It took Riley a few moments to pick her jaw up as she stared at the mermaid. Once could have been passed off as her ears playing tricks on her, but twice felt unlikely. And the mermaid was still staring right back at her with her head tilted and her lips pursed as though she was wondering why Riley hadn’t acknowledged her yet.

Riley shook herself and took a few slow steps towards the edge of the pool. When the mermaid didn’t spook at her approach, Riley crouched down to be at eye level. She was just out of reach, but she also wasn’t concerned about the mermaid lunging for her, not with how much pain moving seemed to cause her. “That’s my name,” she agreed, breathlessly. “But can you understand me or do you just have a parroting ability?”

The mermaid’s hazel eyes were levelled on Riley and her head tilted further as the question tumbled from Riley’s lips. Her heart was racing as she waited to see if the mermaid would respond. But the mermaid’s brows dipped together over the bridge of her nose and when her lips moved again, she was back to chittering. Riley’s heart sunk a little. “I guess not,” she sighed. She rocked back on her heels and then sat properly on the tile and crossed her legs in front of her. “I suppose that’s not a surprise. It was silly of me to believe you would know English even if you could communicate; you’ve probably never been around people before…”

Riley trailed off when the mermaid’s face warped into a grimace as she moved. She raised her hand so that she was using just her elbow to anchor to the deck, and then she pressed a finger to her lips. She stared at Riley for a moment – as if to check that she was going to stay silent – and then pulled the finger away before pressing it to her thumb in a pinched gesture in front of Riley. Then, she began to very, very slowly pull the two digits away from each other while maintaining unwavering eye contact.

It took Riley a moment to figure it out, but when she did, she felt like dropping her jaw all over again. She swallowed the lump in her throat and licked her lips. “Are you wanting me to go slower?” she asked while carefully accentuating each word.

The mermaid’s lips turned up just a little and her chin dipped.

“You can understand me, then?”

The mermaid’s brows furrowed once more and Riley flushed when she realized that she’d started speaking more quickly again.

“Sorry,” Riley murmured. “You’re still learning, aren’t you?”

The mermaid crooned at her and dipped her head. “Y-ye-yes,” she stammered.

“This is amazing.”

The mermaid tilted her head again. “Wh-why?”

Riley shrugged. “Because we didn’t even know mermaids existed, we certainly weren’t expecting you to be able to speak English.”

The mermaid shook her head. “N-no. No m-me-merm…aid,” she struggled. “We mer o-on-only.”

Riley nodded as she accepted the preferred terminology. “Okay,” she agreed. “So, umm…what’s your name?” she inquired awkwardly. It was still baffling to process that she was sitting here having a conversation with a mythological creature. Or not so mythical, she supposed. She wasn’t sure what to say.

When the mermaid shrugged, Riley frowned. “You don’t have a name?”

The mermaid nodded. “Do,” she replied. “But no h-have…sounds.” There was a pause in the middle of her speech as if she were trying to find the right words to explain herself.

“You don’t know how to say it in English?” Riley checked.

The mermaid dipped her head.

“Well…how do you say it in your language?”

Riley flushed as the mermaid chirped something at her in those same incomprehensible whistles of her native tongue.

“I guess I should have expected that wouldn’t help much,” she lamented. “There’s no way I could match that pitch to even attempt to replicate your language.”

“No-not sounds for hu-humans,” the mermaid agreed.

“Well, I suppose it’s a good thing you’re able to learn English then. You’re picking it up really fast. Do mermai-er…mer,” Riley corrected. That was a habit that was going to be hard to break. “Do mer normally learn English? You’re not doing too badly, all things considered. Where did you first learn it?”

The mer tilted her head and frowned. She had returned her forearm to the floor for balance and one of her fingers was trailing absently through the trickles of water that had run off her wet hair and skin. “First learn…learn here,” she reported.

“Here?” Riley repeated.

“Yes.”

“B-but that can’t be right,” Riley protested. “No one here has been trying to teach you and you’ve only been here a couple of days. This can’t have been your first time hearing the language.”

“Not learn b-before,” the mer refused. “Never been near humans before. I learn here. Fr-from Ri-Riley and others.”

“My parents, you mean?”

“Yes. From Riley and p-parents.”

“That’s incredible.”

“W-we learn fast.”

“I can see that,” Riley agreed. She shifted her weight and repositioned herself so that she was lying on her stomach with her forearms propping her up to get just a little closer to the mer’s level so she didn’t have to look down so much. “I wish I knew your name though.”

“Name, yes,” the mer agreed. Her lips pursed and she tapped her fingers against the floor as she mulled it. Her chittering language returned to the room for a few moments. “I think name say like…. Ka…Katieee.”

“Your name is Katie?” Riley double-checked. She hadn’t been expecting that.

“Think it say like that, yes. Katie. Why you look with brows? Is that bad name?”

Riley shook her head and felt heat rise in her cheeks. It was odd to hear a name that was so easily commonplace and human on the mer. “No, there’s nothing wrong with your name at all; it’s a very pretty name. It’s just kind of odd because that’s actually a name humans use too. I just was expecting your name to sound very different is all.”

The mer quirked a brow and her lips twitched up. “You think I is pretty?”

Riley stuck her tongue out in response. “No way, I think you’re butt ugly,” she quipped back. Then she winced. The mer was still figuring out the language and probably wouldn’t understand sarcasm yet. It was an unkind thing to say without context.

Thankfully, the mer didn’t seem offended. Instead, her jaws parted slightly and Riley heard her quiet inhale. “You smell of mirth. You are making a funny?”

“Of course, I’m joking,” Riley agreed. “I think you’re amazing.”

“You barely know,” Katie countered. “Is it just because I am…mermaid?” She spoke the word with such disdain that Riley flinched.

“No, of course not,” Riley protested. “I mean, yeah, that’s a pretty cool part of it; it’s pretty crazy to know that you do exist, but I’ve just enjoyed spending time here the last couple of days. You were incredible to watch and it’s pretty fun getting to talk to you as well. I’m just sorry that you’ve been in so much pain, that part hasn’t been great. You…you do know we’re only trying to help you get better, right?” She supposed she should have checked that a little earlier in the conversation.

Katie grimaced, as though the reminder made her pain worse. She brushed the fingers of her good hand against her chest, where the brace belt was tightly wrapped. “Hurts,” she admitted. “A lot.”

“I can imagine. Your ribs are broken; it’s going to hurt for a while until they heal.”

Katie shook her head. “No, not that,” she refused. She tapped the brace belt again. “This. Squeezes. Makes it harder to breathe. Do not like it. Want it off.”

“It needs to stay on though. It’s helping keep your ribs from shifting while they heal. I know it’s probably not comfortable, but trust me, it’s better than jarring your ribcage right now…but if it’s too tight, maybe we can ask my dad if he can loosen it a little bit for you.”

Katie’s gaze darkened and she shrunk away deeper into the water until it brushed her chin, though she was still holding onto the edge of the pool. “Do not like him,” she admitted. Her gaze shifted to her injured arm, confined to the cast and secured to her chest, and she sighed. “Made my arm hurt bad. More than when broken. Still hurts.”

Riley chewed her lip. She wasn’t sure how to explain to the other girl that the pain wasn’t intentional. “You were probably in shock when we found you and my mom gave you some painkillers initially too. But you can only have so much in a certain span of time, so by the time my dad got to work on your arm, you were probably more aware of it. Have you ever broken a bone before?”

Katie shook her head.

“Well, I can say from experience that they hurt while they heal. They throb constantly, and then they start to itch a lot too. But you have to keep them rigid or they won’t heal properly. That’s why you’re in those casts.”

“I still do not like.”

Riley hesitated, then reached out and gently laid her hand over the mer’s. “You have to wear them for a while, but hopefully not too long, okay? Katie…how did you wind up tangled in those nets in the first place? No one’s ever seen any of your kind that we know of…why were you so close to the shore?”

Katie’s gaze averted down to the water and she shrugged her one shoulder. “I did not mean to be,” she admitted. “These waters are new to me. Where I am from, there are many cliffs with underwater caverns where mer live. Here, that is not so common, but I was unaware.”

“You were looking for shelter,” Riley realized.

Katie pursed her lips and nodded. “I did not expect the shallows to be so busy with human vessels. It wound up driving me closer to the shore and among those rocks.”

Riley shook her head and scoffed loudly. Her temper flared like the fanned flames of a campfire and her breath whistled out through clenched teeth. “You were looking for a place to take shelter and instead you wound up tangled up and smashed around, all because people couldn’t clean up after themselves. I’m so sorry, Katie.”

Katie shook her head. “It is not your fault. I know you and your family have tried to help me. But I do not want to stay in this small tide pool of water. I long for the taste of salt in my gills.”

Riley frowned and couldn’t help her brows quirking at the statement. She bit back an impulsive retort. She still wasn’t sure if the mer would comprehend sarcasm or not. “It should be saltwater in the pool already,” she stated instead. “But I can do a water test if you are uncomfortable, to check if the balance is off.”

Katie hummed deep in her throat and the way the sound rumbled in her chest reminded Riley of a purring cat. A small smile was tugging at the mer’s lips and she shook her head. “You misunderstand. The water is breathable, but it is not the ocean. That is what I miss. Your basin does not compare.”

“I suppose it is a pretty poor replica of your natural biome, isn’t it?”

“Biome?”

“I just meant it probably doesn’t do a very good job of feeling homely.”

“No,” Katie replied flatly.

So far, Katie seemed mostly comfortable with Riley’s proximity, so she risked sitting up and shuffling a little closer. She kicked her shoes off and swung her feet into the water so that she could sit directly beside the mer. “I know. I’m sorry about that too. It’s hard to give you much of a setup when you can’t move so well right now. Everything becomes a potential hazard or obstacle for you. But it isn’t forever, okay? Just until you’ve healed up, then you can go back to the ocean.”

“Go back?” Katie repeated.

“Isn’t that what you want?”

Katie’s gaze redirected at the water. “Yes. I…I suppose I just did not anticipate that was the intention of your parents. I have been taught to avoid the shore and its people because of their tendency to pen in other creatures.”

Riley’s eyes narrowed and she curled her fingers into fists before she forced herself to sigh and let it go. “You’re right,” she agreed. “There are so many people who would exploit you in a heartbeat if they could. You should keep that logic of avoiding humans, Katie. The shore is clearly a hazardous place for your kind. But my family doesn’t mean you any harm. This whole place exists so that we can rescue and rehabilitate sick or injured wildlife. When you’re better, you’ll go back to the ocean with no hassle or fuss, okay? I promise.”

When she returned her glance to the mer, Riley found Katie’s hazel eyes fixated on her. The mer’s gaze was unwaivering, but then she blinked slowly and her lips turned slightly upwards into a smile. “Okay,” she agreed. “I trust you.”

“Just like that?”

Katie tilted her head and quirked a brow. “Should I not?”

“No, no, you can,” Riley assured her. Then she shrugged. “I guess I’m just surprised. I’m not really used to giving trust easily.”

Katie blinked again. “You have not seemed bothered being close to me,” she pointed out.

Riley flushed and shrugged her shoulders. She kicked one leg out and watched water droplets flick out over the surface of the water. “That’s because my self-preservation skills aren’t so good.”

The mer ducked her head and snickered, but the sound quickly morphed into a whine as she grimaced. She took a breath and then forced a smile once more, though her face was still crinkled up. “I suppose mine are not so good either,” she murmured.

“I didn’t mean to make you laugh,” Riley replied with a wince. “That’s gotta be really uncomfortable right now. Are you alright?”

Katie forced her smile a little wider. “I am…managing.”

“The painkillers aren’t helping at all?

“Is that what those little pebbles you father keeps making me take are for? Easing pain?”

“Yup,” Riley confirmed. “Have they been helping?”

Katie sighed and shook her head. “Not really, no. They…make me sleepy, which is okay I suppose, but sleep is the only time I am in less pain.” Katie’s head bowed and she began tracing little rivets of water across the floor within reach of her good hand.

Riley chewed her lip and then reached out towards Katie. But when Katie glanced up at her, Riley froze. Not counting when they’d been in the middle of an urgent rescue, Riley hadn’t actually made physical contact with the mer, and she wasn’t certain how the other girl would react. “Umm…is it okay?”

Katie’s gaze glanced between Riley’s hand and her face, and then she inclined her head slowly to one side. “I suppose so.”

Riley placed her hand on Katie’s good shoulder and patted it awkwardly. She wanted to offer the mer some form of assurance, but she couldn’t think of anything meaningful to say. Katie had to be in excruciating pain, all things considered. Her arm was very badly broken in two places and she’d been scraped and bruised and battered over most of her body, and they couldn’t even help manage her pain. “Maybe we can talk to my dad and see if there’s an alternate medication you can take that might help more,” she suggested finally. “I can ask if you like?”

Katie hummed in the back of her throat, but the sound was a little flat and her shoulder vanished from against Riley’s hand as she shifted. Her face twisted up as she sunk down and shifted so that she was angled slightly sideways in the water, but then her expression softened as she dropped her chin onto the arm that was anchoring her to the side. Her eyes were half-lidded as she turned her head to stare lazily up at Riley.

“Do you want to take a nap?” Riley suggested when she remembered that Katie had said that the painkillers had been making her drowsy.

“No,” Katie replied almost immediately.

Riley pursed her lips, but didn’t press the issue. If the mer didn’t want to fall asleep, that was her business. At least, that was her logic until she began to wonder if her presence might be what was making the mer too uncomfortable to fall asleep. “Are you sure? I can head out for a bit if it will make you feel a little better? I don’t mind.”

Again, Katie’s reply was almost instant and her attention remained fixated on Riley. “No,” she refused again. “Stay.”

“Alright,” Riley agreed. She certainly wasn’t in a rush to leave. Since they were sitting there, Riley decided she might as well try to understand a little more about Katie and mer in general. “So, Katie…do mer live in pods? Like, do your people tend to live in groups or avoid each other?”

“Mer live in pods,” Katie agreed. Her tone was laced with mirth and her eyes glittered as she spoke.

Riley pursed her lips. She knew she had to pose the next question delicately so that Katie wouldn’t feel alarmed or threatened. “My dad’s been worried about that for you. He wants to try to locate your family so that they don’t think you’re dead and wind up leaving you behind, since it’s going to be a while before you’re well enough to go back to the ocean. Is there a way to get in contact with them?”

Katie shook her head.

“We don’t want to hurt them, just let them know that you’re okay.”

Katie sighed and shook her head once more. “I do not have a pod,” Katie clarified.

“But you just said that you live in family groups?”

“Mer do, usually, but I have never been in a pod. It was always just me and my father,” Katie elaborated. Then her expression sunk and she looked away. “Now it is just me. Your father does not need to bother, there is no one to locate or leave me behind.”

Riley’s heart sunk. By the tone in Katie’s voice, losing her father was relatively recent. Maybe it was what made Katie leave the waters she had grown up in, wherever those where, but Riley knew better than to ask those sorts of questions. They would only hurt the other girl and it was none of Riley’s business. “I’m sorry, Katie,” she offered lamely.

“It is simply the way of things sometimes,” Katie murmured.

“Yeah, I guess so,” Riley agreed. She knew all too well that sometimes life just dealt you a crappy hand completely undeserved. She’d had a rough start, but she’d been lucky enough to find her family later on. Hopefully Katie would also be able to overcome the losses she’d had to face.

For a few moments, the two of them just sat in silence, before Katie’s jaws parted in a massive yawn. Her lips split to reveal gleaming fangs and her tongue curled before her mouth snapped shut once more. Her eyes had become glossy and when Riley glanced her over, every part of Katie was limp and she seemed to be struggling to keep her eyes open.

“Katie, you look exhausted.”

“I am fine.”

Riley leaned back on her hands and raised a brow at the mer. “Is there any particular reason why you’re avoiding falling asleep? You said the painkillers have been making you drowsy and you need to rest in order to heal. Annoying as it is when she says that, my mom is right about that, so why are you resisting the medication? At least you’ll get a couple of hours without pain from it, right?”

Katie looked away and slumped further. “Because if I fall asleep, you will leave.”

Riley’s eyes widened and her heart sunk. Katie seemed to be purposefully avoiding eye contact now. “You’re lonely,” she realized, then snapped her mouth shut. She hadn’t intended to say that out loud. There was no need to rub Katie’s face in it.

Katie flinched at the words and shook her head. “No, I am fine. I am sorry, you do not have to stay or anything, I just…”

“It’s okay,” Riley assured her. “Listen, are you hungry at all?”

“Not really,” Katie muttered. She yawned again, and then air hissed sharply past her teeth as she exhaled. Riley couldn’t imagine how much pent up frustration and boredom was brewing in the mer. Staying trapped in one place, in pain, with no one to talk to and nothing to do, after being by herself out in the water for who knew how long, was probably enough to drive anyone crazy.

She pursed her lips and then shrugged. “Well, if you’re not hungry, then go get some rest, okay? I’m not going anywhere. I still have to finish mopping up in here and then I do have to go back to the house for just a little bit, but then I’ll come back down and stay for as long as you like, okay?”

“Promise?”

“Yeah, of course,” Riley agreed. “I’ve been coming back everyday, haven’t I? I certainly don’t mind keeping you company.”

“Thank you.”

Riley hummed and then stood back up. She watched for a moment to make sure Katie was going to be okay as she began pushing herself away from the edge, then turned around to locate and pick up her discarded mop.

“Riley?”

“Hmm?” She turned back to find Katie with one arm stretched out to hold onto the edge and her tailfin flicking lazily to keep her balanced.

Katie’s cheeks coloured and she ducked her head. “What was that song you were singing earlier?”

Now it was Riley’s turn to flush and heat burned in her face as she looked away. She awkwardly rubbed the back of her neck and waved a hand. “Oh, umm, it was just a song from a band that I like is all.”

“It sounded really nice.”

“Uh…thanks? Now go to sleep before you get me into trouble. I have work I’m supposed to be doing, you know,” Riley teased as she recovered.

Katie raised a brow but she didn’t say anything more before she sunk underwater. Riley shook her head and returned one earbud to her ear. The music was still playing, but this time, she made sure to keep her mouth shut. She’d had enough of an unexpected audience already today.