The young girl couldn't have been older than a preteen. Her face was still round with youth and pale with seclusion. She had probably never seen the surface, or at least not more than once. She seemed nervous, constantly interlocking her fingers together and fiddling.
"You're…you're not an easy woman to find." She chuckled a little.
Ariel shook her head a little. "What are you talking about?"
"You said you were the sea witch."
Ariel was still a little on edge. "Yes, I know. What do you want?"
"Well, hear me out!" she insisted, swimming closer. "My parents think I'm being stupid, and so do all of my friends, but I know I'm in the right here."
Ariel snorted a little. She knew that feeling.
"There's – there's this boy. He's unlike anyone I've ever known. He's perfect. You have no idea."
"Let's talk inside." Ariel looked around. Being spotted by anyone would only cause issue. The girl eagerly agreed and swam into Ariel's cavern, sitting down at the basin and seeming much more secure. She smiled confidently and looked up at Ariel. Someone was going to listen to her!
"Ma'am, I'm in love." She started, wrapping her hands around the edge of the basin and leaning forward. "But I need help, and no one else will do it! I love him, I love him, I swear."
"What's the issue?" Ariel asked, pushing her eyebrows together.
"I've never truly met him." The girl bit her lip and shrunk back, but Ariel did not laugh her off, so she continued. "You might know of him, it's Samuel Salmon."
"The singer?" Ariel said flatly. Everyone knew who Sam Salmon was. A well-crafted pretty boy who dropped his first album roughly two years back. With his flowing blonde hair, bright green eyes, and the fact that he was eighteen with a mentality of a fourteen year old, he was rather popular with preteens.
"Yes, yes!" she got excited and stood up. "He's like, royalty!"
Ariel cringed at this a little, and she wasn't sure why.
The girl swam closer to Ariel and sat down in front of her. "I've seen him before, he has events, and the like, but we've never met, met, y'know? But I've read and listened to everything he's ever said. I know everything about him. He's kind and generous and selfless and sensitive and loving and perfect. I know this, I do!"
"How old are you?" Ariel asked, hesitant.
"I'm 14, practically. In like a month and a half." she bit her lip. "I'm Evelyn, by the way."
"S-sea witch." Ariel stammered, speaking only out of formality.
Evelyn raised an eyebrow. "But I need your help. Make me famous, put me in his world. I need to be a part of it, a part of him. Please."
Ariel hesitated. Evelyn seemed almost unreasonable, she was pining after one of the most desired and least available men in the kingdom! She was only a child, it was unlikely she had even ever been in love before! Was it responsible to let this girl go out into the whole new world of the rich and famous, the fast living and prominent? Was it wise to let her romantically pursue a man significantly older than her, especially considering they had never spoken? Was it hypocritical of her to deny the girl?
"Are you…sure? That this is what you want?" Ariel asked, slowly.
"More positive than I've ever been about anything." Evelyn said solemnly. "I want to marry him, Sea Witch."
Ariel was uncomfortable at the whole situation, and couldn't fully admit to herself as to why. "What if things don't work out?"
"They will." Evelyn said quickly. "And if they don't, at least I'll know I tried."
Too young. Too foolish. To naïve. She had to be protected.
"I'll do it."
A giant grin spread across Evelyn's face. "Thank you, thank you!" she exclaimed, clapping her hands and bobbing up and down. "Oh, what you've done for me…"
"Here are my conditions." Ariel held up a finger. "I'll make you an overnight sensation, I'm sure I can do it." She stood and swam over to the book, flipping through it wildly. "You will have three days to make him fall in love with you. That is, he has to kiss you. A true love's kiss. If he doesn't, you turn back to your old self, and you must join a sisterhood until you are eighteen."
Sisterhoods were well known throughout the merworld. Groupings of girls, with some sort of common purpose, who lived together, worked together, and grew up together. They were not allowed contact with boys, besides their families, and would stay in the sisterhood until they were done with being trained for whatever it was the group specialized in.
"Done! Done!" Evelyn exclaimed. "Oh, Sea Witch, make me fantastic!"
…
After Evelyn had been handed the potion she left, so Ariel grabbed a bottle of her own. The purple sludge was waning, the bottle and story almost halfway through. It was late at night and Ariel knew she wouldn't be able to sleep until she knew more of the tale, so she gulped a share and waited for it to wash over her.
Ursula fidgeted with her nautilus shell necklace, biting her ruby lip. This, this was it! As soon as she found a husband, she would be queen! Her stomach was flipping over, but she could feel her heart swelling up in her ribcage and knew something was about to burst.
The governess came and beckoned to her. Ursula adjusted her hair just a bit more and exhaled to steady herself. She swam up to a large set of double doors.
"Your mother says 'good luck'" the governess smiled.
Ursula nodded, and the doors were pulled open.
"And announcing, Princess Ursula of Atlantica."
The people burst out into applause, but Ursula did not startle or shrink back at the noise. She waved eagerly, then brought her arms about herself and settled for smiling and she swam slowly, gracefully down the stairs.
"May I have the first dance, Princess?" a stocky merman held out his hand.
Ursula reached out and took it, accepting.
…
Triton wasn't announced, much to the annoyance of the staff. (He's the son! The second born! It's never been done this way!) He instead sat by his mother's side, resting his hand over hers and speaking softly to her, of things he had done and seen. She chuckled lightly sometimes, but it would always follow with wheezing, through which Triton would sit uncomfortably and then fetch her something to drink.
"Go, go." She said, trying to move.
"Keep still, mother. Please don't waste your energy. And no way! I'll spend tonight with you, while Ursula is all out and..ugh."
"Go, please." She began coughing violently. "Go!"
"No, Mother."
"Please." She insisted, looking up at him.
"Are you sure?"
She nodded.
"You'll send for me if you need anything, anything, right?"
She rolled her eye and nodded again.
"I won't be long, I promise."
Triton backed out of the room, watching as his mother smiled at him.
"Promise." He called again, leaving the room.
…
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