The sand, she couldn't help but notice, was hot.
That was something Ariel hadn't prepared for: the heat. Sure, she'd realized, sort of, that the human world would be much more harsh than the watery universe she herself had grown up in. Clearly realizing something was not the same as being immersed in it.
She debated slipping back into the deliciously cool ocean lapping at the shore behind her, decided against it. She wasn't going to find Eric lurking about under the waves (she knew, because she'd tried that)
Still... it was awfully hot, wasn't it?
The sensitive soles of her new feet blistered and complained as she became aware of a new heat, a more pleasant one: the sun gently kissing the top of her crimson hair. Ariel ignored her feet and focused on that, something she Hadn't anticipated at all. It was an odd feeling, having your perpetually wet locks drying against your bare back. Sixteen years of salty water hadn't prepared for her for the sweet brush of heat against her scalp. Most of the times she'd gone topside had been at night, or for so short a time that the sun had barely begun to warm her nose, let alone dry her thick hair.
She squinted upwards, her pale face creased in protest against the blinding rays of light beating down on her new world. Her human eyes were less sensitive than her mermaid ones; the same mechanism that allowed her to see in darkened caverns under the sea would have burned her corneas instantly, but in a stroke of genius (or, perhaps, malice, depending upon your point of view) Ursula had corrected that.
She wondered if the skin of her face was still the milky white she'd seen in broken mirrors collected from shipwrecks, or if the sea witch had seen fit to change that, too. Ariel understood tans; she'd watched sailors grow darker as their voyages dragged on, though she hadn't quite put together that the sun caused this. She had no concept of sunburns, not really, only impressions of reddened patches on the skin of pearly men.
And, now, the slightly unpleasant heat of the sun on her exposed flesh.
Ariel tried in vain to cover her prickling skin with her dainty hands, a bit more uncomfortable than she'd been before. The sun, she decided, was lovely, but also incredibly annoying.