It was shaping up to be an average fishing season this year. The catch was good and plentiful, and the harvesters didn’t go without work. The kelp farmers were busy too, tending to their treelike fronds of delicious kelp. Kassandra couldn’t wait until the festival at the end of the season, where there would be her few friends and precious family. Her cousin Leonce’s wife was bound to have their child by then! She would have to buy baby presents. 

After leaving her daily courses at the King’s School, she went toward her favorite grotto. It was a place she’d been going to since her childhood, when she needed to get away from it all. Best of all, it was her place. No one knew about it, not even her dearest cousin. No, the grotto was all hers, and no one else’s.

At least, it was supposed to be. 

When she spied the other mermaid with the blue tailfin, she sighed with disappointment. “This is supposed to be my cave. Oh well.” She wasn’t about to find another. Maybe she could share with this stranger. Funny… for some reason she looked a little different from the others around. Maybe it was the dress. White – was the poor girl mourning someone? Is that why she was still asleep at mid-morning?

Kassy hated to do it, but she slowly approached the other maid. Gently shaking her shoulder, she said in her most soothing voice. “Wake up, please… wake up.” 

-

Meanwhile, on the island, Brendan Dorian was preparing for yet another shift. In the daytime, it was the local tourist hotel, one of the largest and most attractive for college students. At nighttime, he was a fire dancer at the tourist parties, ones that never failed to impress.

Makai was his home, and always would be. Many of the natives took some offense to their growing tourist population, but Brendan had long tired of the faces he grew up with. Seeing some new blood around the place was always great. Plus, there were always plenty of pretty girls and boys to flirt with. 

Stretching and yawning, he donned his apron and tied his black curls back. Another day, another dollar. He was saving up to go to another country and be a tourist himself, for once. Just him and his twin sister, Bianca. His sister had always been the smarter one – she was going to college, and only working part time shifts. She wanted to become a doctor, really help people. Brendan hadn’t really discovered what he wanted to do with himself. But once he did – he’d throw himself into it with the same passion and drive he did with everything else. 

He was just finished laying out the silverware on the tables, when a guest arrived. He was tall and blonde, definitely a looker. 

“I hope you’re having an excellent stay in the Pride of Makai hotel, sir! How many I help you this lovely morning?”