It was the night before Yoona was due to leave for SM, having just finished packing up all of her things she looked around her now bare room wondering what the following day would bring. Slowly her lids grew heavy, and soon she had curled up fast asleep with the pendant getting tangled in her hair.

As it grew closer to midnight everything started to fall still, as if waiting. An eerie silence was broke when the clock chimed 12, and Yoona found herself slipping into a dream...

When the dream came into focus, Yoona found herself standing next to the rock-pool where she had originally found the pendant. Turning out to look across oceans surface, she spotted something sparkly moving close to the surface of the water.  Watching carefully, Yoona noticed that whatever it was, it was coming towards her. Crouching near the water, she watched it swim closer then cut off towards the right. Turning to see where it went, Yoona was shocked to see a beautiful girl with flowing blonde hair sitting on the rocks. Walking towards her, she heard the girl whisper,

“Come to the beach!”

With that she turned and jumped back into the water creating a huge splash. Just as the water hit, Yoona immediately woke up. Untangling the pendant as she walked to the window and seeing the same sparkly object from her dream flowing through the crystal waters she turned to grab her jacket and headed down to the beach.

Once down at the shore Yoona walked along to the rock-pool were she saw the sparkly object twist and turn under the surface of the water just as it had in her dream. It followed the same path and as before, shot off to the right before she could see what it was. Turning to see where it went Yoona saw the same beautiful girl from her dream, only she wasn’t exactly a girl. From the waist up she saw a slender girl with long blonde hair and a pretty pink top on, but from the waist down... instead of seeing two legs like she had expected, Yoona saw a rose gold tail glittering in the reflection of the moonlight.

Shocked, Yoona stood staring at the girl wondering if she was still asleep. The girl smiled and gestured her to come closer. Carefully making her way around to the rocks she walked until she was standing right in-front of her. Bowing her head and still smiling the girl spoke with a graceful if slightly icy voice,

“Thank you for coming, I knew if anyone could help me it was you.”

Curious to what was going on, Yoona took a step closer to the rocks and asked,

“What is your name?”

The girls paused for a moment then laughed saying,

“Oops sorry I meant to say, I’m Jessica. It’s very nice to meet you Yoona!”

Dumbfounded Yoona took a step back again stuttering,

“How do you know my name?”

Jessica blushed and quickly replied,

“Ah maybe I should explain, do you remember the figure who came to you down in the cove? That’s my little sister Krystal.”

Tilting her head to one side Yoona looked up at Jessica, now seeing the resemblance she nodded slightly though couldn’t believe the age difference was a large as implied. After the information had started to be processed, she straightened up again and inquired,

“So Jessica, why have you asked me to come down here?”

She saw a sad look in Jessica’s eyes as she answered her with a new question,

“When you told your dad that you had been accepted by SM, was he happy for you to go?”

Thinking back to the evening the e-mail came in, her dad had been happier than she was hugging her tightly and helping her to pack up her things while telling her how proud he was of her. Smiling at the memory Yoona looked up again to answer but Jessica had already sussed it out from her reaction, so she continued,

“Well it’s good that he supports you.” After pausing for a moment she asked,

“Did you notice that I was the girl sitting next to you at the auditions?”

Yoona stared blankly at her as if asking how that was possible, trying not to laugh Jessica explained,

“I didn’t have a tail then. My dad... he’s a protector of the sea and he didn’t want me living on dry land because he thinks all land striders are the reason the sea suffers, so he came up with a way to make it impossible for me to do so, hence tail.”

Watching her playfully swish the tail from side to side Yoona asked,

“So... you made it through the auditions too?”

Looking up from her tail Jessica nodded and the sad look in her eyes returned. Yoona stood feeling helpless and then realized that it was never did explain why she had been called down.  Before she could re-ask her why, Jessica began explaining,

“I asked you to come down because the only way I can go to train as an SM artist is if I find my mum’s ice blue Topaz ring, she gave it to me on my 18^th and said it would protect me. I have no chance of finding it myself because the only thing that can find where my dad has hidden is its sister pendant...”

Befuddled Yoona stared blankly at Jessica. Finding her confusion rather cute, Jessica gracefully gestured to the pendant around Yoona’s neck. Now realizing what she meant, Yoona nodded and just like in her dream Jessica turned and jumped into the water creating a huge splash. The wave hit, yet Yoona remained bone dry. Smiling to herself she thought,

“Well at least Krystal was telling the truth about the benefits.”

Walking around behind the rocks to see where Jessica had gone, she saw her sitting on a submerged rock smiling, in a playful tone Jessica asked,

“So what do you say Yoona, will you help your unnie out?”

Yoona was a little surprised to hear her say unnie but she smiled and nodded. Jessica gestured her to follow her, then turned to swim out into open water. Yoona carefully followed her out and taking Jessica’s hand they dove down to the sea floor. Amazed that she was able to breathe just as Krystal said she would, Yoona walked over to meet Jessica. Looking over the edge of the cliff, Yoona stood dumbfounded for before her eyes was a huge city.

Spotting a peculiar blue light coming from the back of the city, Yoona tapped Jessica on the shoulder to point it out to her. Making their way round the outside of the city so as not to be spotted by the guards, they found the source of the blue light was a window that someone had tried to hide under the sand. Clearing the window the ring could be seen in a glass box that was sitting on a pedestal in the centre of the room. Seeing no doors that could be used to gain entry even from within the city, Jessica looked as if she was ready to give up hope.  As Yoona went to stand up and comfort her she pricked her hand on something sharp hidden in the sand, it was an indented keyhole that was the same shape as her pendant. Taking it off and placing it on the indent the window lifted open.

Swiftly turning, Jessica looked to see what the strange creak was and was elated to see the window had opened. While Yoona put the pendant back on Jessica swam into the room and collected the box. Hearing an alarm go off, she grabbed Yoona’s hand and they quickly made their way back up to the shore. After pulling Jessica onto the beach, Yoona used a nearby shell to trick the lock. 5 minutes and several dorky faces later, the box popped open and she handed it to Jessica.

Placing the ring on, an icy blue glow shone from the ring and grew so bright that Yoona had to look away. When the light dimmed Yoona turned back to see Jessica sitting in a beautiful pink dress happily wiggling her toes. Laughing Yoona helped her to stand up, after a few stumbles Jessica found her balance and was able to walk by herself. Slowly letting go of Jessica’s hand, Yoona smiled.

“There’s a few hours left before we have to head for SM, do you want to come up and have some tea?”

Nodding Jessica followed Yoona up to her house wondering what the next few days would bring for her. As she reached the door Jessica took one last look at the ocean and smiled, though sad to leave she was happy to be going to train under SM.

Standing on the beach looking up at her big sister, Krystal said a silent farewell. She knew her sister would go onto become an amazing artist, and that she had made a good friend in Yoona. Taking one last look she turned and walked back into the waters hoping that one day, she might have the same opportunity...