I previously said that Narius was my favourite character but I've started to get really attached to Tristan now. Gurgh! Why do I have to treat my own characters like bloody people! Somebody slap me; remind me they're not real!

Tristan strikes me as a kind-of-adorable little dork. You know, the kind of guy that has loads of girls who are friends never has an actual girlfriend. I imagine him as letting anyone use him like a doormat and not even caring, so long as he'd helped them out. GROW A SPINE, YOU ADORABLE LITTLE SHIT!

Anyways, on with the tale…

Ellie x

Tristan got up just three hours after Ellen has fallen into deep sleep. He himself flitted in and out of consciousness, unable to immerse himself fully.

He pushed his hair back over his head only to sigh as it flopped back into place. It would do for today

He pulled his satchel over his shoulder and braced himself for the cold, having almost forgotten about his missing coat. He pressed a kiss to Ellen's head as she shifted in her sleep. Tristan gently patted down the stairs, past his mother who had fallen asleep at the kitchen table earlier that morning. She only really looked happy when she was asleep, oblivious to the world around her. The disappearance of their father had hit her harder than Tristan would have ever thought possible.

As he stepped out of the front door there was a sickly familiar splashing below him

"Oh god" he breathed, turning pale and breathing shallowly "You're back again. I'm cursed"

Indeed, below him, one of the merfolk was smirking, her arms folded across the wood of the platform with his coat folded up next to her.

"I think 'cursed' is a little rude" she smiled up at him "I only came to give your coat back"

"Yeah, thanks" he mumbled as he leant down to scoop it up. He pulled it on swiftly and then glanced down at the mermaid properly

"You've got bigger" Tristan muttered, his brows meeting in a heavy frown "Much bigger…"

Vahri laughed "I think it's because I'm closer to you now and its light. You're just seeing me better"

Tristan nervously sat cross-legged on the platform, glancing around nervously to check nobody was nearby

"No" he said, trying to peer through the milky white eyes to find something more… human "You've definitely gotten bigger since the first time I saw you"

Vahri laughed again and Tristan found the noise unnerving. Then he jumped back as Vahri pulled herself onto the platform to sit with her tail dangling in the water. She turned to him and grinned. Tristan nervously laughed when her sharp canines protruded below her bottom lip

"Errr…." He blushed, glancing over her "You're not…errr… I mean you're not wearing…" he gestured towards his own chest and then pointed to her, trying to maintain steely eye contact

Vahri looked confused "You mean I'm not wearing anything over my breasts? No, you're right I'm not. Mermaids don't"

Tristan blinked "Why? Don't you want to keep them away… from people looking?"

"Looking?" she smiled at him "We don't mind people 'looking'. They're a part of our bodies, why should we? Don't you like them?"

Tristan laughed at first but after glancing at her, head cocked to one side in confusion, it became apparent that she hadn't been teasing and actually wanted him to answer the question. So he just changed the subject

"Thanks for my coat…back" he stammered, shrugging it together for emphasis "You kept it dry" he observed

She nodded, still sat on the edge staring at him

He knelt down near her and frowned "I'm convinced you've gotten bigger, you know"

Vahri looked down at herself. She couldn't see what the young man was talking about. She seemed exactly the same as she had been yesterday. Before she could question him, there was a cheer from the other side of the house and Vahri jumped, throwing herself back into the water to hide

"It's okay" Tristan whispered, glancing at her "They're just sending the dwarves off… and that Hobbit. They're making their way to the mountain. They'll reach Erebor by nightfall"

Vahri looked up at his from below and smiled "I'm going to get a closer look"

Tristan shook his head "They'll see you. You'll get harpooned!"

She laughed "I'm aquatic, Tristan. I'll be underwater"

"Right" he murmured "I have work to get to"

He jumped back again as she suddenly threw her hands onto the planks "What kind of work?"

Tristan blinked "Errr… just to bring in money, you know. Up here, we errr… we have to earn money to pay for food. We do that by working" he pulled a coin out of his pocket and held it out for Vahri "That's what our money looks like"

Vahri turned it over in her hand "Yes. These fall into the water sometimes. I have lots. They're all bigger than this though"

Tristan shook his head "No. All our coins are this size. They have different things written on them because they're worth different amounts but they're all this size" then he paused "Did you say you had lots of these? Where?"

She shrugged "I collect them. I have many in pots at the bottom of the lake"

"I…errr…." Tristan stopped "I don't want to steal from you but I don't suppose we could have a pot, could we? It would help a lot of people out, here"

Vahri nodded "If it will get you things then you can have all of it. All it's doing is forming algae at the bottom of the lake. Now, I have to go. I want to see the dwarves. But I'll be here later, perhaps"

Tristan nodded "I'm sure I'll see you sometime. Just… be careful"

Vahri smiled and dipped quickly below the surface.

She listened carefully as she heard Tristan's boots clunking away before she darted further down-stream, searching for the bottom of a boat. Vahri came across a few different ones before finally finding the boat the dwarves were in. It had already set off to the sound of cheers and band music. She remained underneath the boat, following its slow course down the main canal of lake-town.

When it reached open water, Vahri could hear better the sounds of dwarven foot-steps treading harshly on the wooden decks of the vessel. They sounded different to human walks. Dwarf footsteps had a much lower centre of gravity, far more compact and robust than those of men.

The mermaid suddenly realised that she had two choices. She could follow the dwarves up the mountain, swimming easily up fast flowing streams to the smaller pools, eventually making it to the small moat at the very front of the mountain. Or, she could swim back to Narius, back to home and the dark, visit Tristan, bring him the 'coins' for which he asked and then disappear back into the depths.

It wasn't exactly a hard choice

She swam onwards with the boat, keeping care to stay underneath it. Neither scale nor fin could protrude from beneath the boat. If they saw her, she'd have a lot of explaining to do. No doubt that they too believed in the 'treachery of the merfolk'. Vahri would have to keep herself in check, to ensure she wasn't spotted…

-X-X-X-

Cool. Okay. So, this is a last minute upload. I'm jetting off to get some stuff done in Turkey and that'll take about two weeks so I thought that I'd upload a chapter now to last you the two weeks. Take-off's in three hours! Tally-Ho!

Ellie x