Tails and Wings: A Mermaid Fairy Tale

Tails and Wings: A Mermaid Fairy Tale

Harlow stared at the glistening water, waiting anxiously for any ripple in the calm sea. Her little wings flapped excitedly as she flew to her big sister, Oakley. "They're here Oakley! Look over there! I can see their tales!" Oakley, the older of the two little fairies, tried to reign in her little sister but Harlow wouldn't have it! "They're here! They're here!" She sang as she flew circles around her sister. This is really cool Oakley thought but too dignified to act on the butterflies in her stomach looked upon the water cooly as the two young mermaids approached the small inlet where the fairy sisters waited.

Emma, the older of the two mermaid sisters, with her long flaming red hair was the first to pop her head up. Little Peyton was close behind her big sister as her little auburn head popped out of the water. "I told you Emma! I told you they would come!" "Ok Peyton, settle down and catch your breath" said her big sister.

The two littlest creatures delighted in each other's presence. Harlow flew over Peyton's head as she swam in the shallow inlet. The older sisters, though intrigued, weren't quite ready to celebrate the occasion yet. The older girls, being much more mature then their baby sisters, checked each other out with cautious curiosity.

Oakley looked at Emma with her long red hair and emerald green tail. Her tail shimmered like the sea and only a keen eye could see the outline of a tale. . Oakley has a keen eye , she was after all the best archer in her class. She saw the mermaid approaching far before her little sister. "She is beautiful, poised and regal. Like a princess, a princess of the sea." Oakley determined.

Emma looked at Oakley's little wings with wonder. "How did they move so fast?" she thought. Though unwilling to reveal her curiosity. She studied the fairy girl with her sparkling blue eyes, under long black lashes. "What a beautiful little creature" she thought. Oakley, with her long hair, streaked with gold by the sun. Her long legs seemed athletic and strong. Her purple iwings seemed iridescent at times.

They watched their little sisters playing together like they had known each other all of their lives. Peyton did flips out of the water while Harlow did cartwheels in the air. The older girls couldn't help but smile at their young sibs. Oh, to be so young and carefree,

The sun was setting and Oakley called out to Harlow, "C'mon little one, it's time we headed home." Harlow flew toward Oakley, and tried to reason with her. "But Oak, she is my friend, can't we play a little longer" Harlow pleaded. "No Harlow, it's time to go home" Oakley said "you know how mama gets when we're not home before the sun goes to rest in the ocean."

Emma called out to Peyton, "Let's get going Pey, before Papa has the whole fleet looking for us." The two little ones reluctantly went to their sisters's sides. But before the girls went their separate ways, Emma looked pleadingly, "Oakley you've got to promise that you and Harlow never tell anyone about us." "We are forbidden to go to this side of the island," she implored.

"We won't say anything, we too, are far from the boundaries our parents set for us." "We would be in so much trouble!" "Pinky promise, pinky promise" Peyton cried out. Harlow put her tiny pinky up to little Peytons as the pledged their silence. Oakley stared at the young girls, "pinky promise?" she thought. She looked over at Emma and saw the bewilderment in her new friends eyes. Emma looked at Oakley as they quietly shared the same thoughts. A pinky promise was not of either of their worlds, but of the human world.

The two older sisters each gathered their little one and headed to their own worlds. Harlow bounced through the air, circling Oakley, battering her with questions, "weren"t they pretty Oak?"

"Can we see them again, please?", "can we see them tomorrow?" Harlow asked. But Oakley wasn't paying attention to her sister. She couldn't get over the fact that Peyton knew about a "pinky promise". "How did she know this?" It's a legend in the fairy world that the "pinky promise" was brought from a human boy who met a young fairy princess. To keep their friendship a secret from their worlds, he taught her the sworn oath of the "pinky promise". "But that is in our fairy world," Oakley thought. "How did young Peyton know about it?" she wondered.

At the same moment, Emma swam next to her sister as she listened to Peyton rattle on about their new friends. "And she can fly so high!" Peyton exclaimed. Emma was barely listening. Little Harlow had flew right to Peyton, her little pinky out, as if if was perfectly normal for this secret oath of the human world to be used in their worlds. Her father had told her the story when she was ten years old. That's how old the young boy had been when he met his mermaid princess. Peyton, still too young to be told the legend, had learned the "pinky promise" but not of its origin. Emma remembered the look in Oakley's eyes. "She knew!" she thought. "She knew about it! But how?" "How could a tiny fairy know about the legend of the sea, when she didn't even know that mermaids existed?" she pondered..

The fairies made it home in record time, avoiding any uncomfortable questions of their whereabouts. Harlow, a bundle of excitement, flew around the room, with the energy only a young fairy could muster up after such a long day. Oakley was in a thoughtful mood, her mother noticed. "Such a contrast between these two" she thought. Harlow fluttered around the room without a worry in the world, as she had from her birth. Where Oakley seemed to have been born with the knowledge that she would someday be responsible for this little handful, and was dutifully born into the role of big sister.

Both Emma and Oakley knew that their story had just begun. There was magic in the land and

secrets in the sea to be discovered. When they finally laid down for the night, in their separate worlds, they both dreamt of a magical place where they could discard their tail and wings and run on two legs like the human children. There was a cave that opened up into a green meadow with beautiful flowers jutting up everywhere. There was a waterfall cascading into a crystal clear pond that glistened with a rainbow of colors. There was laughter in the air and joy in their hearts.

Tomorrow will bring much adventure for these four sweet creatures. And answers to questions they never even knew existed. Pinky Promise!