#zandile

MerMay and Pride Month rolled into one!

@mikaila-orchard, you've done it again; this commission of my girls Zandile and Esther is positively gorgeous!

What's a more romantic first meeting than soothing your future girlfriend's sunburn?

A massive thanks to @lolotheparasphere for this absolutely beautiful commission of my OCs, Zandile and Esther!

"Mm! Mmmm! This is even better than kelp rolls! This might be my new favourite food!"

"Esther, we're barely even started the picnic."

Zandile hadn't expected to hear crying during her peaceful walk along the cove.

Neither had she expected the source of it to be a mermaid.

Most humans likely would have hightailed it away from that beach and told the first person they ran into about this discovery. But Zandile was not one of those humans. Whether it was her lifelong and now-confirmed belief that mermaids existed, or her "overly empathic autism" as her brother so gracefully described it, she couldn't just ignore whatever was ailing her.

Her hand clenching the tote bag slung over her shoulder, Zandile stepped out from behind the massive rock in the middle of the beach. She gingerly approached the small formation of rocks partly submerged in the lapping waves. The mermaid's quivering back was turned to her, her tailfin flapping in distress.

"Excuse me, miss?"

The mermaid whipped her head around with a startled gasp. Now that she had a clear view of her, Zandile couldn't help tucking a strand of hair behind her ear.

In spite of the harsh red patches on her arms and face, the mermaid's glistening jade eyes locking with her own were mesmerizing. Wavy chestnut brown hair cascaded down her back and over her bare chest, making Zandile's face flush even more. And her diamond-shaped upper half merged into a sapphire blue tail with a forked fin, its scales twinkling in the afternoon sun.

The young woman found her voice again, trying her best to overlook the mermaid's beauty. "Why are you crying?"

Snapping out of her own trance, the mermaid's eyes began welling up once more. "I... I-I came up here for the first time to get some peace away from my aunt and ended up dozing off. Then I woke up and now my skin hurts! And it's making seawater leak from my eyes!"

A compassionate smile stretching over her lips, Zandile clambered onto the flat rocks and carefully knelt herself down beside her.

"My name's Zandile." She said. "What's yours?"

The mermaid's tears subsided a bit. "I'm... Esther."

That's such a lovely name.

"I think I might be able to help you." Reaching into her bag, Zandile pulled out a small white tub and unscrewed the cap to reveal a translucent green substance. The young woman gathered a sample of it in her hand before holding out her other. "May I?"

Recoiling slightly at first, the woman's soft tone prompted Esther to slowly hold out one of her stinging arms. Zandile gently held it in her free hand before smearing the green goop onto it. Instantly the mermaid began to feel her forearm grow a lot cooler as the woman slowly worked her way up to the shoulder.

"This is called aloe vera, works wonders for sunburns. You can keep this tub if you want. Just keep applying it once a day and your skin should be feeling much better in about five days." Zandile let out a small chuckle as she did the same thing with her other arm. "Although truthfully, I'm not sure how effectively it'll work underwater. But as long as you keep out of direct sunlight, it's worth a shot, right?"

Esther was totally nonplussed at this woman's composure; all the stories told amongst her people said that humans either fled at the sight of them or sought to capture or kill them. But yet here was this human casually helping her out and having a conversation with her. Not to mention being so gentle with applying this strange healing goo to her skin. This whole experience was downright bizarre.

"I... I guess so." She replied at last.

As Zandile tenderly worked the gel into the red spots on her face, heat rose in the mermaid's cheeks. And not just from the sunburn. This human's magnificent brown eyes meeting hers had her frozen once again. And they were only accentuated by the sunlight shining on her dark skin. Were all human women this pretty?

"Oh, and that 'seawater leaking from the eyes' are called tears. It's something that happens when we humans feel sad." Zandile gathered one tiny drop of aloe vera onto her fingertip. With a grin, she reached out and lightly booped the end of Esther's nose. "It's called... crying."

Esther couldn't fight the flustered giggle escaping her throat at the woman's light touch. "Th-Thank you. I'll... keep that in mind for my next visit."

I am definitely coming up to the surface again. She thought as Zandile's own smile grew at that response.