A Friend from the Deep

For a class about magic, Roxanna never imagined something like it could get so boring. She put an elbow on the table, leaning a hand against her cheek. Who knew that she would have to get a music lecture first before trying out the good stuff?

“And that is why you must be able to tell the difference between the treble and clef scale, otherwise your spells could end up completely different than what you intended,” Mordecai explained, tapping his chalk on a piece of flat stone. Roxanna lazily nodded, although she wasn’t paying much attention to what was being said. Mordecai glided over to his bookshelf, scanning through various books until he found the one he was looking for. He gently placed a bulky, dilapidated tome in front of the mermaid. It was written in some sort of language Roxanna could not understand.

“Be careful with this book, dear,” Mordecai gingerly pried the book open, using the gentlest of ease to flip through the pages. “This is a relic to us. Our ancestors have written down many of their greatest spells in this book. I’m very fortunate to even have this is my possession. Perhaps Poseidon has destined this very moment for you.”

“Our ancestors..? But Mordecai-!”

“I know, I know. Yes, this book was written by sirens, and it does contain a few dark spells conjured by them, but most of the spells in this book are more beneficial than they are evil, and they don’t use any dark magic at all! For instance, this is a basic healing spell usually taught to children about your age.” He flips to the simple sheet of music with a very basic arrangement of notes Roxanna could easily recognize thanks to her previous music lessons back in Aquatania. “This should be a good starter spell for you to try. How about you study this for the night, and you can try it out the first chance you get, alright?”

Roxanna nodded, carefully sliding the slightly hefty songbook into her arms. She noticed seaweed bookmarks towards the back of the book. She began to flip towards the bookmarked pages until Mordecai quickly placed his wrinkled hand on hers. “Those pages are the spells with dark magic. We’ll let those be for now. Just study the unmarked ones. Those are safe for you.” Mordecai pats her head, swimming towards his study.

Roxanna flipped her tail and glided to her room, setting the book on her bed and watching it sink a bit into the sponge. She examined the music, humming a couple of notes as she read before looking out the huge window next to her bed. She swam up to it, popping her head out of the hole in the wall. She watched a snail slowly inch by, a little turtle catching up to it. Roxanna giggled as a school of guppies flew through her hair, the tiny fish investigating this new creature they have discovered.

“Hi! I’m Roxanna!” She chortled as the little fish gave her tiny kisses on her cheeks in return. As fast as they came in, however, they left through the window, leaving Roxanna alone once again. She let out a little sigh, gazing out into the open waters. She noticed how extremely different the bottom of the lake was than her original home in the open sea. There was not a single piece of coral to be seen, and the colorful tropical fish she saw everyday were nowhere to be found. These fish were replaced with odd-looking ones that were not as pleasant to look at; they sported browns, greens, and greys rather than blues, yellows, and oranges. The water in the distance had a greenish haze to it, an algae-covered log buried in the stone-covered sand. The freshwater felt bizarre as it passed through her gills in her hips and neck, not at all like the salty sea water she was born into. Roxanna sighed once more. This would take a lot of getting used to.

“Mordecai?” She swam out into his study, careful not to knock over the strange-looking bottles his kept on his shelves. “Mordecai, are you here?”

“Hmm?” The elder looked up from his work on his desk, turning his attention to the child. “Ah, yes, dear?”

“Can I go for swim and look around? I won’t go too far, I promise!” Roxanna gave a small smile, giving her fins a little swish.

Mordecai hummed in thought. “Oh… alright, but like you said, not too far out into the lake! Be back before dark, and stay away from the surface. That’s all I ask.”

“Thanks, Mordecai!” Roxanna quickly made a turn to head out.

“Oh, and one more thing, Roxanna!”

Roxanna rolled her eyes, slowly turning to face her guardian with an irritated look. “Yes, Mordecai?”

He gave a little smirk, a small glimmer in his eyes. “It’s ‘may I go for a swim’.”

Roxanna rolled her eyes again but in a more playful manner this time. “Okay. I’ll see you later.” With a flip of her fins, she took off, a small trail of bubbles following behind her from her sudden leave.

As soon as she left Mordecai’s cavern, Roxanna got a closer look at her surroundings. She ran her hand through the coarse sand, hoping to find some beautiful seashells. However, all she found were the tiniest shells and little pebbles. Dirt puffed out in a cloud, forcing Roxanna to wave her webbed hand through the dirt to clear her vision. The sun’s rays permeated through the lake’s depths, allowing Roxanna to relish in a warmth not familiar to her. She sat herself down on the sunken log, gazing up toward the surface, the temptation of swimming up to take a peek at the “up world” looming over her mind and heart. The surface of the lake was the barrier between her world and another world filled with excitement and mystery.

The creatures on land can’t be as bad as they sound, can they? Roxanna thought to herself as she got up from her log, gliding back towards the cavern. But what if they are…

Visions of teeth as sharp as knives and glowing, blood-red eyes filled her mind. She remembered the lectures her father and mother would give her time and time again: humans are evil. Anything from the surface was evil. Her friends back at home would always tell stories of merpeople who were captured by humans to have their tails chopped off and eaten. The market would always chatter excitedly about any shipwreck that happened just recently, everyone feeling it was Poseidon’s blessing that more humans had perished because of his mighty sea. However, no matter how many merpeople or sea creatures she asked, none of them admitted to have actually seen a human for themselves.

Roxanna drifted back into her room, glancing over at the spellbook on her bed. She flipped through the pages, browsing titles of various spells. That one healing spell, a couple of self-defense techniques… and there lay one of the forbidden spell’s bookmarks.

Maybe… just a peek… She thought to herself as she slowly lifted the pages.

“Roxanna!”

The mermaid jumped as she was startled by the sudden voice. She turned around to meet the disapproving face of her new guardian before her. He picked up the tome from her bed. “I was coming in to tell you it was time for bed. You know you are not allowed to view the siren spells.”

“I just wanted a peek, I wasn’t going to try it, honest!” Roxanna rambled.

“That’s enough spells for tonight. I’ll be taking this until morning. Sleep well, Roxanna.” With that, he swam out of her room with the spellbook in tow. Roxanna pouted as she hid herself under the covers. That’s not how her mother and father said goodnight to her.

This isn’t fair. This isn’t my home, and there’s no way I’m staying with that old guy. Roxanna gazed out her window, the upper waters gaining an orange hue. From what Roxanna was told, the sun was setting. What was a sun anyway? She didn’t have the slightest idea. She didn’t feel the slightest bit tired either.

Suddenly, an idea popped into her head. Roxanna smirked as she draped her blanket over her pillow. She swam as quietly as she could to find Mordecai, spotting him asleep on his bed.

Yes!

As stealthily as she could, Roxanna swam out of the cave. She grinned as she spun through the water, although it didn’t feel nearly as good as darting through the ocean’s waters. Moonbeams glistened in her eyes, causing her to look up toward the night sky hidden by the rippling surface of the lake. This forbidden world brought excitement and fear to Roxanna’s heart every time she considered breaching through the waters into the fathomless air she was told existed there, as well as gruesome monsters thirsty for her blood.

But this is a new world…

Was there a difference? Mordecai said the creatures here were different. Maybe they acted different as well? Roxanna looked back at the cave. The area around it was green with algae, bits of plants drifting around aimlessly only to be thrown about by a fish tail or eaten. A dull world. That’s what it was. Yet there was that majestic ray of light from above, a signal of hope that practically called her to swim up to it, an invitation that would be foolish to ignore. With her heart pounding, Roxanna gave a flick of her tail to begin to her first adventure to the surface world.

Roxanna’s braided hair suddenly bounced up as she came to a sudden stop. Just inches above her was the separation of her waters and the mysterious world above. Water pumped through her gills as she contemplated her decision. Just a peek. Just a quick peek was all she needed before she could swim back down and go to bed for the night. With this plan set in her mind, she slowly began to rise.

A sudden sensation of nothingness surrounded Roxanna’s head, causing her to dart back into the water in fright.

Did that hurt? ...No, I don’t think it did… did it?

Roxanna gingerly reached her fingers above the water. That strange, cooling feeling of air returned. Seeing how the air caused her no pain, Roxanna cautiously broke through the water again, swimming as slow as she could. Her bangs now drooping in front of her eyes, she tucked her dripping hair behind her ear. As soon as her vision adjusted, she was left bewildered.

The moon; a giant, radiant pearl in the sky beamed down on the glistening lake. Millions of stars twinkled around it, hanging in a glorious indigo sky. Roxanna spotted a grassy beach out of the corner of her eye. She glanced over the small, rolling hills that revealed a little village in the far distance. Seeing no threats in sight, Roxanna cautiously made her way towards the shore, perching herself on a large boulder near the rocky shore. A gentle wind danced through her fins, flapping them gently like a flag.

Roxanna ran her hand through the coarse sand, curiously watching how perfectly it poured from her palm back onto the beach without dispersing into a dusty cloud like it normally would underwater. Gravity was strange on land. How did creatures move around if they couldn’t glide through water? Everything was just stuck to the ground.

*chirp chirp*

Roxanna leaped back into the lake as quick as she could. What was that noise? Could it be a land creature? She slowly peeked her eyes out of the water. On the beach, a small, green insect was hopping around, chirping its little song. Roxanna swam back to the shore, examining this new sight. However, her approach caused the bug to hop back into the tall grasses. The mermaid waded in place as she watched the thing runaway from her. Perhaps it was more scared of her than she was of it. Once again, Roxanna rested on top of the rock near the beach, deciding to get one last view of this world above the water.

The grasses in the distance rustled.

Roxanna’s attention turned to the moving grass. It was extremely tall, at least up to her hip. There was a figure working its way through the untamed grass, growing closer to the beach below. Her heart racing, Roxanna ducked behind her rock, eyes just high enough to peek over and watch what would happen. As the creature approached the shore, the moonlight hit them just right to make out details. A lanky figure about her size stepped onto the beach, something bulky hanging from its neck. They stood on four long appendages, hair dangling from both on top and behind them. In fact, their whole body seemed to be covered in a coat of fine hair.

With a little flip of her fin, Roxanna scooted just a little further up the rock, wanting to get a better view of this mysterious being. A smaller rock was jostled from its place beside the boulder, splashing into the water and halting on her fin which was floating on the tide. Roxanna gave a small yelp as the sharp tug on her tail caused her to slip back towards the water. She glanced at the hefty boulder crushing her thin pink fin. Struggling grunts escaped her throat as she tried to push it off her tail. It refused to budge. Roxanna looked behind her seeing the creature starting to move. It looked like it was getting closer to her!

Panic rushing through her body, she tried to pull her fin free from the heavy trap. Her life on the line, she shut her eyes and curled up into a protective ball. She heard sand crunching as her doom loomed over her body, their next prey. Silence followed. After nearly a minute of quiet, she slowly squinted her eyes open. A couple feet away, the land creature stood motionless. Was it preparing to pounce? Was it giving her just a couple more moments to live before she would become their next meal?

The two of them only stared at each other, examining the other in anxious interest. The wind whistled quietly. The being before her inched towards her, Roxanna trying to back away. She shook before him, clenching her eyes as they watered up as she awaited her end. However, she felt a pressure being relieved from her tail. She glanced down at her tail and watched as her supposed attacker grunted as they pushed it away. The rock rolled into the lake, freeing Roxanna from her trap. She looked in awe at her rescuer, one who she was sure would end her life. Their green eyes twinkled in the moonlight as they stared back at her in fascination.

“Are… you okay?”

Roxanna’s eyes widen as she heard them talk. Giving her head a tiny nod, she replied, “Y-Yeah… I’m fine.”

The two continued to glance at each other, unsure of what to say until… “Thank you… for helping me. Um… my name is Roxanna. ...What’s your name?”

The creature, which Roxanna assumed was a “he,” awkwardly traced the end of his leg into the sand, apparently just as unsure of her as Roxanna was of him.

“...The name’s Macintosh.”