A/N: Thank you everyone who is reading this, and if you haven't seen the other story I wrote I would be very grateful if you read it. I had a great idea for this story and I feel like I have sort of lost it. But I am going to push forward and assure you it will get better. I keep thinking I am writing somewhat long chapters then realize they are actually kind of short... perhaps the next one will be longer. Anyways thank you for reading and I hope you enjoy.
Chapter II
Ariel slipped on the clothes she had stolen from the near by shipping port. Humans she knew had a thing about clothes. She was sure walking around naked would not go well on her first adventure on land.
As soon as she had practiced walking a few times she had grabbed the things she had collected and with a leap of faith jumped back into the ocean. Just as the Dark One had said her legs immediately turned back into her long emerald green fin. Which was not nearly as painful as it was when she got legs. It was more of a very strong constricting feeling until her two legs merged into her fin.
Once she was on land again, completely on land it took about ten seconds for her tail to turn back to legs. It hurt just as much, and she hoped she would get use to it.
She was now wearing a simple blue dress that had a white apron with large pockets. There was a symbol of a black anchor with an octopus wrapped around it imprinted on the chest of the dress.
She opened her treasure chest and emptied the contents of it dumping it into the pockets. The silver seashell necklace she decided to put on. Feeling like this was the best way to continue on land she began the deep incline up from the sandy beach into the woods, towards where she stole the clothes.
It took her longer than it should have to get back to where all the people and ships were. She would stop at every little thing in the forest. Flowers she had never seen, berries, bushes, and a furry little creature that immediately ran away from her. It was all so beautiful.
As she entered the docks the massive amount of people bustling around and yelling was slightly overwhelming. Something had to be going on for when she had observed this place from the sea it was rarely this crowded.
Despite the amount of people and some of their extreme rudeness Ariel couldn't help but smile. It was all so exciting and new.
"Hey, you."
Ariel turned to the female voice. It came from a plump woman wearing a dress that was the same as the one she wore. Only exception was she had a white bonnet on her head covering her hair.
"Are you going to just stand there all day or help me?" The woman nearly yelled at her.
Ariel pointed to herself. "Are you speaking to me?"
"Who else would I be talking to?" She lifted a box and held it out for her.
Ariel took the object slightly hesitant, and simply stood there as the woman grabbed another box.
"Don't just stand there, hurry up and get it on the ship."
Ariel looked around, "which ship?"
The plumper woman rolled her eyes. "Follow me." Which Ariel did. "She told me she'd be sending you with me, but I had no idea you'd be so dumb. And why are you barefoot?"
"Barefoot?"
"Your shoes where are they?"
"I don't have any."
The woman scoffed as Ariel followed her up the plank onto the ship. It was a huge ship, and there were many men on it in uniforms with swords on their hips. There were a few women on it as well. Some wore the same clothes as Ariel and the plump woman and others wore beautiful gowns.
She followed the woman down some stairs, which lead them to a storage room. The woman put the box down, and Ariel put hers down on top of it and began to look around. She picked up a mini trident and grinned. The woman suddenly slapped her hand, which caused her to drop the mini trident and pull her hand to her chest.
"Stop touching things." She sighed heavily. "You've never worked for a royal ship before have you?"
Ariel shook her head.
"Well my name is Darcy, and you are?"
"Ariel."
"Well Ariel what kinds of dishes do you know how to cook?"
"Dishes?"
"Food, meals. Can you make soup?"
Ariel shook her head, she had heard of soup before when listing to people but she had no idea how to make it.
The woman sighed yet again. "See if I ever do that woman a favor again. She sticks me with someone ignorant."
Ariel had stopped listing to the woman and looked around the room. There were shelves packed with what she was sure was food items. There were large white disc shaped items and clear cylinders.
Darcy was snapping her fingers at her so she turned her attention back to her. "Are you foreign?"
"Foreign?"
"Yes, from a different land."
Ariel shrugged. "Of sorts."
"Well you have to wear shoes, I don't know if walking around barefoot is common where you are from but it is not acceptable here. I suppose I could let you borrow some of mine."
There was a sudden jolt of the ship and Ariel clumsily fell onto her behind. "What was that?" She asked as she looked up at Darcy.
"Never been on a ship before either huh? We just left port."
"Left port? You mean, away from the land."
"Yes."
"But, I had just gotten there. I was going to explore."
Darcy raised an eyebrow this girl was confusing and very frustrating. It was almost as if she had no idea she was here to help cook, and serve the men of the Royal Navy and the prince himself. "Well now you get to explore the open sea and once we get to Metten you can explore that."
"Is it land?"
"It's the kingdom were going to. The prince is to meet his betrothed there. Now get up and I'll show you where you'll be sleeping."
