Title: Melena

Author: Keley

Rating: What is this for anyway? People always ignore them.

Feedback: I'm not one of those authors who bribes people for reviews. If you want to leave me a review go ahead. If not I'll survive though they are greatly appreciated.

Disclaimer: I own everything.

Notes: This is still being told by the old mermaid at the moment. It will not be very detailed. That will change after the next chapter. Also: ummm thanks to Crackpot Inventress for her review. I had this up under another penname and was told in a review that I needed more detail so now when I re-wrote it I added detail. Thanks to Kanri the Assassin for her review.   

~Rescue~

The next morning the old mermaid was waiting for the children when they came for more of the story.

"When I stopped yesterday what was happening? Can someone refresh my memory?" The old mermaid asked even though she knew perfectly well what had happened.

Many hands were raised and many variations of: 'Pick me! Ohhh, Pick me!' were shouted. It took her a while but the mermaid picked a young mer-woman with blue hair and tail to review what had happened the previous day.

When she had finished the old mermaid smiled and began to tell the story again:

"A few days later Melena went up to the surface again. She saw the same ship and the same people. The young man was still standing the starboard side; unlike the other guests he was still clad in the same style clothing as the last time she had seen him but this time he was wearing a blue shirt, black breeches and the same leather boots as before.

"'He has to be a prince,' she thought. Everything about him suggested that he was a prince; the way he stood and the way he did not speak and was not spoken to, but rather left alone.

"For a whole year Melena secretly went to the surface and watched for the prince and his ship and almost always they were there. He never left the spot where she had first seen him. It was almost as if he were in a trance. She feared he might be dead.

"One night while Melena was going to see the prince there was a huge storm. The prince's boat was struck by lightning and it sank. Melena was on her way up to the surface when she saw the prince floating limply past her. She swam after the prince and dragged him through the turbulent waster for a few hours trying her best to keep his head above the water. She took him to the closest island she could find and pulled him up onto the beautiful sun lit beach.

"There she began to try to expel the water that he had swallowed. Finally after at least an hour the prince began to wake up. When Melena noticed this she quickly slipped into the water and hid behind a large rock close to the beach.

"As the prince began to sit up Melena gave a happy cry. 'Oh I'm so glad you are awake!' she called.

'Who's there?! Who said that?!' the young prince cried.

'I am here,' Melena called from the water.

'Who are you?!' the prince called again.

'I am me,' she called back coming out from behind the rock but she carefully avoided showing him her tail.

'Oh God.' were the first words he spoke when he saw her.

"Melena became afraid and dove under the water. Had she done something wrong? When she came up she looked for the prince but he was nowhere to be found. Then she saw him. His face was just inches from hers.

'Ahhhhhh!!!' she screeched and backed away from him. He just stayed where he was, his green shirt was soaked and so were his brown breeches. His shoes were no where to be seen.

'What are you?' the prince asked her.

'I am a being of the earth.' She replied. 'You should leave the water now. For if you don't I'm afraid that you may be harmed.'

"Reluctantly the prince left the water and sat on the beach. There was nothing she could do then to keep him with her that would not draw attention to her tail. 'Oh well, I'll have to see him another day,' she sighed and swam away.

"But this was not the case for that night the prince was found and taken off the island. Some days later he was sent to his winter castle by his parents who thought that he was spending too much time on the ocean. They wanted him to look for a wife. He of course would do nothing of the sort and he told them so. The only girl that he wanted was the one that saved his life that day when his boat sank.

"Children it is late and you must go home now or your parents will be very angry with me. I will tell you more of this story tomorrow. Good night!" The old mermaid stayed out side her house this time watching the children go home.