Castle in the Clouds
In the middle of that vast stretch of water we call the Atlantic, deeper than any of us will ever dream to venture, lies the great realm of the merfolk. These hardy creatures lead simple lives there at the bottom of the sea – primitive, we would say. They survive off the flora and fauna that surrounds them, never hunting or harvesting more than is needed, and their houses are built out of the rock and sand of the ocean floor. Despite what one might imagine, these lodgings are anything but dreary. All sorts of deep-sea plants grow in the cracks and crannies of the walls, lending their unique reds, blues, and violets as decoration. The houses are always full of uninvited though not unwelcome guests – small schools of silver fish, brilliant orange seahorses, red hermit crabs that scuttle sideways along the seabed.The palace where the king and queen of the merfolk and all their family live is especially splendid, a massive structure made of the strongest rock that can be found for leagues around. The plants that grow on and around and within it come from all over the world, gifts from rulers of distant waters. At the top of the very highest towers, upon which meager rays of light from the surface shine, grow kelp and green algae and many sea flowers that sparkle blue and white and yellow in the sunlight like tiny jewels.
It was in the easternmost tower that the youngest daughter of the royal couple lived. The little princess Sylphie loved to sit amongst the bright flowers and watch the shadows of whales and dolphins pass overhead. Often, in the mornings, she would wake early in order to watch the first small glimmers of light appear on the distant ocean surface. The world above was a mystery to her; so it was for nearly all the merfolk, for contact with humans had been scarce since the Great Divide many millennia ago. Indeed, the only one to have any recollection of the human world was the queen, her mother, who had been a merchant's daughter before her marriage and had done much traveling as a child. After her ascent to the throne, she often acted as an ambassador to far away kingdoms. She had a talent for that sort of thing, a way with words that drew endless admiration from her supporters and allies and managed to sway even her most stubborn opponents. In the evenings, Sylphie loved to sit at her mother's fins and listen to wondrous stories about the places she had been and the things she had seen. To her, the queen seemed so beautiful, so strong, an endless source of wisdom and knowledge.
One day, the young mermaid gathered up her strength and courage and made the long swim up to the glittering surface. At first, she was half-blinded by the intensity of the sunlight; her sharp eyes had been too long accustomed to the comforting darkness of the depths. When she could finally see, she realized that she was completely and utterly alone, there at the boundary between sea and sky. Shimmering water surrounded her in all directions and not a cloud could be seen. There was no movement save for the gentle rolling of the waves. Vaguely disappointed, she was preparing to dive back down when suddenly, out of the corner of her eye, she saw a white shape drifting far above her in a straight line across the sky. It was so small that she had nearly missed it, but as it grew larger and larger and eventually flew directly overhead, she recognized that it was a bird of some sort, with a long body and angled, unmoving wings. Sylphie watched until it finally passed out of sight and then began the journey back to the ocean floor, nearly bursting with excitement. That night, she told her mother what she had seen.
"It could not have been a bird," said the queen with a little smile. "Although they are masters of the air, they are also bound to the land. Birds do not fly this far out over the waters for fear that they will never again encounter solid ground and branches upon which to rest. What you saw was an airplane."
"An airplane?" she echoed, eyes wide.
"A human creation that imitates the flight of birds," her mother explained. "I saw one up close many years ago. It had crashed into the ocean near where our convoy to Arctica was traveling. The humans were all in a panic; some were clinging to the broken pieces of their machine, some were still lying inside it – it was as big as a whale, perhaps even larger. Others had already died, their bodies sinking down into the depths. We went to them and inquired as to what had happened. The few that were still coherent told us that something had gone terribly wrong with their airplane, though they knew not what. We helped them as much as we were able, but in the end, our efforts were wholly unsuccessful. They cannot survive in our world, just as we cannot survive in theirs."
"I wish it did not have to be so," murmured Sylphie sadly.
"Humans and merfolk were the same once," the queen said slowly, her eyes thoughtful. "No one can pinpoint the exact moment the Great Divide began. The shorefolk, those who lived close to land, started to spend more and more time out of the water. They gradually lost their scales and gills and developed hair, lungs, and legs; they became those that we call humans. The humans scorned the great king of the merfolk, Triton, for he no longer had any power over them, he who could not venture onto land for more than an hour at a time. The rift grew wider and wider, and we ultimately lost contact with the human world.
"We have long since passed into legend for them. Our existence is nothing more than a story to be told to children, half-believed whispers of a lost kingdom called Atlantis that sank to the bottom of the sea. Yet, unbeknownst to them, there is some grain of truth in these tales, for what are myths and legends but truths twisted beyond recognition?"
-----
The queen, being fond of travel, encouraged her children to explore. As they came of age, the little mermaid's brothers and sisters were each given one entire year to travel wherever they pleased before they formally began their royal training. At the end of this year, the entire family would swim to greet the returning prince or princess at the borders of the kingdom, to celebrate and listen to whatever stories he or she had to tell.
Sylphie looked forward to these nearly annual reunions. Each of her siblings made certain to journey where none of the others had gone before. Her eldest sister had visited the waters far to the north, where their brethren made their homes in great icy caverns carved out of the vast underwater portions of floating icebergs.
"It was absolutely marvelous!" she exclaimed as they listened, rapt with wonder. "How the cities sparkled! All that ice! Our northern cousins are well suited to that cold environment. Their bodies are large and round and insulated with a thick layer of fat, not unlike that of whales. I had to remain squished between four of them at all times so as not to turn into a block of ice myself!"
Her eldest brother had chosen to head southeast to explore the great reefs near the human continent of Australia.
"Everything seemed so bright there, near the surface," he told them. "Such vivid colors as you've never seen! Dolphins, eels, sharks, turtles, all sorts of fish. I even spied some humans down there. Strange creatures, those humans, and awkward, too. They always looked a little lost, all wrapped up in their black costumes with tubes going every which way. I wonder if they saw me? Not likely, I suppose. I hid each time that they came near."
Another of her sisters had journeyed to the dark realm of the sea-hags, who lived in the deepest rifts of the ocean floor, deeper still than even most of the merfolk were willing to go.
"True to their name, those sea-hags," she said. "Ugliest creatures I've ever laid eyes on, but so very kind! Their queen provided me with a guide to aid me in my explorations, for many dangers lurk in the deep. It was an altogether gloomy place, and I marveled at how they could survive off so little, at their generosity, their hospitality. I am glad that we are allies, and I am proud to be able to call them friend."
So it went; each year a new adventure, each year new stories. Sylphie eagerly awaited her own turn. With so many brothers and sisters, however, the wait seemed almost interminable. And each year, the possibilities dwindled.
"You have the hardest decision of all, little sister," her siblings cried. "Where shall you go? Where can you go that we have not yet been?"
The young mermaid just smiled enigmatically and said nothing. She had already made up her mind. None of her brothers and sisters had even entertained the thought of visiting the world above. When the time came, that was where she would journey: to the mysterious world of the humans.
-----
"It's too dangerous!" her brother exclaimed, appalled. "We've had no contact with the humans for millennia! There's no telling what they'd do if they see you! When they see you!"
She had not expected such a vehement reaction to her announcement. Sylphie's coming of age ceremony had finally taken place, and she had just informed her entire family of her decision to travel to the coast and visit the human cities.
"They're fish eaters!" her sister fumed.
"So are we," the queen said.
"That's not the point!"
"Then what is the point?" Sylphie spoke up. "What is there to gain by avoiding the humans? When you went to visit the sea-hags" – she whirled to face her sister – "no one knew what would happen. We were allies, but we understood nothing of them, nor they of us. Look at us now – relations between our peoples have never been better! How can we advance without taking risks? How do we learn if we never make mistakes?"
Silence and resigned sighs.
"What do you think, mother, father?" her siblings inquired, turning to the king and queen who sat placidly amidst the chaos.
"I don't see why she should be barred from going," the king replied after a sharing a meaningful look with his wife. "Sylphie has made her decision, and we should respect it, for better or for worse. She is an intelligent girl, and I trust that she has already considered the possible consequences of her actions."
"How do you plan to communicate with them?" her eldest sister asked. "We do not know what language they speak, though it is surely different from ours."
"You forget," said the queen, "that our Sylphie was given the Gift of Tongues at birth by the sea witch, just as you were given the Gift of Wit and Ileana the Gift of Song, and so forth. I daresay the poor old dear was at a loss as to what to do, with so many princes and princesses to attend to."
She drifted down from the grand coral throne upon which she had been sitting and placed both hands upon the young princess's shoulders and a kiss upon each of her cheeks.
"You have my blessing," she proclaimed as Sylphie softened visibly in joy and in relief. "We shall see you off tomorrow. Go with speed, go with caution, and return to us safe and sound in a year's time."
-----
The next day, as the first rays of dawn broke upon the surface above, with the whispered words of encouragement from her family still ringing in her heart, Sylphie began the long journey west, heading for the distant coast and the human cities there. She swam day and night, only stopping to sleep and to eat. Sometimes, she traveled with pods of dolphins or schools of fish for company, chatting amiably with them as they rode the currents together. The dolphins were the far more interesting of the two, playful and, unlike the fish, not completely preoccupied with the problems of finding food and avoiding predators. At night, their clicking voices rang through the water and sent back echoes from both prey and obstacles, guiding them in their path. Sylphie lent her own voice to this staccato chorus, singing her siren's song, which bounced in eerie, broken tones through the dark depths.
On the tenth day, the water started to become shallower, and the light of the sun shone all the way down to the rocky bottom. Her excitement grew as she realized that she would soon find herself at the coast and, more importantly, in the human world. As she swam further, huge ships began to pass overhead, their bulks blocking out the sun for minutes at a time. The ocean floor teemed with plant life, and shrimp and crabs scuttled and weaved among the jagged pebbles.
She soon entered the busy harbor of a large human city, with boats big and small roaming over the waters and docked at the piers. Dozens of white seagulls glided across the blue sky, now and then diving down to look for fish and other morsels and filling the air with their hoarse, raucous cries. In the distance, the city gleamed, metallic and shining in the afternoon sun. Sylphie could not stare at it for long without having strange spots dance across her vision. She hid herself behind one of the great wooden columns that supported the pier farthest from the hubbub and observed the people as they carried on their daily business. How strangely they moved, bobbing up and down or swaying from side to side with each step they took! How stifling their garments looked! She could not imagine why they felt the need to protect their skin, for it really was a lovely spring day.
The young mermaid watched the human activities until the sun finally began to dip below the horizon. She wondered to herself how best to approach one of them. Would they be afraid of her? Would they be willing to talk to her? A million anxieties and doubts bubbled up in her stomach, but she quelled them as much as she was able. She would deal with the situations as they came.
For now, she needed a bite to eat and a place to settle down for the night. Sylphie decided that, this first evening, it would be best if she did not stay in the harbor. She swam out some distance from the hustle and bustle of the city, found a couple of fish and a nice side of kelp, and sat upon one of the protruding rocks near the coast to dine and gaze upon the distant towers as they gleamed red and orange in the fading light. It was then that she noticed a black shape on the horizon, silhouetted against the setting sun and growing larger by the minute. She quickly ate her meal, washing it down with a hearty gulp of seawater, and went to investigate.
It was a small yacht straggling into the harbor after a long day of sailing, and on it was a dark-haired man. By the faint light that remained, she could just make out his features, proud and handsome, with a straight, thin nose, rather high cheekbones, and dark, searching eyes. These eyes wandered over the waters and, for a second, seemed to lock with her own inquisitive blue orbs. Sylphie dove back down into the comforting depths, heart pounding, unsure whether he had really seen her. The vessel passed on.
-----
She saw the yacht again the next day and the day after. Both times, however, there was more than just the one man. Perhaps he had seen her the other night, for it seemed that they were looking for something, circling the area just outside the harbor and peering intently into the water. She remembered what her mother had told her, that her people were naught but creatures of myth for those who inhabited the land. Should she reveal herself so soon? The opportunity certainly seemed to be presenting itself. Sylphie gathered her courage and swam to meet the boat.
The dark-haired man, the one she had seen the first night, saw her before the others did and rushed to the side of the yacht, pointing and yelling excitedly to his comrades. She paused, unsure whether to continue. Then, the man leaned over and stretched a smooth, tanned hand towards her, gesturing for her to go nearer. Encouraged, she swam up to the hull of the boat and reached up with her own blue-scaled hand.
It happened so fast that she at first had no idea what had just occurred. One minute she was in the water and the next she was dangling in the air, hauled up by some sort of large plastic net that bit into her flesh. Then, just as suddenly, she was dumped unceremoniously onto the deck of the yacht, screeching in rage and bewilderment. The three humans loomed over her, their shadowed faces calm, their lips set in a grim line. For the first time, she noticed the fierce, almost carnal gleam in the dark-haired man's eyes. He no longer seemed as handsome as when she had first seen him. A prick of pain in her shoulder, and the world slowly faded into black.
-----
Sylphie woke with a start, her head throbbing painfully. The water had an odd taste to it, and there was a constant low humming sound coming from somewhere above her. She had absolutely no idea where she was. Everything seemed rather hazy, and when she moved her own hand in front of her face, the entire world seemed to waver and spin. This would not do. She put her head back down upon the smooth green-blue pebbles and went back to sleep.
When she again regained consciousness, the pain in her head had disappeared, and her vision had returned to normal. She saw that she had been placed in a gigantic tank, big enough for her to swim around in, with a variety of colorful plants, the likes of which she had never before seen. Curious, she reached out to touch a particularly vibrant and leafy pink one, only to find that it was hard and waxy. Fake. The humming sound that she had heard earlier came from a peculiar device at the top of the tank that spewed out a continuous stream of bubbles, and the tank itself was near a large window through which she could look down upon the many buildings of the human city as well as the harbor beyond.
There was a sudden noise to her right, and Sylphie whirled around just in time to see the dark-haired man from the boat step into the room. They stared at each other for a moment, and he broke into a grin. She did not like his smile; there was a greedy, possessive quality to it.
"So, you're awake," he said. She was about to reply when he turned away from her and left the room again. Obviously, he had not expected an answer. Moments later, the man returned with two small fish, which he tossed into the tank with a casual flip of his wrist. They drifted down through the water and lay upon the pebbled bottom, unmoving. Dead fish. He expected her to eat day-old dead fish. She refused to touch them.
"Suit yourself then," the man sneered. "I'll be back in a bit."
With that, he left through yet another door. This time, he did not return. Sylphie retreated to the corner of the tank nearest the window. With a terrible, sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach, she realized that she might be here indefinitely. He had no intention of letting her go.
-----
She had lost count of how many days had passed since her capture. Each day melded into the next, and each day was like every other. Sylphie grew resigned to eating the frozen fish that the dark-haired man threw into her tank, for there was no other food available. From time to time, other humans would come to peer at her, pressing their leering faces and hands against the glass and leaving numerous greasy prints and smears. If she was asleep, they would tap on the tank until she woke, then scrutinize her every movement as she swam in groggy laps, all the while scribbling furiously upon their pads with little wooden sticks. Some put strange black devices to their face and waited until she turned to look at them to momentarily blind her with a flash of light. The first time this happened, she was so startled that she swam backwards and knocked her head against the side of the tank. Their laughter brought tears of frustration and humiliation to her eyes, and she wept silently. They did not notice her pain.
Once a week, Sylphie was netted out of her tank and placed into a smaller one full of fresh water, barely large enough for her to recline in. There she would wait, cramped and agitated, while a young man with bright violet hair drained the water, scrubbed the fake pebbles and fake plants, refilled the tank, and poured in large quantities of what she suspected to be salt crystals. She could tell that he was wary of her. At their first meeting, she had very politely asked him if he could take her back to the harbor. The young man had stared at her for several long seconds before rushing out of the room, mouth agape in shock. Minutes later, he had returned with the dark-haired man and several other humans in two.
"It spoke!" he exclaimed, pointing a grubby finger straight at her face. "I swear to God that thing spoke to me."
Sylphie felt more than a little insulted.
"Really now?" drawled one of his companions, skeptically. "Hey, mermaid, let's hear you say something."
She did not like his tone of voice one bit and so refused to answer.
"Ok, I don't know why she's not talkin' now, but I'm tellin' ya, she was asking me to bring her to the harbor earlier," he insisted.
"Man, you gotta lay off those hallucinogens," the dark-haired man chortled, clapping the youth on the back amiably.
After that rather disheartening episode, Sylphie made no more attempts to speak to those who crowded around her tank. As time wore on, fewer and fewer people came to the dark-haired man's residence. What was so interesting, they scoffed, about a creature that never did much of anything except sleep, swim, and eat? They could find that at any zoo, where there was a larger selection of animals to view besides.
The one exception was a pretty yellow-haired lady with wide green eyes, who seemed somehow different from the other stick-wielding, light-flashing humans who scrutinized her every movement. She always stayed longer than they did, lounging around on the chairs and talking to the dark-haired man. Often, the two of them would disappear together into one of the other rooms and reemerge hours later, looking slightly disheveled. Sylphie was curious as to who this human female was, but the woman never once tried to approach her tank, though she sometimes threw what appeared to be sympathetic glances her way.
-----
Thus, it came as a pleasant surprise when, months after her arrival, the yellow-haired woman finally spoke to her in the most civil tone the mermaid had heard for weeks.
"Don't you ever get bored or lonely, being in that tank all day every day?" she asked absently, so low that Sylphie had to strain to hear her.
The dark-haired man had left and the lady, as she often did, had stayed behind to await his return. She was sitting on a large cushioned chair, knees drawn to her chest, an odd and somewhat melancholy expression on her face. Although the woman did not seem to expect a response, Sylphie was overjoyed. She quickly seized her chance, swimming to the top of the tank and poking her head out of the water.
"Yes, it is excruciatingly dull in this infernal tank," she said. Her voice was slightly hoarse after such a long period of disuse. "I do nothing but sleep and eat, and there's hardly enough room for a good swim. I fear that I shall be the slowest mermaid in the kingdom by the time I return – if I return."
"I didn't know you could talk!" exclaimed the woman excitedly, bouncing up from her chair. "Why haven't you said anything all this time?"
"No one seemed interested in what I have to say," the mermaid replied.
"This is amazing! Do you have a name? I'm Isabelle. What part of the ocean do you come from? What's it like down there? And how do you know English?"
Sylphie patiently answered each of the woman's questions and eventually was able to squeeze in some of her own. Isa, as she insisted on being called, was the fiancée of the dark-haired man, Derek.
"As you can see, I spend most of my time here," said Isa. "We've have been pseudo-living together for a while now. My place isn't nearly as grand as this one. Derek's career really took off in the last two years. This apartment has one of the best views of the city and the harbor. He's very proud of it, actually. Calls it his castle. Castle in the clouds. Guess that makes me the princess?"
She drifted to the window and stood looking out over the city.
"Could you bring me to the harbor?" Sylphie asked. "I miss the freedom of the ocean. And I must be home before the year is out."
Isa looked startled. She shook her head and fiddled nervously with the hem of her shirt.
"I can't. I'm sorry," she told the mermaid. "Derek would be awfully upset. Though I'm sure he wouldn't press theft charges, since I am his fiancée after all, it just..." She trailed off as she realized what she was saying, then continued, thoughtfully. "I don't suppose he truly owns you. You can't really own any sentient being, not even a pet like a cat or a dog. And you're no cat or dog. But...I'm sorry, I can't."
"It's all right," said Sylphie, slightly disappointed but nevertheless happy to have someone to talk to.
They conversed some more, and Sylphie made Isa promise not to reveal her ability to speak to Derek. She had a feeling that, were he to know, there would be more of the stick-wielding, light-flashing humans around her tank than ever before.
-----
Whenever Derek was not present, Sylphie and Isa would talk. The latter always seemed to want to know more about the ocean and the lifestyle of the merfolk.
"You're all covered in blue scales," she marveled. "I always thought that mermaids were exactly half woman and half fish. Here, look, I brought a picture of one. It's an illustration from one of my favorite childhood books."
"Where are her gills?" Sylphie asked. "How can she breathe underwater? Her human skin would not last in the ocean for long. She would shrivel up like you do when you try to swim in here."
"I suppose," said Isa, looking slightly crestfallen. "I never thought of that."
Sometimes, the two of them would sit quietly side by side, one in the tank, the other leaning against the glass, looking out the window at the hustle and bustle of the city beneath. Isa told her about the human schools, their government, the various religions, and the new technology that arose each year – everything of interest that she could think of.
"Our mayor is very concerned with aesthetics," she explained as they watched the cars drive down the tree-lined avenues. "Every block of this city has been renovated and carefully planned out. Course, that doesn't mean that there are no slums. Most people don't really think about those. They avoid them if they can. And the chemical plants just outside the city are none too pleasing, either. But they apparently help draw business, so the mayor more or less gives them free reign."
There was a sad air about her new friend that the mermaid did not quite understand until some weeks after their first conversation.
"For the longest time, I wanted to become a marine biologist," Isa said one day, out of the blue. They had been talking about the sea creatures that inhabited the realm of the merfolk, and Sylphie had just finished the story of her encounter with a couple of sharks.
"What is a marine biologist?" she inquired.
"Oh, someone who studies the ocean and its animal and plant life," the human woman replied. "I've always liked the sea. When I was little, my parents would bring me to the beach, and I would run around trying to find crabs and turtles. I was biology major in college. That's where Derek and I met, actually. He was trying to get his MBA, and I was just a freshman. We continued our relationship even after he graduated. I eventually received my degree and was accepted to graduate school, but then Derek asked me to marry him, and I said yes. He had already started doing well for himself by that time, and he insisted that I didn't have to go to graduate school, because he'd be able to provide for us. Said that when we had children, it'd be better if I could stay with them all day. I tried to explain that I didn't want to quit, but then he became angry and..."
She stopped abruptly and was silent for a few moments.
"I guess he's never particularly cared about what I wanted," she continued quietly. "He's content enough. He has his career, his castle, and his princess. And my parents both like him. They think he's capable and intelligent and quite possibly the best thing since sliced bread."
"You love him?" Sylphie asked.
A slight pause.
"Yes, of course I do," Isa said. She looked out the window. "Of course I do."
"And he loves you?"
"Yes."
"Then he should understand or at least make an effort to do so."
Isa did not reply.
-----
There was a subtle change in the atmosphere of the apartment after that. The mermaid noticed that Isa and Derek did not seem to agree as much as they once did. In fact, she was witness to several heated arguments between them, though she knew not what they were about. As the months passed, she herself grew more and more agitated with her confinement. The year was almost over, she could feel it. Sylphie knew that if she did not return to the ocean soon, she would forever be lost to the human city.
"I'm going back to graduate school," Isa announced one day as they sat looking out over the city. "I suppose you've seen the quarrels. He doesn't want me to do it, but I do. It's been my dream to be a marine biologist since I was seven, and I'm not going to give it up."
"Congratulations," said the mermaid, and while she felt happy for her human friend, her smile did not quite reach her face.
"You miss your home, don't you?" Isa asked as she watched Sylphie stare wistfully at the harbor and the vast blue ocean beyond.
"Yes, I do," she replied. "I am glad that I came and glad that I had the chance to meet you. But my year is almost over, and I long for the freedom of the sea."
Isa seemed to be thinking very hard, her brow furrowed in thought. She did not speak for several moments. Then, her face brightened, a determined expression set in, and she leapt lightly to her feet.
"I'll bring you to the harbor," she said. The mermaid looked at her in surprise. "Derek will be angry, of course, but it's not fair for you to be trapped here. It never was. I'm sorry I didn't come to this decision earlier. How long can you stay out of the water?"
"Not very long," Sylphie said. "Maybe an hour or so."
"That should give us enough time to get to the harbor. I'll write a note to Derek so that he doesn't panic. Ok, well, he'll panic anyway. But at least he won't call the police. If you swim to the top of the tank, I'll pull you out and carry you down to the car. Hope you don't weigh too much."
The trip from the apartment to the elevator to the lobby and down into the garage was agonizingly slow, for Isa had to rest every few minutes. She had wrapped Sylphie in a blanket so that others would not be able to see her. Even still, she often received strange looks from passersby. As she placed the mermaid onto the backseat, she saw Derek's car pull into its usual spot. Quickly, she got into the driver's seat and turned the key in the ignition.
"Isa? Where are you going?" her fiancé called out to her as the car passed him on the way to the exit.
"Just bringing Sylphie back to the harbor," she replied.
"Oh, ok, who's Sylphie? Wait a minute...WHAT?! Hey, come back!"
But it was too late. Isa laughed as she pulled onto the street.
"We're on our way!" she exclaimed.
Sylphie looked out the backseat window in wonder as the car made its way down the city streets, weaving in and out of traffic. Shops and signs everywhere, humans everywhere, walking, talking, sitting in their vehicles. It was so different from her world, so much brighter and noisier. The sky above was a beautiful cloudless blue, and the sun shone upon the glassy skyscrapers, making them glitter and shine.
They reached the harbor sooner than expected, and Isa carried her mermaid friend to the end of one of the wooden piers. Sylphie quickly dove into the cool water and swished her tail once or twice, resurfacing several meters away. Isa looked out at her and beamed.
"I'll go and visit you, once I have my degree," she called out. "I'll see your world, as you saw mine."
"You are more than welcome in the realm of the merfolk," Sylphie replied. "And maybe I'll return here some day. I do still want to explore the world above."
With a wave, she sank back down into the water and swam out to sea, away from the busy harbor and the human city beyond, just as Derek came rushing wildly onto the pier where his fiancée stood.
"What the hell did you just do?" he fumed. Underneath the thin mask of rage that contorted his handsome face, there was a bewildered expression, somewhat akin to that of a small boy who had just lost his favorite toy. Isa took him by the hand.
"We need to talk," she said softly.
-----
Sylphie glided through the blue depths of the ocean, darting in and out among schools of silvery fish and pods of sleek gray dolphins, her heart soaring with the joy of being free once again. Her adventure had not turned out quite as she had expected, she thought with a little smile. But oh! What stories she would have to tell!