by Walleye
She paused a moment and she realized that he was asking her if she trusted him?
She was discovering that he was a good person and she did indeed trust him. “Not at all.” She said with a smile. “I haven’t had anybody to swim with for a long time now. If you want to swim around the pool, I’ll join you.”
“How many laps should we do?” He asked as he dropped his robe and slid into the deep part. He felt a brief shock as the water was quite chilly.
“Laps?” She asked with a puzzled frown as mermaids don’t have swimming pools and usually just swim for distance.
“Circuits around this pool we’re in.” He said, indicating the surrounding water with a lift of his hand.
She could swim for miles at a stretch and so she replied. “I could swim all day and I’ll swim as long as you want to.”
“Good.” He shoved off and began stroking.
As she swam underwater she observed how he kicked his legs and stroked with his arms to move himself along. It was fascinating to her as she used her arms too but depended mostly on her fish body to move herself along. She noted that he had to put his head out of the water periodically because he had to breathe unlike her as she could do it with her gills.
The first lap around the river pool she just kept pace with him but then her competitive nature took over and she began speeding ahead. He could actually feel the surge in the water as the waves shot from her powerful tail strokes and struck his body.
She sped ahead, turned back and literally began swimming circles around him. He watched her in amazement as the water foamed up around her with each stroke. When she stopped he said. “You’re amazing. How fast can you swim?”
“I’m not sure as I never timed myself.” She answered with a shrug of her shoulders. “I only know I can outswim any ocean predator because where I come from that’s the only speed that counts for something.”
As he waded towards the beach, he turned and shoved both palms of his hands into the water right at her, spraying her with water. “Got ya.” He exclaimed with delight.
“What was that for?” She asked in puzzlement.
“For swimming circles around me. Show off.” He said with a cocky grin.
In response she swung around, lifted up her tail and drove it hard into the water. The wave of water that rose up totally soaked him with spray. “And that.” She said as he wiped his eyes out. “Is for being a poor looser.” She stuck her tongue out at him.
He wanted to retaliate but then the horn blew. “I’ll see you tomorrow.” He declared. “But you know I’m going to get back at you for that.”
She rose part way out of the river. “You can try. But I’ll win.” She retorted but then a smile crossed her lips and she waved almost shyly at him. “I’ll be here waiting.”
During the day she found herself glancing in the direction he’d gone. He had turned out to be a pleasant surprise. This was the first human she’d ever spoken or played with and since her family had never been prejudiced against humans she found her new acquaintance to be someone whom she enjoyed being with. She couldn’t wait for his return.
During the day Johnathan was inspecting the castle craftsmen and their work when he saw what he needed at the barrel maker’s workplace. He knew his mermaid friend was in for a surprise.
The next day he took his prize, a large wooden bucket filled with well water with him and waded with it into the water. She rose half out of the water as he lifted it out and asked suspiciously. “What’s that for?”
He grinned. “Payback.” Before she realized what he was doing he dumped the whole bucket of water on her head.
She sputtered and this time it was her turn to wipe her eyes out. “You…you.” Then she started laughing. “Is that the best you can do?”
He leaned over and pointed at her. “I added some dye too.”
She bent over and looked at her reflection in the water and screeched. “Aghhhh! You’ve turned my skin blue.” She leaped at him with her hands reaching for him and he had to catch her wrists in his paws.
“Don’t get too upset.” He told her. “The cook assured me that it was food coloring and it’ll wash off.”
“It will?” She asked uncertainly as she looked down at her blue colored skin which was surrounded by a blue splash of colored water.
“Yes. It will.” He passed one of her wrists to his hand holding the other and then taking his free hand he began scrubbing on her bare stomach. “See. It’s coming off.”
She looked down and saw her pink skin reappearing. “Okay.” She said as she raised her eyes to look at him. “You can let go now.”
“Uhmm?” He continued rubbing her stomach. Her skin felt so soft and he found that he didn’t want to stop rubbing.
She found she liked it too but she needed him to quit. “Release me. Please.” She whispered. She couldn’t stop gazing into his blue eyes. Grandma had been right. There was such a beautiful soul hidden inside that rough exterior. She began to wiggle.
He suddenly realized what he was doing was quite inappropriate. He dropped her wrists immediately, removed his paw, and looked down in embarrassment at the water. “Sorry. I got carried away.”
He braced himself as he saw her arm move. He was going to get slapped. He knew he was and he deserved it for taking such liberties.
Instead of a slap her hand caressed his hairy cheek. He looked up to see her smiling at him. “What’re you doing?” He asked. Once again he marveled at how soft her skin felt when it moved against his own.
“Saying I’m sorry too.” She continued to stroke. “I never realized how soft your fur was before.”
He felt an urge to pull her close and realized this was getting out of control. He gently removed her hand with his paw. “You have to stop petting the beast.” He complained. “The next thing that I know is that I will start purring. That would be embarrassing.”
“Sorry.” She said but she was smiling at the same time to keep from breaking out into laughter.
To change the subject he said. “Please. Tell me what it was like growing up as a mermaid. Tell me about your life with your family.”
This caused her to pause a minute to gather her thoughts before she replied. “The first thing that comes to mind is that I was never lonely. After all I had a lot of sisters so there was always somebody to do things with. I had my Mother around until I was eight. She was a beautiful singer, so much better than I am, that I loved to listen to her for hours.”
She paused and looked down for a minute. “Soon after my Mother died I wondered what I had done to cause this, but my Grandmother reassured me that my mother still loved me. But I still didn’t know what to think and one night I wandered down to the throne room and stared at the throne where she used to sit.”
“I got into her throne and sat there on the cushion that still bore her scent and began crying for her. My Father happened to overhear me crying and he came immediately to the room. He picked me up and held me close while he told me he loved me. He loved all of his girls.
The others heard us and came to the room and floated there in the doorway, sniffling. Father held his arms out and the rest swam to join us. He cuddled all of us close and repeated he loved all of us.”
She sighed as she remembered. “If it hadn’t been for him and Grandmother I have no idea how well we would have ended up after Mother died.”
“I fear though that my two younger sisters may have been affected by her death even more than I was. My youngest sister is always searching for something she can’t name that she says is missing in her life. She talked so excitedly with me about what I had seen that I fear that she will probably want to see more of humans up close than I originally did.”
She sighed. “If I have to be honest then I must admit that maybe part of the reason I’m here on this great adventure is that I’m looking for answers about my life and who I am in this fairytale that I can’t find at home.”
Johnathan looked at the sad-eyed mermaid and re
alized that like her it was time for him to open up.
“I, like you, also lost a parent.” He confessed. “My Father was always a dominant figure in my life. He was strong and brave and I looked up to him. But when I was ten he took ill. He lingered for days and then one day he was gone.”
“His death devastated me and unlike your Father my Mother was not as supportive. I realize now that she was hurting as bad as I was if not more and she closed herself off from me. As I grew up I felt rage at all that had happened and at the cruel fate that had taken him from me and I’m afraid I lost control at the merest provocation.”
“Even to this day I can experience sudden unexplained rages and my Mother and I do not get along very well at all.”
He sighed. “It was my flying into one of these rages that got me cursed while on one of my hunts as I swore and raged at someone I never would have if I’d had any common sense.”
“After I was cursed to be a beast my Mother gave me an ultimatum. Find a solution quickly before it becomes permanent or be replaced. I have another three months according to the curse before it becomes permanent.” His voice ended in a growl as he felt despair.
Maryellen felt sad. The poor man. His Mother had not been whom he had needed after he had lost his Father. At least her Father had been understanding and kind even burdened with his own grief over their Mother.
She decided to encourage her new friend. “You must not give up hope. I believe you’ll prevail over the curse as you are strong, brave, very kind, and are very intelligent.”
“You’d be one of the only ones who thinks that about me.” He growled. “My aunt and her sisters all believe that I will fail and they want my cousin Elliot to get the crown instead of me.”
He sighed. “Let’s forget about my problem as I can’t do anything more about it than I am doing right now. Tell me more about yourself. What do you like to do for fun?”
She smiled as she remembered. “Well we mermaids play a game where we use a solid ball and set up two goals facing each other. We can throw it with our hands or hit it with our tails to propel it towards the goal posts.”
“We’re not allowed during possession to carry the ball more than two body lengths. Each goal is defended by a goalie. I have played both goalie and forward and I love to play.”
She paused before she continued. “In my spare time I also like to draw and sculpt. I like doing things with my hands to create things. I wish I had some of my finished pieces here to show you.” She finished with a sigh.
Maybe he could help her. “You think about it and tell me what materials you need and I’ll supply them and you can draw or sculpt here at the river.”
At that moment the horn sounded. He snorted in disgust. “Playtime is over. It’s time for me to get back to work.”
This time she watched him until he was out of sight. And as soon as he disappeared into the woods she realized that his leaving felt like a hole had appeared in her life.
The next morning he returned to the river and on the bank he found the slate with the words. “I’ll be back shortly.”
He decided to use the time to cleanup, took off his robe, and slipped into the water. He swam around the pool several times until he felt a pleasant burning sensation in the muscles of his arms and legs. He stood up in the river pool with the water up to his armpits and blinked his eyes to clear them.
Just as he finished doing so a pair of hands covered his eyes from behind and her voice teased. “Guess who.”
He chuckled. “I bet you are some sweet young naiad come to carry me away to your underwater boudoir down deep in the river bed.”
She laughed in response. “Wrong. Guess again.”
“Then you must be some sweet, pretty, fairy maiden who wants to play with me.” He teased her.
“No, silly. It’s me. Maryellen. For that you’re getting a soaking.” As she said this she dropped her hands onto his shoulders and pushed up with her tail, bursting it out of the water and driving him under.
He came up sputtering. “You’re going to get it now!” He shouted and he broke out in a savage grin as he lunged for her, reaching for her with his outstretched paws.
She shrieked and threw herself backwards, causing him to miss. He came up sputtering water and they spent a half an hour playing and chasing each other around the pool. Near the end of their playing she was dodging away from him when he lunged out faster than she’d thought possible and he captured her hand.
“All right. You win.” She said with a grin. She tried to pull her hand loose but he wouldn’t let go. She gave him a coquettish look. “You have me captive. What price do I have to pay for you to release me?”
He touched his cheek with his free paw. “Give me a kiss right here on my cheek.”
She laughed. “That sounds simple enough.” But inside she knew it was becoming more and more complicated by the minute as she felt a growing attraction for the person inside his form. “I’ll do it if you let go of me.”
He released her hand, allowing her to swim closer. She put her hands on his shoulders, feeling the warmth of his body. He felt the curvaceous warmth of her as she settled her body against his and it was nothing like holding a fish. It was like holding a living, breathing woman in his arms.
As she looked up at him she found herself staring into his eyes. They were the deepest blue she’d ever seen and for a moment she found herself getting lost inside them. She forced herself to look away and started to lift herself when his hands settled around her waist and gently lifted her upwards so she could reach his cheek.
She leaned forward and planted a soft kiss on his downy yellow hair covering his cheek. As she did so she could smell his scent and to her surprise she found it enticing. His scent was completely male and in it she could detect his rising desire for her and her body was responding with its own desire for him.
She found herself sliding down his hairy chest which tickled as he lowered her down after their kiss. His hands released her waist but she found herself not wanting to move away from him.
She laid her head against his chest and heard the beat of his heart echoing inside her ears. Something was happening to her, something that felt so very special and she didn’t know what it was. But she did know that she did not want this feeling to ever end.
He looked down at her and she looked up at him. His head began to lower as her lips parted. As their lips approached each other’s lips their eyes began to close
An unseen watcher hidden in the bushes realized this could not be permitted to happen. Her mistress would be extremely displeased if the curse was broken so soon. She bent, plucked a boulder out of the ground and hurled it at the two of them.
Their concentration on each other was broken as the large boulder hit the barrier and splashed into the bank, spraying them with mud. They whirled around to see where it had come from, but they saw nothing.
The Beast frowned as he surveyed the bushes. “Some ugly son of a gun is asking to have his head bashed in.”
He started to step towards the bushes in order to confront their attacker but Maryellen stopped him with a touch of her hand. “It could be a trap.” She remembered too well the traps that had almost gotten her as she had come up the river.
He looked back down at her and saw only concern for him in her eyes. “Maybe it is.” He conceded. “The last time one of them tried to trap me it turned out to be that conceited idiot Python. I tied him in triple knots and threw him in the river.”
He smiled at her. “Don’t worry. I’ll protect you.”
Maryellen swore softly to herself that too many others had been protecting her lately. From now on she’d be more aggressive and assertive in defending herself.
They both looked up at each other but realized that the moment was gone. There would be no kiss today. As they continued looking at one another the castle horn sounded.
With a sigh he told her. “I’ve got to go. I’ll see you tomorrow.”
“I’ll be waiting
for you.” She said, wanting him not to go.
Unnoticed by either of them yellow eyes watched them from the brush along the banks. The being muttered to itself. “This is not good. Mistress will be displeased. She must be informed immediately.” The bearer of the yellow eyes slipped away into the brush.
Maryellen found her missing Johnathan as soon as he was out of sight. It was like a part of her had just vanished and she needed it back.
It was an unfamiliar feeling for her. While growing up as a teenage mermaid her dates had been few and far between as there were not many nearby merman princes for her to interact with. There had been one ball that her grandmother had organized and five princes of various ages had attended.
She had actually swam a dance with one of the princes but during it she had sensed that he was as nervous as she was and both had been glad to return to their respective groups after it was over.
Her oldest sister had developed a crush on one of the other princes and had danced several swims with him while the rest looked on. She later heard rumors that a betrothal was probably in the works if her Father would agree.
In a conversation with her youngest sister that night when they had both remarked on the scarcity of merman suitors for the rest of them, she was surprised when her sister had spoken out wistfully of checking out the human princes.
At that time Maryellen had dismissed the idea as absurd. “How would a mermaid and human ever be able to live together?” She had asked.
Her youngest sister had said mysteriously. “I think there might be ways you’ve never dreamt of.” And wouldn’t add anything more.
Now Maryellen as she thought back on this conversation realized there might indeed be a way. Her youngest sister hadn’t been as wrong as she had once thought she was. The way was magic and magic was drawing her and a human prince suffering under a curse together.