Eric lunged forward right as the brush began to break and grabbed Ariel's hand, holding her as tightly as he could and tugging her towards the shore with all his might. The crabs grabbed the hem of her skirt and helped tug her over to the shore. Ariel used whatever force she could muster, and it was enough. Soon, her body touched shore once more and she was pulled atop it, panting.

"You're okay, you're okay." Eric said, assuring both her and himself. She's fine. We both are.

Ariel was strangely silent, but her breathing was returning to normal.

Eric reached out and stroked her face. "It's fine. We're both fine. It was…quite a scare but-" he cut himself off for a dry laugh, but the humor or relief didn't seem to touch Ariel. "Ariel?"

"I think I'm cursed." She said, a hint of a waver in her voice.

"What do you mean?" Eric pressed, trying to pull her into a sitting position. "Your father turned you human – what motivation would he have to curse you?"

Ariel shook her head. "Not like that. It's just that…ever since I became human, things have been going wrong. I've never not had control over my body, Eric. Swimming was so natural for me – and I was so fast! I could get anywhere, do anything…" she trailed off and looked down at the river. "And here I can't."

"Ariel," Eric said gently, grabbing her hand. "That river was terrifying, yes. But we're okay. I promise it won't happen again. I'll have the wagon fixed – no, a new one commissioned!"

"But that's not the only instance! I was afraid, yes, but my legs don't work like my fins at all! And when I first came here, I passed out only a few hours into my new life! I've stumbled up steps, I don't feel comfortable in water anymore, I'm-I'm." she took in a shuttering breath and turned back to Eric. "What if I'm not meant to be human?" Eric felt his face scrunch up in pain and she continued her explanation. "I want to be, I promise, but what if I keep getting hurt?"

This gave Eric pause. He wanted to assure he that nothing bad would ever, ever happen to her, but their adventures of the morning already proved that wrong. He wouldn't always be able to protect her from every negative thing in this world. He could try – and he would – but he didn't want to insult her intelligence by saying that she'd be safe from any harm.

"You probably will."

"Huh?" Ariel furrowed her brow. That certainly wasn't the answer she was expecting.

"You'll stumble while you're still getting used to your legs, and human error is part of being human. But Ariel, look what you did. Any stumbling can be forgotten because we're both alive and well! The river swept you under, but you jumped back in."

"That wasn't brave. I had to save you."

"You give you instincts too little credit. Doing good without thinking is still bravery, and it's a bravery I am incredibly grateful for." Eric swept her hair behind her ear and let his hand linger on her cheek. "I will do my best to keep you safe, but when I fail, like today," Eric spoke bitterly for a second. "But if I fail again, I know you'll be able to take care of yourself. I'll teach you everything I know. I'll make sure you're strong, and I know it'll be easy because you already are."

Ariel smiled and found herself blushing. "You're right."

"Are you sure you want to be human?"

"More than anything." She swore.

"Good!" Eric beamed. "I don't want to lose you, not now, not ever. I love you, Ariel." Eric said. "I know it's soon, and I'm sorry if this is alarming to you, but I had to tell you. I absolutely love you."

Ariel gave him a soft smile. "Do you promise?"

"I do!" Eric insisted. "And I promise that this is my strongest promise, too."

"Can a promise be stronger than another if you mean all of them?" Ariel pushed.

Eric paused for a second, "Well, this one can."

Ariel giggled and let Eric pull her close to his chest. "I love you too."

Eric felt his heart swell and he swept Ariel up into his arms in hopes that weight of her body against his would keep his heart contained to his chest.

"I really, really do love you, Eric."

"I can't tell you how happy that makes me." Eric beamed, leaning in.

Nearly escaping death, the two took a moment to themselves and kissed, with all the reassurance that what they had, and what they wanted, made the perils worth it.

"I've got to keep you here, with me." He said. "We have to make your father understand."

"He'll be back at sunset, tomorrow." Ariel said with forlorn.

"I know." Eric said bitterly.

"Oh my goodness, the horse!" Ariel exclaimed, spinning suddenly to Eric and gasping.

Eric laughed. "I did forget about him – but it's fine. The horses are all very well trained. I doubt he'll have moved more than five feet from the bridge."

"Still, let's hurry. I completely forgot about him, the poor dear."

"Well, we have just been through a lot." Eric rationalized.

"That's true." Ariel allowed. "But let's walk and talk, anyway."

"Sounds fine to me!" Eric agreed.

"So, in order for me to stay human I need to convince my father that it'll be better for me." Ariel began. "But he doesn't like the idea of the human world, and he's very afraid of it. He was very against my coming here."

"But not against it enough to stop you from coming" Eric pointed out.

Ariel did pause at this – it must mean that her father was persuadable if she had persuaded him once. That was a silver lining she wasn't exactly expecting.

"So, what are his concerns?"

"That I won't be safe." Ariel responded.

"Well, then there's our plan!" Eric said. "We can show him the castle, let him see how safe everything is."

"But I'm not going to spend every minute of every day in the castle, Eric." Ariel sighed. "And you said so yourself, I'm bound to get hurt again. He's a smart man, he'll know that."

"Then we'll show him how you can pick yourself back up. And for what you can't do, I'll be here. Both of us will be more than successful at keeping you safe."

"Can we demonstrate this at all?" Ariel asked.

"I don't think so – anything impactful would be staged, anything actually dangerous would be foolish."

Ariel nodded – he was right. "Well, then I hope that it's enough."

Eric pulled Ariel in even tighter to his side, kissing her temple. "It'll have to be. He'll see how much I love you."

"Love will be enough." Ariel smiled, looking up at him. She broke eye contact at a slight whinny and yelled "Look! The horses!"

…

Tomorrow.

Marcus knew that was when he would strike against the Sorcerer, and finally defeat him. And when tomorrow came, he and Ariel would drink the love elixir and finally be plunged into the joy he had planned for them from their first meeting. They could be married soon, and no one was more excited for that than Marcus.

His potions were almost steeped. His heart was ready. He knew what a golden prince had to do.

Tomorrow he would strike.

…

The carriage was ruined, but Ariel and Eric were able to lead the horses back to the castle with great ease. However, Carlotta was not to let them continue in the same laid-back state.

"My goodness!" she exclaimed immediately upon sight of their soaking wet hair and clothes. "Did you fall in a river?"

In spite of the tragedy and trauma of the afternoon, Ariel couldn't stifle a giggle. "That's actually exactly what happened!"

"It was a complete accident, Lottie, I swear." Eric promised, opening his arms. "Here, let's hug and make up."

"Oh, don't come at me with those wet clothes!" Carlotta scolded, lightly swatting at Eric. "You'll get me all mussed up!"

"Oh, come on Lottie!" Eric said, mischief in his voice. "Just one hug? Don't you love me?"

"Yes, and that's just why both of you will get in the tub this instant!" Carlotta pushed Eric towards the downstairs bathroom with one finger, in order to minimize any wetness transferred over to her own person.

Eric and Ariel laughed. "Oh, we're sorry, Carlotta." Ariel said kindly. "He was only kidding."

"Yes, yes, I've heard it all. Both of you, tubs – stat!"

After the pair had freshened up and dried off, they met in a large parlor room for warm drinks and a stoked up fire. Carlotta had bustled in and out for the first twenty minutes, complaining about how they would surely catch cold, and just when she had sent everyone home, and who would make the tea, and who would send for the doctor, and she went on and on in such a fashion until Eric insisted that they were all fine, and that Carlotta should take the afternoon to herself and lie down.

Carlotta said she didn't much like the sound of that, with her not knowing how the two were doing and all, but she was easily persuaded and eventually went off to have a nap, leaving Ariel and Eric alone in the parlor.

"Imagine if this was a nightly thing." Eric said dreamily. "When it starts to get a bit late, we could just venture to a parlor or a library and just…spend time together like this."

"We can – we will." Ariel insisted firmly. "I'll be human soon – permanently – and then this can be our normal."

"Ariel, while I was bathing, I thought of something else." Eric said awkwardly.

"What?" Ariel pushed.

"It just…right now the most important thing in our lives is convincing your father that the right place for you to be is up here on land.

Ariel smiled at his use of 'our', and nodded.

"What if we really proved that here is the place for you to be?"

"Now you've confused me."

"Ariel," Eric stood and pulled Ariel out of her chair and into a standing position. He dipped down to one knee and looked up at her. "I want you to marry me."

Ariel gasped, and furrowed her brow. "Eric, no."

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