Humans are not as great as everyone thinks they are. They are slow, lazy, malicious, always mad about something, entitled, but above all humans are greedy. I think being born above water, the sun and land just dry up their souls, leaving them hollow and broken. When I was younger, they taught us in school to never go near the surface, stay away from boats and swimmers, hide from them, protect yourself. It all changed when Ariel, daughter of Trident married one and became human, I was very young when it all happened, maybe five or so. Since then, merpeople have loved humans, almost infatuated, wanting to learn about the ways of land and follow in Princess Ariel's path.
Not me.
I still remember seeing and hearing the stories of the old times, when humans would hunt and kill merpeople. With a Princess of the sea and a Queen of the land, Ariel has been trying to connect us with the shore, push for a coexistence between us, but I know it will never work. Even now with a rhetoric of peace, there a merpeople missing all over the ocean, they just disappear to nowhere and no one knows where they've gone. Rumors spread that it's pirates, catching merpeople and selling them to humans, but no one really knows why. The number one excuse is that we are a delicacy and humans like to eat us... like I said, they are greedy and just plain vile.
My father is always worried, he is a royal guard to Trident, so he overhears a lot of information about the disappearances. My mother is a fashion icon for Upper Reef socialites, basically she travels the oceans telling people the new trends. My dad doesn't like her leaving so much, scared that she'll be taken and it would take us months to find out she was gone. He also hates the fact I go to a public school, he wants in me to go to private school, something less "open", using his words. I hate private school I went for 15 years, but I begged for my last 3 to be in public so I could really experience all types of merpeople.
Merpeople have a class system, I hear that humans have something similar. Royals are on top, for both species, second to merpeople comes Upper Reef which is what I am. I was born closer to the surface of the ocean, making my skin a little tanner and my position raised. I'm not famous or anything, not important at all, I just come from a known household name. The rest of the population is considered Lower Reef, that means they were born further from the surface, making them paler and from a snobby point of view, less important. For example, Upper Reef mermaid are usually seen wearing a top, "to be covered is to be classy" was a quote from some women way back when, whereas Lower Reef mermaid usually wore nothing at all. In the human world, they separate into rich and poor, my school explained it has to with money, a way humans deal in trade. Merpeople don't have anything like that, we just use what we need in the ocean, respect the peace, and enjoy life. We live where we want, eat what we want and life is overall happy. I mean, it's not perfect, sometimes people get killed, but it's not often. Our society is not as violent as that of humans.
The big gossip around the currents now was that Ariel's daughter, a human named Melody, went to the sea witch to become a mermaid. I thought it was ironic, Ariel almost lost her title and respect from her people to become a human and her own daughter wanted to live the other side life.
"It's kind of funny, right?," my best friend Lauii snickered.
"Yeah, I mean, I feel bad for her, being forced into being a human."
Lauii rolled her eyes," I can't even imagine," she shuddered.
I met Lauii at my public school, the third day there. She was nice enough to approach me first, I had been to scared to go up to anyone, I didn't want the title of snob but was stopped from introductions by intimidating glares and whispers. Luckily Lauii was a bit of an over-induldger and extremely zealous or I probably would have made no friends at all and went back to private school. Lauii had light pink wavy hair with short straight bangs that went into her brown eyes. Her fin was a light shade of blue, close to the color Maya and being Lower Reef, she never wore a top, not once in our two years of friendship had I seen her wear a top. She was also bigger then me, her fin was longer and her breasts were enormous, compared to my tiny little mounds. My dad liked her, he liked all Merpeople, treated them equally, at his job he dealt with many different kinds of merpeople. My mother on the other hand did not approve of her being Lower Reef, I could tell right way, but she never really said it out loud, but you could hear it in her tone if you listened.
We swam quickly to class, this was our final year in school and we only had a few weeks left, we were finally discussing the topic that I had been excited for: soul pairing. Most humans don't know, but when mermaids mate, it is for life and the souls are paired together for eternity. It is a very serious thing to do, which they have warned us about several times, do graduate and go soul bond with you boyfriend of two weeks, really know the merperson and then go to the Soul Rock. The best part of soul pairing is that it had nothing to do with your appearance or gender, it was all about the soul. There was talk about how humans refused to let those of the same sex be together, another thing I couldn't fathom about the species, whereas we merpeople looked at true heart and that was determining factor.
I listened closer to these lectures than I ever did before, devouring the information and replaying in my head. I had a boyfriend, his name was Reque, we had been together a little over a year now. I loved him, I truly did. I wanted to soul bond with him, it was funny because he would always bring it up and I would blush and shy away from the topic. I knew my mother would never let me soul bond so quickly after graduation, she would make us wait, but I didn't mind. I knew he was the one, he was the soul for me.
"Hello beautiful," I felt a kiss on my cheek.
I blushed and turned around, there was Reque, smiling brightly at me. He was so adorable with his tossed black hair, deep brown eyes, tan skin, and dark green fin. My mother had always approved of Reque, he was Upper Reef as well, his father knew my father in the Royal guard. My dad thought he was okay, mostly because Reque wanted to join the Royal guard himself when he graduated.
"Don't do that," I hid my face.
"I can't help it," he cupped my face and rubbed his thumb along my cheek.
"Okay! I get it! You two are practically soul bonded, let's change the chapter already!," Lauii's head popped up between us.
Reque laughed and pulled away while I just blushed harder.
"Let's focus on the real issue here, my merps!" [Merps was a slang term used instead of merfolk or merpeople.]
" Where the hell is my soul pairing? Huh? Where in the ocean are they!?"
I chuckled," Lauii, you can't expect to find them so quickly."
"Damn straight I expect to find them so quickly! They need to swim into my life, like yesterday!"
"Lauii, there's a lot of ocean," I tried to reason.
"I know, but...," she pouted for a second. "You guys found each other, it's almost not fair!"
"What can I say...," Reque smiled at me," Just lucky I guess."
I blushed a deeper red, he loved it when I blushed, he told me he would do things just to see my cheeks burn. Reque said he liked the pop of color it added to world, the red of my cheeks in contrast to my skin and the dark blue water, sparking electricity in my light green eyes. Sometimes Reque was a poet, other times... he was not.
"Sign this petition! Please, sign the petition! Hey! Reque!," Fiola called to us as we swam past. Fiola was a friend of Reque's, I didn't really know her.
"Reque, you should totally sign!"
"What is it?," he asked.
"It's a petition to Trident," she beamed.
"Trident? What for?," Lauii butted into the conversation.
Fiola turned her eyes to Lauii," Well, we're trying to convince him to change us all, you know, make us human for a day so we can see the way the other side lives, chose the path we want."
"WE?!," Lauii almost shouted.
That was a new big trend now, converting to human. You had to send in a formal request to Trident and it could take years to come back to you, he only did it to five or so people a month. Princess of sea and Queen of land Ariel would let them live in her massive palace by the shore as they adjusted. Most merpeople didn't like it, I guess they expected something more, the fallback rate was really high, like 90%.
"Yeah, whoever signs the petition."
"Pass. If I ever converted, my parents would disown me," she turned away.
"You shouldn't let that stop you. Humans have so many different experiences, it would be amazing," she turned to Reque. "How about it, Reque?"
I knew Reque, he would say no. He didn't really like humans either, he thought they were loud and rude, especially when they would litter in the ocean, he would rant abot it for hours.
"Uhm... No thanks, Fiola."
She paused for a moment and turned to me, ready to ask the same, I stopped her before she could.
"Absolutely not," I said sternly.
She threw her hands up," What is wrong with this generation! We get the opportunity to explore new lands and everyone is too scared! It's not like it would be permanent, you could re-transition!"
"That's not the point, Fiola. We aren't humans. I don't see why anyone would want to be."
"Humans are beautiful creatures," Fiola smiled. "They live in such beauty, it's amazing! I want to see it, at least."
"Then you see it," Lauii scoffed," Don't pawn the problem on us."
"I... I just need so many signatures..."
"WRONG! No, you're wrong. If you really want to be human, send in your request to Trident... alone. Don't rope everyone in with you," Lauii turned," Let's go."
I followed her while Reque said goodbye, then caught up to us.
"Is she insane or something?!," Lauii ranted.
Reque took my hand in his as we continued.
"I mean, it's one thing to want to be human alone... but to have others sign up! That's almost sick!"
"I just can't believe she thinks of it as an opportunity," I mention.
"I know right! And... And this!," Laui swims up to a missing poster. "This is exactly what I'm talking about. People are missing! HELLO! WHERE ARE THEY!?"
On the poster was a girl, she was 27 with bright red hair and a dark red tail. Her name was Talkoz and she'd been missing for two weeks.
"It might not be related to the humans," Reque said.
"Reque, Reque, Reque," Lauii shook her head. "Of course it has to do with humans! It always has! Fiola wants to go be one of them and live in la la land, I think we should fight them!"
"Fight them? King Trident would never-...," Reque said.
"Of course not!," Lauii exclaimed. "His daughter is the freaking leader of their people! So we'll all just pretend this isn't happening until there is no one left because that's how it works! No one cares! It's like a giant conspiracy! AGHHHHHHH! Makes me so mad!," Lauii screamed. "I... I'm going to get something to eat," she swam away angrily.
"What have I told you about riling her up?," I cocked an eyebrow to Reque.
"ME!," he looked shocked. "I barely said two words!"
"You know how she gets about humans," we continue on our way to the Upper Reef.
"I know. I know."
"She'll calm down, I'm not worried," I watch as some school kids swim past with a ball.
"She's been a little touchy lately, huh?," Reque noted.
"Ever since people are missing from the area, I think she's scared, Reque. She has 2 younger brothers, I think she's worried for them."
"Makes since," Reque admitted.
"Do you really think humans have nothing to do with the disappearances?"
Reque paused," No...," he sighed. "Merfolk don't just disappear. It reminds me of the old stories... merpeople vanishing..."
"I know...," I squeezed his hand tighter and leaned into his chest. We stopped swimming and he hugged me tightly.
"Don't worry. I'll never let anything happen to you, Kaia."
I smile," I know."