Page 52 of Moist!

chapter seven

SERAFINA

“Fee,” Cantis starts, “there’s no way we can take all of this, or even a little bit of it.

” The sun has moved across the sky, allowing a cozy atmosphere to wrap us in a bubble of serenity and cutesy nicknames.

We’ve been here way longer than even I imagined, and I’m sure Cantis will be wanting to head back soon.

“You’ll have to pick: a few small things or maybe one medium sized thing? Something you can carry by yourself in case we come into trouble on the way back.” A responsible and logical reasoning. I know she’s right, but I’m not ready to let this calm, easygoing Cantis go just yet.

“If there was lube here, I might be able to fit more in my pocket.” Cantis’s eyes widen, her eyebrows reaching near her hairline. That ought to keep her mind in the trenches for a bit.

I roll over to stand, if only to hide my laugh at the scandalized look on her face. Scanning the room again, I decide I want one very shiny, but coarse gem and the highest quality gold coin we can find. I say as much to Cantis before I start walking around.

“Why those two?” Cantis’s seemingly harmless question stops me in my tracks.

“I– I need them for proof.”

“Proof of what? ”

“Well, that we’ve been here.” I pluck an amethyst quartz from a pile of crystals.

Cantis is making her way around the other side of the room to help me look. “Can’t you just say you’ve been here? Wouldn’t that be enough?” I sigh at Cantis’s assumption; I wish saying something was enough.

“No, people always want proof before they even think about believing,” I explain. “And sometimes you show proof, and they’ll still decide not to believe you.”

“Oh.” Cantis is quiet for a while before her next question comes. “Does it matter so much that people believe you?”

“If you told someone a story, wouldn’t you want to be believed?”

“Well, yes,” Cantis says slowly. “But I guess if someone didn’t, I would just swim away and move on. But I do a lot of saving, and not a lot of talking, so I don’t have the same perspective as you. Can you explain it to me?”

“Yeah, although it’ll still probably sound silly to you.” I pick up a ruby, trading it for the amethyst I was holding onto.

“The humans always want to one up each other, so you have to prove that you’re not just telling a tall tale to knock someone else down.

And women especially have to prove themselves because, somehow, the same women that manage these men’s homes and run the family businesses are incapable of daring feats or taking risks, like it’s difficult or something. And the mermaids… ”

“The mermaids?” Cantis encourages.

I pick up a coin with a king’s stamp engraved on it, trying to think of how to summarize my… situation , with most merfolk. I put the coin back and keep moving.

“The mermaids have always found me weird. Our family was weird to begin with because my parents sold human-made items at the water market. But they had to walk on land for work. I was always the strangest because I did it for fun. And the other mermaids think that if I enjoy being with people, it automatically means I hate being with mermaids. It isn’t true, but that doesn’t matter, because they hate me without even asking first.”

“Hm.” Cantis straightens from her search like she’s about to show me something but puts it back down. “So what’s the problem with humans?”

“Honestly, nothing,” I sigh. “They’re just different. Which means, to them, that we should be separate. They act like there’s only one way to be a mermaid and if I ‘swim outside the sea’, I must not want to be a mermaid anymore.”

“That sounds really uncomfortable. What about this?” I squint to see the emerald gemstone she’s holding.

“Something a little rougher around the edges, if you can find it.” Cantis nods and continues her search.

“That must be like trying to sell algae to a hammerhead shark–” she says, “--they’re just not buying it. So why keep trying to sell it?”

That’s a great question.

Instead of trying to fit in with people who don’t like me, I’ve always publicly denounced the status quo. And while I don’t regret it, the real truth is that I’m tired of them disliking me to my face. I want to be accepted by people who don’t just tolerate me, but celebrate me.

“I guess I figured that if I proved them wrong, they would change,” I finally respond. “Maybe I care more about their opinions than I realized.”

Not enough to change me, but certainly enough to hurt me.

“Well then, I need to do a better job of digging.” Cantis’ voice echoes from the chest her head is currently buried in, along with the clicking of the gems I placed in her hair earlier.

“Thank you for sharing that with me. I understand how the things you’ve described can shape your worldview. But can I request something, Fee?”

“Yes?”

“Can we get one thing for them, and one thing for you? Something you want for yourself? ”

I look around the room again with new eyes. I couldn’t begin to think of what I would want most, so I go with my tried and true.

“I do like strawberries.”

“Strawberries,” Cantis chuckles, “Okay.”