Thank you to everyone who reviewed, faved, and followed Pull! You guys are awesome, and I hope you like this next chapter. No Jim this time, but plenty of Ariel's sisters; who are some of the best, most-underrated characters in Disney canon imo. Enjoy!


"You've been acting really odd, Ariel."

The youngest princess looked up from her weaving, quirking an eyebrow at Alana as an amused smile played on her lips.

"Okay," Alana conceded, rolling her eyes. "Odder than usual."

"Didn't think that was possible," Andrina chimed in from the corner, glancing away from the scroll in her hands to smirk playfully at Ariel. Ariel tossed one of the weighing stones in Andrina's general direction, and it bounced harmlessly off her tail.

"Ow!"

Okay, almost harmlessly.

"Bring it in, ladies," Alana said with a grin, glancing between where Andrina was rubbing her sore tail and where Ariel was serenely finishing her row before placing two weighing stones on her work to keep it from floating away. "But seriously, Ariel, is everything alright? You've been… quiet."

"Oh gosh, I can't imagine why," Ariel teased, clasping her shell necklace around her neck so that it hovered around her collarbones and pushing some of her floating hair out of her face.

"Don't get cute with me," Alana warned with a waggle of her finger. "You're plotting, little sister mine, and plotting is not a good look on you."

Ariel simply smiled in response, looking back over her work carefully before swimming over to where she had placed her red bag. It had been three days since she had visited Jim at the tide pool, and she had spent every waking moment planning how she would approach her father. It had to be handled delicately; it wasn't every day someone approached the king of the sea to ask to be made human for more than a day, and given their family history, it was something that Ariel wouldn't have dared asked under other circumstances. Three years had passed since the day Triton had destroyed her grotto, and although he had repaired it all (save for the statue of Eric) and had barely even raised his voice at her since, a chill still sank into Ariel's bones at the memory of his fury. It had been a strain on their relationship since she had come home, and Ariel knew that what she was about to ask would be the ultimate test for them both.

Ariel's smile had dimmed considerably, her features twisted in an expression caught between remorse and melancholy. So much had changed since that fateful day…. So many things given and taken away with the silent setting of the sun.

A soft, cool hand squeezed her shoulder, pushing her hair gently back. "Are you okay, Minnow?" Alana asked, settling in the sand next to her sister. Ariel smiled wanly, nodding as she leaned into her sister's embrace.

"Just thinking," she reassured. "Don't worry about it."

"Well, with Attina panicking about the ceremony and upcoming eclipse, someone has to take on the role of 'anxious older sister' and fuss over you all," Alana teased, tapping the end of Ariel's nose. "Might as well be me."

Andrina snorted from the little pocket in the wall where she was curled up, and Ariel burst into giggles as their older sister glared at the blonde mermaid. Ariel grabbed the metal tin from her bag, holding it close as she made her way back over to her weaving (but not without giving Alana a quick kiss on the cheek in thanks, first). One look at the beads and buttons carefully nestled inside the tin, held down underwater by their own weight, was all the reminder Ariel needed, and her resolve strengthened.

For Jim. For a future of freedom and exploration and adventure. For herself.

Ariel took her weaving out from under the stones as Alana and Andrina chatted about their eldest sister's upcoming coronation, beginning to work again with sure fingers as the soothing sounds of her sisters rolled in her ears. The timing had to be perfect when she asked her father, she thought as she knotted the salvaged strands of rope together, slipping a bead into the lattice work every couple of minutes. Ariel had already decided to ask him in the evening, after dinner, when he was winding down from a long day of ruling the sea with a swim through the garden. It wouldn't be hard to invite herself along, as her father took every chance to be with his daughters. The only thing holding her up was the wording.

"Those are new."

Ariel's fingers fumbled, dropping the olive green bead to the sand as she looked up at Andrina's curious expression. "What, these?" Ariel asked, trying not to let her voice catch on the words. "I've had these for a while, 'Drina."

"No, you haven't," Andrina disputed. "The tin is different."

Ariel smiled at her sister, trying not to let her growing nerves show as Alana swam over to take a closer look. Her sisters didn't know about Jim either, and the last thing she needed was for Andrina and Alana to find out and tell their father before Ariel even had a chance to. "Oh, yeah; I found it in a wreck the other week. I liked it more than my other bead tin so I moved them over."

Andrina's eyes narrowed suspiciously, and Ariel bit back several curses that could have made a sailor blush. "It couldn't have come from a wreck," Andrina said slowly, leaving her scroll and her cubby to swim closer. "That's stamped with the Arendelle seal; Verdaya only started trading with them in the past few months."

"Did they?" Ariel asked, making sure she sounded appropriately surprised. "I didn't even know!"

(Of course she had known; the Legacy had been the first Verdayan ship to go to Arendelle. Jim had been lit up brighter than a firework for days before he left.)

Alana had joined the two mermaids now, looking at the beads and buttons in Ariel's tin curiously. She resisted the urge to cover them up with her hand, shield Jim's gift from their probing eyes, but that would be as good as admitting guilt, so Ariel remained still. "It must have fallen off a passing ship," Ariel suggested, shrugging. "It happens more often than you think, you know." Andrina picked up one of the beads, rolling it sluggishly around her palm in the water.

"This is metal, Ariel," she commented, scrutinizing the bead before flicking her intelligent hazel eyes up to Ariel. "It should have rusted by now if it was part of of your former stash. You found those beads when you were, what, twelve?"

"Eleven," Alana corrected. "She went searching for a piece of jewelry to give Adella for her birthday and came back with several jewelry boxes and those beads."

Damn. Curse Alana and her freakishly good memory!

"Eight years," Andrina drawled, not looking away from her silent sister. "These beads all look awfully good for being underwater that long."

Ariel felt like a wounded sea lion being circled by sharks. Her sisters smelled blood in the water, and they were closing in fast. She refused to look away, to do so was practically an admission of guilt, but Andrina had that look she got when she was particularly close to a breakthrough, or when she had nearly finished translating a difficult passage.

"Funny, isn't it?" she asked Ariel coyly. "Maybe they're enchanted?"

"Maybe I know how to take care of my things better than you," Ariel shot back, "Ms.'I Bring Priceless Scrolls to Bed and then Horribly Crumple Them'."

Neither Alana or Andrina rose to the bait, and Ariel could feel the tension humming in the water.

"Ariel?" Alana asked softly, worried.

"Alana," Andrina said before Ariel could speak, "would you mind checking these beads to see where Ariel got them? Just to be sure they're safe."

Ariel's eyes widened. No. She knew how Alana's magic worked, she'd be able to see everything; from the moment Jim bought the beads to when he presented them to her that day on the rocks. That moment was theirs, it was a precious memory that Ariel kept safely tucked away in the most secret place of her heart, and she did not want Alana's magic crashing into it like a bullshark.

Before Alana could even finish extending her hand, already glowing with soft, golden light as she prepared her spell, Ariel snatched the bead from Andrina's palm and twisted past them both; swimming quickly to the other side of the room and pressing the tin close to her chest. She curled her tail up against her body, protecting her treasures as Andrina and Alana both straightened out.

"I knew it!" Andrina said, grinning victoriously. "Those are new! And I bet I know where you got them, too!"

"Stop it!" Ariel said firmly.

"You've been seeing humans again, haven't you?" Andrina accused, swimming closer and crossing her arms. "I just knew watching from the sidelines wouldn't be good enough, you're talking to them!"

"Andrina!" Alana snapped, quickly putting herself between her two youngest sisters. "Stop it, now!"

"But she's-!"

Alana's purple eyes flashed gold, and Andrina pushed herself away with a quick flick of her tail. Alana had never used her magic to harm anyone, but it was best not to test her. Besides, she was their elder sister by several years, having just turned twenty-four during the last winter, and Ariel and Andrina both knew that when their older sisters meant business, they meant business.

Alana turned back to Ariel, mouth twisted in a worried frown. "Ariel," she started carefully. "Is it true, Minnow? Are you talking to humans again?" The little mermaid pressed her lips together nervously, teeth tugging on her bottom lip as her eyes looked anywhere but at her sisters. "I won't be mad," Alana promised gently. She pushed some of Ariel's hair back out of her face, tucking the red strands behind her ear. "We're just worried about you."

No one said it, but Ariel knew they were all thinking about the last time Ariel had started to interact with humans, and the shell that hung against her chest felt like an anchor. "Drina talks to Eric," Ariel muttered defensively.

"Because I'm the ambassador," Andrina reasoned, hands on her hips. "Because someone had to guarantee his silence and well-meaning when someone decided to turn tail and swim off after-" Andrina stopped herself this time, gasping softly, but the damage was done. Ariel curled up tighter on herself, trying to sink into the wall and hide the fact that her eyes were feeling mushy. Crying underwater was a strange, unpleasant sensation, and Ariel had been told repeatedly by her sisters that her chin bunched unattractively when she cried. "Oh, Minnow," Andrina said softly. "I'm sorry, I didn't-"

"Yes, okay!?" Ariel snapped, pressing the tin tighter to her chest; the hard, metal edges digging painfully into her tawny skin. "I'm talking to a human! I'm putting us all in danger again and being selfish and horrid and spoiled!" She quickly turned her head away, trying to block out her sisters' gasps at her confession.

Silence hung in the room for a few moments, filled only by Ariel's shuddery breathing, when she felt two hands carefully cup her wrists. Andrina pressed her forehead against Ariel's temple, gently shushing her younger sister as she rubbed soft circles into her wrists with her thumbs. "No one thinks you're any of those things," she reassured Ariel gently. "And if anyone says so, we'll have Aquata sic the whole Royal Guard on them, okay?"

Ariel chuckled wetly, rubbing the heel of her hand against her eye. "That's an abuse of power," she accused softly.

"You're our baby sister," Alana cooed, running her fingers through Ariel's hair. "We're allowed to be overprotective." Ariel shuddered through her next breath, trying to blink the tears rapidly from her eyes. When she looked at Andrina, she was smiling at her softly.

"There you go," she murmured, tapping the tip of Ariel's nose like Alana had done before. "Come have a seat; we'll get some nice kelp juice, and you can tell us all about it, okay?" Ariel squirmed awkwardly, but Andrina just grinned. "You know we're just gonna keep dragging sisters in here until you spill it," she said matter-of-factly. "It's either two sisters or four, and you know Attina would completely lose her mind."

Ariel grimaced. "Oh, fine," she muttered. "Make sure Daddy doesn't see you," she begged as Andrina began to pull away, presumably to go get the aforementioned kelp juice. "Please, I- I need to be the one to tell him."

Andrina nodded, looking a little confused by Ariel's insistence, and quickly swam through the seaweed curtain that led back out into the rest of the palace. Alana gently led Ariel to the cubby that Andrina had been using before, getting her sister settled before she grabbed the lid to Ariel's tin. "Andrina didn't mean it," she said, holding the lid out to Ariel. "What she said about Eric. No one thinks any less of you for what happened after… After."

"No," Ariel murmured. "They thought less of me when I left." Alana was quiet for a moment, watching Ariel carefully put the lid back on after she was sure none of her beads or buttons had fallen out.

"They just don't know what to say," Alana said softly. "Just because they don't understand doesn't mean they don't love you. The people of Atlantica adore you, Ariel. You've never been afraid to speak up for what's fair and right."

"Oh yeah, I'm definitely the voice of the people," Ariel scoffed, and Alana's frown deepened. She carefully cupped her little sister's cheeks between her palms.

"Music would still be outlawed if it wasn't for you," she insisted. "We would never have even considered having an ambassador for the humans until you showed us their true nature, Ariel. It's thanks to you that Atlantica is safer than ever before."

Ariel frowned. She couldn't claim the credit for either of those things; she had just plowed along with single-minded determination and accidentally fixed things that had previously been broken. That wasn't the mark of a good princess and friend to the people, those were the actions of a selfish coward. They should have banished her ages ago, and Ariel suspected that had she not been the youngest daughter of the reigning king and had her sisters not defended her so viciously, she would have been.

Alana seemed to know that her words weren't getting through to the young mermaid, but before she could try again, Andrina swam back into the room; tray clutched in her hands and a bright smile on her face. "Guess who I found!" she sang, and both Ariel and Alana looked at her with furrowed brows. Before either of them could make good on the questions on their tongues, a blue and yellow blur shot into the room, and Ariel gasped as it collided with her chest.

"Ariel!"

"Flounder!" she said with a giggle as her friend eagerly bumped his nose against her chin, wrapping her arms around the little fish and pulling him close. Although, she was doing her friend a great injustice by calling him 'little' still; Flounder certainly wasn't a guppy anymore. Three years ago, Ariel would have been able to cradle him safely in her arms. Now, he was almost as long as her torso and had gained some weight besides. He had grown into quite the handsome devil, and Ariel knew that when he sometimes disappeared for hours at a time, he was courting a rather pretty fish that Ariel had only met once or twice.

Although he had grown up, he was still Ariel's favorite scaredy fish and partner in exploration, and she happily rubbed her cheek against the top of his head.

"Are you o-okay?" he asked, swimming out of her arms to circle her torso a few times, looking for any new scars or bumps. "A-Andrina said you weren't f-feeling good."

Ariel sighed as Andrina passed her a stone cup filled with the thick juice, giving her blonde sister an annoyed look that she gleefully ignored. "I'm fine," she reassured Flounder, running her nails gently under his chin to which he responded by nuzzling her wrist. "They found out," she told him, and his eyes widened.

"It wasn't h-her fault!" he quickly defended. "W-we didn't know w-where the sea lions were n-nesting! It was an a-accident-"

Ariel quickly covered his mouth. "Not that," she hissed, glancing at her sisters out of the corner of her eye. Andrina was smirking at her, and Alana looked flatly unamused. She had been one of the merfolk that had been caught in that particular stampede, and Ariel knew she'd be hearing more about that later. "The other thing," Ariel told Flounder, raising her eyebrows at him meaningfully.

He simply looked at her in confusion. Ariel sighed.

"The Jim thing," she breathed, cupping her hand around her mouth so her sisters couldn't see her lips forming his name. Flounder, however, did, and he gasped as realization clicked in his head. He looked nervously at Andrina and Alana, swimming protectively in front of Ariel, and her heart swelled with affection.

"You c-can't be mad at her," he said firmly, even with his stutter. "N-not for this."

"Why not?" Andrina asked, but it was more curious than accusing.

"B-because she's happy," Flounder said, and Ariel smiled softly. "It's been t-too long since she's been h-happy."

The two princesses shared a startled look, and Ariel pulled Flounder against her chest gently. "Thanks, guppy," she whispered, kissing his head and giggling when Flounder practically lit up at the sign of affection. He had been her faithful sounding board ever since she had first swam back from the Legacy that fateful night, blowing steam from her ears and growling about the impetuous first mate with no manners, and he had been the first to hear Ariel's plan when she had returned from meeting Jim at the tide pool a few days prior. "I'll take it from here, okay?"

"Okay A-Ariel," he said, settling in her lap happily. Ariel breathed in deep, not looking away from Flounder's striped back.

"I don't know where to start," she admitted, pushing some of her hair out of her face. Alana reached forward and laid her hand against the emerald scales of Ariel's tail, smiling gently.

"The beginning is usually best," she offered. "Do you know their name?" Ariel nodded.

"His name is Jim," she said, and her cheeks went a little pink as his face rose unbidden in her mind. Sharp jaw, dark hair, intelligent endlessly-deep grey-blue eyes. If he had been a merman, Ariel had no doubts she'd have to fight her sisters for his attention. "Well, I mean, technically it's James," she babbled, "but he goes by Jim. And he has a second name too! It's like a family thing; it helps humans tell who's related to whom."

"That's helpful," Alana said brightly. Andrina nodded.

Ariel could feel her smile growing as she talked about her sailor, her heart fluttering against her breast restlessly. "It's Hawkins," she told them unprompted. "He's the only son, but he's got a big extended family. His godfather is married to the captain of the ship he sails on, and they have four kids. But besides them it's just Jim and his mom, and she is the most amazing person ever; she runs this big inn for humans all by herself! Jim helps, of course, but he's out at sea a lot so it's just her and her employees most of the time."

"So this human, he's a sailor?" Andrina asked, sharing a look Ariel couldn't quite interpret with Alana. Ariel nodded, smiling proudly.

"He's the first mate on a big trading vessel," she informed them.

"Like the ones that sailed to Arendelle?" Andrina said with a smirk. Ariel had the sense to look bashful at being caught.

"His was the first," she murmured. Andrina laughed shortly under her breath. "They used to be a naval ship," Ariel explained, "but then Captain Amelia had her kids, and so she retired to spend more time with them. Jim was one of the many that followed Amelia from her original crew, and he's been her first mate for nearly four years."

"How long have you known Jim?" It was Alana's turn to ask a question, and Ariel's smile dropped a bit. She squirmed awkwardly, running her fingers along Flounder's dorsal fin.

"A little over a year and a half," she muttered, wincing when Andrina choked on her sip of kelp juice. They were both staring at her with wide eyes, and Ariel smiled sheepishly.

"A year and a half!?" Andrina rasped, hand still at her throat as she she tried to recover from her choking. Alana was still staring at Ariel with her mouth hanging open, and Ariel reached out with her tail to gently knock her jaw closed with her fin.

"You're filterfeeding," she said quietly, and Alana snapped out of her shock.

"Ariel, a year is a long time to be risking those kind of encounters with a human," she said nervously. "It even took Andrina two years to be comfortable alone with Eric."

"Jim would never hurt me," Ariel defended quickly. "Not ever. He always asks before he touches my tail, and he didn't even start sitting close to me until we had known each other for at least six months." Okay, so he didn't ask so much before touching her tail now, with how he was constantly picking her up and helping her around the drier parts of the tide pool, but it wasn't like Ariel still asked if it was alright to touch him either. They had spent so many days together by that time that it seemed kind of pointless. If she didn't want him to touch her, she would tell him.

"He's been close enough to you to touch your tail!?" Andrina asked with wide eyes. She quickly set her cup down, swimming close to Ariel so she could look her little sister over critically; like she thought she could see the handprints on her skin from where Jim had touched her. "Are you sure it's safe to be that close to a human? I know humans aren't the brutes Daddy thought they were, but that's still way too dangerous-"

"I trust Jim," Ariel said firmly, frowning at Andrina. "He would keelhaul himself before he would hurt me."

"I-it's true," Flounder stammered from her lap. "He's r-really protective of her."

Andrina stared at Ariel silently for a moment, and Ariel simply looked back with a calm reassurance fueled by the absolute trust she had in her sailor. "He's never hesitated to keep me safe," she said, thinking of all the times she had visited the Legacy while it sat in the harbor and Jim would turn his crewmates away from the edge of the ship where Ariel was perched. He had even gotten in trouble with Captain Amelia when he was giving the mermaid enough time to get safely back in the water. Ariel giggled. "Remember that time he had to clean barnacles off the ship by himself for a whole day because he threw his captain's hat across the deck when she got too close?" she asked Flounder, who laughed with her.

"Oh man, he was s-so grumpy," the fish remembered with her, and they both giggled at the memory of Jim, absolutely soaked with salt water and pouting at the laughing sea creatures, occasionally throwing a barnacle in their direction with a grumble.

Andrina and Alana shared another look that Ariel couldn't understand, and Andrina slowly sank back into the sand next to her older sister. "You know him really well," she said slowly, and Ariel nodded with a small smile.

"He's my best friend," she admitted. Ariel quickly amended her statement at Flounder's hurt look. "Best human friend," she reassured.

"... Just a friend?" Alana asked, and Ariel immediately went scarlett. She bit her bottom lip, tugging nervously on her fingers as her sisters' eyebrows slowly rose with her continued silence. Flounder huffed in her lap, clearly remembering the awkward summer when Jim and Ariel had visited each other several times a week just to stammer around each other. It had taken them nearly Jim's whole shore-leave to confess their growing attraction to each other, and Flounder had stopped tagging along for every trip long before that.

"Told you she has a type," Andrina said after a minute of painful silence, and Ariel gasped in indignation as Alana burst out laughing.

"I do not!" Ariel protested as her sisters laughed at her expense. Flounder was chuckling in her lap, and she shot him a hurt look full of betrayal. "Don't encourage them," she hissed.

"Oh, it's good to know some things never change," Andrina said, still giggling. She leaned forward, a wicked gleam in her eyes. "You're so in love with him, don't even try to deny it."

"I'm not!" Ariel huffed, realizing her mistake too late. She looked at her sisters with wide eyes, but they were both smiling at her now. It was actually a little unnerving; they had been quiet and worried just moments before, but now they were completely at ease.

Alana laughed softly, swimming closer and taking Ariel's hands in her own. "If you trust Jim, so do we," she said warmly. "You can be rash, Minnow, but you're also an excellent judge of character."

"I made a deal with Ursula," Ariel reminded her flatly, one eyebrow arching high on her forehead. Alana waved her comment off easily.

"Under extreme duress. You're allowed to have an off day, especially with what happened with Daddy," she said with a shrug. The reminder of their father's reaction to Ariel's last beau had all three princesses silent and still.

"What are you going to tell Daddy?" Andrina asked quietly, and Ariel sighed wearily.

"The truth, if I can," she murmured. "I won't make the same mistake twice."

"What are you going to do?" Alana asked softly. Ariel frowned, pulling Flounder close to her chest once again for comfort. Her friend nuzzled her arm sadly, and she smiled gently at him.

"Make my choice," Ariel said with a quiet determination, and Alana's expression fell. Both sisters silently joined the young mermaid in the cubby, tails curling together as they wrapped their arms around Ariel. She clung to her sisters tightly, face buried in Andrina's shoulder. "You know I don't belong here," she rasped, eyes feeling overly wet again.

"You belong with us, Ariel," Andrina whispered, and her voice hitched on Ariel's name. Alana was quiet, her arms tightening around Ariel's waist. They sat silently, tangled together as their hair floated and moved with the tide. Ariel's breathing was hitching again, and for the first time, she was unsure about what she should do. She had never belonged with the other merfolk, everyone knew that. She didn't know the rules written in their blood, as old and ancient as the tides themselves. They stayed away from the human wrecks, she frolicked in them with unbidden joy. They craved the safety of the deeper waters and the security of Atlantica's walls, Ariel lived for her stolen moments in the warmth of the sun and under the millions of stars that shone brightly at night.

They stayed far from the humans that had once hunted them. Ariel had only ever felt truly safe and loved in the arms of a human sailor.

But as other as she felt among the other merfolk, Atlantica was her home. She grew up swimming through the coral gardens and playing hide and seek in the palace halls. Her sisters were here, her father was here, what memories she had of her mother lived in these walls. Ariel loved the ocean and all its mysteries, and she thrived in the wildest parts of the sea where she could just let everything go and swim. Aquata was the most athletic of Triton's daughters, but Ariel was the fastest, and she had more than once ended up far past Atlantica's borders because she had been so caught up in the feeling of her tail pumping and the water rushing through her hair.

There had been no time to consider the full consequences when she had signed Ursula's contract, but now she had more time than she could stomach. Was she willing to give up everything she knew, everything she was, for one man?

Ariel thought of the way Jim's laugh made her feel like she weighed nothing at all, how he could just watch her as she babbled on and on about her human treasures with a slow smile crawling across his face. She thought of how he would spend hours explaining sailing to her, never getting impatient as she struggled to connect the terms to the images in her head and smiling with her when she got it. She thought of how he acted with his fellow crewmembers when he didn't know she was watching from the side of the ship; with respect and fairness, especially to the young cabin boy that had been put in his care.

She thought of the first time he kissed her, clumsy tongue tripping over each "please, can I" as his hands held her softly, reverently, like he was still surprised she let him touch her at all.

"Does he make you happy?" Alana asked quietly, echoing her thoughts, and Ariel laughed wetly.

"I love him," she confessed. "He makes it easier to breathe." Ariel was a mermaid; constantly taking water into her lungs and never drowning. Jim felt like finally coming up for air.

Alana pressed a kiss into Ariel's shoulder. "Then we'll help you in any way we can," she assured Ariel firmly, and both younger sisters turned to look at her with wide eyes.

"Alana-" Andrina protested, but Alana pressed her finger to the blonde mermaid's mouth. She smiled sadly at Ariel.

"At least if you go to land with your sailor, we'll always know where you are," she teased. "Fathoms knows where Adella and Arista are." Ariel laughed, hugging Alana tightly.

"Oh please, like I'd let Jim set sail without me," she said happily. "I'm going to see the whole world!"

Alana groaned. "The good news keeps coming!" she bemoaned dramatically, but Ariel was already giggling, wriggling happily in her sister's embrace while Flounder complained about being squished. She beamed at Alana, and her older sister sweetly kissed her forehead. "Let's figure out how to tell Daddy, shall we?" she mused. "Best start slow, and not dive straight into the whole 'I want to permanently beach myself' deal."

"Daddy likes control," Andrina added softly. "Let him lead the conversation, but direct him towards what you want." Ariel looked over her shoulder, and Andrina smirked. "Hey, I helped Adella and Arista. I can help you."

"Tricky," Alana accused lovingly.

"You're the best," Ariel insisted, to which Andrina just smiled smugly.

"And don't you forget it," she said breezily. "Now, I would suggest a set amount of time on land to test the waters, metaphorically. You'll get further if he knows you've put a lot of thought into this."

"Jim's in port for two months," Ariel offered.

"Then one month should be good. Gives you plenty of time to experience life on land and get to know what Jim's like when you two are around each other constantly."

"You should suggest coming back," Alana added, "after the month is up. That way you don't miss Attina's coronation, and you have an out in case anything goes wrong."

"And you'll get to see Adella and Arista before you go," Andrina said, nodding in agreement.

"Girls, he lives on the coast," Ariel said with a roll of her eyes. "I'm going to visit all the time! You're not getting rid of me that easily."

"Oh thank gods!"

All three princesses burst out into laughter, and were still laughing when Attina found them and was subsequently pulled into their pile of giggling sisters and limbs. That same night, Ariel found her father after dinner, her sisters all watching their interaction silently.

"May I join you?" Ariel asked sweetly, hiding her shaking hands by clasping them tightly behind her back. Triton smiled, offering his youngest daughter his arm.

"Of course, my dear," he said, obviously pleased. Ariel tucked her small hand into the crease of his elbow, and the two royals swam out together to the garden, speaking of nothing in particular in low tones. The other princesses watched from the window, Alana and Andrina both fidgeting nervously and Attina and Aquata watching in confusion, as Ariel stopped their father and had him sit on a bench. They couldn't hear the words they spoke from this far away, but they saw Triton's eyes widen in shock and Ariel's wild gesturing with her hands as she rushed to explain herself.

The whole ocean seemed to hold its breath as Ariel knelt in the sand in front of her father, their eyes not leaving the other's as she asked the king of the sea for her impossible favor.

And the stars in the sky seemed to sigh in relief when he quietly said yes.