A young woman walked along the beach. She was no older than twenty of average height with long golden hair that whipped around her face. She tucked the hair blocking her vision behind her ears revealing golden eyes. A dog accompanied her running ahead of her as she climbed over rocks.

Her dog sniffed around a small tidal pool as she stopped to look at the ocean. The dog stopped and started to bark at something. The woman looked in the direction of the dog. "What's wrong Calli?"

Calli ran back to her owner still barking, then ran back to the tidal pool wanting her owner to follow her. The woman ran over to the dog wondering what was bothering her. As she neared the tidal pool she noticed a body sprawled over the rocks. Gasping she ran closer trying to be careful not to trip on the rocks. A man lying face down on the rocks, the majority of his body remaining in the water was tangled in a net. He was bleeding from cuts and gashes all over his body from struggling to free himself from the net.

She knelt down next to him and turned him over onto his back to check for signs of life. To her relief he was breathing but was unconscious. She pulled out her knife and started to cut the net that was twisted around his torso. She noted he was very handsome with a well toned body and brown hair. The woman nearly dropped the knife into the water in shock as she pulled the net off where his legs should have been was a fish tail covered in blue green scales.

She stared at the man for a few moments before forcing herself to finish cutting the rest of the net away from his body. She took off her apron and cut it into strips and wrapped them around his wounds. When she had finished she sat and stared at him amazed that she had found a merman. After a few moments she knew she had to do something and it was wrong to leave him laying there until he woke up. Her home was not far, only a few hundred yards from where they were. She loosened her corset and took off her skirt. She dunked the skirt into the water, threw it onto the rock and pulled the merman out of the water. She felt guilty leaving an injured person behind. Thinking quickly, she decided it would be best to carry him to her home to tend to his wounds. She wrapped her soaked skirt around his waist and used all her strength to pick him up and put him on her shoulders. She slowly climbed back up the rocks trying to not fall. "Calli come." She called to her dog who ran over to her.

~-------~

The woman slowly made her way up the beach trying not to drop the merman. She failed to notice that as the merman's skin dried up his scales slowly started to disappear until eventually what had once been a blue green tail was now two pink human legs. Finally reaching her home she carefully opened the front door and walked inside. She laid him down on the floor. "Oh my." She was shocked to see he now had legs and was naked aside from her skirt that she had wrapped around his waist. She thought for a moment before she went to the bath and started to fill it with water. When it was full she picked the man up again and laid him in the water. She took a chair and a small pillow and laid his head on the pillow. The water made the man's legs transform back into a fish tail. She was amazed watching the transformation. Calli jumped up and stood with her front paws on the edge of the bathtub smelling the stranger. The woman patted her dog's head and went to her bedroom to change her clothes. She returned with some ointment and bandages.

"Oh Calli, what a find you had today." She said re-wrapping his bandages. Calli barked wagging her tail. When she was finished she pulled a spare chair next to the bathtub to wait for the merman to wake up. A few hours passed, the woman stood up to feed her dog, then prepared a light dinner for herself. After eating she returned to the side of the bath to sit and waited. The sun set and eventually she fell asleep on the chair.

She was suddenly awakened when her dog was barking and she was splashed with water. The merman had woken up and was in a panic splashing around the tub unsure of how to escape. Calli stood in front of her owner and growled at the merman.

"Easy! Calm down it's alright! I'm not going to hurt you!" she shouted standing as she was splashed with more water, forcing her to turn her head away to avoid getting water in her eyes.

"Calm down?! You captured me!" the merman shouted and stopped splashing.

"Captured?" She looked at him, thankful he at least could communicate with her. "I rescued you, I found you tangled in a net washed up on the rocks. I brought you back here because I couldn't just leave you there to be found by someone who would have killed you and brought you back as a prize!" She shouted.

He fell silent and noticed she had wrapped all his wounds. It had been a moment before he spoke again. "I'm sorry, I just panicked waking up in a land dweller's house."

"It's... alright." she said with a sigh, "I'm sure I would have done the same if I were in your situation." The merman examined the woman who looked away. "My name is Kai."

She looked up at him. "My name is Elana."