-In the morning of Ariel's birthday-
Ariel knew she had to do this quickly before her Father comes in after his swim with Sebastian. In her hands, she held a incredible silver bracelet with rubies engraved around the bracelet. It was rather rusted when she found it in another sunken ship, and she had worked on it on the wee hours of the evening before curfew every night, and now it's gleaming bright.
She grabbed her father's trident out of its stand, and exhaled deeply as she focused her sight upon the bracelet which is laying upon the soil now, the gold aura of the trident warm as the sun's powerful rays, growing stronger and stronger as it pointed at the bracelet, then a white-goldish beam shot out, surrounded the bracelet for a few moments, then it stopped, fading away to its normal visage.
Ariel hoped she did it right as she quickly put the Trident back in its stand. She had asked Attina, her eldest sister of the Trident's abilities within its welder, never imagining that a daughter of Triton could use the Trident too, but only able to use a part of the enormous power to do so. She grabbed the bracelet, and swam out swiftly, evading the guards professionally, unknowing that a set of eyes saw it all.
Coming out of the shadows, is a orange-tailed mermaid with dark green eyes, and a curled up hairdo of medium brown hair. This is Attina, Ariel's eldest sister. She was coming here to speak with her father, hoping she'd take part of participating in affairs as she's the heir to take upon the throne, but she never imagined to see her baby sister here, enchanting a human thing with their father's trident. She knew she had to find out what's going on with Ariel, as she had asked Attina about the Trident for no reason, but after what Attina had seen, it has to be a reason, a special one.
She quickly swam off to find her sister, wondering of what the reason is. She saw Ariel briefly talking with Flounder, and she followed them, tailing them as they got beyond the borders of the city, over the kelp forest, and then now hearing Ariel laugh in relief, "Oh, Poseidon, I thought I was late, but Eric's gonna be happy when he hears this!".
Flounder chuckled, "I can't wait to see the look of his face when he would find out that he's truly swimming with you! You sure you did it right?". Ariel nodded, "I did it the way Attina said to do. It's sure to work!". Flounder twittered, "You know Sebastian's gonna freak out when he finds out about this.". Ariel huffed, "Do you see him anywhere? He's not going to stop me from giving Eric the chance to use the biggest birthday gift of my life ever!".
Flounder nodded, "Alright, Ariel. Hey, we're close! Look, there's the funny-shaped rock of the horse!". He pointed out a fin, pointing out a rough-looking rock formation in the distance, and Ariel grinned from cheek to cheek, "Come on, Flounder! He's gonna be waiting by now!". Attina has never swam this far before, or been to this area of the sea, then she saw the water becoming shallow and tasting more fresher than salty, and she widened her eyes when she saw Ariel swim up to the surface.
She dreaded immediately, swimming up as well, still a distance away, surfacing near some strange weeds on land, breathing alternatively to the surface air, seeing Ariel looking at a floating tiny boat, a puzzled look on her face. "His boat's here, but where's he?". Flounder spoke, "Maybe he's waiting on the shore.". Ariel smiled, "He could be!". She darted on, treading the freshwater with her hands and fins as she came around the boat, smiling as she touched the wood. Attina was shell-shocked as she stared upon the boat. Ariel's seeing a human! A man!
She dived instantly, avoiding the boat underwater, then surfacing as she hid behind the strange weeds, a small space as a viewing spot, glancing at Ariel who now is frowning, a bit concerned. "Eric, where are you? If you are hiding from me, it's not gonna work! I know you are here! Your boots are laying on the shore!". Attina could see a pair of ice blue eyes gleaming in the shadows, then disappeared, Ariel has not noticed the disturbance, and Attina was about to shout to save her when Ariel shrieked as a man appeared upwards, holding Ariel bride style.
Neatly windswept black hair, the familiar ice blue eyes, a tanned chest, with fabric clothes on his lower body adorned the man as he grinned at Ariel's surprised face as he carried her to the shore, laying her down halfway in the sand, her tail still in the water. "Did I surprise you, little mermaid?".
Ariel laughed, "I knew you got it down! Yes, you surprised me, Eric. Have you been practicing the swim?". Eric laughed gently, "Mermish isn't easy, but it sure has some good challenges. Yeah, I got my legs locked up when I swam, waiting for you. Hey, what do you got there, Ariel?". Ariel grinned brightly, "I found a way to get you to be a merman! Here, put it on.".
Eric received the human thing, gasped softly, "Wow, you must have worked hard on this bracelet, Ariel. This is beautiful. Where did you find it?". Ariel giggled, "In the shipwreck graveyard. It was the one with the carved dolphin. I enchanted it to work for you. I had to ask Attina for details.". Eric nodded, "I love it.", putting the bracelet on his right wrist, "Okay, how can I do this?".
Ariel smiled gently, "You have to be entirely focused, intending to be a merman so hard. Don't worry, I am here with you.". Eric exhaled, closed his eyes, "Alright, here it goes.". A moment of silence then a flash of gold light surrounded Eric, clenching his chin as Ariel held his shoulder firmly. Attina let go of a breath she didn't realize she was holding into, shocked as she stared upon Eric's inky black tail with the darkest blue fins she had ever seen. Ariel was more awed and amazed, "See, I told you that you'd make a good merman!".
Eric was speechless as he touched his new tail, and grinned, "This is incredible, Ariel! Am I going to see your world for real?". Ariel laughed, "Come on!". She tugged Eric's hand, and she dived underwater with a shocked Eric behind her. Attina dived underwater as well, hearing Flounder's voice, "You look so different, Eric!". A audible gasp, "Flounder, I just understood you now!".
Twin laughs sounded out, with Ariel speaking, "Come on, you two! This is going to be the best birthday ever!". Attina only got to peek around the seaweed to see Flounder and Eric's hands and fins grasped by Ariel's hands, with Flounder speaking in dread, "Oh, boy, not one of your speed bursts again.". Ariel didn't seem to hear him as she suddenly came into a speeding torpedo of fins, with Attina gasping in shock as she tried to follow them, but Ariel is the fastest mermaid of all Atlantica, and it seems when she's excited like that, she's a torpedo of speed.
Attina knew she had to tell her father of this. Heading up to the surface is one thing, meeting up with a human is a very big thing, but this, changing a human to a merperson with the help of a enchanted human thing, thanks to the Trident's power, this is very dangerous!