Enchantment
Wrongful Encounters
Keen had made his way back to Zuna and Karida with enough food for a few days’ time. They were still asleep so he figured he wouldn’t bother them by deciding to start breakfast and wake them from that way.
Instead he figured he might as well explore for a while, so that was how he had ended up on the surface of the water. There was something enchanting and mysterious about the world that lay beyond the seas, and Keen was quite interested in finding out what it was like to shed his blue tail and walk. He had heard of Mermaids doing it before – more commonly than Mermen since they were interested in finding love, possibly outside their borders – and he had always found it as an interesting adventure. Maybe it wouldn’t be so easy to have his land legs, but he would never know if he didn’t try – right?
He swam up to the surface and looked over the small beach. There was a sandy covering and it looked to be warm and soft. He almost wondered what it would be like to feel that thin ground on his skin.
He was more surprised that no one seemed to ask him what he could possibly be doing headed toward the land! It wasn’t exactly the type of thing that most Mer-folk did, so he was surely getting weird looks from those who were living their lives below him.
When he got to the coast there, he was fairly surprised to feel the sand against him then. It was a gritty feeling and he now knew why most Mer-folk preferred the water to the land any day – this stuff was uncomfortable! The little granules of sand seemed to be round, but there was a little sense of puncturing when it touched his skin.
As soon as his body was out of the water, though he had to squirm quite a distance since the water was continually flowing over the gritty sand – though he wasn’t sure how the water could like sliding over such a sticky surface – the scales of his tail retracted as if just becoming invisible. It felt weird because he was used to the fin, but now he had two…two – what were these called – legs?
He had to try to kick his legs a few times, trying in the same pattern that he used to swim, but it was mostly weird. It seemed as if these two legs were supposed to be used differently… It was slightly strange; he had never seen a human so he wasn’t really sure how his legs were supposed to function.
He tried standing, but it was awfully weird. He wasn’t sure how to just get up since he had never stood as a human. When he seemed to get over the commands of those legs, he made it atop his legs, but his body instantly started trembling and he felt himself fall forward – right onto his face… The sand below him caught his fall, but it didn’t help cushion him at all. Instead he felt himself make an “oof” sound as he fell and he was sure he had a cut on his cheek from the way the sand hit him. He was lucky no other Mortals or Mer-folk were there, because otherwise he would’ve felt like an idiot for failing so hard.
Instead he wanted to keep trying. As a child he had been taught that he had to keep going, and he wasn’t about to give up now. If only he had learned that he could, he would be walking around the humane villages that the Mortals had built up. Maybe he could learn some things that would him be a better Merman – in fact, he was really hoping that this experience would be the one that would disenchant him from the world outside of the water and he could shape up as a well-established Mer-folk.
He felt himself fall one…two…three…four more times. The sand was digging into his skin and he began to question why he had chosen to do this in the first place. And then he figured out how to take a step.
He became more confident in his body as his legs no longer trembled as much with every time that he stood up. He felt a little odd mechanically, but suddenly he started to lift his leg and placed it forward before shifting his weight and changing his feet to take another step.
Keen took a few successful steps forward and threw a fist in the air in a rejoicing way. Of course, he had no one to share this with – since he didn’t want to tell Karida for she would be scolding and disapproving of such things, and he didn’t want Zuna to try to tempt going to the Mortal Kingdom – and so he was happy to be in his solitude.
Then he got a little too cocky and he took a step too fast without mechanically going through all of the motions and the bottom part of his leg seemed twist in a wrong way. He didn’t know what it was from but he still screamed in the terror and pain when he writhed and fell onto the ground.
Keen tried to make it to the water again, but he moved too far away from the seawater and it was hard to crawl away when he had only one leg to support himself on; his other leg was in too much pain currently. That was when he saw the girl with the dark brown hair and he was taken aback for a moment by her beauty.
When he heard her ask if he was alright, he spoke with a nod of his head an “I’m hurt,” hin his native tongue – the language of the Mer-Folk. It was after seeing that discombobulated look of misunderstanding that he realized she didn’t understand their language. “I’m hurt,” he repeated in the language of the mortals that he had learned.
He was enchanted by the colorful tail that she seemed to be wearing and wondered how she could be walking with such. Keen thought it was beautiful and was enchanted by this girl who was supposed to be a mortal – but oh how the tail glittered and swayed on the ground!
Keen felt instant relief when she put a mix of seaweed on his ankle and found himself not so worried about it anymore except that he was intrigued by her tail again. He pinched at her lower half and poked it lightly – to no prevail because she didn’t seem to respond. The girl seemed just as intrigued with his motions as he was with her tail.
“How does that feel?” She asked him. “I can fetch a servant to bring you a change of clothing and a horse if you need it.” He heard her words, but they didn’t matter to him. Instead Keen was having mixed feelings from looking back at the water – his home – and at finding more about this girl with the tail.
“How can you do that?!” Keen asked the girl curiously, evading her previous question since he would need nothing of the type of servant that she could fetch for him. He wondered if he could walk with his tail still (it certainly would make things easier for him) and he curiously thought how she barely seemed to notice his touching it – while most Mermaids only let their lovers touch their tail.
“What is with my gown?” The girl asked him in a mean way and he frowned even more.
“Gown?!” Keen asked her. He wasn’t sure what a “gown” was… Maybe that was the word that they used for tail here? Though he wasn’t quite so sure now…
He started to question who this girl was now when she said she would call her guard to get help and he squirmed away. Maybe she wasn’t too be trusted as he thought…
He ducked just into the water and his tail was restored as she turned back to face him and was satisfied that he had gotten away without being caught as a human. Keen wasn’t so sure how healthy it was for him to be a human for too long and he was glad to be under the thick blanket of the water again.
“Where have you been?!” Karida scolded, already having started the breakfast while Zuna was swimming around happily. He knew she was probably mad since she didn’t like to be left out of things, but it was probably better that he didn’t tell her where he had gone.
Still, he felt like he better drop a hint or two… “Oh, I just went for a little walk…” Keen told her with his lips curving up into the start of a smirk.
If she realized what he meant by such, she didn’t say anything – though her face did turn to one of disapproval and annoyance. She just turned back to the food let him be as he turned to pick up his little sister and swim around with her.
In the back of his mind still were the devilish thoughts of the land above… More than that, he was thinking about the girl with long dark hair and the colorful “gown” that she had been wearing. He didn’t know why, but he couldn’t seem to get her off of his mind and he was sure he would have been enjoying her company… Maybe he would just have to take another walk sometime…
Instead he figured he might as well explore for a while, so that was how he had ended up on the surface of the water. There was something enchanting and mysterious about the world that lay beyond the seas, and Keen was quite interested in finding out what it was like to shed his blue tail and walk. He had heard of Mermaids doing it before – more commonly than Mermen since they were interested in finding love, possibly outside their borders – and he had always found it as an interesting adventure. Maybe it wouldn’t be so easy to have his land legs, but he would never know if he didn’t try – right?
He swam up to the surface and looked over the small beach. There was a sandy covering and it looked to be warm and soft. He almost wondered what it would be like to feel that thin ground on his skin.
He was more surprised that no one seemed to ask him what he could possibly be doing headed toward the land! It wasn’t exactly the type of thing that most Mer-folk did, so he was surely getting weird looks from those who were living their lives below him.
When he got to the coast there, he was fairly surprised to feel the sand against him then. It was a gritty feeling and he now knew why most Mer-folk preferred the water to the land any day – this stuff was uncomfortable! The little granules of sand seemed to be round, but there was a little sense of puncturing when it touched his skin.
As soon as his body was out of the water, though he had to squirm quite a distance since the water was continually flowing over the gritty sand – though he wasn’t sure how the water could like sliding over such a sticky surface – the scales of his tail retracted as if just becoming invisible. It felt weird because he was used to the fin, but now he had two…two – what were these called – legs?
He had to try to kick his legs a few times, trying in the same pattern that he used to swim, but it was mostly weird. It seemed as if these two legs were supposed to be used differently… It was slightly strange; he had never seen a human so he wasn’t really sure how his legs were supposed to function.
He tried standing, but it was awfully weird. He wasn’t sure how to just get up since he had never stood as a human. When he seemed to get over the commands of those legs, he made it atop his legs, but his body instantly started trembling and he felt himself fall forward – right onto his face… The sand below him caught his fall, but it didn’t help cushion him at all. Instead he felt himself make an “oof” sound as he fell and he was sure he had a cut on his cheek from the way the sand hit him. He was lucky no other Mortals or Mer-folk were there, because otherwise he would’ve felt like an idiot for failing so hard.
Instead he wanted to keep trying. As a child he had been taught that he had to keep going, and he wasn’t about to give up now. If only he had learned that he could, he would be walking around the humane villages that the Mortals had built up. Maybe he could learn some things that would him be a better Merman – in fact, he was really hoping that this experience would be the one that would disenchant him from the world outside of the water and he could shape up as a well-established Mer-folk.
He felt himself fall one…two…three…four more times. The sand was digging into his skin and he began to question why he had chosen to do this in the first place. And then he figured out how to take a step.
He became more confident in his body as his legs no longer trembled as much with every time that he stood up. He felt a little odd mechanically, but suddenly he started to lift his leg and placed it forward before shifting his weight and changing his feet to take another step.
Keen took a few successful steps forward and threw a fist in the air in a rejoicing way. Of course, he had no one to share this with – since he didn’t want to tell Karida for she would be scolding and disapproving of such things, and he didn’t want Zuna to try to tempt going to the Mortal Kingdom – and so he was happy to be in his solitude.
Then he got a little too cocky and he took a step too fast without mechanically going through all of the motions and the bottom part of his leg seemed twist in a wrong way. He didn’t know what it was from but he still screamed in the terror and pain when he writhed and fell onto the ground.
Keen tried to make it to the water again, but he moved too far away from the seawater and it was hard to crawl away when he had only one leg to support himself on; his other leg was in too much pain currently. That was when he saw the girl with the dark brown hair and he was taken aback for a moment by her beauty.
When he heard her ask if he was alright, he spoke with a nod of his head an “I’m hurt,” hin his native tongue – the language of the Mer-Folk. It was after seeing that discombobulated look of misunderstanding that he realized she didn’t understand their language. “I’m hurt,” he repeated in the language of the mortals that he had learned.
He was enchanted by the colorful tail that she seemed to be wearing and wondered how she could be walking with such. Keen thought it was beautiful and was enchanted by this girl who was supposed to be a mortal – but oh how the tail glittered and swayed on the ground!
Keen felt instant relief when she put a mix of seaweed on his ankle and found himself not so worried about it anymore except that he was intrigued by her tail again. He pinched at her lower half and poked it lightly – to no prevail because she didn’t seem to respond. The girl seemed just as intrigued with his motions as he was with her tail.
“How does that feel?” She asked him. “I can fetch a servant to bring you a change of clothing and a horse if you need it.” He heard her words, but they didn’t matter to him. Instead Keen was having mixed feelings from looking back at the water – his home – and at finding more about this girl with the tail.
“How can you do that?!” Keen asked the girl curiously, evading her previous question since he would need nothing of the type of servant that she could fetch for him. He wondered if he could walk with his tail still (it certainly would make things easier for him) and he curiously thought how she barely seemed to notice his touching it – while most Mermaids only let their lovers touch their tail.
“What is with my gown?” The girl asked him in a mean way and he frowned even more.
“Gown?!” Keen asked her. He wasn’t sure what a “gown” was… Maybe that was the word that they used for tail here? Though he wasn’t quite so sure now…
He started to question who this girl was now when she said she would call her guard to get help and he squirmed away. Maybe she wasn’t too be trusted as he thought…
He ducked just into the water and his tail was restored as she turned back to face him and was satisfied that he had gotten away without being caught as a human. Keen wasn’t so sure how healthy it was for him to be a human for too long and he was glad to be under the thick blanket of the water again.
“Where have you been?!” Karida scolded, already having started the breakfast while Zuna was swimming around happily. He knew she was probably mad since she didn’t like to be left out of things, but it was probably better that he didn’t tell her where he had gone.
Still, he felt like he better drop a hint or two… “Oh, I just went for a little walk…” Keen told her with his lips curving up into the start of a smirk.
If she realized what he meant by such, she didn’t say anything – though her face did turn to one of disapproval and annoyance. She just turned back to the food let him be as he turned to pick up his little sister and swim around with her.
In the back of his mind still were the devilish thoughts of the land above… More than that, he was thinking about the girl with long dark hair and the colorful “gown” that she had been wearing. He didn’t know why, but he couldn’t seem to get her off of his mind and he was sure he would have been enjoying her company… Maybe he would just have to take another walk sometime…