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Logan sighed as the sun began to rise, getting ready to finish the final bars of his song before he had to return home to his studies. He loved his work at the college, researching various natural phenomena, but the favorite part of his day had to be this. Here, he could let his mind relax, the notes of his song flowing freely as if they had been ingrained in his fingers. A sea breeze hit harder than usual, breaking him from his thoughts, and in that instant, he lost his grip on the violin’s bow.
The bow toppled over the railing of the balcony, and Logan groaned as it fell with a splash into the sea below. He looked over the railing. The only thing he could see was two disturbances in the water’s surface— one clearly from his lost bow, and the other most likely from a jumping fish of some sort.
“It’s going to take me at least a week to get another one,” Logan sighed, lamenting the loss of his morning respite.
He packed up his violin and headed to class.
The day had been particularly vexing. People kept interrupting him for the most mundane things. Roman had been insistent on him agreeing to go see a traveling band at the tavern that night, even though Logan had told him that he was exhausted. Roman’s brother had kept interrupting him with unsettling questions about his current experiment. By the time that his colleague, Janus, had entered to inquire about an upcoming lecture series, Logan felt like going mad.
So, Logan treated himself to an early break, leaving just before his normal lunch time to go for a walk by the sea. This time, of course, he couldn’t run through the familiar notes of his violin, but it would have to do.
Or so he thought.
When he reached the spot he had been that morning, his bow was sitting neatly on the railing, as if it had been placed there for him. There was a faint ring of moisture around it, like the railing had been soaked with water, and there was a faint crust of salt on the wood of the bow. That didn't make sense; the water was twenty feet below, and a wave would have knocked the bow off the railing into the street even if it had reached that height. Logan looked around, but once again, there was nothing. He tucked his bow into his bag.
Someone must be looking out for him. He had often felt like he was being observed in the cold darkness of predawn, but he had never suspected his suspicions to be true… What other option was there, though?
This day had just become infinitely more interesting.
-_--+--_-
The next morning, Logan approached the railing with slow steps. The air was clear, and there wasn’t a single person in sight. He paused before pulling out his instrument, straining his ears to check if there were any footsteps. Then, he raised the violin to his chin and began to play.
The notes sounded a bit rusty, probably due to the bow having been soaked in water the day prior. He would still need to buy a new one soon, but it would serve its purpose until then. Just a few lines in, though, he heard a loud slap from the water.
“Hello? Are you the one who assisted me with my bow yesterday?”
Logan leaned out over the railing as far as he could without fear of falling and peered down at the cliff side. It was the one place he hadn’t looked. There, pressed against the rocks, was a man. From that distance, he wasn’t perfectly clear, but Logan could see him well enough. He had long dark hair that was wet from the surf. His skin seemed to sparkle slightly, splotches of indigo against his shoulders from… maybe some kind of clothing? Most striking of all were the eyes. They were an almost impossible shade of violet, staring at him in a way that seemed both transfixed and terrified.
The stranger broke their gaze after mere seconds and dove into the water, trailed by a swath of indigos and purples.
Logan blinked a few times.
That couldn’t be right… He could have sworn that the beautiful man who had fled into the sea had a tail.
He put down his things and ran down the stairs to the rocks. Treading as quickly as he dared on their slick surfaces, Logan made his way to the spot that the stranger had disappeared from. All traces of him were gone. The man had not resurfaced.
There was no way…
No one had ever proved that mermaids were anything more than fantasy.
But someone always had to be the first, and Logan had to see him again.
He told himself it was just to thank him for his help with the violin, but he knew that was a fallacy.
-_--+--_-
It had been a week since he had seen the man— merman? Logan didn’t know where he could have gone.
If his feelings of being watched were correct, the stranger had been observing his morning concerts for weeks before their meeting. Why would he just disappear?
He spent every morning at the bay, arriving even earlier than he had before so that he could play longer. Maybe an extended tune would lure him back?
He had halted all of his other studies to dive into the many somewhat contradictory accounts of mermaid lore. His pin-boards were coated with different depictions of merpeople. He had crossed out ones that didn’t seem to resemble his mystery man. The desks were piled with many books, dogeared pages marking any passages that were interesting or held information he thought would be useful in finding him.
He could barely sleep. He almost wanted to hop on a rowboat and row until he somehow figured out how to contact this unseen species.
One of the books had mentioned a particular quality of siren song. He couldn’t verify its truth, but it stated that once someone heard a siren’s call, they would be drawn to the ocean until they, most likely, drowned, or heard it again.
Logan wondered if the same applied to just seeing one.
Logan hadn’t spoken to a soul for nearly two weeks now. He ran back and forth, splitting his time between his research and playing his song by the sea. Of course, just as he considered that fact, Remus snuck into his room. He then spent a whole hour following Logan around, telling him the most gruesome stories of the mer luring in sailors that he knew.
Janus visited again to ask if he was up for the lecture next week. Logan politely declined. He had never finished his experimentation on that topic.
At that, Janus had looked around the room. “Why are you looking into the lore of the merfolk? You know there is nothing remotely close to proving their existence in any of these books.”
Logan glanced down and shrugged, “You know… sometimes you just can’t control what your mind decides to fixate on.” He faked a smile.
Janus clearly didn’t buy it. He fiddled with his ring. “Okay, in that case, that new bow you ordered just arrived. It’s waiting for you at the shop.”
Logan tried to act nonchalant, but as soon as Janus’ footsteps retreated, he locked up his office and headed to the store. Finally, after almost a month, Logan’s violin was back in full working condition. He once again came to the rocks, hoping against hope that this time it would work.
It was almost sunrise. He played the last few lines of his song. Then he looked up.
There he was. His eyes were just as lovely as he remembered. Gills lined the sides of his neck. He really was a mer… Logan swallowed. He honestly hadn’t thought about what he’d do if he saw him again.
“You are back.” He lowered the violin.
“I couldn’t stay away from your siren song,” the stranger replied, light reflecting on the scales adorning his shoulders.
“My name is Logan,” he blurted, feeling the heat rise to his face at the comment.
“My name is V.”
Logan reached for his notepad. “Is it common for your species to use single letters as names?”
V smirked. “I’ll give you the next letter tomorrow.”
Then he was gone, disappeared back to the depths from whence he had come.
Logan wiped the water from his glasses lenses. He couldn’t wait for tomorrow.