Amour Ch. 02

Tienna arrived home to her lonely bare apartment; she had arrived to work late after her little accident the other night, apologising profusely to her boss as she rushed around for the rest of the working day. Her mind dizzy with an array of scheduled meetings and errands. But as she sat there in the apartment alone, her mind began to wonder, slipping back into old familiar haunts. Resurfacing old wounds to scratch at, over and over until it became raw with emotional afflictions. His face appeared in her head, laughing and talking yet with no words coming out of his mouth. She tried to close her eyes to free her mind of these images but was only greeted with his jeering smile, haunting her endlessly. In a vain attempt to free her minds she thought back to the night before. Was she really dreaming that she had seen a silver tail at the end of Aria's body? It could have simply been a trick of the light, refracting off the surface of the water, temporarily blinding her. Or she could have simply hallucinated, an after effect of drinking all that salt water and the near death experience. Tienna sighed deeply, rubbing the temple of her head with her forefingers. If her mind wasn't on thoughts of him, then it was on thoughts of a possible lapse in her sane being.

She decided to clear her mind by taking a drive, down to her favourite place; the beach. It was still mid afternoon as she meandered her way down the path, the beach had a few couples enjoying the last of the sun's rays as they lay upon the warm white sand, working on their tan. Tienna decided to take a stroll along the beach to get away from the couples. Their infatuations with each other were causing her to relive some unfortunate past relationship flashbacks. Tienna casually walked along the beach, past the cliff face that she was upon the night before as she enjoyed the feeling of soft sand underneath her toes. The waves lapped in the back ground in a never-ending rhythm of nature. The sand underneath her feet turned coarse as she made her way along the beach, heavily littered with shells. The sun was still high in the sky; it's heat causing the sweat to bead as it dripped from her forehead. Her clothes began to stick as well from her perspiration. She looked around her, the beach was desolate, this was no surprise to Tienna as the surf was a lot rougher on this side of the cliff face and numerous rocks reared their blackened heads as waves crashed over them.

Tienna stripped off her clothing and dived underneath an oncoming wave. The coolness of the water cleansed her sweat drenched body as she swam out towards a submerged rock 50m away. As she dived underneath a wave, she heard a voice faintly humming. Surfacing she looked around in an attempt to ascertain whereabouts the source of this voice was, only to be greeted by the sounds of the waves crashing against the beach and the endless ocean stretching out before her. An oncoming wave approached her as she dived underneath it deeply. There, there it was again she thought to herself as she heard the voice as distinctive as a whales call. The song eerily enchanting as the note grew louder, Tienna made her way towards it. Her lungs were bursting from the lack of air, as the voice continued to haunt her. She surfaced panting heavily as she looked about her. There was a small cave in front of her. She looked around her; she was in front of the cliff face that she had climbed that night before. Time seemed to freeze at that point in time; it was strange looking at that black cave, like déjà vu as a mixture of emotions ranging from fear to curiosity and eventually to cynicism swept through her body. She should turn around and leave at that moment. Turn and don't think about any of this madness ever again. Unfortunately common sense didn't seem to fit into this equation.

Steadying her breathing, she took a deep breath and submerged once again. The voice was distinctive as she swam her way towards the cave entrance, her eye's peering through the dim light. It's melody rose and fell, like the tides of the ocean as she was hopelessly drawn towards the ethereal voice. She entered the small cave entrance and surfaced silently, so as not to scare away whatever the source of the voice happened to be. Her eye's widened in shock.

There sitting on an outstretched rock was Aria, she was exactly as Tienna had remembered her the night before. Her long red hair splayed across her chest, adorned with hundreds of tiny sea-shells that glittered in the cave's eerie light. Her eyes were closed in rapture as her mouth parted, her exquisite voice resounding off the cave walls, only to compete with the incoming waves that constantly swept through the cave entrance. Her breast's hung free and unadorned; her small pink nipples erect in the dank atmosphere of the cave. Tienna's gaze continued to travel down Aria's body as she continued to sing. Her body was slender, but where her legs were meant to be, a giant fish tail was instead. Tienna looked in amazement as she studied the mermaid before, her milky white skin seemed to blend into a tail with ease. It looked so natural and real. The silver tail shimmering against the water's reflection. Tienna waited before Aria finished singing before saying something.

"...Aria?"

The mermaid whirled around, a look of fear on her face when she heard Tienna's voice. Her face softened when she saw Tienna.

"...Hello Tienna."

-"I'm sorry to startle you, I just heard your singing... it was incredible... I was drawn to it... I couldn't help it."

"That's ok... Tienna. I don't usually perform to audiences though... so you can imagine my surprise when I got caught out."

-"But your voice is so beautiful, you shouldn't be ashamed of it."

"Of course it is beautiful... We mermaids were once known as the sirens of the sea many years ago... back then we had a bad reputation as a few rebellious mermaids used their voices to draw sailors to submerged rocks... It almost led to the discovery of us by humans..."

-"..So you don't like humans?"

"Well no, we generally don't associate ourselves with them, troublesome creatures they are, we leave them to destroy themselves..."

-"Oh... So... why did you save me?"

"...I...don't know.... I was drawn to you for a strange reason..."

-"That I was drowning?"

"... ha ha. No I have been watching you for a long period of time, I can pick up on things. I could feel your pain as you frequented those long walks along the beach only to stare out at the ocean. A reprieve from your pain?"

Tienna had swam along until her feet was able to touch the ground, she got out of the water and sat upon the wet sand, facing Aria. She couldn't help but notice Aria's eyes flicker across her naked body as she faced her.

-"Yes... but that is something that I would prefer not to talk about."

Aria's eyes softened as she looked at Tienna empathically.

"... I understand... forgive me for intruding into such private matters..."

-"Ha ha ha... don't apologise, it is just a touchy subject that I feel that I need to solve for myself first before being able to move on... So is it really true that you are s mermaid? Wow. Are there others like you?"

Aria smiled.

"Ha ha, yes but we are dwindling as a species. I have only met 2 in the past hundred years..."

100 100 years? How old are you?"

"Mermaids and other mythical sea creatures or 'merous' have a very long lifespan, easily over 1000 years. I am still young, I am only 150 years old."

-"What!?! 150 years old? How long have you people been on earth for?"

Aria smiled cheekily. "We have been on earth long before humans laid foot on this planet. Back then there were only angel's in the sky and mermaids in the sea. During one day a year the mermaids and various other mythical sea creatures were given a chance to walk upon the lands for 24 hours. If we liked the land then we were able to stay there to live within society. But at the end of the 24 hours, if we did not return to the ocean then we would never be able to again become merous. Which is the collective term for the various fabled sea creatures."

-"Wow. So much for evolution and the monkeys. So that fish tail is real?"

"Yes, as real as I am."

-"...Can I.. touch it?"

Aria looked at Tienna quizzically.

"Sure, as long as I can touch your tail."

Tienna looked at Aria confused, but when she saw her gaze travel down her legs, she smiled.

"We call these 'tails' legs. Of course you can touch it."

Aria smiled and watched with curiosity as Tienna walked and climbed upon the rock that Aria was upon, stretching out her legs. Tienna stared at Aria's tail with great interest, the silver scales of her tail shone out like a thousand pearls. She looked up at Aria who nodded at her. Tienna lightly ran her hand along the tail of Aria. It was cold, yet smooth like polished marble as her hand travelled down her to her tail. Aria flinched slightly as Tienna's long nails trailed across her scaled skTienTienna stopped immediately what she was doing, apologising profusely. Aria smiled, her mouth parting slightly as a light laugh escaped her mouth.

"I'm sorry, it was just that it tickles when your nails trailed across my skin. It's very sensitive my tail..." Aria said, flexing her tail up and down. Tienna smiled.

"May I...?" Aria questioned, looking at Tienna's long legs stretched out besides her.

Tienna grinned, nodding her head. Aria looked down amazed at Tienna's legs as her hand ran across her smooth soft skin.

"It's so smooth, and warm." She said as her hand softly explored her legs.

Tienna smiled, repressing a giggle as Aria's hand softly stroked the underside of her foot. Studying each aspect of her leg wiloselose scrutiny.

"I have always wondered what it would be like..." Aria murmured as she studied her knee with curiosity, her hand exploring the underside of her thigh.

"It feels so warm.." Aria said as her hand neared Tienna's bush. Tienna took a sharp intake of breath as A's h's hand lightly brushed across her bush. Aria looked up alarmed.

"I'm so sorry, did I hurt you? Are you ok?"

-"No... I-it's ok. That is just my reproductive organs."

Aria blushed deeply, withdrawing her hands from Tienna.

"I-I'm so sorry... I-I didn't know."

-"That's ok... really... Uhmm out of curiosity... how do you guys have uhmmm..."

Aria looked at her confused.

-"Reproduce?"

Aria smiled.

"I myself have never reproduced. merous creatures essentially stay with each other their whole life. They are only betrothed to one person. When they want to reproduce, they go onshore for that one night a year where they can walk the earth. In this form they can then copulate, before returning to sea. Where the mother can then look after the baby through a pouch that develops. This is what I have been told when I was a child. I myself have not yet met my betrothed. But as I have said earlier, merous creatures live up to 1000 years and sometimes beyond, so reproduction doesn't necessarily become an issue until we reach our 400th year."

Tienna nodded in awe. Aria glanced outside the cave entrance to the now black sky of the night. A full moon shone, casting out it's silver light to the waves below. Aria looked up at Tienna.

"I had best be going. I haven't had any dinner as of yet, so I had best start hunting. Full moons are often best for food gathering in any case."

Tienna looked out at the dark sky. She had not realised how much time had passed. Aria saw the look of worry on her face.

"Don't worry, I will guide you back. Follow me." She said, disappearing in the water to resurface 5m away.

Tienna followed her, diving deeply she followed Aria's silver tail, which glistened in the night, the scales shimmering against the silver light of the moon. The water was warm as it enveloped her cold body, warming her like a liquid blanket. They both surfaced some time later, Tienna could clearly see her clothes strewn on the beach where she had carelessly discarded it earlier that afternoon. She turned around to thank Aria but had found that she had already disappeared. Once again she drove home wet and confused.