The Little Maid: Tail Not Included

Chapter the Fifth: In Which Ariel Tells Lies and Christopher Behaves Charmingly

Ariel held out hope the whole day. The fact that she didn't spot Christopher among the crowds cheered her—that meant he would come later, when they might be able to talk.

She had wondered about him. He must not be Lord Branwyn's son. If he was, why wouldn't he have come to see her sooner? There was always the chance that his father forbade him. Perhaps what he had said about the gossip, the rumors, was the reason he had been kept away. But the zoo was connected to Lord Branwyn's estate. If he wanted to, he surely could have seen her.

Her happiness at the coming visit of her friend was obvious. She splashed and dove and blew bubbles and made faces at the little children so they would laugh. But she made one mistake, one very big mistake.

She laughed along with them.

A hush fell over the crowd. The mermaid, the little mermaid, the one who had been put under a spell and lost her voice, was laughing.

Someone broke the silence. A teenage boy who had previously irritated her by tossing pebbles and bottle caps into her tank shouted, "Hey, I thought you couldn't talk!"

Ariel had always been good at spinning stories on the spot, and yet very bad at considering consequences. This became clear in the next few minutes.

She spoke slowly, clearly, so that everyone could understand.

"All spells come with a price," she said, "I wanted to see the surface. To breathe the air. To be—" she waved her hand through the air with a flourish— "part of your world. The witch gave me a deal. I would lose me—my—voice for three weeks, and breathe air for three weeks. I agreed, and then only after the promise was made, she revealed the rest of the deal."

The crowd murmured, considering what she was saying.

"Once the three weeks were up, I would lose the ability to breathe air. I would neither regain my voice. The witch had tricked me."

Ariel paused again, drawing on her knowledge of the myths and legends for the rest of her story. "In three weeks, I would turn to seafoam. I would die."

The boy who persistently annoyed her spoke again. "So how come you're living and talking?!"

"All spells have a loophole. And the loophole for this spell, the only thing that could break it, was..." Ariel said slowly, her brain going a mile a minute, searching through her memories for fairy tales of spells and spells being broken. What she said was true; there was always a loophole, no matter the spell. And the most common solution was... Ariel's voice rang out across the audience.

"True Love's Kiss, of course!"

A dozen voices demanded to know who was the other half of the "true love's kiss," and Ariel realized just how much trouble her big mouth was going to get her in one day.

"That's none of your business, is it?" Ariel cheerfully demanded, and once again swam off to her room to question her sense.

That evening, true to his word, Christopher came to see her. He was holding something small and yellow in his hand, a little flower. She greeted him with a wave, and he tucked it into her hair.

"It matches your scales," he told her.

"Thank ye." Ariel leaned against the edge of the tank, staring down at him. "I feel bad now. I didn't get ye anything, and you're the one doing me a favor."

"No, no, I wanted to come," he smiled, "I can only stay for a few minutes, I'm sorry."

"Any time with a friend is good," Ariel said, "Now, tell me how you've been?"

"Me? Good."

"Still with the princess?"

He nodded. "I've got to sit next to Cassia at every meal, talk to her at every event, and dance with only her at every ball. Everyone's got plans for us and we can't say anything about it. We're not even officially 'together' in any way, yet everyone's predicting the date of our wedding! It's ridiculous! If we even did marry, heaven forbid, it wouldn't be for several years!"

"I'm sorry for ye," Ariel said.

"I should be sorry for you," he said, "My problems are nothing compared to yours. You've been kidnapped, taken from your family, put on display. I can't imagine what you've been through."

"It's been a lot," she admitted.

"If there's anything I can do, tell me. My family is pretty influential, so..."

"Thank ye, Christopher."

The distant tolling of a bell signaled it was almost six in the evening.

He frowned. "I have to go."

"Until tomorrow?" Ariel asked, then grimaced at her forwardness. But he just smiled.

"Until tomorrow," he agreed, then, as he had the night before, he kissed her hand and strode off, leaving Ariel in a heap of blushes and giggles.

Oh, seas below, she thought, why me?