Hope is the youngest daughter of elderly Mermaid Shimmere and Merman Aquator. Myrnah is Hope's elder half sister. Together they are the Merez family, one out of five families forming the Mersea group. The family resides near the huge rock pictured below, which is called Portal of Mersea South.
Hope just became a young adult, and she longs to fall in love like most young women do. At night she travels about from rock to rock, hoping to meet some new Merman. The guys of the Mersea group will choose a bride with a ring, meaning Hope would be far back in line. Tylon Marcon or Victor Tushell are interesting, but she never got to know whether they already own a ring. If so, they will be looking for a bride with no ring, of course. There exists about fifty rings, each with its unique power, and one family should never carry more than one.
One night when Hope is up swimming, something happens that will change her life! The weather is pretty rough - well, any human would probably call it extremely rough, but a Mermaid who loves to swim finds the wind and the waves fun and refreshing. Out there in the open sea, Hope finds someone in big trouble!
She calls out but gets no reply. It turns out to be a human fighting the waves! Humans and Mermaids can't communicate well because the sounds are very different, sounds are opposite in a way.
Hope brings the panicking man to the biggest Terra, and leaves him there safely on a tiny beach. Then over the next days she keeps observing him from a safe distance.
She finds it entertaining whenever she is lucky and gets to see his legs! She always wondered how those legs work, and she felt pity for such creatures not having fins and a fishtail.
The human dares to walk closer, and Hope gets a great look at his legs! He is filthy and obviously owns nothing but those torn clothes he is wearing. And his eyes are huge, Hope doesn't quite understand that the Sailor Rasmus Klinge just got to see her fishtail! She falls in love with those eyes - and legs!
She hangs out a few hours longer, then returns to Mersea South just as the full moon rises.
She doesn't tell her little family about the human. Instead she joins the daily discussion on how the poison is spreading on the sea ground, how it is still safe to eat fish, but only Kelp if it's harvested away from Mersea North.
Hope's father, Aquator, keeps a small Kelp farm in some secret location. He goes there nearly everyday, and brings back food for them all. Some day soon he will take Hope and Myrnah to his farm, he already tells them that they must look for the Table Corals, they will lead them to the Kelp farm. Food on a table, he says to make them remember.
Hope swims about, probably not going far enough to find the Kelp farm, but wherever she goes there are things to discover. Still, her greatest discovery is on Terra! She returns to observe the human every day.
Oh, look at those legs! And the Sailor no longer seems afraid of her tail. He greets her and after a while he decides to join her in the water. But Hope is not ready and swims away.
One night Olira E. Marcon stops by. The Marcon family is one of the other four families of the Mersea group. Olira has turned elderly, and due to the rule of the rings, if her household had owned a ring she would have been wearing it, just like Hope's mother, Shimmere, carries the orange ring! Hope sees no ring on Olira's hand, but this could also mean that her son, Tylon, already married?
Olira E. Marcon comes with news, though! A human has been seen on Terra! A man with two legs and no belongings! The situation forces Hope to tell her father, Aquator, about the stranded man that she rescued. She tells him that she has observed him every day, even left some fish for him to eat, and if she finds drifting stuff that he might make use of, she has brought it to Terra.
To Hope's disappointment, Aquatore gets angry! Whatever she does, she must not climb onto Terra! She belongs in the waters!
Hope tries to stay low, actually underwater. She keeps bringing stuff to the human. He already made himself some home on the beach, but Hope assumes he can make use of anything she finds. Tonight she brings a red lamp that she found in a treasure trunk, and she leaves it on the beach why the human is asleep. While she swims back home, she giggles. The poor human must surely wonder where all these things come from!
Life goes on, Shimmere and Aquator hardly mention the human. Instead they keep worrying about the poisoned sea ground. Has it already spread to Mersea South? Shimmere and Aquator examines each other's tale. Are all scales functioning? So far all seems fine!
Aquatore knows that their time at Mersea South is limited. More members of the Mersea group die from the poison. Then he comes up with the idea that maybe Hope is the chance they have waited for: If Hope is willing to risk her life by climbing onto Terra, and funds a family with a human on those rocks, by time the Mersea group can join? Learning how to sleep on land might be their only way to survive! Aquatore's plan forms...
Home can't stay away from the human much longer. One day they get quite close, and it's like their relation is taken to a new level. Hope's heart explodes! It's them! Hope was never as happy as when she and the human are together! And he must like her as well, because she notices a drawing of Hope on his shoulder!
He is a lousy swimmer, but he joins her in the water. Hope knows she can rescue him once again if needed, but they stay near his beach just to make it easier for him.
They still can't communicate by words, but they learn to appreciate just being together. When a Mermaid leaves the sea, she will not only grow legs, but she will even understand the human language. At least that is what Hope heard in the past.
Some nights Hope observes him, while she hides in the water. Human eyes can't be all that good, she thinks, or he would have seen her. She can also sit on a rock watching him while he sleeps. He uses the red lamp often. Are there any wild animals on the little island, or does he want a ship in the distance to find him? Hope can't stand the thought of seeing the Sailor being rescued by other humans, it must not happen!
Hope has learned that a Mermaid who climbs onto land can still return to sea with a worthy status of Mer, but what she doesn't know is that it can happen only three times! After the third visit, she can still get the form of her tale, but no longer communicate with the Mer People. Because the sounds are opposite, it's not possible to switch many times. Spending her visits wisely would make it possible for her to stay in contact with her father for as long as she lives. If she only knew that she needs to be restrictive!
One night Aquator tells Hope that he and Shimmere have discussed Hope's wish to follow her heart, and to climb onto Terra. They both want to bless her love for the human. Hope is so happy, as Aquator tells her to swim up there to join her love, but don't forget to return to the sea regularly!
What should have been a totally happy moment, is suddenly turned upside down. Shimmere is heavily infected by the poison and her scales are falling off and there seems to be no way they can stop it. Now she wants to swim away to die, like the Mer People do. Aquator will swim along with Shmmere just for a bit, then return to Mersea.
But there's more surprises tonight. Shimmere has decided to hand her orange ring to Hope for good luck. Although Myrnah is older, it looks like Hope will get married first! Besides, while Myrnah can find a Merman with another ring, there is no chance that Hope's human owns any of those rings (more info on those rings in the introduction).
Then Shimmere swims through the tall Portal of Mersea South, closely followed by Aquator. Hope and Myrnah are left, and in this sad moment one should believe that they are both sad and silent. But no! Myrnah is very crossed with her yunger half sister who just snapped the orange ring! How could she dare to! She tells Hope to get off their ground right away, and some day Myrnah will come for that ring!
Next update: January 30th 2015.
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