Skin Deep
By Zoe Storm

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Part the First: A World Above

In Which Visitors From the Sea Arrive,
a Forest Is Explored,
and a Friendship Blooms

Shielding my eyes with my hands to be able to see through the haze that still hung over the sea despite it being already mid-morning, I peered intently at the horizon, trying to spot the guests I knew would be arriving soon. I glanced around, double-checking that I had everything I needed to properly greet them (I did), and then resumed staring out at the sea.

It was the first time my father had involved me in the proceedings: the task used to fall to a rotation of sons of minor chieftains, but he’d decided that, at ten years old, I was old enough to begin caring about the ‘family business,’ as he put it; and maybe to start thinking about taking it over, many years in the future. It was a difficult job, which required one to juggle many skills, and my father was very good at it: that’s why he had been elected, after all.

“Here they come,” one of the clansmen who were standing on the pier with me said. “Do you remember how you’re supposed to greet them, Blair?”

I nodded as a ripple broke the surface of the sea: it was the wake of something swimming just under the surface, and I thanked my good stars that the sea was mostly calm that day, with very small waves, or else we wouldn’t have been able to spot the visitors until they’d begun to climb up on the pier.

A few moments later a hand broke through the surface of the water, and a figure hauled himself up on the wooden slats; a huge figure, I realised – the merman who flopped onto the pier had the tail of a walrus, and a physique to match.

The enormous man flopped over on his back, reached for his chin with a huge hand, grasped onto something, and seemingly pulled the skin off his head and face like the hood of a cloak; the removed skin tuned semi-transparent, and I was amazed to see his face was still in place, hair, beard and all, as if he’d simply removed an item of clothing. I’d heard about this, of course; but seeing it with my own two eyes was quite different from second-hand tales.

“Phah!” the man explosively breathed out, a wide grin on his face. “Brisk air we got this morning, innit?”

He kept pulling and tugging until he’d shed his entire seaskin, which gathered in a heap of almost see-through cloth at his feet, which had replaced his tail; I approached him as he stood up, and offered him a towel and a bundle of clothing, which I’d retrieved earlier from the shack by the pier – it was where we kept clothes for visitors from the sea to wear.

“Greetings and salutations,” I said, craning my neck to look up at him – the man was well over two metres tall, and he all but towered over me. “I am Blair of Clan Fraser, son of Chief Paramount Bruce. On behalf of the Confederation of Land Clans, I bid thee welcome.”

“Thank ye, laddie,” he said under his breath, grabbing the towel and starting to wipe the water from his skin. Then, louder, he continued, “I am Gordon of Clan Flyde, Chief Paramount of the Confederation of Sea Clans. I come in peace on a trade mission.”

“I acknowledge and accept your mission, Chief Flyde. You are under the protection of Clan Fraser until you choose to depart.”

Gordon nodded; then he looked me up and down and smiled. “Well, that’s the pleasantries done, lad. Ye did well. Ye make yer father proud.”

“Thank you,” I replied, beaming at the compliment. “May I take your seaskin, Chief Flyde?”

“Of course, of course,” he said, bending over and picking up the skin. “Take good care of it now, I’m going to need it again come this evening.” He handed me the wet bundle of cloth, which I in turn handed to a clansman who’d stepped up beside me.

“My father is waiting for us up at the manor. Shall we be on our way?” I asked, turning back to Gordon.

“Just wait a moment fer my companions to come ashore, and we’ll be off.”

“Companions?” I said.

“Of course,” he nodded. “I did not come alone.”

Just then, two other merfolk pulled themselves up on the pier. As I turned to look, the larger one pulled off his seaskin and stood up. He was almost as tall as Chief Flyde, but much thinner, almost angular, and he had a regal, severe air about him; he ran his gaze over me and the other clansmen who were on the dock, and he sniffed in sharply through his nose, almost sneering.

I shook myself, realising I still had a duty to attend to: I stepped towards the tall man, and began, “Welcome, sir, may I–”

“Do not touch me, child,” he said sharply, raising a hand to stave off my advance. “Nor my seaskin. I will take care of it myself.”

I blinked, taken aback by the reaction, but then nodded. By then the other person had removed their seaskin, too, and I did a double take as I turned towards them: she was a girl. A girl about my own age, with short hair and eyes as blue as the sea, who smiled widely at me.

“Hi!” she exclaimed brightly, grabbing the towel I handed her and starting to dry herself.

“Uh… hi,” I replied. Then, after a moment, I continued, “I’m sorry, I don’t think we have any clothes that would fit you on hand.” I looked to one of the clansmen for confirmation, and he nodded: visitors from the sea were usually adults.

“Oh, it’s not a problem,” she said, “I’ll just stay naked. What are clothes good for anyway?”

“Like I told ye, Aine,” Chief Flyde said with a sigh, “it’s rude not to wear clothes when on land.”

The girl, Aine, sighed in turn. “Yes, father.”

“You can wear the towel around yourself,” I said. “I’ll send someone ahead so they’ll have clothes ready for you by the time we reach the manor.”

“Thank you,” she replied. “I’ll just… hold on…” she continued, trying to figure out how to wrap the towel around her body.

“Here, let me help you,” I said, and I showed her how to tie two of the corners in a knot over her shoulder, so that she was wearing the towel like a make-shift robe.

“Thank you,” she repeated, smiling at me again, and I returned the smile; I bent over, and grabbed her seaskin.

“I’ll take good care of this,” I said, and she nodded.

“If you’re quite finished with the theatrics,” the tall man said, “we have business to attend to.”

“Don’t be a sourpuss, Neil,” Gordon said. “A little delay never hurt anyone.”

Neil harrumphed, but didn’t reply.

“Shall we be on our way?” I asked, and Gordon nodded. I started walking down the pier, and Gordon and Neil followed me, with the clansmen bringing up the rear; Aine, on the other hand, joined me in front, walking by my side.

“This place is beautiful,” she said, as we made our way up the winding path carved into the side of the reef to reach the edge, two hundred feet above the pier. “I’d never been on land before. How deep are we?”

“How deep are we?” I queried, puzzled. “What do you mean?”

“I mean,” she said, pointing upwards at the sky. “How far do we have to go to reach the surface?”

I blinked in surprise. “There is… no surface?” I half-replied-half-asked. “The sky just goes on and on.”

“It goes on and on? It never stops?” Aine said, her voice awed.

I shook my head. “It doesn’t,” I said. “The sky just… keeps going.”

“Whoa.”

Gordon burst out in an uproarious laugh. “What did I tell ye, sweetie? The world is vast.”

Aine nodded. “Yes, I can see that.”

We were silent until we reached the manor, except for Aine’s excited exclamations as she kept looking around and spotted something interesting; we took a few moments at the door to allow her to wear the clothes a clansman brought her – she refused the skirt and instead picked a pair of trousers and a simple shirt – and then in we went.

I stopped just inside the threshold, and cleared my throat. “Father,” I said loudly, “our guests have arrived!”

“Thank you, son,” my father replied from the bottom of the stairs; he walked towards us through the entrance hall, and Gordon walked forward to meet him halfway.

“Chief Flyde,” my father said, offering his hand.

“Chief Fraser,” Gordon replied, shaking it.

There was a moment of silence.

Then they broke out into identical, huge grins.

“Gordon!” my father bellowed, spreading his arms wide.

“Bruce, buddy!” Gordon shouted, embracing my father. “How’re things, my friend?”

“Very good, very good! It’s so good to see you, Gordon, it’s been too long!”

“It has indeed.”

They both stepped back from the hug, still smiling broadly. “Oh, and I do have to congratulate you on your election to Chief Paramount,” my father said. “Belated congratulations, though; it’s been what, six months?”

“Eight,” Gordon replied. “And I would’ve come visit sooner, but I was very busy, I’m sure ye understand.”

“Of course,” my father nodded. “It was the same for me, five years ago. Shall you introduce me to your companions?”

Gordon nodded, passed an arm over my father’s shoulders, and guided him towards our small group. “This here is Aine. My daughter.”

“Yes, I do see the family resemblance,” my father said, reaching over and mussing Aine’s hair. “Hello, young lady.”

“Hello, Chief Paramount Fraser,” Aine replied.

My father chuckled. “Oh, do call me Bruce. Uncle Bruce.” Then he looked at Neil. “And who are you, sir?”

The tall man looked down his nose at my father. “Chief Neil of Clan Haf,” he said.

“Ah, yes. Second place in the election, as I recall.”

Neil visibly bristled at my father’s words, but nodded solemnly. “Indeed. I have been named Trade Minister by Chief Paramount Flyde upon his election. It’s such a pleasure to be here,” he finished through gritted teeth.

“Having to come up here once or twice a month will do ye well, Neil,” Gordon said; then he turned to my father, and stage-whispered, “He’s a wee bit prejudiced against land-walkers, ye see, so I thought some exposure therapy was appropriate.”

If at all possible, Neil grit his teeth even harder: I could almost hear them grinding against each other.

“Well!” my father said after a moment. “Shall we get these trade negotiations underway? I have had a room prepared, if you’ll follow me.”

“Actually,” Gordon said, “I was hoping ye would excuse both Aine and yer son from the proceedings. They’re too young to fully understand everything, I’m afraid, and I think Aine would like to see more of the surface than just the inside of a musty room.”

“Oh, come on, my rooms are certainly not musty,” my father said with a laugh. “But okay. Blair, would you go with Aine? And show her around.”

I straightened up, standing as tall as I could. “Of course, father.”

“Ye take good care of her, ya hear?” Gordon said, smiling and pointing a finger the size of a truncheon my way. “Keep her safe.”

“Of course,” I repeated.

He nodded. “I’m counting on ye.”

“Be back before sunset,” my father said, and he turned around to lead Chief Flyde and Chief Haf away; they disappeared through a door.

I turned to Aine. “Have you ever seen a forest, Aine?” I asked.

“I have,” she replied. “We have forests under the sea; but I’m willing to bet yours are quite different.”

“I think you’ll like it,” I said, grabbing her hand and leading her away.

 

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“I still think it’s unfair that birds get to fly through the air and you don’t,” Aine mused. “I mean, us merpeople get to swim through the ocean, in whatever direction we please, so why don’t you humans get to explore the surface the same way?”

I laughed, looking up at her from my comfortable position, sprawled on the forest floor. “It’s just how it is. Unfortunately, we don’t have wings. But I’ve heard about someone who’s built a flying contraption recently.”

She craned her head up to look at me, which she had to do since she was currently hanging upside-down ten feet in the air, her legs hooked around a tree branch. “Oh, really?”

“Yeah, they’re two brothers. The Moon Golf brothers? Maybe? It’s hard to pronounce, they’re from France.”

“What’s a France?”

“It’s a country, to the south of here,” I answered, gesturing vaguely with my hand. “They make cheese and wine there.” I paused. “Those are foods.”

Aine laughed. “I know what cheese is, my dad brought some home for me to taste one time.”

“Oh? Did you like it?”

She made a face. “Eh. It was good, but nothing beats a juicy oyster.”

“What do those taste like?”

“They taste like oysters.”

I smiled. “I have no idea what that tastes like.”

“Fair,” she said, smiling back. “I’ll bring some for you and your dad next time I come to visit. But it would be better if they were fresh. Straight from the source.”

“Well, unfortunately we can’t do that,” I said. “There’s no way I can hold my breath long enough to reach the bottom of the sea, let alone stay there for however long it takes to eat… what did you call them?”

“Oysters.”

“Right. How long does it take to eat one, anyway?”

“Not that long,” she replied. “You just pop open the shell, put it in your mouth, and chew.”

“Without cooking them?” I asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Yeah, we eat them raw.”

“Huh.”

There was a moment of silence.

“You know what is also unfair?” Aine asked.

“What?”

“That you can’t come to my place to hang out. I mean, you’ve shown me this whole beautiful forest,” she said, spreading her arms wide and gesturing at the trees around us, “but I can’t show you my forest.”

I shrugged. “It is how it is. Unfortunately, I can’t breathe underwater.”

Another moment of silence.

“But what if you could?”

“What if I could what?”

“Breathe underwater.”

I smiled longingly. “That would be good. I’d really like to see where you live, Aine.” I peered at the sun filtering through the treetops, and added, “We should get going. It’s going to be dark in a few hours.”

Aine sighed deeply. “Okay.”

I got to my feet, and brushed the leaves and dirt from my clothes, then looked up at Aine. “Do you know how to get down?”

She smiled impishly at me. “Catch me,” she said, and unhooked one leg from the tree branch.

I blinked. “Wait, Aine, what are you–”

“Catch me!” she repeated, and twisted her body so her other leg lost its grip, too.

“Whoa!” I shouted, and I dove forward, catching Aine just as she fell; we tumbled to the ground in a heap of tangled limbs.

For a moment there was silence in the forest.

Then we started laughing.

 

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“…twice a month, on the second and fourth Monday,” Chief Gordon said, stepping foot on the dock. “And of course, I’ll be coming over every now and then. Yer not getting rid of me that easily, Bruce. Thank ye, laddie,” he added, as I handed him his seaskin.

“Of course,” my father nodded in agreement. “Don’t be a stranger. You and Aine will always be welcome here.”

Gordon nodded, and I turned to Aine, giving her her own seaskin. “Thanks, Blair,” she said, drawing me into a hug, which I reciprocated. “See you soon.”

“See ya, Aine,” I said.

The three merfolk pulled on their skins – it was incredible, seeing their legs fuse into tails – and flopped off the pier and into the water; Aine turned to wave at me, and then they were gone.

“So,” my father said after a moment. “Did you have fun today?”

“Yeah,” I nodded. “Aine is really cool.”

He smiled, and mussed my hair. “I’m glad. Now come on, let’s get back to the manor, it’s time for dinner.”