Author's Note: I've only recently (as in, this last week) gotten into Mako Mermaids and mermaidia in general, although I did previously nurture a mild but short-lived obsession with H2O when it was on TV. It's a bit of a relief, being able to write for an Australian TV show, because being Australian makes it easier to write about things that are commonplace here and not so much in other countries where fans live. It also makes it easier to write slang into the dialogue.

I haven't been writing for a while so bear with me as I get back into the swing of it. This was an idea I had for H2O but after a bit of manipulation, I can twist it to fit into the (in my opinion, much more palatable) Mako universe. If you visit the H2O wikia, you'll see some spoilers on season 2 of Mako - I'm setting this to happen in place of S2 Mako... So no, Ondina and Erik won't be making an appearance.

Hope you enjoy reading, let me know what you think :)

-Bullets


Hatchling day.

Sirena used to love her hatchling day when she lived with the pod. Everyone would give her small gifts and trinkets, and they would have a feast under the sunset, as the water was made to look like greenish molten gold. Then, they would swim to the Moon Pool - her older sister Aquata and pod leader Marina escorting her, and there they would stay for the night.

Now, on land with her legs, she was nervous. Rita had already explained that the land people called it a "birthday", and that while it did include gifts and a feast, she would probably be expected to host a party.

Nixie had already taken over full control of the party preparations, but since Rita had integrated them into her school, Nixie had made many friends that Sirena barely knew - what she did know, however, was that all of them were invited to the party.

'Still gloomy?' Lyla asked as she joined Sirena on the couch. Sirena glanced up at her - Lyla had disappeared on her own hatchling day - birthday, Sirena corrected herself - so that she could be alone. Lyla smiled at Sirena gently - this would be her first ha-birthday, away from the pod.

'It's not so bad,' she offered, 'And I told Nixie not to invite anyone from school. It'll be us, Evie, Zac, David, and Rita. Something small, for your first land birthday,'

'I wish Aquata was here, at least,' Sirena admitted, 'Swimming out to the Moon Pool was always our favourite part of hatchling day. We would sing with Marina through the night, and sit on the rock edge with our tails in the water and look up at the moon as it shone down on us - I can't do that this time,'

'You can sing with me and Nixie,' Lyla offered, 'And we'll sit on the rock edge and bathe in the moonlight.'

'Zac might follow us,'

'I'll tell Zac to keep away,' Lyla offered. Sirena nodded, and Lyla sighed, trying to think of a way to cheer up the younger mermaid. 'I got you the best gift,' she offered, 'You're going to love it,'

*~X~*

The water surrounding Zac felt tranquil. Lyla had advised him at the last minute on the sort of things mermaids received as gifts on their birthdays, so he had decided to go diving in the reef around Mako Island, in search of a piece of coral he could turn into a necklace. Everyone knew Sirena was nervous about her upcoming birthday, mainly because it would be her first on land, away from her pod. He had never had a birthday away from his own family and friends, and couldn't imagine how hard it must be for Sirena.

Brushing aside a strange collection of dark and light blue weeds, Zac froze, staring at the thing they'd been hiding. He brushed aside more of the weeds, staring at the shape before stopping again. He could recognise a tail when he saw one, even one with a fluke as oddly-shaped as this one had, but he had never seen one like this.

Two hands appeared from nowhere, shoving Zac backwards through the water without even touching him, and the mermaid flew up from the rockbed she'd been laying on. As she move, Zac realised the coloured weeds that had hidden the tail were part of it. Bright red hair, the exact same colour as her flukes, flared out around her head, as she shoved him again, looking fierce. Zac raised both hands to signal that he meant no harm, but her attention was pulled away, spotting something behind him. She turned and fled in the style of a natural-born mermaid, a trail of bubbles left in her wake. Zac spun around in time to see a second figure, this one with a light blue tail matching his own, take off after the mermaid.

Zac didn't want to wait around to see if either would return. He turned back toward the mainland and sped away, all thoughts of Sirena's birthday present forgotten.

*~X~*

'I'm glad you came straight to me with this, Zac,' Rita said slowly, looking at the floor of her grotto. Sirena, Nixie and Lyla were sitting on the couch, Zac seated on one of the steps. Rita turned back to him, 'What did the mermaid's tail look like? Can you remember?'

Zac stared at the ground, recalling the mental image. 'It had some sort of weed-like things growing out of it, mostly dark and light blue, and the tail itself was a bright purple - but the flukes... the flukes were red, and looked like two dolphin dorsal fins put together and stretched out. And then just below the waist, there were these two fins,' he gestured, 'I could try and draw it for you,'

'Did you see the back of the tail?' Rita asked, but Zac shook his head.

'She only turned around once, when she left. It looked like she had two dorsal fins, though,' he looked at the three girls, then back at Rita, 'It was definitely a girl, but every mermaid I know has a green tail,'

'Just like there are different races of humans, there are different races of mermaids,' Rita explained, 'The one you met was probably born or transformed in a coral reef pool, although what she would be doing here, I don't know. Reef-born mermaids prefer tropical waters and coral reefs - places like the Great Barrier Reef. That's why their tails are so different - it provides camouflage in the event that they encounter divers unexpectedly.'

'They lay flat on the ground and let the tail do all the work,' Lyla added, 'Fish avoid the "weeds", and people are told they are poisonous, so they will also avoid it.'

'What about the other... merperson?' Nixie asked, 'Like Zac said, mermaids usually have green tails,'

'Remember when Cam was a merman, though?' Zac pointed out, 'He also had a light blue tail,'

'Zac's right, only mermen have blue tails,' Rita told them, 'We know that Cam is no longer a merman, and it couldn't have been Zac that chased after the reef mermaid,'

'Which means there's another merman in the area,' Lyla finished for her. The group looked from one to another as they realised what this meant.

One merman would probably mean more were on their way. And they more than likely weren't as friendly to mermaids as Zac.