Once upon a time, a little mer-prince was born. His father had several wives, but his mother was his favorite, so the mer-king instantly took favor with the new prince. He named his son Luhan. Luhan the little prince, with a tail of gorgeous gold. 

Luhan had 6 brothers and 4 sisters. Each of them became good friends with Luhan as he grew up, seeming as it was hard for mer-people to not like him. The little prince grew happily, being a gentle and loving person. He had a kind heart filled with livelihood and joy. Such a perfect mer-man was the lovely little prince. Yet he had one fault.

An obsession with the land above. 

He spent many days in the library, reading the kelp books on the people that walk with legs and the things that go on above the water. Luhan was fasinated with everything that had to do with land. And that is forbidden. 

"Prince," a gentle voice whispered from next to Luhan. "You know you shouldn't be so interested. If the king found out that you're looking through these again, he would be angry." Luhan was 11 and was sitting in the corner of the library with his best friend, Xiumin. Xiumin was much older than Luhan, but still treated him with utmost respect as the prized jewel of the Sea of Japan. 

"Hush, Xiu," Luhan replied, tucking one of the books he had read countless times under his arm. "If you aren't so loud, he'll never find out." Xiumin was stilling looking around, as if waiting for the king to jump out from behind a pile of abandoned text books. 

"Come on, prince," he said. "Let's go play with the dolphins or throw rocks at the turtles like normal kids. I'm supposed to protect you, but how can I do that when I get murdered for letting you read about the above world." 

"You can't tell me that you aren't interested in it," Luhan said. "Like for example, why is it forbidden? I just want to know!" 

"Prince! Get those thoughts out of your head!" Xiumin whispered. "That's so dangerous." 

"Nevermind," Luhan sighed, taking one more book and heading for the exit. "I'm going to head home." 

"Shall I accompany you?" Xiumin asked. 

"No, I know the way," Luhan chuckled at his friend. "I'll see you at lessons tomorrow." 

"Ok, prince," Xiumin said, bowing his head in respect. Then, I swam away, heading in the direction of my castle. But when I almost reached the crossroad, I took a sharp turn right towards a small tunnel in the rocks there. It was just big enough for me to fit in and up through the crevice. There were rainbow rocks on the sides of the tunnel and they sparkled with the golden light of his tail. 

When he reached the top of the tunnel, he reached a place he had visited many times before. The water was very shallow and clear as Luhan laid on his back on the soft sand. He looked up at the bright sun and reached his hand up to touch the surface. He watched the ripples cascade around his finger as he touched the air. It was so pretty to see the light of the sun so close to his golden tail. He flicked his tail lightly, giggling as the light danced around him. 

The next second, a rock splashed into the water next to him, crashing next to his head. Luhan screamed out, bubbles floating up to the surface as he flipped over, trying to hide behind a large rock. But as he watched more rocks fall into the water around him, they didn't seem to aim towards him. Instead, they just fell into the water, creating more glorious ripples. 

Finally, the young prince got up enough courage to peek around the rock. He slowly looked up, his hair floating up to touch the surface as he noticed a small boy on the edge of the shore ahead. He was staring down at the sand, tears falling into the water in front of him. 

Luhan watched the boy with wide eyes, staring at his feet. He had never seen a human in real life before but this one definitely wasn't happy. He was crying so much and just throwing rocks into the water almost angrily. Why? What happened? 

When he wasn't paying attention to the rocks anymore, one landed directly on his tail, hitting it hard. Luhan had to resist screaming out in pain but he couldn't help flailing slightly, his tail causing a loud splash. Luhan suddenly paniced, leaping out of the water and diving down back to his castle, terrified of what would happen if the human had seen him. 

Years passed, but Luhan's obsession with the surface didn't. Every day he visited the little cove where he had seen the little human and he watched him grow. But the boy stopped coming to swim every day. And eventually he stopped swimming altogether. Luhan missed the boy he'd been watching, but he still visited the surface everyday, just in case.