A Modern Fairytale

The little mermaid

Long, long ago, there lived a fairy named Tallis Echethier. He came in two colors: gold and silver. His wings were made of silvery sparks, his hair a light steely shade so very close to white, and his eyes were a golden color. The fairy wore his long locks in a graceful ponytail. Tallis was the son of a general and a musician in Mecrisdale, the land of fairies, and he had a twin sister called Berenice. His sister was his exact opposite, but they got along quite well.

Tallis loved his mother's music. Since he was little, whenever he and his mother were both home, he would perch by her side at the piano, either watching her or humming along. He had little interest in going outdoors. Despite his disinterest in physical activity, his father trained him in it anyhow. When he did, Berenice would always be mimicking everything from an observable but not disruptive distance. When he was old enough, his father took him to join him in the army. Tallis performed decently, but spent nearly all of his free time with the musicians at the palace. In one instance, the fairy king himself overheard the young man playing a soft tune alone.

"Your Majesty," Tallis addressed him thus, his fingers stopping immediately.

He was just about to stand up and step away from the piano when the king lifted a hand to stop him. "Finish the song."

"...yes, Your Majesty."

A little reluctant and a little bit more anxious, the fairy sat back down and finished his song. After that, he and the king had a conversation—the king asked whence he came, who he worked with, and eventually, they learned that the female musician whose performances the monarch often watched was this young soldier's mother. The king was tempted to relieve Tallis of his duties altogether, but, as the young man noted, it would be an embarrassment to his father, however much he would himself love that. So Tallis kept his official position, while also becoming the king's musician.

Many praised him for being talented, for doing so many things at once, for assuming two fairly important positions at the same time. Tallis smiled as he accepted those comments, but he didn't think much of them. To him, after all, only one of the two things he did was work. Nothing much changed.

Once, on an expedition including the general and a group of other fairies—a trip he hadn't really wanted to go on in the first place—Tallis was swept away by an unanticipated storm. The fact that the storm was unanticipated should have baffled him, because the fairies should have been able to predict such a trivial thing; indeed, if he had only squinted a little harder and looked a little longer when he glanced up at the stormy clouds, he would recognize them as something he did not recognize—not clouds, so to speak. And if he had taken notice of it, perhaps his next choice would have been slightly different, and that slightly different choice would have led him to a completely different life.

The fact remained, however, that Tallis failed to notice the presence of Navitusia.

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When he came to, Tallis found himself lying by a river. Before getting up at all, he glanced at the skies above him and the greenery around him, moving as little as possible. When he spotted a silhouette walking toward him, the fairy sat up.

The person walking towards him was a female human with her bloodred lips curled into a wicked smile—that was the first thing Tallis noticed about her. Her fierce emeralds were fixated on him, her purple-black waves flowing flawlessly as she sashayed towards him in her dark purple dress. Despite knowing she was human, the young woman's presence instilled in him a feeling of unease.

"Are you alright, sir?" asked the young woman, reaching out with a hand. She had only been a few small steps away, to begin with.

"I believe so." Tallis stood, taking her hand but not relying on it to do so. "Excuse me."