Jeanie tried to make herself up to be as beautiful as possible, but she was no longer filled with youth and beauty as she once was years ago. She had grappled many sea creatures for gold in her time and it had scarred her beauty greatly; not to mention the crow’s feet beginning to form at the corners of her eyes and ugly wrinkles manifesting about her arms and neck which she tried to cover with immense amounts of jewelry and magic spells.
Nonetheless, she put on her most alluring pair of seashells, did her hair up in a youthful ponytail, and covered herself in jewels to hide any imperfections--including gluing emeralds to the corners of her eyes.
She came to the edge of the murky waters of the mermaid domain and dared not cross into the crystal-clear waters where she saw dozens of seals swimming in blissful ignorance.
None of them paid her any heed for a long time.
Eventually, however, one of the more curious seals locked eyes with her and came to a stop during its free-wheeling swim.
Jeanie held its black gaze and narrowed her eyes seductively.
She waved the creature over with a pointer finger.
Merric ignored the watery barks and wails of his friends who seemed to be warning him not to go. He slowly swam toward her as one who was hypnotized. When he was close enough, Jeanie reached out and seized the struggling seal by his cheeks as he yipped in distress, trying to struggle free.
Her hands were burned and red from reaching into the Pure Waters, but she managed to pull the seal into the murky water through sheer force of will.
Merric slipped through her grasp by wrenching himself in a circular movement and attempted to reenter his home, but squealed in pain when his face grazed the Pure Waters. Jeanie laughed. “I’m sorry, mate! I don’t think ye can go back in now! But ye will ‘ave something better than those waters in a moment!”
Jeanie grabbed the seal by his tail fins and began peeling back his skin; he barked and wailed and struggled the entire time, causing Jeanie to curse.
Eventually, Jeanie peeled off the skin from stem-to-stern and revealed a black-eyed, shivering young man underneath. Jeanie’s eyes lit up.
Yes! That dress is as good as mine!
“W-what have you done to me?” The young man asked. “I feel sick…”
Jeanie paid him no heed as she tied his wrists together with rope and then dragged him along through the ocean with a hearty whistle emanating from her lips.
“Please let me go! I miss my family! I miss my waters! It’s cold out here…” The seal-made-man cried.
“Oh hush. Ye ‘ave something better than a family and pretty waters! Ye ‘ave a brain in your head and smart thoughts ta think!” Jeanie chuckled.
The selkie was silent again for a time—confused and shocked at the world around him—and Jeanie was in too good a mood to worry about any feelings he might have had. Indeed, she stopped caring about the feelings of others long ago when she was a young girl. She didn’t think anything could make her care about anyone else ever again.
Until the creature started crying.
It was an odd sound—the sound of a human sob mixed with the barking of a seal.
She turned around and saw tears streaming down his slippery, whiskered, plump sealesque cheeks and she felt guilty for the first time since she was very young. “Oh, don’t cry, ye land lubber… Ye’ll see. Things are quite lovely outside of yer waters! There’s far more things to do and far more things to challenge ye out here!”
“Things are dark and scary out here… I want to go home…” The seal continued blubbering. “I thought you were nice.”
Jeanie sighed.
Blighted seal is raining down on me sunshine! I just need to ignore him, and then I’ll have me fancy dress!
“I thought you liked me…” The seal sniffled.
Jeanie stopped swimming for a moment at that sentence.
She had uttered that sentence before in her life, and she remembered her innocence coming to an end soon afterward. “Well, let that be yer first taste of the real world.”
Jeanie took the seal to the dock at her usual time later that night. In a last-ditch effort to convince her to return him back to the Pure Waters, Merric threw his arms around her and shouted, “please take me back home! Please!”
Jeanie’s eyes were wide as she looked over Merric’s shoulder.
She cleared her throat and patted his shoulder. “Ye’ll be alright. I promise.” She lied coolly.
She grabbed Merric around the waist and swam him to the surface where the wizard, Belmarduk, tossed her a bag of gold and then snapped his fingers to bring Merric to his side through his putrid magic.
“Good work, Poacher. Spend your gold well.” Belmarduk nodded his approval.
“You sold me…?” Merric was aghast.
Jeanie looked at her gold with a sinking feeling in her stomach as Merric was dragged away.
__
Later that night, Jeanie looked into her vanity mirror quietly. She delighted in how beautiful she looked in her new dress, but couldn’t shake the ugly, vitriolic feelings in her stomach.
Black, judgmental eyes stared back at her from the mirror.
She had sold that poor selkie’s innocence…
For the price of a dress.
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