Iris knew it was dangerous to be so far from the coast, but this was where the fish were at.

 

The winds were calm, there was hardly a cloud in the sky, and the waves were mellow enough against her small fishing boat that she hardly noticed them. If ever there was a day to fish in the deep waters, it was today.

 

It did seem strange that none of the fish were biting, but they were jumpy little things after all. They'd take her bait when they were ready, and she had all day. She leaned back in her boat, careful not to disturb its balance, and relaxed. Then she started humming a tune to her self under her breath.

 

...

 

Then she noticed that the tune was unknown to her. Odd. She sat back up in her boat and focused on her hearing.

 

...

 

Sure enough, she heard the tune faintly on the wind. Whoever it was coming from must be an incredible singer! Iris decided let her curiosity take her and follow the singing to its source. She reeled in her line and settled her things in the boat. She could just barely make out what direction the song was coming from, but her rough guess was enough for her to at least get close enough to make a better guess. She paddled around until her boat was oriented toward the music's apparent origin, then started rowing.

 

It was slow going. She didn't have one of those fancy fishing boats with lateen sails that the professional fishermen had, but she did have two good arms and the two good oars that she'd hand carved herself. The rhythm of the music didn't hurt either, and she quickly found herself rowing to it as she went.

 

As she got closer to the source, she noticed that the voice sounded feminine. It was hard to tell before, based only on the pitch, but she was near enough now to pick out all of the fine qualities of the voice's rich timbre. It was mesmerizing. She continued rowing, making minor course corrections as the correct direction revealed itself to her. She distantly noticed her focus on the song growing, intensifying, crowding out her other thoughts. It was beautiful, after all.

 

...

 

It was incredibly beautiful, actually. Impossibly so. Every jump in pitch and every change in key made her heart flutter. Before she could stop to consider the unusually powerful effect this song was having on her, Iris looked up and spotted something in the distance.

 

There was a rock, still pretty far away, with a feminine figure lounging across it. Even from a distance, Iris could see the sunlight sparkling off of its brilliant blue cloak. She was captivated. She had no idea what a beautiful, dolled up singer would be doing out on the rocks like this, but that didn't really seem like an important puzzle to solve. She kept rowing to the music.

 

As she got even closer she realized the "cloak" was actually feathers. It had draped itself in two dazzling, sparkling wings to cover its body, though she could also see the feather coat on its thighs, just beside its distinctive, bird-like lower legs. It also sported a trail of feathers where one would normally have hair. The singer wasn't human, then.

 

It was a siren.

 

Iris distantly knew sirens were dangerous in the same way she distantly saw the inhumanity of its flawless form. A shot of adrenaline confirmed the danger, but the it was buried under a thick, cozy blanket of song. Iris continued rowing, beginning to hum the melody herself absent-mindedly as her perception narrowed.

 

She suddenly felt her boat bump against the rock. Awareness continuing to shrink, she climbed out of the boat and gazed upon the siren's beautiful form. There was nowhere to moor the boat, but that wasn't important. She crawled up the rock to greet the songstress that had ensnared her, smiling dumbly as she stared into its eyes. The siren lowered its song to a whisper, and spread its wings to beckon Iris into its lap. She obeyed, and curled up against its chest, her head under its head, listening to the melody from its body. She suddenly felt very sleepy, and she let a yawn escape her.

 

The siren curled its wings around her and stroked her hair with a hand.

 

Iris let the siren sing her to sleep.