Her eyes widened, she had convinced she hit her head and he was just a weird dream or something. The odd-looking blue finman grinned up at her from the water. "You're real." She whispered.

"My name is Trollex."

She didn't reply, still in shock that it wasn't some kind of dream or something after she fell in the water. She froze when she remembered she didn't actually bring the necklace despite the fact she told her grandmother she had it with her. What if he tries to take her? She had nothing to toss to distract him so she could run away. I'm an idiot. She thought with a frown.

The finman raised his brow when the human girl didn't reply for a good moment. "What's your name?"

Oh, right. "Ash."

He moved closer to the edge she was standing by and rest his upper body against it, crossing his arms on the land. "I've never seen a human by the ocean in this area before. Well, that didn't have to do with going out to fish."
Ash slowly sat down in front of him but kept a safe distance in case he did try to snatch her into the sea. "I'm not from here. So, I thought all the talk about finfolk was just a legend."

Trollex just stared at her in response with a thoughtful expression.

She fidgeted, trying to push down the burning question in her mind, however…

"Is one of your parents human?" The question was eating her alive, the stories said finfolk kidnapped humans, taking them to their island and making them their husband or wife. Trollex grinned at the question. "What do you think?" "I don't know that's why I'm asking." She closed her eyes to not roll them at the young finman. "Both of my parents are finfolk."

"Really?"

"Mhm."

"Okay, well what about your grandparents?"

"Finfolk."

"Great grandparents?"

"Finfolk." At least, he assumed they were all finfolk, he never met them.

Ash moved closer to the finman. "Really? But the stories say that finfolk prefer a human spouse over their own kind because- "She paused. What was the reason they supposedly preferred humans over other finfolk again? "Because?" "I-I don't remember." Wow, this is embarrassing. She covered her face. "Anyway, I don't remember why the stories said they preferred humans, but what about the island? The ones they bring their human spouse to, to live on?"

"Island?"

Am I remembering it wrong? It's been years since I've heard the stories and looked it up myself. She thought to herself.

"Anyway, is the human spouse part true?" He nodded. "Yes, some finfolk take human spouses. Though we typically refer to them as mates."

"You're not looking a mate?"

"I told you, I'm still young. It's not something I'm concerned with at the moment."

"When you reach the age, you are ready to take a mate, are you planning to have a human mate or a finfolk mate? What age do finfolk usually start looking for a spouse."

"You're really concerned about my future mate." He teased.

She flushed, quickly covering her face to keep the young finman from seeing how red she was. Trollex laughed at her reaction.

Ash's eyes widened as the finman pulled himself up on the land to sit beside her. He turned to her and grinned. "It's easier to talk to someone on the same level, right?" When she didn't respond right away, he raised his brow. "I assumed you'd prefer this over me pulling in the ocean."
That caused her to snap back to reality. "Yes, most definitely."

She couldn't help but stare at him. The way his eyes glowed, his mouth glowed like his eyes. The longer she looked at him the less weird it appeared. She glanced down to the pink beating heart on his chest. "Is that really your heart?" She whispered, watching the pixelated heart shape on his chest beat. He nodded and tilted his head in confusion. "You can't see your heart?" he thought humans just used clothing to cover their hearts.
"No." She tugged the neck of her shirt down a bit to show nothing put pale skin where her heart is. The finman just looked more confused. "Is that where your heart is?" He had assumed human hearts were in the center of their chest like finmen, he was shocked to learn their hearts were on the left side of their chest. Humans were odd. He leaned a bit closer trying to see if he could see a pulse. When he saw nothing, he frowned.
Ash glanced down at his tail; it was thinner than she had imagined it'd be. She had assumed it'd be thicker at his waist, but the whole tail was thin like a fish fin and the fact it looked pixelated was interesting, the more she stared the more she was tempted to touch it. Would it be rude to ask? She let go of her shirt and glanced back at the finman's face, something seemed to be bothering him.

"What's wrong?"

"Why can't I see your heart beating?"

"Our hearts are deeper in our chest." She paused, not sure what else to say. Realizing she didn't exactly know how deep her heart was or what might be in front of it. Wow, I need to pay more attention in class. Had they even covered the position of their hearts in class?

"So, you can't feel it beating?"

"Oh, you can if you place your hand on someone's chest. You just can't see it."

Okay, she had to ask. "Can I touch your tail?"

He stared at her with a blank expression for what felt like forever. She froze scared she might've said something wrong.
"I'm sorry, I-" He cut her off. "Can I feel your heartbeat?" The question shocked her much more than it probably should've. She thought about it for a moment. I really want to touch his tail.

"Okay."

She grabbed his hand, it surprised her for a moment because of how soft it was. She didn't know what she expected it to feel like, but this certainly wasn't it. She took a deep breath and gently placed his hand over her heart, hoping he wouldn't comment on how fast it was beating.
His eyes widened at the feeling, it felt similar to his own which surprised him considering the fact he couldn't see it. He had thought he wouldn't able to really feel it. Of course, he didn't realize it felt so strong because of how nervous she was. Slowly he removed his hand from her chest and grabbed her hand and guided her towards his tail.

She had expected it to feel like a fish fin, despite it looking like one it was much smoother and it felt more sturdy than it looked. As she slid her hand over it Trollex lifted his tail with a sneaky grin and slapped the water, causing it to splash all over Ash.

"Hey!" She nudged him, luckily it was warmer than it was yesterday evening and even though the water was chilly it felt nice with the humid night.

His grin widened as she fought to keep from grinning herself.

"Ash!"

She quickly turned her head towards the voice calling her. It was her father. Trollex's eyes widened and he dived back into the water.

"I have to go." She stood and looked down at the finman. He moved closer to the edge of the cave. "Will you come back tomorrow?" He questioned hopefully.

She nodded, she was going to go home and look up the legends to learn more about finfolk. She was really curious about the island and why the legends say they prefer to take a human as a spouse over another finman or finwoman. She'd come back to ask him more about it. "Before sunset?

An hour before?"

Trollex tilted his head. "Hour?"

Ash frowned; they didn't go by time like humans? Well, that actually made sense. "Um, it's okay. Sunset tomorrow?"

"Okay." Trollex agreed. "See you tomorrow."


Dan frowned as his daughter ran up to him. "It's time for dinner. Your grandmother is so sure a finman has snatched you and that's why you weren't home yet." Dan rubbed his forehead as his mother's words played in his mind. "This town…." He mumbled. He had almost forgotten how annoying hearing about finfolk nonstop was.

"Sorry dad, I lost track of time." She rubbed the back of her neck sheepishly.

As they walked back towards the house Ash decided to ask him some questions about finfolk. "Hey, Dad, what do you know about finfolk?"
Dan stopped and raised a brow at his daughter. "What? Did you meet one or something?" He laughed.

She huffed. "I was just curious. I know it is kind of annoying since people here are so insistent that they are real, but you have to admit legends like this are interesting. I just realized tonight that other than the fact everyone in this town is sure they're real I don't know anything about finfolk."

"I suggest looking it up online. Honestly, there's so much I can't tell you everything before we get home and I really don't want to have the conversation in front of your grandmother."

Ash nodded in understanding. She really didn't want to get her grandmother started.

"Anyway, what's for dinner?"

"Fried chicken."

Ash frowned; she was never a fan of fried chicken.

"Don't worry, I got you some honey to dip it in. I actually found some spicy honey, I haven't tried it yet, but I bet you'll like it. If you don't like it don't worry, I got regular honey too."

As he rambled about the honey, her mind drifted back to Trollex. Thinking back on the interaction it was odd how quickly she warmed up to him, shouldn't she have been wearier of him? But the more they spoke the more comfortable she was, and his appearance didn't even put her off now. He was actually kind of cute.

"Ash?" She snapped out of her thoughts and turned to her father. "Yes?"

"Are you okay? You look a bit out of it."

"I'm fine, just thinking about what to do tomorrow. Oh, by the way, do you happen to have a waterproof watch?" If Trollex didn't follow time the way
humans did she wanted to give him a watch so they could meet more easily at certain times.


Ash thanked her grandmother for dinner and stood to clean up her plate. "I'm going to my bedroom. I'm tired today." She called out to her family and rushed to the bedroom before hearing her father or grandmother reply. As soon as she closed to door, she made a beeline for her desk and opened her laptop.

"Let's see." She mumbled as she typed finfolk into the search engine and pulled up the first page, which happened to be Wikipedia.
"Orkney folklore. Where exactly is Orkney?" She clicked on the word to be taken to that page. It's in the Northern Isles of Scotland. If finfolk are actually from Scotland, how did Trollex end up near a small town in the United States? How long would it take for a finman or woman to swim that far?

She flipped back to the page about finfolk. "The finfolk, both finman, and finwife." Oh wait, they're called finwife? That's weird. "Kidnap unsuspecting fishermen, or frolicking youth, near the shore and force them into a lifelong servitude as a spouse." She scrolled down to the information about finmen.

The finman is described as being tall and thin with a stern, gloomy face. Well, that sounds nothing like Trollex. He avoids human contact but is extremely territorial and will wreak havoc on the boats of fishermen trespassing in his water. Ash had a hard time imagining Trollex acting that way. As she read more she frowned. The finman is crafty and prepared to cheat men out of their silver or wives. She leaned back into her chair with a sigh. Was Trollex actually a finman? This sounded nothing like him.

She then skimmed over the information about finwives, they start their life as a mermaid and are bent on getting a human husband. She'll take him to live with her in Finfolkaheem or she'll live with the human in his town. If she can't get a human husband, she'll have to take a finman as her spouse and is made to go ashore and work as a healer or spinner, forced to give all her silver she earns to her husband or risk a terrible beating.

"This is horrible, no wonder the legends say finwives want a human husband."

Scrolling down the page, she clicked on the information about their homes. They have two homes, an underwater home Finfolkaheem and the island of Hilaland. She read about Finfolkaheem being a beautiful crystal underwater palace. Though, if it was underwater, how did human spouses live there? Then she read about the island of Hilaland, said to be invisible, hidden just underwater, or surrounded by magical fog.

She continued scrolling and raised a brow at the next bit of information. Unlike the selkies, Finfolk are neither romantic nor friendly. Instead of courting the prospective spouse Finfolk abduct them. They're territorial and greedy, lust for humans have a weakness for silver. A way to escape abduction is to toss some silver away from oneself. The motivation of getting a human spouse is because marriage to a human is preferred over other finfolk.

Why is it preferred though? Ash thought as she looked more through the article trying to find information Whatever the method of abduction the human captive is ferried away often screaming. Great. Ash grimaced at the words. Another reason for intermarriage with humans is should a finwife marry a finman she loses her beauty and mystical charm. As she ages without a human husband, she becomes uglier until she becomes a finwife hag.

"Well, okay then. Going by this there is no way Trollex is a finman."

Regardless, she was definitely going to question him about this tomorrow.


So, this is going to be a bit longer than I actually planned. Thanks for the kudos. I should be updating 'Falling for a King' (Trollex x OC) in a few days.