Amnesia

"Hey! Stop that! I said stop!"

Elaena tried to take the strange object from my hand but fell on me, making us crumble to the ground.

I wasn't used to that kind of behaviour. In Atlantis everyone respected me and never had the courage to go against me: Elaena didn't know me but she wasn't scared of confronting a stranger or standing up for herself. It was refreshing, it made me realize that I missed someone so honest and bold at the same time.

"Getting comfy?" I whispered, making her blush; the redness reached her pointed ears.

Elaena nearly jumped in the water to get away from me, but I caught her just in time.

Everything around us stopped moving and I... didn't care about anything else but her and her eyes. At close distance her green irises were even more beautiful.

Elaena seemed entranced, but it couldn't be because of my appearance; she hated me, she was scared of my form. Wasn't she?

Her thin e soft finger reached my cheek and she caressed me: "I'm sorry for that..." she whispered. I couldn't move my tongue and words were caught in my throat: I was smemerized by her.

"Please trust me: I don't want to hurt you" I said, smiling softly.

Elaena distanced herself from me, but in that moment she seemed to want to stay closer. My arms left her waist and I felt colder.

Her warmth made me want more.

Why weren't we addressing the elephant in the room? There were so many questions and no answer, but I, in that slight moment, just wanted to hear her breathing.

"So what's that?"

"It's a lantern, never seen it?"

I looked closer: the 'lantern' was black, but golden features were drawn on his body; spirals decorated it and there was a blue gem on top of his head. It seemed kind of expensive, probably humans would sell it for a big sum of money. I knew how to negotiate with them because last year I had the insane idea of venturing in the human land, using a magical ring that gave me legs, made by the sea witch, my aunt. Why did I do that? I was simply curious.

Since my seventeen birthday, an important event for mer-people, I started aching for adventures in different kingdom and after seeing humans' ships, I wanted to learn more about them. So I escaped from my home, took the magical ring and travelled to the seashore: it got really difficult and dangerous, but I got the hang of how humans live, at least a bit of it.

"Where are we? Still in the Elves' domain?" Elaena asked me looking hopeful, but my confused expression gave away my ignorance on the topic. She sighed: "What did you say before? Something about a green light..?"

"Oh, yes. I saw a green light and got here... but did that come from the lantern?"

"Not exactly..." she placed her hand on the dark ship; "So this... is another world?" she wasn't talking to me, her eyes stopped on the sea, on his dark surface. Could it be real? Could she be someone that travelled from another world?

"I-I was on a mission..." she stared at me: her eyes were even more green than before and their colour made me think about the green light that enveloped her before I got to the wrecked ship.

I spaced out, but listened to her when she continued: "... I think something went wrong during the travel... I don't remember... a green light, yes... I saw it, but after that everything got black... my mission, what was it..?"

She couldn't talk anymore, I saw how she started panicking and tried to help: "Don't force yourself. Now is more important for you to not catch a cold."

She looked at her wet clothes and blushed: her green dress clung to her, making evident her body's lines. I couldn't help but look at her, but after just a glimpse I tore my eyes off her body.

"Ah! Wait a moment" I said, then I caressed my ring. I turned my tail into legs, under her scared stare.

"Wha-at happened?!"

She shut her eyes, screaming!

I wasn't even naked, what did I do wrong again? After getting the ring, I started going around with a special cloth dresses around my hips, just in case I turned into my human form; I wasn't ashamed of my body, but I had manners.

"It's magic. I can turn my tail into legs, nice right?" I laughed looking at my feet that touched the sand. Elaena got closer: "I never thought that magic could turn merman into humans..." while she kept watching my legs, I bit down on my lips, thinking about what I could do in order to help her find a place where to rest.

Still, I had to earn her trust before bringing her away from the shore.

"Arem?"

"Yes?"

I looked down on her, feeling shy because of her intense and, at the same time, pleasing stare.

"Help me."

"Eh?! Aren't you scared of me? I'm merman, you hate them right? Also I'm a man-n, a stranger! Don't trust people so fast! You could easily get in dangerous situation... and-"

Elaena started laughing and took my hand: "Relax... I know you have good intentions. We could say my lantern helps figuring out people and just now I activated it. Can you see the white light?" She pointed at the lantern that laid on the sand, near the ship: "White means good intentions and red is for danger."

"Then... green what stands for?"

"Well, that's difficult to say... I forgot everything else!"