Actual rating: 4.5 maybe?

This is a lovely f/f short story. I absolutely adore the world it created where humans go to school with elf and gnome teachers and supernatural classmates. I also loved the protagonist and the mermaid love interest, and especially the descriptions of Nerine's room and accomodations.

The reason why this isn't a full 5 stars for me is that personally, I would have preferred a fully happy f/f story with fantasy creatures and humans living together. This wasn't that. The two protagonists have to deal with bullying and rejection from parents, and while the school is integrated in theory, there are barely any non-human students enrolled. It's mentioned that werewolves exist in the world for example, but they don't go to the school for some reason. I would have appreciated more variety in the classmates.

tldr; The story wasn't exactly what I expected or what I wished for, but it wouldn't be fair to substract stars for that. The story the author wanted to tell wasn't exactly the same as the one I wanted to read, but it was a well-written and lovely story still.

Trigger warning for self-harm mentions and descriptions of scars.