Hi again everyone! Just to let you know, the description of mermaids/sirens mentioned can be found online, but its not meant to be the sole description in this world.
Hope everyone is staying safe still! And let me know your thoughts so far! it'd be greatly appreciated.
They need to perform the ritual during a Blue Moon, when their magic will be at it's strongest, not only because the veil will be thinner, but also because both Kaia and Jazlee were 'born' on the night of one. It's exciting to think that in just six lunar cycles, they'll be able to walk on land for seven sunsets, but it also leaves her a bit restless. Both of them channel the extra energy into studying humans as much as they can during the day, sharing their observations before Kaia has to tend to the reef at sundown.
"Humans think we look like this!" Jazlee hisses one day and tosses a book towards her. It's all Kaia can do to keep it from landing into the water.
She pulls herself onto her favorite bolder and turns each page with a reverence that feels familiar before her feelings morph into disbelief. The pictures are of human women lounging among rocks by the sea, fabric draped along their bodies in a way Kaia suspects is meant to be provocative.
"We don't have one scale on each side of our chests or fins for ears." She frowns, "And we definitely don't have legs."
"At least you don't look like a sparrow with a human face."
A few pages over is an image of exactly that.
Kaia wonders how many humans believe these pictures. She wonders how sailors could've mistaken someone as lovely as Jazlee for something so ridiculous. Because Jazlee is lovely; her feathers are a warm brown that slowly fade into a rich amber with touches of sunset gold, making her wings shimmer when she flies. Her hair, reaching down to her waist, matches and Jazlee is so tall and slender, nothing like this short, chubby… thing in the book.
"Maybe we could have a human take a picture of us and write another book-"
Jazlee, who even at her most bitter never looks so severe, cuts her off, "No." She swoops down from her perch to land on the rock in font of Kaia's, "I'm not going to turn into just another rocky outcrop, and I doubt you want to become sea foam."
Kaia looks away in annoyance; magical beings are meant to preserve the balance of creation as much as possible, meant to slow down the decay humans are causing, meant to keep this world alive.
But they're not meant to be seen.
We must have been. She thinks fiercely. That's why humans have myths and legends and fables about nymphs, mermaids, sirens (and more, so many more). Someone, at some point in time, saw and had enough sense of mind to record it somewhere. Is it too much to ask for those records to be accurate?
And so, she argues, "The oldest mermaid in my pod has been to every sea, every ocean, and has never seen that happen."
"Someone must have, we wouldn't have these stories otherwise." And Kaia feels something like hope splinter ever so slightly, because wasn't she just thinking the same thing but about humans?
Jazlee looks at the sky for a moment then turns back to her, "Sirens aren't friendly, we only stay together if it benefits us. So, I can honestly say that you are my best and only friend. I won't run the risk of losing you forever."
Her words cause a mixture of warmth and hollowness to form in Kaia's chest.