grassangel | [May 11] [Original] By the sea

Title: By the sea

Day/Theme: May 11, 'all other perils and misfortunes of the sea'
Series: Original (although features elements from the classical telling of 'The Little Mermaid')
Characters/Pairing: er.... none? An entire town?
Rating: PG+
Genre: Gen, speculative

It's peaceful here, at the edge of sea and land. Where sun-saturated coast meets cold waters and folk mingle with the water's creatures. We swim in the sea with them and they walk with us, not always hand in hand but always side by side.
There's always a breeze blowing, sea spray moistens air as sand blows its way through streets. Strands of Neptune's Necklace gather at building corners, sand dollars collect in gutters and mermaid pouches lay abandonded on the pavement as a shop keeper laughs a thank-you to her departing customer.

Once upon a time there was a castle up on the hill, a prince living there, surrounded by summer gardens and fresh maidens courting for his hand. There was another castle, deep under the sea, one with a king who had many daughters and few suitors.
Some might say it would've been fortuitous that the two kingdoms joined, but the reality is that blood would taint the sea.

They say a man from Denmark wrote about it and the ending wasn't happy nor terribly sad but hopeful.
That much is true but not much more. Love and death are two things that bring people together and that is what happened at the end of the story.

We swim alongside them, they walk beside us.

The shop keeper smiles, her hair tangled around her face like bladderwrack; the diver waves as he falls backwards into the water with a splash, kitted out with wetsuit and snorkel but no flippers.

That is the end of the story.