It was not a fairy season, but a fragile silhouette with transparent dusty blue wings was floating in misty air of grey morning. I hoped a stupid one wouldn't freeze to death, making up her nut-sized mind to go into hibernation.
Doris and I were sitting on a big mossy tree-trunk just in front of her pond. I hated the place which was so close to human settlements. I made a wry face: a reek of human roads and noise of their iron chariots was depressing.
"Why don't you move closer to the Border? I can ask the elders to give you one of our springs or lakes. Most of them don't ice up and you don't have to stay with humans all winter." Just mermaids' mere presence clears water and fends off undeads.
"I left my coin ashore and a human took it."
"I'm sure they won't mind! Stop... you did what?"
"I've made a huge mistake, and I don't know what to do now."
She hid her face with hands.
"Keep calm. We'll figure it out. Are there any spells or rituals to bring your coin back or cancel the whole process?"
She shook her head.
"Can your siblings from Tartarus help you? I'm sure they have some disgusting concoction in a cauldron for all occasions."
She shook her head again. A huge teardrop ran down her cheek.
"What did he do to you? Did that monster hurt you?!" I clenched my fists, looking around for my spear.
"She doesn't like me!" Doris burst out crying after several attempts to hold her emotions inside.
I relaxed. A woman, then. That's comforting. I've heard their females are less aggressive than men. We could handle it.
"A coin is a serious step, and you hold out on me," I stared at her in reproach.
"I'm telling it now. I didn't expect it to happen so fast! Some mermaids told me the process might last decades or even centuries when somebody finds a coin," she sobbed out, wiping her nose with a soft side of a listless coltsfoot.
"What made you think she might dislike you?" I tried to comfort her, hoping it was just a "human phase".
She was hushed for a while.
"She has someone special. I saw them together yesterday," she uttered huskily.
"That person could be anyone: her kin, her friend, just some random person from her Clan or House. Did she tell you she was not single?" The conversation was becoming ridiculous.
"She did not, but their body language spoke for itself," she said it, watching a fairy drinking cold raindrops from a dry leaf.
I rolled my eyes. I've never heard her saying such stupid things.
"Don't be angry with me, Juni. I know what you think about humans, and I remember all atrocities they did to your people. I just don't want to lose you as my best friend. Please, don't leave me now just because my coin chose her."
"What made you use your coin? Why now?" I thought she was happy flying from one "flower" to another.
Doris wore no clothes but my sheepskin on her shoulders that I'd borrowed that day. All her body was made to be luscious and sensual: her face, her manners, her voice, her gestures. I wonder if she was aware of it or it was her natural behavior. All she had to do was crook her finger, and mortals would die for her. But no, look at her: she is following a coin. It's hard to believe! I never understood mermaids' rituals and traditions. I looked at her voluptuous curves, envying a little bit. We dryads are quite tall and slim. Both men and women usually have short haircuts. Only elders have long hair, they wear amazing raiments of green shades with hanging sleeves embroidered with magical threads and adorned with glowing gems and abraxases. For us simpletons, that's quite impracticable when we are hunting, fishing, building...
"At first, I was sure she took it by mistake, humans never did it. But the moment I saw her picking a coin off the ground ... she felt the connection too, no doubt."
I saw a glimmer of hope in Doris face, and something else I've never been able to see.
"Is there any chance she's a half-blood?"
"I would have noticed in her aura. She is a normal human. It might have explained a lot," she sighed. "We were able to meet in astral, but she almost drowned: she had probably fallen asleep in a bathtub. Obviously, it was not on purpose she found enough water to summon me. And I really scared her when we accidentally met at siblings' place night after."
It wasn't a moment to ask her what was a bathtub, but I understood the message. Of course she could not breathe under water. Of course she was afraid of her: she is a human! Their relations were doomed. No matter how hard they tried to preserve their union. The saddest thing was that any of their choices would lead to Doris' grief: if her human didn't stay with her, my friend's heart would be broken and the coin (obviously faulty or cursed) wasted; if she decided to be with a mermaid, Doris would grief again when the girl died eventually. Their lifespan is as short as the life of a mayfly in comparison with mermaid's immortality. I knew mermaids' coins were not love artifacts, but perfect tools for them to bond and socialize with others of their kind. Unlike most creatures, they are usually loners. Witches have their covens, dryads – clans, shapeshifters live in packs, naiads used to have clans too, even butterfly-brain fairies have something resembling families.
"You think I'm insane," she continued as if having overheard my thoughts. "Maybe you are right. I jumped at the idea that the coin will definitely bring me someone I can love and probably made up my feelings to this girl."
I sat still watching her as if for the first time. She hugged herself like a lost child, but I didn't dare to touch her or hug and let Doris speak her mind.
"I loved my life and the spirit of wanderlust in my heart. But something happened twenty summers ago or so. I..." she touched her chest with fingertips, "I wanted to share my emotions, my ideas, my experiences with someone, but otherwise they seemed to be nothing. I wanted to find somebody special to swim along. The shallowness was growing in me with every passing day. I was restless, especially alone and underwater. I tried to talk to some other mermaids, but you know us: easy come easy go," she laughed sadly. "Then I thought it was high time to use the coin. I was so nervous and anxious. To be honest, I have no instructions how to use it: I just threw it on the shore. Nothing happened. But then I saw her holding my coin, all my anxiety left me at once. But she's a human and probably in a relationship. And I'm sad, and angry, and jealous as never before."
We kept silence. I was so sorry for her but had no idea how to make her happy. Actually, I knew, but it would not make me happy, and would probably lead to grave consequences.
"I'll help you," I sad briskly.
"But how? Are you serious?" she was looking at me in surprise.
"If you want this human, I'll go and talk her into these relations. We'll get this straight. She is not going to make you cry anymore, or else..." I stopped, for Doris was laughing, but this time it was sincerely. "I have no idea how to perform it," I thought with shudder.
***
We hugged each other goodbye. I felt better but ashamed for not knowing. I should have noticed something was up during those summers. We agreed to meet up same place in the evening and discuss all details of our plan to pick up her sweetheart. Doris would go back to siblings and ask them for a potion to find Marina. "Remember, they owe you, so go there and ask for a searching potion or a spell script," I instructed her while she was nodding solemnly. She's bet her love life on the coin, but a stupid thing was not capable of showing its owner where her soul-mate lived. "I was too afraid to follow her. She was already scared of me and suspicious," lamented my friend. As for me, I promised to visit the Great Library in the Hidden Sanctuary. Doris knows only old mermaids fairytales about coins; I will find normal magical explanations to this phenomenon. Anything is better than sitting under the bush and digging roots with a dagger's tip or chasing for some rare healing herbs. With dismay I glanced at my tattered bag full of rubbish.
In a tranquil autumn forest a sudden piercing squeak was like an explosion of a cauldron with wrong ingredients. We both started. Being up to her waist in water, Doris froze staring behind my back. We were so absorbed in our conversation, and I let my guard down. I failed to smell it due to the stinky fumes of human activities; such negligence only can be forgiven for mermaids: they have never been great at getting a sniff of anything. I went down in flames again; the elders were right telling me I was not meant to be a warrior.
A silly fairy was clenched between talp's claws; her wings were broken, silvery blood was slowly dropping on crispy dry leaves. That talp was as big as a tundra wolf, dark brown with strong flexible feline body and a head that resembled a star-nosed mole's one. Unfortunately, its snoot wasn't harmless but had deathly tentacles and a mouth in the middle. Oftentimes they stay away from human settlements, hunting in deep woods and windfalls.
It was busy tearing the fairy. I had a chance to jump in a near birch tree and avoid a fight. The limb is too thin, but I can make it. Why on earth Doris is still on the surface? I gave her a quizzical look. She didn't move and I understood the reason. It was hard to say what was more scaring: a chewing talp or two humans in weird clothes looking back at three of us. "Just what we need now! Great! I'm not going to stay any longer and defend them," the moment I thought about it, Doris stretched her arms like Mother Nature and pleaded the girl to come into the pond. If it weren't so dangerous I would laugh at her overly dramatic gesture and the whole situation in general. What are you thinking? She would not leave her male guardian and just dive in headfirst into creature's arms. They are afraid of all unknown; fear is deeply woven into their weak nature.
But I was wrong. She turned to Doris with a decided step. Oh, now I get it. Marina. She found Doris herself.
Talps would never get into the water, especially if the water area is occupied by another undead. Doris's pond was the safest place for us. But I was in the worst possible spot: closer to the undead and away from trees of suitable size. I might take several quick steps and make it to the pond as well, but showing the talp my back equaled suicide.
A young man with wild hair, presumably the third vertex in Doris love triangle, stood motionless watching me with a stupid expression on his face.
"Do you need a special invitation? Run to the water, idiot!" I whispered fiercely, hating his sluggishness. I saw Marina and Doris out of the corner of my eye, they were gesturing us to join them. But I grasped the spear firmly: the talp was tired of playing with the unfortunate ex-fairy and wanted something more substantial.
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