The Mermaid

Strong, silent, and beautiful. Where did she come from?

She was here.

Nothing turned the waves so uniquely smooth so quickly. It was immediately obvious every time that they were a product of the gentle and firm swish of her gargantuan tail, which glimmered like the water itself in the sunlight. Every time she appeared, my ship seemed to be sucked into a mini-vortex, forcing it in place. It made me shudder to think about how under her control my beloved really was, how much of her power the mermaid was really holding back. As soon as the hands on deck realized their efforts to keep us moving forward were futile, they set about preparing for the moment she would lift her head above the water, readying the materials onboard with glee.

I watched the shift in my crew unfold as they shouted to one another, leading each other through each process that took place. I crossed my arms, hands by the stiff elbows of my captain’s getup, and frowned down at them as if they were where my mind was.

I heard her before I could see her. Her entrance was always accompanied by a sound much like the breath of the wind and a low hum that I could always feel reverberating through my ribcage.

She was magnificent every time. Her hair, rust-colored and tangled in loops and knots each larger than any of my men, rose from the waves first. Her forehead was next, darkened beyond the color of any plank on my ship by the unrelenting sun. Her skin had the texture of sand, churning along with the water as she moved and breathed. Her stunning eyes were next. Crystalline, their brightness alone could make a man believe in the treasures of the deep. Sirens to the rich, I liked to call them; they beckoned to everyone who met her gaze. That was as much of her as we had seen-- nothing beyond the gentle slope of the very top of her nose. Plenty of crewmates leaned over either railing, wanting to catch a glimpse of the rest of her awe-inspiring form, but mysteriously, she seemed to disappear where her temples met the waves, save for a translucency that caught the sun. A detail only visible if you knew how to look for it.

I turned to her. I swallowed when I looked into her eyes-- the unreadable expression she always paired with her gaze instantly gave me a vulnerable feeling, a reminder of the terrifying deep and my insignificant size beside it.

I cleared my throat and stepped towards her. “Hello, madam.” I echoed the greeting I had more awkwardly delivered at our first interaction. It had worked then and worked since then, so it must work now. “I presume you have something to share with us?” I couldn’t tell what to assume she could understand from me. My mutt at home seemed able to pick up on my attitude, so, categorizing her in the vein of animals, I tried to keep my tone even. No captainly condescension for the mermaid.

She hummed her agreement to me. The water below the ship stirred and rocked like a sick stomach as she shifted. Pinched between her two fingers, when she lifted them above the waves, was a chest. I feared for the unintentional impacts of her strength, same as always, as she placed it onboard. The ship barely rocked when she pulled her hand away and submerged it again, and my crew swarmed to the treasure.

After cracking it open with a wrench, my crew pulled apart and made way for me as the smell of the trunk’s contents poured out. I heaved the lid the rest of the way open, not letting the rankness interrupt me. The trunk this time was filled with clothing, full dresses that seemed to have been owned by some royalty. I dug around in the cloth and found foods buried in the folds of the dresses, molded cheeses and crackers and wine aged beyond consumability.

“Dining tonight, aren’t we, boys?” I muttered absentmindedly, raising the wine bottle above my head with one hand and poking around still with the other. Chuckling rolled out around me before the crew members migrated back to their work.

But why did the mermaid bring it to us, of all people? I still couldn’t understand. Surely there were other boats and merchants on the seas to be offering these to? Why did no one else know of her? I turned to her once more, feeling her eyes on my back shifting with me.

“Thank you.” I uttered softly. Perhaps it was my imagination, but she nodded slightly before disappearing once again below the waves and releasing my ship from her hold.

Author's Note

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