Ursula's Beginning

18. Horatio Thelonious Ignacious Crustaceous Sebastian

Ursula jerked out of a nightmare and stared at her bedroom ceiling, feeling her heart thundering in her chest. Since her special night with Triton, she had been having the same dream over and over again: the miserable kelp creatures from Siddikah's garden turned into eels, wriggled free, and chased Ursula endlessly, pleading that she look at them.

For the first couple of days after the Transformation, Ursula was ambivalent about changing again so soon. Their time together had been heaven, and switching back to her regular form had been hell. But a question kept nagging at her: how would she ever learn to do her own Transformations without observing Siddikah at work several more times? Without figuring out every last detail, from supplies to incantations to everything in between?

Then midweek, the golden-haired prince looked her up early in the morning at the temple to renew his protection charm. Locked into a private meeting room together for almost an hour, it was clear they were safe from everything but one another. That encounter swiftly resolved the question for Ursula: yes, she would meet him as originally planned. And any amount of pain would be worth it.

***

Siddikah was not pleased to see Ursula back so soon. She didn't ask how her first night with Triton had gone a week ago. She didn't inquire after Barry, even jokingly. She was cold, but didn't bring up the subject of payment. Unnerved, Ursula didn't broach the topic either.

"Turning back into a cecaelia will take six hours this time," Siddikah said as they headed toward her casting room.

"Why?! I'm only getting three hours as a mermaid, aren't I? Why is it different this time?"

Siddikah wheeled around, eyes flashing angrily. "I'm not choosing this, you are! I warned you that changing for someone else is very painful, did I not? And each time you do it, it becomes harder to return to your true self. That is natural law, Ursula. The next time you want to be a mermaid for three hours, the recovery will last nine hours instead of six. And there's nothing I can do about that," she snapped, turning back around.

Really, there's NOTHING you can do about it? Ursula fumed. I doubt that. Perhaps the pain endured was all the payment Siddikah really wanted from her; maybe that's why there was no other price mentioned or extracted tonight. It's not as if Ursula had brought the witch new insider information about Atlantica's royal family.

The tension was terrible; Ursula struggled with how to alleviate it. As Siddikah withdrew supplies from various chests and cabinets, Ursula took a shaky breath and forced herself to speak.

"So, uh, how is Planete?"

Siddikah sighed. "He's fine. He's out gathering some things for me at the moment." The sorceress glanced at Ursula and her expression softened at the sight of the girl's nervous face.

Ursula saw that and pressed on. "Siddikah, I didn't get to thank you for doing such a marvelous job last time. I should have done so as soon as I saw you tonight, before saying anything else."

"It's alright, minnow. It's all fine." The elder cecaelia sounded weary. She was holding a glass globe in her hand, and inside was one of those curious winged things. This one had a different pattern and coloring than the last one Ursula had seen.

Ursula looked pointedly at the globe. "So...what kinds of things does Planete gather for you?"

"Is that your way of asking me what this is?" Siddikah held out the ball so Ursula could look more closely at the entrapped animal.

"Actually, yes."

The Squid Witch snatched the orb back in a taunting manner. "And why should you want to know?"