It was a quiet little town, where birds giggled and the waves whispered, if you were willing to listen.

There was an old, sandy cricket pitch, and an old wharf where the local fishermen met, and a few sparse trees.

And Lily knew that sea monsters hid under the old dock at the beach, and that witches peaked out at her from the woods, and sometimes the cricket pitch was a battlefield. The sand were the ancient remains of those fallen in battle, but Lily said that to her mama once and she didn’t like it.

But today her mother picked her up from school with a wide smile, the kind that made her eyes twinkle and Lily smiled back.

She didn’t even know why she was smiling until the car arrived outside the huge building.

And inside was the most beautiful place Lily could remember ever seeing.

Surrounded by water and refracted light and strange fish of so many colours.

She was a mermaid!

She told her mother that and she got a hug and a kiss.

And that’s how Lily spent her day, running from one exhibit to the next.

“Mama look! It’s so pretty and orange and- and-“, she scrunched her nose and pouted. How best to describe it? How to make her mother understand.

Her mother smiled warmly at her, but it was her “you’re so sweet and silly Lily” smile so she clearly didn’t get it.

“Yes sweetheart I know”, mama said, crouching down.

“No look at it!”, Lily pointed.

The fish swam up to her, with its bulbous eyes that looked a little funny and it’s shiny scales that were the most perfect, beautiful shade of gold.

It looked right through her, like it knew so many things and Lily wanted to sit and listen and stare.

It looked like a sunset, but if it was alive and kept safe under the sea until it was needed. Maybe that’s what it was, maybe there were millions of fish under the sea and everyday they swam up and up and painted the sky orange and gold.

And then Lily would sit with her mama, on the warm sand eating ice cream and stare up at that perfect sky.

Her mother just giggled some more, “I know baby, I’ve seen them before, they’re very very pretty aren’t they” and she hugged her daughter close.

But Lily continued to pout.

For a few seconds before she saw a hint of colour from the corner of her eye and she turned her head again.

She loved her mother very much, but she didn’t understand.

She said they were pretty but she barely looked at them!

“You’re not even looking at them” Lily whined.

Her mother paused for a moment.

She hummed and then said, “I’ve already seen them baby, I’d much rather look at my little girl having fun”, and she poked her daughter’s nose.

“But you see me all the time, what if these fishes change or something and you miss it ‘Cus you’re not lookin”.

Her mother stood up, but she kept her large hand clasped around Lily’s. Her hand was warm, and it rubbed gentle circles on Lily’s own.

“I think sometimes us grown-ups miss the sort of magic you see in the world” her mama started, “those fish are very pretty, you see such wonderful things in them, but the wonder in your eyes as you- as you just take in the world around you” she smiled.

“It’s a different kind of magic”.

“A different kind of magic?” Lily questioned, looking back up at the storm of orange fins above her, “is there lots of kinds of magic?”.

Her mother nodded, “let’s go find it”.