The next morning.
They had all already gotten to James' home.
Meanwhile, in a slightly small room in James' house. The room was prepared exceptionally pleasing. Although it was a small room, even so, its arrangements was impeccable and marvellous.
A small bed was place in the middle. Some tables and chairs were also present there, likewise some shelves with books in it, and a shabby old looking wardrobe.
A short mirror was aimed upon the wall. And in front of the short mirror was Noelle, standing in front of it, staring hardly at herself with the most dangerous stares.
Noelle's reflection on the mirror shows an adorable young lady. She had the prettiest, and finest emerald eyeballs.
Her voluptuous lips were as tender as the rainbow, and her white skin shone purely with the help of the sunlight that escaped through the widely opened window.
Noelle was already embellished in a simple knee-length white gown, probably one of Silvia's own.
She elevated her hands. Touching her waist length, refreshing black hairs with both hands as she stared intensely at herself in the mirror. She looked so beautiful.
'I can't believe this. I'm finally back to my formal self after so long. I'm a human once again. I'm no longer a lonely mermaid trapped in the sea. It has been so long since I've waited for this day to come. Oh heavens! Thank you!'
A smile manifested upon her lips. As she continued touching her face and checking her body, inspecting them.
'I can't believe my emerald green mermaid tail and fin is finally gone, and my mermaid scales too,' she thought, staring down awkwardly at her thin, white legs which matched her simple frame perfectly.
'I wonder how things are going now in the kingdom. I need to have some discussion with James. I need to find out informations from him. Now that I'm no longer a mermaid I must do the needful.'
"It's been so long," Noelle whispered to herself. Still not wanting to believe that she could become a human once again after what appeared like a decade. "I wonder what year it is."
She moved towards the bed, and sat down. The only thing she could do now was reminisce back to what caused her to become a mermaid, when originally she was born a human being.
It was quite painful remembering it, but what could she do? It has haunted her so much that everything that happened was still abundantly clear in her mind like a vision.
Noelle could remember vividly that year that she had turned into a mermaid. She was from a royal family. Infact she was a princess from a kingdom called Sunria, the biggest continent on earth amidst all the four continent there was. She had two elder brothers, their mother had died long ago from an illness, but their father was alive.
Everything was going perfectly fine until a war broke out. And an unknown mighty dragon began waging war against their once peaceful kingdom. Noelle was still quite young back then, about nine years old that year. Her nanny was the one taking care of her.
The war continued, and their castle was even also attacked. It was broken into uncountable pieces, and ruined brutally. Back then, both her elder brothers had died in the ongoing war, likewise her father.
Whilst trying to save Noelle. Her nanny got injured but managed to escape against all odds. She was severely injured. That instead of her taking care of Noelle it was even Noelle who was taking care of her alongst the way.
The nanny eventually brought her towards the sea. She instructed Noelle to walk into the sea that nothing would happen. Noelle could remember what her nanny told her back then;
"Go into the sea my dear. No one would take care of you like the sea would," her nanny said.
Although Noelle had refused, and was adamant on staying with her nanny. Eventually she agreed, as she could barely made sense of everything that was happening.
She entered the sea, and instantaneously after that, she could percept thick scales emerging her skin. Her body was changing. She attempted to leave as soon as possible but a force was constantly pulling her back. And it continued until she was fully a divine mermaid, with a rare emerald green, long mermaid tail.
And since then onwards she could no longer leave the waters. One day she even swam to shore hoping that she would turn back into her formal human self, but that didn't happen.
Then, she decided to accept her fate. And as time goes on she began to understood that her nanny did that to protect her, and she couldn't blame her. She was only alive because of her nanny's effort anyways.
Noelle would always hide away from fishermens and large ships, including huge sharks. Life under the sea wasn't really something easy as one would have thought. It was excessively tough and arduous. But be it as it may she had managed to conquer it!
…
Noelle could only wonder how things were going now. She wondered who would be ruling Sunria now, their beloved kingdom. Probably the evil dragon.
Noelle raged up. Feeling quite angry. Knowing how much her family had invested in the kingdom of Sunria, just to end up losing it to some unfortunate evil dragon.
She clenched her fists aggravatedly.
Noelle decided to calm down. Seemingly realizing that it's no use getting aggravated and aggressive now. First she shouldn't be encumbered by grieve, secondly she needed to get herself together, and find out more. About what has become of their kingdom and so on.
Unclenching her once folded fists. Noelle got up from the bed.
'I need to speak with James. He would probably know. I haven't seen him since we got back to his house at dawn. Let me check first,' she concluded inwardly.
And with that thought. She moved towards the door. She opened it slowly. Closing it back. She walked forward amidst the small passageway, that led to the small living room. Everything was just so small here, compared to the enormous castle which she formerly used to live in and compared to the vast ocean which she also formerly use to dwell in. But it doesn't matter.
Arriving at the living room. She glanced around thoroughly, and the only person her adorable eyes met with was Silvia. James sick daughter, who now appeared to be perfectly fine now, as she was busy pounding some herbs in a petite mortar and pestle on a wooden table.
Noelle glanced at Silvia not uttering a word yet. Until Silvia noticed her.
"Oh… it's you?" Silvia puzzled, "You startled me. I didn't know you were awake yet. Good morning. How was your night?" she smiled blissfully.
'She seems quite nice also. Just like her father. I guess I did the right thing by saving her with my siren song,' Noelle thought.
Smiling back at Silvia. Noelle could remember that James called her the name 'Silvia' whilst they were still somewhere in the middle of the large sea. Knowing that, Noelle spoke;
"Good morning Silvia. My night was great. How was yours?"
"Oh you know my name?" Silvia mused, "How come I don't know yours? And I don't think we've ever met before, or have we?"
"Uh… your father told me," Noelle hesitated. Not knowing exactly what to say. She didn't know that James hadn't told Silvia about her yet, so she didn't know how to respond to Silvia presently. "Um… and we haven't met before also you see…" she clarified.
"You're so young. You seem like someone of my age. You can't be one of my father's concubines, are you?" Silvia widened her eyes in awe.
"No, no. I'm not," Noelle objected hastily.
Since she had already supposedly passed out for days. So it's possible that James must've have brought a concubine home this past few days she was bedridden. This were all Silvia's thoughts.
"Then you're who…?"
"I'm a—" Noelle's sentence was halted when James came in unexpectedly, and interrupted her.
"She's your nurse, Silvia." James stated. "Silvia meet Noelle your new nurse. And Noelle as you've already known, this is my dear daughter Silvia your patient."
Nodding in correspondence to James unexpected words, "Yes. I'm your nurse Silvia. I've been treating you for the past few days. Nice to see that you've gotten better now," Noelle said, slightly nervous, aiming her hands out for an handshake.
Realization finally dawned on Silvia.
"Oh, in that case I'm sorry for being quite rude to you nurse Noelle. Please pardon my mistakes. Nice to meet you too," Silvia apologized.
Moving towards Noelle, she shooked her hand.
"Thank you for healing me. I'm overly grateful to you," Silvia smiled.
"It's nothing. You're welcome."
"Your father here has been very kind to me. You don't have to make me feel bad by apologizing," Noelle smiled back. "How're you feeling now?"
"I'm all fine thanks to you," Silvia affirmed. "I can't believe you're so young and you're already a very skilled nurse. That's so wonderful. I'll aspire to be like you."
Noelle only smiled to this.
James cleared his throat. Turning towards Noelle, "Nurse Noelle. If you could, please follow me. I have some important things to discuss with you outside."
"No problem James. I also have some important things to ask you about too. So it's okay. Let's go," Noelle agreed. And they both approached the entrance door.
Leaving only Silvia alone in the house to wonder about why Noelle just called his father who was apparently older than her his real name just now. And her father also didn't seem to mind it.
'Something seems quite off about this nurse,' she thought. Shrugging the thoughts away from her mind. She moved towards the mortar and pestle then continued pounding.