There's going to be some explanations at the end of the chapter.

Chapter Two- Confession of Love

Amara stood at the cliff's edge, thinking about her rescuer, Michelle. Both had managed to give their names before the tomboy princess passed out. Once she had fully recovered from her near drowning experience, she scoured the kingdom to find Michelle, since she managed to see her face before losing consciousness, but to no avail. She wanted to thank the girl for saving her life and possibly get to know her before eventually confessing that she had fallen in love with her the first time she saw her.

Which brought her to the cliff thinking, Perhaps she lives in a kingdom across the sea. I'll look at some maps and eliminate kingdoms I've already visited. That will narrow my…wait. Is that Michelle!?

Amara stared at the aqua-haired girl bobbing among the waves. She was about to yell out Michelle's name when the swimmer dived down, a green tail and fins visible before they too, vanished.

Amara's mouth was still open, but instead of Michelle's name, a gasp came out. Her eyes widened and her mind reeled at what she saw. Michelle, her rescuer, was a mermaid! The search parameters had gotten easier and harder: Easier as the area was simply the ocean and harder as she couldn't look underwater at least not for very long.

It took Amara a couple of days to acquire a small boat so that she could begin her search. She decided to start from where she had seen Michelle and work her way outward from there. She wasn't sure how she would search; perhaps hold her breath before ducking her head under the water and look around quickly? That could work, but she would need to stay at sea for a while in order to find the mermaid. Luckily, she had brought supplies with her that would last her at least a week maybe two, if she rationed.

A rumble caught her attention and she watched in amazement as the sky darkened with a storm that she swore hadn't been spotted earlier. It looked as if the system just materialized out of thin air. Within moments, the waves began to swell and were slapping against the side of the boat. I guess I better head in and try again tomorrow. She grabbed the wheel and prepared to head back to port when a large wave swelled directly under the boat, sending the princess toward the mast which she immediately grabbed as another large wave lifted up her boat and brought it back down into the water.

Michelle darted through the water, heading for open waters. She was in the mood for a significant storm, not unlike the one she saw a few days ago. But she wanted a truly frightening one that would rage only on the surface. She was soon far from the kingdom and was in a fairly deserted spot; very few creatures lived in this spot but there was an abundance of plant life and rocks that one could lie on comfortably.

It was this spot that Michelle floated in as she clasped her hands and closed her eyes. "Great Neptune, I call upon you for a request. Please conjure up a truly frightening storm on the surface. Surpass the one that occurred a few days ago." She remained in this position to find out if Neptune would grant her request. A rumble of thunder from above told her that the storm she desired was rolling in. She looked up to see that the sky above had darkened considerably and lightning caused it to light up briefly to be accompanied by booms of thunder. She brought her gaze a little lower to see the huge waves thrashing on the surface like wild seahorses. She smiled as she leaned back on some rocks to enjoy the show.

The waves tossed the boat back and forth with Amara clutching the mast as hard as she could. She sensed a calm in the waves and managed to make her way to the steering wheel before the boat started to get tossed again.

"Michelle!" she called out, but her voice was lost in the roar of the ocean. She yanked the wheel in hope of turning the boat around and heading back to port. Instead the boat crashed into some rocks, causing a hole in the hull. The boat slowly started to sink and Amara immediately dived underwater, holding her breath before going under, and started swimming away from her sinking boat.

She was soon clear of the area, but she needed to surface. She broke the surface, but the storm was still raging; she managed to take in a lungful before the waves crashed over her.

Amara floated underwater, realizing that she had a problem. The surface was a raging storm while beneath it, everything was calm. But she couldn't hold her breath in order to swim underwater for very long.

"Amara!" a voice cried out.

The blonde turned to see the mermaid swimming toward her. "Amara, you need to get to the surface!"

I have no way to tell her the problem, but to show her, she thought. Amara headed up to the stormy surface and took in a lungful before being pushed down again. She tried one more time before Michelle saw the problem.

She swam up to the princess and kissed her on the lips. A stream of bubbles traveled from her lips to Amara's before she pulled back. "I have given you The Breath of Life," she explained. "You can breathe underwater until you surface."

Amara cautiously let out her breath and discovered that Michelle was right: She could breathe underwater now. "Thank you," she said.

"I'm guessing you saw me earlier seeing as you aren't surprised that I'm a mermaid."

"You're right. I wanted to find you after you saved me and I was on the cliff when I saw you swimming. I came out here today to talk to you. I just didn't expect a storm to come up."

Michelle gave a sheepish smile as the pair started swimming for shore. "I'm afraid that was my fault. I have a connection with Neptune, the spirit of the sea. He can whip up a storm at my request and can vary the strength to my liking."

Amara gaped at her. "Are you saying you asked for today's storm?"

"I am."

"And the one you saved me from?"

"Now, that one was a natural storm. So, you wanted to talk to me?"

"Yeah. I wanted to thank you for saving my life and ever since the rescue, I couldn't stop thinking about you. I think it's safe to say that I'm in love with you."

"A-Amara! You don't know me and I don't know you! You can't be in love with me!"

"Why not? I can't think of anything or anyone else but you. That's a clear sign of love."

"But I'm a mermaid and you're a human. There can't be love between us."

"There must be a way."

"There isn't! I can't become a human and the sea can't turn you into a mermaid; it can only conjure storms."

Hours later, the storm had passed and the pair had reached the shallows where they said goodbye before Amara surfaced and crawled onto land. She laid there on the dry sand, thinking about her conversation with Michelle. She was in love with the mermaid, there was no denying it. Michelle loves her too; she could tell from the despondent tone in Michelle's protests.

She may not be able to become human, but perhaps there's a way for me to become a mermaid. Getting to her feet, she headed for home to change clothes before heading into the kingdom to look for a sorcerer or magician.

Meanwhile, Michelle lay in a bed of luscious sea flowers, her fins floating up in the water, her arms folded under her head, and her eyes focused upward. Her thoughts were on Amara and she felt a twinge of shame. She had lied to the princess; she had said there was no way for either one of them to become a human or a mermaid.

Actually, it was a half-lie. She couldn't become human, that was true. There was a way for Amara to become a mermaid- by asking a sea witch to change her. The thing was these sea witches had a habit of either striking bargains or demanding a high price for their services. Some of those prices involved claiming their client's voice permanently, cutting off their hair, or even a period of servitude. There was no way she would allow Amara to go to such an extreme.

No, it is better that we love each other as we are. There's no law saying a human and a mermaid can't love one another. I can give her The Breath of Life so she can visit and I can swim to a secluded beach where we can talk and have dates. That would be enough for me and I hope that will be enough for Amara. Michelle sighed softly before closing her eyes and drifting off to sleep.

I wanted to set some ground rules for this story and one was that a mermaid cannot become a human. The concept of the sea witch does come from Disney's The Little Mermaid and the Hans Christen Anderson movie version. The Breath of Life concept was taken from a Little Mermaid TV series I saw years ago except for the whole breath until you surface concept.