High noon, a month before the ritual, finds Kaia hiding under the pier. She's spent more time than she should've trying to figure out if there's a pattern to the flowers (there is) and even more time trying to figure out why it matters so much to her.
Maybe it's because she doesn't know what kind of flowers they are and (just like the other mermaids have said) she's just too curious for her own good.
Just as she's about to give up, a young man with dark hair walks towards the ocean, stopping just short of getting his feet wet. He seems sad, she thinks, as if he carries a burden on his shoulders that is much too heavy for him to bear. And cradled against his chest, as if it is the most precious thing he will ever care for, is a bundle of lovely yellow flowers tied with a bright pink ribbon.
Something in her chest aches for him, wants to reach out and wrap him in her arms to ease the melancholy that follows him as a shadow. But her mind does not recognize him, so she dives back into the sea and does her best to banish him from her thoughts.
That night she dreams of sharp eyes, a boyish grin, and a laugh full of life.
She doesn't remember any of it when she wakes.