I found the wandering mermaid sooner than later; rather, she found me. Apparently, she was looking for me too.

“You were with my brother,” she said.

Her room was further down the hall. Cozy, well-furnished, and rather pristine. Wasn’t as grand as her brother’s, but not bad. She also had a nice view of the lake, or would have if a certain tree wasn't blocking most of the view. Then again, watching a tree from so close and seeing fish settle down on it wasn’t bad either. A little jarring, and hella confusing, but not bad.

“Yeah. He had interesting things to say.”

“Probably just told you to not want a reward, right?”

“Yeah?”

“Typical.”

“I have a feeling you know what’s going on, mind explaining?”

“He’s going to use your sincerity as a bargaining chip.”

“Yeah, I had a feeling,” I said. “Eaten?”

“Not yet. I always tend to get nervous and throw up. So, I decided best not eat.”

Roksha wasn’t as young as she appeared to be. She was 11, a little older than I thought.

“I see,” I said, sitting down on her bed. Rather firm. “When’s the audience?”

“Later this evening,” she said.

“You’re going to starve the whole day?”

“Better than throwing up before the queen.” She didn’t sit. She just floated a tiny bit above the ground.

“I suppose,” I said. She did have a point. But was this mermaid queen lady so frigging scary that Roksha had to starve not to throw up before her? Or maybe she’s just not used to court settings.

This was technically going to be my first time as well. I’d met the Duke and although technically he was sort of a king, this was the real deal. It’d be a lie to say I wasn't somewhat nervous myself but I wasn't nervous to the point where I'd evacuate the contents of my stomach. If anything, I was excited to meet a real queen. Though, I suppose everyone had different stress tolerance and maybe she had issues in the past and was just not going to take chances this time because of trauma or something.

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

“Then how about you show me around?” I said. “There’s gotta be something here that-”

“There is, but,” she sighed. “It’s best for you to not go out with me. They might treat you... badly if you’re out with me?”

“But they didn’t when we were out yesterday. We swam through the whole city. The mermaids genuinely seemed worried about you.”

“They are, or, some are. The rest are pretending. They... don’t like me. I’m ugly.”

“You’re not ugly,” I said.

“Didn’t you mistake me for a boy? I’m ugly, Sol.”

“Beauty is subjective.”

“Well, then they all subjectively think I’m ugly.”

I didn’t have a comeback. I didn't have anything I could say to her. I didn’t really know what to say either. What the fuck could I say? Even if I said she wasn’t ugly, that wasn’t true, just like her brother had said. I kind of believed that. And that only made me feel like a worthless piece of shit. But just then I remembered something.

Something someone had once told me.

“Outward beauty isn’t everything. There are plenty of people in the world who are ugly, really. But does that mean you’re going to mope for the rest of your life and blame yourself or your parents or your circumstances? What will blaming or feeling helpless get you? Nothing. Absolutely nothing. So... I’m not going to mince words: I really thought you were a boy when we first met you. But that’s because you haven’t hit puberty yet and your hair’s so short. Grow your hair out, grow up a bit more. While I don’t find you attractive or girly, I do treasure you as a friend. I’m not sure if you think of me as a friend, but I do. And that’s why as a friend, let me tell you, you’re beautiful Roksha. Maybe not by the standards of this world, but by the standards of mine. You’re useful, kindhearted, and a good friend. That’s more than enough qualities to be beautiful.”

Holy fucking hell, I didn’t know I could even say stuff that! Didn’t that sound like a-

Roksha smiled. Her eyes shimmering slightly. “Thanks, Sol,” voice betraying her usual calmness, she blew her nose once. Nothing came out, or rather, I'd already turned and just walked away. Hey, I could be a gentleman too sometimes!

Sometime later, Roksha and I went out. Zarkan came with us. Apparently, the local food was too boring and he wanted something else. Roksha wanted Sea weed which was apparently a junk food here. Meanwhile, I just wanted to see more of this place and stuff.

We had to cross the misty river. I mostly just swam, while the others... did their fish things. It felt absolutely wild to swim in water, underwater. My mind was so confused, I nearly drowned a couple of times. But well, mermaid friends come in handy during clutch times like these.

The moment I got out of the water, it was almost like the water vaporized. Sure I still felt kind of wet, but, but this feeling was vastly different than just being out in the open sea. Seriously, these safe zones were messing with my mind.

[A/N]

Sorry for the short chaps