Poor Unfortunate Soul (An OUAT Fanfiction)

5: Fish Out Of Water

Enchanted Forest

Ariel fought to stay upright as she walked, resting her whole weight against a wooden frame she used for balance.

She had made it into town safely enough. After emerging from the water, she noticed a singularity that she hadn't considered in all her daydreams: humans wore clothes. It took only a short time of wandering around the docks wrapped in a large swath of sailcloth to find a suitable woman willing to get the shy, strange girl some decent clothing. Now Ariel was headed into town, searching the faces of everyone she passed for her special young man.

The most difficult thing about that was it took most of her concentration just to stay upright. She had none of the coordination for walking. Each step sent a jolt through her delicate body. She figured she probably looked like such a dolt that she might not have to worry about driving him away with her stutter; he'd see her coming and run of his own accord.

Ariel let her tangled hair fall over her shoulders so she could feel it again. Once she had been in the sun long enough, the thin sheen of water she had covering was gone. It felt so different to be clinging to the ground like this, instead of floating over it. What kept the humans upright, if they all had this terrible, dragging weight to them? They all looked at her strangely as she careened hither and thither between the markets.

"Look out, girl!" Ariel shrieked as a large wagon pulled by a strange animal bore down on her. She abandoned the frame and tumbled out of it's path.

SPLAT!

Ariel felt like she was back in the sea as she landed headfirst in a cart full of fish. She flailed her arms, but the fish would not let her go. Unexpectedly, a human hand grabbed hers and pulled, bringing her up and out of the cart. Ariel frowned to see that the fish had left stains and slime on her dress.

"Hello, there!" A voice laughed.

Ariel looked up. Her rescuer had dark hair and twinkling sea-blue eyes. He smiled at her. "Are you all right? That was quite a tumble!"

"Y-y-yes," she stammered. Her cheeks burned to hear her dead, clumsy voice. The encounter had frightened her; now the crowded market seemed to her a death trap; she cringed at the slightest noise, and whenever anything cane within two feet of her.

The young man laughed to watch her cringe and squeal. "Poor thing!" he cried. "You look like you could use a quiet place to sit and collect yourself. Would you like that?"

"Y...yes." The word was short and gruff, like the bark of a dog.

"Very well, then." He offered his arm. "My name is Eric. What is yours?"

Oh gracious! She didn't know if she could manage her own name.
"Ar-Ariel-l," she sputtered.

Eric nodded. "Well, Arariella," he said, "Welcome to Overcliff. Let me show you a grand time."

What a grand time it was! Eric found that the longer he listened to Arariella's stilted, bland tones, the more accustomed he became. They purchased jugs of fresh-mulled cider and loaves of bread in the market, and brought them out to a wide field to dine and talk, away from the crowds. The two talked over petty likes and dislikes. Eric began to notice a pattern among the topics Arariella chose.

"You must be from one of the sea-towns on the mainland," he guessed. "I'm betting your father is a fish merchant, am I right?"

Ariel smirked shyly. "More...fish... than...m-merch-chant," she quipped, hoping that he would take it as the joke Ariel the human would mean it for.

Eric laughed. "That bad, huh? I understand." His face grew serious, "My father is too wrapped up in his work, too. Sometimes, I just want to get out of this place, and I wonder if my father would even notice if I was gone."