Last time on Mermaid Bachelorette, Zissy and Skye buried the hatchet – and Ursula and Amira got closer! With another elimination on the horizon, who will stay and who will go?
Today was another round of speed-dating, although in truth, Shiro would not have called it that. They each had two hours with Amira this time, which was ample time for a short date. He was happy to see her when they met at the location he’d picked, a small club in Brindleton Bay.
“I’ve been here before – it has a pool, and I thought you might like the atmosphere.”

Amira smiled at him. “It’s lovely.”
She meant it, too. Outside, cherry blossomed, and she could hear the water lapping against the sides of the pool. She loved the openness of the room, too.

“So…Amira.” Shiro’s voice was soft. “Are you…nervous at all?”
“Yes.” Amira looked down. “I know myself well enough to know that whoever I end up with, I want to end up with. But all of you…all of the contestants are so nice.” She sighed. “I could genuinely see myself dating any of you, and this competition feels like I’m dating several people at once. But I do have to choose in the end.”
“Well, for what it’s worth, you always seem to follow your heart. And you’ve been inspiring me to do the same, so I don’t think you can make a wrong choice here.” He gave her a look as soft as his words. “I hope that the time we spend together will be happy, no matter what happens.”

The gentle piano behind them seemed to add a lilt to his words, and Amira felt herself relax a little. He was right – she was, after all, here to find the person best suited to her.

Her next date was Ursula, who was waiting for her outside a museum of some sort. She’d been told it was a surprise, and as they headed inside, she gasped.



Inside, it was wall-to-wall movie memorabilia. It was breathtaking.
“Isn’t this amazing?” Ursula led her over to a vintage poster, framed and displayed with pride. “All this stuff is such a treasure trove, I thought you’d like to have a look around.”
“It’s amazing!” She almost felt like jumping up and down with joy.

“Uh huh, check it out. I mean, this guy is pretty popular nowadays, but look at him then! Regular Clark Gable.” Ursula grinned. “And believe it or not, that pretty young thing is Colleen Gardner. You know, the one they want to play the Queen of England.”

“This place is beautiful, Ursula!” She marvelled as she looked around, taking everything in. “I’ve never been here in my life.” The grateful look in her eyes caused Ursula to flush, and look down at her shoes.

“It’s no biggie. Just enjoy it while you can, alright, princess?”
Amira blushed at that, and nodded.
After her thoroughly enjoyable trip around the museum with Ursula, where she found costumes she recognised from half a dozen movies, she made her way to the Von Haunt estate gardens, which was actually her idea.
“Amira!” Zissy squealed, thrilled to be taken on a date to such a beautiful and historical spot. “Oh, my gosh. The gardens here are just amazing! Have you seen how the lavender’s been planted? I mean, oh my goodness, and it’s so romantic too!” She seemed to almost be bursting with excitement. “How did you manage to get entry?”

“Well, I think that the producer might have had a hand in that,” she confessed. “I said I wanted to take you here, and they said they’d see if filming would be okay with the house management.”
“Oh!” Zissy looked overjoyed. “This is amazing!” She looked around. “Do you know the story of Lady Mimsy? I mean, of course you do, but…”
“Oh yes!” Amira almost swooned herself. “It’s so tragic, but they say that she and her husband still haunt this place to this day. If you see them, it’s supposed to be tremendously lucky if you’re with your partner. Imagine, a love so strong!”

They both laughed, blushing, as the lily flowers drifted on the water.

Once her date with Zissy had concluded, it was time to meet up with Skye. To her surprise, Skye had picked an old-fashioned library and seemed nervous when they sat down together.
“Well, here we are.” Skye laughed a little nervously. “This used to be where me and my friends did photoshoots as teenagers.”
“Photoshoots?”
“Yeah, we had this small cosplay group. I was the Yennefer, and we had a Ciri, a Geralt, and even a Triss. We used to dress up and come here for our photoshoots because it had stained glass windows.” Skye blushed.

“You used to come here in costume?”
“Yeah, we even went to GeekCon a few times. I always wanted to be an actress, but back then I guess it was more about our love of the games. We met through GeekCon when we were pretty young. I mean, I was cosplaying Yen, and Anna – that was our Triss – wanted a photo with me. We still keep in touch, but…this was always a special place to us.”

“That sounds…amazing.” Amira’s eyes shone. “You actually have a Yennefer costume?”
“I mean, it’s been sitting in a box for ages.” Skye laughed awkwardly. “But yeah, I do.”
Given how archaic the library looked, she could see why it had drawn Skye in the first place. It really did look like it was straight out of a fantasy book, with its balconies full of bookshelves and its stained glass windows.

“Thank you for bringing me here, Skye.” She smiled warmly at her, almost imagining a young teenager with dark hair wandering along the floors of the library.
“Come on, Amira!” Scorpius cheered, as he skated forward. “You can do it!”

“No I can’t!” Amira shrieked, wobbling on the skates. In the water, she would have been at ease with going fast, but wheels on your feet? Eep!

Once they’d finished skating (and falling, on Amira’s part) they headed over to sit down at one of the little tables.
“Well, that may be the first and last time I ever do that!” Amira laughed.
“I’m glad you tried it, though,” Scorpius said, beaming. “Trying new things is always so exhilarating.”

“That is one thing I like about you, Scorpius. You’ve got such an open attitude to life. It’s deeply refreshing.” Amira smiled at him. “I don’t think I’d ever have tried that on my own.”
“I’m glad to have been part of that new experience for you. I’ve got a friend who’s on a roller derby team, although that’s a bit more than regular skating!” He chuckled. “But I’ve enjoyed skating before, and I thought you might at least enjoy trying it.”
“I’m happier in the water, honestly!” she confessed, and they both laughed.

What a day! With our sweet siren swayed from all sides, who will be her buried treasure? And who will need to find another fish in the sea? Tune in next time to find out!
(Shiro belongs to 15aewar, Ursula belongs to VanPelt81, Skye belongs to Irishsong, Zissy belongs to marryacheesecake, and Scorpius belongs to INFINILoki! And as always, Amira belongs to me!)