The one slightly annoying thing about being a mermaid was the struggle to get out of the bath. Unable to stand up, Icarus had to climb out and flop onto the bathmat every time she was done washing her hair.

Sitting on the floor with several towels trying to dry off her tail and long hair, she sighed in frustration.

"Man this part of mermaiding is annoying..." she sighed.

The sounds of her phone ringing suddenly broke the silence of the bathroom and she reached up to take it off the counter, fingers barely just able to grab it by the phone charm. Answering it and putting it on speaker, she continued to dry off as she talked.

"Yo" she greeted.

"Hey, you busy?" Aries voice said.

"Uhh..."

She looked down at her tail for a moment, knowing this would probably take a while.

"Yes but also no? I'll be suited to leave the house by like 11" she replied.

"Sick, you able to meet up by the boardwalk?" Aries replied.

"Yeah I have nothing better to do, what's the plan?"

"I wanna see how your powers have developed. It's been a while since you transformed so surely you've made progress"

Icarus had been taking advantage of powers since she'd got them. She was by no means an expert, but it was helpful to turn on taps from across the room and bring your glass of water over to you when you're too tired to get up.

"I'm not an expert or anything but sure" Icarus agreed.

"I don't expect a newbie to be an expert, just not completely useless" Aries replied.

"I'll be there at like 11:15 or so, see you then?"

"Yep, see you then!"

When the call ended, Icarus turned back to her tail and sighed, her hair still soaked and not allowing her to transform back yet.

"Maybe I should get a super powerful hairdryer for this?" She muttered.

When she'd finally managed to dry off and get off the bathroom floor, she dug through her closet for yet another magazine cover worthy outfit. No matter the occasion she had to look beach glamorous. Todays pick was the classic hibiscus dress and platform sandals combo, topped off with frangipani hair clips. Bag on her shoulder she wandered down to the boardwalk where Aries was leaning on the railing watching some people down on the beach.

"Spying on cute boys?" Icarus teased.

"More like judging surfers who don't know surf etiquette. Guy in the blue just dropped in on a local" Aries pointed out, behind their heart sunglasses a judging look.

Icarus looked over at the surfers on the waves, seeing the annoyed locals sitting on their boards telling off the snake.

"What a dickhead, everyone knows to respect the locals" she scoffed.

"I know, bloody tourists. Anyway, let's find somewhere relatively hidden" Aries replied.

"I have an idea, do follow"

They walked up the beach, past the popular areas into the more deserted areas behind the rock formations no one could be bothered to climb over but them. Icarus had gotten used to climbing over rocks and sand dunes in less than proper attire for climbing. Aries seemed to be an expert at climbing in thongs (or flip flops for the Americans), having done it their whole life.

Wearing only a Coca Cola branded shirt and shorts, Aries never got a scratch or bruise while making trips over the rocks and dunes.

Now well hidden, the two stood by the rock pools to take a look at Icarus' progress.

"We know you can manipulate water movement, but what else have you managed?" Aries asked.

"I can turn on taps and stuff, I think that counts as water movement" Icarus replied.

"It does. What about conjuring it?"

"Never really tried, I guess if I focused enough I could probably do it"

Aries looked around for something to test it on, spotting a rather dried out rock pool.

"Try filling that up" they suggested, pointing out the pool.

"Ok, I can do this" Icarus replied, over confident.

Standing at a safe distance to not get wet, she held out her hand in the correct position and focused on the thought of conjuring water. Slowly but surely, the water level of the rock pool began to rise and a proud smile broke on her face.

"Not bad, you're quick at all this" Aries praised.

Icarus pulled her hand back a little too fast, causing the water to splash right between them. The two jumping out of the way just in time to not get wet.

"Oops" she stated.

"Slower release next time" Aries replied.

"Well at least I can actually do it. What else do water elementals do?"

"Making rain but let's not do that out in the open-" Aries began, glancing up at the clear sky.

"Ah, yes bad idea" Icarus agreed.

"Each element has three powers. Conjuring, controlling and natural. So it seems you've got everything down at at basic level"

Icarus looked down at her hands, rather proud of herself for picking up on magic rather quickly. She still had a lot to improve on but she was making good progress.

"I'm surprised how easy this ended up being, it's not been that long and I already know the basics" Icarus pondered.

"You did get used to it pretty fast, I'll give you that" Aries replied.

Looking out at the ocean, Icarus couldn't help but wonder how exactly she became a mermaid in the first place. Aries mentioned that no enchantment exists strong enough to put magic into non magic DNA. Meaning she must have some trace of magic in her in order to have the spirit pool activate for her anyway. Was someone out there in the ocean, a member of the lost pod, related to her? Or had they come connection to her that allowed her to have magic in her DNA?

"Aries how the hell did I even get a tail? I'm human... I was" Icarus asked, stepping over some rocks to sit on one and look out at the waves.

Aries sat bedside her, putting their head in their hands leaning on their knees.

"Not sure... No human should be able to handle magic, and here you are. You probably weren't fully human to begin with, just didn't know it" they explained.

"I wish there was some way to like... a magic DNA test or something"

She held out her hand, raising the water from a rock pool and watching it float. Messing around with powers was fun, it felt like fidgeting in a way, occupying your mind. Icarus had found herself knocking peoples water bottles off their desks with her powers in class just for a laugh.

"Well, just from the colour and shape of your tail I can tell that whatever magic is on you is tropical in origin" Aries explained.

They held their hand up, heating the water Icarus was holding with her powers up. It bubbles and steamed at bit before they both lowered their hands and the water dropped back into the pool with a splash. Just barely missing their legs with the water droplets.

"You can tell that much?" Icarus asked.

"The shape and colour of a tail is based in environmental evolution. Like fish. You have a bright colour and flowy fins, so your ancestors probably came from a reef, tropical warm waters or an island" Aries explained.

"I mean my mum is Hawaiian, that's an island. Several actually"

"She's not a mermaid though, so it can't come from her. But maybe someone else in the Hawaiian side of the family, if not maybe someone in another tropical area"

It was interesting how magic and the natural world intertwined. The fact Merfolk evolved their fish sides the same way real fish did was the natural side, and their magic was based on a whole other set of evolution. Like how Aries was a siren but Icarus wasn't.

"Where are your ancestors from with your tail?" Icarus asked.

"It's blue-green and had a streamlined fluke shape so most likely the open ocean, maybe around some seaweed Forrests" Aries replied.

"So we might not have been that far away then, reefs often turn into seaweed Forrests the further out they go"

"Maybe not, our ancestors might have been environmental neighbours"

The more they found out about Icarus' mermaid slide the more it seemed like she was always meant to be a mermaid. Picking up on powers fast, the chances of her falling into the pool in the first place, the face she had a tail suited to the environment a lot of her family was from... it was all a bit too perfect.

"I really wanna jump off that rock man, the splash it'd make..." Aries muttered, gazing over at the overhang that dropped into the ocean.

"It's deep enough, I've seen people jump here before" Icarus replied.

"Sick I'm going in"

Always up for a swim, Icarus followed Aries over to the edge and looked down at the water judging the distance before the two launched themselves off the rock and into the water, transforming when they touched the water. Breaking back up to the surface, they flicked the hair out of their faces and laughed in amusement.

"The only thing about humans I envy is being able to climb out and immediately jump back in again without having to dry off" Aries said.

"That was fun, we gotta find high places to jump from more often" Icarus laughed.

"I bet we could tie a rope to the overhang at the spirit pool if we find a study enough rock"

"Oh my god yes, rope swings are so much fun"

"Race you"

Aries quickly ducked under the water, flicking Icarus with their tail.

"Wha- hey you have a more streamlined tail! Not fair!" She called out, ducking underneath after them to catch up.

It was so much fun underwater. She'd always liked it, but it was just that little bit more special as a mermaid. The fish didn't swim away from you, you could go faster, see better, hold your breath longer, go deeper without any equipment, experience the wildlife up close in a way no diver could.

It was like being one with the sea, Icarus envied Aries for having felt this bliss their whole life rather than only just recently. But she shouldn't be complaining, the fact she got to experience this at all was a gift.

The water was warm in the hot summer sun, the light danced on the sand underneath. The jellyfish that bobbed past looked so blissful with the tide just taking them wherever it went, even though the Merfolk would sharply dodge the poison ones, they could still admire from a distance.

The animals weren't as scary when you were a mermaid. Sure, it was still a bit freaky when you passed by a shark that was rather big, or when you see a stone fish move out of the cover of your eye right after picking up a shell. But the fish didn't see Merfolk as a threat, and just let them pass by.

The only risk to Merfolk was humans and Agnemetra. The wildlife of the ocean, rivers and lakes saw the half fish mythics as equals, and thousands of years of history taught the two species to co-exist in peace.

But even so, the Merfolk always remembered to check shells before picking them up. Just in case it was a cone snail.