now. Anyway, I was wondering what your cousin thought about that," says Lily, pointing at Jesse's tail.
"We didn't really end up talking much about me. It was all about how we missed each other."
"You broke his heart, you know," says Lily suddenly, "Even from here in the water, I could feel the pain."
"I know. I felt it too. Two years of pain is a lot to wash away..."
Damien walks back up to the door of Nikos' hut. It is closed shut. He didn't recall ever closing it because he had no free hands while carrying Jesse into the water. Just to humor himself, he knocks on the door.
"Just a second!" says a voice inside the hut.
Damien nearly falls over in surprise. The voice clearly is that of Nikos. He remembers it perfectly from yesterday. Damien gathers his strength and pushes the door wide open to find Nikos, as he was just about to slip some shorts on.
"Ah! Sorry! I didn't mean to...," says Damien averting his eyes.
Nikos laughs as he finishes putting on his shorts.
"I'm decent now," he says, "Though it seems odd that you'd act like that after spending a couple hours with a gorgeous mermaid in your arms."
"You're a guy! A man! I like women!"
"Yet, that mermaid is your cousin... You probably shouldn't be looking at her either... At least not in that way..."
"You knew? You knew that was Jesse? And I wasn't looking at her like that!"
"Yeah, I did. Don't you remember what I said?"
Damien thinks back to yesterday. After the time he spent talking to Jesse, it seems so far away. It's as if the two years they spent without one another returned to his life. The conversation he had with Nikos replays in his head. It then becomes clear to him.
"Nikos... you said she disappeared right before your eyes. You were looking at her and the 'woman' was gone. You meant she was transformed into a mermaid?"
"That's right."
"If you knew, why didn't you tell me right away?"
"Well, would you have believed me? Anyway, you did want to ask me questions about Jesse, right? Let's head into town. We can discuss it over lunch and a few drinks if you like."
Damien sighs and looks out over the water.
"Sure. Let's go right now."
Lily and Jesse are swimming back towards the underwater village of Okeanos. The two of them haven't said a word since leaving the beach. Jesse wants to say something but she feels herself holding back on letting everything out. Lily just smiles at her every time their eyes meet. Jesse didn't expect anyone to find out where she was or whom she was with so quickly. Lily's sharpness did impress her, but she knew it could swing in either a good or a bad direction in the end.
When the two of them get into the village, they see Miek and Brynn together. Lily motions to Jesse to swim in their direction. Up close, it appears they are just lazing around watching the other merpeople go about their day. The two of them look so happy and comfortable together. The two of them are sitting on a wall with Brynn on what would be Miek's lap. His arms wrap around her stomach while his chin rests on her shoulder. Their tails take turns twisting around each other. Lily slowly swims up behind them.
"Hey!" she yells.
Both Miek and Brynn yelp and turn around startled by Lily's loud voice, which continues to ring in their ears.
"What?" asks Miek.
"We're going up to the surface when the sun is at its highest. Can the two of you go get Varon and Riley? Tell them to meet with the rest of us just outside the village gate."
"Oh. Sure," says Brynn, clearly disappointed," Let's go."
Lily and Jesse watch the two lovers swim off to Varon's place.
"Jesse, let's sit here for now," says Lily.
"You sent them off so we could talk?"
"Sure, not many people pass through this part of town so I doubt there are merpeople eavesdropping."
"Thanks, Lily," says Jesse, smiling," I guess you really are becoming a great friend."
"You're welcome... So I suppose there are people on land looking for you. You don't really look like the women around here now that I think about it. I guess a good guess would be that you're from a place very far from here, right?"
"That's right."
"Well, if they came all this way just for you, doesn't it mean that you still have a purpose up there?"
"But I can't return to a human life... Nikos said that this spell was permanent. I never thought twice about something like this. I left my cousin and my parents a long time ago without even bothering to make contact. I always thought in my head that they let me go because I was old enough to make decisions for myself. Now I'm starting to wonder if becoming a mermaid in the first place was a good idea at all."
"That's wrong...," replies Lily.
"What do you mean?"
"Choosing to become a mermaid or choosing to stay as a human are neither good ideas nor bad ideas. You have to realize that everything you think and do will have positive and negative effects. By becoming a mermaid, you cut yourself off from your family on land. However, there is a bright side right? You met me, Brynn, Miek, Varon, and Riley."
"I guess you're right, but what do I do? I can't let my parents think I'm gone forever! I'm right here! Damien won't want to lie about me either to them! I want them to know I'm alive!"
"I understand, but it will be hard for your parents to see what I see. I think even Damien still carries some doubts about you."
"I know. He didn't look too convinced of what he saw when he set me down in the water..."
The two mermaids sit quietly while a few fish idly pass by.
"Hey, Lily?" asks Jesse," Would you mind meeting my cousin, Damien, in person? I just want him to know I have friends here who support me."
"Of course. I'd love to meet him. Besides even from where I was watching, I could tell that good looks run in your family," says Lily with a twinkle in her eye.
"No, please... not him, Lily...," pleads Jesse.
"Why not? You get to share a hammock with my brother every night. Why can't I just get to at least tease your cousin?"
"I don't want him to get the wrong idea. He came all the way here to find me. I'm not going to hide from him anymore."
"Good answer," replies Lily.
Back up on the island, Nikos and Damien are sitting down to lunch in town. The two of them hardly said a word on the way in. Damien has so many things that he wants to just blurt out, but the strange smile on Nikos' face makes him realize that he has to be careful with the words he has to choose. In Damien's eyes, Nikos looks rather comfortable for a man about to face interrogation. That confidence is unnerving. He clears his throat, but Nikos quickly interjects.
"So... What questions have you prepared for me then?" asks Nikos," I hope you haven't forgotten them already."
Damien looks back at Nikos' face; his expression has completely changed. The man before him seems more serious and professional than he would have ever thought possible.
