A quick doodle I did a while back. Can't remember where the reference I used was, but I did have a visual to work with.

Tannae (red hair) and Maridia (black hair) are a pairing in my original story. Tannae is a young pirate captain who fell in love with a meridian (basically a mermaid) she saved from being used as a means of cheap slave labor. Maridia had some grasp on speaking but learned to be more fluent because of Tannae. She also learned to read and write from Tannae. Unfortunately the two are torn apart in the story with Maridia failing to save Tannae who went down with her ship in siren infested waters. Maridia changes perhaps for worse, but once Tannae's soul is at peace, she starts to come around ever so slightly and a bit of her former self returns.