Epilogue
Another prior authors note: A final chapter illustration! butterfrogmantis/art/The-Transformation-798240744
Also if you care to keep an eye on DA, at some point this week I'll submit doodles of the other characters ^^
It had been 8 years since the dramatic events of the 'merman' unveiling. Nobody in Brigodston could offer an explanation to Skiff's disappearance, so it was ruled as a conscious tragedy. Mayor Blair commissioned a portrait of her deputy, and the pearl (which had also vanished as mysteriously as the sailor) to be hung in the council home along with portraits of the other famous Brigodston residents. Over time, the events of that year became more like folklore in the town, and some parents even took to using the disappearance as a means to get their children to eat their broccoli (by reminding them of the painting and saying 'if you don't finish your plate, you'll also vanish'.)
The three Pescecorp men had been taken to court, and testified against. Marco had willingly cooperated and given details, and was given a few weeks community service which he took without complaint and, on the whole, enjoyed. He'd later married Nelly Blair in a public ceremony, and begun to study law at the local college. Zak had initially refused to cooperate, and was sentenced alongside his boss. He was released from jail several months later on account of his good behaviour, and had since joined a programme teaching primary school children the importance of environmental protection. Big Dave's schemes had been fully exposed during trial, and he'd gone on to initiate a couple of riots within the jail which had earnt him an extended sentence. The boat had been given to Marco, who had encouraged the community service workers to recycle it into a restaurant at the docks, which had gained good customer reviews. Part of this plan was to ensure Dave would never have another chance to destroy any more of the ocean.
On this day in particular, it was clear and warm, and two young children were making sandcastles on the beach, their dark brown hair warm against their sun kissed shoulders. A fair haired man with a curly fringe was sitting on the wall nearby, reading a magazine, but they paid no attention to him. The older child, a girl, was telling a story she'd made up to her younger brother who was busily studding the sand castle with tiny shells.
"And then Mollie the mermaid swam down, down and down, until she found a tiny shell. It was uh – Pedro what's your favourite colour?"
"Um, Orange"
"Ok, she found a tiny orange shell. Mollie lifted it to her ear-"
"How tiny was it?"
"Well, ear sized"
"Oh"
"Let me finish would you? Anyway, she lifted the tiny shell to her ear, and heard all of the wonderful songs of the ocean, and the songs told her to go and sit on the beach because she'd find a huge treasure chest there"
"But Mollie wouldn't be able to breathe on land"
"Yeah she would, mermaids are part human"
"Also part fish"
"Yeah but like, they can do both"
"No they CAN'T Mollie"
"Actually, yes they can"
Both of the children turned to see the magazine reading man looking up at them, bemused by their childish argument. Mollie stuck her tongue out at her brother as if to say 'told you so'.
"But mister, that don't make any sense" Pedro frowned, his chubby cheeks puffed out in indignation.
The ashen man shrugged, and slipped his magazine into his back pocket.
"Your sister is right I'm afraid chap, merfolk do actually breathe both ways"
"And how would you know?" The boy crossed his arms. "Did you meet one?"
"Actually ... I did"
Both of the children were surprised by this, and their tiny mouths hung open in unison. Then they became clamouring to hear more about the strangers encounter, tugging at his trousers. Gently, the man brushed them off, and crossed his legs on the wall.
"It was many years ago" He pointed out to the ocean, and the kids followed eagerly. "But I did meet one. Just one."
"Was she beautiful?" Mollie asked excitedly, her pigtails bouncing.
"It was a merman, but yes, I suppose he was" The man sounded bemused "His tail certainly"
"What was it like?" Pedro asked, having overcome his disbelief.
"It was silver, with amber and ebony splatters, and just a hint of yellow. But all of those scales shone like diamonds"
Mollie and Pedro let out a collective 'ooh', and the stranger grinned.
"And yes, he could breathe both ways. Your Mollie mermaid would be quite safe as long as she wasn't caught. Humans aren't really supposed to see merfolk you know, especially not adult ones"
"Then how did you see one?"
The adult winced, clearly remembering something traumatic.
"It was an accident to say the least. They're far more likely to show themselves to children anyway. Tell you what, I know a secret" He jumped off the wall and dusted the sand from his trousers. "Do you know Pirate's arch?"
Mollie and Pedro nodded.
"They say if you go there at midnight, you might just see something cool. Take a gift with you and leave it in the water - you might even get one back"
The siblings exchanged glances, fear and excitement coursing through both of them. Before they could ask any more questions, another man approached them; looking as though he had been searching for someone.
"THERE you are. Come on man, we'll be late for the fly by"
The ashen haired stranger nodded.
"Sorry Jeremy, just filling these kids in"
"You're not still going on about that mantee are you, Harold?"
"Merman, not mantee – I know exactly what I saw"
"Whatever you say" Jeremy shrugged "Just don't be late!"
"As if I would~" Harold turned and gave the children a wink. "Remember kids, midnight – just don't let your parents catch you"
Mollie promised they wouldn't.
As the sun started to set, the siblings made their way back to their home for dinner. Lucy Blair met them at the door, and scolded them playfully for being late.
"Sorry Granny" They chorused, hugging her legs quickly before darting into the hall. Lucy shook her head fondly as she watched them go. Mollie and Pedro skidded into the dining hall, narrowly missing knocking over a waiter. Their parents sat at one end of the table, their plates already cleared. Marco was frowning at a pile of paper work on his desk.
"Aw, c'mon Marcy" Nelly smiled, rubbing her husband's arm "I'm sure you'll pull through the election just fine"
"But the other candidate did have some very good points ..."
"So did you!"
"It would help if the other candidate wasn't my brother in law ..."
Nelly giggled.
"I'm counting on you AND Dan to have done well. Oh! Kids – how was today? Did you play nicely?"
"Uh huh" Both of them nodded, stuffing their faces with Yorkshire pudding. They wanted to finish as quickly as possible to prepare for the night ahead. First they had to get through bath time, which both of them notoriously hated. Mollie bore it a little better this evening because she realised she could turn the water and bubbles into a game of 'mermaid'. She then took several glasses of water, a book and torch with her to keep her up till it was time. She hid these under her bed so that their parents wouldn't find them when they came to kiss them goodnight. After Marco and Nelly left, Mollie forced herself to stay awake by curling under her blanket and reading, her eyes strained by torch light. After what seemed like an eternity, the wall clock finally struck 11.
Mollie slid out of bed and tiptoed over to her brother, shaking him gently by the shoulder.
"C'mon Pedro, we gotta get up"
"Hnnsgit?"
"We gotta see the cool thing that man was talking about"
" ... oh" Pedro nodded, and followed his sister. They grabbed their coats from the hall and stole silently down to Pirate's arch. Years of wear and tear had softened its features, and it looked a lot less ominous than it had done eight years ago. Mollie and Pedro sat on the sand and ate the lemon curd sandwiches Mollie had taken from the kitchen. She'd also brought a rubber duck from the bathroom, which she hoped would serve as a gift, so she left it on the surface of the water. They'd almost fallen asleep when-
"Mollie what's that?" Pedro hugged his sister's arm tightly. She looked up. There was a long dark shape in the water. She gulped, and waited. Something broke the surface of the water. A face, almost human like except for the fangs and gills. Mollie and Pedro stared at each other. Could this really be? They crept forwards to check.
The mercreature seemed surprised at first, and tried to swim away.
"Wait! We're not gonna hurt you! We just wanted to see if you were real"
The merman turned back, assessed the human children, and approached. In the moonlight, the siblings were amazed to see a tail just as Harold had described – silver scales spattered with amber and ebony that shone like ancient coins. He plucked the rubber duck from the surface of the water.
"For us?"
"Well um ... yes" Mollie nodded shyly "It's a gift"
The merman grinned, showing a lot of pearly teeth, but in a friendly manner.
"Thank you"
"So are you ... really a merman?" Pedro asked, staring at his tail. "Where did you come from? What's your name?"
"There's a few merfolk around here, and my name is Captain. But that's our little secret~ Adults don't always believe in us" He winked, tapping the side of his nose. "But you're only little humans, so I think the secrets safe"
"We won't tell a soul" Mollie nodded, doing her brownie salute "Not even ma and pa"
Pedro copied, nodding fervently. Then he tugged at his sister's sleeve. Something else was coming out of the water. It was another merman, paler, with flaxen hair and a shimmering neon blue tail, with a yellow fin. He looked strangely... familiar to the children.
"He looks like the man in granny's office" Mollie whispered "The one that disappeared"
"Skiff?"
The blue tailed mermaid blinked, surprised.
"How did you know?"
"You ARE Skiff?" Mollie gasped, and filled him in on the events that had happened in the past few years – that she knew about anyway.
"Your father was a brave man" Skiff smiled "He helped me, and Captain"
Molly and Pedro glowed with pride. Just then, a third merman appeared. He was smaller, if not a child, about Mollie's age. He had fairly tanned skin with a sweep of amber hair pushed under a blue bandana. Below the waist he sported a blue tail, very similar to Skiff's. The merchild stared. The human children stared back. Captain passed him the rubber duck.
"Here Anchor, it's a present from them~"
Anchor seemed pleased by this, and he began to turn the rubber duck over in his hands.
"Are you going to give them something back?" Skiff smiled. The merchild nodded, took the duck gently in his fangs and dove under water. He returned a few minutes later, duckless, but with two shiny coins. He passed one to Mollie and one to Pedro.
"They're doubloons" He said proudly. "Pirate treasure – I found a chest of them on the reef the other day, so you can have some"
The other children giggled and pocketed their treasures.
"Oh, and I think dad's right" Anchor said, seemingly directed more at Skiff this time "It does have a spotty tail"
"What does?" Mollie asked eagerly. Skiff smiled, his cheeks flushing slightly.
"Another one of these" ehCaptain ruffled Anchor's hair fondly "At one point the eggs become almost clear, so you can sometimes see the pattern on the tail - especially if they're magically enhanced eggs for uh, parent gender reasons" he coughed, not wanting to get into further explanation.
"Merfolk are eggs?" Mollie asked, puzzled "Why do you have belly buttons then?"
Captain and Skiff blinked, not sure how to answer that one.
When at last the sun started to rise in the horizon, the merfolk family bade their farewells and disappeared back into the ocean. Mollie and Pedro managed to sneak successfully back to their home without being seen, and climb into bed before Marco and Nelly came to wake them up for breakfast. They placed their doubloons in the toy box at the end of their beds, vowing to keep them, and the merfolk a secret. Brigodston had a thriving marine life alright, and a great many secrets. Some were more magical when kept that way.
Well folks that was quite the journey! I'm glad you shared it me here, DA and on discord ^^ It was super fun to write and almost even more fun to illustrate XD Sadly, this is the end of RROF! There will still be merfolk drawings, mark my words, I love those XD Plus there are other fics (Thistle In The Crown and Driftwood on here) as well as some more coming up! There's a Scotsbees oneshot in the making right now called 'Bonnie Wee Sodor'. I'm not sure which characters I'll use for my next chaptered fic but I'll get there eventually c: Also, there are a couple of mini fics hidden amongst drawings on my DA page (mostly in the 'boat buddies arc' section if you ever feel like browsing) Till then, you've been a wonderful audience and I've enjoyed going on this adventure with you all ^^ see you soon!