The sunlight glittered enticingly on the water's surface above as I explored the semi-destroyed ship. Ever since my little sister Sara disappeared I had become very interested in the world above, solely because Sara herself had been so enamored with it. She had been a romantic at heart, and claimed she had seen a human so beautiful it was impossible not to fall in love on one of the trips she had taken to the surface without me by her side. Of course, she never elaborated much, what with how closely our father tried to monitor us, keep up away from the surface people and their world. Yet, I could see how deeply my dear little sister was affected by this moment she had, and how happy she was just with the notion.
Something flashes in the corner of my eyes, and I swim closer to see what it is. A smile formed on my face as I gingerly picked up a small, delicate charm between my fingertips. It was a bird, and while I don't know what kind of bird it is, I imagine it could be a canary, like the ones Sarah told me she had seen. How she knew what it was called I'll never know, but I believed her. I had no reason not to. Sadly, I tucked it away in my small bag, deciding to head back to the castle already.
As I swim, my tail swishing through the water, I remember back to when Sara had soley decided to call my special power the Canary Cry. She was absolutely fascinated with this particular bird, and thought it was the perfect name for my powerful scream. Some mermaids have special abilities, and mine happens to be related to my voice.
So, lost in the memory I did not truly watch where I was going and swam right into someone. I let out a small noise of surprise as I flung myself backwards and away from the person. Blinking rapidly, I let out a small sigh of relief, "Roy. I'm sorry, I didn't see you there."
"It's a good thing you ran into me and not someone else. You know your father doesn't like you to leave the castle without any guards." He reminds me, a small smile on his lips. "We'll pretend I was with you, same as always." He reassures me before I can even ask. "Thank you, Roy. It really means a lot to me, just to have a little time to myself outside the confines of my room and the castle."
"I know. Just, please don't do anything dangerous, cause if you do then it's my head on the line too. At least take me with you if you, especially if you go to the surface." He doesn't plead, just makes a request. In my eyes he is my equal, I always try to treat him as such and encourage him to do the same with me when we are by ourselves away from scrutiny and judgement. It is not as often looked well upon when a guard, or anyone not royalty, to be friends and informal with the princess. It's unfortunate, Roy is a great friend to me and I want the opportunity to know more of my future subjects better.
"Sure." I agree, I would hate for him to be in trouble on my account. "Let's go." I swim around him, urging him to follow. Smirking with mischief, "Race you." I call as I speed ahead of him.