About a week passed, and there was still no hint for finding Sakura. Yao had insisted that Amelia search for her every day of the week, so she did, but there was still nothing unusual about the reef. The only reason Amelia kept doing it, was due to the fact that she could collect food in addition to search for her friend.
However, after eight days of searching, something changed.
It was that day when she saw the creature. It was unlike any creature Amelia had ever seen, about the size of a mermaid. It was mostly black with two blue streaks running down it in perfect symmetry, ending with blue fins pumping at the end. As the creature got closer, Amelia realized it looked just like a mermaid, except with two tails instead of one and a black suit covering it.
Amelia gasped. It was just like the descriptions of humans she had heard from other merfolk who had seen them. And the human was approaching her.
With a smile, Amelia gladly swam up to it, curiosity flooding through her. She was going to examine it, see what "legs" looked like, and ask it so many questions about the human world. She had always wanted to meet a human and now she had the chance. She had the chance to know what it was like to breath, and how to walk, and about all of the strange technology she had heard of, the machines and the advancement and what humans could do.
Then a thought struck her, causing the smile to fade away from her face. Merfolk couldn't communicate with humans, even if they could understand every word that they said. The mouths were just not shaped in the right way to make human speech.
But her smile returned as she thought a way she could avoid this barrier.
Alice loved the sensation of being fully submerged under the water. It was calm, cool, and relaxing. She wondered what it would be like to constantly be in this state of bliss, untouched by the air, just like what merfolk feel, except it would be normal for them.
She swam towards the reef, away from her boat and towards where she had found the koi mermaid, her senses fully focussed on finding the hints that merfolk had been there recently, like a bright, shining scale, or a woven bag to carry their food in. She found none, as merfolk, again, were smart, clever creatures, good at avoiding detection. Usually, she would find them with a glint of a lustrous tail, but it was always extremely important to collect all of the possible signs that she could, as they further hinted at the behavior of the merfolk that lived in the areas, possibly making it easy to find more or mimic their actions.
However, today was different. She did not spot any signs of a merfolk in the area, or just a glimpse of a tail. This time, she saw a whole mermaid, its dark blue tail glittering brightly, a little bit in front of her. It wasn't hiding, or swimming away, and it wasn't even petrified with fear. This mermaid was swimming closer to her.
Alice furrowed her brow as the mermaid approached. She had never seen such such behavior in the creatures. Either the mermaid was incredibly stupid, or setting a trap for Alice. However, either way, she could still manipulate it. She watched its movements slowly, the way it jerked its tail when it swam, and how the water seemed to flow around it. She watched the way the arms moved, and how its fingers changed ever so slightly in the natural current in the ocean.
Alice mimicked the creature's movements, down to the slightest blink. Her body movements, opened bridge towards the mermaid's mind, where she let thoughts of trust and piece flow across, tendrils reaching out and probing, attempting to communicate with it.
And the mermaid imitated her right back.
Surprised, Alice almost lost control of her movements, but with immense amounts of concentration, she managed to hold on, only to have her mind pushed back by the mermaid's. She felt intense amounts of curiosity, a babble of questions flowing through her, each one hardly loud among the sea of words. She caught things about the human world, what it was like above the water, and what human technology was about, but everything else was lost.
This caused Alice to jump back, her mind overtaken by the mermaid's, due to confusion and surprise. "What the hell…" she whispered under her breath, the voice projector over her mouthpiece sending it out into the water.
Alice could feel the link between their minds, the mental plane in which they had a strong and pure connection. They could share whatever thoughts they wanted with each other, all that they ever knew, within less than a second, and without speaking a single word. Alice had never felt a connection like this, even with using siren's imitation on other merfolk, when she had felt her pressing presence against their closed off minds.
In response, she pushed thoughts of capturing merfolk to the back of her mind, forcing herself not to think of it in case the mermaid found out about her. If that happened, she may have little to no hope to catch any more in this area, or anywhere around it.
Suddenly, words were projected into her mind, causing her to stiffen up at the pure clarity, because when humans talked to other humans, the meaning and tone of the words could be altered to mean something else entirely, while what was being projected into Alice's mind was a pure, untranslated idea.
I'm Amelia projected the mermaid. It wasn't those two words that it had projected immediately into Alice's mind, but the idea of the mermaid being called Amelia, and not only that, but the emotion behind her name, what she associated with it, the fiery burst of bright energy that was associated with the name.
Alice considered the situation for a moment. She had several options with the siren's imitation not working as she thought it would. She could flee back to her boat where she would report to Toris and Feliks that she was unsuccessful in finding any merfolk, or she could stay, finding out more information about merfolk, possibly making it easier to find or catch any that she came across, but also risking merfolk finding out about her and her powers.
She decided to choose the latter. My name is Alice she sent back, also feeling her emotions and the stern yet graceful power she associated with it drift into the mermaid's thoughts.
The mermaid smiled brightly and did a flip, causing the deep blue scales to shimmer and shine like stars twinkling in the night sky. She emitted some sort of purring sound, one that signified joy in Alice's experiences with merfolk. Amelia offered out her hand towards Alice, beckoning her to take it, as she knew it was a symbol of trust between merfolk. So, she did, and the smile on Amelia's face only widened.
Perhaps, Alice could manipulate her just like she did with the other merfolk, considering she had so easily gotten her trust. She projected the same idea of panic and the nearby supposed maider ship that was coming for her, but the mermaid just emitted the same emotion into Alice's mind of an angry shark right behind her, causing her to jump and twirl around, but upon seeing no shark, she turned back to the now laughing mermaid.
Tell me about the human world the mermaid pleaded, her curiosity alongside the thought. What's it like to have legs? I want to know.
The only way Alice could keep the trust of mermaid was to answer her questions, making sure that she didn't reveal anything about her intentions. She sent the feeling of what walking was like, a stroll in London being all that she could think of.
Alice and Amelia talked some more, or, well thought to each other. Amelia asked so many questions about the human world, each one imbued with an intense passion and curiosity. Alice answered each one with an image or a feeling, starting to enjoy the smile that touched Amelia's face, and her laugh that she could hear through the water. However, eventually, Alice's oxygen supplies began to run low, so she told Amelia that she had to leave due to that. The mermaid seemed disappointed, but she told her she would meet her there in that exact place to communicate some more in exactly one week. However, as she swam back to her ship, one thought stuck with her. She could still feel the intense emotion from the mermaid's thoughts.
Amelia was left ecstatic after her encounter with Alice. How excited she was to finally talk with and meet a human, something she had longed to do for so long. She rushed back to her tribe's territory, as she could hardly wait to tell the others what had happened, but then she realized something. The others couldn't know about this, as humans and their society were considered evil and not liked by mermaids, especially considering the threat they posed to the ocean.
As she approached the tribe's territory and cavedens, a familiar scent tickled her nose. The smell of blood.
A/N - The usual, please review if you can and I hope you enjoy, should update in about 2 weeks.
