Marina Bailer
For 47 days Marina Bailer had been working in a coastal town by the sea. There was only one thing that stopped this from being boring and that was the girl in the ocean. Marina worked at an ice cream shop on the boardwalk of the beach owned by her uncle. She had moved in with him for the summer to make some money in between her second and third year at university. The move hadn’t been going great. Marina’s uncle and her father had never gotten along and she was beginning to see why. The man cared for little else except his shop and the beach. He would spend long moments zoned out staring at the crashing waves from behind the counter, or by the window in the apartment upstairs, or from the steps of the porch. It wasn’t that he was cruel to Marina, just completely indifferent to her. The work at the shop was fine if not mind numbing after a few weeks.
About four days into her summer Marina found the one saving grace to the whole situation: Kaia. Kaia was the most beautiful woman Marina had ever seen. Also the most wet. Marina had taken to walking along the beach after the ice cream shop closed and it was on her fourth night in town that she met the other woman. Kaia was laying on the beach, her upper body perched up on land and her lower body in the water. Her head was nestled in her arms and her eyes were closed. Marina, looking at her sprawled body, thought for a panicked moment that she had been a body washed to shore. She had run over to the body in fear, dropping to her knees and touching the prone woman’s shoulder. There was an enormous splash in the water as the woman jerked in surprise, but Marina hadn’t been paying attention. She had been arrested by the woman's eyes; the warmest brown she had ever seen they seemed almost golden in the setting sun light. Eyes that were looking at her with some mix of fear and anger.
“I thought you were dead,” she signed on instinct, “I’m sorry I disturbed you.” She wished she had her pad and paper to convey this better but she had left them at her uncle’s apartment and her phone with her text to speech app had lost charge. She had gotten so used to being alone the past few days that it hadn’t occurred to her that would need them, and now she wished more than anything she had shelled out and bought that portable charger so she could have had her phone.
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The woman tilted her head at Marina who was already backing away trying to universally convey apology. To her astonishment the woman signed to her, “Its ok. I should not have fallen asleep.”
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Marina tried not to stumble over her words, fingers clumsier than normal in her excitement and surprise, “Oh Good! I’m glad you are not angry.”
The woman seemed to consider this declaration before nodding a slow and lazy smile on her face as she studied Marina, “Yes, I am not angry to be woken up by you. Who are you? I have not seen you before.”
Marina spelled out her name and then did her name-sign the letter M and then the sign for the sea.
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This seemed to delight the woman who signed back her own name: “K-A-I-A,” and then the sign for the letter K and the sign for the sea as her name-sign.
Marina realized that there had been more to what Kaia had said. “You wouldn’t recognize me, I’m new in town for the summer. I work at the Ice cream shop,” she added figuring that bribing pretty girls with ice cream was as good a way as any to make an impression.
Or she thought it would have been but Kaia only looked confused, “Ice cream?” She signed back.
“Yeah, at the place just down the beach,” Marina pointed to where the Ice Cream shop on the boardwalk could just be seen from where they were on the beach. Most of the beach had cleared out at this time, and would probably stay empty for another few hours until the bonfire and night swimming crowds rolled back in. They had the beach to themselves in the setting sun.
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Kaia had followed her finger with quick eyes, “I have not been,” she said after a pause.
Oh, Marina was just about to tell her she could come by when Kaia interrupted. “Will you be in town long?”
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“Until I have to go back to school.” When Kaia just tilted her head inquisitively she added “The end of August.”
Kaia smiled fully this time, her lips parting and Marina had a glimpse of sharp white teeth before that mouth closed. “We will see each other again then.”
Marina was too distracted watching Kaia’s long fingers as she signed to really focus on the teeth. “Yeah. Do you come to the beach often?” She asked and then wanted to drown herself.
Kaia just smiled her mysterious close-lipped smile again, “Almost everyday when the sun is out. I like to lie in the sun.”
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Marina eyed her skin, she did have a beautiful tan. “We should see a lot of each other then!” She confirmed.
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And that was how it started. For a month and half the two women would meet along the beach. Kaia was honest when she said she was always there when it was sunny, and they had been blessed with a beautiful summer so she was almost always there. They didn’t always meet at sunset, but whenever Marina had a break, or her shift was done she would find herself walking along the beach until she found Kaia. Kaia always sunbathed the same way: with her lower body in the water and just her upper body on the shore. She lounged in the sun imperiously ignoring all the beach goers who admired her and splashed about her except for Marina who she always smiled to and told to sit in sand.
“Will you get in the water?” Kaia had teased one day watching with glimmering eyes as Marina had danced back from a surprisingly large wave. Kaia hadn’t even flinched as it broke against her back. Feeling the challenge in those eyes Marina had pulled off her shoes and socks and had put her feet in the water.
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Kaia had been staring at the water washing over her feet with interest when Marina finally signed, “I know the paint's chipped. I should redo it.”
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Kaia had glanced at her sidelong, her face that blank composed mask it sometimes slipped into, and for all her practice reading faces Marina couldn’t completely translate that look. She thought it might be confusion but couldn’t understand what about their conversations ever elicited it.
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“What colour do you think I should do?” She asked playfully, wiggling her toes in the water.
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Kaia’s eyes widened for a moment and her mouth opened. Her shoulder shook and Marina recognized the signs of laughter even though she could not hear it. “Purple,” she signed back finally, and Marina agreed. Kaia had been delighted when the next day Marina had shown up with purple toe nails; she had thrown her head back in laughter and admitted it was her favourite colour because it was so rare.
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Marina wasn’t sure what to think of that, but there was a lot about Kaia that she wasn't sure what to think about. When they had started talking it had mostly been about other beach goers, or the weather, or the ice cream shop. As time had gone on Marina had opened more talking to Kaia about her distant uncle and her strained relationship with her parents back home who she hadn’t seen since she left for university. Kaia didn’t talk about her home life at all, although she did begin to tell Marina stories about her friends and little anecdotes about her day.
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For the most part Marina was content enough with their conversations to give the other woman her privacy but one day she had to ask, “Are you deaf?”
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Kaia had had her hand on Marina’s leg absently stroking up and down, Marina was glad her darker skin wouldn’t betray a blush because her insides were being pumped full of steam. When she had asked her Kaia had stopped her stroking but left her one hand where it was and signed with the other after a pause.
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“I can hear, but not…” she hesitated, “only certain frequencies.”
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She hadn’t asked back but Marina gave her the answer, “I was just curious. You react to the other beach goers sometimes when they speak to you even if you don’t speak back. I can’t hear them at all.”
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“You aren’t missing much,” Kaia had said making a disdainful face that melted into her more customary mischievous look, “besides I would be jealous if you talked to other people.”
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“Would you?”
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“Of course. I would have to fight for your attention, which I like so much.”
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Marina had kissed her then, it had been one of their sunset meetings and there had only been a few people way further down the beach. The kissing like the signing, and putting her feet in the water became more of a regular thing.
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On her 47th day in town it had been raining. Marina had not been intending to bother going to the beach but after an angry scribbled fight with her uncle about her shifts she had stormed out of the empty ice cream shop and down the sand. It was raining hard and she had no idea if there was any thunder, but there hadn’t been any lightning yet. The waves were tossing and turning trying to put a show to compete with the grey sky.
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Marina walked angrily down the beach, her clothes sticking to her skin, her body shivering a little with the cold. As if that wasn’t bad enough a massive wave of water came out from the sea and drenched her. She leaped back and rubbed her eyes. But she should have been too far for the water to hit her, she thought. She looked to the sea and was shocked, but also somewhere deeper and hollower inside of her was an echo that was not shocked at all, to see Kaia laying on the beach.
“Come here,” she signed. Marina, helpless as always to Kaia, obeyed.
“I thought you only came to the beach when it was sunny.”
“I did, when the sun was the only thing I came for.”
That hollow place in Marina seemed to fill with light; she crashed her lips against Kaia’s before pulling away and spilling her heart, and her loneliness and her hatred to Kaia, who watched her steadily throughout her eyes never leaving her or blinking. For some reason Marina had never thought it weird that Kaia never blinked.
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When she had finished Kaia said, “You will leave when the summer is over.” Her eyes were on Marina’s cheeks, and she knew that somehow the other woman had guessed that some of that water was not rain or ocean spray.
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“I have to go back to school,” Marina defended.
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Kaia glared, “I would care for you. If I could I would protect you from all the darkness in the world, even your own.”
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It was obvious now that Marina was crying, “I would find ways to make you laugh everyday even if I could never hear the sound. But our lives are on different paths.”
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Kaia snarled but the gesture wasn’t directed at Marina, more at her words, or the Fates invoked by them, the forces that seemed determined to make their relationship so short.
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“You are unhappy at school, and at the shop,” Kaia signed first and Marina pierced by her gaze could only nod in truth, “are you unhappy even with me?” she asked. Marina shook her head.
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“You are the moon to me,” she signed. “You light the darkness around me. I am full of awe at the sight of you. You are a force whose pull makes me change for the better. ” Something in Kaia hardened. Her always cold skin turning to stone.
“Can you swim?” She asked with none of her usual mirth in her. Completely serious for the first time Marina had known her.
The question had surprised Marina, “Yes,” she admitted. “I can but look at the water. I shouldn’t go in there when the sea is that rough.” For some reason she neglected to add on that Kaia shouldn’t have been in the water. It didn’t seem dangerous that she was.
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“Come here tomorrow,” when Kaia flashed Marina’s name sign she had changed it, it was now the letter M and the sign for sunlight, “if you want a different life, a life with me, come after sunset and if you don’t and choose to stay on your land I’ll know your answer.”
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Kaia turned then and swam into the ocean as she did for the first time her lower body flashed above the waves, and Marina saw what they had been hiding for her. She was not as surprised as she might have been there was only the feeling of scattered puzzle pieces finally snapping into place.
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The next night Marina made her final walk across the sand. She had avoided the urge to go down to the beach all day and was impatiently waiting for night, and stars and the moon.
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Silly mermaid, she thought, but I suppose she wanted to wait so no one could see. Or she realized when Kaia’s head snapped over to her as she approached she wanted to give me time to decide and she did not know how I would answer.
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Silly mermaid. Marina smiled and kissed her. Kaia had a stunned look on her face that changed quicksilver fast into her literally razor sharp grin. She was no longer hiding her teeth. She wanted Marina to know exactly what she was. Exactly what she was moving towards.
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“How will we do this?” Marina asked after the two of them had grinned at each other in the darkness for long enough.
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Kaia held up a strange pink flower, or maybe it was a piece of coral, with silver ebbed through it.
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“You will have to eat it,” she signed, “you will have to eat one everyday for the rest of your–for as long as you stay with me.”
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Marina eyed the strange plant/coral hybrid and recognized that Kaia was trying to give her an out. She snatched the plant and took a bite. She chewed forcefully and swallowed heavily making defiant eye contact with Kaia who was watching expectantly.
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Marina frowned wondering what was supposed to happen when she felt her whole body go cold. It was like going from a hot tub to being plunged in the ocean. As she shook her hands climbed to her throat the meaning of the gesture would have been clear to anyone: can’t breathe.
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Kaia didn’t seem alarmed by this. She lunged forward out of the water and grabbed Marina. She pulled her into the sea and dragged her down.
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Marina didn’t drown. Instead as Kaia forced her down she felt her lungs open up again. She felt water pass through them and leave out of her mouth. She could breathe which was great, but her body's natural reaction to water in her lungs was still to panic.
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They were deep under water. She’s fast, Marina thought. They were way past the sandbar of the beach, and way past the coast. Marina couldn’t see anything in the darkness and she could breathe but it was wrong, wrong, wrong, and then she felt arms wrap around her. She felt sharp nails dig into her arms, but not roughly, it was a gentle bite. Her legs had wrapped around something large and thick like a tree trunk but the feeling was decidedly scaley. Kaia. She forced herself to keep breathing and eventually her body became less suspicious of the sensation. Her eyes too seemed to be adjusting to the plant as they became sharper. First she saw a golden glow in the darkness and realized it was Kaia’s eyes. Eventually she was able to make out the rest of her.
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They remained drifting there in the middle of the sea holding each other for quite some time. Finally Kaia signed, “Would you like to see home?”
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It could have been an accident that there was no “my” in that sentence, but Marina felt it was deliberate. She signed back yes with excitement that turned to trepidation the more they swam. Would Kaia’s friends like her? What about the rest of her...people? Kaia was a much better swimmer to the point that they realized it was easier for her to just drag Marina along than for her to try to keep up.
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They were swimming low to the ocean floor. Marina figured something about the flower must have allowed her body to survive the pressure of the water too. They were passing over a deep trench and Marina gripped Kaia’s hand and forced herself not to look down. They passed the trench and any thought of what might lurk in the depths behind them was gone.
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Because in front of them was a city. It was built from grey and white ocean stones. It spread out for miles in the valley below them. The buildings were of all shapes starting modestly and getting bigger as they approached a natural looking undersea mountain. Marina couldn’t see what was on the other side of this mountain but from where they were she could see emanating from the peak was a kind of bubble that surrounded the city.
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Kaia tugged on her hand and Marina turned her attention back to her girlfriend who was grinning at her. “Do you just want to gawk at the doorway?” She asked. “Or would you like to explore?”
Marina pretended to think about it then darted off in a dive toward the bubble and city. She imagined Kaia laughing at this but couldn’t be sure until there was a disturbance in the water around her and a blur in front of her.
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“We should not try racing yet,” Kaia said smugly, “you will lose.”
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“Maybe if that flower thing had given me a tail like yours…”
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“No!” and Kaia actually looked affronted. “I would never do that to your legs.” Kaia had always liked her legs, which was fair enough Marina thought studying her girlfriend’s tail in its natural environment and with equal interest. She really was the most beautiful woman she had ever seen.
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“Can I even go in?” Marina signed, before Kaia would notice her distraction and get even more smug.
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Kaia nodded and started tugging her forward again, “the flower will let you through the shield” she was swimming backwards and signing just to show off.
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Marina rolled her eyes and realized she hadn’t needed to blink since they had gotten under water. Getting through the shield hadn’t exactly been what she meant by the question but she was still relieved when it worked.
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As they swam towards the mountain Marina realized that the city was full of other mermaids. This was somehow the most mind-boggling part of all she had seen that night: the shield bubble, the city underwater, the flower hybrid that let her survive, even the fact that her own girlfriend was a mermaid she had been able to take in. But putting all of that together to make a city of mermaids was almost too big of an idea. Marina had to keep breaking it down into separate parts: city, bubble, flower, underwater, tail, tails plural.
Kaia didn’t quite ignore her fellow mer-people as she swam through their city the way she did the other beach goers, but she signed to them all impatiently as they waved to her and continued to tug Marina along. Marina was hit with two realizations: the first that everyone here signed and communicated with sign language. The second that none of them seemed outraged to see her. They ogled her for sure, especially her legs, and Kaia had almost clawed one particularly curious merman who had reached for her toes, but none of them seemed angry that Kaia had brought her here, which loosened some of the only real tension Marina had about this whole thing.
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Eventually they reached a house close to the mountain so close it was almost built up against it. Kaia noticed her gaze and signed, “There are caves in there. There is air. You can go whenever you like. I will show them to you.”
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Marina smiled at the thoughtfulness and was struck by even more of it when they entered Kaia’s house. She was so distracted by the fact that her girlfriend was apparently a heart melting romantic that for the time she didn’t think to wonder just how important or wealthy she was in this society to live in one of the biggest houses near the mountain. Instead she was distracted by the inside of the house itself. The rooms were hewn from rock and lit with glowing green algae.
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Kaia was signing a mile a minute her fingers almost blurring in the water as she talked about all the things she wanted to show Marina, and how she had stocked up on the plant that would allow her to stay, and she added kelp to her bed which should make her more comfortable until her skin hardened, and did she need–
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It was Marina who cut Kaia off for once. “Moonlight,” she signed instead of Kaia’s name sign “slow down,” She grinned. “You have time to show me everything. You have as many sunrises and sunsets as make up forever.” They kissed.
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Kaia simply signed one more thing, “My Sunlight,” and Marina knew to read between the shapes of her fingers and knew the mermaid had also meant “welcome home.”
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