#alyabrina

Sabrina loved walking amongst the trees; she loved touching them, feeling the heat through them. She loved the smooth, white paper birches, whose bodies looked around with eyes which watched over the forest. She loved the pin oak, whose body was gray but painted green by the soft tingling moss running across it, allowing itself to be canvas for the beautiful specs of color and life. She loved hiding behind or in trees, listening intently at the humans, hoping to gleam every name, every detail about the forest she couldn’t stay away from.

She loved the light that shone through the leaves above her in a beautiful cascade of colors which she could never see from her home. Loved the warmth beaming through her vulnerable skin.

To a point anyway, she knew the sun was dangerous, and as spring turned to summer she had to be increasingly careful. She’d stolen clothes from humans, hoping to alleviate the effect, but sometimes it seemed to burn her within mere minutes.

Sabrina rested in the shade of a red oak, feeling her cheek against it, her palms exploring it’s every detail. The bark from the tree was cooling enough that she could almost call it cold. but it was only because the forest world was so blazing hot that she could consider this sensation ‘cool’, in truth everything here was practically boiling compared to her home.

She heard the telltale sounds of humans nearby, she quickly surveyed the area, opting to hide up in the crown of the oak, silently and quickly ascending onto the large leafed branches, her eyes peering out to spot them.

There were three of them, two had long flowing hair and the last one’s hair was short. The short hair one’s hair was golden yellow like the rays of the sun. It moved with such grace, setting up a contraption of some kind. The first long haired one had blue and dark locks which reminded Sabrina of the shallow tide lit by the moon. The other’s was red and fiery with a bit of brown, like the most beautiful leaves of autumn. The human’s skin was much darker than the two others; her colors truly reminded her of an autumn oak, warm inviting beauty seemed to cascade off of her.

                                                                                                              Sabrina swallowed, she’d never seen anyone like the autumn beauty before, it was unlike anyone Sabrina had laid eyes on. She didn’t know hair could have that kind of inviting warmth. Sabrina’s own hair was red but it was completely matted and calling it red when compared to the human’s seemed a disservice. She decided to rename the color of her own hair to mud colored.

She watched with interest as the golden haired human finished setting up the contraption, a collection of wooden sticks with a white board set against it. The two long haired humans sat in the grass in front of the stand, sitting like they were going to have a conversation, then paused, freezing in place in the grass.

Sabrina watched the golden haired human touch a stick against the white board while they all stood silently in the evening sun.

Sabrina wracked her brain trying to figure out the purpose of their exercise. She could not for the life of her imagine what they were doing.

Sabrina curiously leaned closer, trying to peer through her near sightedness at the strange activity. She had to stop herself from gasping when she finally realized that color was spreading across the white board like the tide against the shore. Splashing greens and blues onto it with expert precision, slowly bringing to life the sky and the field around the two other humans.

She watched entranced as it brought forth the form of two other humans sitting in the grass. She saw the frozen models sweating in the direct sunlight as they struggled to hold their poses. The autumn beauty was leaned towards the other while sitting, resting on its arm. It was meant to convey a casual conversation, but now that the pose had been held for at least half an hour, it was beginning to become noticeably strenuous.

The blue haired human’s face was twisted in an obviously fake smile, but the autumn warmth’s face seemed untouched by the activity. Sabrina wondered if it wasn’t tired, but noticed its arm trembling with effort, its stomach shaking noticeably under its fiery red clothes.

Sabrina felt herself sinking, she noticed too late that she’d climbed much too far out onto the branches. She tried to save herself from the inevitable, but soon felt her weight falling freely as the branches snapped under her weight. She landed hard into a bush, it seemed merciful at first but the stinging pain of needles soon caused her voice to escape, howling out in anguish.

She rolled panicked out of the bush, feeling the long thorny branches snapped around her leg, wrapping around her like a living creature as she tried to escape. She couldn’t run fast enough in this world to loose the humans, and she couldn’t even start running until she got out of this damned piece of shrubbery!

Her thoughts raced as she measured her options, figuring that the only possible solution was to hope to force the humans to run. She stopped trying to escape, laying herself into the bed of leaves and brambles, it thankfully didn’t hurt much when she wasn’t fighting against it.

She breathed heavily, feeling her stomach lungs filling with air, pushing her ribcage to its limit. She allowed for an alarming sharp roar to escape her mouth, trying to sound as menacing and monstrous as possible. She made sure that the sound rang out with enough power to shake the trees, echoing out over the land.

As her alarming bellowing came to a halt, she could hear the sound of quickly retreating footsteps, the sound of running humans. She let her head fall exasperated onto the bush, thanking any goddess that would listen.

With calm movements she eased her way out of the bondage of the thorn bush, unwrapping her ankles from a particularly nasty root which had spiraled around her.

Standing on the ground once more she felt every step like a knife cutting into the soles of her bloody feet. She winched in pain, bracing herself against the oak that had betrayed her. Looking up at its branches where she’d foolishly broken it, she shook her head. It hadn’t betrayed her, if anything she’d betrayed it, hurting its most vulnerable twigs before they were allowed to grow strong.

She placed her forehead against the oak, apologizing for hurting it, asking for its guidance and perseverance as she attempted to make it back home on wounded legs. She looked to where the humans had been situated; the equipment they had been using for their art lay scattered but seemingly undamaged.

Sabrina swallowed as she looked at it. It was unfinished, but the simple colors of the autumn beauty were in place, capturing her warmth as though seen from a distance by a nearsighted creature, the way Sabrina had first gazed upon her.

Before she could debate whether to head for the equipment or to simply make her way home, she’d already taken the first steps towards the image. She gritted her teeth every time her left foot met the soft grass underneath her, longing for the relative weightlessness of her home.

She looked at the simple image up close, it was truly beautiful, but Sabrina cursed herself for having ruined its creation midway. If she left it here, perhaps it would return to the hands of the blonde artist, perhaps it would finish the piece, bring it to perfection the way it deserved. On the other hand then she’d never see it again, the thought cut through her stomach. She knew she’d likely never see the autumn warmth again, but at least she could allow herself this token to remember the kind of beauty which walked upon this forbidden world.

Sabrina bit her lip, it was selfish, but she had to take the image. She grabbed around the frame and noticed it was wet to the touch. She looked at her hand which had become green, the image of the grass in the field having been smeared against her hand, ruining part of the image.

Sabrina stared at her hand bewildered, feeling the ice sinking in her stomach as she looked at the green on her hand, like blood from an unintentional murder. She inspected the image, it was still fine, just a small bit of the corner was smeared, and the humans in it were unscathed.

She sighed in relief, trying to wipe her hand against the grass on the ground, finding that some of the green stayed but it mostly disappeared. She looked at the image again, carefully picking it up without touching any of the places which weren’t white. Finding that she could carry it as long as she only touched the back of  it.

Sabrina looked at the colors in front of her, getting lost in the form of the human. She felt her stomach growl, realizing she hadn’t eaten in hours. The image of sinking her teeth into the autumn beauty flashed in her mind. She shook it off, the thought of destroying such a work of art, while strangely enticing, would be a sin against nature, she could never rob the world like that.

She settled on taking the image as a consolation prize of sorts, for not being allowed to actually get near the humans. She sighed, looking at the discarded tools for creating the piece. She realized how excited her friends would be if she showed them the strange (potentially magic) method of creating an image. Looking at the things around her she wondered if she could carry all of it while her feet were still damaged.

She could feel her body straining as she balanced the human artifacts. She felt regret washing over her as every step caused her body to protest, there was no way she could make it back while carrying all of these things. Yet she couldn’t find it in herself to let anything go.

The image was the worst, she couldn’t carry it normally for fear of ruining it further, so she had to balance it gently, trying to not drop it as the wind kept catching it like a sail, threatening to wrest it from her fingers. It’d be fine if she had two hands to hold it with, but her other arm was busy holding up the strange wooden scaffolding, and the plate, the stick and the tubes.

Her home seemed so far away from here, she felt she hadn’t walked far but with her feet stinging with throbbing pain and while carrying slightly beyond her capacity, she found the forest stretching out endlessly. The sun was starting to burn and she felt her skin crackle in the heat, petrified flakes of skin falling off of her as the uncaring fire made her flesh boil.

She was an idiot for doing this, it was actually dangerous, and for what? These manmade trinkets? It was truly moronic. She tried making herself throw the heavy wooden… thing! She shook, trying to hate the burden it put on her, but finding herself unable to drop it. Something about leaving it seemed so wrong, especially after bringing it all this way.

She breathed heavily, feeling the warm air burning at her lungs. She sat down to rest in the shadow of a tree, feeling her eyelids growing heavy, she felt the world around her growing black.

Sabrina’s head hurt as she slowly woke up. She became aware that she was floating in freshwater. Her body was cool and refreshing, but the clear water did little to reconstitute her injuries, she needed the ocean for that.

She opened her eyes, seeing the pale moonlight up above, she must have been out for a long time. Had she managed to find a stream while only half awake?

She let her head sink into the water, drawing the cool liquid into her gills and feeling the cool finally sink into her, giving her tortured lungs a respite from being overworked. They were only meant to keep her going for short periods of time, she could feel them groaning like a sore muscle inside her chest.

She found her calm breaths, letting the water sink into her, then broke the surface to look around, hoping to be able to navigate back home.

Sabrina gasped loudly as she saw the autumn beauty sleeping up against a rock next to the stream. Sabrina practically flipped in the water, diving back down ungracefully to hide. She had to have seen her, she was floating in the surface just moments ago!

Sabrina looked wide eyed up towards the human, cursing herself for her loud reaction as she saw the warm human’s eyes open. Sabrina looked around the shallow stream for a place to hide, but it was barely deep enough for her to submerge herself, and it became increasingly shallow both in front of and behind her.

The feeling of entrapment sank into her as she looked up at the human, who was looking right at her with curious eyes. It dawned on Sabrina that she’d been caught by the human, carried here by it for some unknown purpose. She swallowed, hearing the faint echo of the human talking, unable to hear its low voice clearly through the water.

She sighed, afraid and humiliated, allowing herself to rise out of the water slowly as to not startle the curious human. She let her arms fall on the bank of the stream, folding them under her chin, not wanting to leave the stream for now as her feet still burned with pain.

The humans eyes went wide with excitement as the two of them looked at one another. At least it didn’t seem to have a weapon, and it seemed to be alone. If worse came to worse, Sabrina should be able to overpower it and drag it underwater. The idea left only distaste in her mouth, she wasn’t sure she could get herself to do something to harm the warm and inviting human, she prayed she wouldn’t have to find out.

“Um… hi?” the human spoke cautiously, clearly wondering if Sabrina spoke its words. She wasn’t supposed to, but she’d picked up the basics from her studies, honing them by listening to humans whenever she got the chance.

“Hi…” Sabrina muttered back embarrassed. She shouldn’t be in this situation, if the human didn’t kill her, the princess might just from talking to a surface dweller.

The human’s face lit up in a bewildered smile, it looked ecstatic at the situation. Sabrina wondered if it wasn’t afraid, humans always seemed to run for the hills from seeing even just a glimpse of her and her kind. Her strange appearance seemed to only fill the human’s eyes with an almost predatory curiosity.

Sabrina looked meagerly up at the human “what happened?”

The human smiled “I went back to get our equipment and found it missing, there was a trail of blood so I decided to follow it to see if someone had gotten hurt. Then I found you, passed out, looking like a drying raisin.” The human looked at Sabrina sympathetically “so I dragged your ass to the nearest source of water, you should be glad I know the area, and that I’m super buff” the human held out its arms, flexing its near nonexistent muscles.

Sabrina swallowed with embarrassment “thank you…” she muttered.

The human shrugged “couldn’t just let you turn into fish jerky, what were you doing anyway?”

Sabrina felt a deep blush falling over her face and she let her head sink into the water, blowing bubbles. She sighed deeply and returned, unsure how to even explain what happened. “I was walking through the forest when you and your friends settled down next to me. I watched you for a bit, then fell and hurt my leg…”

The human cocked its head amused, staring through Sabrina’s avoidance, not letting her get away with the obvious dodging “so why take the painting and the tools?”

Sabrina avoided the humans eyes “well… I saw you in the clearing and I thought you were the most beautiful creature I’d ever seen… I guess I just… I wanted something to remember you by…”

The human’s eyes went wide and a blush crept onto its face to match Sabrina’s own. It brushed the hair behind its ear, clearing its throat, unsure what to say. Sabrina bit her lip, wanting to take back the embarrassing comment, she let the embarrassment sink her below water again, but only made it about halfway before the humans hand found the side of her head, keeping her above water. “hey quit runnin’ on me” it said smiling, the blush still faintly visible on its face.

“I’m Alya” it said “I’ve never seen a fishman before… didn’t think you were real!” Sabrina was happy to let the subject go and move onto anything else. The humans voice was clear and melodic, Sabrina wished they were speaking in her language instead of the humans, so she could hear its voice ringing out in beautiful song instead of yapping syllables.

Sabrina realized that she had been so curious about humans that she’d wanted to talk to one forever. Everyone else always said it was dangerous, to fear humans and to stay away. She realized that if there was someone like herself amongst her kin, why couldn’t there be someone equally curious amongst the humans?

Sabrina strained her muscles in spite of her limbs protests, lifting herself out of the water to sit next to the human. She allowed her head to sink back against the stone, breathing heavily as she felt just how bad of a state her body was in. She left her tortured feet in the water, the cool alleviating the pain just a little.

“I’m Sabrina” she tried smiling at the human, “I’m not a fishman, I’m a merfolk, of the female variety” she said matter of factly.

Alya blinked surprised, Sabrina wasn’t sure if it was at what she said or how she said it. Had she made a mistake in her speech? She really tried to be accurate.

“But your…” Alya touched against Sabrina’s bare chest, looking into Sabrina’s eyes inquizically. Sabrina looked back just as confused.

“My… heart?” she asked confounded, was the human simple? No, Alya’s eyes gleamed with intelligence. Still, what could she possibly mean?

Alya smiled sheepishly “well, I guess maybe your kind are a little different in the gender department than us” its face grew red as it realized its hand was still on Sabrina’s chest, it quickly drew it away.

Sabrina nodded “a lot yea, I can’t really tell the difference with humans” she smiled at Alya who seemed surprised.

“You can’t tell that I’m a girl?”

“Guess as a shot in the dark I’d guess you’re a girl, based on recently discovered evidence” Sabrina winked.

Alya laughed loudly, the joke catching her off guard. “want help distinguishing?”

Sabrina shrugged, “sure”

“Women have breasts” she motioned over her chest region. “Most mammals do, for feeding our kids and getting discounts at the market” she chuckled.

Sabrina smiled, not sure what was funny, but the glasslike laughter making her want to laugh anyway “that’s nice I suppose, but it’s hard to tell under your clothes. Plus I can’t see as far above waters as humans, I’d have to get within arms reach, maybe closer.” She explained.

Alya chuckled “yea that might be a problem, most women won’t appreciate that.” She playfully brought her hair behind her ear, looking suddenly contemplative as she touched the face thing that she wore. She took it off, handing it over to Sabrina, “here, try my glasses, I’m hopelessly nearsighted too”

Sabrina cocked her head, taking the strange facial ornament. She felt shocked as soon as she put them on, her eyes darting to Alya to see what trick she’d pulled. The world looked so different, it was like she was inspecting everything from arms reach but at the same time!

Sabrina looked over at Alya with near panicked curiosity. She could see her so much better, make out details she couldn’t before. Her hair was indeed beautifully autumn red (though less outside the sunlight), but it somehow became redder and fuller near the end of the strands, making it look as though her hair grew brighter, almost luminescent near the tips.

She noticed that Alya had a tiny circular mark above her right eye, causing a single bit of asymmetry to her otherwise near geometrical face. Her eyes were almost yellow, like two small suns seen through the surface of the water, seemingly so close, but so incredibly far away.

Sabrina felt a sharp pain in the back of  her head as the world stretched out around her, she found herself barely able to focus on what was in front of her, as her new perception tried to focus on everything at once. She took off the glasses, rubbing her strained eyes.

She handed them back to the human “it’s amazing, but how do you wear those all the time?” she asked bewildered, blinking as the world slowly went back to normal.

“They take a few days to get used to” Alya said amused, putting her glasses back on “but once your brain understands that it can actually see now, it feels very natural, I keep forgetting I’m wearing them, at least until I can’t find them and realize I can’t see well enough to find my glasses so I can see.” She stuck out her tongue playfully.

Alya mused, thinking about other ways to tell men and women apart “Our voices are lighter in general, and our hair is generally longer?”

Sabrina smirked “human language is so garbled, I can’t tell the octave very well while above water, no matter how much time I spend up here I keep being distracted by the wind, it feels like it’s echoing into my skull at all times. The rustling of leaves keeps makes me think something’s coming from above to try and eat me. It’s hard to discern subtle nuances in your tone.” Sabrina pondered, looking at Alya’s entranced expression “I’ll try to remember the hair thing, does that mean it was a woman and a man with you earlier?”

Alya nodded “Marinette and Adrien, good friends of mine.” She looked at Sabrina playfully “don’t think I’ll let you just get away with calling my speech garbled though! What does your language sound like?”

Sabrina smirked splashing her feet in the water. She took a deep breath, then allowed her voice to ring out into the meadow. She sang a song of the stream that saved her, letting it know her appreciation. About its gentle folds and soft movement. As she sang she let the stream answer, gently moving against her and lighting up with the power of her voice.

She allowed the waves to build upwards, forming the patterns of its life before their eyes. Sabrina rarely played with water this way anymore, it seemed childish. But she found her childhood excitement, seeing Alya’s expression. The woman sat, mouth agape, watching and listening as if beholding true beauty for the first time. Sabrina couldn’t help but stare at her face in a similar way, amazed at how much she wanted to just stay here forever with Alya.

Sabina sang of waking up from the darkness to discover that she’d been saved by a human who seemed full of nothing but kindness and grace. She noticed the flowing streaks of water slowly dancing into the shape of a beautiful humanoid, whose shape grew to distinctly resemble an autumn beauty.

Sabrina clammed up, causing the forest to silence and the water to fall. She was hoping Alya hadn’t recognized her own frame dancing in the water. She gulped, looking at Alya whose hands were folded over her mouth, her eyes practically shimmering in the moonlight reflecting off of the water. She seemed too entranced to have noticed anything.

Sabrina sighed relieved, realizing that even if Alya had seen, that she wouldn’t have any way of knowing that the image was formed with a pining and longing for her that Sabrina wasn’t ready to admit, and still couldn’t explain.

Alya’s smile seemed to be stuck in place as she practically jumped with excitement. “That’s amazing!” she grabbed onto Sabrina’s arm, shaking her. “what did you say!?”

Sabrina chuckled “well, it’s not words the way you use words. It’s a little more abstract than that. I was just thanking the river for saving me earlier.” She smiled down into the thin stream, lit up by the silver sheen of the moon, reflecting like dancing lights from Sabrina’s scales.

“Hey!” Alya interjected “I’m the one who dragged you here, wasn’t no river that saved you” she smiled proudly “it was this girl! If you’re gonna thank someone it should be me!”

Sabrina looked at her stunned, then looked deep into her eyes, hoping the honesty in her heart would ring through “thank you Alya. You saved my life” she felt herself blushing, looking into the deep eyes, so tantalizingly close.

Sabrina thought she saw a small blush on Alya’s face before she recomposed herself, playfully tapping at Sabrina’s shoulder “no in your language dummy!”

She shook her head “I shouldn’t. Human’s don’t react well if we sing to you directly.”

Alya’s head tilted to the side “how do you mean?”

“Chloé, my princess is an expert at this stuff, her voice can make humans do whatever she wants them to. Usually go away or come closer.” Sabrina closed her eyes, remembering the enchanting song of her powerful sister. “I’m not used to that stuff though, and not very powerful. All sorts of things could happen. Though usually humans tend to get enchanted, feeling something akin to love towards us.”

Alya pondered, the growing blush on her face was growing evident. “And what if we might already feel that way?” she whispered.

Sabrina swallowed, blushing quickly to compete with Alya. “um… I don’t know…”

Alya swallowed “I’d like to hear it someday.”