Prologue
(Set just after the end of Ariel's Beginning)
Triton, King of all Atlantica, had just recently restored his kingdom to its former glory, a true paradise beneath the sea, but now he was faced with an even bigger threat. One so great that if left unattended, life as he knew it might never be the same.
His daughters wanted to date.
Currently, the suspicious father was sitting on his throne, glaring at a young merman. With any luck, the king came off as menacingly as he hoped. He'd been practicing every night in front of his bedroom mirror.
"Your name, young man?" Triton interrogated without a smile.
"Er, um... Damian?"
"Are you telling me, or asking me?"
"Telling you, sir... I mean Your Majesty... sir."
"Please, call me Triton," the king requested, softening a bit to the boy.
"If you insist. Thank you, Triton."
"Never address your king by name!" Triton bellowed in outrage, and slammed his firsts against the arms of his golden throne.
"But you just... uh," the young merman stumbled over his words, frightened.
"It was a test," Triton lowered his voice gravely, narrowing his eyes, "and you failed."
"Oh, stop it, ya' ole' trout," the crab, Sebastian, called out as he swam into the throne room and settled atop the king's five-pointed crown.
"Sebastian," warned Triton, "I am conducting an interview here."
" 'Dis ain't no interview, mon," Sebastian began, " 'Da boy just wanna take Andrina out on a date. Don' worry, boy," the crab addressed the young merman, " 'Da king's bark is worser 'den his bite."
"Sebastian," the king whispered in annoyance, "you aren't helping."
"Look, I'm just sayin' 'dat at some point, 'ya gotta let 'da girls grow up."
Suddenly, there came a deafening knock at the door, and Andrina swam impatiently into the throne room. Much to Triton's dismay, his second youngest daughter took the young merman by hand, interlocking their fingers. The sight alone was enough to make the king lose the plankton pâté he had eaten for lunch.
"Are you done now, Daddy?" Andrina asked sweetly.
"No we are not." Triton began matter-of-factly, "Darian and I still have much to discuss. What are your intentions with Andrina? Are you trained in emergency medical procedures? If you were both being chased by a hungry, cantankerous shark, would you save yourself or my daughter? Well, Darian?"
"Daddy," Andrina sighed in annoyance, "his name is Damian."
"No, no," Damian laughed nervously, "He can call me Darian if he likes. I don't mind. He is king, and he does wield the Trident, after all."
"No," Andrina maintained, shaking her head defiantly, "He can't go on calling you any name he likes. Your parents called you Damian for a reason."
King Triton mumbled something under his breath, but Sebastian spoke up waving his small, red claws around.
"Why don' 'ya kids get goin' now. 'Dis ain't no fun, hangin' aroun' 'da throne room. Go, now."
"Thanks, Sebastian," smiled Andrina, tugging Damian out the door by his hand.
"Be back before dinner, young lady," Triton warned the back of Andrina's blond head. She had done her hair differently today. All for the sake of a … a boy. Dear Neptune, his little angelfish really were ready to leave the tide pool.
"We will," Andrina called over her shoulder.
And then the teenagers were gone.
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"So," Damian let out a shaky breath, as he pushed a lock of dark brown hair from his blue eyes, "your dad seems... nice."
"You call that nice?" Andrina chortled, "he practically treated you like a criminal. What did you do? Attempt to steal his Trident?"
"I never laid a finger on in," Damian answered, raising his right hand in oath-taking fashion.
"I didn't think so. You'd be sushi otherwise," Andrina's slightly nasal voice came behind tightly gritted teeth.
"Andrina," Damian drawled unsure, "you don't think the king would go that far, do you?"
"Let's not worry about that right now," the princess shrugged off, "Don't we have a date get to? Come on!"
"Whoa!" Damian grunted as Andrina unexpectedly pulled him forward, and he was forced to power his light blue tail through the water just to keep up with her. She was pretty fast, for a girl.
Andrina had dragged the young merman towards the market. It seemed that the two would be spending their day wandering about town. Damian had something a little more quite in mind, like a private picnic at the coral reef, but he soon came to realize that all plans were thrown to the tide when Andrina was concerned.
The marketplace was bustling, like it always was. Merfolk busily going about their days. Some shopping. Others earning a living. There was even a live band, its members mostly crustaceans, blaring hot, addicting music from their shining instruments.
"Hi-ya, boys!" the princess called to the group, as she swam passed them.
"Hey, it's Andrina!"
"What's shakin', Blondie?"
"You know those guys?" Damian asked.
"Oh, yeah," Andrina answered easily, "they're regular performers at the Catfish Club."
"It's still so strange hearing music, again, after all these years," Damian remarked without really thinking.
"Yes..." Andrina sighed, adopting a sad look in her green eyes, "after my mother died, Daddy went a little crazy."
Damian mentally cursed himself. Why for the love of Neptune, did he have to go and say something that stupid? He had to make it up to her somehow.
He kissed her quickly on the cheek, and took Andrina by the hand, "Let's explore, shall we?"
Damian and Andrina were sure to stop at every stand in the market, sampling all the food, admiring all the different goods the shopkeepers had to offer. Damian even bought his new girlfriend a shell necklace, nothing expensive though. Costume jewelery, really.
The very last stand the two teenagers came across was operated by a shady looking merman. He was middle aged, with a receding hair line. His eyes were cold, and his face angular. The merman reminded Damian of a shark, almost. And that brought to memory some of the king's last words to him.
If you were both being chased by a hungry, cantankerous shark, would you save yourself or my daughter?
"Let's move along, Andrina," Damian began cautiously, placing a gentle hand along the small of the mermaid's back.
"Why?" questioned the princess, "you agreed that we'd visit every last stand at the market, and this is the last one. We can't go home now!"
"You wouldn't deny your girlfriend, would you, pal?" the shopkeeper smirked, showing off a row of unusually sharp teeth, "All my wares are the rarest fruits imported from the seven seas. Eat them. You'll have life-long good luck, or so the legends say."
"Yeah, I'm sure they do. Come on, Andrina."
"No," Andrina laughed. "I want to try one. Do you?"
"Absolutely not."
"Aw, where's your sense of adventure?" she playfully jabbed at his chest with a forefinger, "Throw caution to the tide, why don't you?"
Andrina picked up one of the shopkeeper's fruits and brought it to her lips. It was purple, and porous, and looked utterly unappetizing.
"I really don't think you should eat that, Andrina," Damian urged seriously, "You don't even know what it is."
The princess inspected the fruit, "It looks harmless, like a sponge. Have you ever heard of a poisonous sponge?"
"No."
"There you go then," Andrina dismissed, and popped the purple fruit into her mouth without a second thought.
She chewed, then swallowed, and stuck out her tongue that had turned purple to match her lavender tail.
"I can't believe you did that," Damian groaned, holding a hand to his forehead.
"I'm an adventurous girl, Damian, you should get used to that little fact."
"I guess I'll have to try," the young merman rolled his blue eyes, and turned to the shopkeeper, "how much do we owe you for the purple fruit thingy?"
But the angular, cold eyed, sharp-toothed merman was already gone. Damian barely even had time to wonder where the shopkeeper had swum off to, before Andrina had fallen to the sand clutching her stomach, and writhing in pain.
"Andrina!" Damian shouted, swimming beside her, "What's wrong?"
"My stomach," choked the princess, "it hurts... really bad."
Swiftly, Damian scooped the mermaid in his arms, and hurried back to the castle. King Triton would probably murder him for allowing harm to come to his daughter, but Damian couldn't think of that now. Andrina required medical help. And soon.
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Triton worriedly swam back and forth outside his daughter's room. The last time he had seen Andrina, she was excited to leave for her date. He didn't really think anything bad would happen to her. He was only playing the part of a protective father. But look how that Darian hooligan returned Andrina to him! If he ever got his hands, or better yet, his trident on that boy...
Suddenly, the king heard a soft clicking sound, which suggested Andrina's door had finally been opened, and immediately rushed to meet the healer who exited quietly.
"Elethea!" Triton bombarded, "How is she?"
"Hush," the kind, aging woman brought a finger to her lips, "Andrina is resting now."
"W-what happened to her?"
"Well, from what the boy described... now, Your Majesty don't make that face of yours. It wasn't his fault. But from what he described, I believe Andrina consumed a fruit from the Sterile-Salix plant. At this time of the season, it bears a purple, sponge-like fruit."
"Is it... is it deadly?" asked the king, swallowing hard, as a large lump formed it his throat.
"The plant has never been known to cause fatality in merfolk," the healer, Elethea, reassured, "but there is a long lasting effect."
"Which is?"
Elethea paused for a moment before answering her king, "Infertility."
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Ultra Special Blah Blah Blah
Hello, and thanks a bunch for checking out this story. This prompt was entrusted to me by Bella Vision, who requested I create this story for her. I hope I can do her proud.
For any readers of the Ocean Heart/Ocean Star Saga, I would like to point out that this story is entirely unrelated to those. There will be no Hali, no Xavier, and no Sam. There will be no Lamar (Andrina's husband in Ocean Star), and sadly, there will be no Serene, and certainly no Darwin.
Now, I'm calling this chapter a prologue. I'm not sure if prologues are supposed to be this long, or if their meant to be much shorter, but I feel it would be easier for the audience to understand this particular piece of writing as a 'prologue'. So, that's what I'm going to call it gosh darn-it.
Happy birthday to you,
xJadeRainx