"Queen Vanessa! Queen Vanessa!" The ministers of the state, nobles, and traders hollered and yelled at the top of their lung, desperate to outdo the other.

They huddled together in a group like tightly packed rats fighting over a block of cheese. The object of their attention was at the front of their group. It was a beautiful woman, who seemed in her twenties judging by her appearance. Her skin was fair as the full moon, and her hair was a wavy dark brown that parted from the middle of her head. She wore fine royal blue robes that hung strapless on her chest, barely able to contain her ample and pillow-like bosom. On her shoulders she wore a light blue shawl that hung around her like a makeshift cloak, seeming to reflect the light of the setting sun. On her head was a silver crown, splendidly adorned with jewels of many sorts. On her neck, she wore a simple white nautilus necklace that was held by a fairly ordinary black strap.

Behind the woman were two very meek looking servant girls who wore troubled looks on their faces, but spoke nothing. They held up the queen's dress and followed behind her diligently, but made sure not to look at her, as if they were afraid.

To her left was a giant, grey skinned man. He stood at least several feet above the rest, and used his body language to establish a barrier between the queen and the nobility behind her. He was suited in iron armor that bore on the chest plate, an insignia of a shark rising out of the water. He seemed very annoyed by the presence of the nobles around him but kept as silent as he could amongst their chatter; but the more they went on the more annoyed he grew.

They were all in a large and empty hall with few notable features aside from the many large arched windows that gave a stunning view of the cliff side, and the sea beyond. The group moved forward, following closely behind the queen who seemed to be heading for a large double door; quickening her pace as she drew further.

"My fair lady! What does the king have to say of the closing off of Arendelle," questioned a noble. "Something must be done to ensure stability and trade between our kingdoms!"

Before anything else could be said, another nobleman spoke, "The people of my district are suffering from a blight of the crops. We need the king's wisdom on what to do, or else we'll have no food or trade for winter."

"My lady," shouted yet another nobleman holding a scrap of paper. "I would like to fund an expedition to extract coal from a recently discovered pocket. If I could please just have the king's signature."

Finally the group had reached the door and the queen's face bore an expression of elation. Her beautiful face had almost seemed ready to burst red if she had to hear any more questions. She snapped at the two servant girls, who gently let down her dress and worked to opening the doors for the queen. The queen then turned to the man beside her and nodded her head. He nodded back and turned towards the throng of people and stood between them and the queen. As the queen headed into the door, the noblemen began to scream even louder for her attention.

She turned at last towards them and spoke, her voice was sweet sounding, but very plain. "Gentlemen; I shall let the king know about your concerns. For now, it is getting late, and it is time for rest. Please, if you may excuse me."

After a few minutes of shouting and screaming, the queen had the door shut behind her. It had led her to another hallway that split off in several different directions. For a while, the queen silently stared at the door, while the servant girls stood to her side and lowered their heads in obedience. After a few minutes, the hulking man came through the door.

"All clear," he muttered in a gravelly voice.

Upon hearing the words, the queen seemed almost to dissolve in relief.

"Good God, they're like animals," she sighed.

Without warning, she grabbed one of the servant girls by her shoulders and shook her violently in front of her.

"LIKE ANIMALS I TELL YOU!" Her voice echoed through the halls.

At last, she let go of the poor servant girl, who in her dizziness fell to the floor in a heap, only being helped up by the other.

The queen placed a hand to her face and sighed exasperatingly, "If I didn't need them so much, I'd send them all to the dungeon for all their constant pestering. Why don't they care about how I feel?"

The giant man crossed his arms and growled to her, "Hmph. That's just what royalty is. Sure you get the perks of a comfortable job that has a lower body count than most, but you still have to run a kingdom, and that involves having something called, 'a social life'. Oh, but I'm forgetting who I'm talking to."

The man let a noticeable chuckle leave his lips, and the queen scowled at him.

"Undertow," she growled. "When I want your opinion, I'll ask it from you."

"You did ask for it Morgana," the man let out another chuckle.

The queen didn't respond, but just huffed and ground her feet on the ground. The two servant girls lowered their faces even further, hiding their growing expressions of fear from their master's gaze.

The group began to walk along the hallway, silently, with Undertow beside Morgana, and the two servant girls held up her dress as she walked. After a moment, Morgana broke the silence,

"Have you seen Cloak and Dagger around?"

Undertow raised a large hand to his hair and replied, "Naw. Those two are still on that mission you sent 'em. They're probably taking their sweet time getting the grog I asked 'em for too."

Morgana turned to Undertow with a look of shock mixed with fury. "UNDERTOW," she yelled savagely. "Who do you think you are to order my servants around when I need them to perform a task?!"

Undertow picked his nose nonchalantly and flicked a piece away without even batting an eye at Morgana. "Hey, what can ya do," he said. "Being stuck in this body gets me on edge and I need to relax somehow. The only thing these humans are good for is their weird drinks."

"If you want to relax, why don't you just jump into the ocean and come back when you're sober," Morgana asked.

"Because some broad demanded I stick by her side all day while the nobility pestered her," Undertow picked his nose again as he spoke.

Morgana ground her teeth as her subordinate's sassy remarks, but held in her rage. She then let out a sigh and remarked, "What am I supposed to do when I am surrounded by the most bullish people on the planet demanding the world of me? I swear that Ursula cut me a bad deal when she signed me up for this queen job."

Undertow let out a deep throated laugh with Morgana's last remark, "Typical Morgy! Whenever Ursula isn't around you whine and complain about her, but last I checked, when she showed up you could only talk about how thrilled you were to take the job!"

Undertow's face contorted into a mocking smile and his body took a very feminine posture, "'Oh Ursie, I'd love to be royalty! You're such a wonderful big sis. Golly gee, I wish I can be more like you!'"

Morgana's face shrunk with rage as her eyes became tiny slits under the pressure of her brow, "You made up that last part!" Her voice seemed absolutely shaken at this point; desperately holding onto a level of authority, but quickly falling short.

Undertow's posture normalized, but he still held a mocking grin, "Either way I sees it, you just let yourself get conned because you knew that this was your only chance to ever amount to anything, even if you are still second fiddle to your sis. How much tribute did she say she wanted a month?"

Morgana could no longer respond. She was so utterly enraged at this point that words just forms into gibberish on her lips. Her eyes seemed almost ready to pop through her skull, and her beautiful hair started to come undone. Her fists shook uncontrollably, and without warning, one met the face of one of the servant girls. The poor thing fell to the floor with a thud, and the other was left whimpering in fear as she continued to hold Morgana's dress even more tightly than before.

After punching the girl, Morgana felt herself regaining composure. Her breathing normalized and her vision seemed to clear up.

She put a hand to her face and let out a deep sigh, "Undertow. You're dismissed for the night. Go out to the ocean, or wander town, I don't care. I'll call you if I need you tomorrow."

"Hehe, whatever," snickered the giant as he turned to leave. "I'm hungry anyways. Think I'll go find myself some minnows."

The giant's feet were like the sounds of drums on the stone floor. Each step echoed loudly after the other for what seemed like an eternity, until at last Undertow was out of sight, and Morgana was left alone with the two servant girls.

For a while, Morgana just stood in place, watching the direction where Undertow had left in utter silence. On the outside, she kept a face of contempt, but inside she was fraught with anxiety. Undertow spoke just like her mother; a criticizing nag who couldn't let go of the fact that Morgana had no presence compared to her older sister. To her, Morgana had no drive, no creativity, or even power; she was just second bananas to Ursula.

The day Morgana heard the news that Ursula was banished from the palace was probably one of the happiest days in her life. It made her feel good knowing that she hadn't blown it like she did, but imagine her surprise to a few months back when Ursula had become queen of Atlantica, and she was still a two bit witch. The mere thought made her sick to her stomach.

Then one day Ursula comes to her lair out of the blue, and offers Morgana a chance to become a queen too. During her power grab for the Atlantican throne, she had also snatched up a human kingdom as a consolation prize. With all the troubles in Atlantica though, she didn't want to bother with ruling two separate kingdoms, and offered it to Morgana. And like a starving child, Morgana just snapped at the chance. Now she was traipsing about the human world under the alias, "Vanessa"; the newlywed queen of the now King Eric.

All the same, Morgana was still second bananas. To get this position, she had to swear utter loyalty to Ursula's kingdom, and pay tribute once a month, but couldn't tell the humans what the tribute was for exactly. This led to many humans despising her, and calling her mad behind her back. Morgana intended to figure out a good reason in due time, but at the present had to endure the glares.

The fact she was required to stay stuck in this human body for most of the day, and walk amongst these ignorant apes was the most humiliating part of it. The kingdom she ruled was so awfully small compared to what Ursula had under her belt; and the land was absolutely devoid of magic. She may as well have been in the boonies if there wasn't a lack of banjos playing.

Morgana took in a deep breath and sighed to herself.

I should go to my room to relax. It's been a long day.

Morgana turned to see the servant girl she had punched was just finally starting to stand up. Her left eye was pretty much engulfed by the shiner Morgana left her. The other girl was still trembling, and sweating profusely, her hands seemed almost to tear at the silk of Morgana's dress at this point.

Morgana liked these two girls, a lot. They were the only ordinary humans who knew what she was really like under her guise, and that left a terrifying first impression on them. The fact that neither had ever seen magic or merfolk before made it trivial to intimidate them to keep quiet about the whole affair, and Morgana kept a very watchful eye so that they kept silent. (Though admittedly, there was little she could do if they did squeal. She didn't have the strength to do close to what her sister could do from a range.)

They were the only people Morgana had ever made an impression on before, and that gave her a sense of pride she had never felt. It was one of the few things that made being in human guise worth it. She had a sense of mystery around her that these two could never possible imagine, and that imagination was what kept them securely under her thumb.

"Let go of my dress before you tear it up, you," Morgana commanded to the girl still standing.

As if coming out of a trance, the girl's eyes opened wide open and she immediately dropped the dress to the ground. Morgana noted that there were marks around it.

"Oh dear; it seems you already did that. I may have to set aside some sort of punishment for you." Morgana spoke softly in an effort to intimidate.

The girl gave an audible gulp, and went straight down to her hands and knees.

"I-I-I'muh-muh suh-sorry madame Vanessa! P-P-Please furogive m-me!" The girl seemed like a crumpled mess at this point, and Morgana couldn't help but smirk.

"Very well then; I'll let you off the hook this time child, but if it happens again, I'll see to it something especially nasty is set out for you." Morgana lowered her fake voice as deep as it could possibly go.

Morgana then turned to the girl she had punched, who was still attempting to orient herself from the impact.

"And you," Morgana muttered as she put her hands to her hips. "How long do you intend to sit there?"

With her left leg, Morgana let loose a hard kick to the girl's underside, and she gave an audible yelp. Without a moment to spare the girl rose herself to standing position.

"I'm tired," spoke Morgana in a commanding tone, as she turned away from the girls. "I'm going to my room, and I need you two to bring me cold water for my bath. Go to the shore and bring me some. And remember; if you talk there will be terrible consequences for you both."

"Yes milady Vanessa." Both girls bowed and quickly made their way out of Morgana's sight.

At last Morgana was entirely alone. She puffed her chest up in pride at her stunning performance, and went off towards her room.

It wasn't long until Morgana came at last to her bedchambers. She opened the double doors and went inside the room. It was decently decorated with a few paintings strung up here to there. There was a large bed in the middle of the room made with fine mahogany. On a shelf were many of Morgana's potions which she brought from under the sea. And her greatest prize, was sitting on a chair on the balcony just to the left of the bed; the newly dubbed, King Eric.

He was a very handsome human, all things considering. His face was chiseled, yet soft from royal life. He was well toned, and his dark hair was smooth to the touch. Ursula was a fool to pass up a handsome catch like this.

Many days he would just be in that chair and just sit outside on the balcony because Morgana wouldn't give him his orders on where to go. He still remained under the hypnosis Ursula had placed on him, which had now transferred over to Morgana. The fake voice she had made to imitate the princess' was not perfect, but it was good enough to hold up the hypnotism. Eric would still obey her every command regardless of what willpower he had inside.

Morgana walked into the room and blew a kiss to her king, before stepping off into a dressing area nearby. There she sat herself down in front of a large amour and looked herself in a mirror. There she was; her real form. The young woman met the gaze of a green skinned older woman. Her hair was long and rose upwards, while her breasts were terribly small in comparison. Her face was lined with age, but it had a level of youth to it in how elastic it remained, despite the years taking their toll. The younger woman blew a kiss to the reflection and sighed.

"Hey there beautiful. It's been a long day, hasn't it?" Morgana's voice trailed as she began to undress herself in front of the mirror. "The future is going to be better though, don't you worry. Ursula may think she's gotten the best of me, but we'll show her. All it takes is a little bit of patience. Someday, she'll let her guard down, and when that day comes, we'll be ready for it. I've already got some plans in store."

By the time Morgana finished her sentence, she was completely bare naked in front of the mirror and reciting a phrase to herself.

Soon, an eerie green glow engulfed the small room in a blinding flash. What came out of that room then was not the young girl, but the older cecaelian seen in the mirror. She slid on several of her tentacles towards the outdoor balcony that faced the sea. She stood beside Eric and stretched out her arms.

"It feels good to be back," she groaned happily before sitting herself down in Eric's lap. Using one of her tentacles, she then raised Eric's head up and gave him a soft kiss. After minutes that felt like seconds to Morgana, she pulled her wet mouth away from his, and lowered her head towards his ear.

"Get undressed, and on the bed," she cooed softly to her king. "Momma's had a tough day, and needs some sugar."

The human world had its perks.


SURPRISE EXTRA CHAPTER!

I was not expecting this chapter to go on this long, but the dynamic of having a character who didn't show up to the story created issues in length. In the end, I'm happy with how it has gone, Morgana was probably my favorite character writing for thus far in the story, even if she is a creeper. Her interaction with Undertow was my favorite section, and the part I'm most proud of with this chapter.