For thousands of years, long before humans walked the Earth, sirens swam the waters all around the world. This wasn't something most- if any- humans knew.
There were some sirens, like the deep sea folk, who never saw the light of day, choosing instead to live in the dark cold waters well below the ocean's surface.
Others stayed in the shallows near ports and marinas. It was a simple life, often leading to adventure and exploration. There was nothing quite like following the boats across the globe.
Then there were the scarce few sirens, like Kara, who liked to stay in fresh water.
Fresh water sirens spent more time on land than any other sirens, often living close to shores alongside unknowing humans. They were said to be able to stay out of water for nearly two days straight and walk on human legs!
If they wanted to, they could even go into the water and the Spirit of The Sea would carry them new.
Kara herself never had to leave her home, before. She was always happy in Raverden, surrounded by mountains of cedar. But Lake Clearwater was being drained faster every day, her source of life draining with it, and she couldn't stay in Raverden without the Spirit of The Sea.
So, she did what any siren in her position would do. Rid herself of her house, her belongings, shed her identity, and dove into what remained of her lake.
Ten months went by and Kara rested, weightless, somewhere humans couldn't touch. She emerged new, in a lake the color of soft moss.
Somehow, that lead her to... Here?
A criminal downgrade from her beautiful lake in mystical Raverden.
Kara looked at the lake, at the abysmal little house on the edge overlooking the water, and wondered if she should just go back down into the water and find somewhere else. As silly as it was, though, Kara always trusted the water, and if this was where it spit her out, she had to believe there was a good reason for it.
Kara explored the lake, first, diving down and moving through the water with ease. It was a lot smaller than her home in Raverden had been, with murky shallows that would be easy to hide in. Even now, in the middle of the day, she doubted any human would be able to see her swimming below the surface.
There were so many plants, too. Slimy plants. Kara surfaced and found herself tangled in them.
"Disgusting," she muttered to herself, swimming back towards the house left abandoned on the shore. The sooner she adopted her new identity, the sooner she could rebuild. There was still the slight chance she wouldn't stick around here, that the water made a mistake, but she was committed to trying. At least there weren't any humans around to bother her.
Raverden may have been bigger, with a bigger lake, but the humans were always getting in it, trashing it, disrespecting the water.
The house was... Not what she would have chosen willingly. It may have been nice once, but years without a soul left behind faded walls and broken windows. It was a wonder it hadn't crumbled from the weeds crawling up the side.
Kara crawled out of the water onto the dock, blinking at the bright sun above that threatened to blind her sensitive eyes and the itchy feeling as her tail disappeared. Ten whole months...
"It could be worse," she told herself as she stood on new shaky legs and made her way up the dock to the porch overlooking the lake. The wood was sturdy, still. A bit dirty, but good. The back door was even unlocked.
Inside, she found an even greater mess. The broken windows had let in leaves and dust and all sort of animals. Kara was only glad to find none were currently living in it, still. She could never bring herself to remove a family from their home, be them bird or mammal.
Raccoon prints aside, there was no decoration or furniture to speak of. Just an empty lonely house by a lonely lake.
"First things first, who am I," she mumbled, making her way through the house with curious glances around. The rooms were mostly empty, but the bathroom still had a bathtub and a broken sink.
She looked into the cracked mirror hanging on the wall, eyes drifting over her own tired face. Sirens changed, when they disappeared into the water and came out new. The last thing they needed was to leave a warm gulf and appear deep in the cold North Sea as a slim bright-haired siren without any natural camouflage to protect them from deep sea predators.
Kara knew those eyes that stared back at her, though. Green. Green like the swirling waters of the lake just outside. She had never seen the shade before, and yet she knew them in an instant.
Her hair was shorter now, too. Darker. Black straight strands that didn't tangle when she ran her hands through them. Less likely to become caught on anything in the water.
Her hands looked pale. Paler than before. She had assumed that for such murky water, she would have emerged darker as well to go unnoticed, but perhaps the water knew something that she didn't about this lake. Or maybe a greenish person walking around would draw more attention than a pale one.
"I am Kara," she stated, dropping her hands and looking into the mirror once again. Her voice was strong, she was pleased to find. "Hello, I a- I'm Kara. My name is Kara..."
She had never been good with this part. Kara stayed far away from humans when she could, not wanting to know them like some sirens chose to. But, it was necessary.
"Kara... Kara... Bint. My name is Kara Bint."
Unassuming. Unique, but not too unique.
"I just moved here. I came from..." From Raverden, from that beautiful crystal blue lake, from a safe place... "None of your business."
She didn't need to tell anyone where she came from and she didn't need to be overly nice about it. This would be a fresh start, in more ways than one.
"My name is Kara Bint, I just moved in. I'll be busy fixing the place up, so I don't have time to chat. Yeah, that sounds right..." A new life. A new her.
Kara looked down at herself and frowned, then. First things first, she should probably get some clothes on. The spirit of the sea was fickle today, spitting her out in such an ugly lake by an ugly house and not even giving her clothes.
Kara made her way back to the dock outside, grateful that she was so close to the water. Out the door and barely ten steps. At least it was a short trip if she needed to get to the lake quickly. And it made this next part easier, too.
With shaky legs, she lowered herself down to sit with her feet in the water, wrinkling her nose at how warm it was.
Some Sirens like warm water. She did not.
With her life source flowing around her swaying feet, Kara closed her eyes and did her best to picture a natural human look. She could feel the fabric forming around her skin, the magic settling on her softly in a Glimmer. A Glimmer was a Siren's creation, spun from the magic of the water.
Nothing special, just shorts and a loose shirt, both black. It'd be easier to get used to this new body in unrestrictive clothes. She also made a simple suitcase full of similar clothes and a few documents.
As far as humans were concerned, Kara Bint was now the owner of 14 Peach St as well as Lake Dreadful. What a fitting name, she thought as she opened her eyes and looked the papers over. The suitcase was just next to her, full of everything she needed to go unnoticed.
Her new life. Folded up neatly in easy human appearances. Kara let herself smile, then. While she was still upset about the loss of her home, feeling weak and miserable, this new place gave her just a slight bit of hope. Maybe things would be okay, here.
She started to stand up, then, her legs shaking underneath her again. It was going to be a lot of work to figure this new body out. Especially since Kara spent months in the water waiting to reemerge...
When she turned around, Kara heard a yelling coming from the woods.
A human? Already? Kara shoved her documents into the suitcase and zipped it up in a hurry. The house wasn't ready, she wasn't ready!
Just as Kara took one step forward, he burst out of the treeline and startled her back. A human man. His eyes found her immediately, even at a distance, and Kara felt fear shoot through her.
Why was he looking at her like that? Why was he here at all? Surely it was too soon for anyone to know the house was now occupied...
He started running towards the house, towards her, and Kara let go of the suitcase and stumbled back, frightened. He was just a human, but there was something in the way he moved that terrified her.
Her wobbly legs failed her and Kara tripped over her own clumsy feet, tipping back into the safety of the water. She stayed under, thoughts racing, and tried desperately to figure this all out.
What would she say? How could she explain her sudden appearance here? Would he have many questions? Some human men aren't good. Was he one of those sort of men?
Kara considered swimming off, abandoning these frail legs and this new shaky life, and emerging somewhere new once again.
Before she got the chance, the water rippled and bubbled around her at the sudden plunge the man took. Arms closed around her body.
Kara tried to pull away, but found quickly that he was only pulling her back to the surface. It'd be easy to drown him... Just an option.
They came up and he grabbed the wooden dock with one hand, holding her tightly and sputtering.
"I've got you," he said against her neck as he haules them both back onto the dock. He said it again and again. "I've got you. I've got you. It's okay."
Kara was even more confused, then, as she flopped onto the dock and looked the human over. He hovered, like many humans tended to do, and stared at her with eyes the color of soft, rich earth.
It was a nice color, she thought to herself as she watched his mouth move. The water had plastered his light hair to his face and he swiped it out of the way, shaking her arm. His mouth was still moving.
"What?" Oh, he was speaking to her. Kara blinked away the wetness gathered on her lashes and really listened.
"-okay? Did you hit your head, does anything hurt? Can you breathe?" Ah, he was asking questions. Only, they weren't at all the sort she had expected. He sounded worried. Perhaps she had misjudged the situation. His voice was low, rough. Raspy, even. Sick, or maybe just a deep voice.
"I didn't hit my head," she told him and it felt so strange to speak to an actual person finally. It had been so long, so very, very long. Usually, she just talked to herself.
Once upon a time, she had her mother to talk to...
"Are you okay," he asked again, his hands moving closer, but never touching her.
"I'm fine. It's just water," she insisted, her racing heart finally starting to calm as she determined he was just a misguided human, no threat after all. Or, not enough of one to warrant running away.
That may have been an overreaction.
Kara was willing to admit she didn't do well under intense panic.
"Just w-! That 'just water' is the most dangerous lake for miles," the man said incredulously, his voice rising from a soothing calm to a terrifying outraged. "This isn't some tourist town, if you wanna go swimming, do it at a public lake! You're lucky you didn't drown!"
Drown? That was almost laughable. If he only knew...
"I wouldn't have drowned. I was right next to the dock." Her tone lost some of its civility despite her efforts to hold her instant dislike back. It wasn't his fault he was only a dumb human. They were naturally loud, naturally annoying.
"What were you even doing out here," he demanded, finally falling back to just sit and stare at her. His concern seemed to have worn off, at last. Now he just looked... Angry, perhaps?
No, that wasn't anger. His eyes were too wide, brows not quite furrowed enough. Something close to anger, but not quite. Kara couldn't place it.
"Hey, idiot, I'm talking to you," he snapped. Actually snapped, too, moving his hand in front of her face as if she were a dog. She swatted the hand away with an irritated noise.
This was one of the many things she hated about humans. He came to her home and rudely snapped his fingers in her face? Insulted her? She had met fish with better manners.
Oh, wait. He wanted to know something. Wanted to know... why she was here.
Kara took a breath, running the rehearsal through her head and plastering a smile on her face. It was a bit soon, but at least she was somewhat ready for this.
"I'm Kara Bint. I actually just moved in. I'm going to be busy fixing this place up, so I don't-"
"Are you crazy?"
"Excuse me?" Interrupting, now? How rude could this man possibly get? Kara sat up and swatted his hands away once again when he tried to help.
Her opinion of him was quickly nosediving.
"You can't live here," he said insistently. "No one can live here. You need to go."
Kara glared at him now and crawled to her suit case, unzipping it a bit viciously and grabbing the papers within. She shoved them at him, accidentally getting them wet in the process.
"I can, actually. Now get off my property," she hissed. She felt her chest vibrate with the words and took a breath to calm herself down. It wouldn't do any good to accidentally use her siren song on him.
The man looked at the papers, pushing his wet hair back and flipping through them with an increasingly shocked look in his eyes. "Why would he sell... thought he was going to just tear it down...?"
"Who knows," she snapped- see, that was how it was done- and then snatched the documents back. It wasn't good to impose on siren territory. They could be a bit... Protective. Even other sirens knew better than to linger in another's home. "I live here, I own this land, it's mine. Now go away."
Finally, the infuriating human slumped back in what could only be defeat. Every bit of strength seemed to seep out of him and he stared at her with those big brown eyes full of... That look again.
Not anger.
He couldn't argue with the title of the house in her hands, in any case. What a wonderful day to be magic.
"Fine, you own it. Just stay away from the water," he shouted at her before standing up and storming off the dock. His volume shocked her into silence for a moment and she sat there, mouth open and eyes wide.
He was rude, he did nothing but shout, he was insulting, he acted as if she were dumb or crazy, or both.
He wasn't going to be around often, right...?
"It's my dock," she grumbled under her breath with a deep possessive feeling in her chest once the shock wore off. Kara tucked the papers back into the suitcase before using it as a crutch to stand up.
If her legs felt wobbly before, now they were downright trembling. The mix of shock, outrage, panic, and terror-packed adrenaline had left her totally exhausted.
"I'm staying," she decided with a quiet mutter as he disappeared back into the woods, following a trail she hadn't noticed before. She could just barely make out the top of a house above the treeline. Then, he was a neighbor. And he already wanted her gone. "I'll stay out of spite if for nothing else. Jerk."
One way or another, this would be home. She wouldn't be chased away and she refused to let humans bully her out of another home.
After tucking her suitcase away in the cleanest room of the house and making herself a sturdy broom- plus still stewing over the rude man- Kara knew three things with absolutely certainty.
Well, she liked to think she knew many things actually, but these three things stood out the most currently.
The first was that she was far too tired to get any real work done today. It was hopeless, she could barely stand on her new legs. She'd start with some sweeping, maybe. Just to calm her nerves.
The second thing she knew was that her new body sucked. This might tie into the first thing, but the weakness wasn't the only reason. She was shorter now. In Raverden she had been taller, probably because she had been living in a much bigger lake with deeper water. Kara hadn't realized it before, but she had really enjoyed being tall.
The third thing she knew, which was becoming glaringly more obvious the longer she looked around, was that her new home was a nightmare.
There was nowhere to rest. There was nowhere to even sit. There really wasn't much of anything. Between the lake and the rickety old dump, she was picking the lake.
Sighing, she mustered the strength to begin cleaning. With her broom, Kara started to get the floors swept, dripping water as she went. Leaves, sticks, dirt.
Once the main room was empty, Kara was surprised by how spacious it really was. There weren't many rooms, either. The bathroom and bedroom, the living room, a small hallway... No kitchen?
Kara was a bit disappointed by that. If there was one thing that she enjoyed about the human world, it was the food. Fish were good, of course, but they paled in comparison to cakes.
Unfortunately, there weren't cakes in the oceans or lakes.
Maybe she could add a small kitchen to the living room. It was plenty big enough. Besides, wasn't the kitchen was the heart of a home for most humans?
As Kara was sweeping the hallway, she noticed a string taped to the ceiling. It was attached to a square outline, some kind of hatch or door. A crawl space? The house was rather tall, maybe it had an attic.
Kara was just about to try and reach up for it when a knock made her jump.
Surely not that man again...? Slowly, she made her way to the front door and opened it, broom in hand. She wouldn't just silently let him disrespect her or her new home again.
Alas, it was a different man waiting on the other side.
No, she realized quickly upon closer inspection. Not a man, at all. A boy. Though, he did look very similar to that other man. The same brown eyes, the color of the beautiful rich earth. A kind color.
He stood with his shoulders hunched and his hands shoved into the pocket of his hoodie.
"Good evening, miss. I'm Blake Hart, I live just through those woods there if you follow the trail. I think my brother might have said some mean things to you?" Huh. Well-mannered, gentle, soft spoken. Kara looked him over skeptically and opened the door wider. Now this polite child she would happily allow into her home.
In her- albeit limited- experience, human children weren't as terrible as the adults. They were inherently kinder, they had empathy, and such creative little imaginations. Sometimes children would play in her lake back in Raverden, pretending they were mermaids. So cute.
Besides, even sirens knew it was cruel to turn away a child.
"Kara Bint. Come in." She walked back inside and left him to follow. It was a show of good faith allowing him into her home when it was still so new. Some sirens didn't allow others into their territory until it reeked of them.
Kara wasn't that territorial, thankfully.
Two unannounced visitors on her first day here. She'd have to add a sign to her list of chores, it seemed. Maybe a big one right out front that read, 'go away.'
Blake followed her inside cautiously, looking around the house with an uneasy look in his eyes. When they reached the living room with the light streaming in on the swept floors, his tensed shoulders relaxed slightly.
"So, it's just you here, then," he asked.
"That's right."
"And you really bought this place?"
"Yep," she said. If by 'bought' he meant magically acquired, that is.
"Cool." He continued looking around and Kara blanked. Was that the end of the interaction? Did he come here just for that? Maybe he was waiting for her to say something more. In Raverden, visitors sometimes wanted coffee, but she had no coffee or coffee maker.
"I'd offer you a place to sit, but as you can see..." She looked around the room with her lips pressed thin. What a terrible host she was making.
Not that it was her fault. She only just got there, there hadn't been any time to make the place presentable.
"That's alright, I shouldn't stay long. It isn't as bad as I thought it would be in here, actually. A little empty, but not scary." Scary? Kara wondered why so many humans feared something as simple as empty houses.
"Yeah, I swept up a little. Is that what you wanted? To see the house?" The boy crossed his arms suddenly, chin up and a stern look on his face that made her want to chuckle. Again, so cute.
"No, um, I just wanted to say sorry. For my brother, I mean. He didn't say much to us, but there was something about yelling and falling in the lake? Judging by the look of your clothes, he was serious. I'm, uh, sorry if he was mean to you." She was still a bit damp, yes, but at least she stopped dripping. The sun had dried her clothes fast.
Wet clothes weren't her concern, anyway.
"There's no need for that. We don't apologize on another's behalf where I'm from. Besides, I'll be busy fixing this place up, so we won't be seeing much of each other anyway," she said with just enough force to show she was serious. While she didn't want to be mean to the child, putting him off coming back was probably a good idea. "No harm done. I'll just keep my distance."
"Well... Good. That was really all I wanted to say, I guess," Blake mumbled sheepishly now, his brief flash of confidence seemingly over. He shuffled back towards the door as he spoke and Kara opened it for him. "I should go. Good luck with the house! See ya around!"
She closed the door behind him as he walked home, her energy even more sapped. On second thought, cleaning could wait until tomorrow as well.
With a tired sigh, Kara set her broom down and went out to the dock.
"What a day," she mumbled, sitting down and kicking her feet in the water again. The sun was starting to set behind the treeline, casting orange flames throughout the sky. "Why here, Mother? It's... beautiful, in it's own way, but that can't be the only reason."
A small glance towards the house. Broken windows, plenty of burgeoning work to be done. "Maybe you felt like I needed a good project? Or maybe you were sad about how empty it was...?"
The water was still and calm. No answer. There was never an answer.
"I'll find out or I won't, I guess. Whatever the reason you brought me here, I have a lot of work to do." Kara slipped off the dock into the warm water.
She sank down as her legs fused and her tail unfurled, curling up on the bottom of the lake.
Tomorrow. She would do her absolute best and get more done tomorrow.
New life, new me.