LC Satusi Prologue

 

Part 2

I started to slowly get used to my half-human life. Though at first everything and anything seemed to be full of unpleasant people and problems I had never even thought possible.
   Only somewhat pleasant person I had met was so far Saeger, who very soon had told me about the small organization called Outlanders that he, too, was a part of. He seemed sure I should be part of it as well. He also tried to get me to tell my story to him but I saw it safer to stick to saying I only had a strange skin condition, that’s all.
   Sunset Valley, despite the people, seemed to fit to me very well climate-wise. A lot of rain kept my scales healthy and I went swimming when I had a safe chance, often meaning nights or dawns when no one was on the move other than me. What humans considered bad weather worked often in my favour, as rain seemed to always make them hide away to their homes.

I myself loved rain. The sensation of water being all around while still on land was something I wished I could have shared with my own kind… I missed the deep down all too often. The pain of it felt in my chest, like a physical pain. It was a little scary how strong it could get, but at those times I went to the water. My soul always seemed to be pulling me there, no matter how I felt.
   And I did feel okay. On occasion, but slowly, more often. I had wanted this, after all… I had wanted to be a half-human. I had known it’d include things I didn’t know of, it’s not like I could have learned all too much from the water before.

I caught a little less attention nowadays as I had found another set of clothes from the little house I now had. Apparently all the rips and tears of my previous set were unusual. Made sense, I supposed. With sensitive human skin, covering clothes only made sense.

One early morning I went for a swim once more, after making completely sure no one was nearby to catch a sight of me as a siren. I left my clothes on a pile on the sand and waded in the water, shifting soon.

Oh how I missed my tail sometimes… I savoured the feeling, swimming in the shallows in the rain. All of my sensations felt so different here than how they felt in the deep.

I swam for an hour or so, diving around the rock formations. Our kind was usually only in the deep waters, but I had been more used to shallows as I had already used to sneak closer to the surface to seek out humans and their world.
   I still worked a lot to be more used to land, too, of course. I couldn’t always only run to the water when I felt homesick – and I could run, these times, too! I had gotten more used to having legs on land, loving to try out all kinds of things one could do with them.

 

I also literally worked. I had gone around asking for work but my skin colour still seemed to be off-putting to people, as most places had said straight away no or I never heard back from them. On one occasion I had been laughed at, which couldn’t have been courteous even in human terms.
   I at last got accepted at a Spa, part-time. The owner of the place was a pleasant lady who was very impressed by my information of mud- and mineral bathing, of the uses of clay and seaweed, and she considered me a walking mascot due to my skin and hair colour, and was sure I’d bring them more customers simply by being myself.
   Now I spent my days near water even during my work, which felt natural to me, so all in all I thought I was doing pretty well in my new life.
   The stares followed me anywhere I went, though. Most didn’t cover it up at all, and it had to be merely my skin colour and scales, as no matter how I dressed it didn’t change. There started to be talk about how it was a rare medical skin condition, but the stares still continued.

I felt strongly like it wasn’t only always casual civilians staring, but there wasn’t much I could do about it. I hoped people would start to get used to me, like I was slowly getting used to them.

I spent all my free time around the City, exploring, trying not to end up only always hiding on my own. That wasn’t the mission, after all. The constant staring was still so distracting, I sometimes stopped by the human Theatre, wondering if I should try to make work out of all of it, maybe by going up on the stage and singing.

Though things had started to work out for me, some things took more time to get used to than others. Such as shoes. Wearing shoes felt restrictive, but was clearly heavily frowned upon if one walked barefoot around.
   Some human foods were more unpleasant, as well. I tried to try different things, to not only live up on fish and seaweed so as now I was half-human instead only siren.
   “I wonder if I’ll ever get used to this”, I muttered to myself when I ate some soup, putting some kelp in it to make it little more tasty.

At work I learned from my coworkers that one could grow their own plants, and that seemed more interesting than most things they had to say. All I needed was different seeds that I could apparently harvest around the City, and correct circumstances for them to thrive. I had a yard though, so it was possible for me to try my luck with them. I wanted to try out as many different things as I possibly could now that I was here. The busier I was, the less time I had to be homesick.

There was also a human game, called chess, that I couldn’t help but get caught up with. It was a strategic game played on board, and there was a set at the City park where I visited. I liked strategy games. I taught it to myself when no one at the start seemed to want to play against me. I was sure it was, again, about my appearance than anything else.
   One day, the rain had come as light snow, and I found myself again playing at the park. This time though, at some point, I felt someone staring at me. It felt different staring than the usual, and I raised my gaze to look around.
   I saw a human man on the other side of the fountain, his eyes on me. He looked a little caught off guard when he saw me staring back at him.
   “Hi”, the man called out as he walked over. “I meant not to stare, it’s only that often no one is here playing chess like you.”

I left my game as I started to talk with the stranger, getting carried off with the conversation. The man introduced himself as Shawn, and I told him my name was Sisu.
   We conversed on for a moment before he offered to play with me, and we set the chessboard again, starting over. I couldn’t stop the slight smile, feeling somehow lighter when finally, someone was talking with me so courteously.
   Shawn was a great player, teaching me some terminology, though we seemed to have topics about pretty much anything. He didn’t seem affected by the cold, and I forgot all about it as well. He made no comment at all about my unusual skin colour or my scales, instead asked how I had liked the City and if I had taught myself chess or learned from someone other.

We continued playing few rounds, and talking until it started to get darker. It was like time had flied past.
   “I’d like to see you again some day”, Shawn said, smiling a little.
It seemed like I was getting myself another possible friend besides Saeger, so I of course agreed. I gave the man my number – still amused by the concept of a number that was only mine – and felt like I was floating my whole way home.
   I wasn’t sure what this feeling was, but it wasn’t at all unpleasant. Shawn had seemed so interesting. I hoped I would get that call he had talked about, hoping to get together with him again.
   I continued with my routines, only change I made was that I kept that phone-thing with me so I wouldn’t miss the call, though at times I still wasn’t sure I was using it correctly. I still continued to explore the City as much as I could, finding the life on land completely compelling.

One of that life were wild horses.
   I was caught off guard when coming from my swim, the beach had a visitor. A beautiful black horse played around by the shore, munching on seaweed and spraying with the saltwater. Seeing me he raised his head, eyeing me curiously, clearly not having seen a half-siren before.
   I swam slightly closer, cautious with my movements, not wanting to scare him off. What a gorgeous animal.

“Hiya, you”, I said to the horse as I swam closer to the shore.
   The horse didn’t move away when I shifted from my siren form into my human one, and it only started moving closer when I was getting dressed again. It was pretty cold, with light snowing continuing.

The horse let me pet him, barely hesitating. He felt soft and warm under my hand, and I smiled brightly – these were the things I had always wanted to experience, these were the moments I had hoped for when I had chosen to be turned.

I ran around with the horse in the snow for a good time that day, until night started to fall, really hoping it wouldn’t end up being only one time thing, but that his herd was close by staying. At least with the snow, tracks were left behind so I could see if they stayed around.

The following day, after my work, I went straight to the library. Humans had collected all the books in one place and I loved to spend time there, reading and learning.

I found few books about horses and studied up on them as much as I could, going through the books quite quickly. Quite different from seahorses, I smiled to myself.

Still, as the days went by and though I did keep myself in a hurry, I couldn’t help but wonder why Shawn hadn’t called yet. I had liked him, and I had thought he liked me. Still, no sign of him.
   Saeger at least still kept in touch, as human saying went. He did ask a lot about where I had come from and tried to get me to tell more about myself, but I kept insisting there was nothing to tell. I didn’t get bad feeling of him though; I was sure he was only curious. And I actually did feel like he was keeping some things from me the same I was from him.

More animals showed up around my home, clearly roaming around the woods here. Not only horses, but deer too, and they started letting me close to them. I was pretty sure it was unusual for prey animals like that, and all my reading did confirm it. I wanted as much information as I could get.
   With snow on the ground it was easy to track them and I wondered how animals sensed I wasn’t fully human. At least they didn’t seem to mind it.
   The deer didn’t quite let me pet them, but I still thought it had to be impressive they allowed me close. It’s not like they were domesticated anyway.

I watched how the deer walked away, to the woods by my home, and wondered where it spent it’s nights out here, hoping the horse I had in my mind named Sike was staying safe and warm in the snow.
   Things moved on at my work at the Spa as well. I was promoted to be a Spa Specialist, and I knew I should’ve been over the moon about it, but I couldn’t find that feeling within myself.

I had been here at human world for quite some time already, enough that the autumn had changed into winter, but I was still on my own. My mission was in my mind almost constantly, and I knew I would’ve felt safer figuring all sorts of human things out if I wasn’t completely alone.
   I sighed to myself as I headed back home, not feeling like exploring today. The work was sometimes a little draining. That’s when I got a call though – from Shawn.
   I was surprised when he asked to see me. I headed to the beach where he asked to meet with me, wondering what he wanted to talk about after all this time. It was already getting late, but I still went.

I found him by the old pier, under the full moon. It was actually quite the beautiful sight.
   “Hi”, I smiled slightly when I walked up to him, unsure what else to say.

“Hi, Sisu”, Shawn said and as I reached him, I saw something a little startling – his eyes seemed shifted. He seemed also paler than before. Something felt off.
   “What’s wrong?” I couldn’t help but ask, frowning.

“Sisu, something has happened that I cannot tell you about”, Shawn answered to me, seeming tense. “You have to trust me on this, it’s for your own safety.”
   “What do you mean with that?” I stared.
“I can’t see you again”, Shawn shook his head. “I’m sorry how I’m saying all of this, I know it makes no sense to you, but please trust me on this.”
   I shook my head to myself, trying to understand what he was meaning. Was he messing with me…? No, he was serious.
“Okay, I hear you”, I only nodded then. It was only our second meeting, if he didn’t want to continue meeting me then of course it had to be okay. Something still felt so off, but I ignored it. 

We walked off the beach together, but then went our separate ways. My mind was circling over the odd conversation my whole way home. It’s not like I even knew him, why did I care that much?