Aria held her breath as she slipped under water for her performance the next week. She thought about how different it was from swimming freely as a proper mermaid. When she was under the water with Kai, she didn't have to hold her breath and all her movements were smoother. She couldn't wait for the next full moon, when it would be her turn to transform again.
"You really shouldn't allow yourself to get distracted," Freya commented as they prepared to leave, "Our performance takes a lot of concentration, after all."
"You seemed distracted, too," Aria pointed out, "Is everything okay?"
"Everything's fine," the nymph rushed to assure her, "I'm just having to worry about you all the time, lately. It gives me a headache."
"Then stop worrying. It's not doing anybody any good."
"Easier said than done."
Aria offered her friend a smile. "You really don't need to worry about me. I know I'm being a little wishy-washy lately, but I'll be fine."
Freya shrugged. "I'll always worry about you, Aria. It's what friends do."
"Well, I will worry more about you, then," Aria announced, "You need to take better care of yourself. Think of your health."
Freya couldn't help laughing at that. "You understand that I'm immortal, right? I don't get health issues. As long as nobody destroys the ocean, I'll be fine."
"I think it's safe to assume that's not going to happen any time soon," Aria decided, "Even so, you seem really stressed. Please, don't tell me that's all on my account."
Freya looked down at her bag. "I've just had a lot on my mind, lately. I'll be alright."
"Nothing I can do to help, I suppose."
Freya shook her head. "Just be my friend and stay by my side. That's all."
"Well, I can certainly do that." Aria took her hand and smiled. "Shall we head out?"
They were halfway to the door when someone called out to them. They turned back to see Eric walking over with a pamphlet. He held it out to Aria as he reached them.
"I thought you might give this to your friend," he told her, "It's a helpline. He can call for advice or if he needs to talk."
She took the flyer and looked it over. "That's so sweet." She couldn't really explain that Alizarin would have no way of using a helpline. It was the thought that counted, right then.
Eric nodded. "Also, if there's anything I can do, just let me know. I don't know if he's looking for a friend or anything, but I can be a pretty good one."
Aria smiled and hugged him. "I know that." She pulled back and looked at him. "You are probably the nicest guy I ever met."
His ears turned red and he awkwardly rubbed his neck. "Well...I try."
"We should get going," Freya said, "You have school in the morning."
"Right." Aria smiled at Eric one more time before heading out.
"I saw that," Adam announced from behind his co-worker as soon as the girls were gone.
Eric jumped and turned to face the assistant. "What?"
"You definitely scored some points. Good job."
"I wasn't doing that to score points," he insisted, "I really just want to help."
"You can do both."
Eric shrugged. "I don't want to think of it that way. There's a teenage boy who needs help. Any effect me offering to help has on my relationship with Aria is just chance. If I try to help with the thought that it will help me, I'd just feel like a jerk."
"You're too nice," Adam decided, "But I guess that's what makes you so interesting."
"You think I'm interesting?"
"I think you're going to wind up getting yourself hurt one of these days because you're being too nice to avoid it. Disasters like that carry a horrific fascination, don't they?"
Eric stared at him for a moment, not sure how to respond. "I'm not as self-sacrificing as you think. I'm just not one to stand by and let other people be hurt if I can help. If you saw a car crash and knew you could save somebody in it, wouldn't you do that?"
"I suppose," Adam relented, "But I wouldn't climb into a burning building, knowing I'm likely to die, to save some old lady who's caught in there. I expect you would, but it's not logical, when you think about it."
"I try not to think about it."
"Fair enough." Adam gave him a smile. "We're getting to serious, though. Let's head back to the lab and see how many grammatical errors the good doctor has made, shall we?"
"Kai wants to meet up," Freya announce during breakfast on Saturday. She held up the bottle she had given Aria to send to him, along with some sort of paper. The paper looked more like burlap and she couldn't even guess how the message had been written. "I found this note last night."
"You went out last night?" Aria asked as she took the note. It just requested that she meet at the usual place that night.
"I sensed something," Freya explained, "It turned out to be this."
"How does that work, exactly? There's no way it would wash up near here by chance. Besides, it should have filled with water, making it unable to float, at all."
"A little nymph magic. I fixed it so the bottle would go to its intended recipient when sent into the ocean and come back to me when sent up to land."
"That's pretty impressive."
Freya smiled. "I am quite impressive."
"And so modest." Aria looked back at the note. "I guess I don't have to wear anything special, since he knows I'm human and there's no point in dressing up, really."
"Just wear what you normally wear," Freya agreed.
"I'll just meet him after work, then," she decided.
"As you wish." Despite her arguments against the relationship, Freya was doing her best to be supportive of Aria, whatever her decision. She knew she couldn't shield the girl from the world, especially when she'd already seen so much of it.
Aria fussed with her hair in the dressing room after their shift ended, but it didn't do much good. The tank water just wasn't flattering.
"He won't care," Freya tried to assure her, "You're beautiful, no matter what your hair looks like. Eric's seen you like this, after all, and you never seemed to mind."
"He's different," Aria stated, then stopped short in the middle of combing. Why was he different? The easy answer was that she never felt the need to impress Eric. He was just an intern with a crush. By the time she'd started dating him, she'd already quit worrying about how he saw her. Kai wasn't the same. She was the land girl with the crush, now. She wanted him to only see her at her best. Was that really okay?
"You alright?" Freya asked when the girl stood frozen in thought for a minute.
"Yeah." Aria braided her wet hair, trying not to care about how it looked as she and Freya headed to the beach to meet Kai.
"I'll be here if you need me," Freya promised as she watched Aria climb down to the secluded beach on her own.
Kai was already there, waiting. He smiled as he saw Aria. "You came. I was worried you might not get my message."
"I got it," she said with a smile, reminding herself that it didn't matter that her hair was a mess. So what if she was standing in front of a handsome, merman prince whose hair looked great all the time? So what if he had a gorgeous tail while she wore jeans and an old jacket? She refused to act like a silly girl with a crush.
"Everything okay?" he asked with a concerned expression.
"That should be my line," she pointed out, coming to sit beside him, "You suddenly wanted to meet. Is something wrong?"
Kai shook his head and paused for a second. "So you're going to transform on the next full moon."
"As agreed."
"Right and we're going to have more time than ever together. I'm really excited and I thought it might be nice if you met my parents."
Aria could only stare at him blankly for a few minutes. "Your parents?"
It would be stressful enough to meet a boy's parents under normal circumstances and he was talking about introducing her to the king and queen of a merfolk kingdom. A king and queen who thought he was going to be marrying a princess. Aria felt just the slightest bit of panic at the prospect.
"I told them about you," he said, "I told them how nice you are and how you showed me all these interesting things on land. They want to meet you, now. I thought that might be good. I want to show them how amazing you are. I want them to understand how much you mean to me, too."
"Your parents want to meet me?" Some part of her brain realized she should probably be thrilled that he was talking about how much she meant to him, but the main part of her brain was screaming at her to run away before his parents realize she might be a threat to the arranged marriage. "Are you sure that's a good idea?"
"It will seem more suspicious if I don't introduce you, at this point," he commented, "If I say I don't want them to meet you, they'll want to know why and..." He shrugged, helplessly. "I'm sure it won't be so bad. They'll just talk to you for a little bit. They may have questions about the land since they can't leave the kingdom to transform. I promise they're not all that scary."
She resisted the urge to point out that they might not be scary to him only because he was their son. "Are you sure it will be okay? Won't they be mad if they find out that we..." She couldn't decide how to finish that sentence. What was she afraid of them finding out? That they kissed? That she had romantic interest in them? That she regularly ticked off the Glemoran princess? All of the above seemed most likely.
He took her hand. "It will be fine. I'll be right by your side, the whole time. I promise I won't let anything happen to you."
Aria looked down at the hand and sighed. "Alright. If it's that important, I'll do it."
"Great!" He smiled and kissed her cheek before pushing himself back into the water.
Aria watched him disappear, reminding herself that she was not just a girl with a crush. He liked her back, so there was no reason for her to feel like he was in control of the relationship. She didn't agree just because he held her hand. It was obviously important to him, so it was only right that she went along with the plan.
"I think it's a terrible idea," Freya announced as they walked home.
Aria had told her about meeting the king and queen. As expected, the nymph was against it.
"He promised it would be okay," she argued, "Besides, why shouldn't I want to meet merfolk royalty?" The obvious answer was because they might hate her, but she didn't feel the need to add that to her friend's concerns. "Besides, what's the worst that could happen?"
"They could refuse to let you leave and you could drown when you are forced back into human form."
Aria winced, but tried to joke it off. "Besides that?"
"They could just have you killed on the spot."
"There's no point in trying to scare me."
"There's every point!" Freya said, "You could die! Do you not understand that?"
Freya's tone gave her pause. Aria looked ahead, trying to convince herself that the nereid was over-reacting. "Surely, they wouldn't do that to their son's friends, especially not in front of him."
Freya sighed. "Aria, I don't know these people. I don't know what they will do and I can't promise you'll be safe if you meet them."
Aria bit her lip as she considered the dilemma. "You could come with me. I'd be safer if you came with me, right?"
"Yes," Freya admitted, "But even so..."
"It'll be okay." Aria took her hand and did her best to look unconcerned. "I just know it will."
So the night of the full moon, she met Kai on the beach and transformed, leaving her dress behind as she slipped into the water with Freya behind her. The nereid stayed barely visible, transforming herself into water, so she could follow unseen. She didn't want to draw more attention than necessary, after all.
Kai held Aria's hand as they swam and would smile at her from time to time.
"They'll love you," he said, "I just know they will."
Aria did her best to return his smiles, but her heart pounded in her chest and she felt like her gills weren't functioning properly when she tried to breathe.
They swan deep into the ocean as they had before, making their way through the dark tunnels until they reached the shining city of Valador. Despite her nerves, Aria was, once again, in awe of the beauty of the city. It was so much more beautiful than anything she could have imagined with its luminescent stones and the thousands of merfolk swimming around.
Kai pulled her along, gently, leading her to the building shining brightest and towering over the rest of the city. She simultaneously wanted to get closer to it and swim away as fast as she could. Kai's hand on hers prevented the second option, so they continued to draw nearer.
Outside the palace were merfolk with swords unlike any she had seen. She wanted to ask what they were made of, but her voice didn't seem to want to work right then. The guards smiled as the saw the prince.
"Their highnesses are waiting for you in the throne room," one said.
Kai nodded and pulled Aria inside, seemingly oblivious to her near-panic. She told herself that everything would be okay. Freya and Kai would keep her safe, no matter what. She did her best not to stare at the weapons on the merfolk throughout the palace. They were there to guard the prince, not kill land girls, right?
They came to a set of stone doors and Kai turned back to Aria, offering her a comforting smile. "Remember, I will be right with you the whole time. Nobody will hurt you while you are with me. My parents will see what a good person you are and they will love you, I promise."
"You make a lot of promises," she replied, weakly, knowing this was her last possible chance to run away.
"I keep my promises," he said, firmly, "I will protect you, no matter what."
Aria nodded her understanding and managed a weak smile. "Let's hope it doesn't come to that."
She turned back to the door as a guard opened it to let them inside. Once in the throne room, Aria forgot everything. The room was large and had a domed ceiling. There were enough luminescent stone to illuminate it all. She could see elaborate carvings and designs, covering every inch of the place. Across the room, were two thrones, each elegantly designed. Upon the thrones were seated the most noble merfolk Aria had ever seen.
The king had shorter hair than Aria would have imagined and he was clean-shaven. On his head was a crown of shells and stones. His tail was dark blue with a swirl of green.
The queen was a dark-skinned beauty whose long hair flowed around her. Her crown was more delicate than her husband's and her tail was turquoise.
Aria felt the urge to bow, but she wasn't sure if that was the appropriate thing to do for merfolk.
The queen smiled, making her look even more beautiful. "You must be Aria. We have heard so much about you."
Aria stood frozen, waiting to see if she was about to die.