Danaleya

“What do you need?” asked the red eyed boy. Feet. A body. Companionship. Home. “If there is anything I can do I would be willing to help.” Teach me. Just as Rilletta was about to create a small human girl with the water, the waves shoved the light haired boy back to the shore. "Ar rye!" she cried, steadying the waves and giving the light haired boy a gentle push to prevent him from falling.

Looking up, Rilletta found herself staring into the eyes of a a large blue serpent. She flinched and from her liquid body a spinning water hole began to form, Siren sank down, her torso disappearing into the ocean until her breasts rested on the surface. Her long hair floated around the surface of the water like a strange ripple.

"Back away Siren! You are not taking another victim anytime soon! These are my waters!" called an Undine. RIlletta understood the water creature's language - her waters? She was thoroughly confused for Rilletta was water. Her body was made of water, her soul was water, Rilletta was water itself. She did not understand why the Undine was calling the light haired boy a victim. She did not mean to harm him - the Siren merely wanted a friend. The friends she'd brought into the water no longer spoke to her. Perhaps it was because she was a bad creature but for the life of her, she could not pin point what she'd done.

The whirling madness around the Siren calmed but the ocean was interrupted by vibrations in the land. Rilletta quickly dropped into the sea but the shaking was even worse down there. With a piercingly beautiful cry, she rose from the oceans. Looking around, she saw she was surrounded. RIlletta was terrified and she did not know where to turn. Even the water did not want her now. Spinning around to look for an escape, the Siren spoke in her voice of pure honey, laced with the anise of utter fear, "Arryfy kl urrmie tes Listea," I mean no harm. "En ennala kl kailya sashel," I do not understand what you want. "Rrha zweie ra jesta fetala stele bans." I cannot leave your waters for I am water. There is nowhere for me to go.

Rilletta's form was wavering - her kaleidoscope eyes were becoming more solid, her dark blue lashes beginning to show. Her skin fluttered between flesh and water, her long transparent hair flickering from colourless to midnight blue. Vibrations in the water was pulling her downwards and her strange half-human body could not breathe under water.

The Siren was drowning.

Her now rose painted lips gasped, sinking below the surface and up again. She could not breathe air and she could not breathe water. Trapped in a horrible in-between of not human and not water, Rilletta looked at the surrounding creatures desperately. She wanted to tell the light haired boy to pull her out of the water because if he did, her mermaid's tail would turn into legs and she would take the form of a human girl and be allowed - however temporary - life on land.

The waves worked against her - they'd never done this before. Perhaps it was the Undine or the strange vibrations in the land, she wasn't sure. But whatever it was, it sucked Rilletta downwards and she did not understand why she could not breathe underwater. Rilletta thought everyone could. Perhaps she was an abomination - yes, that must be it.

Her liquid mermaid's tail slowly turned into two smooth legs. Her naked skin was not water. Her eyes were the same lucid kaleidoscope but everything else had changed. Her long blue hair was wet, her skin pale and light but very much solid. Water choked through her full lips and suffocated her upturned nose. Reaching out a hand to steady herself on the waves, she found she could not. Large eyes wide with terror, she was filled with confusion. Why did the water not let her breathe?

If Rilletta had been calm, she could've turned herself into water. If Rilletta had been alone, she might've stayed as water. If Rilletta had known humans could not survive in water, things might've been different.

It was ironic that RIlletta could not swim.

Golith was surprised when the waters shoved him back to land. Before he crashed against the shore thou the waves cushioned him. Coughing up some water he had swallowed he looked back to see a sea serpent and an Undine. As he watched he noticed something was wrong with Rilletta. She was trashing around and he realized she was becoming solid. It became clear very fast that she could not swim. Jumping back into the water he changed back into his dragon form and he came up under her and rose from the water with Rilletta on his head safe from the water. “Are you ok,” he asked.

His grin faded as the girl seemed to take a bit of offense from his words.

"This is nothing to be amused of. It is horrible. We should have peace and work together. Not fight. Our world was once peace and love. Now that man is here it is full of hatred and war. I will admit some of them are fine like my mother but most of them are cruel horrible people. This coming from an elf who loves all is saying something." Ahura heard her take a deep breath before continuing. "It hurts her you know? Nature I mean. She hates it very much."

After this statement he felt a small connection made within him. One that he already has but it being rejuvenated somehow, by someone. Although he couldn't see her hand that had flinched from lap to the ground, he could tell it was her who had done this. In a quietly, almost shy why he utters an "I agree..." before stopping to admire the sounds of birds chirping in the distance and the voices in the distance. He begins to chuckle a bit, "Trust me...I know exactly how you feel sometimes..." A silence drones out for a minute before he speaks up once again. "But, you must know that everyone has their own reason, their own story, their own past...This alone can change the very beings of who they are...Humans are just one of the many examples out there..."

Ahura's eyes shifted to the ground. "Maybe...Something happened...An event that made them take over.." Ahura stopped talking completely and instead looked toward the skies. "So sorry if I'm rambling. I have a minor tendency of doing that..." He blushes in embarrassment a little as his iris's fixate on the water.

Rilletta sat on a dragon's head - and she was very much naked. She didn't seem to realise nudity was anything special, though. She'd lived naked in the water all her life, she always found it strange how humans wore clothes. Hip length blue hair covering her breasts, Rilletta coughed, gasping for air. The wind through her throat felt weird and it made her choke even more. Everything felt strange, from the smooth scales of the dark dragon to the sunlight on her skin. She did not like the warmth. Mermaid skin was very much sensitive to heat - seeing as they were part fish. RIlletta, being unusual in that she was, in her true form, water - felt heat ten times more than the average human. Clenching her legs tight around the dragon's head, Rilletta leaned forward to lie on the large creature so her hair would shield her back.

She felt awkward in her new body, not quite knowing how to move in it. Kissing the top of the dragon's head, she slowly whispered, "Thank you," she paused. "Bird." Rilletta's red lips curled into a smile and she smiled brighter. Her human face could smile. "Smile!" she announced cheerfully.

Snuggling into the dragon who was a boy's head, she pointed at the serpent and Undine. "Smile!" she frowned, looking at the the two. She wanted to say 'They are scary,' but she wasn't sure how to form the words in a language the dragon could understand. She didn't quite know how to move her lips, honestly.

Holding the dragon tighter, she responded to his earlier question, "You make me okay," she said warmly before her pretty face turned into one of worry. "But they think Rilletta is bad. They don't like RIlletta. They want Rilletta dead?" she asked in confusion. The concept of 'death' wasn't very clear to RIlletta, seeing as she was immortal in a sense. She could be killed, though. At least, she thought she could. Rilletta thought everyone else was immortal, too.

The Siren-girl was scared but her dragon was big and powerful and he would protect her. "You -" she stroked her delicate fingers down his scales. "Friend?"

"We don't always have a reason," Her tone was teasing. She heard the song too, sweet and sad, it was easy to tell how people could be drawn to it. She would herself, if she weren't a stronger being. Even now the curiosity filled her. Faron quickly shook those feelings away.

"How is it that you know so much anyway, You don't look like a scholar to me?" She finished her meal, stretching out in the sunlight. The grass died underneath her hot flesh as she lay on it, withering in the scolding heat.

Henry had given up following the the thing after it had flew off, he smelled meat close by but first he had to get mask back on. After he had it snug he went to look at the cabin windows, lucky the first one he saw was empty. He popped the window out and told Doug “Doug if you see someone, do your undead screech but only if they head towards this house when he got inside he thought “man this person must be obsessed with water” he searched but didn’t find anything useful he could get without alerting the two creatures outside, he peaked around the corner and saw that they were eating some cooked meat. Suddenly he heard thought he heard a commotion and slinked his way out the window. Grabbed Doug and went towards the commotion he saw what looked like a girl drowning. Then he heard “Our world was once peace and love. Now that man is here it is full of hatred and war.” The girl in the water had been rescued so he would ask about it later but this girl was spouting music to his ears, but the boy next to her was spouting crap. He stepped out from the bushes “that crap, if there was an event, it was them wiping us out, if they didn’t keep me in this area I would of killed hundreds if not thousands of humans, but you wouldn’t have any meat, close by I haven’t eaten in days.”

Golith was happy to see that Rilletta was ok. It took him a second before he realized that she was naked. It was a good thing dragons couldn’t blush or he would have been bright red. He was also not sure what to do when she started to be affectionate with him with a kiss and a snuggle. She was happy though when she was able to smile and started talking more. She pointed out that the girl and her serpent wanted to hurt her. “No one will be hurting anyone, understand,” he growled as he swam beck to land. Rilletta stocked the scales on his head and he felt a shiver run down all the way to the tip of his tail.

"You -" she stroked her delicate fingers down his scales. "Friend?"

"Of corse," he said.

Roth slowly floated towards the water. The song had stopped and it seemed some kind of incident had transpired and a dragon had saved a mermaid. That in itself was a bit confusing, but it was what it was. Roth had wanted to help but seeing how everything was ok he smiled at not being needed.

'It is better this way,' he thought. He recalled the trouble his 'help' had caused. Faces appeared before his eyes, all people that were no longer apart of the material world. He made a quiet prayer to the souls hoping they reached their final destination.

He floated away back into the woods magicking his mandolin away and decided to read something a little lighter. The book was titled 'Tower of God', but it seemed more like a magazine.
_______________________________________

Roth had dodged around trees for awhile before he found a nice secluded lake. He smelled food close by, and figured he would get to know even more people today. Bonds were important.

More faces flashed.

Roth stopped reading and reached into his pocket. He pulled out a very old lamp.

'My sanctuary and prison' he thought as he put it back in his pocket.

As they neared the shore, the beautiful Siren began trembling. She had not touched land in millenniums, - though to her, they felt like a decade, at most. "No," she begged, her lower lip trembling. As she was a being of water, Rilletta could really cry. "No," she repeated, tearing up.

Just as the dragon stepped onto the land, Rilletta lost her grip on him. She fell through an endless expand of air in complete shock - she had never fallen before. In fact, she'd never been anywhere close to the sky. Her flawless back smacked onto the ground - Rilletta arched her spine in pain, her breath knocked out of her. She tried to speak but no words came, panic filled her and for the first time, she thought she was going to die. Whatever death was, she didn't want to know. As her small body arched, her legs jerked and she screamed - a piercing, sharp and agonising cry. It felt like her mermaid's tail had been ripped apart.

"Put me back!" she wept. "Put me back!" A wave crashed onto the beach and water flowed in under her, pouring over her dainty feet and crawling over her skin. Rilletta yelped - the water felt strange. It was wet and cold and the girl of water was not used to feeling. She quickly shuffled backwards, causing intense pain to shoot up her legs. She wailed, her sugary voice drenched in torment. Tears spilled from her eyes, cascading down her cheeks to land on her bare chest and roll down her torso to a part of her she never knew she had.

"Take it off," she cried, raking her fingernails through her legs. "What are they?" she asked in a frenzy. Rilletta pierced her nails through her flesh. The pain was overwhelming but she wanted to take the strange things off of her. Every sensation was much too intense, the grains of sand beneath her felt like a million sharp pebble stones and the water was not comforting. Her soft blue hair down her slim back was foreign to her. Rilletta looked away, letting her hair fall over her eyes - the sunlight was glaringly bright.

Rilletta was trapped in some otherworldly creature's body.

Golith thought everything was going to be ok until Rilletta fell off his head and started screaming in pain as she accumulated to her new body. He started to panic because he wasn’t sure of what he should do. He danced around on the spot as he tried to figure out what to do. Winds started to pick up and the trees waved as the waters rippled. The earth started to shake a little as Golith continued to panic and try to figure out a means to help her numb the pain. “What can I do,” he yowled. He didn’t like seeing the ones he cared about in pain, usually he destroyed whatever was the cause of it if possible but what can he do when its coming within, he never felt so useless.

The pleading of the mermaid reached Roth's mind. It was an annoying side effect of being a djinni. He sighed not really knowing how to handle it. His powers grew every time he granted a wish, but he had seen what his wishes could do without the user's proper wording, of course he was to blame as well for he never really cared how the wish would come about or the consequences of it. With a twist of his fingers light began to glow slightly. He couldn't grant a wish with a proper contract being fulfilled. Regardless he could still help.

By the beach where everyone was gathered, a long blue dress appeared folded on the shore a ways from the water, as well as some medical supples to help clean and sooth injuries.

"That should do I think," Roth stated as he no longer felt like reading. He jumped down from the branch landing next to the lake. The smell of cooked food had gotten to him and he decided what he wanted to eat. He magicked a fishing pole, a tackle with lots of bait and his attire had switched to that of a stereotypical fisherman. Roth gently whistled the mermaids tune he had heard earlier as he plopped the bait into the water.

Noticing the medical supplies and the dress Golith changed back into his human form and picked them both up. He wasn’t sure how they had gotten there but he wasn’t complaining. Walking back over to Rilletta and started to administer pain relievers and some first aid. (OOC: Sorry for the short post I can’t really come up with much.:P)

Roth was aware of the items he created were being used. He was getting quite lucky with the fish though. He wasn't sure whether it was the mermaid's song he was humming or if he was just really good at fishing. Roth magically prepared his fish, not really feeling like cooking by hand at the moment. There were five fish so far and Roth decided that would be enough. He magicked a picnic blanket and layed it on the grass by the lake. He picked up the book Mermish and Sirenese: The aquatic languages of love and read as he ate his fish filet.

He magicked another book Dragons and You: Be Friends or Dinner He glanced through it looking for a picture of the dragon he had seen. He couldn't find it.

Roth had been around for a long time but there were still so many things he didn't know. This was mostly his fault. He enjoyed helping people close to him and didn't think much about who else was in this world. Roth pulled out his lamp once more.

'I'm going to have to go in there again,' he thought.

Inside the lamp space was twisted to the point where the lamp was suprisingly comfortable. Roth was told that the space within the lamp was a representation of a Djinn's power. He had heard of some being the size of mansions. Roth himself had a modest four rooms. Bedroom, Library, Kitchen, and a room he used for storage. He was hoping the next wish he granted would get him a closet.
Roth was thought about granting wishes and was wondering if the lamp would feel more like a home than a prison if it was larger. Roth was wondering about his racial need to serve others. It filled him with mixed feelings. He was so lost in thought thta his fish was only luke warm. He magicked some sauce and poured it on.

"Yum," he said with a smile. "Just in time. Would have hated to waste anything. He ate and wondered about the other people nearby. He looked at the Mermish book, he was getting a headache. Learning Aquan languages were slightly harder than terran, auran, and ignan. Roth didn't think he would really meet a creature who spoke it so he focused his langues on infernal, celestial, and abyssal(devil, angel, and demon respectively) His other languages were more basic so he could understand simple phrases but Aquan was harder than most. He willed the book opened again and pushed pass the headache.

"If only she had touched the lamp," he thought. Djinns are servents and they automatically understand the language of all that have touched their lamp, but doing that would then make her his master if she performed the proper ritual.

Oh well, let's just keep with the book. he thought

Scarny stayed silent. She was bout to speak when something coming. She jumped with surprise not that it really scared her just that she didn't know it was coming. Then she realized she could not read this creatures mind. This made her happy. When he defended her protest the became happy again but they he talked of death. "No, that is not what I mean. I mean that they need to see the peaceful way of living. A way without war. A way where no one has to worry about beng killed as long as nature so loves them as she does me." She had started slightly loud- at least for her- then went down to a whisper, touching the ground once more. She had to stand for mother nature. "I do have a bow and arrow, hidden. I do not use it though. I have been good to her so she is good to me." She pleaded with them. Trying to get them to understand.

Once Zella saw that the now human siren was safe she jumped back into the water and into its depths. She knew of caves down there and loved to sit in them. Like the siren when in Undine form she can breath the water. Proof of this was the gills on each side of her neck. She found her favorite and swam up into it and jumped up onto the ledge. She transformed back into her human form and sat up on the wall. "An dwarfs dream." She mumbled to herself thinking of the shimmering jewels in the rocks. She thought of how it was too bad dwarfs couldn't swim. She put her head back and closed her eyes and played the scene all over again. She was officially the most hated hybrid ever.

(FINISHED)

"We don't always have a reason," A soft voice suddenly said beside him.

But it wouldn't make any sense. Humans came from out of nowhere, killing the ancient deities and other mystical purebreds. Were humans just that heartless? A soul of cold stone that could not be moved? Not even with the blood of the innocent who have now passed by? Ahura shivered at the thought and decided not to dwell on the subject any longer.

"How is it that you know so much anyway, You don't look like a scholar to me?" The same sonorous voice came up again. As melodic as the girl sounded, he could sense a strong heat coming from within her. Radiating all through her body. The scolding heat sent a tinge of nervousness through his spine and down but he withheld from moving from his spot. Instead, he chuckles and feels around the ground until his fingers wrap around a small, yet sturdy stick. Carefully, and slowly, he draws in the wet sand. Tracing the currents of vibrations in his head and basing his picture off of prior knowledge. When he finished, the image in the sand looked almost like a dog with the hind legs of a bird and the wings and tail of a peacock.

"Tell me dear girl...Do you know what an Angha is?" He grins playfully before dropping the stick in the ground and scooting closer to Scarny who had begun talking. He figured it would take a bit of time to think since Angha's really aren't spoken of as often as they were. After this small happening, he had all attention toward Scarny.

"No, that is not what I mean. I mean that they need to see the peaceful way of living. A way without war. A way where no one has to worry about beng killed as long as nature so loves them as she does me." He nods slowly. "Yes, you make a good point but it'd be hard for someone to see the lustrous side in this when all they know is the darkness. Not all minds think alike..." He says doubtfully. But he soon cracks a small smile, "But I think it is possible." Ahura thinks for a minute longer. "Yes...A future as bright as a diamond with no worries of the past." He begins to smile some more. "Somehow...If we could get everyone to let go of the past then maybe everything would stop...And people will be more caring toward one another..." He finishes with a sigh. His iris's for the first time trailed onto the ground and landed near the girls eyes. "You are...Different than all of the others I've met..." He says, almost inaudible to even his own ears.

"You have a strong amount of faith and hope in everyone's future. You...care deeply for everyone's sake including nature itself..." His voice goes into a small whisper. For some reason, his voice had altered into a much softer tone than what he wanted. This sudden alteration made Ahura slightly uncomfortable and he chose to stop talking for the moment.

Scarny couldn't hear the whisper but heard his mind. She also saw his true identity. The large creature that he was born and the small boy he chose to portray. She also saw in the back of his mind a slight hint of something he once was in a past life. Something reflecting what he was then. She shook it out of her mind and instead turned to attention to the drawing in the sand. "Yes I know what it is. My father had saved the life of one and later it saved his life. I only got to see it disappear in the sky." She thought how her father said she would encounter one again one day, it made her smile. She stood and brushed the sand from her shorts and tank top. She moved towards the dragon and looked over at the man with the mask. "I am going to fly and I am sure he will fly too, would you like a ride? I am sure if you dont want to ride with me you could ride with him." She stopped and turned to Ahura. "Unless you want to ride with me too. We can all ride on him. He is gentle and very large."

Lodan smiled and slightly laughed. "OK this will be a bit hard but lt me try." He closed his eyes and concentrated real hard. Within a minute his ears disappeared and eleven tails appeared on his lower back. He opened his eyes and yawned. "Sorry it is almost a new moon so its really hard to do this." He yawned again at the end of the sentence and looked at her. "This tails are of the knowledge and all types of things I have done. Not in this life, past ones. I have been rewarded with all of what I learned it my past lives. I still feel the hurt for the ones I lost, and when they lost me." He tried to explain to her. He didn't really want her to know her previous ten names.

Rilletta stumbled, unsure of how to use her legs. It was as if she were a baby with weak legs that had not yet learned how to walk. Occasionally, the Siren fell but Golith was always there to help. The blue dress he'd put her in was uncomfortable - she did not understand why she had to wear the strange-looking blue leaf over her skin. She did not take it off, though, because it at least helped with blocking the sunlight.

Holding Golith's arm, Rilletta steadied herself just as she was about to fall. Her legs were tiring her but she needed shade - the sun was burning hot. The dragon-boy had given her strange ocean pearl lookalikes that relieved some of her pain. Every inch of her skin still stung but at least the agony in her legs had subsided into an annoying ache. Rilletta had attempted to speak as they walked but never more than a few senseless words.

"Water," Rilletta announced in her odd accent. She sniffed the air, her small nose twitching. Letting go of the light haired boy, she wobbled towards a secluded lake. A branch slapped her in the nose. She blinked in complete shock. "Begone!" she yelled, crouching and hiding her head under her hands. "Begone, strange snake! Rilletta is Siren!" In a huff, she stood and after giving the tree branch a hard glare, stalked away towards the body of running water. An intricate, gold thing with a stout sat on the banks. It looked like a strange clam...

A lamp.

"Bird," she called, glancing back at the dragon-boy. "Golden clam!" she declared. Picking up the strange thing in her delicate hands - Rilletta rubbed the lamp.

Roth's body shuddered. Roth turned in the direction of the shore and disappeared bringing the book and food with him.

Roth appeared in his lamp only to reform into prismatic smoke and flowed through and back out of the lamp.

He showed no sign of surprise seeing as how a language he was just studying seemed pointless. Roth magicked his book away, no longer needing it. The words of the mermaid housed themselves in his head.

His eyes glanced at the mermaid. He smiled slightly, he was glad that his eyes were as good as ever. It was a perfect fit. It also seemed to suit her, but it she looked unaccustomed to it, since her left shoulder was exposed as the shoulder hung slightly down. Roth then noticed that she seemed displeased with the sunlight and magicked a parasol into existence. He offered it to her, but when seeing her displeasure from the rays of the sun, he magicked a parasol into existence and held it out for her to grab. Th

"My name is Roth Quellish. I am a Djinn of the Marid, and I am at your service. he asked in fluent Aquan with a perfect Mermish dialect as he bowed slightly feeling that anything to exaggerated might frighten her.. His eyes stared directly into hers. He looked around at the gathered individuals. He remembered them from earlier. He nodded to them in unison.

"What do you wish of me, Mistress?" he asked as he looked back at the mermaid.

Ahura stood, brushing the sand off his pants before his eyes reached the beast. "Er-I can fly on my own, but I think I plan on staying here a couple days longer and I was wondering if you could maybe tell me where I may stay?" He asks. A small blush forming upon his face. He rarely had to ask for something as simple as finding a place to stay. He could have just found a small clearing quite close to the camp and set up a small site there. Why on earth would a traveler such as he ask for any form of hospitality? He had the trees as his home...

Ahura inhales deeply as feathers and fur cover his bare skin. His size grows as well and soon, feathered wings of multiple colors form on his back. The last thing to show was his tail which fanned out behind him. Once he had transformed completely his head turned toward Scarny and her dragon. "I'll let you lead. It's easier for me to follow the wind currents rather than vibrations when I'm in the air." He gently walks up beside the dragon. His wings tensing as they got prepared to take off.

"Man clam," she said, furrowing her brows in confusion as she pointed at the strange creature in front of her. Then, in sudden realisation - she ducked just as a parasol appeared from seemingly nowhere. The creature was reddish gold and weird-looking. It must've been fire.

"En nedle extrne falfa Roth Quellish, slepir tes pauwel an hyzik," it said. My name is Roth Quellish. I am a Djinn of the Marid, and I am at your service. Rilletta gasped and looked up slowly from her ball of blue on the ground, peeking through her fingers. He speaks Hymmnos! The fiery being must have been a water creature. Of course he was - "You're a clam!" she announced in her language. She wasn't sure what a Djinn was, however. Was it an unusual species of clam?

"What do you wish of me, Mistress?" RIlletta stood slowly, taking the parasol he offered. It was a blue that matched her soft dress that tightened at her waist to flow down her hips. The parasol had lovely frills on the edges, she held it contentedly over her head, shielding herself from the Sun.

"Presia aterra cremia sos viuy lonfa? Yehar lamenza der soare mea?" she asked in her melodic voice. The mermaid was perfectly at ease with her language, speaking confidently and smoothly. Her tongue formed the words with speed and precision. What strange sea creature are you? Why're you calling me your mistress and what am I doing here? she'd asked. Her voice, though not as surreal and otherworldly as her voice in her true form, was still beautiful. It was as if flowers would bloom at her command. Her voice was lovely enough to make anyone swoon and obey - even in her human form.

"I do not wish anything from you, silly clam," she chuckled. "How did you make the parasol appear? Did you create the clothes, too? Hold me - I am tired." Rilletta nodded seriously before she let herself fall. Having been in water for so long, the concept of crashing into solid ground hadn't quite solidified in her mind yet. She simply figured someone would catch her or she'd shatter into foam.

Reacting fast Golith dashed forward and caught her. Looking at the passed out girl he eased her to the ground before he faced the djinn. “Please forgive her, she is not entirely sure of what’s what right now.” Looking around he decided to continue the conversation, “So you’re a djinn. I haven’t seen your kind for a long time. To be truthful I thought you guys where all gone.”

Looking back at Rilletta he heaved a sigh, “This must all be really confusing for her. She just changed from a liquid state to a solid and grew herself a pair of legs. This is not always easy for some people than others.” Now that he could focused he realized that there where others nearby. Thankfully they did not seem to mean any harm.

Man Clam said the mermaid.

'Man clam?' Roth thought as his eyebrows lifted slightly and the slightest of smirks tugged at the corner of his mouth. 'That's new' he chuckled in the back of his throat.

After Roth had let her finish speaking he noticed her wobble slightly. He had been mentally checking the series of questions she was asking, but when she said "Hold me" he had got a bit confused. He put the 'Hold me' out of context at first, but just as he was going to stop her with a twist of his wrist he noticed the male dragon rush over to catch.

'Quite unnecessary', he thought. 'As if I would allow my Master fall to the ground.' He slowed her ever so slightly to assist the dragon. 'It would appear she already has a suiter' he thought, not really surprised seeing as she was not only a siren but even quite attractive by siren standards. On top of that it appeared the it seemed she wasn't in really need of any wishes. 'This could take some time' he summed up the situation.

Roth Quellish watched the dragon who held the mermaid in his arms. 'I suppose she could do worse' he thought.

"We are not gone, per say." he responded. "We are still around but you are right to suspect so. There are not many of us left. Least of all the Marid. Many have been captured and enslaved, moving from one master to the next. Marids are a bit different than most other djinns. But I am afraid I cannot tell you that secret.

Roth thought of what the man had said about her state changing. He was very proud of his library and it came in handy in times like these.

"It happens sometimes to races like hers." he started to explain. "When you have alternate forms," he paused looking at the dragon in human form. "that are entirely different from the other form, especially for extended periods of time they have trouble changing and tend to forget quite a lot." He looked at the sleeping mermaid. "She can probably explain much more than I when she comes to." Though Roth let the dragon catch the girl Roth had kept the parasol hovering over the mermaid the entire time.

Roth looked around the area.

"Where did the Undine go to?" he asked. "If anything she should be much more knowledgeable of other races of the sea. She would be a big help now and a good friend for the mermaid.

There was darkness. An abyss of nothing and the beating of sizzling heat. "I'm blind!" Rilletta cried, waving her arms about. In her true form of water she did not sleep and her eyelids were transparent like to the rest of her. The concept of closing one's eyes was foreign to her.

Shooting up into a stand, her eyes abruptly opened to reveal her kaleidoscope irises. "Bird! Man clam! What is this?" Pinching her eyelids and blinking rapidly, Rilletta frowned unhappily.

"Man clam. You glow too brightly. Turn into boy like him," she demanded, completely at ease as she gestured towards Golith.

"Come, strange friends." The blue clad Siren walked towards the lake, tilting her generous hips side to side as she did. "Take off your curtains," she said as she began tugging their shirts over their heads. "We swim."

Shimmying out of her lovely blue dress, Rilletta stepped into the water and yelped. "Why is water wet?" she asked before stepping all the way in. Her body in the water became that of a mermaid's. Her tail was a beautiful midnight blue. It glowed with an otherworldly shine. It was as if the galaxy and it's consonants lived within her mermaid's tail. Rilletta dived into the water, her body moving swiftly like a wave. When she popped her small blue head out of the water, she was smiling brightly. "Rilletta can see herself."

Sswimming over to a smooth rock, the mermaid pressed her palms onto the slippery surface and pulled herself up to sit on the rock, her tail folded beside her. The fins at the ends of her tail were translucent and sky blue, like a fairy's wings.

"Come," she said, patting the rocks on either sides of her. "Braid Rilletta's hair."

Running her fingers over her tail, she mused, "This is strange. Rilletta is a fish?"

Roth changed his form back to that of a human.

"She wishes for us to go swimming," Roth explained to the dragon, which he hoped would clarify the speech as well as the reason she was trying to take their clothes off. Roth watched as the legged mermaid shimmied out of the dress as well as the the dress she gave to him fall to the ground. It bothered Roth not at all since he could simply magic it clean again. His top puffed into kaleidiscopic butterflys which then puffed into blue shimmering dust. His pants reformed into swimming trunks of alternating white and black designs.

He followed Rilletta.

"They are called clothes, Mistress," Roth corrected her pronouncing the word in human tongue. "They are used to keep warm as well as give a form of modesty." Roth twirled his fingers creating a modest wrap that covered her chest. It was blue to match her hair. "You may not understand it now, but is thought of as a good thing.

"Water has always been wet" he explained. "It was you that has changed, Mistress. You are now a solid creature, so you interact differently with objects and people. Do not worry I am sure these new friends of yours will help you get used to it. As well as myself of course."

Roth smirked slightly at the mermaids innocence. "Yes, Mistress. We can see you too.

Roth jumped in and swam over to his new Master. These simple tasks were what being a servant was all about. Roth's red hair fell down his back as he swam up. He floated out of the water and simply sat on the water behind Rilletta. He began to braid Rilletta's hair.

"No, Mistress," he educated her with a soft and warm voice. "You are mermaid, a unique one, known as a Siren." He wondered why the dragon took so long.

'Perhaps they are not together after all' he thought to himself.

"Your race is known for its beautiful voices and enchanting songs." Roth spread his mystical senses and located the Undine. She was under the water. "Miss I think you should go talk to the lady below the water. I feel she needs to talk to you."

Rilletta sat contentedly as the now red haired, human boy braided her blue hair. He was telling her she was not a fish - Roth had a very warm voice. Just like fire but it didn't burn her, strangely enough. So this was warmth.

"You are mermaid, a unique one, known as a Siren," Roth explained. She pursed her lips to the side, annoyed. "Rilletta knows she is a Siren." Struggling for the English words, the water creature decided to give up and speak in Hymmnos. "Siren and Water - they're the same." Rilletta explained in her language, splashing her long tail in the water for emphasis.

"Your race is known for its beautiful voices and enchanting songs." Now she frowned.

"My race? What do you mean? Everyone's a Siren. The humans that come to play with me, they turned back into water - into Sirens," she said. Then, with a laugh, continued. "They don't sing, though. In fact, they're quite quiet after a while," she mused, her kaleidoscope eyes flitting through the clear waters.

Rilletta took Roth's warm hand in hers and placed it on her smooth midnight blue mermaid's tail - it was surprising, how it felt nothing like a fish's tail but was instead softer than velvet and smoother than silk. But it was so heart wrenchingly cold. It was said a Siren's happiness was measured by her warmth. The lonelier they were, the colder they felt. Those that had lost their direction - were ice. The blue mermaid took the Djinn's hands in hers and fiddled with his fingers, flipping his palm around over and over as if they were the strangest things she'd ever seen. Rilletta placed her small hand in his, "Fans," she said in human tongue.

Looking at Roth with her watery, ever-changing eyes, she looked sad. "Once they walk into the water, they ignore me," she whispered in Hymmnos. "When they turn into water, they never come back. Why?" Rilletta looked back down at her hands in the young man's. A teardrop rolled down the mermaid's cheek and then it was a waterfall. She cried a seemingly endless amount of tears. "Why is Rilletta raining?" she asked in a mix of Hymmnos and human speech as she cupped her hands under her eyes to try to catch the tears.

"Where is Bird?" she asked, looking back. "Man clam, bird, you will stay with Rilletta?" Then, in a soft voice, she spoke, "Kla en." Please.

"Miss I think you should go talk to the lady below the water. I feel she needs to talk to you."

"Lady below the water?" she echoed, wiggling her transparent fins submerged under the lake. "The Undine?" She gasped in Hymmnos. "No, no, no. Of course not. She'll kill me in a second." Then, curious, she smacked her palm into a jagged rock - it hurt like anything but her blood was clear water. "It hurts," she stated, staring at her bleeding palm.

Flesh is weird.