The sun was bright. Extremely, cheerfully, painfully bright. The azure sea lapped against the picturesque sandy beach, complete with palm trees and brightly colored flowers that dotted the sandy hill until it reached its rocky outcropping at the top of the beach, far beyond where even the highest tides could shift the sand. There, more solid plants grew, but just as bright and abundant as what was on the beach itself. The pale blue sky stretched ever onwards above, dotted here and there with lacey white clouds, dancing high on the wind that was but a gentle breeze that tilted the leaves and petals of the flora on and around the beach.

Considering the storm that had finished not six hours earlier, there wasn't the slightest hint of it now. True, a few logs had been washed up on shore, some broken branches from the various trees were at odd angles to their original sources, but the ocean did its job well of keeping the place beautiful and clean; the sand had been smoothed, the plants well watered. Only the slightest sound of tumbling water could be heard from the smooth surf, racing up the beach only to pull back, curl up, and stretch out again, always striving to go farther, but never making it. Picturesque was the only word for it; it was straight from a magazine, the ideal beach. The only thing to make it even more so would be waves arching in the distance, with surfers on brightly colored boards dotting the deep blue waves, hands skimming and leaving behind white trails of spray behind them as they would dart in and around the rolling curls of the water, as if challenging the water to a race.

Of course, that was exactly why he was where he was.

Were one to continue traveling the beach, playing amongst the sand dunes formed by the water's movements, they'd start to find wreckage of a ship. A small ship, a boat really, but that was all they would find. Bits and pieces, strewn across the sand, broken by the fury of the storm against the rocky halo that surrounded the island, creating the lagoon that the beach lined. Rather than amidst the wreckage, but under a few of the few palm leaves that had gone dancing into the storm rather than cling to their parental trees, was the occupant of the former boat.

It was the curious investigation of a small hermit crab that finally got the human to move, tapping at an outstretched hand only to have it move. As the hand was quite a bit bigger, the crab went scuttling off in a panic, vanishing quickly. The figure was a man, early twenties by the look of it, very tall and well built as was evident by the fact that all he wore was a pair of long, white and dark green swim trunks. His skin was tanned to a golden glow from hours of dedication to the waves, but at the moment it was half covered in sand and a few minor scratches. Amazing, considering the storm.

As he shifted, one blue-green eye opened and looked about, at first only seeing the palm leaves on him. Sitting up slowly while spitting out sand, he dusted his face off, now able to open his other eye and survey the world around him. Sand, driftwood, trees. He rubbed his head, and after an unexpected, if small, shower of sand, shut his mouth and eyes as he ran his hands energetically through his hair, the long spikes bright blond from the ocean spray and sunlight, the longer bangs in front streaked with a bright blue, which showed up better once the white sand had been shaken free. Looking about, he searched the area for something, growing more and more panicked as he looked. Rather than a cell phone or signs of his boat, he started to mutter, "Oh God, where's my board? What the hell happened to my board?!?"

He stood up quickly, starting to dart off down the beach to retrieve his obviously beloved board, only to fall flat on his stomach again, extremely dizzy. "Oooowwwww…" he complained, pushing himself up and back on his heels, staying closer to the ground. He patted his head, checking to make sure he wasn't bleeding anywhere; nope, aside from the one nick on his arm, he seemed fairly unharmed. But a bump on the side of his head indicated that he really did get knocked out. He looked up, finally surveying his new surroundings; he had meant to find a beach where he could hang out and chill for a few days and not deal with his increasingly annoying friends for a while, practicing his surfing skills rather than spending his whole vacation partying. So he'd rented a boat, and headed down the coastline, but the storm had hit so suddenly, he had no time to go back. Now, he couldn't even see the coast in the distance; how far did he get tossed out, anyway? And how come he didn't just drown?

And where the hell is my board?!

The night before had been turbulent and rough as a storm tore through the island, forcing the palm trees to bend to the will of the wind. Her sisters and herself had been forced to leave the surface to hide in the fresh water of the lake at the center of the island. Well her sisters had been forced to take cover, she'd been out at sea exploring again when the storm had hit. The currents of the water had told her that the storm was assaulting her beloved in isle as she swam in the safe deep blue. The storm had been merciless as lightening lit up the darkened black sky with crooked lines, signalling the drum of thunder around the island. She'd been careful not to get caught in the current lest she drown herself, which would be a rather ironic death in her case.

She'd thought it would have been a normal storm, but in the midst of the storm she spotted a little sailboat being knocked around by the crashing waves that seemed to be steel walls of water. She absently wondered what idiot of a human could be sailing in the middle of the night, through a deadly sea storm such as this. She watched from the safety brought by the water as the boat was knocked too and fro with inhuman force. She looked up at the sky through the water and had a feeling things would take a turn for the worse before they got better. And she'd been right when she looked back towards the boat to see a wall of steely water crash down on top of it, swallowing it into the water.

Before she could restrain her need to help others, she was swimming forward to save the poor human from the vengeful tides of the ocean. She dodged broken ship bits, swimming as fast as she could despite the current she fought against. The closer she got to the island, the rougher the current became to fight. She looked about quickly and spotted the human sinking towards the sea floor. Why couldn't humans breath underwater? If they loved to swim and be around water as much as she assumed they did, breathing underwater would have been an evolutionary trait they should have gained.

She swam towards him, her tail working overtime just so that he wouldn't drown. Another vengeful spirit causing storms like this to assault her island wasn't something she wanted, and she figured her sisters would agree.. for the most part. Her hands wrapped around his bicep gently, as she pulled him up towards her. The first thing she did was press her lips to his to force air into his lungs to hold him over until she could drag him up to the surface. She held onto him as best as she could, not having much strength left. Exerting all of her energy just to get to him had been a bit of a mistake, but necessary to drag him from the currents trying to take him under to lay him to rest at the bottom of the sea floor.

She gasped as she broke through to the surface, holding onto him to keep his head above water. Her wet hair was plastered to her face as she held him to her to drag him slowly through the water. She pulled him through the water, glad that the water made him almost weightless as she tugged him along. By the time she had reached shore, the storm had started to settle and move to terrorize another region with it's heavy pelts of rain and loud roar of thunder. She thanked the heavens above for the storm beginning to move on with it's path else where.

Making it to shore with him had been a task that had proven to be quite difficult. She'd been smart enough to use a piece of his destroyed boat to set him upon so that she could swim faster to shore. No offense to any him, but he was just dead weight that was starting to pull her to the black abyss awaiting at the bottom of the sea. Discarding the piece of drifting debris, she dragged him as best as she could onto the damp sandy shore. She stopped a bit away from the waterline so and laid him down.

With a glance upwards, she moved back into the water to go find her sisters and find a way to look more like him as to not scare him. Anything that was strange she figured would scare him, and her having the back end of a fish.

The sun had risen to warm the sand and dry it of the night's rain by the time she returned wearing and white sarong and bikini top. This time she was on foot, not on fin. She sang as she walked down the sandy beach of her home, looking for the spot she'd left the human boy. She hoped he was still alive, it'd be quite terrible if he passed away.

"Aw great…" the human muttered, throwing his hands up at the sky, blaming it for the storm that had shipwrecked him who knew where. "Seriously? You couldn't have waited until after break was over?" he asked the sky, squinting his eyes at the bright sky, his eyes avoiding looking directly at the sun. With a sigh, his eyes went back to the earth he was standing on, trying to see signs of civilization. No footprints, no umbrellas, no shop stands… nothing. He was beginning to regret coming out to the islands for his break; he missed his familiar oceans of home, on the southern Californian coast. The beach here seemed empty and void, without the incessant chatter of kids running about, playing in the sand and the shifting tides.

He slowly stood, taking his time, not wanting to repeat his face-plant into the sand again. Managing to balance finally, he took a few moments to finish dusting the sand off of him, wondering how long he'd been out; the sand was dry and came off easily, and from the sun above he assumed it had been several hours at the very least. Slowly, he started to march across the sand, still determined to find his beloved board. He had finally saved up enough to get it; streamlined and professional quality, with a custom detailing and paint job. His dream board… now possibly smashed like the boat was, he worried, as he passed a few broken bits of what he recognized as having been his little rental boat. "There goes my deposit…" he muttered irritably, continuing on.

As he walked, his head got clearer, and he was able to remember more of the storm; being battered about like a little toy boat, only to be drowned in a wall of water crashing onto him. He rubbed his head again, his thoughts wandering back to how he managed to not drown after that. As soon as the water had hit, everything had scattered, and the thin mast of the boat had finally snapped; the bump it left was thankfully not throbbing, but only tender to the touch. Beyond that, he couldn't remember anything. It was all dark… but something was nagging at him, saying that he missed something. Of course, considering he was still alive, he whole-heartedly believed that something else happened. He just had no clue as to what.

His train of thought was derailed as he looked towards the rolling surf, splashing along a small outcropping of rocks. It was bumping something, dark and formless, making him take a moment to recheck his first reaction. Did someone drown in that same storm? No… not unless seaweed could drown. Out of curiosity, he walked over, but broke into a run when he realized what it was. Was it?

"Yes! You made it! Whoo-HOO!"

His loud hollering was accompanied by the splash of his feet into the water as he grabbed his board, pulling it away from the rocks and the old seaweed off of it. Back on the shore, now accompanied by the nearly lost board, he checked over it, the smooth, black and dark blue gradient still shining wet in the sunlight, its silver tribal designs swirling over the surface. He fell down to a sitting position with a huge sigh of relief at seeing the only damage was one long scratch along the side; nothing a little refinishing wouldn't fix. "Or I could just leave it and call it your war wound, eh?" he laughed, letting out a long sigh of relief. Considering how long it took him to save up for that board, he was grateful that was all.

Wait… that was all? The human glanced around again, wondering if he had even been heard by anybody. Even with his board safely beside him, it still wasn't company. But at least he had a possible way of getting off this… this… What, island? Was this an island? Maybe he could see the main island he came from on the other side? Hopefully? For a moment, he could almost hear the sounds of the radio playing, an acoustic song, with no…

"Waitaminute…" he said, looking around; "That's not a radio… that's someone…" He scrambled to his feet, only to pause, then slowly stand. He wasn't about to fall over again from dizziness… He picked up the board, and tucking it under one arm, started to walk towards the sound of the singing, filled with total relief. Singing meant people, people meant civilization, civilization meant he was as good as on his way home! "Hello?" he called out, finally coming around a bend, spotting someone in the distance. "Hey! Hi!" he shouted, speeding up to a run at seeing the white sarong standing out against the sand.

She sang happily as she walked along the side of the beach. The sand was perfectly warm between her dainty toes and the birds were already out, salvaging their nests in the palm trees or gathering the bits of debris to take back into the forest to use for the fallen nests in there. She was still getting used to using two legs to get around, most of the day she was in the water playing with her sisters out at sea or in the lake beneath their waterfall. Using two feet was quite an oddity for her. She giggled as a few birds native to their little paradise flew around her. She continued singing as she allowed one to settle onto her finger.

It was always like this after a rather terrible storm. Animals were running about the beach to get the broken sticks and to take the broken branches from trees to rebuild their homes or to forge for food. Often it was more the former than the latter because the other sirens and herself cared for the plants and animals on the island.

This was a typical day for her, save for the two legs since it was rare they resort to this form. Her black hair hung down her back as her blue eyes met the eyes of the colorful bird on her finger. She cooed to the bird and took the flower from the beak of the bird, letting it fly away to continue rebuilding it's nest. She placed the white flower in her hair as she continued her walk down the sandy beach, singing as she strolled and looked out at the water. The water was a beautiful blue here, yet it was unbelievably clear allowing her to see to the bottom of the ocean.

She loved it here, absolutely she did with her whole heart. She gently brushed a lock of her long black hair back behind her ear so she could look up at the clear sky. It was going to be a beautiful day and she was excited! She was going to meet the human she had brought here during the storm. She was quite happy to hear from the birds that he was alive. They'd watched him get up and spit out a mouth full of sand. She giggled, stopping her song as she walked a little farther down the beach before starting her song again and allowing the sound to fill the beach.

She continued walking and heard shouts in the distance. She turned and looked to see the human up and running. He carried a rather large piece of wood in his hands and she couldn't help but to tilt her head at the sight of it. She moved forward a few feet allowing him to come running to her. She giggled and smiled as she met him half way, quieting as he came over. "My, don't we look energetic today," she giggled as she reached forward to brush a little sand from his cheek with her delicate hand. "So I assume you are well then?" She asked as she looked up at him.

Since it'd only been a few hours since he had seen another person, he wasn't as grateful to see someone as he thought he might be. Still, it let him "check her out" more thoroughly as he came up to her, wondering where she came from, as there was still no signs of commercialized civilization along the beach edge up here either. It was lucky, however, that he'd meet such a pretty girl first thing after what happened. Speaking of which… maybe she knew what had happened.

He was about to ask her where they were when she spoke, giggling and brushing some sand he missed off his cheek. In surprise, he backed up a step, even more confused at her question. "Uh, have we met?" he asked, arching an eyebrow at her. It occurred to him that she might ask that if she had seen him crashing the night before, but she seemed awfully calm about it, making him dismiss the idea. If she had seen it, she'd probably be freaked to see he wasn't dead.

"Um, yeah, I-I think I'm lost," he said, trying to bring his brain back on track; she was really pretty, with those blue eyes, and her boldness was throwing him off more than a little. "Where are we?"

She nodded as she reached up to brush more sand from his spiky hair. "We've met. Well I met you when I pulled you from the water. You would have drowned if I hadn't pulled you from the current after that wave swallowed your little ship. Keeping you breathing was the challenging part.. on the way back to shore I thought you'd died in my arms," she spoke as she looked him over. "It's good your strong or you'd have died when the water crushed your little boat, then again only an idiot would be sailing out at sea when a sea storm was obviously on the horizon." Her voice was soft and had a musical ring to it as she walked around him. She noted that he only had minor scratches on him, and other than that he was just a sandy mess. She caught his perplexed look and stepped back from him a little. She hoped she hadn't scared him. She was just acting like she would with her sisters.

She frowned as he seemed to be put off by her. She crossed her arms over her chest, watching him her her blue eyes. She could tell he found them pleasing to the eye. They were the color of the ocean that surrounded the island. Her sisters had blue or green eyes, but none like hers. She was also the only one to have black hair and not blonde or brunette hair. It was odd for a siren to have such dark hair, but it worked for her and they adored the youngest of them even if she was a little eccentric for a siren.

"Well, you are on Sirenum scopuli. Or in English, Siren Island. It's also called Anthemoessa. It's not something easily found using your human maps." She took his hand gently as she spoke. "Come on, you must be hungry." Her sisters had told her earlier on before she came to get him, that he was her responsibility to take care of. She'd brought him here instead of letting the sea take him as had been planned for him.

He stepped back again as she brushed more sand out of his hair, brushing what fell off of his face, not at all certain as she circled him. Wasn't it supposed to be the other way around?

"Wait, wait a minute," he said, putting up a hand as she described how she saved him, trying to take it in. Why was she acting so familiar with him? He started to challenge her on how she managed to handle the ocean waves in a storm when she started to explain where he was, making him look around. "Anthe-what-sa?" he asked, not quite catching her use of the word 'human.' "I don't remember hearing about that…" he muttered to himself, pulled out of his quiet recollection of every map he had looked at while checking the islands out by her taking his hand. As gentle as her grip was, it still startled him, making him jerk away several steps.

"Okay, now hang on just a second…" he said, putting up his free hand almost in defense; what it ended up looking like was his attempt at absorbing the situation, keeping his personal space bubble in place until that happened. Which was actually more accurate. "Look, I have no idea what you're talking about, with saving me, and the storm and-and the weird names for this island, but all I need is a phone or a radio to call the main island… ok? Do you know where I can find one?"

"Anthemoessa, silly. An-thee-mohe-suh," sounding out the island name for him. "It isn't on any human maps. Well not anymore. It used to be centuries ago when pirates and merchant ships would end up here and ships would crash and men would wash ashore all the time. Of course I wasn't around when any of that happened, but it did. Anthemoessa is an uncharted island. So there are no um... phones or radios, whatever those are, on this island," she said as she gave him a confused look. She backed off when he pulled her hand from hers, startling her quite a bit. Her smile faltered as she looked up at him. She hadn't realized she'd been over stepping her boundaries with him... then again he was the first human she'd ever met.

She took a deep breath and nodded slightly to herself. "You are having trouble understanding his I take it? I saved you from drowning last night. If it hadn't been for me, you'd have been swallowed by the depths of the sea. There is no one on this island save for me and my elder sisters." She tried to explain to him. While she spoke a bird came flying out of the forest to land on her shoulder, chirping in her ear. She stopped and looked at the bird before moving him to her arm and petting his head. She had a feeling telling him what sirens were would be a terrible idea right now... so she decided to keep him away from the lake for the time being. "Do you understand now? I know it's a lot to take in.. but.. can you accept it?"

The human just blinked at her for a few moments after she finished, then his outstretched hand went to his eyes, rubbing them as he was clearly having difficulty absorbing what she had just said. "Great… no phones…" he said, letting out a sigh of resignation. It wasn't that he hadn't understood her words before that; he just had given up on trying to figure them out until he had a better sense of where he was.

"How could you have fought the currents though?" he asked, finally settling on that question rather than one of the several others running through his head. "I mean, that was one heck of a storm… which sprung out of nowhere, thankyouverymuch," he added with a bit of an irritated tone, remembering that she had called him an idiot earlier for going out in such weather. Before such weather, he reminded himself.

The bird kept him from snapping something else, watching her pet it like it was a trained animal. Her touch on the animal was so loving and gentle, as had her contact with him so far. At her words, he let out another sigh, albeit a calm one. "Look, I… I appreciate whatever it is that you did," he said finally, a little embarrassed at his own reaction at her. He smiled at her in what he hoped was a friendly manner, holding his hand out to her. "I'm Nathan," he introduced himself, hoping that it would repair any damage he had just made.

She winced a little at the bite in his question, pulling the bird to her chest carefully. The little thing had puffed up in protest to the rude tone the human took with the siren. The feathers smoothed at the gentle touch from her hand and the bird flew off to go do what they had been instructed to do. Gather berries and fruit for him to eat. The animals on the ground were fishing and helping the sirens clean up around the lake, so the birds were helping out the youngest siren to care for the human. "Well I did. I'm a very good swimmer, so I know that I was able to save you. You would have drowned." She placed her hands on her hips and looked up at him. She watched his stance change and tilted her head to the side. These humans sure used a wide array of emotions. But she figured that was good. She smiled and relaxed when he smiled at her. She took his hand and shook it gently. Her skin was as soft as it looked.

She tugged him by his hand gently. "I'm Lilith Sedna. But call me Lily, Nathan." She smiled and pulled him towards the jungle. "Now come on, and don't fuss this time. You have scratches all over your back that need to be cleaned up, I don't want you to get an infection or anything... and you are probably hungry. Plus it's cooler in the forest than it is out here." She looked back at him.

Nathan watched the bird fly off, eyebrows raised at it's behavior at him. He looked back at her comment, nodding; "You'd have to be," he said, glancing at the waves. Even though he had nearly drowned, he wasn't afraid of the water. He'd spent too much time in it to be afraid.

"Lily," he repeated, not noticing the pull on his hand until she started to move away with his hand. He was just starting to argue when she told him not to, mentioning the condition of his back. His first reaction was fortunately not acted upon, as it was surprise and a sense of 'oh no, not again.'

"They're just small ones," he argued anyway, but allowed her to lead him, figuring it was more polite to let her than to argue every step of the way. Besides, now that his system was mostly recovered, he was starting to feel hungry…

Lily held onto his hand as she lead him to the forests edge. "Be careful, there are tiny animals that like to walk in front of people's feet to trip them. And don't be afraid of even the big ones, they are quite gentle." She said ignoring his arguments. This was not a time to argue with her. She wanted to be careful with him because she didn't know just how fragile humans were, so she wasn't about to take any chances. She looked back at him and turned around to lead him into the forest. He was quite cute with his blonde hair and his blue-green eyes. They were such an interesting mix of colors, and she'd have to get a closer look later on. She bit her lip nervously as she lead him towards the meadow her and the animals shared. She hoped they had fixed any damage to her little home there. She planned to keep him in the meadow for awhile to get him used to the island and to help him brain storm ways to get off it. Anthemoessa was no place for a human, no human had lived long enough on this island to leave and tell of it. She didn't want that to happen to Nathan. Especially since she had yet to tell him that he was on an island of Sirens who were infamous for causing ships to crash and countless men to drown at sea. Lily knew details like that could more or less destroy a relationship or cause him to freak out to the point he does get himself drowned. She didn't want any of that to happen.

Lily looked back ever so often and watched the birds fly over head. They were in unrest at the fact that she was paying attention to the 'rude' human boy. She couldn't help the soft giggle that left her lips as she listened to them chirp and chatter as they flew above them. A few of the animals were confused as to why his scent was mixed with hers.

"What animals?" he asked, looking around as she steered him into the forest, finding it suddenly a necessity to find a way of maneuvering his board around the trees. Being so long, it often bumped into a trunk here or a bush there behind them, as Lily weaved through to some as of yet unknown destination. Nathan was a little worried about the "big ones," however, hoping that she wasn't referring to meat-eating ones.

He glanced at Lily as she giggled at the birds, missing what it was she found so amusing. "So, Lily, uh… how long have you lived here?" he asked, not certain of what to say or do. As gentle and soft as her grip was, it was still firm, which suited her perfectly. He had to admit a sense of curiosity about her, at how she was able to deal with the animals like that, how she had been able to fight the currents of the storm-crazy waves, and… just her. Who was she, anyway?

"There are a wide variety of animals that reside on this island. Some of them big, some of them small. But they are all harmless. You won't see too many now since they are helping my sisters clean up after last night's storm. The birds help me and I take care of them. They prefer the trees around the meadow anyway, and that's usually where I hang out.. away from my sisters," she seemed to lose some of her energy as she spoke of her sisters, but regained it as she came to a few branches. She lifted them and motioned for him to follow, allowing his hand to slip from hers.

The meadow was vast and almost perfectly surrounded by trees. The grass was a luscious green, with patches of wild flowers springing up to interrupt the green. The birds were flying, carrying strips of wood around and placing them in trees with feathers to form little homes for themselves; while others worked together to complete the roof of what seemed to be a little open hut that sat towards the edge of the meadow. She smiled and motioned for him to follow, but paused at his question. "I was... I was born here on this island. At least that's what my sisters tell me. I don't much look like them, but they told me I was born here.." Lily seemed uncomfortable with the question as she turned away from him and played with the knot that held her sarong on her hips.

Lily was a siren after all, and she couldn't tell him what she was just yet. Not until she was beyond positively sure that he could handle the information. "Well... come on. There are some fruits in the hut along with some things to clean up those scratches..," she quickly changed the subject of how long she had lived on the island and motioned for him to follow her to the hut. In reality, she was a bit hungry herself.

"Ah…" Nathan said, his tone indicating he was still completely uncertain. It was an attempt to sound understanding and confident, but it fell a little short. He followed as his hand slipped out of hers, taking a moment to look over the meadow, stepping forward again at Lily's insistence.

"So… how many sisters do you have?" he asked, noticing after how she fiddled with the knot, suddenly hoping that his question wasn't too personal, after her odd reaction to answering his earlier one. He paused again at the edge of the hut, almost uncertain if he should follow her in, setting the board against the frame of the hut.