Dusk had fallen, although it was difficult to tell; a thick fog had rolled in over the sea as warm winds began to fill the air. The lighthouse’s beam began its nightly sweep across the sea, but this time, it was accompanied by its foghorn. The deep blasts of sound were augmented by the wind-whipped waves cascading onto the shore and the last of the seagulls calling to each other to find rest for the night.
Luis walked slowly across the beach toward the gentle bellowing, leaving Sapphyre’s cove further in the opposite direction. His mind was heavy with what had happened over the last few days, trying to process all he had experienced.
He had loved her for years.
One day, she did not come home.
And, as hard as it was to admit, she never would.
He pressed a sigh through pursed lips as he gazed up at the lighthouse on the rocky cliffs up ahead. The yellow glow of the cottage windows at the base of the tower was warm among the purples and blues of the sky and the fog. He continued trudging through the sand as if drawn to the warmth of its light.
He was forced to a stop near the sand-covered path that led up the rocks to the lighthouse; it was roped off due to the weather. He scowled and straddled the rope anyway, carefully following the path halfway up to a bench on a rocky overlook. He sat down and huffed as he flopped his arms upon his knees heavily.
Before him in the shallows, a staggered series of rocks spread from the lighthouse’s cliff and led out into the sea. The line of rocks eventually curved around to reach the rock on which he had first spotted her.
On that day, he was overjoyed to think all would be well again. He could take her in and bring her back to the apartments. He could tell her how grateful he was to see her again, how much he had always admired her, and, at last, how much he loved her. Maybe, just maybe, their relationship could finally grow stronger than it ever had before.
Instead, with a flick her tail into the surf, their relationship had to restart from scratch.
Luis began to wonder if he should pursue any relationship with Sapphyre. He had freed her arm but had scarcely helped her beyond that. He had gained a semblance of trust, but it was rocky at best. She was still too guarded and angry, and she shouldn’t need to risk her security just to oblige some boring human who used to know her. As hard as it was to accept, she was far better off without him.
The Liana he knew was gone, replaced by a mermaid named Sapphyre.
Perhaps it was time to conclude his trips to Sapphyre’s cove and finally close this chapter of his life.
He stared out into the sea as if in a trance. The water churned and burst onto rocks under the unsettled air, and it caught the light from the searching beam over his head. He blinked and watched the rocks glisten as the light passed over them.
On the third pass over the rocks, he caught a glimpse of a figure sliding onto a nearby rock.
He blinked and squinted as the light came back around.
“Luis?”
The foghorn bellowed and jolted him to cover his ears, but he quickly fixed his eyes back on the deep blue figure in the darkening scene.
In this moment, every thought—every doubt—crowded his mind. He could end this now; he could pretend he didn’t hear her and ignore her call. He could go home and leave all of it behind. He could make a clean break and move on with his life.
She called again through the rushing of the surf. Her voice was heavy with concern.
Why should that matter?
His heart was racing, but he couldn’t tell if it was from the shock of hearing the foghorn or the rush of emotion from hearing her voice.
Why should she matter?
He stood up from the bench. He knew exactly why she mattered.
“Sapphyre!” He called back.
With that, he hurried down the rocky trail in bare feet and sprinted into the water. He sloshed through the deepening water as it rushed up to his chest, and he grasped her hand as he pulled himself up to the rock.
“What are you doing out here? Someone could have seen you!” He settled beside her and noticed she made no effort to move away.
“I—I needed to see you,” she said, her brows arched as she struggled to speak.
When the lighthouse passed over them, he could see a deep longing in her eyes; a particularly worried look he had never caught in her expressions before.
“You always seem to find me when I’m out here,” she glanced aside, “and I was hoping you would.”
He had to smile at her hesitant tone. “I’m glad to see you.” He glanced at her hands, clenched tightly in her lap. “I wanted to tell you... I’m really sorry about earlier,” he admitted. “I wasn’t trying to push you.”
“No,” she muttered with her eyes downcast. “I’m the one who needs to apologize. I must have made you feel terrible.” She took a deep breath as he frowned. “And nothing I said was even true—you’re absolutely not like anyone else. You’re kind and considerate, and I... I know I can trust you.”
He felt the corners of his lips tug as she locked her eyes onto his.
“There’s just so much that confuses me. You know so much about who I was, and I want to know that so badly.” She spoke, pained, “But it makes me angry because I can’t remember it myself, and I can’t ever have it back; so then I feel like I don’t want to know.” She scowled and glanced up at him. “Is that weird?”
“No,” he stressed reassuredly, “no, not at all.”
She watched his eyes carefully as the light passed over them. “I can’t imagine how hard it must be for you.”
He blinked. “What?”
“Because as much as I am the same... without those memories, I’m not quite who I was before; who you remember.”
Luis’ brows furrowed in empathy as he watched the water ebb below his feet. “I won’t say it’s not difficult, but,” he attempted three different syllables before his cheeks puffed with air and released it. “But that doesn’t matter anymore.”
She leaned backward when his frame rose straighter and he looked at her with a more determined expression.
“Because all that’s in the past.” Luis gently lifted her hand and covered it with his other hand.
Sapphyre eyed him curiously, just as the passing light warmed his face.
“We’ve got something new starting here. Why don’t you tell me all about Sapphyre the mermaid? What you like to do, what your favorite color is, what you like to eat... all about you, all as you are now.” He grinned and squeezed her hand. “Unless you’d rather me go first, as Luis the boring human.”
Her worried expression cracked as a smile spread on her lips.
“How does that sound?” He asked, dipping down to catch her falling eyes.
Her smile widened as she watched the lighthouse’s beam cross his face. “I think I would like that.”
“Well, then.” He rearranged his hand to grasp hers more tightly and gave it a soft shake. “Hello there! My name is Luis. It is a pleasure to meet you, Miss...”
“Sapphyre,” she obliged with a grin and a nod of her head.
“Ah, Sapphyre,” he smiled, “Like a gemstone.”
She giggled shyly. “It is an honor to make your acquaintance, Luis.”
Luis returned the bow, still holding her hand and grinning from ear to ear. “I believe the honor is mine.”
—
The sound of gulls rang in the air as clouds rolled slowly across the sky. Hidden within their rocky cove, Sapphyre and Luis laid on their backs in the sand to watch them fly. The smell of the saltwater was beginning to feel like home to Luis as the ebbing waves lapped at his toes. Beside him, Sapphyre’s lilac fluke lay flat against the sand as her head arched close to his own.
Day after day, they began to spend their mornings together, and they began to learn pieces of each other’s lives. Sapphyre’s once cold demeanor warmed in his presence, and Luis’ internal struggle was dispelled by her friendship.
For Sapphyre, it became easier to trust Luis as a close friend. Their interaction was far different than she had had with any other human—or merman—but in many ways, that made her friendship and compassion for him that much more genuine.
For Luis, it became easier to accept that things would not be the same as they were before, because, with Sapphyre as a trusting friend, a new chapter was being written with a similar feeling of joy and peace. Being in her presence alone brought him more joy than he could have imagined.
“What’s it like,” Luis began, glancing in her direction, “living underwater with other merfolk?”
Sapphyre hummed and stretched her arms over her head. “Well, from what you’ve explained, it’s not so different than your daily life. We live and work within our village, just like you live and work in your town.”
“I guess when you boil it down to the basics, yeah,” he smiled. “But living in Crestway is very different from living in a big city; so, what’s it like in your specific village as opposed to others?”
“I don’t really know, I live in one small village called Enclei, and there’s only one or two other villages nearby that I’ve never even visited before.” She glanced at him from the corner of her eye. “From what I know, each village sustains itself without much outside help, so life is kind of simple. You do what you do, you share what you have with others, and you have the sense that everyone really cares about everyone else.”
“Wow, I wish Crestway was like that.” Luis grinned at the air.
A gust of wind steered a seagull slightly off course as it sailed high over their cove. As a cloud covered the sun, he looked more directly at the mermaid beside him. “Now, I know you’re not a fan of humans thanks to the whole ordeal you went through,” Luis spoke carefully, “but what do the rest of the merfolk think of humans?”
She folded her hands across her stomach as her eyes remained fixed above. Her tail flipped against the sand as she tried to formulate a more audible message.
“Clearly they don’t come up to the surface much or there’d be way more mermaid sightings. And I bet if humans knew merfolk actually existed, they wouldn’t have felt the need to create a mermaid just to see one in real life.”
“No, merfolk avoid the surface for the most part,” Sapphyre at last replied. “I think it’s mostly because they don’t understand humankind.”
“How so?”
Her lips twisted. “Well, they consider humans as far too different from them to understand. They only see them as greedy, self-seeking creatures who would only exploit merkind—and unfortunately that was reinforced when they met me.”
“But, where did that thought come from beforehand if they’d never been to the surface?”
“Ages ago there was regular interaction between humankind and merkind. I don’t know the whole story, but it’s got something to do with sirens and a secret island in the middle of the ocean.”
“Sirens and merfolk aren’t the same thing?”
“Not really, though I think merfolk descended from sirens. At one point, all of the cultures were very similar, since we speak the same language as you do in our village.”
“I was actually curious about that,” he rubbed his chin.
“But, I guess there was some sort of conflict, though I don’t think anyone remembers what it was anymore. The young are taught to avoid the surface and avoid all human contact, and that ‘fear,’ so to speak, just continues through the generations.”
Luis huffed a disgruntled sigh. “Fear and misunderstanding is sometimes the biggest motivator... but you’re absolutely right that our society in general is more focused on wealth and power. It frustrates even me.”
“All that aside, we have no need to interact with humans anyway; we only trade with other merfolk villages, and most human items that are useful end up on the ocean floor for us to find.”
“Do you ever worry about being found by divers or boaters when you’re swimming around? And what if a human came across your village?” Luis stretched his arms over his head. “There’s got to be something your kind does to ward people off; I can’t imagine we’ve had entire villages of merfolk living right here without ever being discovered.”
Sapphyre glanced at him from the corner of her eye, smirking from his astute nature. “Well, you’re certainly on the right track.” She paused, wondering how to answer without further revealing merkind’s secrets. “Since I can trust you,” she rolled to her side to look at him squarely, “Merfolk have natural auras that sort of help us blend in the water. We’re actually not very easy to detect to the human eye when we’re underwater. Our villages are protected by a similar aura.”
Luis raised his brows, beaming that he had been counted worthy to receive such information. “Ah, that makes sense.” He grinned at her, “And yet, despite the safety of staying the water, you’re here.”
She smirked and flopped over to her back. “I’m very different from them.”
“You’re proving than not everyone can be lumped together.”
“I understand that. And, thanks to you, I know that all humans are not the same; but the odds are never good when a mermaid is involved.” She sighed softly and gazed at the sky. “For another example, out of every other human in the laboratory, Tanner was the only one who actually looked out for me.”
He watched her face flinch when the sun peeked out from behind one of the clouds. “Was he the only nice guy you met?”
Her expression hardened. “The only other human I got close to... well, I thought he cared about me, but he didn’t.”
“Ouch.” He glanced at her again. “I really do have a lot going against me, huh?”
She brought up one of her arms to shield her eyes. “Maybe it was my hopefulness from being a human before that would drive me back to the surface, even after being hurt so many times... But I always felt as though I needed to come back.”
“I’m glad you did.” He slid his arm across the sand and touched her hand.
She turned her head to one side to watch his hand squeeze hers. She then followed his arm up to his face, and she met his blue-green eyes. “I am too. You are truly the most kind being I’ve ever met... human or merman.”
He smiled coyly. “Wow, that’s a compliment.”
“You may pushy when you want to know something,” she jabbed his side and raised an eyebrow, “but I’m glad you are. It’s... it’s helping me.”
His grin dulled sheepishly as he did his best to shrug against the sand. “I’m trying to do better with that, but I think that’s still my hopefulness from knowing you before,” he glanced upward.
“I wish I could remember it as easily as you’d like me to.”
“No, listen,” he rolled onto his stomach to look her in the eyes, “Whether you remember it or not, that’s all right. I know it’s hard for you, and I hate that I’ve ever tried to push you into remembering.” He grasped at her hand again as she lay in the sand before him. “I just want to be a friend.”
“Aren’t you already?” she spoke softly.
“I hope so.”
“You are.”
He smiled gratefully and looked down, and after a moment, he rolled back into the sand. Their hands remained entwined, and soon, their eyes again began to gaze at the clouds rolling casually across the sky.