The Eastern Seas

The rays of the sun bathed the young mermaid in light, making the waters seem to turn into melted gold. She reached her hand up toward the sky, feeling the warmth on her skin, watching in awe as the sun disappeared below the horizon, leaving traces of his golden beauty behind. Trini sighed; being a mermaid, she had been blessed to see many beautiful sunsets, but never one quite like that, not even back in the colorful waters of the Caribbean. The 21 year old princess was glad that her parents had finally agreed to let her go on a trip out of the Caribbean Sea. It truly was a magical place, with some of the most stunning fish and reefs, but she had never been allowed to go far past the Florida Keys. Now that beautiful young woman had become of age, her father, King Adule, had given her her a magical necklace, which gave her the ability to walk on land and speak human language.

It was a gift that only those of royal blood were given, as traditionally it had been used for diplomacy, to keep peace between the people of the sea and the people on land. Although that tradition had been abandoned centuries ago, it was still considered a right of passage for young royals on their 21st birthday to go up on land and take a look at the world above. At first, the shy Princess Trini didn't want to interact with humans. Often times, the brown-skinned mermaid watched from afar as her sisters and brothers went up on beaches of Haiti and Jamaica, partying with the humans on the shore. From what she saw, they were not all that exciting as she had heard. It had been her best friend, Mei, who had talked her into it.

Mei was the princess of the Eastern Sea Tribe, and had already gone on land several times; she knew more about humans than any one of Trini's friends. The raven-haired mermaid had told her about all the festivals and concerts that went on where she lived, and even once, how she had saved a young man who'd gotten drunk and fallen off his yacht. The man, not knowing that she was a mermaid, had been so grateful that he had fallen madly in love with Mei, insisting that she accompany him on trips throughout Asian continent. Priness Mei had been to the China, Japan, South Korea, Bali, even Bangkok, all unbeknownst to her father, King Langchao. After hearing all the exciting stories, Trini had had her eyes set the East China Sea ever since.

After a few moments passed and the sun had already gone down, the brown skinned mermaid dived back into the cool waters below, lazily swimming along as the current pulled her nearer to city. For a moment, the young princess considered going by the Eastern palace, but after remembering what her older sisters and brothers had told her, she thought better of it. Sadly, there were fewer merpeople who lived in that part of the world due to the bombings and submarines that had destroyed the city and the palace. It was during what her people referred to as the Second Great Human War. The fighting and the pollution had nearly driven the Eastern Sea tribe into extinction, they'd even lost Mei's mother, the kind and thoughtful Queen Zhenzhu. Mei had only been a child of 3 then; she was 77 years old now. Merpeople years were quite different from human years; a merperson wasn't considered a full-fledged adult until at least 80.

Trini swam on until she had to a wide field of broken reefs, where she found her friend, along with a few others, laughing and talking loudly amongst themselves. When Mei caught sight of the girl, her blonde afro floating behind her, her eyes lit up.

"There she is! Ms. Birthday Girl herself!" Mei exclaimed, swimming over to her, "I can't believe you swam all that way by yourself! But don't worry, you won't be disappointed! I've got a special event planned for you!" The excitable mermaid took Trini by the hand, pulling her up toward surface, the others following close behind. Trini recognized some of them as Mei's cousins; she'd seen them before at the royal conferences that her parents held every year.

"Where are we going? Is there a lantern festival going on?" she asked, hopefully, curious to see exactly what a lantern was.

The porcelain skinned girl shook her head. "Nope. It's more fun than that." Mei swam to the shore, and the moment her tail touch the sand, they transformed into a pair of legs, and the red scales that once covered them, were now replaced with a dazzling pair of red pumps and a matching cocktail dress. All of the other girls and boys stood up, suddenly dressed in incredible outfits, some were tuxedos and other were sparkly dresses like Mei's. Trini's eyes widened as she looked down to see her own turquoise tail fins transformed into strappy sandals, and a lovely shimmering turquoise dress. What was probably the most impressive was her hair, that was now in honey blond braids, with little streaks of blue, cascading over her deep brown shoulders.

"You look great, Princess Trini!"

"You're so pretty! Just like Princess Sheila and Queen Calypso!"

The shy little mermaid could feel her face growing warm from the others compliments. Where exactly did Mei intend for them to go dressed like this?

"Come on, we're going clubbing!"

"Clubbing?! Doesn't that involve hitting people over the head with large sticks?" The other princesses and princes just laughed as Mei took her friend by the arm and led her away from the beach, into the lively city of Hong Kong.

The city was so loud, and there were so many people and things to see! The humans seemed to look at them curiously, but everyone just went on their way, never bothering them. In fact, it seemed that people were actually quite polite to them, but that didn't surprise Trini. Princess Mei tended to have a rather domineering effect on people, a trait she probably got from her father. The Caribbean girl tried her best to blend in, to act like she fitted in, but it was proving rather difficult, especially when she still had yet to adjust to her new legs.

"Hey everyone, looking for me?"

When the blonde turned around, she was met with the most gorgeous pair of brown eyes she had ever seen. For a moment, Trini stood amazed at the handsome human manuntil she heard her friend's excited squeal which brought her out of her daze.

"Zhu Tao!" Mei ran over, into his open arms. "Everyone, this is Zhu Tao, my boyfriend."

The tall stranger winked. "Don't you mean, fiance?"

Mei giggled. "Oh, that's right, I forgot to tell you! Zhu Tao and I are getting married and moving to Taipei!"

Everyone stood open mouthed. Dating a human was risky enough, but marrying a human was forbidden, a rule that every merman and mermaid knew. To intermarry with a human was turning your back on not only your tribe, but on the merpeople of every ocean on the entire planet! Trini's jaws dropped. This was certainly going to be a summer that she wouldn't forget!