She moved through the current of the sea. The cool water was like satin against her skin. Her long blonde hair trailed behind her as she swam. Her arms helped push her through the water with her tail propelling her along. She swam in the shallows of the ocean, feeling the light from the sun tracing over her pale skin. She kept swimming peacefully, heading away from her home when she saw a shadow dancing on the surface of the water. Sally slowly began to swim closer, her curiosity getting the better of her as she went up to the surface of the water. When she emerged from the salty water, she saw the vessel. It wasn't a shadow like she had initially thought, but a large ship. She slowly raised one of her hands and pushed her hair away from her face. As soon as her view wasn't obscured by her hair she saw a dark haired man leaving over the edge of the boat, staring down at her as she gazed up at him.
Sherlock thought it would be a good day for boating. The sun was high in the sky and the wind was light. He went to the shore to his boat. He climbed inside and got into position before rowing out to sea. He sailed out away from the seashore, doing slow and steady strokes as he moved across the surface of the water. A cool breeze blew upon him and he smiled, gazing out at the dazzling sea around him. That was when he spotted a shape in the water. Immediately he recognized the tail of a fish, so he watched as it came closer. But as the fish neared the water's surface, the outline of arms and a human head confused him. Suddenly a young woman's head came above the water. He stared as she removed the hair from her face and stared right back up at him. It was a fish-woman! No, not a fish-woman, a mermaid, Sherlock corrected himself. He had heard stories about them, but of course being of logical mind, he never believed them. For all he knew, this woman was simply wearing a suit of sorts and trying to trick him. First he decided to know what her name was, if she had one.
"Who are you?" he asked politely.
Sally tilted her head at him before swimming closer to the boat, she ran her finger tips over the slick wood of the boat. The wood was smooth under her fingertips, almost as if it was made of marble or glass.
"My name's Sally, if that's what you're getting at," she said in an uninterested tone.
She quickly dived under the water, breathing like a normal human would on land and in air as she inspected the bottom of the vessel before popping up at the other side and resting her folded arms on the edge of the boat.
"What's your name?" She asked him with a smile as the water trickled down her face and dripped into the bottom of the boat.
He watched her as she came closer to the boat and gave him her name. He repeated her name before Sally disappeared into the water again. He looked around quickly, wondering where she had went before Sally popped up on the other side of his boat. He looked at her in amazement. Maybe she really was a mermaid...? No, Sherlock still wasn't quite buying it. Sally asked him what his name was, and he was obliged to answer.
"Sherlock," he replied. He asked his second question, "Are you really a mermaid?"
"No, I'm just out in the centre of the ocean talking to a man in a boat while not freezing to death," she frowned at him.
She kept her torso under the boat so that he didn't see anything that she didn't want him to see. For example, her perky breasts which were only just covered by her hair.
"So, Sherlock, what brings you here?" She smiled softly at him.
She was definitely sassy, that was for sure. He couldn't see the rest of her, but he was beginning to believe she really was a mermaid.
At her question, he responded, "I like the sea. Being on the water is relaxing for me. Besides, today's a good day to be out boating, don't you think?"
"Not really, there's going to be a storm soon," she said calmly while having a cheeky taste of the water.
She wet her hair again so that it didn't dry out in a horrific fashion. She then stared at him with a frown.
Sherlock shrugged and said, "I'll be out of the water before it starts. I'm not very worried." He gave her a smile of reassurance before saying, "How come I've never seen you around before? I usually come out to sea a lot."
"I never really surface, and no one ever comes this far out to sea," she shrugged softly before sighing.
"So did my boat draw you to the surface then?" Sherlock asked curiously.
She nodded with a faint laugh. "Yeah, it did. I saw its shadow,"
"I'm glad it did, to be honest," said Sherlock softly. "I've never seen a mermaid before. Then again, not many people have. I've always thought you were just a myth."
She shook her head.
"No, I'm definitely a myth, you're hallucinating about me," she smirked at him before hopping into the boat.
Sherlock was about to respond when Sally suddenly jumped into his boat. His eyes immediately went to her tail, which was long with glistening red scales still wet with salty water. It looked genuinely attached to the torso, which only confirmed the mermaid thing to be a certainty. His gaze went to her chest, where there was a pair of round breasts covered by long strands of golden hair. Realizing he was staring, Sherlock quickly averted his gaze, looking back at her face.
"Sorry," he apologized. "Your scales are beautiful," he said, giving her a compliment to make up for his rude staring.
"Are you sure you're not talking about my breasts?" She asked while covering them up with her hair again. "Feel free to touch my tail though," she said with a smile as she made sure that she was sufficiently covered and that there was no nipple poking through.
Her tail was most definitely attached to her and the scales gradually turned back into skin halfway up her waist. On her arms she had some scales but they weren't really there to servants a purpose, only there for decoration.
"I actually wish I had legs,"
"N-no of course not!" Sherlock said quickly.
He reddened in embarrassment, keeping his eyes on her face. He did want to touch her tail, however, see what it felt like. Curiously, he reached out, running his fingers over crimson scales. They felt as real as they looked. He drew his hand back and returned his eyes to her face again. At her leg comment, he chuckled slightly.
"Legs are useful, after all," he said with a smile.
Sally watched him ran his hand over her tail with a smile playing on her lips. She signed softly with a wistful expression clear on her face.
"The only use for a tail is to swim much faster than someone with legs. With legs you can walk, dance, do everything," she sighed staring at the tail.
"With a tail you could swim deeper into the ocean too, probably," Sherlock pointed out. "What's it like down there by the way? Are there many other mermaids where you're from?" he asked, purely curious now.
"Where I'm from there's around twenty different families," she said with a smile. "I can swim pretty deep I just choose not to, it's not the nicest of feelings having tonnes of water crushing down on you," she shrugged. "That's why I swim quite high up!" She grinned at him before rearranging her hair and looking at the sky.
"Interesting," he murmured as Sally answered his question. He nodded when she finished speaking and said, "That does make sense. Though I'm sure your biology is constructed so you can endure that much pressure, being a mermaid and all."
Another wind came in their direction, but a little bit stronger this time. The sky was beginning to get gray with storm clouds at this point.
"The storm's about to start," said Sherlock, looking up at the darkening sky as the wind began to pick up. "I should go..." he looked at Sally, a little disappointed that the storm was interrupting their meeting.
Sally nodded. "Next time you come here I'll know," she grinned at him before diving back into the water. "But get going, I don't want to find you floating unconscious in the water!" She laughed at him before diving under the water with a cheesy grin on her face.
She was happy that she had met someone knew and didn't think she was weird for being half fish.
Sherlock smiled and waved before Sally dived back into the water. Sherlock watched her disappear under the water and focused on sailing back to shore. His father would be getting worried, so he needed to hurry anyway. Sherlock started rowing his boat hard, moving the oars as he pushed himself back across the water in the direction of the shore. The wind was coming faster and stronger, making the boat rock dangerously. He fought against the waves, but then the rain came down and an even stronger gust of wind came upon him. Sherlock's eyes widened as his boat was pushed almost completely on its side. He leaned away from the water, trying to push the boat back but another large wave beat him to it. The boat turned over and Sherlock was thrown into the water.
He had let go of the oars and was trying to stay above surface as he looked for his boat. The waves were carrying his boat away from him and Sherlock tried desperately to swim back to it. Then a current swept him under the water, causing him to swallow large amounts of salty water. He was gagging and failing to breathe. His consciousness started to fade as the last of his willpower was taken by the force of the sea.
Sally swam against the rough current, trying to fight the storm as she dove down into the water. She swam furiously before reaching her home. The water was nearly still as she entered the coral building. She looked into the polished glass mirror and looked at the grin that was plastered to her face. She thought that the man she had met was kind, and he was attractive so she thought that that was also a plus! She combed her fingers through her hair, only thinking about the man. She sensed that something bad was happening so she left her home, beginning to make her way back to the point in surface that the two of them had met at.
It seemed like moments had passed when she saw the shadow in the shape of a man, it was getting larger and not because she was swimming closer but because the male was sinking. With one swift movement of her tail she moved closer to him and wrapped her arms around his waist, propelling the both of them up towards the surface of the water. She looked around before holding him with his head above the water. She looked at him and pushed his dripping hair away from his face.
It was the man who she couldn't get out of her mind.
Sherlock was just about to slip from consciousness before he felt arms take hold of him. He was being lifted back up and soon his head was back above the water. He coughed and spluttered violently as his body tried to remove all the water he had swallowed. After several moments of doing so, he blinked and saw who had saved him. It was the young mermaid woman he had just met.
"Sally...?" he was surprised and gently moved away from her so he could float on his own. "Thank you," he said with a smile. "But I need to get out of the water before I drown again...do you mind helping me back to shore?"
"No, I don't mind," she smiled. "Put your arm around my shoulder," she said.
She waited for him to do that while she looked around to find the shore line. When she located it she began to swim, keeping a tight grasp on his waist. It was much harder for her to swim when her head was above the surface but she had to swim like that so that Sherlock didn't drown again.
"I did tell you to leave earlier," she said firmly to him then sighed as the land came closer.
When the water became too shallow for her to swim she stopped. "Will you be able to make it from here?"
Sherlock did so and swam as well so Sally wouldn't have such a hard time. He went with her until she came to a stop. "Yeah, I can," Sherlock said with a nod. "I hope I can see you soon," he added a moment later. "Thank you again." Sherlock made the remainder of the journey to the shore and as he stepped onto the sand, he turned back towards the sea. He gave Sally a wave before heading off back to his own palace.
Upon his return, his servants were fraught with worry. Sherlock reassured them he was fine as they took him to the washroom to clean him up. Once so, he went to see his father in his study. Sherlock told his father about his boating trip and how he had almost drowned but a kind fisherman had caught him and brought him to safety. He didn't tell his father about Sally, in fear that something bad would happen to her. He didn't want to tell anyone about her in fact, for her own safety. She was so kind to him, and Sherlock thought it would be very rude if he gave anyone knowledge of her existence so they could go hunting for her.
Sherlock went to his room that night and took out his journal. It was supposed to be a scientific journal, but he wanted to put in something about Sally. He wrote about how Sally had looked and how her voice had sounded. He made sure to write her name down so he wouldn't forget it, and then made a note to keep an eye out for her the next time he went boating. Sherlock found himself still thinking about Sally even as he got into his bed that night.