mermaid sightings in Crescent Cove. How can this be?” “It seems that they were completely unaware that our
magical town existed, so they kept their distance,” explained
Tempest.
“Your sister tells us you are healers,” Celeste turned her
attention to the witches. “That you help plants grow and cast
away illness. We have never seen such magic.”
“Would you please, please show us?” interrupted Lumina
excitedly.
Her sisters blinked slowly, clearly caught off guard by the
earnest request. After a moment, Viola recovered her wits. “Do
you have an illness that needs to be cured?”
“Oh, yes, a very serious condition,” said Lumina in a whiny
voice. “For two generations, our pod has struggled to conceive.
Reed is the only merling his parents had.”
“Do you think it could be something poisoning the water?”
asked Celeste hesitantly.
At that, Zinnia held out her hand. “There are a number of
things we can test to try to determine the cause. Would you
allow me to do a magical scan of your body?”
“Will it hurt?” Lumina hurried to ask.
“No, no,” replied Zinnia sweetly. “The two of you are sisters?
Yet you look nothing like this merman. How are you from the
same pod?”
“Oh, our father married his grandfather’s sister many
moons ago,” explained Celeste.
“He came from the Syrelle pod,” Lumina said quickly. “One
of the northern pods, where merfolk have lighter hair and eyes.
The pods used to inter-marry when their numbers dwindled.” Tempest watched as her sister nodded, taking it all in. “It
seems that their parents and all the merfolk of that generation
had only female children. Reed is the first merman born in a
