It was the middle of November; and although fires had been lit in most rooms throughout the palace, there remained a bitter chill in the air. Outside was grey, and had been for some time now; an unmoving, unchanging blanket of cloud covered the sky, often bringing with it showers of rain. It was miserable, as one would expect for the beginning of winter. However, someone seemed to have forgotten to tell a certain former mermaid about the changing of season. She skipped and twirled her way around the halls of the Palace, wearing a thick, lilac dress, which twirled around as she did, her vibrant hair free from any constraints. Though if Carlotta hadn't insisted she wore something warmer she'd probably have picked out a light summer dress, one of her favourites. The dull weather had done nothing to lower her spirits.
She wasn't going anywhere in particular, just looking for new places to explore. Even having spent several months in Eric's home, she was still able to find rooms which she'd never come across before, and that was something she hoped to achieve today.
She was just passing by the doors to the barbican when she caught a sudden movement out the corner of her eye. The young princess turned, yet saw nothing more than a wall and a small table supporting a vase of flowers and a stack of paper work, probably left there by Eric when his want to be outside overpowered following instructions. Ariel giggled lightly at this, before another movement caught her eye. This time it was much easily to follow, and her eyes were drawn to something moving up the wall. Ariel narrowed her eyes and cocked her head slightly as she tried to identify the creature before her, but to no avail, she wasn't sure she'd ever seen one before.
It was fairly small, a little smaller than the palm of her hand; though its long legs made it look much bigger. Eight legs, Ariel counted. It was fast, having gotten from near the floor to about head height in mere seconds.
Ariel leaned closer to get a better look, but couldn't make out any distinct features. Was it dangerous? She tried to remember which animals Eric had told her to be careful around. Snakes, wasps, any animal protecting its young… Ariel checked to see if there were any others around it. Noting that it fitted none of these categories, Ariel concluded that it must be friendly; else Eric would have warned her about it.
She held out a single finger, edging closer to stroke it. However, as soon as her finger came into contact with it, the creature startled and fell from the wall, electing a squeal of surprise from Ariel, who backed away quickly as it crawled towards her feet. She watched it carefully until it came to a stop against the wall and then, breathing heavily, she ran back the way she'd come.
She didn't know what it was, but she decided then and there that she didn't like it; it had just tried to attack her after all. Maybe it just didn't like being touched? Either way, she needed to find Eric.
That wasn't a difficult task. She soon found him, leaning against the doorframe of Grimsby's office, and by the sound of it, he'd done something wrong. Ariel decided to hang back for a bit.
"Eric, those documents should have been finished by now, how can you have lost them, I gave them to you directly?" scolded Grimsby.
"Easy Grim, easy, I'll find them, I must have just put them down somewhere" replied Eric sheepishly. Grimsby sighed heavily, and Ariel stepped closer.
"It's this sort of carelessness that's giving the council doubts Eric, you need to be more organised."
"I know, I know, I just… I-I got distracted."
"That's not good enough" said Grimsby shortly. He was about to continue, but stopped himself when Ariel's head appeared round the door. Following Grimsby's gaze, Eric eyes locked with Ariel, who had somehow managed to get to the point where she was now next to him without him noticing.
"Hey" he said softly, though Ariel could see that he was flustered.
"Is everything alright?" she asked, temporarily forgetting her own problems. Eric managed a small smile.
"Fine," he replied, "I've just… misplaced some paperwork."
Ariel's lips curled into a loving smile. Eric was always loosing things, getting distracted far too easily by anything that would let him escape his duties as ruler, if only for a short while.
"There's a stack of paper upstairs" she said helpfully, causing Eric to relax considerably. He turned back to Grimsby with a devilish smile.
"See Grim, what did I tell you?" His boyish charm caused Ariel's smile to widen; and she followed him as he turned and made his way towards the staircase, away from Grimsby's disapproving eye.
"Thank you, Grim was would've had my head if I'd lost those" said Eric, as Ariel lead the way to the corridor where she'd been only moments ago.
"That's alright, I'm glad I could help," Ariel began, before remembering why she'd been seeking out Eric in the first place. "Can I ask you something?" Eric nodded, willing her to continue.
"Well, there was something – an animal I think – on the wall, I don't know what it was, I was just wondering if it was dangerous?"
"Well I can't answer that if you don't know what it was" replied Eric, one corner of his mouth turning up, showing his dimples.
Ariel rolled her eyes, until realising that they'd reached the doors to the barbican. She immediately moved away from the wall where she seen the creature, and scanned the floor in case it had moved again. It hadn't; in fact it was exactly where she'd last seen it.
"There!" she cried, pointing down to where the wall met the floor. Eric followed her finger, and saw what he was certain was the biggest spider he'd ever seen in his life. He turned his gaze back to Ariel, who had pressed herself against the opposite wall.
"It's a spider," he stated, "and no, they're not particularly dangerous, well, the ones here aren't, though they can bite you."
Despite Eric's assurance that it wasn't a threat, Ariel couldn't help but feel a slight twinge of fear whenever looked at it. Perhaps just because of the fright it had given her earlier.
"Is it meant to be inside?" she queried, deciding to keep her distance in case it decided to jump at her again.
"Well, there's no harm in it being inside, though most people prefer them not to be."
"Can you… put it outside… please?" Ariel hung her head in embarrassment; it seemed silly to be scared of something so small. After all, she'd fought a sea witch before, though it wasn't as if she hadn't been afraid then as well; it's just that something as simple as a spider seemed nothing compared to that. Still, she was relieved when Eric agreed to get rid of the spider.
In all honesty, Eric himself wasn't too keen on spiders, but he wasn't particularly scared of them, and he certainly didn't want to come across as weak in front of Ariel. Bending down, he cupped his hands and inched closer to the arachnid. Knowing that Ariel was watching his every move intently, he took a deep breath and quickly scooped up the spider. But before he could get his other hand over it, it began crawling up the young Prince's arm, causing him to jump back and yelp in a mixture of surprise and fear; shaking the spider off wildly. Ariel too gave a soft scream as it came crawling in her direction, and ran behind Eric, peering over his shoulder.
Eric hung his head to hide the darkening colour of his cheeks, and mumbled a few things, though not loud enough for anyone but himself to hear.
"Eric, did it hurt you?" asked Ariel, genuinely concerned that Eric's cry might have been caused by pain. Eric seemed shocked at her question, merely because he had half expected her to just laugh at him. Although, he supposed he should've known better, Ariel wasn't at all like that.
"No," he replied, "it just surprised me, that's all."
The two of them proceeded to stare at the spider, until Eric realised that Ariel was still hiding behind him. Slowly, he turned around, and took her hands in his.
"Ariel, are you afraid of spiders?"
The former mermaid looked up at Eric with sad eyes, though she had no reason to be upset.
"I don't know," she said quietly, "I didn't even know what they were until today. Why? Is that wrong?"
"No, no! Of course not, everyone's scared of something. In fact there are a lot of people who are afraid of spiders, Carlotta, for example." Eric replied hastily, not wanting Ariel to think she'd done something wrong. Ariel nodded, and peered round Eric to look at it again.
"It's still there," she stated. "What are we going to do?"
Eric thought for a moment, glancing around the hallway to look for anything that could assist him. His eyes came to rest on the stack of paperwork, and he immediately had an idea; though this one was much better thought out.
"Ariel could you open those doors for me please?" he asked, taking two documents from the top of the pile, not bothering to pay any attention to exactly what they were. "The key should be in that draw."
Ariel did as she was told, and hastily unlocked the doors to the barbican, noting that Eric was once again approaching the spider.
Being as quick as he could, whilst at the same time being careful, Eric moved one of the documents under the spider. As he suspected, the arachnid began moving quickly even before he'd fully stood up, as so he moved the second document under the first, catching the spider when it made a break for it. He kept up this juggling act until he was a good distance away from the doors to the Palace, and then let it fall to the ground, before watching it crawl away.
The Prince turned to see that Ariel had taken a few cautious steps onto the barbican.
"It's okay," he called, "it's gone now."
Ariel didn't look convinced, but she trusted Eric; and so the Princess made her way out to join him. Eric took her hand a lead her to the wall, looking out over the ocean. The waves were given life by the bitter wind that came with this time of year, and Ariel leant into Eric for warmth. He gladly complied with her request, and wrapped both arms around her.
"I'm sorry," she said, "I'm pathetic."
Eric simply shook his head and pressed his lips to her temple.
"You're not," he replied simply, "it's a very common phobia."
Ariel sighed, and rested her head against Eric's chest, thinking back to their conversation inside.
"You said everyone was afraid of something."
"That's right."
"So what are you afraid of?"
It was a perfectly acceptable question, and one that Ariel had every right to know the answer to, especially after what had just happened. So why was it that Eric now found himself lost for words? He sighed. This was the woman he loved, if there was anyone he could tell, it was her. He looked down to see that she was now staring up at him expectantly, blue eyes the colour of the ocean that seemed to be able to pry every little thing out of him.
"Failure," he replied, "disappointing people… losing the people I love." He scoffed, though there was very little humour in it, and ducked his head. "You're lucky it's only spiders you're afraid of."
Ariel noted the sadness in his eyes as he answered her question, as if he'd experienced all three of those things. Suddenly her fear of spiders seemed insignificant. She placed one hand on his cheek, and lifted his head so that he was now looking at her.
"You're not a failure, nor are you a disappointment," she said gently, "you couldn't be even if you tried. And I think everyone's scared of losing the people they care about."
Eric smiled slightly at Ariel's attempt to cheer him up. If there was one thing she could do, it was make people happy. He cupped her face in his hands, and lowered his head, capturing her lips in a tender kiss. Ariel took his hands, and lowered them to the side before breaking apart and resting her forehead against his.
"I love you" she whispered.
Eric chuckled, and kissed the bridge of her nose, pulling her against his chest once again.
"I love you too," he replied, "and I promise, if I can help it, I'll keep every spider away from you." Ariel smiled, wrapping her arms lovingly around her Prince.
"I know you will."