"Keeping a bird caged won't make things disappear." - Shubhangi

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Aziza has been trapped in this pond for eons, and it seemingly never changes. Her father had trapped her here when she was born, thinking she'd been odd-looking. A monster. He'd been wrong, of course - mermaids aren't monsters. As the world began to collect more and more of her kind, she could only hope for the possibility that her father forgot to release her. Maybe there's no point in keeping her caged. She only held onto that hope for about a thousand years before she gave up.

Aziza's pond is wide and big enough to fit a beluga whale. There's a small island in the middle with a huge Shimmer Tree - the only source of food she has. The Shimmer Tree produces a type of fruit that can either burn people up or strengthen them - it's unpredictable. It looks like dragonfruit, but the colors are more neon - pink, blue, purple - and the fruit itself is larger.

She only awakens every day because of her beating heart. She swims around all day, chatting with the forest animals, before night falls once more and the day is over. It's been that way for eons, and she's given up the hope that it'll change.

It's only when Aziza wakes up one morning to find you on the small island she spoke about earlier, seeing you reach for a Shimmerfruit, that she thinks things might change.

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Maybe this isn't so bad after all.

(Reviews/comments/published chats/suggestions/requests are welcome! Thank you!)