Russa: This is the last chapter. Enjoy.
Sara stood out on the little rock outcropping that she now called Urchin's Rock.
It had been twenty years to the day since that stormy evening, and Urchin still hadn't returned. The woman gazed out over the sea for another moment, then turned to go home. She didn't really expect to see him, not anymore.
As she headed down the path to her lonely little home, something impelled her to turn and look back. Sara saw a muscular man with messy blonde hair sitting on the rock.
She slowly walked towards him, unable to speak. He sensed her presence and whirled around.
"Sara?" he asked in a deep voice. Sara couldn't believe it, but there was no mistaking those blue eyes and that mischievous smile, "Urchin!"
She flung herself into his arms, knocking them both off the rock and into the sea. They surfaced with Sara's arms linked around Urchin's neck. The merman kept them both afloat with easy strokes of his fish tail.
Sara buried her face in his chest, "I missed you." He held her tenderly, "I missed you too." The woman raised her head, "Why didn't you come back?"
Urchin's eyes saddened, "A war. With the sharks. I was drafted into the army by the first merpeople who saw me. I couldn't come back until now because of the war."
Sara gazed into his sky-blue eyes, "You know, all that time alone gave me time to think, and I know something now." Urchin nodded, "Me, too."
Both waited for the other to speak, then said simultaneously, "I love you." They stared at each other for a moment, then laughed.
Sara pulled herself up until her face was only an inch from Urchin's. He chuckled, "We were made for each other. We both know what comes next."
Sara giggled and kissed him. He hesitated, then returned her kiss with a passion. When they broke apart, tears were running down Sara's cheeks.
Urchin frowned, "What's wrong?" She broke down and cried on his shoulder. "I'm a human, and you're a merman. We can never be together." Urchin smiled, "Yes, we can. Would you like to become a mermaid?"
Sara nodded, "Anything if we can be together." Urchin touched her cheek tenderly, "Then look down."
Sure enough, Sara's legs had become a fish tail to match Urchin's. She looked questioningly at her beloved, who smiled widely, "My payment for serving in the army was one magic spell. That was it."
Sara threw up her hands in mock exasperation, "Well, why didn't you just say so in the first place?"
Urchin tugged playfully on her now-long bark brown hair, "Race you to King Triton's palace!" They both turned and dove underwater, disappearing from sight.
From the shore, an old man watched his only daughter vanish into the waves. He wept in knowing that he had betrayed her by letting his own selfishness take over her happiness.
Sara's father turned away from the beach, headed back to his lonely old cottage.