"I'm sure." Juliet nodded firmly. "There's nothing like that here."
"Other mermaids?" Oh, right. Cora wouldn't know. Juliet made a face at everything she was going to have to tell the newcomer. Best to get it all out of the way now, she'd have to explain it all sooner or later anyway and it would just make things weird if she waited.
"Um, well, this is going to take a minute to explain. It's complicated." She gave Cora and apologetic smile and dived into the explanation. "There's one more mermaid here now besides you and me, her name is Micha. Neither of us were born mermaids, and we were changed by the island at different times. You'd have to ask Micha exactly what happened to her, I wasn't born when it happened." A shrug. That was all ancient history for her.
"With me I think it happened because of a wish I made without thinking about it. You see, sometimes portals open to other realms for a few days or weeks, and we can go back and forth as long as they're open. When they close we end up back here." Usually, but that was an even longer story. "Anyway, a few years ago there was a portal to a water world with merfolk, and anyone who went through the portal changed into a sea creature of some kind. I changed into this," she ran a hand along her tail with a smile. "And the last time I came through I didn't change back. I enjoyed being a mermaid so much I don't think I wanted to change back, honestly." She still did, though not being able to change to human was a pain in the ass.
"Besides Micha there's my mate, Cristiano." Best to get that out of the way right now, there wasn't going to be any poaching of her boyfriend! Though...maybe she'd share. Maybe. She'd have to get to know her first, and Cris would have a say. That was a long way off no matter what. "He's the only one who was born a mer. He came from a different world about two years ago, where there were whole nations of merpeople living in big cities."
She smiled at the newcomer's expression. "I know, I just dumped a crapload of information on you. I'm sorry. It was the only way any of this will make sense to you a little while later. I don't know about any dark curse, but I'm originally from about twenty years from now roughly."