They watched as she lifted up a little from the water and sniffed his hand, looking at his fingers before lifting her own hand and holding it out beside his with her palm outstretched.
Their hands were similar and yet, different.

Her hand was smaller and where the gaps would be between her fingers there was small webbing, her palm which would usually have lines were more like swirls.
There were a few scales scattered across her arms and shoulders that matched her tail, and Yui asked.

"What's your name?"
"Can she even speak English dude?"

The mermaid seemed caught off by his words, lifting her eyes as her mind seemed distant.
When she spoke it was a little slurred, and soft.

"Cordelia."

The boys looked down at the mermaid who said the name once more, smiling.
"My name, Cordelia."

For the first time since opening her eyes, Cordelia, had given herself a name. She had been swimming through the oceans without a name, of course, she had no reason to have one before but now there were intelligent creatures who spoke so beautifully that she could converse with them.
The boys in question kneeled to the water and introduced themselves, Yui had hair like the abyss at the bottom of the ocean and a large scar from his shoulder to his chest while Kai seemed to glow like the sun.

Yui ran his hand through his hair while adverting his eyes asking,
"Cordelia? What exactly are you?"

The question made her look down at herself, she had a tail like many of the fish kin below but her top half was exactly like the creatures Yui and Kai. It made her face drop, Cordelia had always wanted to find her own kind but she didn't even know what she was.
As she tried to find the answer within herself Kai nudged his brother, his face tight.

"She's a mermaid bro, Cordelia, how many of you are there?"

That answer was simple, she laid her finger against her chest with a small smile.
"Just Cordelia."

Yui and Kai slumped their shoulders, one mermaid was most likely harmless but an ocean full of them? It could've spelled danger. It was clear to Yui first that their relief was a twisted reflection of her isolation, she had no one not even a family.
Yui sat on the ledge of the pier and dipped his feet into the salty water, letting himself ease up while Kai crossed his legs and kept out of it. He was not as eager to join the waters with a possible murderous mermaid, he did not want to risk it.

Kai tilted his head to the side, his light seaweed eyes shadowed by his hair hanging over his face.
"How long have you been alone? How old are you? What do you eat?"

Cordelia considered it, she would count the light that followed after the darkness on her home wall for a long time. So she tried to remember the wall and how many etchings she'd put in, then all the lights that passed she didn't count.

"Forty-two-thousand-three-hundred-and-forty...lights, I thinks."

The boys raised an eyebrow before she pointed toward the sun, the two realizing 'lights' meant days, but that number didn't mean much so they grabbed their school backpacks and started doing the math. It took an hour but they finally managed to determine Cordelia was a hundred-and-sixteen in human age, as a mermaid that could mean anything.

Yui dropped his jaw when seeing how old she was, she didn't look anywhere near a hundred if anything she looked about two or three years younger than the boys.

"You're a hundred and sixteen years old!?"

That was probably why she looked so intrigued by Yui and Kai, their town was still in the middle of being built and had been settled only a few years back. Cordelia didn't seem to even blink at Kai calling out her age, instead, she moved right on to the next questions.
"Alone since eyes opened, Eat mostly seaweed and fish."

Yui seemed surprised, looking at her light pink lips and imagining a fish flopping in her hands.
"You eat...fish?"
Her smile grew wide allowing her to bare her mostly human teeth that were just a little bit sharper than normal.

"Yes, lots and lots of fish in ocean, too many sometimes so I eats them when needs to. Tail stronger now,"
Cordelia lifted her tail above the water and lightly splashed Yui's legs before continuing.
"Fish not talk, not smart, tail once was weak until I eat."

For some odd reason despite speaking well she could see them recoil in horror as she spoke about her oceankin, she too once felt the same feelings but wanted to explain that the fish understood her need. They would only be eaten when she needed them and she would only eat the ones that had plenty of population, most of the time she chose older or injured fish to be fair.
She had no real choice after all, seaweed alone had left her weak in the beginning, she could barely swim at all, and had it stayed that way she would either be long gone or she would've been too weak to save Yui and Kai.

They were quiet before Kai finally swallowed the lump in his throat and looked into Cordelia's eyes,
"You're not gonna eat us right?"

"No."