Graddock Elston examined his countenance in the mirror on his bedroom wall—his disgrace evident on every wrinkle on his face. The gentle rocking of the floor reminded him he stood on the second deck of his ship, The Bonhomie. He had set sail in the morning with no particular destination in mind.

Graddock dropped his gaze. He had let everyone down, especially her, the object of his desire. Valencia Arkenson was the smartest, bravest, and most gorgeous woman in all of Kingdom. She also happened to be one of the five queens of this world, and therefore out of his reach. Why had he ever thought he could have been a suitable suitor to a monarch of this land, known as Kingdom?

Ironically, he and Valencia had started as enemies. Graddock was a captain in Kingdom’s army when Valencia and her sisters overthrew the corrupt king. He had switched allegiances in the current queen’s battle for the crown and had assisted their efforts to ascend to the throne. When the sisters became queens, Valencia had chosen him as her companion for her adventures.

The two of them had talked of their affection for each other, and she had gone so far as to mention marriage. Every time Valencia had spoken of matrimony, Graddock shrank at the idea of marrying a queen of Kingdom. The mere thought of it made him feel lost at sea, but his anchor continued to be his love for Valencia. Yet try as he might, Graddock couldn’t think of himself as a prince. His reluctance to ascend to the role brought about his reticence to engage with her as a woman. 

Graddock returned his attention to the mirror and remembered their last private conversation. He spoke aloud the sentence, still accurate, when she questioned his passion. “You have my heart, fair Valencia. No other.”

Valencia had trembled. “Then why do you not show it? Hold me close, Graddock. Show your tender emotions to me. Where is your passion? Why not hold me with force? Why not press your lips hard to mine? Why limit yourself?”

“Because you are…”

“I am what? Do not stop now.”

Graddock had clasped his hands together. “You are a queen of Kingdom. Worthy of respect, honor, and praise. I adore you above all things because you are above all things.”

Valencia had frowned. “I am queen, but I am also a woman. I want you to think of me as a woman when we make love. I desire a fiery, not a brotherly, embrace from you.”

The two of them had stood facing each other, wordlessly for a moment. Graddock had taken a deep breath. “Then, perhaps, I am not suited to be your lover.”

Valencia’s lip had trembled. “My intuition tells me that you have it in you, Graddock. You have bottled your passion for some reason unknown to me.”

Back on the ship, Graddock reflected on her words, fully understanding her needs. But to become royalty! The people would never accept him, always thinking of him as a swindler and a venal ruffian who lowered himself next to criminals, subservient to a false king. The man he was before he met Valencia.

Graddock turned around and left his room. He climbed the ladder to the deck of The Bonhomie—a compact schooner with space enough to comfortably carry two people. Valencia adored The Bonhomie. The craft was more suited for commoners, not for royalty, yet Valencia loved the vessel for its no-frills practicality. She once told him her castle pleased her, yet the simple possessions of life brought her true joy.

Graddock adjusted the rudder to ensure it remained in place. As he checked on it, the boat’s undercarriage pounded against an object, breaking him from his routine. Surprised, he walked to the stairs and swayed on his feet, observing the deck below. Again, something beat on the floor of his floating home. The noise sounded as if someone was…knocking?

The Bonhomie sailed along the deep river—too deep for someone to be underneath the hull. Graddock marched to the side railing and stared down, but he didn’t spy anything caught on the side of the vessel. As he peered deep into the water, a woman’s face floated up from its depths. She had a button nose and sparkling eyes. Graddock gaped. This poor soul must have been caught in his netting and was drowning.

Graddock made to jump overboard when the figure swam to the surface of the river. He spied the lower portions of the maiden’s body and observed the tail of a fish.

A mermaid! Mermaids were rare in Kingdom, but Graddock had spoken with one once in his days as a soldier. The merspecies fascinated him, and he longed to hail this one.

The mermaid’s head emerged from the river. All creatures of her species are enchanting even if beauty eluded them. This one had wide, green eyes and heart-shaped lips. As with all of her kind, her soft, black hair instantly dried when it left the water. “Will you allow me to board?”

Graddock leaned far over the railing. “What is it you want?”

“A conversation.”

What could a simple mermaid want with him? She was a long way from any known underwater settlement. Graddock thought of witches, and he wondered if an evil spellcaster had disguised herself as the creature below him. “Why should I trust you?”

“Oh, you certainly should not until we have our discussion. You will trust me then.”

Her forthright answer convinced him she meant no harm. Graddock extended an oar down to her. “Very well, come aboard.”

“Oh, no. Look to the bottom of your boat.” Her tail pointed to the underside of the Bonhomie. “You will find a hatch there. Open it, and I will surface through it.”

The sailor’s jaw clenched. “To create a hatch, you must be proficient in magic. How can I trust you are not a witch?”

“If I were a witch, I could sink your little transport without a second thought,” she replied. “And as to your next question, which you have yet to ask, no water will seep in through the hatch. You have my promise.”

A promise was a bond of honor. Although Graddock was nervous, for evil creatures made false promises every day, he descended to the hull. There, he found a handle affixed to the floor. He grabbed it and pulled, readying himself in case the river began to pour inside. To his surprise, the water remained level with the bottom of the boat. The mermaid had been true to her word.

A gurgle from below, and then the aquatic woman’s head popped up. She squeezed her shoulders through the opening and rested her arms on the floor. Slim and small for her species, she fit comfortably through the hole. Her hair, dry and straight and black as midnight, reached her shoulders and fanned out in a triangle. Though most of her species’ eyes bulged, this one’s eyes were recessed on either side of a pert nose. She looked human for one of her kind, but some of the merspecies resembled humans due to intermarriage.

She spread her webbed fingers on the deck. “Thank you. My name is Rhapsody.”

Graddock crouched down. “I am Graddock. What tidings do you bring me today?”

“Only this. You are a lonely man.”

Taken aback by the proclamation, he leaned away from her. He had expected a message from the queens, a declaration he had trespassed, or a foretelling of a future. He never imagined she would share a private message. “Why tell me this?”

“Because lonesome men need friends,” she replied. “Lonely men, when left to themselves, often make poor choices.”

Graddock sat down from his crouching state. “Some of the wisest and most profound men in the world have lived alone.”

Rhapsody drummed her webbed fingers on the floor. “Being solitary is not being lonely. Withdrawal occurs for a multitude of reasons. What is one man’s retreat and respite is another man’s depression and downfall.”

“And is loneliness exclusive to human males?”

The mermaid’s fingers continued their tapping on the floor. “No. Yet the fruit born from reclusive males may cause the most suffering and pain.”

“And you wish to prevent me from hurting others?”

“I am but a bandage to your wound.” Her tail undulated in the water. “The real remedy lies elsewhere.”

Graddock’s attention rose to the deck of his schooner. “Daughter of the sea, I must attend to my ship. I thank you for your concern, but I am in good health.”

“You are twice wrong. The ship will steer itself safely while you speak to me. And I sense you are extremely troubled.” Like those of her species, Rhapsody didn’t blink but kept her eyes locked on Graddock as she spoke.

“And what are you to do about it?” asked Graddock.

“Help you find what you seek.” Rhapsody spread her hands. “Graddock, your part in current events is not minor. Kingdom is in distress and needs its beloved Valencia. You must rescue her. Going off to become a fisherman is a noble endeavor for another time.”

“Do you read minds too?”

Rhapsody ran her hands down the sides of her body. “You see a mermaid, but this is what I was, not who I am.”

Graddock inched away. “And what are you?”

“A friend.”

“We hardly know each other.”

His companion rested her head on her webbed hand. “Then let us chat and get acquainted. The ship steers itself, and you are quite alone. ’Tis a pleasant way to pass the time.”

Graddock rubbed his chin. “I have never heard of a friendship that starts with two trying to achieve it.”

“They all start in such a way, but no one realizes it,” said Rhapsody.

The mermaid then advised him of fishing locations in Bremen where the catch was bountiful. Graddock thanked her and told her of his serenity while fishing. She revealed tips about marine life to benefit his haul. What started as persiflage led to new topics more and more intimate until two hours had passed.

At a pause in the conversation, the mermaid pushed away from the side of the hatch. “I must be off now.”

Graddock debated asking her to stay with him on the ship. Rhapsody interested him, and they were about to discuss Valencia. He bit his lip and avoided revealing his disappointment. “I suppose you must. Good-bye, then?”

Rhapsody retracted her elbows into the opening of the hatch. “Farewell.”

The mermaid submerged through the portal and the door shut behind her on its own. The hatch vanished as if it never existed. Graddock placed his hand on the hull to reassure himself the hole had disappeared.

Graddock returned to steering the boat. Later, he set out his line, caught a purple pike, cooked it for lunch, and then sailed the rest of the day. 

As night approached, he anchored the craft near a southern bridge and went to lie down on the deck to watch the stars when a knock resounded from the hull again, summoning him.

The captain of the Bonhomie hurried downstairs to his newfound companion. He put his hand on the handle then paused. “Is it you, tiny wave-rider?”

“’Tis.”

He opened the hatch, the water fairy surfaced, and she rested her arm on the deck, cupping her head in her palm. “Nighttime is when people are the loneliest. I thought you might want company.”

“I do not require it.”

“But you welcome it?”

Graddock shrugged.

“I have brought you a crab to eat.” She passed him the dead crustacean.

The sailor accepted it with gratitude. “You took the life of a crab? You, a protectrix of the river?”

“I did not kill it. The crab was freshly dead when I found it,” Rhapsody replied. “My time grows short, Graddock. As does yours.”

“Time means nothing to me.”

The mermaid pointed at her gift. “But hunger does, surely. Go, retrieve a pot and fill it with water. Return here with vegetables to accompany the crab.”

Graddock followed her commands and returned with the crab’s shell cracked. As he set the pot down, the container began to radiate heat. She then instructed, “Add the crab meat and the vegetables.” 

Graddock separated the first crab leg from its body. “Tell me, what is your purpose here? Why plague me? Thousands of lonely men inhabit Kingdom. Are you seeking someone to court you?”

The mermaid laughed, resounding with the sound of tinkling bells. “No. My life is over.”

With another crack, Graddock pulled off the second leg. “Over? Are you a ghost?”

“More spirit than ghost, although a benign spirit.” Rhapsody ran a hand through her hair. “Like you, I was lonely when I was alive, although a man courted me.”

Graddock, finished with the legs, went to work on the body of the crustacean. “Tell me your story.”

“I would like to, but my visits are for your benefit, not mine.”

“But how will I get to know you if you will not share your past?”

Rhapsody’s nose twitched mischievously. “And would you like to get to know me?”

Graddock pushed aside a net to sit down. “If we are to be traveling companions, yes.”

“Indeed.” Rhapsody described her past life as a young mermaid. She had rescued a prince and had traded her life and security for human legs. The prince had attributed his rescue to another woman, ending with the mermaid sacrificing her life for his happiness. Graddock listened and swallowed down a lump in his throat.

The spirit finished with a sullen expression on her face. “I have been adopted into the daughters of the air to perform good deeds. I may appear in many forms, but I enjoy this form the most.”

Graddock bowed his head. “I am deeply moved by your tale.”

Rhapsody spread out her hand on the deck. “I knew you would be, for you are a man of character. Now that I have told you my tale, you must recount your recent exploits. You were about to tell me how you Traveled with Queen Valencia to another world.”

Graddock, figuring his colleague had shared her life story with him, told the tale to Rhapsody, who listened with interest. She regarded him throughout the entire discourse. When he reached the part where he and Valencia had parted, he halted. While the mermaid listened in rapt attention, she didn’t pose any questions. Graddock asked, “Why do I suspect you already know this story?”

“Why did you return to Kingdom?” Rhapsody lowered her head but eyed Graddock through her parted hair.

He traced his finger over a knothole in a plank making up the hull, watching his meal boil. “I made a mistake, and Queen Valencia sent me home. I deserved it.”

“You asked to go home.”

Graddock flushed. “If you know what happened, then why request I tell it?”

The other rubbed her index knuckle under her chin. “I learned only the events. Not your feelings. Do you want to return to her?”

Graddock cut carrots with his knife. “I am ashamed, embarrassed, and humiliated.”

“But do you want to return?”

He inhaled through his nose. “It is not a question of what I want but of what is right.”

“Often people justify themselves by doing ‘what is right,’” said the mermaid. “An honorable gesture, I grant you, but did you want to leave her?”

Graddock added the carrots to the stew. “No. She is the desire of my heart.”

Rhapsody smiled. “Then why are you here? She loves you as well.”

Graddock used the hilt of his knife to stir his dinner. “I do not deserve her.”

“Oh, Graddock—”

“No, you listen to me.” Graddock shook the dagger’s hilt at the mermaid. “If we continue down this impossible path, our relationship will end with her ruin. I want nothing else but to marry her. But if I do, I will become a prince. Once I was accused of treason. Many in Kingdom still suspect me. No one will ever respect me as a ruler.” He returned to stirring the stew.

Rhapsody put her hand to her chest. “Valencia’s feelings are more important.”

Graddock stopped stirring and regarded his marine companion. “She does not know everything about me. I want to be her husband, but I hesitate to renounce my freedom. I enjoy a visit to the Thirsty Wench every now and again, and while I am there, I partake in a game of darts, or better yet, a round of cards. I am not on my best behavior at the card table. Valencia has no idea how many times I have cheated others.”

“And no prince has ever had that habit.” The mermaid rolled her eyes. “I have heard the barmaids in the Thirsty Wench wear scandalous outfits.”

Graddock waved a hand. “I care little for them. Valencia is the most beautiful of all. You continue to misunderstand me. I am no royal.”

Rhapsody set her head on her open palm. “Are you sure?”

“A prince is an example to the people.” Graddock swirled the meal, steam rising from the stew. “When Valencia and I go on quests, we occasionally cross a person with the knowledge we seek. If he rebuffs us, I return without her and aggressively negotiate—with my muscles not words. This is the man I am.”

His companion’s eyes glinted in the lantern light. “A rogue.”

“Indeed. Valencia should marry a prince, not a man like me,” replied Graddock.

The mermaid splayed her web hands on the floor, steadying herself. “Graddock, you speak true. I perceive many things about you: your anger, your swindling, your low associations. Your behavior is not honorable except in one matter—Valencia. You cherish her and treat her better than any other man.”

“Other suitors exist in Kingdom. More deserving suitors.” Graddock lowered his head.

“Dear Graddock, you may not be the prince Valencia deserves, but you are the prince she desires,” declared Rhapsody.

Graddock blushed and changed the subject. “My sea-bound friend, ’tis a shame the object of your desire did not know how kind and deserving you were of his love. Or how you suffered when his attention was elsewhere.” 

“Yes, Graddock,” Rhapsody said while sinking. “If only…”

She was gone, and the hatch vanished.

The following morning, he awoke and descended to the hull. He toed the spot where Rhapsody had created the opening twice before. Were the conversations with the mermaid a dream? Perhaps, in his grief, he had imagined the ghost?

While trying to decide, Graddock noticed he had failed to rinse the dish from his meal. Rhapsody, a ghost? If so, where had he obtained the crab?

During sunrise, he cooked the rest of the crustacean for lunch and diced it into a delicious soup. After breakfast, he prepared for his voyage from the river into the sea. He adjusted the sails for the day’s journey while reflecting on the story his petite visitor had confided in him last night. Why hadn’t the prince realized the loving partner he had instead of the other? How could he let her make such a sacrifice?

The story stuck in his mind as he neared the mouth of the river. The water was rougher in these parts, yet the Bonhomie stayed its course without his full attention. He assumed the hand of the tragic water fairy guided his ship—her attention to his transport allowed him to think of their conversations and her past life.

Graddock resolved not to emulate the prince in her tale. If the mermaid had rescued him, he would have devoted his life to her.

The sailor spent most of the day fishing, but luck was not on his side. He had caught a small perch, cleaned and cooked it, and had finished eating when a noise interrupted him. A sharp rapping on the underside of the Bonhomie made him rapidly dispose of his meal. The knocking was an urgent tapping—a staccato not to be ignored.

Roger hurried to the hull and opened the magic hatch. “My friend, what is the matter?”

The small maiden-of-the-sea surfaced. “Now is the hour, Graddock. Everything is before you.”

“What do you mean?”

“She is in danger. You must go to her.”

Graddock intuited the subject of Rhapsody’s concern. “Valencia! Where is she?”

“You cannot save her as the man you were before you met me.” Rhapsody’s mouth trembled. “Do you understand, Graddock? You must go to her, not as a fisherman, a subject of Kingdom, or a guard. You must be her lover. She will soon breathe her last.”

Graddock was beside himself with worry. Valencia, whom he loved above all things, needed him. “Tell me how to get to her!”

“The white rabbit, Graddock,” she replied. “He serves Alice’s family. He will guide you.”

Rhapsody submerged while he shouted to her to explain what she meant about a rabbit. The hatch closed and vanished, and Graddock ran his fingers through his hair. He pounded on the floor, begging her to come back. As he did, the ground lurched, throwing him off balance. His vessel had struck something, and he stood and climbed topside to assess the situation.

He emerged to discover his boat had run aground on the eastern shore and remained wedged on rocks and sand. He leaned over the port side and examined the damage. Severe. “Grok’s Blood!” he screamed. “How do I get back to the castle to tell the queens now?”

Out of the corner of his eye, he spotted a flash of white fur.

Standing on its hind feet was an ordinary white rabbit, normal in all aspects except it wore a waistcoat. The hare turned, leaped two times, and jumped down a hole. The opening was not burrow-sized but large enough to fit a man.

Graddock swung over the side of the Bonhomie and ran to the shaft. He paused for a moment, staring down into what seemed to be a pit with no bottom. Thinking of Valencia, he jumped.