There once was a noble girl with eyes of azure and flaxen hair named Ebella who loved the ocean. She adored the beauty of its waters and the lovely creatures underneath its sapphire waves- Merfolk, of course. Ebella was the daughter of the Duke and Duchess of Knossias, a large county in Kanosonia.
 
Knossias was, in fact, the largest county in all of Kanosonia. If the princess Mereb died and the Queen Aine, who had carried her next child for nine months so far, unborn baby died, her parents would become the Prince and Princess of Kanosonia (that was basically all that Ebella ever learned about the Kanosonian government, for it was horridly complex and boring).
 
To continue, ever since she was young, Ebella had wanted more than anything in the World to become a beautiful mermaid. When she was four, Ebella had met a mermaid. Ebella had decided to go for a swim, and her small body tired more quickly than she had anticipated. Ebella had been too far from the shore for anyone to hear her pleas of help, and Merfolk generally stay out of human business, so she was quite doomed. But then, out of the cold onyx waters of the far ocean came a benevolent and beautiful mermaid. Her name was Merelis, and the tawny-haired, silver-eyed, rainbow-scaled mermaid carried Ebella back to shore from almost half of a mile from the Knossian shore.

Ever since that day, Ebella had spent a good portion of her life on luxurious cruises across all of the oceans of the World or simply dreaming about being one of the dazzling and beautiful Merfolk. She would write songs of whimsical Merfolk and stories about the day that she would become a mermaid (somewhere in her heart, Ebella knew that she would become a mermaid- she just knew it). Ebella would often read these things to a mousy little servant girl who cleaned her room sometimes and seemed quite nice and pleasant, if not sociopathically quiet.

The day was warm and the tide was low. Ebella serenaded the ocean's cerulean waves (her own little melody, of course) as she promenaded down the sandy column of the Knossian shore. Abruptly Ebella stopped in her tracks, horrified beyond description. A Merperson - or what somewhat appeared to be one - was thrashing about in the dry part of the sand, trapped in an old and seaweed-covered fishing net, struggling to get out. Ebella was stunned, but not at its tragic entrapment.

She stared, nonplussed and very revolted, at the creature's sheer ugliness. Its scales were not iridescent and rainbowed, but rather ugly, shriveled and brown. The Merperson's skin was wrinkled and drier than the Halandic Desert (a desert in Kanosonia, obviously) and its hair was shriveled and grey and had the texture of dry seaweed.
 
"Help me, Ebella! Help me- cut these bonds and set me back into the ocean!" The Merperson croaked. "Help me as I helped-"
But with that the Merperson's voice died. Its eyes-as silver as the moon's reflection in the ocean at night- continued to plead for Ebella's aid. Ebella could do nothing but look at it, suppressing a shudder but unable to mask the horror on her countenance. A repulsed Ebella only backed away from it warily, and then turned and sprinted back to the manor, looking revolted and inside being plagued by thoughts of its grotesque ugliness. That couldn't have been a Merperson, she told herself. Merfolk are majestic, graceful, beautiful creatures, not …hideous!
A serving girl named Simapat had been taking a break around the same time, and saw Ebella leave the manor. She was the little serving girl with greyish brown hair whom everyone claimed resembled a mouse in her scrawny appearance and also in her timid disposition. Simapat had followed Ebella out onto the golden sandy shore (for she idolized the girl for her intelligence, her gift for rhyme, and her family. Simapat was orphaned with no known relatives or siblings) and had witnessed the cruelty to the poor and helpless Merfolk with a broken heart. And as soon as Simapat knew that Ebella was out of sight, she scurried down to the mermaid from where she had been hiding. With a small blade that she kept on a crude string around her neck, Simapat cut the net and ergo set the Merperson free. Once the water touched the Merperson, it replenished to their former beauty its scales and skin, and the creature was recognizable as Merelis, the copper-haired mermaid who had saved Ebella all those years ago. The mermaid smiled, and seemed to dazzle- her tail looked studded with millions of diamonds.
"Simapat, my name is Merelis, and I am the Queen of the Merfolk. You have shown paramount benevolence and hence I shall grant you three wishes in return, for that is all my power allows me to do. If I could, I'd give you your every whim, for your soul is plainly sterling. And these wishes must be fairly simple. Carefully and wisely make your choice," the mermaid declared the last with authority in her voice.
Simpat thought long and hard. After a few minutes, Simapat slowly spoke: "My first wish is… for Ebella to become a mermaid with you. It's always been her dream…" Simapat trailed.
With an odd but satisfied grin, Merelis murmured, "Easy enough."
Next, and shyly, Simapat wished to be part of a royal family. "I've always watched Ebella with a kind of reverent jealousy," she mused aloud, and next explained her lack of family and money.
And lastly, Simapat wished for world peace, but that couldn't be granted.
"It is beyond my power, and even if I could grant world peace, this would be a lifeless land, for humankind would have lost its spark, its ambition. It's quite complicated, and usually beyond grasp of comprehension, but do you see why?" explained Merelis.
Having everyone well off money wise couldn't be granted either, for it would lower the worth of money and therefore throw the Kanosonian economy into such great disrepair that soon everyone would be penniless.
Finally, Simapat proclaimed her final wish. "I wish for tomorrow to be a wonderful, perfect day for everyone in the world. For nothing bad to happen anywhere, even in that bad place Malevola. Just one day of peace, of wholesome happiness."
The mermaid agreed, smiling placidly. "Very nice choice, Simapat. I'm only sorry that you didn't wish to be a mermaid too. But if you ever need any help, go over to the shore and call, and I will come, I promise. Goodbye, and may we meet again, Simapat."
And with a majestic sweep of an arm and a splash, Merelis was gone.

The next day, the Queen Aine of Kanosonia gave birth to her daughter, whom she named Simapat. That made the day wonderful for her parents, and Ebella (or rather, Merebella, for Merfolk always had the prefix 'Mer' in their names) became a mermaid, which made her ecstatic. She quickly sent a messenger-seagull with a note to her parents explaining her departure.
And wonderful and wholesome things happened to everyone, everywhere that day- from the poorest street rat in Kanosonia to the cruelest dragon in Malevola- and in all of the joy and excitement, no one noticed the disappearance of a scrawny, young female servant named Simapat.


By
Kristen