"What was that about?" Talia asked as Serena returned to her side in front of the clams.
"I was just seeing them out. I didn't tell them anything because I don't know anything."
"And if you did know something?"
Serena was silent for a minute as she looked at a shell, almost ready to open. "It was Douglas. He's all grown up, but it was him."
"I told you not to name them, even then," Talia said, "You know better, now."
"I know." Serena didn't look at her. "Even so, that was him. You know what he's suffered and you expect me not to want to help in any way I can?"
"Our duty is to the kingdoms, not one child."
"I know," she insisted, "That doesn't mean I have to like it."
Talia frowned and laid a hand on her shoulder. "You know he has more trials ahead. I trust you didn't warn them."
"You say trials, as if there's some point to it." Serena's tone was bitter. "Isn't he just a sacrifice for the greater good or whatever?"
"You should watch your tone," Talia warned, "We can't lose faith in Spiro."
"Of course not. We must always trust our great leader."
Talia continued to frown as she watched the younger mermaid's expression. "You didn't tell them what's to come, correct?"
"No," Serena replied, "I didn't tell them anything."
"She's nearby," Freya announced, swimming faster, "I can sense her!"
Kai just barely managed to keep up with the nymph as she swam closer to the familiar shore, feeling relieved to know that Aria was in that direction. The pair paused as they saw Aria and Alizarin together.
"What are you doing?" Kai demanded, swimming closer.
Aria smiled as she saw him. "You're okay!" She wrapped him in a hug. "I was so worried." She pulled back and looked at the prince. "They didn't hurt you, did they?"
"No." Kai kept his gaze fixed on Alizarin as he positioned himself between Aria and him. "He didn't hurt you, did he?" He spoke to Aria, even though he was watching the Glemoran. "If he laid a hand on you..."
"He didn't do anything," Aria rushed to assure him, "He was helping me."
"Helping you?" Kai looked at her. "Why would he do that? He's a Glemoran; a servant to the royal family, no less."
"Even so, he helped me," Aria insisted, "I'd be in trouble if he hadn't."
Kai turned back to Alizarin. "This is some sort of trick, right? You lead her here and get her to trust you, then attack?"
Alizarin stayed silent, making no attempt to defend himself.
"It's nothing like that," Aria said, "He was just trying to help. You don't always have to assume the worst of him."
Kai gave her a sympathetic look. "Aria, I realize you don't understand certain things, but he's not just a Glemoran. He's a red-tail. They can't be trusted."
Aria didn't mean to slap the prince. She never even thought about it, but, suddenly, her hand was moving through the water and landing on his face. Of course, the pressure of the water made it little more than a tap, but he stared at her in shock.
"Aria..." His eyes were wide and his voice, baffled. "What was that?"
"Sorry." Her tone wasn't particularly apologetic. "You just really shouldn't say things like that. You don't know Rin, at all, but you keep making all these assumptions."
"You don't need to defend me," Alizarin said, softly.
"Rin?" Kai asked at the same time.
She pointed at Alizarin. "He's helped me, today. Yet, you continue to act like he is some sort of villain. Do you have any idea how that makes you sound?"
"Let it go, Aria," Alizarin told her, "There's no need for you to do this for me."
"Why not?" She turned to him. "Why are you so against allowing anyone to defend you?"
"Because that's probably what got you in trouble in the first place."
Aria just stared at him for a minute, not understanding. "How?"
"You defended me last month, remember?" he pointed out, "You stood up against Alexander and his friends. Did you think they would just let that go? I don't know who is accusing you, but I am willing to bet that's the reason."
Aria opened and closed her mouth a few times, wanting to argue, but realizing he was probably right. "That doesn't make it your fault. I wasn't wrong to defend you."
"Your safety is more valuable than mine," he said, "You shouldn't be put at risk for my sake."
"When do you get to worry about yourself?" Aria wondered. However, there was no time to get an answer because she felt a familiar tingling in her legs. She mentally swore and swam upwards as quickly as she could, breaking the surface just as her gills faded. She made her way to the secluded beach where her clothes waited, and pulled her dress on, quickly.
"Are you alright?" Freya asked, stepping onto the shore.
"I'm fine," Aria replied, immediately, "I made it up before I transformed."
"That's not what I meant," Freya told her with a sigh, "A lot happened between last night and today. If you transform again or even go to see the merfolk during the full moon, you'll be putting yourself at risk."
"Not if I find the necklace," Aria pointed out, "I can say it was a misunderstanding if it shows up, right? That seemed to be what was important to them."
"Yes, and where will you start searching?" Freya wondered, "Do you intend to get a metal detector and hope for the best? Even if it's on land, you have no clues."
"Not yet," Aria agreed, "But I'll figure something out."
"Aria," Kai called as he swam to the shore, "You made it back. I'm glad."
She nodded and looked towards the sea. "Where's Rin?"
"You mean the Glemoran?" Kai asked, "He went home, I think." He stared at her for a moment. "When did you start calling him Rin?"
"Does it matter?" she wondered, "We're friends, so I call him Rin. If you have a problem with that, I don't care."
Kai held his hands up in surrender. "I didn't mean to strike a nerve, but you really can't trust someone like that."
"Why not?"
"Because he's a Glemoran."
"And all Glemorans are evil?"
Kai paused at that. "Well...no, I guess not, but he's also a red-tail."
"So?"
"So they can't be trusted."
"I see," Aria said, "He can't be trusted because he can't be trusted. That makes perfect sense. Never mind that he saved my life tonight and has never actually done anything to hurt me or anyone else you can name. He just can't be trusted."
"Don't act like that. You don't understand what you're talking about."
"Because I'm just a clueless land girl?"
"Yes!" He fell silent as he realized what he'd said. "No. I didn't mean that."
"What did you mean?" she wondered, "Because it seems to me that you are going around, passing judgement without knowing what you really think. You just repeat what other people say and stand by your statements, no matter how ignorant they are."
"That's not fair."
"No?" Aria sighed and pushed some wet hair out of her face. "What do you honestly know about Rin?"
"He's a Glemoran and a red-tail. What else do I need to know?"
"What's his favorite color?"
Kai gave her a blank stare. "His what?"
"What are his hobbies?" she asked in return, "How does he spend his days? How many fights has he actually gotten into? Why is he so loyal to people who hurt him? Where does he go when he's out?"
"I don't know." He was too caught off guard by the randomness of the questions to give any proper response. "Why would I need to know any of that?"
"Because you think you can pass judgment on whoever you want, regardless of the evidence."
"Don't you think you're being a little harsh?"
"I could say the same thing to you whenever you talk to Rin."
Kai opened his mouth to respond, but shut it again when he realized he didn't have any argument to the contrary. "What do you want me to do?"
Aria had to consider the question for a moment before she figured it out. "Have a conversation with him. I don't care when or how. Just talk to him for a little while with an open mind. Be polite and get to know him. Think you can do that?"
"And if he proves incapable of being polite?"
"You'll be proven correct in your assumptions," Aria pointed out, "Won't you feel clever, then?"
He gave a sigh and nodded. "Fine. I'll have a conversation with him on one condition."
"What's that?"
"Promise you'll get this situation sorted out, somehow. I want to be able to see you without the fear of Glemoran guards abducting you. Deal?"
"Deal," she told him with a smile, "Now, you'd better get going. I have a feeling your parents are going to be worrying as it is."
"You're probably right about that," he agreed with a smile. He slipped back into the water and quickly disappeared.
"Well," Freya said when he was gone, "you've made a promise. How do you plan to keep it?"
Aria stared at the water and shrugged. "I have no idea."
"You know I was only joking about the metal detector," Freya said as they walked to the beach with the device in tow.
Aria had gotten some sleep, but it was her day off, so, as soon as she woke up, she headed back to the beach. "I know, but I don't have any better ideas, at the moment."
"So you decided to go with an idea that's almost guaranteed to fail."
"Have a little optimism," Aria told her, although, she realized this wasn't a very good idea. She just didn't want to sit around, doing nothing.
"Well, on the bright side, even if you don't find the necklace, you might find me a Christmas present, right?"
Aria stopped short at that, having completely forgotten the Holiday. "It's December, isn't it?"
"Of course it's December," Freya told her, disconcerted by the girl's forgetfulness, "Haven't you noticed the lights and everything lately?"
Aria felt her cheeks flush and she began running the detector over the sand to give herself something to do. "I've had a lot on my mind, lately."
"Well, I know that, but still..." She frowned at the girl. "This is a big Holiday. You should let go of your problems for a while and enjoy it."
"I'll be able to enjoy it more if I can find this necklace," Aria replied. The detector beeped, but it turned out to just be a quarter. "I don't guess the merfolk celebrate Christmas."
Freya shook her head. "They have other celebrations, but nothing like this."
"That's too bad. I would have liked to have gotten them gifts."
"That wouldn't be easy," Freya pointed out, "Human gifts don't always do well in the ocean, after all."
"I'd figure something out." Aria was picking up a ring the detector had found when a thought occurred to her. "Hey, this necklace is supposed to belong to a mermaid, right?"
Freya nodded. "Of course."
"And metal doesn't do well in water."
"It tends to rust," Freya agreed.
"Then wouldn't it be unlikely that the necklace would have any metal."
"That's a fair assumption."
Aria turned to look at her friend and indicated the metal detector. "Then what am I doing with this?"
Freya shrugged. "I tried to tell you it wouldn't work. You're the one who wanted to be optimistic."
Aria stared at the nymph for a minute and gave a dramatic sigh. "Sometimes, I wonder why I'm friends with you."
"Isn't it my winning charm?"
"Aria?" a familiar voice called out.
She turned to see Eric walking over to her and had to resist the urge to jump in the ocean as an escape. Instead she put on a smile and spoke in a friendly tone, "What brings you here?"
He rubbed his neck and gave an awkward smile. "I was just wandering around and wound up here, you?"
Aria held up her metal detector. "Treasure hunting." It seemed a better explanation than the truth. "I didn't realize you had the day off, too."
He nodded. "I guess we haven't really been paying attention to that, lately." He gestured toward the device. "Would you like some help with your search? I could dig when you find stuff. It might go faster."
Aria hesitated to agree. She didn't want to risk a misunderstanding. She still didn't know where they stood and didn't want him to get the wrong idea. "Well, Freya's already helping me..."
"It's fine," the nymph told her, "We can both help. That way, we can take turns and won't get tired as easily."
Aria stared daggers at her friend, knowing this was just part of Freya's plan to push the two of them together. However, she didn't want to say anything like that around Eric, so she took a breath and returned to smiling. "Alright, but only for a little while."
She resumed running the metal detector over the sand, but it was hard to act cheerful about it when she couldn't stop thinking about what a waste of time it was. They couldn't find the necklace that way and she needed to keep searching if she ever wanted to become a mermaid again.
"Aria, are you alright?" Eric asked when they'd been walking for a while, "We've found a few interesting things, but you don't seem to be into this."
Aria shrugged. "I have a lot on my mind. Sorry."
"It's fine," he promised, "I just want to make sure nothing's wrong." He fell silent as he thought for a minute. "Is it because I'm here? I know I kind of just intruded on your plans. I guess you wanted to hang out with just your friend and I made it awkward."
"That's not it," she rushed to assure him, feeling a pang of guilt, "I know things have been a little strained between us, but you're my friend, too, and I want to spend time with you. I really just have a lot on my mind, right now."
"Oh," he said, clearly feeling a little better, "Okay. Anything I can help with?"
Aria thought about it for a second and decided it couldn't hurt to have someone else looking. "Well, someone I know lost a necklace that's precious to her. We think she lost it around here and I really want to find it."
"Hence the metal detector."
Aria felt her cheeks flush. "Well, to be honest, it's probably not metal."
"What does it look like?"
"I don't actually know."
"Then how will you know if you find it?"
Aria looked to Freya for help. "Um, we were just kind of hoping we'd know, I guess. It's a really important necklace and if you see anything that might be it, I'd appreciate it if you'd let me know."
"You don't have a lot to go on, do you?"
Aria shrugged. "The situation is a little complicated, to be honest."
"Well, it's nice of you to want to help," he told her with a smile, "I'll definitely let you know if I see anything."
"Please, do." She looked at Freya. "We should probably be heading home, for now. I'm pretty tired."
"Well, you stayed up all night, so that's no surprise," she commented, "See you around, Eric."
"Sure." He watched them walk away and breathed a sigh. He hadn't wanted to admit that he had come to the beach with a vague hope of finding Angela. He didn't think that would do anything to decrease the awkwardness between them.
Eric still had feelings for Aria. He wasn't prepared to give up on her, especially for a girl he'd just met, but he couldn't help wanting to see Angela again. He ran a hand through his hair and looked out over the ocean, figuring he had as much a chance of finding the mysterious girl as Aria had of finding the necklace with so little information.
He kicked some sand as he walked away, realizing there wasn't much point in hanging around on the beach right then.
"Think any of the other nymphs might have seen something?" Aria wondered as she flopped down on their couch.
"I doubt it, but I can ask," Freya offered, "I don't want to get your hopes up, of course." She frowned as she considered the issue. "I could, at least, find out whose necklace you supposedly stole by asking some of the merfolk. I'd be gone for a few hours, at least, if I did that, though."
"It seems like that could be a big help," Aria commented, sitting up, "Especially, if you could find out what the necklace looked like."
"Right." Freya took a seat at the table, falling into a thoughtful silence for a few minutes. "Aria, what are you going to do if we can't find this or we find it and that's not enough to smooth things over?"
"Are you asking whether I'll still turn into a mermaid, despite the risks?"
"You shouldn't," Freya said, "You won't be able to go to Valador or Glemora and swimming around the ocean on your own is dangerous. You were lucky that Alizarin found you today, but you might not be so lucky next time."
"I know." Aria lay down with a sigh and stared up at the ceiling. "I guess you'd get your wish if I said I would never transform again. It'd be a load off your shoulders, right?"
"I want you to be safe," Freya admitted, "Even so, I don't want you to be miserable about it. If you remain a human, at this point, it should be your decision."
"Right." Aria closed her eyes as the weight of the issue hit her. "For now, let's focus on finding the necklace. We'll figure the rest out, later."
Freya looked at her for a moment and nodded. "Whatever you want, Aria."