Sapphyre journeyed deeper into the blue. Diving far from the shore, she left the realm of the human behind and entered the realm of the deep ocean: the realm of merkind.
Her mind was heavy with troubled thoughts.
In fact, she felt just as conflicted as the day she had first entered the ocean.
When Tanner released her from the laboratory, she felt too comfortable with him to venture out into the deep. She was admittedly frightened of yet another world she barely understood. Could the ocean be more dangerous than the surface? Would her freedom from tanks and metal tables be worth leaving their relative safety?
Tanner believed that it would be. He had always believed, like so many other humans, that merkind could exist. After all, what would have given humankind the imagery and curiosity in the first place? Therefore, if she looked for them, she would find them. She would be free to live among others like her and find safety from the hands of the human.
But, she already knew Tanner. Why leave what she knew?
After meeting Tanner for a few evenings at the marina, she learned why the hard why.
Tanner arrived one night with Red Tail enforcement trailing behind him. He did not know they had followed him. He did not know they would attempt to capture them both.
She narrowly escaped while he was beaten down. Men leapt into the water with oxygen tanks and scuba gear, but she swam away much too quickly. She didn’t remember how long or how far she had to swim. Only exhaustion slowed her to collapse on the ocean floor. It was the first time she had felt so utterly betrayed and alone since she had awakened as a mermaid. Her safety had been dashed; all she knew before could no longer be trusted.
Weak and half-starved, she was discovered in a forest of seaweed by Neva’enclei. Whether it was her debilitated state or her once-human nature standing in the way, Sapphyre was almost astonished herself to see another mermaid.
Neva’enclei, less-formally Neva, was the benevolent matriarch of the Enclei village, one of a few close-knit pods of merkind. Neva oversaw village activity ever since her husband, Derrick, had lost his life in a dangerous trek across the ocean months earlier. Despite this loss, she maintained a cheerful spirit and a deep love for her village.
Once in the Enclei village, Sapphyre was nursed back to health, comforted, and cared for; and Neva and the others had done so without even knowing whom she was or from where she had come. Sapphyre could scarcely speak at this point, but she was able to tell her story in a simple form: she was born a human, but humans had taken her and formed her into a mermaid. The merfolk of Enclei were amazed and almost frightened that humans could do such a thing. For many, their suspicion and disdain for humankind was kindled further, but all felt much more of a sympathy towards Sapphyre’s condition.
In order for the young mermaid to survive and discover her new instincts, Neva agreed to keep Sapphyre under her care. It wasn’t long before Neva became an adopted mother to Sapphyre, and she was warmly accepted as a daughter aside Neva’s two children: Nathaneal and Khallista.
Though she had been accepted by her fellow merfolk, Sapphyre always seemed to think and feel differently than they did. In addition, despite developing a mermaid’s basic instincts, she still felt isolated and alone—and she still craved the surface.
Neva warned her to be cautious, but did not forbid her from leaving their safety. She was one of the few in Enclei who understood Sapphyre’s curiosity for humankind; nevertheless, she sternly asked Sapphyre to promise that she would never bring a human into their realm, and Sapphyre was bound to withhold that promise.
Even now, as she swam further and further from the surface, Sapphyre was keenly aware of her surroundings and purposely took false paths within Enclei’s kelp forest barrier to confuse even the wildlife that dared to follow her in.
When she entered through the stone archway, the magic aura that surrounded the village amplified the light from the surface and caused it to glow with a brightness that mirrored the surface—albeit with a tinge of blue-green water. She was greeted by three mermen who had just returned from a hunt, but she refrained from stopping long enough to engage in their small talk, and they knew better than to press the issue. She avoided two more conversations before she finally reached Neva’s cove at the far end of the village.
“Sapphyre’enclei!” The coral mermaid turned as her adopted daughter drew open her pearled curtains. No matter the situation, she would always greet Sapphyre in her formal Enclei name.
Neva sat upon a cushion of seaweed and fabrics in a cove surrounded by shells and trinkets she had collected over the years. She wore a shawl of sailcloth, adorned with sewn patterns and a sand dollar necklace given to her by her late husband. Her blond hair carried strands of white from her age—and was topped with a crown of shells from her status—and it curled and swayed about her round face. Her coral tail was trimmed with smooth fins at her hips.
“I noticed you haven’t been home the last few nights; I was beginning to worry.” Neva adjusted herself on the cushion and patted it to invite Sapphyre to join her.
“I’m sorry, Mama’Ne,” Sapphyre came to rest beside her. She idly parted the hair that had drifted in front of her face. “I’ve been staying near the surface.”
“What troubles you?” She puckered her lips. “You’re not still waiting for him, are you?”
Sapphyre could never hide anything from Neva. As only a mother could, Neva had a way of looking through any guise or false story Sapphyre could throw her way. The young mermaid could only sigh and answer simply, “...It’s a different human.”
Neva’s expressed seemed pained. “Oh, Mi’Phyre,” she spoke consolingly. “Please don’t get your heart broken another time.”
“I’m not trying to do this,” Sapphyre urged as her tail curled around the cushion. “I had already given up on Christopher—I had given up on all of them. And then Luis shows up...”
“So, you know his name,” Neva mused and fingered her chin, gazing down at Sapphyre through squinted eyes. “Tell me more about him.”
The blue mermaid glanced at Neva, doubtful of the importance of her question. “He’s... I don’t know, very odd; very different from the others—and I’m not just saying that. He’s bold, but at the same time, he’s strangely polite and considerate.”
“Those are good qualities. What does he look like?”
She felt her face flush warm and attempted to hide it from Neva—which only made the coral mermaid chuckle.
“He looks fine.” She finally answered with a forced sternness, pressing her lips together. “He has longish tan hair and a beard, and he doesn’t seem to wear shoes.”
Neva nodded, still smiling widely. “What makes you curious about him?”
“He claims he knew me before I was a mermaid.”
Neva’s smile turned to a look of realization. “Does he... now I can see why this makes him different.” She faced Sapphyre squarely. “What have you learned?”
Sapphyre shook her head. “Everything about the lab... what they did to me, what they planned to do to me, and how many others came before me that ‘failed.’ It makes me angry, but at the same time, it’s what brought me here.”
Neva had grown solemn. “It is indeed a double-edged sword. My heart breaks for what you’ve been through, but it is warmed by knowing you.” She brought her arm around her adopted daughter and gave her shoulders a squeeze. “So, what is it that troubles you about him?”
“It’s not so much him. It’s that this is happening again.”
A sympathetic smile returned to Neva’s face. “I know, Mi’Phyre. You still crave what you do not know! You are still drawn to their world because you don’t remember your time there.”
“It’s not worth knowing if every time I’m up there I make stupid mistakes!” Sapphyre shot a dejected glance in Neva’s direction.
“In many ways you are still a youth; it may take more still.”
Sapphyre rose from her seat and drifted aside. “I just... I don’t want to fall for this again. It will be just the same as before. He can only go so far with me...”
“You still hold my gift.”
The blue mermaid froze. “And you know what happened when I told Christopher about it,” she muttered cryptically.
“You had no way to know he would respond so harshly,” Neva tried.
“And I have no way to know if Luis would either. He’s much more connected to the land than Christopher; he has work and a place to live—he’d probably laugh in my face if I ever brought it up.”
“You will never know if you don’t try.”
Sapphyre remained quiet. Her expression was dimmed from thought.
It was at this moment a bright orange mermaid dashed through Neva’s pearl curtains. Sapphyre swam backward into the cushion to avoid being run into.
“Mama! Oh! Hi Phyre!” The thin mermaid adjusted the straps of her sail-fabric bodice and threw her fingers through her long, golden locks to clean up her hastily disheveled appearance. “Mama, there’s been word of a shipwreck some distance away!”
“That is impressive news, Mi’Khalli, but I’m having a conversation with Phyre right now,” Neva began.
“Yeah, but can I go? Nathaneal and Micah are—”
Neva held up her hand to calm the youth. “You will have your turn in a moment.”
Khallista took a deep breath, obviously miffed. “I’ll wait in my room.”
With that, the flash of yellow and orange darted into the series of smaller rooms that branched from Neva’s cove.
Her mother shook her head. “That child can do nothing slowly...”
Sapphyre managed to smile. Khallista was Neva’s youngest daughter and was most certainly the most outgoing—and rebellious—of the matriarch’s children. Sapphyre was downright stoic compared to the bubbly mermaid, though Khallista’s age, the cusp of adulthood, had a lot to do with it.
“Now,” Neva returned them to their discussion, “what has Luis told you of your life before merkind?”
Sapphyre’s brows lowered. “I haven’t really asked.”
The coral mermaid again slipped her arm around Sapphyre’s back. “I think that’s where you should begin when you see him again.”
“Again?” Sapphyre tilted her head. “So, you’re not talking me out of it?”
Neva shook her head with a wide grin. “I think you should return and ask him all the things you don’t know.”
“But what will that do? I’ve already tried to remember all of that, and I can’t.”
“It will shed light where there is darkness. You may never remember it, but if he knows you, why fight against the knowledge he holds?” Neva pulled in closer with a coy smile. “And then you should learn more about him and what he holds dear.”
Her words almost made sense, but Sapphyre’s expression still revealed she was skeptical.
“...Why can’t I just fall for a merman for once...” she muttered.
Her adopted mother gave her a tight squeeze, and her body bounced as she laughed. “Do take care, Mi’Phyre. I love you more than the depths of the ocean.”
“I love you, too, Mama’Ne,” Sapphyre hugged her back, and then she made her exit back into the village of Enclei.
Khallista slowly slipped into the room behind Neva’s back.
“And how much did you hear, Mi’Khallista?”
The orange mermaid froze, causing her golden hair to drift across her face. She tossed her head back after a moment and slid onto the cushion with her mother. “It’s just—she’s going to the surface again, isn’t she?”
“You understand Sapphyre is different from you, yes?” Neva cajoled her daughter. “She desires the surface just as you desire shipwrecks.”
“So, can I go with her?”
Neva sighed and looked down. “Mi’Khalli, it is far too dangerous—it’s far too dangerous for Sapphyre as well,” she added quickly when Khallista attempted to interject. “But I cannot teach her the same way I can teach you. She was born among humans; you were born among merfolk. She will always have a connection to the surface.”
Khallista let out an exaggerated huff, causing her bodice to require adjusting again.
“Sapphyre has sworn an oath with us to never bring humankind here. She can be trusted to keep our village secret. And I trust her.”
“And you don’t trust me.” Her daughter frowned.
“Of course I trust you, but I do not wish to burden you with something as great as this! It could mean the life or the death of our village!”
Khallista scowled at the ground. “...Daddy would have let me.”
Her mother shut her eyes, pained. “Mi’Khalli, I’ve told you hundreds of times; you cannot guilt me with him. Daddy’De is not here, and now you must trust me. I don’t give you these rules simply to torment you! You know this!”
Khallista was not placated, but she calmed and remained in her place with a dull grimace.
“Just as you want me to trust you, you must trust me. Perhaps, one day, things will change and I won’t need to worry. But for now,” she tilted her head toward her, “You may go see your shipwreck.”
Khallista’s youthful form shot up immediately. “Oh!”
“But tell Nathaneal you are there so he looks after you!” Neva shouted as Khallista started toward the door.
“I will!”
“You’re welcome!” She rolled her light blue eyes and smiled; the orange streak was already too far away to hear.