Eric decided to go for a walk that night. The full moon shone brightly on the beach and he needed to clear his head, so he took off his shoes and walked through the soft sand. He noticed lights in the distance and wondered if there was an event going on. He figured it seemed like a good night for such a thing.
"Hello, stranger," a lilting voice said from nearby.
Eric paused, recognizing that voice. He had thought of it several times, after all. "Angela, wasn't it?"
He turned to find her perched on a nearby fence, her bare feet dangling off the side. She smiled brightly at him, he pale skin nearly glowing in the moonlight. She looked more beautiful than he remembered with her dark hair contrasting her fair skin. She was wearing a white dress and looked more like a porcelain doll that an actual girl.
"You remember me," she noted, cheerfully.
"Hard to forget." He stared at her, searching for any sign of wings, even though he knew how insane that was. "I was beginning to think I had imagined you."
"I assure you, I am as real as you are." She hopped down from the fence and walked over. "You seem more lucid tonight than last time we met."
"Yeah." He rubbed his neck. "Sorry about before. I let my friend talk me into doing something stupid." He gave an awkward laugh. "To be honest, I think I had some hallucinations that night. I could have sworn I saw you sprout wings and fly away."
"Oh, yes," she said, "I do that from time to time."
He laughed at that. "I'm sure. So how have you been?"
"I've been well, and you?"
"I've been alright." He decided not to mention his romantic issues. It didn't seem appropriate at the time. "So do you live around here? This seems to be the only place I find here."
"I was at a party," she explained, "I needed some air, though. It's difficult to fly away when stuck inside."
"A bit difficult to fly without your wings," he pointed out.
She held out one of her arms and looked it over. "I don't feel like using them just yet. I've found something to catch my interest here, after all." She smiled at Eric, making him blush.
He looked away to hide it. "I would love to see that, sometime."
"Would you, now?" She laced her fingers behind her back and turned to face him, walking backwards as they talked. "Would you like to fly with me sometime?"
"What I wouldn't give to do that," he said with a dreamy smile.
She stared at him for a minute. "I wonder about that..."
When he gave her a blank look, she smiled and turned around, running towards the water.
"What are you doing?" he asked.
"Come closer and I'll tell you."
He shrugged and dropped his shoes on the sand before stepping into the water with her. "So what is it?"
She kicked some water at him.
"Hey," he yelled, backing up.
She laughed and bit her lip.
"Oh, it's on," he said, bending down to slash her.
Angela squealed and splashed more water at him.
Eric laughed as they chased each other around in the water and steadily became soaked.
At one point, the current made him trip. He accidentally knocked her over and fell on top of her. They continued to laugh as the current washed over them, then drew back.
Eric stared at Angela, her cheeks now glistening. She stopped laughing as she looked up at him. He leaned closer, nearly bringing his lips to hers before the current return and soaked them both, again. They coughed and spluttered as they sat up.
"I'm sorry," he said.
"It's fine." She pushed some wet hair out of her face. "You can hardly control the ocean."
"No, that's not..." He sighed. "Listen, there's already a girl in my life. We're not really together right now, but..."
"I see." She cleared her throat and crossed her arms over her chest. "I didn't mean to cause any trouble."
"It's not your fault," he promised, "I shouldn't have let things go as far as they did."
She gave him a warm smile and kissed his cheek. "If anything changes, you can fly away with me any time."
His smile didn't reach his eyes, but he nodded.
Angela headed towards the distant lights and Eric watched her, wondering what Aria was doing that night.
Aria was floating in front of the Valadoran king and queen, fearing for her life.
The king floated closer, looking Aria over. She felt like she was shrinking under his gaze. She wanted to say something clever to prove her worth and convince them to keep her alive. She wondered if she should go ahead and start begging.
The king placed a hand on her head and smiled. "She's so cute!" He looked at his son. "You didn't tell us she was cute."
"I think I mentioned it..."
"You said she was pretty," his father corrected, "You never told us she was so adorable!" He looked back at the queen. "Can we keep her?"
"We can't keep her," his wife replied, calmly, "She's a human, after all."
"But she might turn into a mermaid when the comet passes. Isn't that right, Aria?"
She stared at him, blankly, the conversation not going at all how she'd expected.
"You mustn't put pressure on the girl, dear," the queen said, "Besides, don't you think you're being rather rude?"
His eyes widened in shock. "Of course, you're right!" He turned back to Aria. "I am Dylan, king of Valador and this is my lovely wife, Darya. We're both pleased to meet you, Aria. Please, forgive us for not introducing ourselves immediately."
"I think only one of us needs to be forgiven," Darya commented as she swam over to her husband's side, "I hope you will forgive him. As you can see, he gets a little excited, at times."
"I like cute things," he argued, "I can't help myself." He suddenly wrapped his arms around Kai. "Such as our adorable son. Isn't he the cutest, ever?"
"Father!" Kai protested, giving Aria an embarrassed grin and mouthing, "sorry".
Aria stared at them for a moment before she started to laugh. She covered her mouth to hide it, but it took her a moment to get the fit of giggles under control.
"I'm sorry," she said when she stopped laughing, "I was just really nervous about coming here and I realize, now, I had nothing to worry about."
"Aw, she's so cute when she laughs," the king said as he released his son, "I want to keep her."
"You should really stop saying that," Darya told him, "Aria might take offense."
"It's fine," Aria promised. She was unspeakably relieved by their behavior. It turns out that the king and queen of Valador were just your usual, embarrassing parents.
"Fine, fine," King Dylan said as he backed away a little, "Welcome to Valador, Aria. Feel free to stay as long as you like."
"We would certainly like to spend some time talking to you, if that's alright," Darya told her, "We haven't been able to visit the land, of course, but our son tells us stories. We thought you might be able to explain things a little better."
"I can certainly try," Aria replied, thinking about the various things she would be unable to make them understand.
"First of all," the king announced, "I was hoping you could explain these birds that our son told us about. I've seen some when I visited the surface as a young man, but I never understood them."
Aria stared at him for a moment, not fully understanding. "You want me to explain birds?"
He nodded. "For example, how do they fly? I assume it's like the sirens, but we don't deal with them, much."
"Right." Aria thought for a few minutes and decided she would just have to do her best.
She told them as much as she knew about the creatures and they had plenty more questions. They asked about everything Kai had mentioned to them and Aria did her best to provide answers, even if she knew very little. It was tempting to be like Scuttle from The Little Mermaid and just make everything up, but she couldn't do that. She wanted them to like her, after all.
After about an hour, they had exhausted their questions and seemed to be doing their best to process everything they had learned.
"The land certainly sounds wild," Darya commented.
Aria just smiled at her. "It seems so mundane to me, I suppose. Your world is the one that fascinates me." She gestured around the room. "We don't have places quite like this on land."
"You are welcome to ask any questions you like," the queen told her, "After all, you have patiently answered ours. It is only fair that we do the same."
"That's very kind."
"I was hoping to show her around the city some more." Kai had been silent through his parents' questions, but he spoke up, now. "I only got to show her some of it last time and I can answer any questions she has."
"Of course," Darya said with a nod, "We did not mean to keep you so long. Please, go have fun."
"Make sure to come back and visit us," Dylan commanded with a smile.
"I will," Aria promised as she allowed Kai to lead her out of the palace.
"I hope they didn't make you too uncomfortable," he said when they were a safe distance away.
Aria shook her head. "They were nice." She smiled at him. "You're dad's funny."
Kai gave an awkward laugh. "Yeah, he really likes anything he deems 'cute'. It can get a little awkward, especially when he wants to keep all the cute things in the palace."
"Has that been a big issue before?"
"He once found a shark pup and tried to keep it. He said he could train it not to bite anyone."
Aria laughed. "Sounds like he and Freya would get along." She looked back, wondering if her friend were still following. She didn't see her, but that wasn't really proof that she wasn't there. Aria figured she might as well just avoid doing anything that might annoy the nymph. "That doesn't seem so weird, though. On land, people often adopt dangerous animals like snakes and tigers."
"I think I've seen a snake before, but what's a tiger?"
"Remind me to take you to the zoo, next month."
"It's a date," he promised with a grin, making her blush.
She looked straight ahead, focusing on the sights around her. The city seemed impossibly big to exist in a deep-sea cavern. She wondered how many places like this there could be in the ocean. She couldn't even begin to guess. She knew so little of the sea had been explored and there was no telling what might be found there.
"You're awfully quiet," Kai said, "Is everything okay?"
"Yes," she replied with a smile, "Everything's perfect."
"Stop right there!" someone shouted as they approached the pair. There were two mermen, each with a sword, similar to the ones at the palace, but apparently made of a darker material.
"Glemoran soldiers," Kai whispered to her, "What could they want?"
"You're Aria, correct?" one of the guards demanded, "We were told you would be found in the company of the prince."
"What's this about?" Kai demanded, in turn, positioning himself in front of her, "Bear in mind that you are in Valador and will treat my guests with the proper respect."
"Not when those guests have been accused of theft by friends of the Glemoran royal family," a guard replied, gruffly.
"I didn't steal anything."
"She wouldn't do something like that," Kai added.
"Until she can prove her innocence, she is to be taken into custody," the other guard told them, seeming to have barely heard their protest.
"You can't do that," Kai argued, "Aria wouldn't steal anything and she has to return to land before the evening."
"Then she must prove it, quickly."
Aria stared at them in disbelief. "What exactly did I steal?" She wouldn't allow her life to be threatened when she didn't even know what she was accused of doing.
"A necklace belonging to the son of a lord." The guard barely looked at her as he spoke. "He says you took it while he was on land. Tell us where you hid it and we can fetch the item. After that, you will be free to return home, as long as you promise not to come near them again."
"I didn't steal anything!" Aria protested, "How am I supposed to return something I didn't take?"
"Then you can prove your innocence in Glemoran court. Come with us."
The soldiers drew their blades.
"She's not going anywhere with you." Kai gave her hand a squeeze and swam away, forcing her to follow.
He swam so fast, she almost couldn't keep up. The guards followed close behind and she had to resist the urge to look back.
"Where are we going?" she asked as she swam.
"I'll get you home," he promised, "You'll be safe on land."
She bit her lip and nodded, hoping he was right. They made it to the tunnels and slipped inside with the guards right behind them. Kai expertly maneuvered through the tunnels, but the guards managed to keep up. Suddenly, Aria felt an arm around her tail and she was jerked back, her hand slipping from Kai's grip. He turned back as she wrestled with the guards and he helped her fight them off.
"Aria, go!" he shouted, fighting to keep the soldiers from getting to her.
In a panic, she swam into a tunnel, not able to think about which one it was. She swam as fast as she could, knowing she'd be in trouble if they caught her. After several minutes and as many different tunnels, she risked a look back. No one was there.
"Kai?" she called out, but there was no answer.
Aria looked around at the tunnels, realizing she had no idea which ones she had gone through or which ones would get her out of there. Her heart pounded as she felt panic building. Even without help from the Glemorans, she could very well die down there.
She debated her options. She could wait and hope Kai found her, somehow. She could call for help, but the Glemoran guards would be just as likely to find her as the prince. She could try to find her way out of the tunnels on her own, but that wasn't very likely.
Aria sighed, deciding her best bet was to try and go back the way she came. Maybe, she could find Kai. She looked at the tunnels, trying to guess which one she came through. She felt like it was probably the one on the left, so she swam back into it. She swam through several other tunnels, using her intuition. She knew that probably wasn't the best idea, but it was all she had.
She realized pretty soon that it was taking too long. If she were going to find Kai, it would have happened by then. She was about to turn back and try again when she saw something at the end of the tunnel. She realized the darkness was receding there. With her human eyes, she would never have been able to tell the difference, but her mermaid eyes were much better suited for the task.
Aria swam for the light and felt a surge of relief as she left the tunnel. However, that relief was short-lived, since she had no idea where in the ocean she was. She could be several miles out to sea. If she swam straight up, there was no telling where she would find herself and she was unlikely to find any helpful merfolk on the surface.
She knew she wouldn't have much of a choice, soon, but she figured she had, at least, another hour to figure it out. Just maybe, she could find someone to help. There had to be some merfolk swimming around here, right?
A school of fish passed Aria and she couldn't help smiling as she watched them. Having no better guides, she decided to follow them for a while. They swam on, completely oblivious of the girl following them. She tagged along for several minutes before something else caught her eye, drawing her away from the fish.
Not far away were marble columns and an elegant archway. The design was mostly eroded, but it was still beautiful and clearly part of a sunken city.
Unable to resist, she swam towards it and found more remnants of ancient buildings. There were even a few rooms left, although they were decaying. She swam into a few and found faded carvings. There was a statue of a woman, her face mostly eroded by the salty water, but her figure still clear.
Aria wondered what civilization this had been. She didn't know how many cities were under the ocean and she couldn't begin to guess what this had been on the surface. She realized that it was possible she was the first human to see these structures in years and that filled her with so much excitement that she nearly forgot her current predicament.
The ruins were all more spectacular than anything she had seen on land, but Aria was soon drawn to a large, mostly intact building. It looked like some sort of ballroom with a doorway she figured could fit a whale. It was too dark to see inside, but she knew it had to be incredible.
She swam closer to the building, eager to see what it was like inside. Suddenly, a hand clapped over her mouth and an arm wrapped around her middle, drawing her backwards as she tried to scream.