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Ace could hear the distant sound of gentle ocean waves crashing against the shore up ahead. With each step forward through the dense forest, she could feel her heart beating faster and faster in anticipation. Her bag bounced gently against her back, its contents rustling and crinkling within, as she walked, carefully watching where she was going so as not to get lost in the dark. The forest around her whispered with the quiet voices of creatures going about their nightly routine – soft rustling from beneath a bush nearby, quiet chittering of squirrels up in the branches of trees, the nearly silent wingbeats of an owl navigating the canopy as it hunted – all could be heard as Ace walked, following a near invisible trail that she knew almost by heart, as was a part of her own nightly routine.
She had set out from her home in the village an hour or so ago, just before the sun began to set, waving goodbye to Deli and Crimson on her way out of the house. It wasn’t unusual for Ace to leave for “evening walks” out on the beach, so her roommates didn’t question her. They lived in a small seaside village, so close to the ocean that the salty smell and steady sound of the waves was a constant, always underlying the other usual sounds and smells of the town. Sometimes she felt a bit bad lying to them, but it was technically the truth! She was going to the beach, just maybe not the one they were thinking of.
Soon the sounds of the ocean grew louder, and before long Ace found herself breaking through the treeline at the top of a small cliff overlooking a secluded cove. It was just a small stretch of sandy beach surrounded on three sides by rocky stone cliffs that gazed out into the ocean, but it was quiet and safe, and to Ace’s knowledge, no one knew about it but her.
Well, maybe there was one other person who knew about it.
Now without the trees blocking it out, the moonlight was finally able to shine through, illuminating Ace’s face as well as the carefully carved, somewhat precarious path down the cliffside. The steps, though little more than crude footholds in the stone, were smoothed by the passage of time and the weight of many footsteps passing over them.
Ace made her way down, watching her steps carefully and making sure her skirt wouldn’t be ripped on any particularly jagged rocks along the way as she hugged the cliff face. There was one moment when one of her bracelets, an intricately woven seashell-charm one on her left wrist, got caught slightly on a small ragged shrub poking out of the rocks, but luckily she was able to carefully untangle it before it broke, letting out a relieved breath when she did. That one was special.
Finally she reached the bottom, her shoes sinking into the soft sand, though she quickly abandoned said shoes at the bottom of the steps, opting to go barefoot as she treaded across the beach closer to the water. Once closer to the waves that were gently lapping at the beach, Ace took a seat and simply gazed out into the water, waiting for something in particular.
It only took a few minutes before her eyes caught a glimpse of something moving among the silvery, moonlight washed waves – just a brief flash of gold that just as quickly vanished again beneath the surface of the ocean, only to reappear for another moment, seemingly growing closer. When Ace noticed it, her lips stretched into a bright smile.
Ace only grew more excited as the flashes of gold came closer, and soon it gained more of a shape as well until, with a large splash that caused Ace to shriek as she was sprayed with salty seawater, the form of a brightly smiling woman popped out of the ocean close to the shore. Her long, bright red hair draped over her shoulders and framed her face, a look of mirth and mischief in her eyes as she laughed at the spluttering human before her.
“Betty! Rude!” Ace exclaimed as she attempted to wring out her hair and pat dry her clothes, though there was no heat to her words. “You did that on purpose!”
The other woman just laughed at her as she dragged herself out of the water and up onto the sand, Ace getting a good look at her as she did and her face reddened as she took in her full form.
Her skin was faintly tanned, and her long, coral red hair cascaded down her front, looking messy but somehow still intentionally styled. Poking out through her hair at the sides of her face were fan-like ear fins that were a dark, dusky gold color. She had bright, golden eyes that shined with delight and a pointy-toothed grin on her face, which was also painted a shade of pink.
Ace’s eyes traveled down, taking in the bare arms that were covered in small scars and even a few tattoos. She loved running her fingers over those scars, tracing their paths along the skin as she quietly questioned their origins and listened intently to their stories, head resting on Betty’s shoulder.
Then her gaze reached the bottom half of her body. At her waist, Betty’s soft skin transitioned to scales, and then became a magnificent tail. The golden scales shone brightly in the soft moonlight, the light reflecting off of each gilded scale in a way that made Betty seem to glow. Her tail was long and powerful, easily twice the length of her torso, and ended in a large, rounded caudal fin that also faded to the same dark, dusky gold.
Ace felt dull in comparison to Betty’s natural beauty, although Betty disagreed. She had pale skin and long black hair that was dyed Tyrian purple at the ends, tied back into a ponytail. Betty had actually helped her dye her hair not long ago, using a natural dye made from a specific species of sea snail. In contrast to Betty’s glittering golden scales, Ace wore a simple white shirt and a plain lavender skirt. It was all she could really afford, considering she was only a lowly fisherwoman in her town.
At the moment though, her clothes were soaked and damp with seawater, which she was still attempting to wring out while the mer before her just watched in amusement.
“Bettyyyyy, why would you do this to me,” Ace whined, pouting as she reached into the bag resting at her side to pull out the towel she had packed for exactly this reason, because as much as she complained, the two of them had done this song and dance many times before, so she knew to be prepared.
Once again, Betty just laughed, its tinkling sound echoing around the walls of the cove like the sound of ringing bells.
“You’ll be fine, I deal with this all the time,” Betty said, even though despite just coming out of the ocean, her hair was miraculously dry. Stupid mer magic.
Ace shot back, “Easy for you to say, you live underwater and you don’t even wear clothes!”
When Ace finally deemed herself dry enough, she stuffed the towel back into her bag. As she did, she spoke, asking, “So what did you want to do tonight?”
Most of their meetings began like this. A splash, a complaint, and then a question. There were a few occasions when they had predetermined plans and brought the necessary materials with them, like sharing foods from their differing cultures or making bracelets together (they had done that multiple times now, and Ace wore all of them with pride) or even experimenting with mer magic. However the majority of the time, they made choices on a whim and even took turns doing so. Tonight was Betty’s turn to choose their activity for the night.
Betty hummed in contemplation, dragging herself farther away from the water to be up higher on the beach, closer to where Ace was sitting.
“I was thinking we could do some stargazing? It’s a nice clear night and I could tell you about my favorite constellations,” Betty suggested, gesturing to the cloudless sky above their heads. The sun had set a while ago now, and the moon had climbed its way high into the sky, floating within a sea of glittering stars.
Ace’s eyes lit up at the idea.
“Oh my gods yes! I love watching the stars, and I’m even starting to learn how to use them to navigate at night!” Ace exclaimed with excitement. She had only been out on the sea at night a few times as it was dangerous to fish in the dark, but one of the older veteran sailors from town had taken her out a few times and begun to teach her how to read the stars. It was a valuable skill for a fisher to have in their repertoire, and the prospect of learning about the stars from a real mer made Ace practically vibrate with eagerness.
It was well-known – or at least all the stories told – that the mers knew the stars better than even the most experienced sailor did. In fact, the legends say that the first human to sail the seas learned how to use the stars to navigate directly from the mers, and then passed that knowledge on to his fellow man.
Not many people actually believed that mers existed, so for most, the story was merely that – a story. At least, it was to most people. But Ace always believed in mers and all the stories about their magic and people’s encounters with them. As a child, she soaked in every story about the supposed denizens of the sea that she could, reading and rereading all the books and myths she could find in her small village’s library.
And now she knew one. Personally. It was a dream come true, and from the way Betty was gazing at her knowingly, it showed in her eyes.
With that, the two found themselves laying side by side on the beach, Betty’s tail curling up to partially wrap around Ace, its comforting weight settling over her legs like a living weighted blanket.
The first constellation that Betty pointed to was in the west. She had to meticulously instruct Ace on where exactly to look in the sky, but when she found the right spot, she was able to see a circle of six stars, with three more stars extending from one side of it in a straight line.
“That one there is the Axolotl. The story goes that there was once a mer woman who kept an army of axolotls to keep her safe from the dangers of the ocean, as she had limited magical ability to be able to defend herself. One day, she was attacked by a human hunter, but her axolotls came to her rescue. They were able to fight off the hunter, but one of them died protecting her. In her grief, she used all of her magic to place the axolotl who saved her among the stars to rest and honor it forever.”
As Betty weaved the constellation’s tale, her voice rose and fell like the tides, washing over Ace like she was a child listening to her mother telling stories of the ocean once again.
“Wow, that sounds like something I would do. Imagine me with an army of pets,” Ace murmured when Betty was done, giggling to herself at the thought.
Betty laughed with her, poking Ace teasingly. “Yeah imagine, what would you even have as pets like that anyway, goldfish?” Betty joked.
Ace poked Betty back, rebutting, “No way! I need something much more majestic than goldfish, I would have something like a pack of wolves!” Ace had told Betty all about different land animals early on, since Betty hadn’t really known much about land and the animals that lived there. In exchange, Betty told Ace all about different deep sea creatures that humans had yet to properly discover, including several that were even considered by humans to be myths.
Ace’s dramatic declaration caused the two to devolve into a minor poke fight, which then devolved even further to them rolling together in the sand. Betty had a pretty obvious upper hand due to her larger size and the fact that she already had her tail wrapped around Ace, so she used it to her advantage to roll them closer and closer to the water’s edge, making Ace scream bloody murder through her uncontrollable giggles, desperately trying to take back control and roll them away from the waves threatening to soak her once again. Betty just laughed at her futile attempts at gaining control, a wide evil grin on her face.
Eventually Betty relented, allowing Ace to maneuver them back farther up the beach again. When they got back to their spot, both were out of breath from laughter and exertion, faces bright red and nose to nose, matching grins on their faces.
After they finally calmed down, they returned their eyes to the sky as Betty searched for the next constellation.
“Aha! Do you see that straight line of stars over there in the north?” Betty pointed, and she had to physically grab Ace’s chin and turn her head to look at the right spot. Ace’s face burned with sheepishness at her inability to locate things, as well as for another reason.
Pushing away her straying thoughts, Ace focused on where she was being instructed to look. With the additional help, she was able to locate the line of three stars, which had another line of stars appearing perpendicular to them on one end.
“That one there is the Trident, see, you can see the long staff and the three prongs coming out of the top,” Betty explained, tracing the shape with her finger. Ace nodded along, seeing the resemblance.
“The story for the Trident is much more dramatic and is considered more of a myth than anything,” Betty began.
“Legends say, there was once a vengeful human who sought revenge on those who had wronged him. They say he heard tales of a powerful siren, a mer with much more raw magical power than regular mers, and he sought them out, demanding that they use their magic to enchant his trident. He wanted the power to reach out and control the heavens, to bring down a bolt of lightning on his opponents and strike them down for daring to wrong him. The siren reluctantly acquiesced, but they warned the man of the dangers of such powerful magic. The man scoffed at the siren, believing himself to be worthy and strong enough to wield such a tool.”
Ace found herself entranced by the story, Betty’s voice once again gaining a certain magical quality to it, rising and falling like the waves, that made Ace idly wonder if the tales of sirens singing enchanting songs to lure sailors to their deaths had any true basis in reality.
“With the siren’s dire warning pushed to the back of his mind,” Betty continued, “the man set out in search of his enemies, trident in hand and glowing with the iridescent shine of enchantment. When he eventually found them, the man raised the trident to the sky and shouted out his grievances, then was deafened by the boom of thunder as lightning crashed down upon the enemy ship. For a split second, he felt satisfaction, elation that he had gotten his revenge at last, before white-hot, blinding pain struck him as lightning coursed through his own body too from the trident in his hands. The vengeful man fell the same as his enemies, and the trident dropped into the sea, sinking to the bottom of the ocean where some say it still remains to this day. But be warned, because not just anyone can wield that type of power without consequences.”
As the final words rang out, grim warning echoing around the walls of the cove, Ace could do nothing but stare at Betty in awe, as the mer seemed to come back to herself, so entrenched in her own storytelling that she seemed to have lost herself within it the same way Ace had listening to it.
“That one was so cool!” Ace exclaimed, breaking the momentary silence, “You’re really good at telling stories like that, your voice is so soothing.
Betty just blushed as Ace continued to rave about the Trident myth, a shy but happy smile on her lips.
“I’m not that great, I’ve just heard that story told so many times by the commune elders that I could recite it in my sleep,” Betty tried to insist, but Ace was having none of it and carried on singing her praises. As the minutes ticked by however, her praises diverged from just being about the story and transitioned to more general, sillier compliments.
As Ace yapped on and on, she ran her fingers over the smooth scales of Betty’s tail where it was draped over her midsection. They really were beautiful, each scale shining like a gold coin. The texture was very soothing to Ace as she traced the shapes absentmindedly. While she was doing that, Betty was gently carding her own webbed fingers through Ace’s hair, a content smile settling on both of their faces.
Time passed slowly, as human and mer basked in each other’s presence, voices drifting off into silence. They were an odd pair, if any were to catch a glimpse of them, entwined in such a way that it was impossible to tell where one form ended and the other began.
Seconds blended into minutes blended into hours as they laid there, Betty pointing out and telling the stories of her favorite constellations as Ace listened, enraptured in listening to each tale.
The moon travelled even farther across the sky, stars sinking below the horizon and new ones taking their places, revealing more constellations and patterns amid the twinkling dots.
It was nearing midnight, Ace fighting back heavy yawns with every few words, when Betty suddenly gasped in excitement, shaking Ace’s shoulder.
“Oh look look! My favorite constellation is right over there!” she said brightly, not nearly as tired as Ace was despite the late hour. As she spoke, she pointed towards the east, but the tiredness was taking a toll on the human woman and Ace struggled to find a pattern among the stars in the area Betty was pointing to.
“Where? I can't see anything,” Ace asked, a yawn interrupting her question.
“Okay well, it's a bit of a harder one to find. It's kind of like a square of stars with one above it and a line poking out of one side at an angle.”
With the vague and not quite helpful description, Ace was able to squint her eyes and find a shape that could be what Betty was referring to, but she couldn't be sure. She just shrugged, deciding she was probably close enough.
“Tell me about it?” she inquired, her voice soft.
Betty obliged, interlocking their fingers as she began to speak, weaving the next tale.
“The shape is meant to be reminiscent of a fisherman, like you can kind of see the square as the body and the star above is the head, and the line extending from the side is his fishing rod.
“The story is a sad one, but it's my favorite of all the tales of the stars that my commune’s elders passed down to us. And also it uhh,” Betty coughed slightly, “it, kind of reminds me of us a little bit.”
Ace hummed in intrigue as Betty continued.
“There was once a lonely fisherman. He had lived for many years, but was never able to find someone to stay by his side. One day, he set out to sea, casting his net in hopes of a good catch. However, when he pulled in the net, he found a mer woman caught within. This man was not cruel, so he took pity on her and freed her, allowing her to escape back into the ocean.
“The next day he returned to the same area and cast his net again, but when he pulled it in, he found the same mer woman inside. He released her once again, but not before the two exchanged names.
“And this began their new routine. Each day the man would come to the same spot and he would find the same woman, and they continued to talk and get to know each other. Over time, they fell in love.
“The man and the mer woman continued meeting every day, until one day there was a terrible storm. The man set out in his boat, despite the weather and despite the warnings of his fellows, because he could not bear to go a single day without seeing his lover.
“That day, the woman waited below the raging waves of the surface of the ocean. She hoped against hope that the man would stay home where he would be safe today. And yet, a small, selfish part of her wished he would come anyway, just so she could see him again.
“In the end, she got her wish.
“Where she would usually see the net descending below the water for her to grab onto and be pulled to the surface, she instead saw the sinking body of her lover. The storm had thrown him into the water and he had drowned. The mer woman held her lover’s body close and wailed, a sound so beautiful and heartbreaking that it echoed through the entire ocean, reaching the hearts of every being beneath the sea.”
The final words rang out, Betty’s voice slightly cracking as Ace wiped tears from her eyes.
Ace could see why this story reminded Betty of them, as she glanced around their secret little cove. Nobody else knew this place existed, as it was quite a ways away from town and only accessible (by humans at least) from the forest, a place not many townsfolk liked to venture into.
Betty had recommended this place after a week of meeting up way out in the middle of the ocean. The two had first met several months ago during one of Ace’s fishing trips. She had ventured farther out into the sea than she usually did and accidentally ran into a shallow rocky area, damaging her vessel. Luckily Betty was close by, and although she was reluctant at first to show herself, she eventually did and was able to use some of her magic to fix Ace’s boat.
That first time Ace ever laid eyes on Betty, she knew she was the most beautiful person she’d ever seen. Which is why she immediately said the dumbest thing she could possibly say.
“Are you a fish? Because you're fintastic,” Ace blurted out, then immediately slapped her hands over her mouth and ducked down below the edge of the boat, hiding her face in mortification.
She had no idea what came over her! A stupid pickup line? Really? Oh she just completely blew any chance of getting to know this person, this mer. That was a real mer and she just threw a pickup line at her!
Then her thoughts were interrupted by a startled, twinkling laugh, ringing throughout the rocks surrounding them. Ace heard splashing that grew closer to where she was stranded, and poked her head back up to find herself face to face with a smiling mer woman, who reached her hand out and introduced herself.
The very next day, Ace returned, though was a bit more cautious around the rocks this time. And there Betty was, awaiting her arrival.
Time had passed in a blur ever since then, each night blending into the next, and the two had grown closer and closer, just like the human and the mer in the story Betty told.
Back in the present, Ace pulled Betty even closer, and Betty in turn tightened her tail’s grip around Ace’s torso. With their fingers still intertwined and another yawn on her lips, she could only hope they didn't meet the same fate as those star-crossed lovers among the stars in the end.