The morning signals the beginning of a brand new day in the underwater kingdom of Atlantica. Various tropical fishes swam across the coral reefs, sea anemones blossom to light with the coming sunlight in preparation to feed on tiny plankton, and dolphins prepare for a long day of play.

And for two merpeople, things are gonna be quite interesting today…

In one of the towers of Atlantica, there were eight beds shaped like clam shells lined up in two rows.

This is the room where the princesses of Atlantica, and their little adopted brother sleep in. In order of age, these are the children;

Attina: 21 years old, she's the next-in-line to inherit King Triton's throne. She has a sense of responsibility to her sisters and little brother due to her age. Due to this, her siblings often describe her as bossy.

Alana: 20 years old, she has fashion for her self-beauty and health. She often talks about her looks, though she is far from selfish or vain. And while she doesn't like having Tethys around that much, she's more tolerant of him than Aquata and Andrina.

Adella: 19 years old, she is boy-crazy and has a huge crush on a merboy named Stevie. She would often fantasize of herself being with him, and at times…it would get personal, to put it nicely. This makes things especially awkward when Tethys, the little brother of the family, is around.

Aquata: 18 years old, she is described by her sisters as tough. And it shows, for Aquata is not very friendly when her younger sister, Arista, takes her things away and would often act hostile when she tries to get them back. And of all the sisters, she, even more so than Andrina and Alana, is the least keen on having Tethys around due to his non-royal blood status.

Arista: 17 years old, she is the more energetic of the siblings, yet tends to have a more by-the-rules personality. Due to her energetic nature, she often gets jealous when Ariel and Tethys go out on adventures together. Despite this, she still loves them very much.

Andrina: 16 years old, she is described as the joker of the siblings. Like with Aquata and Alana, she's not a fan of Tethys being with them, so she often does practical jokes on him for fun. Sometimes though, they would go overboard, leaving her to get in trouble with her father.

Ariel: 15 years old, she is described by her sisters as unpredictable. And rightfully so, because she's adventurous and curious of the world around her, especially the surface world, a fact of which the older siblings are not very proud of. She hates the ban of music, as she would never get to experience its wonders anymore.

Tethys: 7 years old, he's the youngest of Triton's children. What makes him unique amongst the siblings is that he's adopted. He was rescued by Ariel when he was just an infant. Another aspect that makes him stand out is the fact that he's a boy. Before him, all of Triton's children have been daughters.

His being here caused a split amongst the sisters; Ariel is without a doubt the closest to him, and Attina, Adelle and Arista are also fond of him. However, as mentioned earlier, Alana, Aquata and Andrina are not too fond of him. However as time passed, Alana began to grow tolerant of him, and Andrina makes simple, harmless pranks on him…that would sometimes get her into trouble, again as mentioned earlier. Sadly, Aquata still gives him the cold shoulder, and it especially didn't help that years earlier, Aquata caught him sleeping with her stuffed seahorse, Mr. Fuzzyfinkles.

Regardless, Tethys has had a normal life in the palace. Sure, the public reaction to him is mixed; having a non-royal blood in the royal family, as well as it being a boy, makes the populace attracted to him. It has also come into question as to why Tethys has to share a room with the rest of the sisters, instead of him having his own.

Anyways, everyone remains asleep in their beds, the sound of the calm ocean soothing their tired souls.

That is, until…

"Good morning! Upey-upey, my darlings!" a semi-cheery voice bursts through the silence. "It's us." Another, quieter, yet calm voice added.

The semi-cheery voice belonged to a purple-haired mermaid named Marina Del Rey, the governess of the children. With her is her assistant, the dugong named Benjamin. All of the sisters briefly woke up, and sighed in frustration. Ariel in particular was frustrated, slamming a pillow on her face.

"Governess." She mumbled. Marina Del Rey then approached Aquata's bed, and yanked the pillow away, making Aquata thump her head on the hard shell.

"Hey!" she whined, raising her head to look at her with a tired gaze. "Rise and shine!" Marina said with a smile. Aquata sighed. "Why so early?" she complained as Marina swam across the room. "We mustn't be late." She said.

"But it's still dark out." Arista said as she sat up…not realizing that she still has eye-covers on her face. Aquata looked at her in confusion. But just as she was about to point it out, Benjamin was nice enough to move them out of her eyes. Arista giggled as she looked at him. "Thank you." She said. "Wakey-wakey." He replied politely.

"Hmm, I was dreaming about a boy!" Adella said with a smile on her face, snuggled up against her pillow. "Yyyeesss…" went Marina, clearly not in the mood to hear another one of her fantasies.

Tethys meanwhile, opened his eyes, and looked his head up. Then, he sighed to himself. "Here we go again." He mumbled to himself, before he buried himself into the blanket, groaning to himself.

"But I need my beauty sleep." He then heard Alana whined. "Tell me about it." Andrina replied. Tethys then poked his eyes out to see Alana sitting up to Marina. "It's easy for un-charismatic wrinkled," she said. Tethys just sighed and closed his eyes, before he slid back into his bed.

"Why can't I just stay asleep and never wake up?" he grumbled to himself as he placed his head back onto his pillow. Tethys then closed his eyes, and before he could fall back asleep,

"GET! UP!" Marina shouted, apparently losing her patience. This made Tethys bolt upwards, and the other sisters to sit up. The sisters than juts swam to their mirrors, mumbling things like, "Okay, okay. I'm getting up." And "We're coming."

Marina then looked on with a prideful smile. "Alrighty then!" she said, tone now growing cheery once more. "Move your tails! Today's a special day with your father!" she explained.

"Special day?" a voice asked, and everyone turned to see Ariel, sitting on the edge of the room's "window". "It's the same thing every day." She said with a frown on her face. "She's got a point." Andrina added.

Marina chuckled as she swam over to her and gave her a brush. "Why, of course! That's what your father cares about: predictability, presentation, punctuality!" she said, before swimming off. Ariel sighed as she looked at the brush. "Well, that's all he cares about." She muttered to herself.

Tethys looked at her, and swam to her. "Morning, Ariel." He said with a smile. Ariel looked at him, and gave a smile. "Morning, little guy." She said, gently ruffling his hair.

"Two minutes." Benjamin instructed softly. "Stop prooning!" Marina said, spinning around in a hurry. The siblings looked at her, confused, before they soon returned to their business. Ariel then noticed Tethys's hair.

"Alright, let me fix up your hair. It will make you more…handsome and presentable to dad." She said as she held Tethys closer to her, and began combing his hair. Tethys just sighed, knowing at this point, fighting with her about the hair would be pointless. "But I like my hair like this." He said, still clinging onto that hope that she would leave it be.

However, Ariel would not buy into it. "Don't even try, Tethys." She said with a smile. Tethys just pouted. Soon, Attina then approached with her own brush.

"And while you are busy with our little man's hair," she said, gently poking Tethys in the nose, making him giggle, before she began to comb Ariel's hair. Ariel just sighed. Tethys heard her, and frowned in concern.

"What's wrong?" he asked. Ariel gave a slight smile as she continued. "It's…it's just that…*sigh* Why can't dad let us do something different?" she asked. Attina smiled. "Ariel, he's a king. You should try running the kingdom for a day." She said, trying to make her see reason. Ariel then stopped combing Tethys, and took her own hair.

"I doubt I'd run it like this." She said. Attina then frowned and placed a hand on her shoulder. "Don't upset him, Ariel. Come on, Tethys." She said, before extending her hand to Tethys. Tethys took it and she began to swam away.

"Just because you're the oldest, Attina, that doesn't mean you get to boss us around." Ariel said. Attina turned back and gave cheeky smile. "Yes it does." She said, her tail incidentally making a lot of bubbles, most of which surrounding Ariel, making her wave them away. Tethys looked back and giggled. Ariel pouted and stuck her tongue at him.

"Alright. Come on, we'll be late." Marina said, before turning to Benjamin. "Otherwise, I won't get a promotion." She whispered. Benjamin then said, "Marina," he said referring to Attina and Tethys swimming alongside them.

"Come on, girls. You too, little man." Attina instructed as she and Tethys swam in front of the sisters, all of them shortly following, with Ariel being the last. The whole time, Marina rambled on,

"Not that I care about a promotion. I LOVE taking care of you girls…and commoner." She said, the last part in disdain in reference to Tethys not being royal blood. "I LOVE having this job, of course. Really, I do." She continued as she swam ahead, leaving Benjamin behind, staying there, still holding the kelp curtain.

Then, Marina poked her head back into the room, gritting her teeth in anger. "I HATE this job." She said in frustration. Benjamin just gave a slight shrug. "The less said the better." He just replied softly, before they swam off, following the girls for their usual morning stroll across the kingdom…

AN: Hi again, everyone. Superkoola here.

This is supposed to be a sequels to The Little Mermaid's Brother oneshot that I made a while back. After that one-shot, I wanted to make a series involving Ariel and Tethys, some of them, such as this, being retellings of sorts – while I hope to add some originality to help make this different – while others are to be completely original. I'm not sure how many there will be, but I plan on ending it with a story based on Return to the Sea.

So yeah, I hope you enjoy it, and let me know what you think. Stay tuned for more!