Pola the Mermaid

("Czesc" means "Hi" in Polish)

Marta slept longer in the later days of her pregnancy. She was still a very active businesswoman, flying to meetings around Europe for her work, taking care to rest after the long days. She felt her little daughter Pola become more restless in the evenings, sometimes waking her mother with a little kick as she dozed before sleep. After a short business trip to Stockholm, Marta arrived home exhausted and slept very long. 

That same night, the invisible dragon soared over Warsaw, zooming along the boulevard Nowy Swiat and past Sigismund's column up to the old town. He was enjoying his night flight in the late Summer. 

As he passed low over Marta's home, his invisible wings caused a quiet breeze to pass through the window. She kept a small collection of glass bowls, and the quiet breeze made all the glassware in the house hum together in harmony. In her sleep, she sensed this imperceptible music, and dreamed…

:::

They soared through the summer night under the light of a waning moon, she riding on his invisible shoulders. "Where are you taking me, great dragon?"
He had been silent for most of the journey, and they were now over the water. "This is the great Eternal Sea of Life. We have an appointment, with someone who wants to speak with you."

Unexpectedly he began to swoop down, plunging toward the surface of the water. Marta began to fear. "Wait! Good friend, I cannot breathe underwater."
He halted a few meters above the waves. "When we enter the Eternal Sea, you will breathe the love within your soul."
She could not see his invisible form, but she realized he was smiling at her by the sound of his voice. Her fear subsided. "I am ready. But who…"
Before she could finish her question, he gave a flick of his wings and they dived into the vast ocean just below them.

Marta breathed in, and found he was right. Love coursed through her lungs, feeding her body and soul with its pure energy. Under the surface, the dragon was no longer invisible. She was now riding a sleek, green-scaled dragon, who ferried her over coral and white sand through beams of azure moonlight streaming down from the surface. "It's so beautiful."
He appeared to be searching for something. "There. Do you see her?"
They came around beside a small multicolored coral bank, with sea grasses fanning jellyfish and sea horses and little schools of minnows. Marta peered through the moonbeams in the direction the formerly invisible dragon was looking. "I see her."

A cherub faced mermaid was darting shyly among the slowly beckoning sea grasses. Slowly, with a gentle wave of her silver-green tail, she swam out to greet her visitor. "Czesc Mama!"
Marta breathed in deeply, and love soared into every corner of her soul. "Czesc, my little Pola!"

They gazed at each other for moments. The dragon remained respectfully still and silent, until a little school of minnows had gathered around the tiny mermaid. "I think the fish want something, Pola."
She turned her little head, and realized he was right. "Yes, they are my students, and I am the teacher in their school. I have taught them to spell!"
Marta was entranced. "You are already a teacher?"

The dragon and Marta watched, she seated on his scaly shoulders. Pola whispered a handful of instructions to her school of glistening silver minnows. They then became an audience of three, as the tiny mermaid's students swam into position to form a word in the gentle currents under the surface of the great Eternal Sea.

"I"

Pola looked proudly at her mother and the dragon. The little fish then reformed into a second word.

"love"

The dragon and Marta nodded with admiration. They were impressed. The school of minnows re-grouped into a third word.

"you"

For a moment nothing more seemed to happen. Then the little mermaid waved at her students, encouraging them to form one more word.

"mama"

Pola beamed with pride at her little school, who were now disappearing back into the ever-wavering sea grasses.

The dragon knew that the moon would soon disappear with the coming sunrise. "We have to return."

Marta reached toward her mermaid daughter. The dragon flicked his tail so that they drifted closer to Pola, who held up her hand to her mother's. They brushed fingertips in the moonbeams under the water. "I will see you very, very soon, my little Pola."
Pola smiled innocently, and said nothing, but waved goodbye as the dragon turned to return to the skies above.

Flying homeward the dragon took Marta for a little sightseeing, over the Krakow castle and the undulating fields of her homeland. The early morning sunbeams began to break as they arrived over Warsaw…

:::

…and Marta awoke, wondering at the sweet sounds of harmony that she remembered from her dreams.

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Marta is alive and well and living in Warsaw
Pola will enter the world a little after the September equinox of 2013