Down on the beach, I see young Tito calling for his dog, and asking if anyone has seen him. No one has. Why this troubles me, I cannot say.

The day becomes peculiarly still. The sea settles into glass when the breeze drops. Fishermen look up as their vessels cease bobbing, and the cries of the gulls echo clear across the bay. With no wind, the smell of dead jellyfish on the beach rises to my nose, unpleasant but familiar. The village tucked behind the wharf, with its drab huts and clay-tiled roofs, is a picture waiting to be painted.

And still, Tito calls for his missing pet.

Someone on the far end of the wharf is hollering his fool head off, pointing to something out in the bay. A lone figure cuts silently over the surface of the water. The sail of the dorsal fin arcs high above the surf. The mermaid observes us for a moment before slipping beneath the waves.

She has survived! A sense of relief washes over me like an ablution. The sea creature is alive and free to return to whatever magical kingdom it came from. Away from this awful place that sought to slaughter it. Some grouse at this, but a surprising number of the villagers share my sentiment. A few even clap their hands as if to congratulate the maiden in the water. Ulric shakes a bony fist at it, while Mesud raises his harpoon, hoping it will swim within range.

She is spotted again, on the east side of the quay this time. But much closer. Again, she slices the surface at a brisk clip, her strange eyes on us. As before, the same questions come as we stare back at it. What does it want? Why doesn’t it just swim away?

Standing close to Hagar, I hear the midwife mutter to the other women. “She came with the full moon,” she whispers. “She can’t leave until the next one.”

How Hagar comes by this knowledge, I cannot say, but I suspect there is more to the woman than just midwifing babes into the world.

Gunther rows back in and tells Adja that he is sorry, but he could not spy her husband’s skiff anywhere. His face darkens when the others tell him of the mermaid’s return. There is a splash on his starboard side. When the creature breaks the surface a third time, Gunther watches her glide past with a calculating gaze. Tugging at his trousers, he draws out his pizzle and pisses into the sea.

***