“Umm...maybe this is the wrong apartment?” Alamine looked back down to the newspaper clipping she held in one hand. It was what had brought her here. She was going to start school at the dance academy downtown, but it unfortunately didn’t offer on-grounds dorms. So she needed to find an apartment. And as her Chi-chi would say, Poseidon had favored her with his guidance by having the newspaper she’d found the ad in slap her in the face.

Literally.

She was just about to turn around and walk out when the door in front of her opened.

Oh, that water brained god must be messing with her. There’s no way she can live with this guy. He (obviously from the long line of chiseled muscle she can see in the plunge of his robe) was a few inches taller than her, and he seemed especially tranquil with that calm expression and water still dripping from his hair and ears.

Yes. He had pointed ears. He must be a Fae or Elf.

“Greetings, Lady. May I be of assistance?” The guy sounded young, maybe as old as she was, but he talked with such an old and sophisticated tone and vocabulary that she was a little thrown off.

“Um, yeah. I saw an ad in the paper for a roommate that doesn’t mind a copious volume of water around the living space? Or something like that. The wording was a bit strange. Is this the place?” She was trying to be polite and formal by using the common Human language, but she kept wanting to slip into Mermish or the Aquatic tongue, since Aquatic was a universal language.

The guy in front of her gave a large smile and stepped out from the doorway, extending one arm into the room and giving a slight bow.

“This is the correct place. Please, come in and look around. I have been seeking an acceptable candidate that would be suitable for a shared living space for some time now. Living alone is a bit, how would you say, gloomy?” Alamine didn’t really know how to respond to the bow, so she nodded to him as she stepped through the door. And nearly tripped over the small step a few paces in.

“Ah, forgive me. I should have mentioned the floor difference. But you can remove your shoes and leave them here. I can show you around the apartment.” She started to toe off her tennis shoes, silently thanking her past self for choosing shoes that required socks.

“Thanks, Mr….. I’m sorry, what’s your name? I’m Alamine.” She asked politely, but the guys eyes were nearly bugging out of his head.

“Oh, I am so sorry! Please forgive me! I am Jiang Tao, and this is my home. Please, follow me.” She stepped up onto the…...mats? The floor was a giant puzzle of what looked like bamboo mats. And the walls were very minimalistic, but what really caught her attention was all the potted plants scattered about. It looked like there was a small tree in that square container, some lilies in the tall container by those cabinets, a few marigolds in the bowl by the door that...what’s his name was walking through.

“Please forgive the mess. I was not expecting any visitors at the current time.”

“No, it’s entirely my fault. I should have called ahead and asked if we could set up a meeting for this. I’m the one who should be apologizing for intruding.” The man chuckled ahead of her.

“Well, that may have been difficult to do.”

“How so?”

“I do not own a communication device of any sort.”

Oh, no wonder land creatures hate choking so much. It hurts and takes a while to stop.

“Pardon my rudeness, but may I ask what species you are? Some previous candidates had the mind that they could tolerate my presence, but were later proved wrong and found lodgings elsewhere in the city.”

“Uh, no, it’s fine. I’m an ocean Mermaid. So I may have to take over the bathtub for a soak every couple weeks. That is, if I can stay he- Is that a pool?”

They had gone through what seemed like a dozen rooms, and she was now looking at a large sunroom that had a fairly sized swimming pool in the floor through a large wall of...glass?

“Sorry if I sound rude but...Does this apartment take up the entire floor of the building?” The man turned to her with a smile.

“Why yes, it does. Except for the small hallway going around the outer walls of the building that goes to the pool. I had the hallway untouched as to allow the other residents to access the pool when they wish. But seeing as you are a fellow Aquatic, I believe you shall be a perfect companion. Who would have thought that a Mermaid would share a living space with a dragon.”

“WHAT??”