FYI: I do not own Frozen or anything, all rights belong to Disney!
Meeting Marshmallow
Anna smiled happily as she swam through the halls of her home. The palace of the Mer was a huge structure carved into the side of an underwater cliff. She glanced through an opening that allowed one to see the civilization below. Large rows of the kelp her people cultivated to eat, weave, and the sturdier kelp that the Mer used for building structures, which swayed slightly with the water they all lived in, as did the kelp buildings that made up the Agriculture District. The small lights of the Industrial District of the village glowed with the heat of the cooling magma of the underwater volcanoes that existed there, where the blacksmiths, armor smiths, and other makers resided. Then in front of the palace's gate was the Representative District, where representatives of the other clans resided to talk politics and other incredibly important (and also incredibly boring) issues with her mother as her outer council, mostly do with humans like Kristoff.
Kristoff. Anna had been thinking about the human for quite some time. At first she had thought it was because she was finally learning about the surface world from a source that wasn't either dead, or a tutor hired by her mother. However, she began to realize on the days she was unable to see Kristoff, that simply observing the docks as she had before she had met him, no longer held its appeal to her: what she really wanted was to see him. She would look around at her clan's home and she would see things that she wanted to show him, before remembering it was both physically impossible and taking a human into her clan's capital would be giving him a death sentence, and that was something that made her insides writhe painfully.
Am I in love with him? She suddenly wondered, and she stopped for a moment. She did think about him a lot, and she did feel what her mother had described she had felt for her father (during the few times her mother talked about him). Can I see myself with anyone else? She asked herself, and concentrated, until the realization hit her like a riptide. She couldn't. She blinked a few times and then felt herself smile tentatively. I'm in love with a human, then her smile faded, mama's going to kill me.
"Princess Anna," a familiar voice called to her, jolting her out of her train of thought. She turned to see a familiar portly merman with a green olive colored tail swimming toward her.
"Hello Kai," Anna waved at him smiling quickly trying to hide her thoughts, "did I forget something, again?"
"I'm afraid so," the old merman nodded sympathetically, "your mother wanted you to be present for today's meeting of the inner council. If you hurry you won't be late again."
"Yikes!" Anna yelped, "Aw man! Mama's gonna be furious if I miss another meeting!"
She quickly turned and swam as fast as she could to her mother's council chamber yelling "thanks Kai!" behind her as she shot out of sight, thanking Neptune that it was only an Inner council meeting, which only discussed issues with her clan, rather than the whole ocean.
Even swimming at her fastest, she was the last one there and was quickly greeted by her mother's disappointed scowl, as well as the disapproving looks of the council.
"Now that my daughter has decided to grace us with her presence, we can begin." Her mother spoke in her regal voice as she turned to the councilman, her purple fins glittering.
Anna cringed into her seat slightly. She knew her mother hated it when she was the last one to enter; something about it being rude to the councilmen, even if she was technically on time. Her mother rested her fins on the rock that sat before the large auditorium. The council room was massive; several rows of seats on each level of the large oval room, each divided into sections based on clan, rank, and occupation. As this was an inner council meeting, Anna and the rest of the Mer present were seated at a round stone table of sorts in the bottom floor of the large rotund building.
Anna suddenly felt something press against her fins, and barely stifled a scream. Risking a glance downward, she saw a bleached white nose staring up at her, clicking quietly.
"Olaf!" Anna whispered angrily, trying to stay as quiet as possible, "what in Neptune's tail are you doing here? Mama is already mad at me for coming last, again, I don't need her angry at me for thinking I snuck you in here."
The albino dolphin let out a few barely audible clacks, and looked at her pleadingly, "A friend of yours? If whoever it is got in enough trouble to get sent to mama I might not be able to help any but… his name is what?! I'll see what I can do, now can I please at least try to pay attention without you distracting me, and making mama even more mad at me?"
Olaf nuzzled her and snuck back under the table and out of sight. She sighed, this was already looking to be a long meeting, the councilmen were arguing about something to do with the fish herder unions, and hadn't even started on tithes yet. Suddenly there was a sharp rap at the council door and a royal guard entered, with several others waiting in the doorway.
"Your Majesty," said the Merman bowing respectfully, "we found a trespasser in the outer kelp fields."
"Well, who is it?" her mother asked, looking a little resigned, "another one of the Southern Isles Clansmen?"
"No, your majesty," the guard suddenly looking a little nervous, "it's a shark, one of the behemoth Great Whites."
The guard gestured to the doorway, and the rest of the guards filed in, tied between them was the largest, whitest shark Anna had ever seen, it looked as if it were an albino like Olaf. Its massive jaws and overall size made it appear terrifying, and its eyes were filled with… embarrassment?
Her mother looked as shocked as she was, as she took in the massive sea creature, "what exactly was a shark doing in the kelp fields?" asked her mother slowly.
"We're not exactly sure," admitted the guard, "but it looked as though he was trying to eat some of it. We were able to stop it from causing too much damage, however."
Her mother blinked, and several of the council members looked at each other with confusion and humor, "if this shark was destroying our kelp fields, then we have to execute it unfortunately, what with the shortage thanks to the human's pollution of our home."
The shark's eyes widened and suddenly it let out a loud panicked roar, and bucked, severing the ropes tying it, and sending the guards trying to hold it crashing into the walls.
Anna grimaced and muttered under the table, "You owe me big for this, Olaf" and rushed toward the panicking shark. The massive creature roared and charged at Anna. Without a second thought, she grabbed the creature nose and started rubbing it, stopping the behemoth mid charge.
"Shh," She whispered to the shark, "Olaf asked me to help you but I can't do that if you freak out, alright?"
The shark stared at her and it let out a rumble, and she let out a tiny nod, "yes I can understand you, but I would really like it if no one knew about it okay? I don't want to get shipped off to the Priests of Poseidon as an acolyte; I get bored out of my mind from listening to my tutors drone on about stuff here. I wouldn't last a week over at the temple."
The shark let out a slightly humorous rumble, though it was slightly strained. Anna sighed, "I know you're scared, but I need you to stop trying to hurt the guards; they're just trying to do their jobs." The shark huffed, "yeah, the ropes were totally overkill, but then again, you are really big for a behemoth Great White, I mean you're practically the size of Kristoff's boat!" Anna realized what she had said and clamped a hand over her mouth while keeping her other hand on his snout, "Don't tell anyone about that, please!" she quietly begged the shark. He seemed to deliberate for a moment, then let out a rumble of agreement, and Anna sighed with relief, "Can I ask you a question? What exactly were you doing in our kelp fields?" The shark seemed to squirm slightly before grudgingly letting out a deep yet soft whimper. Anna blinked, "You were trying to eat it? I'm pretty sure sharks are carnivores though, why were you trying to eat kelp instead of fish?" Another whimper, and Anna had to stifle a laugh as she breathed her response, "your squeamish?" this time he growled and Anna quickly backtracked, "sorry, I meant; you don't like blood?" the shark rumbled again and let out a tiny shake of his head. "Oh, okay. For what it's worth; I don't like blood either," Anna murmured, and then smiled at him, "Okay, let's start this thing over; I'm Anna, Princess of the Fjord Clan and of the Mer people."
The shark's eyes widened slightly, let out a small rumble with his name, and gave an unmistakable bow. Anna heard gasps behind her and she whirled around. Her mother, her council, and the guards were staring at them, wide-eyed and open-mouthed. Anna cleared her throat and then spoke with as much authority as she could muster, "the behemoth is one of the last of his kind and should not be killed, for what could very well be a misunderstanding. I would ask all of you to forgive Marshmallow here for-"
"What did you call it?" her mother asked sharply staring intently at Anna. Anna squirmed slightly under her mother's gaze.
"Marshmallow," she repeated, "I thought it was a good fit 'cause you know, he's white and all…"
Her mother stared at her incredulously, and then groaned softly, "Very well; I will not have … Marshmallow executed for this infraction, however; henceforth you will be responsible for him my daughter, as he seems to have taken a liking to you. That is my final word."
Marshmallow let out a soft sigh, and Anna turned and bowed to her mother, "As you command, mama."
"Anna," her mother continued, "you and I need to speak, alone, after this conference is done."
Anna felt a small amount of dread pool into her stomach at her mothers' words, but she smiled and nodded.
"Where in the name of Neptune did you hear the word 'Marshmallow'?" Her mother said sternly, glaring at Anna, "I told you to stop obsessing with human nonsense, and yet you name one of the largest adolescent behemoth sharks after a human sweet food?"
"It seemed to fit and he liked it," Anna began, and then stopped and frowned at her mother, "wait a second, how do you know what a marshmallow is? You said you never went to the surface, even before the peace between the Mer and humanity ended."
Her mother's face paled and she spluttered for a moment, and Anna found her confusion turn to suspicion; her mother was the picture of sophisticated grace, she never spluttered.
"How I know what a marshmallow is, is irrelevant, immaterial, and beside the point!" The queen finally managed, "what I want to know is how you know about them!"
Anna quickly searched her mind for a suitable excuse. The truth was Kristoff had brought her one after a strange festival. But she couldn't exactly tell her mother that, "I… uh… read about them, from the remnants of a journal I found in a shipwreck. Ooh, did you know that human's roast them over fire to make them taste even better?"
Her mother groaned and rubbed he forehead as she began to swim back and forth, he purple tail sparkling in the eerie light. "How many times have I told you to stay away from the Shipwreck Abyss? Anything to do with those coral destroying, fish killing, Mer hunting humans is to be avoided at all costs!"
"What if not all of the humans are against the Mer?" Anna demanded before she could stop herself, "what if there are still humans out there who will follow the treaty, and respect the Mer?"
"The White Cap bay incident, and the actions of the human's King Adgar have proven otherwise," her mother said pointedly, but Anna continued, "but what if those were actions of a few and not the whole people, after all not all Mer follow the White Cap Clan's lifestyle regarding humans." Anna saw her mother flinch at the mention of… that.
"That is an unfortunate blight on our people, you know that. It is the human's own ignorance to believe we all act in such a horrific manor towards humans."
"So what if it's the same with humans in regards to the Mer?" Anna persisted, "we don't know if there are any who might be willing to remain loyal to the old agreements because you won't give them a chance. All we do is herd the fish away from human fishing boats, but we both know the overpopulation is still a problem."
Her mother sighed, "I'm glad you paid attention to at least some of your lessons," she muttered, and then sighed again, this time in defeat.
"If there are any humans who will follow the old ways, they would be doing the old ritual to prove they meant no ill will; all of the fish herders are taught from the start to recognize the signs of one still loyal, after all: humans may have forgotten the treaties, but we Mer have not." Her mother pointed out, sounding tired, and Anna stared at her mother in confusion, "ritual?"
Her mother looked annoyed, "yes ritual, you know the small ritual the humans would do every time they sailed into one of our deeper lands to fish in the herding grounds so we would know not to sink their ships-"
Anna face palmed in realization, and then hugged her mother, much to the queen's surprise, "Thank you mama, I completely forgot about that! I gotta go, sorry, bye!" and rushed out of the room in a blur, Marshmallow and Olaf behind her, leaving a very perplexed queen.