Zahara swarm to the deepest end of Zuri dancing as she playfully made circles around her grandmother. She was an only girl at home and the favourite granddaughter of her grandmother Graca the queen of Zuri kingdom on the southwestern end of reed valley. Their community had lived in Zuri at the deepest part of the sea for a hundred years since they conquered it and took it from the Amara people.
Zuri was a beautiful place where the sea bed was green with the carpet of reeds and a well layered with beautiful coral. Their home was surrounded by the reefs from all sides and the white sand of the sea bed. Their house, the palace of the kingdom of Zuri was made of gold and pillars of shells that held the towers of sea bed shiny stones high towards the unending surface of the blue ]water. This palace was the most beautiful thing in the whole of Zuri, especially when the light came through the crystal clear water from above. Zahara had been told severally that the light came from an ancient kingdom in the place called the sky above the water where birds lived and swam in the air. The tales of the area in the sky where beings could float in bare air amazed Zahara. She had never imagined that it could be possible to swim in the air. This tales made her wish that one day she would be able to travel to the sky and swim in the air too. However, her grandmother had warned her severally that it was dangerous to float in the air as only those who belonged to the kingdom of the sun could do that. She told her severally that the light was from a big fire that had been lit a thousand years before to ensure that it would be possible to see any being that did not belong to the kingdom and who was trying to enter the strange but magnificent kingdom. The kingdom in the sky according to the tales of Zahara grandmother had placed warriors at their gates who used the light to see any approaching stranger and send them back.
“Why do they deny entry to other beings granny?” Zahara had once asked her Graca. “Once upon a time the people of the land beyond our see tried to travel to the sky kingdom.” Graca had recounted to her how the land people had tried to build a tall tower to reach the sky kingdom to explore the kingdom to take some of their people as they no longer liked their land. “Why did they not like their land granny, was is too old?” little Zahara had asked. Her grandmother continued to inform her that the reason that the people of the land beyond had planned to explore the kingdom of the sky was that they had destroyed their land with endless war and dumping things that they had made themselves called plastics. The people of the land beyond had spoilt their air with the foreign air that they had made and they had nowhere left to get their food, and that had caused them to fight against each other. Graca explained that those who were building the tower to the sky were wealthy people who had caused the poor dwellers of the land nation trouble. “The land people are selfish beings who eat other beings from other kingdoms.” Graca had always told Zahara after recounting this tale that she had told her time and again.
Graca had severally warned all her people, including her Zahara that no one must ever leave their kingdom to explore foreign lands. She had warned that the land dwellers always came to the sea with vessels to capture any being from the kingdoms of the sea that was seen loitering on the surface of the sea. She even told them that they must always walk around in groups if ever they were to wander off beyond their territory to look for food. When Zahara had asked about her parents, Graca had told her that they had been captured by the land dwellers when out looking for food. She said that the land dwellers had seen them when they were returning, and so they had run after them to capture them. “We tried to look –for them, we even sent our warriors to look for them but they were never found.” Graca warned that Zahara should never leave their kingdom as she was the princess that would become queen after her. She was to stay and play around the palace with other children and even eat with everyone else all the time. Zahara did not like this but she knew that she had to listen to her grandmother, the queen of the great people of the southern kingdom of the sea.
So today, Zahara was happy because she was finally turning 12 years old and she was being to be introduced to the swimmers’ group. All children in the kingdom were to be renamed and submitted to the swimmer’s group as the next group of young food finders who would travel in groups beyond their territory to look for food to store in their palace store. So Zahara was happy that finally, she would be able to explore the sea beyond their kingdom and become an expert swimmer. Zahara was a curious girl, and she did not like that they had to stay in the same area all the time without seeing what was outside their kingdom. She was now ready to travel far and wide to see the being8s from other sea kingdom and take different kinds of food. She had heard that there were beautiful places far beyond their kingdom and she wanted to see it for herself.
She heard the palace choir singing and the flute players playing from the palace shrine, and she dashed forward towards the shrine smiling happily. All other children of her age had arrived and were now waiting for the priest to come to proceed with the occasion. Once the entire kingdom had gathered the priest spread her hands and the little children grew beautiful tail which would enable them to swim faster into the waves and over the white sand of the sea bed without getting hurt. The queen blessed them and asked them to be careful in all their missions away from the kingdom. She, however, warned them to never go to the surface of the sea as the evil land-dwellers would be waiting to capture and eat them.
That night Zahara did not sleep because of the excitement of being finally allowed to swim beyond the palace. She could not wait for the morning when they would leave for the first time to do their first swim far beyond and explore the areas that were safe for the time. In the morning, Graca saw off her favourite granddaughter and stood at the door to watch as she playfully moved her little tail into the horizon. It was beautiful to see her finally swim with the rest of the grown-up children who would now be the pride of the kingdom. “May the gods of the waters guide you little Zahara.” The old lady whispered as she watched Zahara disappear between the rays of light cutting across the water.
Zahara was having the time of her life and she was happy that on the first swim they had already gathered enough food and herbs. As they were returning, she saw shells lying on the bottom of the sea and moved swiftly alone to pick them. On getting to the bottom, she noticed that the shells were reflecting light from somewhere above her. On looking above her, she saw the biggest light she had ever seen and an unending blue surface. She had heard a lot about the beauty of the blue sky, and so she realized that the surface was not far from where she was. The rest had swum before her, and so she knew that if she were fast enough, she would make it to the surface and back home before the others could settle. She swang upwards, and in no time, she was at the surface. The little mermaid princess stuck her head out of the water and felt a cool breeze run between her long dark hair. As she was admiring the light and the current, a strong tide came and swept her away. The wave was too strong for her, and so she could not fight it. When she finally opened her eyes, she was lying on the sand at the shores of the sea. She felt a soft hand on her shoulders, and when she looked up, she saw an older woman. “You almost drowned young girl.” The old lady said faintly as she helped her up.
Zahara was confused by everything that was happening especially because her tail had disappeared. The air from the land nation had turned her beautiful pink tail into two legs, and now she was walking instead of swimming. “I need to go back home,” she told the old woman. “Where is your home little one?” the lady asked while covering her with a shawl. Zahara realized that she could not let anyone know where she had come from, and so she kept quiet. The lady took her to her log cabin and asked her to seat as she prepared some soup for her. “My son is a fisherman, he will be back soon with something to eat.”
Before long, she heard someone open the door, and a young man appeared carrying a basket. He seemed surprised that they had a visitor, and after greeting the young girl, he placed the basket on the table. “Today was not as good,” he said. “You won’t imagine what happened,” the young man went on. “What happened again?” the old lady asked, “we saw a mermaid and before we could capture it, the tides carried it away.” Zahara almost screamed when she heard the statement. She did not get anything else they were saying because she was scared, and after a while, she fell asleep.
She woke up at night and found herself tucked in bed, but there was something strange about her body. She could feel that scales were growing back and that she was beginning to have difficulty breathing. She moved her hand over her body and felt the scales were spreading. Perhaps she had stayed too long outside the water, and now she was beginning to turn back to her nature. This was not good because she knew that her hosts would eat her once they realized who she was.
Zahara immediately skipped out of bed and ran out of the house heading to the shore. On getting there, she plunged herself into the water and started swimming deeper into the sea. She did not know what way to follow, but she knew that she had to swim as far away from the land as she could. She suddenly heard voices from the land. “She jumped into the water,” a man was saying. Someone had seen her going into the water, and now she knew that she could not let them catch her. As she looked back, she saw boats coming towards her, and she dived deep into the vast sea. She would have to swim to anywhere despite the danger just to run from the evil land dwellers. As she swam, she remembered the words of her grandmother and tears rolled down her face. A little teary scared mermaid lost in the sea.