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They remembered that day very well.
The young siren, recently having left the ocean and entered the wide world of land people, had stopped to gaze at a human made structure.
It was so different from what she was used to back under the sea, made of bricks and stone instead of shells and crystal. So square instead of circular, so brown instead of blue, so dirty instead of clean.
And it was beautiful.
In that very moment, Apo knew that they wanted to be an architect.
And that dream would carry her far on land, to big cities and small towns, to rolling hills and jagged peaks, to the military, to Oakhurst, to places far from the woman she loved.
Apo sighed. Now was not the time to be lost in memories. There were mushrooms to collect and berries to pick! They had a job to do and a town to protect.
The thick woods were bountiful, a garden that would provide for the town if they knew where to look.
A brightly colored flower blooming in a bush caught her eye.
A fire lily.
All the way up here in England? How? They aren't from around here! They aren't even from Europe! They're from Africa!
They knew all that because, well, the fire lily was her flower.
And she was perfect. Beautiful, passionate, supportive. Cherri was her everything.
Apo remembered their first date so well.
It was cold out, the sun setting over the horizon as mist drifted over the streets of her small home town. The 2 had to meet in secret, as the town would not approve of this meeting.
Apo was giddy. Today, the woman of their dreams was going to meet them right here and now, how could she not?
Passionate, pretty, and beautifully chaotic, Cherri was brilliant. Apo really didn't know how she had managed to get her to agree to this date.
…or, what if she didn't? What if Cherri was just trying to be nice? Or changed her mind since agreeing? Or said yes just to get Apo to go away? Or-
"Hi!" A voice came from behind the siren and they spun around to be faced with a fire elemental in a pink dress with a gorgeous face.
"Hi.!" She replied, voice high pitched and breathy.
And Cherri smiled. And oh, Apo could not help but melt into the cold evening air at the sight of it.
They stared at the bush that remarkably contained their girlfriend's favorite flower and delicately picked the bloom from the plant.
Looking at the bush, it was covered in flowers not from around these parts.
Harsh and vibrant marigolds of a hue brighter than she'd ever seen, picturesquely perfect roses both black and white, though the black were more common, enormous snapdragons, sharp stinging nettles, a mountainous number of black eyed susans, sickly bright sword lilies, agressively purple hydrangeas, frustratingly perfect hollyhocks, along with floxglove, yarrow and wolfsbane in quantities greater than Apo had ever seen before, and certainly they were the most of any of the flowers, but they were native to this part of Britain, so that made sense.
In fact, it seemed like the fire lilies were the least common of the flowers.
The whole thing was perfectly healthy looking despite the fact that many of these flowers simply did not grow in this part of England, some not even growing in Europe at all. Yet the bush seems to have taken over this side of the river completely, having grown completely out of control! There was almost something magical to it.
Well… Apo bet the doctor could use the yarrow in his medicine. They gathered up as much as they could without touching the plants they knew to be poisonous, before descending down to the river to wash is all.
Scrubbing the plants took a while, and Apo's mind drifted off back to that day many months ago as she mindlessly cleaned her haul.
It had been a bright day. Such a shame, it is rarely sunny and of course the worst day of her life had to happen on a beautiful morning.
Tensions with the Qing dynasty over trade were growing, so of course, the military came knocking. They needed an architect. Apo was the only one in the village.
Cherri had a devastated expression on her face as the military took them away. Apo did not want to go. Apo had made a promise right there and then.
"I will come back to you. No matter what."
Liar.
You still haven't returned.
I'm stuck here.
Because you're too cowardly to be a soldier.
I don't want to be a soldier.
But you are one. So suck it up, serve your time without incident, and get home to her.
That's not fair.
Life's not fair.
Apo gritted her teeth, cleaning finished. They pulled up their plants, putting them back in their basket. Her hands had started to shimmer with scales, a thin webbing starting to stretch between her fingers as her nails sharpened. She dried her hands on her skirt as watched as they reverted back to a human form.
Foraging had been good. That was a silver lining at least.
Apo sighed, this was going to be a long 3 months of service.
The slightest bit of movement from across the river caught her eye.
Was someone out here? Apo wouldn't expect it, it was noon right now, and most of the townsfolk would be eating before thinking of exploring out in the woods.
They put down their basket, walking closer to the bank. Who was over there?
She didn't know why she did it. Maybe they were so distracted as to not notice where they were walking, maybe a part of their siren brain longed for the water, maybe they were just stupid. But Apo got too close to the river, lost her footing, slipped, and after flailing pathetically, tumbled into the water.