"Come on Mir! We're going to miss the show!" Zoey huffed as she swam circles around her lover.
Mira rolled her eyes but still smiled as she said, "You say that but all these shows are the same. Drunk sailors come out and have a riot of a party on their ship, singing and dancing the night away before falling asleep on the deck."
"And I love seeing it every time!"
Zoey had a fascination for all things human. Mira couldn't say she shared the sentiment, maybe just a mild curiosity at best, but she loved making Zoey happy, and if seeing the drunk humans made her lover happy, then by Poseidon she was going to accompany her towards the surface so they could people-watch.
They should have known this wasn't a simple merchant ship when they surfaced to survey the area. The wood of the ship was too new, the decorations too shiny, and the sails were way too intact to have been through its share of sea storms.
"Maybe we should watch this one from a distance Zo," Mira murmured.
But Zoey didn't share any of her trepidation, and actually vaulted out of the sea before diving back in, like the dolphin she'd befriended had taught her. Thankfully, the sun had set and they were hidden by the ship's massive height.
"Where's your sense of adventure?" Zoey asked, swimming closer.
"It's hidden under the mollusks, from the last time we nearly got harpooned because Davy Jones spotted you!" Mira hissed, hoping Zoey would get the hint and keep her voice down.
Zoey scoffed. "Davy Jones, funny. I'm pretty sure that's not his real name, and he was completely drunk."
"Not drunk enough that he didn't graze you!' Mira countered.
"Mira, he thought I was a seagull, we're fine! Now help me up."
Against her better wishes, she helped Zoey reach the rope ladder that hung from the middle of the ship. Zoey had once explained to her it was called a Jacob's ladder, but Mira regretted asking. Why all these ships had a rope master named Jacob eluded her, so she preferred to just call it a ladder, for her sanity.
Once Zoey was holding firmly with one hand, she helped Mira get on as well.
Climbing rope ladders was a bit difficult without those pesky human legs, but Zoey called it a good exercise for their arms, and Mira could hardly complain.
The higher they climbed, the more lively the music was, and Zoey was getting all the more excited.
They peered through the ship's scuppers, and saw a wild party underway.
People were dancing and laughing merrily, and Zoey was enchanted. She looked so happy it was hard for Mira to not see this all as very much worth the worry of getting caught. Even she was cracking a smile as she saw the festivities.
But then someone began to sing, and they were enraptured.
More mesmerizing than the voice of a siren, this woman with the most vibrant shade of purple hair began to croon and it made Mira's mouth dry.
"Still think it's the same show as always?" Zoey asked teasingly.
Mira grumbled something unintelligible, before admitting, "Yeah, she's nice."
"Nice? How about gorgeous?"
"Okay, fine - she's gorgeous, but she's also a human, tiny detail," Mira pointed out. "Therefore, out of bounds."
"You're no fun." Zoey pouted, but her attention was still on the beautiful singer.
As the song ended and people began to clap and cheer, the woman looked up and regarded the crowd around her.
Mira was watching her intently, but she froze when the singer looked right at her.
She gasped, and pulled Zoey back so they were out of the scuttle's sight.
"What happened?" Zoey whispered harshly.
"She looked right at us!" Mira hissed.
They heard footfalls, and Mira glanced above to see delicate hands grasping the gunwale.
"Hmm, must be imagining things," they heard, and Zoey grimaced. They were way too close, but they couldn't get back down without making any noise - using the ladder would make it hit against the side of the boat, and dropping would leave two large splashes.
"You know they're asking for an encore," another voice said, a man.
The woman chuckled. "I'll be right there, Bobby."
"Enjoying the view?" Bobby asked.
"Yeah, but I thought I saw something."
"Like?"
"Eyes!"
Bobby chuckled. "Okay Rumi, fess up. Which sailor let you into the grog?"
The woman, Rumi, let out a rich laugh. "None of them did, I swear I saw eyes. They were beautiful eyes."
Mira glanced at Zoey. Their eyes were nothing special, surely nothing to remark so fondly? Maybe this Bobby was right, and this girl had gotten into the grog. She'd tried it once when a bottle had dropped into the ocean. Her verdict? Yuck.
"Beautiful eyes on the outside of the ship? Like...merpeople?" Bobby seemed to be genuinely afraid.
"I don't know, but wouldn't it be wonderful? Exploring the seas and discovering all the secrets it holds?" Rumi's wonder definitely made Zoey's heart skip a beat.
"Yeah I'm not exactly looking to get up-close and personal with that."
"Coward," Rumi teased, and Zoey knew she liked her already.
Eventually - and thankfully - the pair walked away, thus allowing the two mermaids to drop back down into the water.
"That was way too close," Mira said as she let the water surround her once again.
"I know, wasn't it great?" Zoey said, eyes wide and excited.
"No, not great! We were almost discovered, Zoey! Yes, she was very pretty, but that doesn't mean she wouldn't hand us over to those weird humans who kidnap merpeople! Jinu's still missing, remember?"
That finally drove some sense into Zoey. "I know, but she didn't seem the type, I think she genuinely would have liked to see us."
They began to swim back silently, until Mira felt the need to add, "Well, it's over now. It was nice while it lasted, but it's unlikely we'll ever see them again."
BOOM!
A loud explosion rocked the water around them, and they looked at one another in trepidation.
They swam back up, surfacing just enough to watch the scene unfold.
No longer was the ship this majestic figure against the night sky, it was now on fire, and quickly deteriorating. Both masts were lit up, and the wood groaned and creaked as it fell apart.
Zoey pushed Mira out of the way as pieces of debris began to fall around them. "We should leave."
And for once, Mira couldn't agree more.
They were just about to dive back in when they heard, "Rumi! Where are you?"
The singer!
They both turned back around to look.
Most of the crew had piled into the dinghies the ship had been carrying, and they could see someone - probably Bobby - calling out for Rumi.
"I think she was still helping some people get out!" another sailor yelled back.
The mermaids looked up at the burning ship, and there, they spotted a flash of purple.
She was helping an older sailor climb over the edge and drop down into the water.
Just as she was about to climb over herself, Mira spotted the main mast beginning to move. She had to do something.
"Watch out behind you!" she bellowed, before hiding behind some debris and bringing Zoey with her.
They couldn't see where Rumi had gone, but they heard the wood of the mast creaked as it fell with a loud splash, generating strong waves that drove Zoey away from her.
"Mira!" Zoey yelled.
"Hang on Zoey, I'm coming!" Mira began to swim, but the currents were too strong. She dove under the surface to try to make things easier for herself.
She saw Zoey had also submerged, but her lover was swimming towards the wreckage.
"What are you doing?" Mira asked, swimming after her.
"Look! Rumi's there."
And true enough, Rumi had fallen into the water, and was quickly sinking.
Zoey caught her, slipping her arms under Rumi's armpits.
Mira did, of course she did, but had foolishly forgotten until Zoey reminded her. "We should try to float her back up so the other people from the ship can grab her."
"No way, she'll sink." Even Zoey was having trouble staying still, so Mira took Rumi in her arms.
"Come on, there's a coast nearby, we can take her there."
They swam as quickly as they could, making sure to bring Rumi up to the surface periodically so her lungs wouldn't fill up with water.
Eventually, they washed up on shore. There was no one around, so Mira propped up Rumi to lay against her back, while Zoey fretted over over the singer in front of her.
"I don't think she's breathing," Zoey murmured. "She must've swallowed too much water..."
Mira wrapped her arms around the human's chest, and firmly pressed. She'd seen other sailors do it when someone was choking.
The figure in her arms tensed before she began to cough and heave water, and both mermaids breathed a sigh of relief.
When Rumi sagged against Mira again, Zoey brought her hands to cup the human's cheeks.
"Mira..." Zoey breathed, glancing at the nasty wound on the side of Rumi's head.
"She's hurt," Mira remarked. How they had missed it was beyond them.
Zoey began to hum a melody, the fingers from her right hand weaving the air near the wound. Mira joined in, watching as they song began to heal the gash.
------
The first thing Rumi noted was the beautiful and haunting melody. What had happened? Where was she? She didn't want to open her eyes, afraid of losing this beautiful song that was clearly part of her dreams. No one could sing so beautifully in real life.
Next thing she noted was that her clothes were very soggy, sticking to every pore of her skin, to the point that moving was much harder to do.
So she decided to just lay there, listening to the music, feeling scales beneath her fingers-
Wait, scales?
"I think she's waking up," said a voice from somewhere close by.
A hand, that had been previously keeping her right cheek warm, moved. Rumi hoped her whine wasn't too pathetic. Another voice asked, "Should we leave her? I don't want to leave her."
And Rumi didn't want these two to leave. She cracked an eye open.
Blearily, she regarded a beautiful young woman, and she flashed what was hopefully a smile.
"Hi," she croaked as she opened both her eyes properly, and gods did her voice sound horrible.
The woman's face flashed in a slight panic, before she smiled softly. "Hi, how're you feeling?"
"Like I went through quite an ordeal, what happened?" Rumi groggily explained, wanting to sit up straighter.
But then she felt the scales again, and she froze.
"Shhh," whispered the first voice. "Don't try to sit up too fast, you swallowed a lot of water."
Rumi's head lolled back and she looked up. If the first woman was beautiful, this other one was gorgeous.
"Did I die?" That would be a logical explanation for why she was surrounded by beautiful women.
The woman who was holding her from behind chuckled. "I hope not."
hey. don't cry. combine fresh baby spinach, sliced boiled beetroot, fried paneer or halloumi slices, honey candied walnuts, sliced red onion and diced orange and drizzle on some olive oil and lemon juice for the craziest most delicious good-for-you filling salad ever. okay?
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