Woohoo, the illustration is wonderful, dear! <3 <3 <3
I thought I didn't read the title well, but oh... there was the same name as the one I grew up with. \o/
I'm from the so called Slavic countries and in my language it's written: "русалка". It has a bit of dark meaning in our culture.
According to my (Bulgarian) folklore: "Mermaids are forever young and beautiful with loose green hair. They usually sit on the banks of rivers and lakes. When they tear their hair they cause floods. If their skin dries, they die forever. Typically, mermaids become the souls of drowned girls killed and thrown into a river or dragged under the water by the river spirit leader Vodnik. He is their master, but secretly they hate him and sometimes help people to confuse his plans."