Ariel sat upon the shore, staring at the dazzling orange sunset. A gentle ocean breeze caressed her face. The white sand felt warm and comforting against her legs.
Her legs—her human legs! For as long as she could remember, she had wanted those legs, and now she had them! She had traded her voice with the Sea Witch Ursula in order to get them, so she could walk on land to meet Prince Eric, the young sailor she had rescued from drowning just the other day.
Ariel remembered well how the deal went. At first Ursula had tried to arrange the deal so that Ariel would have only three days on land, and if Eric did not fall in love with her by then, she would return to being a mermaid. But Ariel had entreated for more time, and Ursula had—or at least seemed to have—pity on Ariel's state and gave her a month instead.
And a good thing too, Ariel thought presently. Because I just can't seem to find the strength to walk on my new legs!
It was true, she could barely even stand on them; they were only two hours old, and she had not yet built up enough strength in them for walking, nor had she quite found her balance for standing. Thus she remained sitting by the ocean's edge, taking in the gorgeous sunset, the fresh air . . . how wonderful everything seemed in the human world!
At last she thought, But I can't be sitting on this beach forever! It'll be dark soon, and I'm starting to get hungry.
She looked around; there didn't seem to be any towns or villages nearby. She couldn't even hear anything that might have suggested a living thing existed near this beach other than herself. Having no other option, she turned over in the sand and began to crawl east.
She had not been crawling for more than fifteen minutes, when she thought she heard a noise behind her—a sort of clip-clopping among the nearby rocks. Turning her head, she scanned the rocks, but saw nothing. Yet as she started to continue crawling, she heard a soft thudding noise following her in the sand. Slowly, she turned again to look.
She instantly stumbled back in surprise and fear. If she still had her voice, she might have shrieked from being startled. For there stood the most bizarre, yet loveliest, most majestic creature she had ever seen.
From the waist up, the creature looked like a woman. She wore a light blue, billowy-sleeved shirt. But below she had the body of a horse, with small, strong hooves and a fine yellow coat.
She was a centaur.
Her tail was dark brown, the color of an oak tree, and so was the hair on her head. Her eyes were a lighter kind of brown, filled with intelligence and kindness. She was smiling at Ariel.
"Well what are you doing here?" she asked in a friendly tone. "I don't see humans on this beach often. It must be a very special reason that brings you to the shoreline. Do you love to look at the sea?"
Love to look at the sea?! Ariel thought, bewildered. If you lived in a dark, boring place your whole life, and then got out of it, would you love to look at it?! She shook her head vehemently.
"Really?" the Centaur said, seeing the forcefulness in Ariel's movement. "I love to look at the sea. It always makes me think of faraway places and great adventures."
Faraway places, maybe, Ariel thought. She wanted to tell the Centaur there was hardly any adventure worth having in the sea. Maybe that one time she had found a sunken ship . . .
"I'm Belle. What's your name?" the Centaur asked.
Oh, it's Ariel, Ariel tried to say, but no sound came from her throat. She threw her hands in the air in frustration.
"Where are your clothes?" Belle asked suddenly. Then before Ariel could try to answer, a shocked look came over Belle's face, as if some realization had hit her.
"You poor thing, you've been shipwrecked!" she cried. "You need help and I've been standing here making small talk like an idiot! Let me help you."
And before Ariel could protest, Belle picked her up and swung her onto her back. Then with a "Hold tight!" she turned and galloped west, the opposite direction in which Ariel had been trying to crawl.
Ariel was suddenly terrified. She had never ridden a horse before, and she was mortified she would fall off and be trampled. With her hands, she clung desperately to Belle's shoulders, but her legs dangled helplessly on either side of Belle's back. Her knees occasionally knocked against Belle's sides. Whenever this happened, Belle gave a small whinny, like a horse that is in pain.
"You have to hold on with your thighs!" she instructed at more than one point during the galloping. When it became clear Ariel could not do that, she halted abruptly, gently swung Ariel off her back, and carried her in her arms like a child.
They were not on the beach long. Soon Belle turned and galloped over the rocks, then further and further away from the coast. Ariel could see a forest ahead of her now, and as Belle did not break her pace, she soon found herself in the forest, carried over moss-covered logs and small streams (which made her realize how thirsty she was), until, after a time that seemed as long as twenty minutes, Belle stopped for a few moments.
"I think it's only fair to warn you," she said to Ariel, not pausing to catch her breath, "I shouldn't be doing this. It's kind of against the rules for centaurs to have anything to do with humans. But since you need help, I think Snow will understand. She's our clan leader."
Clan leader? thought Ariel. How many centaurs are there?
But of course she couldn't ask her questions out loud, and now Belle was carrying her forward at a much slower pace, walking toward a clearing the led out into a small meadow. The meadow looked dark, for it was dusk now, and there was barely enough light for Belle to see where she was going.
Once they were in the meadow, a chorus of excited voices greeted them—or at least they greeted Belle.
"Hey Belle! What took you so long?"
"How long were you daydreaming on that beach?"
"We were thinking of sending someone to get you!"
"Yeah, Snow would've been irked if we'd had to do that."
The voices, Ariel soon figured from the shapes approaching her, were of other centaurs. As they got closer, they started saying things like,
"Belle, what 'cha got there?"
"What is that thing? Did you bring down a doe?"
"Of course not, you numbskull! Belle's a terrible hunter!"
"I can't see in this light. Someone get a torch!"
"I've got one . . . whoa, whoa, WHOA. It's a human! Sweet Hera and Zeus, Belle, why did you bring home a human?!"
With the torch giving off sufficient light, Ariel could see the shocked faces that surrounded her. There were many centaurs—at least six or seven other than Belle, but she couldn't be sure. She was able to see, however, that they were all female.
"Belle . . . what's going on here?" asked a red-headed Centaur with blue eyes.
"Are you insane?!" added another Centaur Ariel had to turn her head to see.
"She was shipwrecked," Belle explained hastily. "I couldn't just leave her to starve, or more likely become food for some wild animal. I thought I'd take her to Snow. At least we can feed her and clothe her till Snow figures out what to do."
"This is going to be a problem, Belle," said a blond Centaur with sharp facial features.
"It won't be so bad," Belle protested hopefully. "As long as Esmeralda and her clan don't find out about this, we're safe, right?"
No reply came, and some of the centaurs shifted uneasily. Two or three of them blew out through their nostrils, sounding very much like nervous horses.
Soft footfalls were suddenly heard nearby, and everyone in the group moved to allow one particular centaur in among them.
"Now what's going on here? I hear you all making a to-do because Belle has returned late, and then I hear the word human. Someone explain to me what that's all about."
Ariel gazed at the Centaur who spoke. She had short, black hair, fair skin and red lips. Her form was rather dainty, but the precision in her eyes suggested she was tougher than she looked. And the way she carried herself suggested she knew how to lead.
Gently Belle set Ariel on the ground. "Snow, I found this girl shipwrecked on the beach. I tried to ask her her name, but she can't even speak. I knew if I brought her to you, we'd be able to figure out a way to help her." Then she said to Ariel, "This is Snow White, our clan leader."
Some of the other centaurs had left and returned with more torches. In the light Ariel and Snow White observed each other. Snow White appeared to feel sorry for Ariel, but also uneasy about her presence. For her part, Ariel appeared confused and intimidated. She was confused and intimidated. Why do I seem so special to them? If these centaurs don't like me, what's to stop them from leaving me here, lost in the wild of their world? What will happen to me then? she thought. She began to wonder about Eric, and whether she would ever find him.
"Where are her clothes?" Snow White finally asked.
"She had no clothes when I found her—"
Snow White instantly removed her own cloak and draped it over Ariel. "Someone get her a dress," she ordered. A blond-haired Centaur with blue eyes immediately left the group.
After a moment of silence, Snow White turned to the others and said, "I think it's only fair that we decide together how we're going to handle this. Humans shouldn't be allowed in our woods, yet Belle has brought one in need to our clan. I feel we are obligated to help her get back to her own kind—" here she nodded at Ariel, "—but if we do that, we risk hostile attention from other centaurs. If they discover her, that is." She bit her lip thoughtfully and added, "It's not fair for me to decide we should help her, and not give the rest of you a chance to speak. So—one at a time, please—give me your opinions."
At once the red-headed Centaur with blue eyes spoke. "Snow, we can't afford to have her among us. It's crazy! Why, the reason we severed relations with humans in the first place was their selfish drive to fight needless wars. The last thing we need is to cause fighting among our own kind for helping this girl!"
"That's a fair point, Anastasia," Snow White acknowledged.
"But humans are still living creatures, and need to be cared for as such. Suppose the other centaurs did discover this girl. They're not so unreasonable as to think it would be right to abandon her in the wild." This came from a blond-haired Centaur with light green eyes.
"So they may be less likely to give us trouble. I agree with you on that, Rapunzel," said an elegant Centaur with smooth brown skin and a silver ribbon in her black hair.
"Tiana!" spluttered Anastasia. "Are you serious?!"
"I'm completely serious," Tiana replied. Her brown eyes were calm; deep pools of practical wisdom. "I'm not saying the others will like it if we help this biped. They'll probably hate it. But at most, I think all they'd do is grumble, not put up an actual fight."
"What about Esmeralda's clan?" insisted Anastasia. "They start petty, aggressive rivalries over the smallest insult, so how do you think they'd react to something like this?!"
"I say let them have their quarrel!" cried a fiery Centaur with thick black hair and a warrior's pose. "They've always been full of themselves, and if we do have to fight them, it'll be good to knock their self-righteousness down a few pegs!"
All the other centaurs began shushing her at once.
"Be quiet, Jasmine! A clash with Esmeralda and her cohorts might be the end of us!"
"Yeah, there may be only five of them and nine of us, but they're still dangerous and cunning!"
"We all know how brave you are, Jasmine. Stop acting like you have to prove it."
During all this, Ariel felt her head swimming. She was nervous about what might be decided, and what might happen afterwards, and she was a little angry too. Even though she knew the centaurs didn't mean to be rude, she couldn't help but feel slighted that they were arguing about her when she was right there among them. If only I had my voice, I could speak for myself! she thought bitterly.
Finally, Snow White held up her hands and demanded silence. "This isn't getting us anywhere! Maybe we don't need to hear the reasons for everyone's opinion. Let's just take a vote. All in favor of helping the girl get back to her own kind, raise your hands."
In the end, the winning vote was that the centaurs would help Ariel. Most who voted did so out of conscience, as they felt it would be heartless to subject Ariel to starvation and eventual death by leaving her when she couldn't even walk. Jasmine voted to help Ariel, but she made it clear she only did so because she wanted to defy all fear of Esmeralda's clan.
At that moment, the Centaur who had left the group earlier came back with a bundle of fabric. "We have no dresses!" she complained. "We have hardly anything for her, since we minimized trading with humans! The only decent things I could find are a pair of breeches and one of our peasant blouses." She held up a pink, billowy-sleeved shirt in the torchlight.
"Hey, that's my peasant blouse!" another centaur snapped.
"We all have plenty!" Snow White countered. "You can share one, Aurora."
Aurora looked embarrassed, but she grumbled, "I don't mind sharing, I just wish someone would ask permission before they went delving through my stuff!"
The centaur who had brought back Ariel's clothes picked Ariel up to carry her over to a clump of bushes where she could dress in privacy, but before she went, she stopped and asked, "What happened while I was gone?"
"We took a vote, and we're helping the girl," Snow White replied. "To be fair, if you want to throw in your vote—"
"Oh good!" the other centaur interrupted, her blue eyes laughing. "I was afraid we weren't going to help her, and then I was going to have to argue with all of you till my face turned purple!" She turned and cantered off, then set Ariel down behind the bushes.
"Here you go," she said, setting down the folded fabrics. "I'll just leave for a few minutes, then come back for you. Geez, I'm sorry for what you've been through. It must have been scary, having your ship go under like that with you on it! And then having to swim for your life when there might have been sharks—oh, sorry, I'm babbling. I'll just leave now." She turned and cantered away.
Despite the centaur's good intentions, Ariel did not feel cheered. But that changed when after she had put on her clothes the centaur came trotting back over.
"I thought you might be thirsty," she said, handing Ariel a large tin cup of ice-cold water. "And if you're hungry, here are some apple slices you can snack on."
The water was a major relief to Ariel's dry throat, and she had never tasted anything that grew on land before; the apples were sweet and tart at the same time, and she savored every delicious, exotic bite. She began to think she could go on eating nothing but apples forever.
Then the centaur picked Ariel up and carried her back to the center of the meadow, where the rest of the clan was gathering to prepare for sleep. She placed Ariel softly in the grass. "Sleep now. You'll be safe. We always have a sentry looking out during the night, and I've got the first watch." She then stuck out her hand. "My name is Cinderella. Don't worry, I'll protect you." Ariel grasped her hand and shook it, smiling.
Cinderella looked at Ariel thoughtfully. "You need a name," she said. "I can't just call you Girl. That's rude! Until you can talk again and I learn what your real name is, I'm going to call you Lizzy. Does that sound good?"
Lizzy?! What an odd name, Ariel thought. But Cinderella's mood was so cheerful and kind, Ariel didn't want to damper it by arguing. Plus she could hardly have argued, having no way to do it except by shaking her head. So she simply nodded.
"All right, then. Good night, Lizzy." Cinderella cantered off and took her station atop a raised ridge that jutted out over the meadow from just by the edge of the trees.
Ariel looked around her as the others lay down on their folded horse legs, then stretched their human torsos over raised, comfortable-looking pallets they had brought out from where they kept their store of belongings. They were obviously quite at ease in their woody surroundings; some of the centaurs had already fallen asleep. Anastasia flared her nostrils softly, as horses do when they are content.
Ariel lay on her stomach, using her folded arms for a pillow. She felt strangely excited, yet tired at the same time. It may be harder than I originally thought to find Eric, and these centaurs will probably laugh at me once they find I am a mermaid who's come to the land seeking to win the love of a prince. But I don't think I'll mind. I like them. And I think I like Cinderella most of all. She's kind and true; there's no pretense about her . . .
And before Ariel could finish her thoughts, she fell fast asleep.