"Captain, Captain, I think we got one!" The second mate shouts over the crash of the waves as he struggles to haul up the trawl net. I rush over to the edge of the ship along with the rest of the deck hands. The captain himself bursts out from the bridge and joins us.

The net breaks free from the water, and all the sailors on deck lay their eyes on the most beautiful creature to ever grace the seven seas.

Mermaids, up until that moment, had been beings of fantasy-beautiful or terrifying, depending on what sailor recounted the story. But the one we had pulled up? She was something else.

The soft light of the setting sun makes her skin glow. Her scarlet tail glistens as her fin beats aimlessly against the net. She helplessly struggles, arms pressed up against the rope, back bent at a near impossible angle. Her dark slick hair covers her chest from the leering eyes of the other sailors.

Her facial features are a sharp contrast from the softer, sensual attractiveness her figure radiates. Eyes the color of a delectable, forbidden wine. A slender nose, soft lips tinted a pale blood-red. A spattering of words crosses those lips, nonsensical and completely unintelligible.

"Well, I'll be," the captain gasps, as he walks up and tugs on the ropes. "She'll fetch a handsome price, if she makes it to shore. Frederick!"

"Captain?" asks the second mate as he immediately stands at attention.

"Assign one of the deck cadets to keep watch on our catch here. Choose carefully."

"Yes, of course." The captain trudges his way back to the bridge as the second hand turns to face us.

"Let's see. . . you right there!" A finger points in my direction, and I realise who he was talking about. "What's your name, cadet?"

"Lewis Moore, sir."

"Well, Moore, you heard the captain. Keep our specimen alive until we make it back to dry land, and we have a chance of receiving a cut of the fortune we make off her. There's three months until we reach the harbor, so make sure to keep that in mind. Off you go."

The deckhands start to disperse as I look back to the mermaid, wondering how in God's name I am to take her out from the net.

"Hey Mack, come help me with her," I ask as I motion to another cadet. He heads to the trawl net controls and shifts the net so it hangs right above the deck. It begins to slowly lower until it rests less than a meter from me.

"Is that it?"

I shake my head. "I can carry her below deck, but you're going to have to set up before I head down."

"Alright," Mack says, calling for some help as he heads below deck.

I sit down across from the mermaid as she struggles to untangle herself from the net. Slowly moving one of my hands closer, I begin to untie the knots while avoiding any brash movements. Once the last knot is undone, I pull off the net and push it off to the side.

"I'm sorry. I'm going to have to carry you, I'll try to be gentle." She chitters nervously, but doesn't appear to be pulling away.

"Okay." I position myself and place my arms underneath her body, securing my grip and standing up once I was sure I wouldn't drop her. "Okay."

~ ~ ~

The captain has situated the lower deck with a garish aquarium, much like one that would be used for small aquatic life.The two sides that faced outwards were made of clear glass a few centimeters thick, with the remaining sides built right into the hull of the ship. A set of steps and a ledge were connected to one of the glass panels.

I walk up the stairs, careful not to jostle the mermaid. At the top step, I kneel down and let her transfer herself out of my arms and into the water.

"Sorry we have to keep you here," I say, lying down on my chest and aimlessly swishing my arm through the water. "We've already been sailing for a few months and you're our first and only interesting catch."

She breaks through the water and swims closer to face me. She speaks, but it sounds unintelligible to my ears. Only a few of the noises that slip through her lips are recognizable.

"Do you have a name?" I ask, interrupting her chatter.

While I couldn't make sense of the language she spoke, she was able to understand what I was saying. She nods.

"Could you tell me?"

She leans over the edge of the glass and scratches away at the wooden ledge, letters beginning to form underneath her sharp nails.

Tilting my head, I begin to read out: "Nor-Norah? Is your name Norah?"

She laughs and tugs on my sleeve, seemingly asking for my name in return.

"My name-" I say, carefully leaning in, "- is Lucy. The name Lewis is what I used whenever I enlist. Most captains aren't so keen on having a woman on board, so I had to make do. Lucky for me, I've avoided having any issues when going by Lewis."

Norah yanks hard on my shirt sleeve, and I only have so much as a second to process what's happening before I tumble into the water face first.

Gasping for air, I flail for a few moments before I'm able to emerge from the water. I wipe at my face in a fruitless effort to clear my vision. Norah swims up close to me as I continue to tread water.

"Very funny," I cough out. "First day and you're already making trouble for me." I spit out some more water as I drag myself back up onto the ledge.

I tear off my hat and begin to wring out the water. My shoes are off next, and I set them aside once I finish.

"Oh good grief," I mutter, realising my entire uniform is soaking wet and that I would leave a wet trail if I were to walk back outside. It would be too much of a hassle to mop up everything, so my only choice is to wait until my uniform dried up.

"I have a feeling that you might have planned this."

She doesn't respond.

"Don't like being alone?"

Considering how the net has snatched her away from her only home out in the ocean, I understand how truly jarring Norah's situation is.

"Okay. Since I'm already supposed to be keeping watch over you for the next few months, I'm sure Frederick won't have any issues with me staying here. But please don't try repeating this or I'm gonna get hell from the rest of the crew for ruining the boards again."

~ ~ ~

"So, is it true that merfolk can sing well? Or is that more of a siren thing? Are sirens and mermaids the same, just that sailors have different experiences when encountering them?"

Norah playfully shoves me as I pester her with questions.

"Well you can't blame me for asking," I tease. "You're supposed to be a fantastical creature, rarely seen by the human eye. It's amazing to see your beauty up close."

She sings a melody, soft yet alluring. I look at her in surprise, not expecting any type of answer to my barrage of questions.

"You're breathtaking," I whisper. Her voice grows until it is all I can hear, blocking out the sound of the waves hitting the ship's hull, the laughter of the crew working on the deck, the dull creak of the machinery on board.

There are not enough words to describe the sheer intensity of Norah's voice. It is invigorating, leaving me desperate for more. I want, I crave the need to draw in closer, just ever so closer. All my thoughts get drowned out, I feel as if I'm getting dragged down into a dark, musical ocean.

"Lewis! I need a hand with the crates on deck!" A voice shouts from upstairs, immediately snapping me back to reality.

"Shit." I scramble back from the edge, careful to avoid tumbling off. I knot my hair and shove my hat back on, watching my step as I rush down the steps.

"Norah, I gotta go."

She waves at me when I turn back to look at her. She has a mischievous smile on her face, knowing fully well the effect her singing had on me. Walking up the stairs to the top deck, I rest a hand on my face and try to ignore how flushed my cheek is underneath my palm.

~ ~ ~

"What does the name Norah mean?"

Norah stares at me, slightly twisting her mouth in confusion.

"My mother chose the name Lucy in honor of my grandfather Lucius. He used to tell me about his times as a chief officer, and he was one of the reasons why I was able to enlist with this crew."

Pausing, I pull out a book in front of me and flip to a specific page.

"I studied Latin growing up, so I was able to learn what your name means in my language," I say as I turn the book around so Norah can read the page.

"Originated as a short form of Honora, from the Latin word 'honor'."

She slides her finger across the page, mouthing the unfamiliar words. Her hair drips water onto the ledge, her fingernail leaving a slight indent on the page as she reads.

"Interesting, right? Well, actually,I brought something else with me." I take out an additional book. "I've been staying with you for the past few weeks, but Frederick needs me to start pulling my weight more. I thought you should have something to do when I'm working with the rest of the crew."

I show her the book's cover. It's a simple red, with thin gold lettering splashed across it. The title read "Girl in Scarlet" with the author's name, M. Ulven, written neatly under it.

"It's one of the novels that I brought with me. I haven't actually touched it yet. You should be able to read it, the original text is all in Norwegian."

Norah watches as I open the novel to the first page and set it atop of the previous book.

She flips through the book, her fingers leaving a small, damp mark on the edge of every page. Her eyes widen in fascination, the printed words drawing her in. Her still-damp hair slowly tumbles out from where she had tucked it behind her ear.

Even in the murky light of the room, with a majority of her features hidden behind shadow, I could truly say that she was indeed a sight to behold.

~ ~ ~

"What was your life like? You know, before. . ." I trail off, unsure how to finish my sentence.

Norah notices my distress, and she motions for me to come closer.

"No, I'm not sure whether I should take another unexpected swim."

She motions again, persistent.

"Alright," I sigh. I'm not sure what it would accomplish, but it would be rude to refuse.

I remove my outer jacket, followed by my shoes and socks, and finally my hat. Setting them on the ledge, I take a breath before I dive into the water.

Norah wraps her hand around my wrist and pulls me to the bottom of the tank. Once we are seated, she rests her hands on my face and before I can realise what's happening, I can feel the slight pain in my chest alleviate and find myself able to breathe.

She removes her hands, but I allow myself to softly grasp them. Our fingers slowly intertwine, but in my mind I question whether I can, whether I should.

It feels wrong to permit myself to do this, wrong to say that we have grown closer. It all has gone by so fast, we had no right to rush right to this point.

What else could I say, how exactly to describe.

To tear her out of her life, the audacity to spin her into mine. Ask her what it used to be like. Outside of what we had built.

Her voice slowly drifts over to me, but not like before. This time, it is somber, melancholy. It tears at my heart, wrecking my soul. She sings a wretched melody, the beauty of what had been.

Nothing wrong with what was now.

Yet I still feel regret. Having allowed myself to be captivated, her allure having drawn me in. Not having truly understood the true harm of what entrapment had done.

No words are exchanged.

~ ~ ~

"We're landing in the harbor tomorrow," I relay to Norah.

A few hours until reality hits. Until she turns into nothing more except a specimen on display, and a small fortune for all the crew on board.

She rests her arms on the ledge as she stares up at me. I sit cross legged across from her, painfully aware of the current situation.

"I don't think there's much I can do. The captain is adamant about selling you off as an attraction to the highest bidder, and the crew is entirely on board with that."

I sigh in frustration, unable to find a way out of the issue I managed to get myself into.

"Morally, there are a shit ton of issues in complying with the captain's plan. I'm not sure what else there is to-"

Norah tugs on my sleeve to shut me up. I realise that my frustrated ramblings were getting us nowhere. There wasn't anything left to do. I respected the captain, but would be unable to live with myself if I were to blindly follow through with his orders.

"Do you think you would be able to make it back home from here?"

She nods.

"I think once we reach shore, I'll resign from this crew. It'll be some time before I want to sail again."

Norah raises a hand, placing it on one side of my face. Her touch is careful, soft. Her thumb presses against the corner of my eye, wiping away at the tears forming as I refuse the urge to break down.

It isn't in my right to do so.

"I'm alright. I'm supposed to be worried about you." I meet her hand with one of my own. "Once I help you out of this mess, it'll be fine."

She smiles, and I give a quiet laugh.

"I think we'll be okay."

~ ~ ~

There was a lot that I learned during my time out at sea.

The last three months, however, are the ones that I would keep close.

An ensnarement, us entangled in a net of destruction, as I wished that it didn't have to be so.

Norah was captivating, intoxicating, depraving.

There was a level of intricacy in the ways that we were.

Her sweet melodies, the ones she continued to tease with, pulling me in, stopped right before I tumbled in.

Her tiny mannerisms, the ones she never noticed, but clear as day to my eyes.

Not all of them pretty, not all of them perfect.

Yet there was something to behold. How to love the girl we pulled from the sea.

Whether it'd be so accurate to call it as such. What more is there to have in a three month affair.

A mutual appreciation.

A whirlwind of strange.

I wonder whether there was a word to fully encapsulate what had occured.

Between the ocean's scarlet beauty and the land's silly sailor.
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"Norah" written by demblimcdembro