Watcher's Testimony: Activities of Police Operative 17152011

I tailed the recipient for two weeks. He had obviously heard – as we all had - about the oncoming party of mermaids, and in spite of being on leave had gone to investigate, and had found her, and eventually befriended her. I thought, and I think that he did as well, that she was an early arrival from the main party. Her appearance was distinctive – even for a mermaid. Her hair had more curls in it than the waves of the open sea. It seemed to be fighting with itself. The more she swam, the curlier her hair became, and it seemed that the curlier her hair became, the stronger she was able to swim.

He changed almost immediately. If I may misquote from "The Poetics", it was as if somehow she had pushed a hook inside his brain, fished around, gutted his resistance to addiction away from him, and claimed him.

He visited her initially three times, according to my observation – the statutory minimum.

Then they were married: the traditional instant wedding-at-sea ceremony. All strictly legal, since she'd stayed in the water non-stop long enough for them to declare the retrospective banns.

There was no officiator, and no witnesses, apart from me, hidden behind my pillar. The rings were of twisted fish gut, as is traditional; there were no irregularities in the process at all.

After that, he went to visit her every day, removed his clothes, placed them in a neat pile on a hidden ledge, entered the water and embraced her, and together they disappeared underwater, and were invisible until they returned several hours later. Whether they resurfaced somewhere else, I'm not in a position to state.

He obviously managed, if not to interrogate her, then at least to interview her informally, possibly telepathically- I saw him writing down the details, after they'd said goodbye for the day and she'd swum back out to sea.

I managed to extricate this piece of paper by stumbling into him and picking his pocket. Please read this before continuing with my report.