At sundown Marinette swam back to the lagoon where the other mermaids were sitting on rocks brushing their hair, looking into mirrors, and putting things in their hair to make them look beautiful. Alya pulled a starfish from a rock and put it to the side of her reddish brown hair it matched her orange tail perfectly. Juleka's tail was a deep purple so for her hair she wore a black muscle shell because it was dark colored. Mylene's tail was rainbow so anything would go with it but she simply tied her hair into braids using green and brown seaweed. Rose like to put all kinds of shells in her hair, usually white clam shells with pink on the inside since her tail was pink. Another thing they liked to wear was jewelry, they had a chest filled with all kinds of jewels and precious stones. If they were human they would be living like rich aristocratic women.
"There you are Marinette." Alya said.
"Where have you been?" Juleka asked.
"Just swimming here to there." She answered.
"Look at you Marinette, your hair is a mess." Rose said. She pulled out a brush and began to brush through her hair, until it was straight and shiny. Then she pulled a necklace of pearls from the chest and put it around her neck. "There now you look absolutely beautiful."
Juleka held up her mirror so Marinette could see her reflection. Marinette smiled, the girls were so nice. Later the other mermaids swam off to find more jewelry and other things, Marinette snuck off to go visit the shore.
...
Adrien's ship stopped at a nearby town. They docked it at a port and went inside the local tavern. Hundreds of men were sitting around, drinking, and cursing like they normal do. Adrien's crew went to get a drink while he went to sit with an old friend. Jagged Stone, he was a former pirate and he knew more about the ocean than anyone, now he was retired but he often served as Adrien's informant.
"Hello Jagged." Adrien said.
"Good to see you lad. What brings you by?"
"Not much, we're running low on wealth again. We need money, you know any treasure that might help?"
"Aye lad. There's hundreds, there's the pearl of storms, the gold rock of currents, all of them valuable but nothing compared to the fountain of dreams."
"What's that?"
He took a big swallow of beer. "So you want to hear about that? The last person I told this to was some drunk widower trying to drown his sorrows in as much beer as possible." He laughed and drank more beer. "The fountain of dreams holds magical water that can grant wishes if you drink from it."
"Any wish?"
"Well there are some things you can't wish for. You can't wish for someone to die, you can't wish for someone to fall in love, you can't wish to bring anyone back from the dead, you can't wish to be immortal, and you can't wish to be become a God but other than that anything."
"How do I find it?"
"Ha! To look for that fountain would be to take your own life. The seas that lead to it are infeasted with monsters and if by some miracle you make it to the island alive it's surrounded by a never ending jungle that you would surely get lost in."
"There must be someway to get there."
"There is but that in itself is also dangerous."
"How?"
"Only a mermaid can find it lad." He said.
"A mermaid?"
"Mermaids! What nautical nonsense." Max said.
"But it ain't nonsene. It's the truth." Jagged said. "You wanna find that fountain, get yourself a mermaid."
"That's it?" Adrien said. "Doesn't sound that difficult."
"Don't be fooled lad, getting a mermaid is not easy. They live in a lagoon quite far from here."
"What are they like?"
"Beautiful lad. Gorgeous, I've never seen anything like them. A couple years ago back when I was a pirate, the crew and I sailed past the lagoon. They swam up to us and began singing in the most enchanting voices, half the crew was brought to a watery grave."
"That bad?"
"A mermaid's singing and looks is hard to resist. And there's one particular mermaid who's voice and beauty captures the heart of anyone. Beware of them lad especially that one.
Outside the tavern, a mother and her child were shopping at the market. While the mother was distracted with buying food her daughter noticed something sparkly under the port. She slipped away and went to check it out. The sparkly thing then swam down to the beach. The little girl followed it all the way to the shore. Marinette rose to the surface and watched as the humans lived their lives.
"What are you?" Marinette turned around to see a little girl with brown pigtails looking at her. She had seen human children before and normally they were relatively harmless.
"Hello, My name is Marinette. I'm a mermaid."
"Oooo. You're so pretty." She said.
"Thank you."
"I'm Manon. Do you live in the sea?"
"Yes I do."
"What's it like down there?"
"It's beautiful. Would you like to see?"
"I can't swim."
"Don't worry you'll be safe with me."
She took Manon's hand and pulled her into water. To Manon's surprise, she could breathe underwater now. Marinette showed her all the fishes and other things. Then she brought her back.
"That was fun." She said. "I wish I was a mermaid then I could swim all day and wear pretty things like your necklace."
"You can have this if you want."
"Really?"
"Yes." She put it around her neck.
"Manon!" Her mother called. "Manon! Where are you?"
Marinette swam away.
"Manon!" Her mother said running toward her and picking her up. "There you are! Where have you been? And why are you all wet?"
"Mama! I met a mermaid!"
"Oh! You've been listening to those stories that sailors tell."
"No Mama! She was real! I saw her!"
"Where did you get that necklace? Are those real pearls?"
"My mermaid friend gave them to me."
"Goodness! These look expensive." She said taking Manon home wondering where on Earth her daughter could have gotten such a thing.