If I remember correctly, my mother received a few of these flowers before as a present from one of her relatives. These flowers were... yellow, I think? Yeah. And they were smaller than lily pads. I think father kept them in a water tank somewhere near the garden.
Though, it bothers me how they found them. After all, I hear that the water tank is filled with salty water, and the only place around here would be the sea. There are a few lakes around, but I don't think that they'd find it there. They must be getting it from a different source, maybe overseas? Or could there really be one nearby?
I'll have to halt that thought for now. I can't pick the ones in the garden anyways. Father would be furious with me if I did. I guess I'll ask Leo if he knows where it originated from. He knows a lot about the sea.
I process these ideas in my head as I glide through the crowd. I pass the forest and arrive at the beach. I stand at the tip of the waves and gaze towards the water.
"What now?" I mumble to myself.
I didn't think ahead again, like usual. I forget that Leo only visits me during the night. By then, it would've been too late. Maybe I can find the flower around the coast..?
As I fill my head with ideas, I spot something swimming beneath the water. A head slowly emerges and a familiar gaze stares at me.
"Leo?" I instantly say.
I walk towards him, kicking the water along the way.
"What are you doing here?" I ask, but his face shows no recognition of who I was.
Ah, the disguise.
"Its me, Anna" I say, pulling the wig off.
"Oh." he says, slightly surprised.
"What are you doing here?" I ask again.
"Same here. I thought you said that we'd only meet at night." he reminds me.
"Well..." I start to say. I pause. "I'm looking for a particular flower that I think lives somewhere in the sea." I explain.
"A flower?" he repeats.
I nod. "Now that I've told you my reason, what are you doing here? I thought... you know..." I ask, throwing the question back at him.
He looks at me and opens his mouth as if to say something, but quickly shut it. He swiftly turns his gaze away "No reason." he simply says, making an obvious lie.
"A-anyway, why do you need this flower?" he changes the subject back to me.
"Secret." I smile, not backing down.
"Really?" he mumbles, looking back at me. Silence.
"Hey Leo," I start to say.
"Yeah?" he replies.
"Is there anything that lets you breath underwater?" I ask.
He was about to open his mouth to say something, but stops again. He spins around and dives back into the water, swimming away.
"Where did he go?" I mumble to myself. I waited for who knows how long until he returns back with a handful of... something.
"Is that... raw seaweed?" I ask hesitantly.
He nods.
"Its a special type of seaweed which grows near here. They love to grow on rocky areas." he informs me.
"Do I... eat it?" I question.
"Don't worry. It actually taste nice." he reassures me.
"I hope so" I grab a piece and stare at it before gulping it down in one go. I shiver, sticking my tongue out. "Blah."
"It only works for about an hour." he warns me. I nod.
Now my clothes...
"Wait here." I tell him as I run behind a huge rock.
I strip down to my underwear. I pile my clothes neatly and place a rock above, insuring the safety of my clothes against the wind. I run towards the water, kicking the water until it was deep enough to dive into. The water stings my eyes as I enter into the salty water. Opening my mouth, I was naturally breathing underwater.
I look over to Leo, his face was slightly red. I slowly swim towards him. His violet tail and eyes match his blonde, short hair.
"What flower are you looking for?" he asks, gyrating around me.
"One that sings." I instantly reply.
"Where did you hear that from?" he asks, looking confused.
"I heard a rumor. " I simply explain.
"That's strange..." he mumbles.
"What is?"
"The flower you speak of. Humans aren't suppose to know about it. After all, it's located at least 700 m deep under the ocean so its a little... strange, I guess. Its called Ranunculus and they use telepathy to communicate to us merfolk but only if we are at least 50 m away." he explains.
He grabs my hand and we glide through the water.
"Lets keep going for now. We shouldn't waste our time. Its a bit far from here" he says.
The journey was quiet-except for the sound of fish swimming nearby.
"Why are you specifically looking for this flower?" he suddenly asks, breaking the silence between us.
"No special reason" I lie.
He stares at me for an instant before turning away. We came to a halt at the top of a trench. He looks at me again, his eyes searching for answers. I heave a sigh.
"I made a deal with someone," I start to explain. One of his eyebrow went up. "If I could give him one these flowers, he'll give me something in return." I continue.
"And that something is...?" he asks.
"A music box. It's kinda of a personal reason." I look down, fiddling my thumbs. He grabs my hand and show a smile.
"Lets go." he says.
We swim down until we reach the ground.
"Its over there somewhere." he points ahead.
We swim along the trench.
"I think it'll be alright to take one but... once you take it out of the water, it'll die." he explains.
"I don't know. I wasn't sure whether they really lived in the sea, so I didn't bring anything." I mumble.
"How did you know to look here?" Leo asks another question.
"My father keeps some at home. I would like to take one there, but..." I sigh.
Leo mumbles something under his breath that I couldn't catch.
"Leo?" I ask.
"No. Its nothing." he shakes his head and looks ahead.
It looked as if he didn't want to talk about it so I dropped the subject. I spot something ahead.
"Is that it?" a point at a patch of flowers.
"Yeah." he leads me towards it, still holding my hand.
"Weird. How come we can't hear anything?" I mumble to myself.
"Ah, That's because these patch of flowers need moonlight. Its the source of their power." he answers.
"But, the ones in our garden just sing whenever they feel like it." I say.
"Different flower patches have different conditions. I know since whenever I explore the ocean, I see them living in different places, each different from each other. What I find fascinating is that they can also be in different colours depending on the environment." he explains.
I take a good hard look at the flowers. They were white and hadn't bloomed yet. A tiny portion of sunlight could reach the flowers. As I was about to pick one, Leo stops me.
"Careful. If you touch it like that, you'll startle it. Perturbed, it will start to release some sort of gas, making any living organisms to lose conscious. We'll be helpless if that happens. You would've drowned since the effects of the seaweed would've worn off." he warns me.
I nod. "What should we do now?" I ask.
"You stay here and do nothing. I'll find something hopefully nearby to hold the flower." he tells me, swimming further away from me.
"DON'T DO ANYTHING YOU HEAR ME?!" he shouts.
I nod and stare at the trail of bubbles he leaves behind. I turn my gaze back towards the flowers.