"We should be asking you that. What happened to your tail! Did someone curse you?"

Neri's astonishment reached even greater heights when that question launched at her. It wasn't really the fact that she could understand it, the accent was very thick but still her own language. But more than that a sentient creature she had never heard about, that shouldn't exist, was talking to her.

"Nothing happened to it, I never had one."

The gasps of horror that admission received would have been comical in any other situation, but right now Neri was cold and wet. Two things she greatly despised and she could hear the yells of fear from the beach, signalling no one had seen her resurface after falling into the ocean.

"You never had one? But how do you swim then?"

The question was asked with such a soft sad voice, that Neri didn't have the heart to tell her she didn't like water. Nor swimming.

If you have the ability to fly over the water, why would you go through the trouble of swimming to bridge the distance.

"Can you bring me back to the shore?"

Neri knew it sounded pathetic, but she wanted to get away from these strange creatures.

Far, far away. So she would never have to think about this encounter again.

"Oh, yeah, sure. Just hold on to my arm, I'll carry you."

Neri accepted the given arm of the person that had barreled into her only moments before, it felt longer than the minutes it had been. They were off before she could brace herself, swimming just above the waves.

-

Sora watched the tailless mermaid return to her kind on the land, with heaviness in her heart. She wanted to know what they were, where they came from. And most importantly how long they had been there.

She had never heard about their existence before, and not because she hadn't looked for information about life beyond the ocean.

"Come Sora, let's go home."

Haneul disappeared under the surface without ever showing even a hair strand to the world above. Sora followed in his wake after one more longfull glance at the sand. But unlike her brother, she jumped up from the waves in much the same way as the whales she would accompany. Reaching for the sky, before falling back into the water that would let her to the depths of the ocean.

It was a goodbye, unlike her brother's farewell.

One day she would return. After the ice had disappeared she would have time to practise once more. And one day she would achieve it.

One day she would fly high above the shattered waters and reach for the stars.