Marine Snow

Since that situation occurred, a couple days had already managed to pass. Both Maria and Tsubasa came back to their usual life, and both were slowly forgetting about the misunderstanding from back then. At least that was what Maria hoped was happening – Tsubasa was behaving pretty normal, after all. As she had promised, she did explain the situation to her family, and the girls soon apologized to Maria, though it was awkward for all of them, the mermaid included. She did still feel bad for causing the whole situation in the first place, but it seemed like the conflict was resolved as soon as it started.

What Maria wasn’t particularly happy about was her proposal getting rejected. She was happy that Tsubasa was willing to give it a try next year, but it still meant another whole winter of separation (which was the one thing the mermaid was hoping to avoid). She could only hope that her partner would come back safe and sound like she always did…

But it still wasn’t the way she wanted things to go, and that made her so upset.

With autumn in full glory and November slowly ending, the days were getting shorter, including the ones Maria could share with Tsubasa. It didn’t help that the bird spent most of her time away, probably preparing for the upcoming migration. In some particular instances, Maria wouldn’t see her lover for the whole day, only meeting her briefly on her way home. It almost felt like she’d been purposefully avoiding her… but that couldn’t have been the case, could it? Maria began to wonder if that was because of their last visit to the lake. As if she didn’t feel bad about that already, she felt like it could have made some lasting impact she wasn’t aware of… yet, she preferred not to jinx it. Maybe she was getting too worried…

As October started, the weather got much gloomier, the sky got cloudy and it would rain much more often. Maria preferred to stay underwater, because at least it wasn’t windy down there… at least that’s what she was telling herself, because she didn’t want to admit she’d been avoiding Tsubasa as well.

Days hadn’t been really different from each other to her, and that one hadn’t started in any eventful way either. She spent the morning at home ( home being a big hollow rock located near a field of seagrass) like usual, getting ready for the day (mainly spending an outrageous amount of time attaching flowers to her scales). In the area that served them as kitchen, Shirabe seemed to have already prepared breakfast, because when Maria came to say hello, Kirika was almost done eating.

Maria had known them for as long as she could remember. Usually, mermaids live alone or in small communities, but what’s different about the three of them is that they were vastly different species. Kirika was a shark mermaid – very energetic and curious about everything, but… prone to nibbling on things. Her favorite hobby was collecting trash humans would throw into the sea and turning it into new creations (Maria didn’t really understand the appeal, but was proud of her for that nonetheless). Shirabe, on the other hand, was a jellyfish – she was much slower than both of them and would get tired easily, but she preferred to stay at home anyway, mostly because of her passion for cooking. Maria valued both of them as friends and really loved their company… though, it was true that she felt like she was interrupting them at times, given how affectionate they could be towards each other.

“Oh, Shirabe, Maria’s up,” Kirika noticed, seeing Maria enter the kitchen. “What’s up, Maria?”

“What do you expect her answer to be?” Shirabe asked, seemingly unphased as always. “She’s probably still ill-humored. Pass her a roll.”

“I am not,” Maria uttered, taking her seat near the mossy piece of wood that served them as a table.

“I’ll pass you a roll anyway,” Kirika announced, tossing a piece of rolled-up seaweed in her general direction. It drifted slowly towards Maria, and she chomped on it mid-air (or rather, mid-water), eating it in one bite. “And Shirabe’s right, you’ve been generally irritated lately. Haven’t you noticed? I’m worried about what will happen to you in December. You’ll be, like, like an alga.”

“Alga?”

“Yep. Sad and boring.”

Maria grunted. 

Well, Kirika was speaking from experience, not that she had any experience talking to algae – it was more that she knew how insufferable Maria can get when she’s sad. Despite really wanting to be seen as a confident, reliable mermaid, Maria was really vulnerable at times, and she didn’t exactly like that about herself.

“You know, it’s really a pity Tsubasa-san rejected your idea,” Kirika continued, “but I don’t think it’s good to stop talking to her because of that.”

“How many times do I have to tell you…” Maria sighed, propping her head up on her hands. “It’s not like I’m mad at her. I just don’t feel like interrupting her… she has a lot of things to take care of.”

“Mhm, and Tsubasa-san surely appreciates that, there’s absolutely no way she feels like you’re avoiding her.” Shirabe leaned over the table, looking at the pink-haired in a weirdly judgmental way. “If you don’t want to talk to her, then she won’t want to talk to you, and before you know it, you’ll lose contact. So if you don’t explain yourself to her now, I don’t think you’ll be able to later.”

“What is there to explain? Besides, she’s not talking to me either, so…”

Before Maria could finish that sentence, Shirabe shoved another seawood roll in her mouth. 

“You’re acting like a fool, Maria, and I shouldn’t be the one to tell you this.”

“Yep yep, you are!” Kirika nodded, with her voice a bit muffled, as she was munching her own portion. She swallowed quickly to make it easier for her to speak. “If you don’t do anything about it, who knows, maybe you’ll never see Tsubasa-san again! You’ll forget about her completely, and when you meet by chance next time, you won’t even recognize her! You’ll think to yourself, ‘wow, what a handsome guy,’ but it will have been Tsubasa-san all along! A dessturbing turn of events!”

“That is not likely to happen, Kiri-chan,” Shirabe interrupted her. “Especially the last part. But I think Maria got the memo.”

Maria did. What the girls were saying made sense – she knew she should by all means talk to Tsubasa… but she still had the lingering reluctance towards doing so. 

“You’re right…” she sighed. “But I don’t think she’s at home right now either way. The birds wake up early and Tsubasa must already be out, so I won’t really catch her and…” 

“Still,” Shirabe butted in mid-sentence, “I’m out of sea holly. While you’re out looking for it, you might as well look for Tsubasa-san.”

Damn, Maria thought, as she had totally forgotten how Shirabe’d mentioned that to her the previous day. “Not like I agreed to that in the first place, but sure, I can go find some…”

“Perfect.”

Shirabe looked somewhat proud of herself. 

As Maria made her way out of the kitchen, she could still hear the girls talking about her. In the end, they really did succeed in getting Maria out to touch some grass, huh. Though their methods were… unconventional, that’s for sure.

***

Sea holly was a plant that Shirabe found out about only recently, but it soon became one of her favorite ingredients. However, it grew nowhere near Maria’s home, and that’s why nobody would really bother to go fetch it unless absolutely necessary. The nearest location was pretty close to a human settlement (as Maria had found out recently, also called a port). She was careful not to bring too much attention to herself when venturing there, for obvious reasons, of course – mermaids were considered something extraordinary and humans would sometimes try to catch them. There was even a myth that eating mermaid flesh would grant you immortality… and Maria wasn’t planning to check its authenticity anytime soon. 

Humans were fascinating to Maria, but she was willing to observe them only from afar. Especially after Tsubasa had told her about her life as a pet, the mermaid felt somewhat disgusted by these creatures. If anything, she was more interested in what they could achieve, creating tools and building massive structures, but she was never keen on interacting with them. And she hoped that it could stay like that… until, as she would come to find out later, that specific day. 

When she finally reached her destination, she needed to surface to look around, as the plants she came for didn’t grow underwater, but rather on sand. She slowly peeked from under the surface, and found herself under a pier, slightly away from the beach. She quickly figured out where she was… but instead of the plants, something else caught her attention.

There were two men on the beach. At first, Maria thought they were arguing with each other, as they were shouting loudly. However, she soon realized that they were struggling with something – Maria wasn’t sure what, but it looked like an animal that was trying to get away. The mermaid swam closer, still hidden under the wooden structure, yet close enough to the shore to observe and hear the men’s voices clearly.

“Come on, try to hold it down! I can’t grab that thing properly!”

“It keeps trying to bite me! What are you expecting me to do?!”

“To… ugh, to do it properly! It can’t be that hard to hold a damn bird!”

“Like you’ve ever tried- OW!”

So they were trying to capture a bird? In the middle of the day, just for the sake of it? What cruel people, Maria thought. That bird was probably just a normal animal, and they probably thought it would make a good meal… while it was squawking in pain, scuffling chaotically, with its wings hitting the arms of the man that was holding it.

“What if it slips and flies away? I can’t hold it for much longer, my arms are getting tired!”

“That’s why I told you to keep the bird steady!”

“We could just kill it, there wouldn’t be a problem! Ow! Come on! It bit me again!”

“What would you need a dead seagull for? But that pendant looks really good, maybe it’s valuable!”

Maria suddenly froze.

Could it be…

Her breath suddenly quickened. No, she had to interfere, right now. Before the situation could get even worse. But she was too scared to reveal herself, too scared that she’d be in danger as well… 

And right then, she heard a loud thump, and almost squeaked. The man bashed the bird’s head on the planks of the jetty, just an arm’s length away from where Maria was. Her heart dropped as she no longer heard its squawking, and one of the men suddenly laughed. 

“Finally, it shut up. I told you to hold it, I can’t believe you couldn’t even do that.” 

“Hey, I tried my best, okay?”

They were standing literally next to her. She was still under the planks, while they were standing on the shore. It was risky, it was dangerous, but she needed to act now, do something, anything…!

Without a second thought, she dived forward, splashing the water with as much strength as she could gather. She was sure it hit them, because she heard them exclaiming in surprise right after. When she looked back up, she could see through the water that one of them dropped the bird, which quickly hid under the deck. 

“What was that?!”

“That was some big freaking fish! I’m all wet now, damn!”

“The bird got away…ugh, doesn’t matter! Did you catch that thing?”

“What? I thought you did!”

As the men kept arguing, Maria noticed something shiny in the corner of her eye. The familiar red pendant was slowly sinking in the water, and the mermaid grabbed it. It must have slipped off the bird’s neck when it got away, and Maria knew that she had to return it. She quickly resurfaced under the pier again, where the seagull was floating, so exhausted it couldn’t even keep its posture straight. When it saw Maria, it squawked in panic, but she interrupted. “Shh, they’ll come back if they hear you,” she whispered, then showed the pendant in her hands. “I found it, it’s right here.”

The bird seemed to have calmed down when it saw its belonging, and it slowly lifted up its head to Maria. The mermaid gently tied the string around its neck. The red stone glowed faintly, now connected to the bird’s magic…

… and before she knew it, the mermaid was holding Tsubasa in her arms. 

In her humanoid form, she looked so much more beaten up, her hair tangled and her clothes torn in a few places. Looking at her, Maria couldn’t even imagine how long that struggle had been going for before she showed up. No, she didn’t want to think about it. Right now, all that mattered was that Tsubasa was safe.

Maria held her in her arms, supporting nearly her entire weight, as the girl was too exhausted to keep herself afloat. With her head resting on her lover’s shoulder, the blue-haired breathed heavily, and the mermaid could feel her heart pounding loudly. Still, they spoke no words to one another, waiting in the shadows until they made sure they were completely alone.  

The men were talking somewhere near them for a bit, then eventually left. Maria heard some other people coming by, but eventually, it all became quiet. That was when she realized that the water was slowly turning orange – the sun was already setting. She must have been there with Tsubasa for a while, but she didn’t even notice the passage of time.

Tsubasa wasn’t moving, but, fortunately, Maria could still make out her breaths. With her head buried in the mermaid’s shoulder, the bird must have passed out somewhere after they hid under the planks, and she was now breathing calmly with her eyes closed. Maria gently patted her arm, and she groaned, lifting her head up to meet the pink-haired’s eyes. She looked surprised to see her, but that was probably because she was barely awake.

“Maria?” she asked, and smiled faintly. “I’m so glad you’re here…”

“Shh, don’t force yourself to talk,” Maria whispered, gently running her fingers through the long blue hair. “Did they hurt you badly?”

“I don’t know, but my head’s still spinning…” Tsubasa murmured in response. “They caught me when I was on the beach. You know they can’t perceive this form, they only see me as a bird… a-and I was trying to defend myself, and then they saw my pendant, and tried to take it by force, but I… I couldn’t let them have it…”

“And you really risked your safety for that?”

Tsubasa squinted, then looked down. Gently, she hugged Maria yet again, sighing deeply.

“If they took it from me…” she uttered, “... then I wouldn’t be able to talk to you again…”

She gently rubbed her nose on the mermaid’s arm, clinging to her so hard, so tightly.

Maria could only stare in front of her, as she was still holding Tsubasa.

Couple minutes passed, but the bird’s heavy breathing was more and more noticeable. Maria was worried that she might pass out again at this rate. “Tsubasa, listen,” she said, gently rubbing the blue-haired’s back. “We need to get you home, you need proper care right now. I’ll take you there, alright? Just… turn into a bird again, you’ll be easier to carry.”

Tsubasa suddenly lifted her head, looking at her with concern, with fear even. Maria knew the reason – she didn’t want to take off her pendant, she was too scared to lose it. But there was no way that Maria could transport her for such a long distance in that form, so it was either that or spending the night there, in the cold water. Tsubasa seemed to understand that, but she was still reluctant.

“... I promise I’ll keep it safe,” Maria said, gently grabbing the girl’s hand. “I’ll make sure to hold it very tightly, just… Please, trust me.”

She could see hesitation in Tsubasa’s eyes, but in the end, she nodded, slowly pulling her hair up to untie the string. After she handed the pendant over, it only took a moment before she turned into a seagull again. Maria, still not used to seeing her like this, gently took her in her arms, not wanting to accidentally cause her harm. She was so small and vulnerable…

Holding the bird close, with the red stone in the palm of her hand, she slowly looked out from under the pier. Once she made sure nobody was nearby, they made their way to Tsubasa’s home.

***

“What were you even thinking?! I thought you always make us fly in pairs for a reason, and there you go, wandering alone for the whole day, who knows where, and then you come back like this!”

Chris had been yelling like that for a while, impatiently walking around the cave. In the nest, Miku was patching up Tsubasa, while Hibiki and Maria sat to the side, not wanting to disturb her. 

“Don’t worry about her,” Hibiki whispered to Maria. “Chris-chan always acts like that when she’s worried.”

“Why shouldn’t I be?” Chris suddenly turned to them, with an angry look on her face. “We were supposed to leave in two days, but we can’t if she’s like this! What if she’s got a concussion? We can’t let her go with us, she’ll faint midway through the flight!”

“I’ll just stay with her like the previous time,” Miku calmly suggested. 

“Well, last time, it wasn’t snowing outside!” the white-haired barked, pointing at the exit to their home. “Do you know how cold it gets at night in winter? You’ll both freeze!”

“Well, what do you expect us to do?” Hibiki interrupted her. “No matter how we go about it, someone has to stay with Tsubasa-san. I know it’s a big risk, but we can’t leave her alone! She’s our friend!”

“But you can’t expect me to choose who to leave behind!”

Chris took in a deep breath, turning away from the girls for a split second.

“We leave someone behind either way. With no proper way of communication. Basically to die. That’s… that’s not fair.”

“Well, you don’t have to choose.”

Chris flinched. The birds all turned towards Maria, having seemingly forgotten she was even there.

All that time, Maria was listening to them… and finally decided to speak her mind as well.

“I’ll take care of Tsubasa,” she proposed. “Me, and my family as well. We live nearby, so the distance isn’t a problem. We can bring her food to eat, make sure she’s recovering well, and when she gets better, she’ll be able to go out and get whatever she needs that we can’t provide.”

She looked around, to see everyone’s reaction, but the birds fell silent.

That’s when Tsubasa looked up from the nest. 

“Maria’s right,” she agreed, though her weakened voice didn’t sound particularly confident. “I’m sorry that we’re forced to make decisions like this in the first place, but let’s not make it more complicated for ourselves. I’m sure that I’ll be in good hands. Let’s use these last days to gather all the necessities that she can’t bring me from land, and then you can all leave together without me.”

“Is that… really okay?” Hibiki asked, hovering over Tsubasa. 

“But of course,” she replied, lifting up her hand to pat the girl’s head. “Promise me you’ll take care of each other out there, and make sure Yukine isn’t stressing out about me much. You know how it is with her.”

“H-hey! I’m not stressing out!” Chris squealed from behind them. “But… you’re right. Mermy can take care of you… I guess.”

For the first time in a while, she looked at Maria with respect, and the mermaid found that very rewarding.

“Hah…” Tsubasa smiled weakly. Reaching out her hand from the nest, she gently brushed Maria’s arm. “Would you look at that, my starlight? We really get to spend the winter together.”

“Gosh, Tsubasa…” Maria sighed. “Don’t say it like that. I can’t be happy about it if it’s because you’re hurt,” she murmured, gently stroking the bird’s head. Yet, she couldn’t hide a smile on her face, and Tsubasa knew that. 

Somehow… in a very twisted way, they both felt happy about how things went. Or maybe it was just Maria, so relieved that her dearest was safe in the end.