Attina took in a deep breath, her small chest coming inwards, before letting it out and having her chest expand again. She made sure that she didn't seem too excited, because then her parent's would think she was up to something. Hiding the thrill in her green eyes, she swallowed once, hoping this would work, before she swam into the throne room.
Her mother was sitting on the armrest of the throne, amusement clear on her face as she was looking down at her second-oldest-seven-year-old daughter, Alana, who was sitting on her father's lap happily chatting about something. Three year old Andrina, four year old Arista, five year old Aquata, and six year old Adella were all playing tag, darting in and out of columns and laughing as they tried hard not to get caught. It was a relaxed, fun environment that immediately made the oldest merprincess feel at home.
"Hi Momma!" Attina said happily, giving her mother a hug and a kiss on the cheek. Athena smiled warmly at her oldest daughter, giving a small laugh as Attina had wrapped her arms around her neck and nestled her head into her shoulder.
"Hello to you too sweetheart." Athena said with an easy laugh, patting her daughter with her free left hand. The two year old sleeping baby in her arms stirred then, starting to wake up and not too happy about it either as she opened her mouth to start wailing. Gently, the mother rocked the baby with her right arm, until she was peacefully asleep again, and thankfully not crying.
"Hi Ariel!" Attina said brightly, as only an eight year old could do. Leaning down, she gave Ariel a big wet kiss on her cheek, as Athena smiled at the cute picture.
Subconsciously, the Queen rubbed her two year old daughter's green tail, smiling softly to herself at that. With bright red, loose curls that fell to her shoulders, and big blue eyes, she was just as lovely as her other sisters. Swimming all over the palace, hiding herself away in the smallest of places, and one time even managing to get herself lost in the market, the child was already proving herself to be quite a handful. But, with bountiful energy, also comes bountiful exhaustion, which is why the baby was curled in her mother's warm arms at the moment, sleeping peacefully as she sucked her thumb.
"Mwah! Hi Daddy." Attina said, giving her father a kiss and wrapping her arms around his neck now. Triton smiled at his oldest daughter, chuckling as she quickly released him and swam in front of both her parents—and her second oldest sister for that matter.
"Can me and Alana go to the market Daddy? Please?" Attina knew asking her father was a safer bet than asking her mother. Her father would always allow his girls to go anywhere, with their adorable little pouts and big eyes. But, Athena overheard, and exchanged a look with Triton at that.
"The market? What's so great about the market?" Alana asked, well, more complained with a scrunched up nose. At seven years old, she and Attina were constantly partners in crime for everything they did. Sliding out of her father's lap, she swam up to her sister's face, a bit miffed that Attina would talk for her.
"I'll show you when we get there." Attina hissed through clenched teeth quickly, before looking back up at her parents who seemed to be having a silent conversation together. Alana quickly caught on, giving an 'oohhh' as she understood what her sister meant. Letting her bottom lip jut out, she let her eyes grow adorably big, so that their father would relent.
"I don't know." Athena said slowly, her forehead creasing up in concern. "It's so busy this time of day...you two could get lost so easily..." Athena bit her lip, her green eyes full of worry for her two oldest daughters.
"Puh-leeeaaasssee Momma?" Both girls begged, giving their mother and father very convincing pouts. Athena let out a sigh, running her fingers through her hair, before turning to her husband.
"Triton? What do you think?" The Queen asked her King, her lip still bitten and her forehead still creased in worry. Triton looked over at his two oldest daughters, who gave him their best pouts. Triton gave a surrendering sigh at that, and shook his head.
"As long as they stay together, than I see no problem." Triton finally said, as the girls gave each other cheerful smiles. One parent down, one more to go. But Athena was trickier to convince, because she herself had been a girl that age, and she knew all her daughter's tricks. Still, it was rather hard to say no when her girls were giving such adorable pouts. Ariel, who had been sleeping all this time, suddenly gave a yawn, slowly waking up as she blinked for a few minutes, her grogginess surrounding her vision.
"I guess you two can go then." Athena relented, smiling faintly as her two oldest girls gave cheers of happiness. Two year old Ariel sat up on her mother's lap, looking upwards at the woman with hopefulness in her tiny features.
"Me too?" The two year old asked, blinking once or twice and emitting another wide yawn out of her mouth. Both Triton and Athena shared the same smile at that, as Athena let her fingers straighten up her daughter's curls.
"No dear, not you. You're going to nursery for a nap." Athena's warm voice said, leaning down to press a kiss against her baby daughter's forehead. Had Ariel been more fully awake, and if she had a better vocabulary, she would have complained incessantly at that. But she didn't, so instead, she let herself curl back up in her mother's arms and close her eyes lightly.
"Come on Alana!" Attina whooped, grabbing her sister's arm and starting to try and drag her out of the throne room. Athena still had a small frown on her face at that, as though she wasn't all too happy with the idea of her daughters going to the market all by themselves at only seven and eight. It was that moment though, that Sebastian scurried into the throne room—narrowly missing getting hit by Andrina's small tail—and Triton had a brilliant idea.
Attina was trying to drag Alana out of the throne room as fast she could, in case her parents got any idea on what she was up to, or they wanted to tell her to not go. But, she didn't succeed in her mission, because she still heard her father's voice behind her.
"Take Sebastian with you." Triton called out after his two daughters, who immediately stopped where they were at, frozen. Before they could stop it, two large groans released from their lips, as Sebastian's eyes went wide, and the crab nearly gave a groan himself.