In an overwhelming and bright new world, sometimes Ariel needed to find little comforts. Fluff.
Ariel had a lot to adjust to when she came to the human world, no one was going to even try and dispute that. And as much as she loved the adventure, the excitement, and the new experiences each day, it built up to be, well, overwhelming. Everything seemed large; larger than life, larger than her. It could get to be, well, just too much.
There were little annoyances constantly. People swarmed around her, their heights were staggered naturally. Some people were just taller, they weren't just swimming up higher or stretching, there were taller, always taller, and there was nothing Ariel could do about it. Even if she wore her heels, or stood on her tiptoes, people would be bigger.
They spoke so quickly, because they knew all the words. Ariel would try to follow them, but often, too often, she wouldn't exactly know how to place their word, but would have to nod and resist the urge to ask them to explain. They were so impatient. Whenever she would try and string sentences together, she would occasionally forget the proper word for a foreign object, and people would scrunch their faces into confusion or amusement, as this fully grown woman tried to pantomime shoes, or shells, or candlesticks.
It happened most recently at a small dinner gathering, with an assortment of dignitaries across Scandinavian Europe.
"Can you please pass me the-" Ariel cut out there, every word she knew draining out of her head and dragging her pride down with them.
"The…?" A Norwegian man leaned towards her a bit, waiting for her to finish.
"The…" Ariel shook her hand, acting out sprinkling salt.
"I don't know what you mean." The man snorted a little, unaware of Ariel's past.
"I forgot the word, it's, uh…"
"Salt." Eric interjected quickly.
"Oh, of course, your highness." He passed it over and Ariel salted her food only out of show; she wasn't hungry anymore.
She looked down at her plate and pushed food around, biting her lip and trying to not let the exchange make her upset.
"I have to go powder my nose." She mumbled, standing up and walking out as proudly as she could muster. She stepped into the closest room, and pulled her knees up to meet her face, letting her tears silently fall.
"Ariel?" Eric knocked on the door and cracked it open, peering in to see if she was there.
Ariel moaned a little and Eric took that as an invitation to come in.
"Hey, what happened?"
"I forgot the word 'salt'! Like, how stupid can you get?"
"You're not stupid! You never even had salt until, like, a year and a half ago. So you forgot a word. Everyone does it." Eric sat down next to her and laid an arm around her shoulder.
"But everyone doesn't do it all the time!" Ariel lifted her head. "I forget words almost constantly! I don't know what half the stuff in the palace is called, and everyone is noticing! I can't hide it, no matter what I do."
"It's…it's like learning a foreign language. You are in a new place, a new world, you can't pick up everything in just over a year! You're doing great, and learning tons!"
"But there's so much left to learn!"
"So? You got somewhere else to be?"
"I'm just tired of feeling stupid, that's all."
"You're not stupid. You've never been. Ariel, you beat a Sea Witch, entered a new world, and have existed as the best princess, and wife, possible. I don't know how you've done all of it, but you couldn't be here today if you were stupid. Even a little."
"I had help."
"Help doesn't make you any less stupid." Eric insisted. "And, listen, you may not know as much about human objects as most people, but you know a hell of a lot more about the ocean."
"Yeah!" Ariel perked up at that. "I lived there!"
Eric laughed. "I think I recall you mentioning that at some point." He squeezed her tighter. "You wanna go back out yet?"
"Yes." Ariel nodded firmly, rolling off her seat and brushing her skirts.
The two walked out, hand in hand, and sat back down at their respective spots.
The same dignitary turned to Ariel and smirked at her a little, picking up at the red tinges in her eyes.
"Tell me," Ariel leaned forward towards him a little. "what is your opinion on the expansion of the shipping industry in terms of its correlation to the destruction of marine life and increase of artificial coral reefs and other faux life supports?"
The man looked dumbfounded.