Rubbing away any possible wrinkles in her outfit, Jasmine looked up at the lovely castle. She had been standing on the beach that the castle looked over while she readied herself for the meeting. Her father had suggested that they expand their allies to as many kingdoms around the world that they could. Which is the reason she was here in Denmark instead of home in Agrabah. Not that she didn't want to come, she loved traveling to new places. She was just nervous, it was her first time doing this.
Jasmine had heard many stories about this kingdom, the main one being that the queen use to be a mermaid. This didn't help Jasmine's nerves at all. The last time she met a mermaid, things didn't go to well. Forcing those thoughts out of her head Jasmine tried to focus on the ocean. Watching the crashing waves had a calming effect on her. Feeling ready she walked to the castle gates. Announcing her presence to the guards they immediately welcomed her and began escorting her inside. Taking one last look at the crashing waves, Jasmine followed them inside.
"Her Highness Princess Jasmine has arrived!" Ariel heard a guard bellow up the staircase. Ariel stood from her vanity, smoothing her dress so that it properly cascaded over her bulging belly. She turned from the mirror and headed for the stairs.
Stepping out of their bedroom, Ariel approached the balcony overlooking the foyer, spotting the dark-haired princess patiently waiting with a guard. The redhead took the banister and carefully stepped down, putting a warm smile on her face. "Welcome to Denmark," she said to the princess as she walked down.
Jasmine watched as the red-haired queen descended down the staircase. She glanced down at the queen's belly, which had a slight bulge, and quickly glanced back up. She suspected she was pregnant but didn't dare mention anything for fear of being rude.
"Thank you for having me your Majesty" Jasmine said politely, smiling at the queen. "You have a lovely home and I am honored to be here visiting. I'm going to be honest, I am quite jealous of the view your castle has. It definitely beats mine, all I ever see is sand."
Looking at queen Ariel, Jasmine began to doubt the rumors she had heard about her. Nothing about her seemed mermaid like to her.I wonder if she would get offended if I asked her about it.
"Oh, please," Ariel scowled, waving her hand in dismissal before smiling at the princess. "Just call me Ariel." She walked towards Jasmine and embraced her, nodding to the guard that he was no longer needed.
"Thank you," the redhead breathed, gazing around. "Isn't it fantastic? I mean, I'm sure your castle is wonderful, too. I do enjoy sand…" she trailed off.
Jasmine was surprised by the hug from Ariel but welcomed it. She was very friendly and Jasmine felt at ease around her. "Well I guess that makes sense with the lovely beach you have around your castle," Jasmine replied. "We don't have much water around Agrabah. It's mostly just the river and an oasis or two."
She looked around the lovely castle, seeing many hallways and doors. Wondering where the rest of the royal family was Jasmine asked, "Will I just be meeting with you today?"
The redhead nodded. "Yes, just me. My husband is out of town for the day," she sighed. "It's a quiet day around here, which is nice for a change. "And my daughter is, uh.. With my dad for the day." She smiled a bit, awkwardly twirling a red curl in her finger.
Jasmine was both surprised and relieved. Not that she hadn't wanted to meet with the rest of the royal family, she just found one on one meetings much easier to handle.
"It's just us girls then," she said with a smile. "Is your father from this kingdom or is she away visiting in his own?" Jasmine asked the red-haired queen. She hoped she wasn't sounding too nosy.
Ariel smiled in return and nodded. "Yup!" she chirped, "Just us." She started walking further into the castle when Jasmine mentioned Ariel's dad. She stopped walking, instinctively curling a red strand of hair around her finger.
"Oh, um, no, no.." she shook her head, biting he lip. "He's, uh.. He lives in a different kingdom," the former mermaid attempted to explain.
Jasmine noticed the queen looking a bit nervous. Maybe she doesn't get along with her father Jasmine thought. "If you don't mind me asking, what kingdom? Is it near here? I always thought this one was the only in Denmark."
Suddenly Jasmine realized she was asking a lot of questions. "You know what, you don't have to answer all these questions. I'm sorry. You invite me into your home and all I do is bombard you with questions." She looked to the queen with an apologetic smile.
"Uh.." Ariel started. "Atlantica. It's near here, kinda. But it isn't very well-known. I, um, you probably haven't heard of it." The redhead shrugged and waved a hand in dismissal. "But no, it isn't one of the kingdoms of Denmark. It's one little kingdom, really."
When Jasmine started apologizing, Ariel immediately felt guilty. Am I sounding too awkward? I don't want to make her uncomfortable.The former mermaid smiled at the other princess. "Oh, no, don't be sorry. I'm just as curious as you are, really." She giggled and decided to ask Jasmine a question. "What about your father? Does he live in the same kingdom as you?"
"Hmm," Jasmine tried to recall ever hearing of a kingdom called Atlantica, but nothing came to mind. "You're right, I haven't heard of it."
Glad that Ariel was curious as well, Jasmine gladly answered her questions. "My father lives in the palace with me. He's actually the ruling Sultan right now till my husband is properly trained to replace him." Pausing, Jasmine wondered if she should explain about Aladdin. Deciding it would help her understand she explained, "My husband, Aladdin, isn't from royalty. He was…was just commoner when I met him." Jasmine nervously waited to see what Ariel's reply to that would be. She had met a few people who looked down on Aladdin because of his past and Jasmine really hoped the queen wasn't one of them.
Ariel was surprised. "Oh, so your father is the Sultan! I had no idea.." She mentally scolded herself for not connecting Jasmine, the princess, with the Sultan.
She noticed Jasmine's nervous expression when explaining about her husband, so Ariel tried to make her feel more comfortable. "That's so interesting!" They had reached the dining table, which was enveloped by large windows, giving a clear view of the calm, beautiful beach. Ariel sat down, motioning for Jasmine to do so as well. "So, if you don't mind my asking," Ariel started, biting her lip. "How did you meet him?"
Sitting down at the large dining room table, Jasmine answered the queen's question. "Well, it's kind of an interesting story. I had actually run away from the palace. My father had been sending suitors left and right to meet me and I wanted nothing to do with them. So I left. I'd never been outside the palace before and didn't really know how things worked. I ended up getting in trouble with one of the fruit merchants. He was about to cut my hand off when Aladdin showed up and convinced him I was his crazy sister and that I couldn't be blamed for my actions." Jasmine couldn't help but laugh at the memory, she remembered thinking that the he was the crazy one. "Then he took me to where he lived and we just got to talking. He was the first person who really got me." A light blush appeared on Jasmine's cheeks and a dreamy expression crossed her face for a moment. "Sorry, that was bit of a long story," the princess apologized to Ariel.
Ariel smiled, always a sucker for romance. "No no, don't be sorry," she said. "I think it's wonderful." The princess sighed, resting her head on her hand, which was propped on the table. "Sometimes you just need to escape, you know?"
"Yea, most people don't seem to realize that," Jasmine said, smiling at Ariel. Curious about the queen's love life, she said "Well, enough about me. Tell me about how you and your husband met. It's probably simpler than my story." Jasmine was sure that Ariel and King Eric met like most other royal couples met, either they were arranged or one of them was presented to the other as a suitor.
Ariel chuckled awkwardly and shrugged, starting to twirl a red curl. "Well, it's really not that simple.." she started, biting her lip as she straightened up. "
Noticing Jasmine's expression, yet a bit hesitant to reveal so much about her past, Ariel started hesitantly, "Well, we met on the beach. This exact one, actually. I was, um… lost." Ariel wasn't embarrassed about her past life, but she didn't like it to be known to everyone, even though practically the whole kingdom knew.
Her eyes sparkled with interest. "Aww, that sounds sweet." Jasmine looked out the large windows, which gave a perfect view of the lovely beach surrounding the castle. Seeing the warm sand and peaceful waves, Jasmine imagined hundreds of different scenarios of how the two could have met. "So you just wondered onto the beach and he found you? Hmm, must have been romantic to meet at such a beautiful place."
The former mermaid followed Jasmine's gaze to the ocean, admiring the sparkling water as well. "Well," she sighed, before turning back to face Jasmine. "Kinda. I guess. And well, it wasn't exactly romantic," she giggled. "There was.." she paused, thinking to herself for a moment, "bad communication between us, at first."
She turned to look at the redhead with furrowed brows. "Bad communication? Did the two of you speak different languages?" Jasmine was confused by what Ariel meant by that. "Or did you just not get along?" she guessed.
Ariel couldn't help but giggle. "Well, not exactly," she said, still laughing as she felt more relaxed about the subject. "I, uh.. Well, I couldn't speak at the time. It's kinda complicated." She exhaled, blowing her bangs away from her eyes.
Interested, Jasmine leaned closer and propped her elbows on the table with her chin resting on her hands. "You couldn't talk? That must have been difficult. Obviously you aren't a mute, so what caused that?"
Ariel exhaled, relaxing her shoulders. "Well, yes, it was difficult, that's for sure." She giggled, remembering the attempted gestures she had made for Eric to explain what had happened to her. Taking a deep breath, the redhead looked at Jasmine and responded quickly, "ItradeditforlegssoIcouldmeetEricandhewouldkissmeandmakemehumanforever…" She bit her lip and cringed a bit as she said it, hoping the Agrabah princess wouldn't find Ariel.. strange. Leaning back from the table, she wrapped her arms around her pregnant stomach and waited for Jasmine's response.
The queen had spoken so fast Jasmine needed a moment to process what she had exactly said. Slowly, Jasmine said "You…traded your voice for…legs?" That statement had left Jasmine completely baffled, confusion evident on her face. She could tell by Ariel's face that she was worried about what she would think.
After a few seconds of imaging all these crazy scenarios of why Ariel didn't have legs, it hit her. "Oh! So the rumors of you being a mermaid are true!" Jasmine blurted out.
Ariel awkwardly coughed a bit, not expecting Jasmine to be so blunt. She quickly jolted forward, one hand still around her stomach as she tucked some hair behind her ear. "Rumors… What rumors!?" she asked anxiously, desperately hoping people weren't gossiping about her.
Despite her surprise at Jasmine's response, Ariel couldn't admit that she hadn't been expecting it. Almost every royal who visited seemed to know about her story, either from Eric herself or someone else. Maybe before they came, they were told a brief background of Eric and Ariel. If so, clearly Ariel's past was not something to be left out.
Jasmine jumped back a little as the queen jolted forward asking about the rumors she has heard. Mentally kicking herself, Jasmine couldn't believe she had just blurted that out so bluntly. Taking a deep breath she answered, "Well, you know. It was just whispers, nothing bad or anything. Just that…well just that you were a mermaid. Used to be a mermaid. No offence to you, but you must know that that would be something of interest for others to talk about."
Jasmine pulled her long ponytail over her shoulder and began twirling and playing with the end of it. Feeling a bit awkward, Jasmine didn't want to ask the question she had…but she was so curious. "So…are they really true?"
Ariel bit her lip, and seeing Jasmine twirl her hair, Ariel started to do so as well. She sighed deeply before looking at Jasmine and whispering quietly, "Yes." Though, of course, Ariel had absolutely no regrets about her life as a mermaid, whenever she told other royalty, she became very nervous and anxious. She almost was afraid they wouldn't take her seriously, think she was lying to seem special, anything. If she ever ruined any relations between her and Eric's kingdom and another, she didn't know what she would do.
Jasmine just stared at Ariel for a moment before shrugging her shoulders and saying, "Hmmm, cool. You know you are much nicer than the last mermaid I met." She couldn't believe that this woman was mermaid, well a former mermaid, she seemed so human. But she knew the queen wouldn't lie to her, she just had the sense that Ariel wasn't a liar.
"If you don't mind me asking, how come you're human now?" Jasmine asked curiously. She couldn't imagine it being all that easy to just leave your home in the sea and just walk on into the human world.
Ariel sighed, mentally preparing herself to tell the story she had told at least 1000 times during the course of her marriage. Leaning forward again, she rested her arms on the mahogany table and blew her bangs out of her eyes, looking at Jasmine. "Well.. It's kind of a long story," she warned.
"I don't mind," Jasmine replied. Realizing though that the queen might not want to tell the story she quickly added, "Unless of course you aren't comfortable sharing. I'm sure you must get asked that question a lot."
Ariel waved a hand. "I do, but it's alright." She took a deep breath and leaned back into her chair, criss-crossing her arms across her belly.
"So, yes, I was a mermaid," she started. "For 16 years. But I never felt I belonged. I just wanted to be human. It was all I ever dreamed about, and I just knew that one day, somehow, I would be one." She sighed, remembering the many times she would gaze up at the surface through the break in her grotto.
"One night, I climbed up the side of a ship, Eric's ship. I saw him celebrating his birthday and was just in complete awe of him. Being the teenager I was, of course I was convinced that I was in love with him." She giggled at her naivety. "But my Daddy, King Triton.. Yeah, he didn't really like the whole idea. So I went to the sea witch," she shuddered, "Ursula. I made a deal with her; she would give me legs if she could take my voice." Ariel took a deep breath. "So I did it. And then I ended up on the beach, with wobbly new legs and no voice."
"Wow," Jasmine said in response to Ariel's tale. "You did all that just for a boy you didn't know?" she asked, genuinely interested and not the least bit judging. She remembered being a young teenager in love, she was only 15 just about to turn 16 when she met Aladdin. But she couldn't imagine leaving everything she knew and loved to be with him. She especially couldn't imagine selling her voice. "Why did the witch want your voice?" Jasmine was confused by this part. Why take someone's voice when there were so many other things, like money or jewels, the princess could have paid with.
She shrugged, a small smile forming on her lips. "Yeah, I guess I did," she chuckled. "But of course, I don't regret it. At all."
When Jasmine inquired about Ursula, the smile on the redhead's face quickly faded as she continued. "Ursula was planning on just using me the whole time. All she really wanted was to control the seas. However, that job was already taken by my Daddy. I was just a pawn in her plan." Ariel began absently twirling her hair again, threading the strands between her fingers. "She just figured that without a voice, Eric couldn't and wouldn't love me, which would therefore result in my turning back into a mermaid and becoming her.. prisoner." She shuddered again, remembering the feeling of being shrunk down into practically nothing but a piece of seaweed.
"She knew that my Daddy would want to save me, even though I disobeyed him. She knew he would trade his life for mine, and so her plan would be complete. She would rule the ocean." As she finished, the princess' voice was just above a whisper. She stared blankly at the table, continuing to weave her hair.
And I thought my own tale of love was complicated Jasmine thought to herself. "I'm sorry for making you retell and relive that ordeal Ariel. I shouldn't have asked. My curiosity sometimes gets the best of me. But obviously her plan failed. Here you are living a happy life with Eric and as a human! Clearly Eric must have fallen in love you without your voice."
Ariel snapped out of her little trance and looked back up at Jasmine apologetically. "No, no, it's fine, really." She forced a small smile and light laugh as she casually waved a hand. "People ask me about it all the time. You aren't the only one."
She thought of Eric for a moment and blushed. "Yeah, I guess he did," she sighed.
"So how'd you do it?" Jasmine asked curiously. "It must have been hard for the two of you to communicate." She leaned back into her chair and stretched for a moment. "Did you write on notes or something?"
"Well.. no," she shrugged. "I mean, I knew how to write, but only a few basic things, like my name. There really isn't any use for it in Atlantica. I just kinda made gestures, though at first those didn't exactly work out correctly." She giggled at the memory of her trying to tell Eric where she had come from when they first met. "We sorta just figured things out, and now here we are," she smiled.
"You don't write things in Atlantica?" Jasmine asked curiously before giggling at the image of Ariel making crazy gestures to try and communicate with Eric. "That's a very interesting story Ariel, and it's sweet how you and Eric got together."
With a giggle, Ariel shook her head and shrugged. "Nope! I guess there's really no need for writing too much, unless you're in school or something." School was never Ariel's favorite thing, though she knew it was important, especially on land. She, however, was always too interested in exploring and finding thingamabobs.
She smiled at the other princess and let out a yawn. "What about you and.. Aladdin, you said his name was? How did you meet?" Ariel relaxed back into her chair around, one hand resting on her belly while the other began playing with a long red lock.
"Mmhmm, that's his name. We met, well we met when I ran away from the palace," Jasmine explained a bit awkwardly. "I was tired of the royal life so I decided to go and live on the other side. I lasted about, maybe, ten minutes before getting into trouble. Aladdin, he saved me and well…like you with Eric, I was immediately in love with him. Of course, it wasn't until much later I realized that I was truly in love with Aladdin."
Ariel nodded and smiled, always loving a romantic story. "That seems wonderful," she sighed. It was quiet for a moment, and she turned to see the full moon reflecting on the dark sea waters, shining brightly and making the ocean sparkle.
Jasmine followed Ariel's gaze over to the water and a beautiful sight. "Oh, wow," Jasmine sighed. The moon shined beautifully on the ocean and Jasmine was mesmerized. "Wow, now this is something you just don't see in Agrabah."
Keeping her gaze, Ariel replied softly, with a yawn, "I've never seen it anywhere else. It's one of the reasons I love it here." Her eyes flickered for a moment, and she adjusted herself to fight back her sleepiness.
"It definitely is a one of a kind view," Jasmine said. She noticed Ariel's yawn and gave a small one herself. "My, it is getting quite late isn't? Are you tired Ariel?"
Ariel perked back up and looked over at Jasmine, her cheeks flushing with embarrassment at how rude she must seem. She forced herself to straighten up in the seat and, after blinking her sea blue eyes a few times, shrugged while replying, "Just a little, I guess. I must apologize, though. I'm not usually like this."
Jasmine giggled softly at Ariel's sleepiness. "It's quite alright Ariel. I understand. I'm beginning to feel a bit sleep myself," she said, finishing off with a small yawn.
The room grew quiet for a moment, both princesses seeming to be very tired. "Well, Jasmine, what were your plans for the night? Were you planning on going back home, or staying here for the night?" Ariel asked.
"Oh," Jasmine said, realizing she hadn't thought of a plan that far ahead. "Well, if it's alright of course, do you mind if I spend the night? I'm afraid it's a bit too late to call on my carriage now. And that way we can get to our business in the morning," she giggled a bit, realizing the two of them had got caught up in girl talk and hadn't talked much about what the meeting was for.
"Of course!" Ariel responded, another yawn escaping her. "I'll show you to the guest bedroom." With that, the princess stood and led the way to the guest bedroom. She giggled and said, "Oh, yes. Business. Right. I guess I just forgot about it." She shrugged, then gestured to the room. "Well, here you go. Is there anything else you need? There's clean sheets on the bed and everything."
Jasmine looked around as she was shown to the guest room, admiring the lovely castle that differed so very much from her own. When they arrived at the guest room she turned a smiled at Ariel. "Oh no, I should be fine. Thank you so much."
Ariel smiled in return, "Absolutely. If you need any help with anything, one of the maids will definitely be able to assist you. I'll let the night staff know you're here. Good night, Jasmine." The princess closed the door and, after telling Grimsby to tell the castle's night staff of Jasmine's stay, headed to her own room. Though she and Jasmine didn't exactly speak about what they had intended to, the redhead was glad to have met and learned so much about the Arabian princess.