Disclaimer: Harvest Moon is sadly not mine. Well. Sadly for me... not for anyone else.

Author's note: Okay. New long-fic. Tales of Traveller isn't yet finished, I know, but I'm still working on it and I'm getting there. It was just that I really felt like I had to write up this idea when it came to me. Unlike most of the other things I've written, this isn't romance driven, and if I could pick another genre it'd probably be Family. So... enjoy and review!

Chapter 1 - Playing Strawberry

Five years is an extremely long time. You might be thinking that that's a tiny bit of an exaggeration there. You might be right. I suppose if you were to spend five years mixing dangerous chemicals or conducting scientific experiments - or whatever it is I've been informed humans do for fun - then it wouldn't seem that long at all.

The last five years of my live have been spent in steel tank, with only four grey walls and a dingy ceiling to stare at. I guess when you hear that, my previous statement makes a lot more sense, huh?

But I guess it could be worse. I could be dead. I could have been killed quite easily in the very storm that brought me to Forget-Me-Not Valley. It just so happens that I was found - miraculously alive - by possibly the one person who wouldn't flip out completely at finding a real mermaid. Hmm. All sounds rather convinient put like that, doesn't it?

Oh well. No sense in complaining, really. I survived unscathed and for that I'm very grateful. Only it's been five years now. The time for gratitude's passed and I may be alive, but I'm bored beyond belief at the same time.

I crave change.

I propelled myself through the cool water and to the other side of the tank, emerging with my jade green hair plastered around my face. My fingers - the nails painted a dazzingly emerald to match - curled around the tank wall, allowing me to peer into the dimly lit basement. There was once a kitchen down here, I remembered nostagically. That was before it got shifted upstairs, along with plenty of other things that were needed up there. Now, I was surrounded by the crazy, sometimes unfinished and always baffling science experiments that used to be dotted all around the house.

Just in front of me a strange, neon green liquid in a large flask was bubbling merrily away. Books were strewn all over the place as the one solitary bookshelf was over-flowing and a blank chalk board hung on the wall opposite. It hadn't been written on for entire seasons.

Footsteps echoed along the stairs to the basement, getting steadily closer and closer. Light footsteps. Very light. Smiling to myself, I sunk beneath the water's surface until my head was submerged and I was out of sight.

This should be fun...

The steps sounded distant to my ears, but I could just about sense them approaching. "GAH!" I leapt from the water with a cry, dissolving into giggles as a small figure with messy black hair reeled backwards. His shock didn't last long. Apparently, the novelty of having a mermaid living in your house wears off after a certain time. Even if you are just three years old.

Felix glared at me through amethyst eyes. "S'not funny, Leia," he mumbled, trying hard to look annoyed.

Still giggling, I paddled calmly to the edge while Felix waved at me with a chubby fist. He was smiling now. Admittedly, I don't really know many human children, but I think it's safe to say that he's a cute one. And he's quite smart for his age, too, which I suppose he gets from his parents. Especially his father.

"Mom's got somethin' important to talk to you 'bout, Leia," Felix told me excitedly. So excitedly, in fact, that he bounced up and down as he spoke. I got half-way through saying, "Well, that's interesting', when I heard someone else traipsing down the stairs.

"Mommy?" Felix questioned eagerly. He spun around, his little face breaking into a grin as figure appeared in the basement. A figure with wavy, blonde hair, messy clothes and those same lilac eyes.

"Yes, hon. It's me," she assured him, adjusting her glasses and offering a weary smile.

Then, I noticed the bundle clutched in her arms. "How's Will doing?" I asked softly.

"Still being his usual grumpy, grizzly self," she sighed.

Baby William was the youngest of Flora and Daryl's two sons. It's weird to think that they weren't even a couple when I arrived here, let alone married. As far as I can recall, they barely even knew each other back then. I say that because, while Daryl was definitely in love with the idea of Flora, I don't think he really planned anything beyond simply watching and obsessing over her. Luckily, she actually turned out to be a better match for him than he ever could have dreamed. Than I ever could have dreamed even! And so five years later, after being informed that girls (to the best of my mermaid knowledge) didn't like being stalked, Daryl had acquired a fast growing family.

...While I hung around the basement hoping that by some miracle I'd regain the ability to swim in strong currents. No... but that was ungrateful of me. I should have been thankful that Daryl took me in, that Flora didn't freak out about having another woman in the house... not moaning about them. They helped me and I was sure I'd be free again one day. I would be.

Flora grabbed a chair with her free hand and came to sit in front of me. She bounced William on her knee as he watched me with fascination. Unlike his elder brother, he hasn't quite got to the stage where supposedly mythical fish-women are totally normal. I reached out a hand and playfully ruffled his sandy curls. Thankfully, the droplets that ran down his face as a result succeeded in making him laugh, not cry.

I have to say, Flora looked rather relieved. "You're ever so good with the kids," she told me earnestly.

But I only shrugged. "Well, I have a tail and can breathe under water," I pointed out jokingly. "Apparently, that's pretty cool." Felix laughed in agreement, before skipping off to his mother's side. He couldn't clamber onto her lap because of Will, but he leant heavily against her.

"You're cool too, Mommy," he said, with all the innocence of a little child. Flora's eyes met mine briefly and I knew in an instant that we were thinking the same thing: You won't be saying that when you're sixteen.

"What was it that you wanted to talk to me about, then?" I enquired, still biting back a chuckle.

"Oh yes!" Flora had perked up suddenly. "I've got some good news for you, Leia. You know how we've been unsuccessful in helping you back home so far?"

I nodded grimly as memories came flooding back. Memories of various failed attempts that had plagued the last few years. Failed attempts where I'd struggled helplessly against the current at the beach, my tail not strong enough to withstand the harsh waves. "Have you found a solution?" I asked her hopefully.

"Well, we believe so, yes," Flora explained. She looked rather flustered, but pleased at the same time.

Felix's usually sweet face was rearranged into a scowl all of a sudden. "Is Leia... leaving?" he puzzled, evidently confused. Both Flora and I chose to ignore this comment. Personally, I didn't want to tempt fate by saying yes. And that answer had only one result, anyway: a temper tantrum.

"I can't believe it," I whispered instead, swimming from one end of the tank to the other, and back again. "And it must be great for you, too. What with me here, playing strawberry and all."

There was a short silence in which I realised I'd mixed up one of those baffling human phrases again. Even little Felix sniggered. "Umm... I think you mean playing gooseberry," Flora corrected me. "And don't be so silly. I've never thought of you that way. No, it's you this must be fantastic for, Leia. You're twenty-one now, at the peak of your life. How old is that in mermaid years?"

"Er... twenty-one."

Flora blushed an adorable shade of light pink. "Oh," she stammered. "I just thought - you know - because dogs - " My eyebrows shot up at that. I knew full well that Flora hadn't meant it that way, but it was kind of an instinctive reaction. As realisation dawned on Flora, her face grew steadily pinker. She never went red, I mused as the thought occured to me. Probably too pale for that. "Sorry, sorry," she muttered hurriedly. "I didn't mean - "

"I know," I cut through her gently. I was honestly more interested in thinking about my impending freedom. The great return to the ocean of which I'd been fantasizing over for years. It was such an exciting prospect that I felt almost dizzy just thinking about it. But I had to be sure that this time was for real. There had been many an incident where a cure had been found... only for things to go a bit haywire at the last minute. "Are you absolutely sure that it's going to work this time?" I wondered aloud, aware that my voice sounded almost pleading.

Flora nodded her head enthusiastically. Her hair looked frizzier than ever and I knew that only happened when she was feeling genuinely optimistic. "We're almost certain," the ex-archeologist gabbled. "Well I say we, but it's all Daryl's doing really. To be honest, I don't really understand how he's done it. It's this liquid solution and it can be injected into your tail... I - I think. You'll really have to ask him about it. He's the expert after all..."

After a while, I stopped listening and simply let her words wash over me the way waves wash over the sand. The very image of it brought a playful grin to my lips. Soon, I knew I would feel the waves wash over me, just as it was always intended.

The only slight niggle I felt came from observing Felix's solemn face, while he listened to the conversation between his mother and I. I could tell he'd miss me. Truthfully, I felt likewise, but knew that I could always visit. And as for little William, well... it wasn't as though he'd even remember me. Soon, I'd become nothing more than a story to be told by his older brother.

That night, I dreamt of nothing, but my future. The waves and the water and the family who've probably lost all hope of seeing me again. I thought of it all with an eager anticipation that reformed as fierce determination. Freedom was now well within my grasp... and nothing was going to get in the way of it.