3

"What did you say?"

She smiles and leans in closer to the glass, and the contrast between her red hair and green eyes was amazing. "I said that I think you're very handsome for a human." She giggled.

He felt his face heat up. "Thank you. I....uh....I'm glad you think so. But why did you say, for a human? Are there males in your species?"

"Of course there are males. We're not so different from humans, although there are small differences. Our males though are extraordinarily handsome."

"Like you are beautiful." He interrupted.

She blushed.

"You know from small, we always heard stories of mermaids and we'd have this idea in our heads of what they looked like. Somehow in my mind, based on what I've heard. I thought that if there were mermen they'd be unattractive, with pointed ears and green teeth." Zade said.

She laughed. "I'm glad you think I'm beautiful and as I said, the mermen are just as attractive as me. I didn't know humans had such an inaccurate idea of us. Can I ask you a question?"

Zade nods and smiles , "Sure, go ahead." He leans forward, curious to hear what she wanted to ask.

"How does it feel to have legs and to walk? I've always been fascinated that humans had two legs, so different from our tail. How do they function?"

He lifted his legs and wiggled his toes and she watched in fascination. "Hmmm... I've never thought about having legs and being able to walk. It's sort of like a natural thing. We don't think much about it. They do a great job of holding us up, providing balance and help us do a lot, like walking, running and dancing."

"And standing?" She pressed her hands excitedly to the glass. The iridescent colour of her tail shimmering.

"Oh that's like a whole different perspective we get when standing. We can see see things from a higher point of view.

Her beautiful green eyes were wide in wonder. She couldn't help feeling envious of his legs. Salene wished she could experience what it was like to stand.

"You know what?"

She looked back up at him.

"Feet, help us to feel the world around us. The softness of grass, the grainy feeling of sand, the coolness of water....."

"Grass?"

"Yes grass. You've never seen grass?"

"Is it like seaweed or coral?"

Zade laughs softly and shook his head. "No it's totally different." He tried to think of a way to describe grass to her. "It's very soft and green, and feels nice to walk on."

"Oh. Your world sounds amazing."

"And so does yours." He waited while she continued to staring at his feet in fascination. Then he asked. " Can you breath out of the water? What depths do you live at?"

"I realise you can't stay out of water very long. When I caught you and pulled you out, after a while you stopped breathing and went totally pale."

She smiles at him and nods her head. "Yes, I can breathe out of water. It's not as easy as you are breathing air, but I can do it for a short time. Thank you for putting sea water in the tank, but is that why you came back that day? Were you planning on capturing me"

That day when I went diving with my gear and saw you, I was amazed. I still couldn't believe you exsisted. The problem was I always had to scuba dive down to a certain depth to see you. I wanted to know about you, so I ordered this tank made and paid for it to be completed in two days, then I filled it and you know the rest.

***Download NovelToon to enjoy a better reading experience!***