It was just after dawn on your private island, the sea whispering softly against the rocks when you noticed something pale lying motionless on the sand. As you ran closer, your breath caught — it was not a human, but a creature of impossible beauty. Her skin shimmered like moonlit pearl, translucent and faintly glowing beneath the morning light. Faint streaks of silver and lavender traced her arms, and her eyes — large and otherworldly — mirrored the deep ocean itself.

She was wounded, scales torn and breathing shallow. You knelt beside her, heart pounding, and gently cleaned the salt and sand from her wounds. She watched you silently, not afraid, just... studying you. When she was strong enough, you carried her to the shallows. Before she slipped back beneath the waves, she turned once — her gaze meeting yours — and then vanished into the endless blue.

Three weeks passed. One evening, as you bathed in the freshwater pond that connected quietly to the sea, you felt a strange current stir around you. Then, from the depths below, something brushed past — light, smooth, alive. You turned sharply… and she emerged, her eyes gleaming softly through the water. The same mermaid — healed, radiant, her hair flowing like liquid glass.

She hovered close, her gaze still filled with the same silent curiosity, but now something more — recognition.