Just wanted to say a huge thank you to 'Snowdrop56' who has reviewed this story twice already. And a quick and elaborate bow to those of you who favourited or followed this story. Your support is much appreciated

Ellie x

Narius had begun to grow frustrated. Vahri was taking far too long looking at every little thing as they made their way through the water, underneath the wooden pathways of laketown and only poking their heads up to see where they were.

The female siren was marvelling at every little thing. She adored the little boats and fishing nets and she loved to poke her hands up to prod the bottom of the wooden structures. Occasionally she would hyperventilate as an actual living person would walk past. On legs, things she'd never seen before and could only guess at how they worked.

"Come on!" Narius growled for the third time in two minutes "Do you want to see the dwarves or not? There's a mutant dwarf with them. He's tiny and has massive feet. C'mon! I wanna look at them again!"

Vahri snapped out of her leg-obsessed state and swam on with Narius, trying not to lag behind until they finally reached the town square that sat before the town hall, home of the master of laketown.

People were, indeed, out celebrating. Many torches were lit along the streets and people were handing out food from trays. There was music and dancing across the central platform and all down the wooden slatted streets. But Vahri and Narius could not see the dwarves anywhere.

"There!" Vahri pointed, as the two floated just beneath the platform, hearing the dancing above. The dwarves were sat at a long table on the far side of the deck, "I can see them, they're…"

Narius pulled her under the water quickly and shook her "What is wrong with you? Don't shout, people will see us!"

Just as Narius had said, people began to walk to the edge of the decking, wandering if somebody had fallen in.

The two quickly swam along the underneath of the deck to avoid being spotted and into a tiny side street, barley big enough to fit a canoe into, and hid, their eyes just poking out of the water.

"What are you doing?" a small voice came from behind them and the two young merfolk spun around to come face to face with a little girl. She could have been no older than eight or nine with short dirty-blonde hair tied in plaits. Her brown eyes brimmed with curiosity "Aren't you cold?"

Vahri and Narius looked up at her. Humans had not seen the mermaids in hundreds of years and they were probably considered extinct or had passed into legend.

"Erm, no" Narius smiled weakly "It's… errr… warmer than it looks"

"We like it down here" Vahri nodded as both she and Narius tried to swim slowly towards the opening of this little watery side alley that was apparently a dead-end "and we were dirty so we had to wash…"

"Okay" the little girl smiled "Would you like some bread. We baked some for the party"

She held out a little metal tray with unidentifiable blobs of dough on them. The shape was peculiar

"They're dead dragons" she explained, looking very proud of herself "Mommy and I made them and she said I should give them to people who were at the…"

"Ellen! What are you doing? Get away from the water, now!" a voice rang from the end of the alley as a net ascended from beneath the water, yanking up both Vahri and Narius into the cold night air and restraining them a good three foot above the water. The net had obviously been an old fish trap that hung from a spire on one of the roofs that had been unused due to the lack of fish.

The young man who had pulled the lever to spring the trap looked anxious as he headed over to the little girl and pulled her towards the buildings lining the thin street, as far away from the water as possible.

"Let us go!" Vahri yelled, tugging on the rope as it rubbed the scales harshly off her tail. Narius only hissed aggressively, attempting to frighten the boy

"I know what you are!" the boy shouted victoriously, clutching 'Ellen' close to him. He had the same eyes and blonde hair as this little girl and Vahri guessed them to be siblings "You're water-demons! Merfolk come to drag us all to our deaths and eat us!"

"What?" Narius shouted "I'm not eating any of you, disgusting filth. Now, let us go!"

"Pardon me if I don't take your word for it" the youth frowned, pushing his little sister behind him "But I don't think I'll be letting you murder any innocents tonight"

At which point he turned towards the opening of the alley and began to shout "Merfolk! I've caught merfolk! Somebody help"

Narius scoffed "They can't hear, you utter cretin! The music and dancing is too loud. Even if they heard you they'd be too stupid to believe you!"

Vahri looked across at her friend. His antagonizing was not only absurd, but would undoubtedly get them killed

"Ellen, stay here and keep watch" the boy said, kneeling in front of his little sister and taking her hands "I'm going to get help. Do not go near them, okay?"

The little girl nodded and watched as her brother dashed around the corner, his long coat trailing out behind him and his boots hitting the wooden planks hard as he disappeared from sight

"That's my brother, Tristan" Ellen said proudly "He's 18 but he's so rude sometimes"

Narius nodded kindly, attempting to charm the little girl "That's because he's so young. We're wiser than him because we're much older"

Ellen looked fascinated "Really? But… you're so small!" she giggled

He nodded "I know you won't believe us but we're hundreds of years old. Or, at least I am. I'm 214. Vahri here is only 175"

Ellen was in awe "I'm only eight" she gasped

Vahri cut in "We're sorry to ask this, Ellen" she asked, trying to seem friendly "But this rope is really hurting us" she pointed to her own tail where the friction had rubbed off some of her scales. Narius' tail was in a similar state as well as his left shoulder that was red and irritated "Can you please let us out? We just want to go home"

Ellen nodded "Would you like some bread for your journey?" she asked, innocently

"Yes" Vahri and Narius said in unison, trying to speed up the little girl "Just, please, pull the lever and let us down"

The little girl quickly passed two pieces of 'dead dragon' bread through the holes in the net and gleefully ran over to the lever. She pushed it as hard as she could, her face screwing up with the effort until it finally clicked out of place and the net harshly fell back into the water

Vahri and Narius quickly detangled themselves, leaving the net and Narius' piece of bread behind.

They cleared the end of the alleyway just as Tristan came back with two men from the town.

The last thing Vahri saw before she disappeared into the black depths was Ellen, waving gleefully after them