Mermaid Alaria was the first of many mermaids to get to know the Blackburn brothers. She would become a valuable visual aid and embodiment of key principle taught and cultivated through the School for Alchemical Arts.

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She would arrive in the early part of the twentieth century, and provide whole new challenges to the landlord as to how to properly care for his residents.  Benjamin and Alaria would also have quite the feuds in the beginning of her stays resulting from misunderstandings, trauma, and dysfunction.

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In time, these issues would be resolved, and Alaria's influence over the boarding house would leave an unmistakable mark. She would also go on to be the means whereby many of her sisters would come to stay and participate in the lives of the community that congregated around the brothers Blackburn.