The youngest sister swam up a broad river, going to the banks to see the green hills and vines. Yesterday, she discovered a big, white castle that stood tall behind the deep green trees that went up the hill leading towards the castle. She swam above the water slightly, carefully peaking her head out, making sure she was undiscoverable by any land creature. The castle she had found was the one her eldest sister had told them about during her first visit. She was the only one who got to see the palace, as the other sisters all swam in different areas of the large land. 

She swam behind the auburn rocks that were dampened by the waves overnight. She peaked behind them to see the humans having their own sort of celebration on the sandy shores. Humans, big and small, running about, dancing about, eating and talking amongst themselves, was something the young mermaid had not seen much of. 

She heard faint laughter behind her and turned her head only to see young human children sporting about in the water, seemingly wanting to play with her, thinking she was one of them. When she fully turned herself around, she smiled at the little ones, immediately capturing their tiny hearts with her beauty. When the littlest one swam closer towards her to pull her in to their game, she backed up towards the rocks behind her, already anticipating his reaction. 

Surely enough, when the little one went to grab her leg as they did in their silly little game, he felt the rough sensation of scales in contrast to the smooth skin of one's leg. The child was sent into panic, screaming to their friends that the girl was anything but normal, making them all flee the calm sea. The young girl giggled to herself and turned back to the rocks to get another peak. 

As she quietly spied on the people, a big, black and white beast ran towards the water where she was. The beast she saw was only but a dog, however, the mermaid had no idea, for she had never seen one before. She had only heard of them from her third eldest sister, but she hadn't described dogs to be as terrifying as this one was. The beast barked and barked and it frightened the girl terribly, so she dived deep back into the sea before the beast could attack.

When she was sure the beast had gone back to its humans, she swam to a different part of the beach to see a line of human men walking aboard a ship. She heard a hysterical cry from a young child and looked to her right to see a young human girl hugging an older girl, wailing, not wanting to let go. 

"Unnie!" The child wailed. "You cannot leave me! You have to stay!"

The young mermaid eyes widened at the hysterics, never seeing a human child in so much despair. The girl noticed how wet the child's eyes had made her face and brought her own hand to her face, feeling for the same sensation.

"Seohyunnie, I will only be gone for a week," The older girl replied. "Unnie has to go on one last journey on the sea before I am home for good, I promise." She wiped the child's tears and hugged her tighter one last time before setting her down. 

She looked at her little twin sisters and saluted to them, knowing they were not the biggest fans of hugging. She then turned towards her mother and hugged her tightly, "Maybe you can make that announcement while I'm gone so there will be a crowd of suitors when I return." She joked, making her mother laugh.

The queen pulled back and squeezed her shoulder, "I would love to and you know that I would. But I will wait," She looked toward the ship where the men were patiently waiting for the girl to climb aboard. "Stay safe, okay dear?" 

The girl nodded and made her way aboard the ship. She turned around, noticing a missing passenger