I'm back with another one-shot. I found it in my drafts while looking for any excerpts for The Day That Went Askew. It's basically just fluff with a dash of cultivating a healthy relationship.

Pairing: Rita x Veridia

Word Count: 694

Hope you enjoy!

It was a lot harder to find people on land than Veridia expected.

In the Sea she knew where to find the other Mermaids. Besides their individual caves under the island, there were certain places Mermaids would go. Rita, for instance, there was this tiny bay around the west side of the island where she would often go to. Veridia often went with her. None of the other Mermaids went there.

On land though, it was anyone's guess. If Rita wasn't at the house she had no idea where to look beyond that.

Veridia made her way up through the house and found Rita in her bedroom, sitting in front of the mirror, struggling to untangle a complex braid from her hair. Veridia knocked softly on the ajar door and Rita swivelled around to see who was there.

The soft smile that broke on her face when she saw Veridia standing there made her face light up. Rita dropped her hands from her hair and the braid's loose end hung down amongst the rest of her hair, beautifully red in the sunlit room.

"Hey."

"Hey. You managing with your hair?" Veridia asked.

"Nope," Rita gave a laugh and turned back around to face the mirror.

Veridia stepped into the room and pushed the door so it was most of the way shut. For all the nights she'd spent here in this room, there was still the sense that she shouldn't be here. This wasn't her space.

"Can you help?" Rita asked softly.

Veridia blinked back surprise.

"Of course," Veridia bit her tongue as she stumbled over her words. Letting someone else touch your hair, for a Mermaid, is one of the biggest signs of trust. Before Rita left the Pod they would do each other's hair the whole time. Rita was always better at weaving those little shells into braids than Veridia was and could easily do more complicated twisting styles that were required by those on the Council.

Now though, their relationship wasn't back at that place yet, or at least as far as Veridia could tell. Rita had strict boundaries and was often difficult to read. Veridia used to be able to tell what she was thinking or feeling, but now - things had changed. Rita was far more closed off than she had been.

That was one of the most jarring shifts between then and now, the reservation Rita had in telling her things. It had hurt. Until Rita talked to her about it, only a day after she noticed Veridia pulling away. The whole talking-through-problems had never been a strength in their relationship, but this time - they were both trying.

Veridia stood behind Rita and picked up her braid, the ends of her hair was matted and tangled together, which would've been causing her struggle. Unless you could see how the hair was caught - it was a painful thing to smooth out.

"Who put this in?" Veridia asked, avoiding looking at Rita's reflection by focusing on untangling her hair.

"I did."

What happened the Mermaid who could braid flawlessly and knew how to fix dozens of shells into the most complex hair styles?

"I'm a bit out of practice," Rita admitted.

Rita must have seen her reaction.

Veridia just smiled and continued unravelling the strands of hair. She'd gotten out the worst of the tangles, without the tangled, knotted strands Rita's hair was soft around her fingers. The braid was completely undone and Veridia ran her fingers up through Rita's hair, spreading the crinkled hair left from the braid out.

"Thank you."

Veridia stepped back and Rita turned around, hair curling slightly around her face. She suited her hair down and the dark red enhanced her eyes. Veridia blushed as Rita tilted her head, something she did a lot when they were younger, watching her reflected in the mirror.

"Sorry," Veridia apologised.

"It's okay," Rita smiled, "I like that I can make you blush."

Veridia felt her face flush brighter red as Rita laughed. It wasn't fair, she'd created a reputation as the unshakable ice-queen, yet here she was blushing at being caught staring. Only Rita could do that to her.

Hope everyone's doing well in this difficult time but we're getting through it. We're still in lockdown up here in Scotland but the amount of people breaking the lockdown, and have been since the start, is too much. Keep social distancing and following all the guidelines for your country.

Stay safe everyone, wherever you are.