The Little Maid: Tail Not Included

Chapter the Fourth: In Which Our Obligatory Antagonist is Introduced

Twenty-one days in the pool. Twenty-one days since she'd been put on exhibit. Twenty-one days of people shelling out money for a glimpse at her.

Ariel had to admit, her surroundings were beautiful. Lord Branwyn had originally been planning on capturing dolphins to put on public exhibition, but was very happy to give up on his dolphin dream if it meant a mermaid. People loved mermaids.

She had three separate water tanks, connected by underwater tunnels. The first tank was plain and deep, though there was a shallow section, for the people who spent the extravagant extra fee to get close to her. She could access it by means of a sloping water slide. The other two tanks had underwater viewing areas, and had been completely redesigned for her.

The second tank was dark and mysterious, with glittering purple and blue strands of fake seaweed dangling from the ceiling, while an odd-looking machine in the background wheezed out mysterious music. The dim light that filtered down through the surface was tinted violet, and Ariel loved popping out of the seaweed and startling viewers.

The third room was designed to look like an underwater palace room, with a giant open clamshell as a bed, soft sand decorating the floor and "pearls" strung up around the ceiling. It was Ariel's favorite room.

They had provided her with a fourth, shallow tank, completely closed off, as her "private quarters." She had a raised bed, out of the water, and a dresser, filled with different golden accessories. She wore as many of them at a time as she could—if there was one thing Ariel liked, it was bling. Lots of bling. Armbands, belts, chest-pieces, tiaras, anything and everything.

She also had a small pond, accessible via canal, that was part of Lord Branwyn's zoo (which was, by the way, contained in a greenhouse), and off-limits to the public. Like all the other exhibits, the front side was of glass.

On the whole, it was a mediocre life. She missed her family dreadfully, and the thing she liked the least about her new lodgings was the one rule she had to obey: she must be silent.

She could swim wherever she wanted. She could make faces and splash water at the visitors. But she could not speak.

Apparently, her accent was "vulgar" and "unladylike" and so she was not allowed to say anything at all. They had concocted some sort of story about a trade with a sea witch, but Ariel didn't care. She knew her parents would come for her soon. And in the meantime, there was a circumstance that she was giving much thought to. At first it seemed like a coincidence. But no, it wasn't. It couldn't be.

Every day, somewhere in the crowd, she saw Christopher.

She wondered why he never directly approached her. He hung back in the crowd, as if afraid to be seen. She waved to him, one day, and he shied away. She wanted to talk to him. He was the only friend she had here, if he even was a friend, after what had happened.

It was the end of a long day, swimming around and waving at guests. Lord Branwyn was taking a final turn around his zoo, which he usually did alone. But this time, there was someone with him. Several people, in fact. Ariel curled up in her private tank, out of view, alone, She didn't want to deal with any more people.

"Mermaid!" Lord Branwyn's voice called out sternly. Ariel hated that he called her "Mermaid." By denying her a name, it was as if he was declaring her a sub-human.

"Mermaid! We have guests!"

"We've had enough of them already!" she replied, annoyed.

"Mermaid, I'm not joking! These are important guests!"

Ariel didn't move.

"THE ROYAL FAMILY IS HERE TO SEE YOU, MERMAID!"

Ariel sighed deeply, then dove underwater, swimming with barely a ripple along the bottom of the canal. She drew closer and closer, knowing they couldn't see her through the long sea-grass and scattered rocks at the bottom of the exhibit.