A Correlation of Chaos

Thanks to everyone who has been reviewing this series! This chapter is definitely one of the weaker ones- I wasn't really sure what should happen to Bailoch and Finley after chapter five, so if you have alternate concepts, ideas, or improvements, let me know!



Bailoch had gone through all sorts of pain, but this pain was one of the sharpest and cruelest he ever felt. At the cutting strike of white pixie dust from a wand, Bailoch was transformed- not quite a human, not quite a merman. He was some sort of fish humanoid with little golden fins growing from his ankles, folded and bleeding from underneath his pants legs. His arms and torso were partially covered in amber scales that went in all of the wrong directions, and his eyes, which had been covered in coal, were now round and yellow, like a fish. He looked up and down at his appendages, wiggled his tows and fingers. He was alright; in pain, but alright.

Just as he tenderly attempted to roll up the legs of his pants, a winded female voice came closer to him. Water lapped at his feet and soaked him as he looked up from his position on the ground.

“Are you alr-” the female- Finley- stopped, tilting her head as she looked at his awkward, half-human form. Humans, according to his encyclopedia, were terrible at magic, and had forgotten it after centuries. Of course Finley wouldn’t know how to fix him. The shell-wand trembled in her delicate fingers as she stood in an awkward lurching position, as if unsure whether she should reach out for him.

“I-” when he spoke, his throat became sore, and he bit back a cry. “It hurts.”

Just as Finley began to speak, Bailoch let out a cry of pain, his head falling back to the ground again. His vision turned blurry as Finley reach towards him, before everything went black.

Delete

Bailoch awoke to something wet against his cheek. It almost felt like Clyde’s tentacles, stroking his face amidst the warm sensation of pain creeping along his body. Clyde was the one creature in the world Bailoch could always count on. He was a creature of few words, but Bailoch preferred it that way; Clyde could never insult him when he couldn’t speak.

Bailoch let out a soft chuckle as he waved his hand forward, shooing the stroking away.

“Clyde, stop-”

He opened his eyes. What stood above him was not a small, caring squid, but a furry, four-legged beast that humans tamed. It was in his encyclopedia of All Things Human, within the chapter ‘Beasts, Pets, and Domesticated Creatures’. Bailoch sat up, fearful of the little gray canine, before finally taking a look at his surroundings.

Before Bailoch sat a pair of humans, around the same age. Based on their metal bands on their fingers, he assumed them to be mates. The pair of them seemed quite displeased at the sight of Bailoch. The female, with brightly painted red lips and a short cut of blonde hair, eyed him up and down, while the male, who was balding at the top, avoiding looking at him completely. Bailoch looked down at himself, suddenly ashamed of his disheveled shirt, mud-stained pants, and the makeup surely smeared on his face. He noticed that his fins were gone, and his vision seemed smaller. Finley must have tried her luck with the wand once more.

Just at the thought of her name, Finley entered the small room, a plate of sweet-smelling small cakes in one hand, a roll of white, stretchy parchment in the other. She had changed from her luxury gown and jewelry into a thick blouse that reminded him of seal-pelt sweaters worn by merfolk of the north. Her hair had changed from shock-white to honey-brown, and her clear skin now had a spattering of little blemishes by her nose. She cast a nervous smile at the older humans before sitting beside Bailoch.

“You’re awake,” she whispered, folding her hands neatly in her lap. “Have you introduced yourself?”

Bailoch’s face turned red. Was he supposed to know these humans? It didn’t seem like they wanted to know him. He cleared his throat and looked up at the male and female, sitting up from his laying position.

“I’m Bailoch.” He looked at Finley nervously, but she just cast him a sweet smile, one he could tell was entirely fake. She was even more nervous than he was.

“So, Bailoch,” the older male began, leaning forward with his hands on his knees. “Where did you meet my daughter?”

Daughter? These must have been Finley’s parents. The fact made him all the more nervous.

“I met her at the eatery,” he began, his voice barely louder than a whisper, “near the littered hill.”

The male raised an eyebrow, and Bailoch feared he might pass out again.

“You know, dad, the Italian place me and Audrey go to all the time!” Finley folded her arms and tilted her head at her father. “You didn’t expect my boyfriend to be completely with it after passing out, right?”

Bailoch sat up straight, ignoring the pain that shot up his back as he looked at Finley. She laid her hand on his, giving him a worried look that he read as please, just go with it.

Bailoch wasn’t entirely sure what being a ‘boyfriend’ meant. In this context, however, meeting Finley’s parents, her hand on his, he concluded that it meant he was her courtier- a duty he had never even dreamt of having before. Mermaids and sirens were far to terrifying and rude to ever glance at. Courting Finley was still terrifying, but if he wished to enchant her…

This was perfect.

“Right.” The older male narrowed his eyes at Bailoch. “What does your family look like, Bailoch?”

Bailoch gulped and looked away. He didn’t want to tell such sensitive information to a stranger.

“My parents abandoned me when I was a child. The local… head of government took me in.”

The male frowned, seemingly at a loss for words.

“You aren’t from here, then?” he asked after a moment, his voice softer. “Our mayor never adopted anyone.”

Bailoch chewed his lip. “I live about an hour away.”

The male nodded. Perhaps Bailoch had proved himself. He looked at Finley, and gave her hand a little squeeze. He supposed she couldn’t hide him from her own parents if they shared this dwelling, which meant that she needed some sort of cover up while Bailoch healed. This cover up, however, was particularly nerve-wracking.

“How did you get hurt, honey?” the older female asked. “It must have been pretty bad, with you passing out and all.”

“A rude old woman pushed him down the hill of the parking lot,” Finley said in a sharp tone. “He was never able to catch his feet.”

“I see,” the woman murmured, nodding. “Well, your dad and I have to get to the clinic. Will you be okay for a few hours…?” she trailed off, eyeing Bailoch suspiciously.

“Please mom. Bailoch can’t even stand on his own two feet.” Finley rolled her eyes.

“Alright. Well, there’s potato soup in the fridge, and I think there’s some ibuprofen left if he needs it…” The woman walked forward and pressed a kiss to Finley’s hair. “Both of you, be good.”

The older humans left, shutting the door behind them. Finley collapsed back on the sofa.

“That was horrifying,” she groaned, running her hands down her face. “Are you okay?”

“A bit nervous,” he nodded. He then pointed at the plate sitting on the table in front of them. “May I have a small cake?”

“A cookie, you mean?” Finley snorted and reached to grab one before handing it to him. “You must be hungry, after…” She trailed off, as if unsure he would be okay reliving the information. He simply nodded as he chewed on the sweet, crumbling treat.

“I was hoping we could start looking for Hermit today, but if you’re hurt…” She sighed, running a hand through her hair. “My magic wore off an hour ago, which is when I turned you fully human. You have until one a.m., then…”

“I’ll go back to being a merman.” He swallowed his food and leaned back, looking at her. “You couldn’t just change me back again, could you?”

Finley looked away, and he wondered if it was too much to ask. Perhaps magic drained something from a simpler being like her. Did it exhaust her? Make her angry? Or would the wand itself run out of magic without its owner?

Finley finally looked up.

“Hermit may have threatened me.” She looked at him, waiting for a response. Unfortunately, he didn’t have one.

“What…” he gulped. “What did she say?”

“Apparently, when she gets her wand back, she’ll turn me into a frog.” She grumbled and folded her arms. “I’m not entirely sure if I believe it.”

“Did she say anything about me?”

“I’m not sure- but I know whatever she does to you won’t be good.”

He frowned at looked at the ground. Despite all of the pain and tiredness he felt in the human realm… he enjoyed it. He enjoyed that everyone looked simple. There was no special use of magic or power that allowed others to be outcasts. They were all weak or dumb, in their own way. Bailoch had believed for a while he was the only one with such traits; now he was learning he was wrong.

He needed to enchant Finley quickly so he could become human, too.

“There must be some sort of way to repel her fairy magic,” he finally decided, looking at Finley. “Do you have any sort of tomes in that genre?”

“I don’t have any tomes on fairy magic,” she said, chuckling at his vocabulary. Perhaps he was a bit dumber than her, after all. “But there is a library about an hour from here.”

“Do you think…” he gulped and looked the female in the eyes. “Do you think I can stay here, Finley?”

“I don’t know,” she murmured. She looked him up and down before standing up and heading for the door. “But I know you aren’t going out in public looking like that.”